President Bush gave an interview to the National Geographic Channel, which will air a week of special programs under the rubric “Remembering 9/11” to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks. In the interview, he explains what was running through his mind after his chief of staff, Andy Card, informed him that the country was under attack. Bush, you’ll recall, was in a Florida classroom at the time. After hearing the news, he famously remained seated at the front of that classroom, apparently — apparently — unsure of how to react. Well, Reuters has some advance material from the interview Bush gave to National Geo.
“My first reaction was anger. Who the hell would do that to America? Then I immediately focused on the children, and the contrast between the attack and the innocence of children,” Bush says in an excerpt of the interview shown to television writers on Thursday.
Bush said he could see the news media at the back of the classroom getting the news on their own cellphones “and it was like watching a silent movie.”
Bush said he quickly realized that a lot of people beyond the classroom would be watching for his reaction.
“So I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm,” he said of his decision to remain seated and silent. “I had been in enough crises to know that the first thing a leader has to do is to project calm,”
