The following remarks by Tucker Eskew were delivered to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on September 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. They are re-posted here with permission.
So much was about to change.
I had turned away from the television for a moment. A colleague standing next to me said another plane just hit.
In disbelief, I blurted a word I won’t repeat here.
It was 9:03 a.m., September 11, 2001 at the White House.
We were a long way from forgiveness. We were just then struggling for awareness.
Trying to shake off the shock and somehow be constructively busy, I called my Media Affairs staff together and asked them to research presidential responses to major crises.
I was pivoting between the televisions in my office and my computer. I was typing an email when my phone rang.
“Are you all right?” It was a friend from Atlanta.
“Sure, what do you mean?”
“Your building’s on Fire.”
I turned and saw what he meant. News cameras seemed to show fire and…