Students packed the Abramson Family Founders Room in the School of International Service for a 9/11 remembrance event featuring members of the George W. Bush administration on Sept. 11.
The event, organized by the Kennedy Political Union and American University College Republicans, featured Andrew Card, former chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, and moderator Anita McBride, former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush. Both were serving in the Bush administration on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
“We know that for the majority of you, if not all of you, in this room, you were not born by September 11, 2001,” McBride said. “So it's important that you hear these stories, understand what happened to our country that day, the leadership that it took to help our country and our citizens get through what we faced.”
The event began with words from KPU Director Aidan Skidds, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, and AU College Republicans President Joel Pritikin, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. Pritikin declared a moment of silence for “the victims, the first responders and those in uniform” who died on Sept. 11 before McBride introduced Card.
Serving from 2001 to 2006, Card’s tenure as chief of staff was the second-longest in White House history. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Card was with President.Bush at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla. and notified him that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, confirming a terrorist attack was taking place.
“The President reacted exactly the way I prayed that he would react,” Card said during the event. “He did nothing to demonstrate fear to the media that would have translated it to the satisfaction of the terrorists around the world. And I honestly believe he wrestled with the responsibility he knew he had by taking the oath to preserve, protect and defend.”
Prior to the event, Card told The Eagle how in that moment, President Bush “acknowledged that he took the oath” of the presidency, something that would require “sacrifices” with consequences.
“When presidents make those kinds of decisions, they make decisions that could cost other people their lives. Because [President Bush] says, I need help doing this. I need you to go to war for me, and that becomes a bigger burden,” Card said. “So I hope young people recognize how important it is to understand what it means to take an oath and to keep it.”
Guided by questions from McBride, Card took the audience through his first forays into public service, the day before the attacks and 9/11 itself – which included learning of the attacks, the former president’s immediate response, calling world leaders and visiting the Islamic Center of Washington to condemn harassment of Muslim American communities in the wake of the attacks.
Card also walked the audience through the events of Sept. 14, 2001, which he called his “most memorable day working at the White House.” He accompanied the president to a memorial service at the National Cathedral in D.C. before traveling to Ground Zero in New York, where the president gave a speech at the site of the attacks. Card spoke of meeting the rescue workers and victims’ families as “very, very emotional” and described President Bush as “amazingly disciplined.”
After the conversation concluded, Card took questions from a few students before a reception was held where students could meet and take pictures with him.
Skidds said the event felt “intimate” and that students “really got to know” Card.
“It was a packed house, people showed up early, they were enthusiastic,” Skidds said.
The 9/11 remembrance event was KPU’s second event of the semester, following a speaker event with Ward 3 D.C. Councilmember Matthew Frumin last month. While Skidds couldn’t announce any future speakers with KPU, he highlighted the programming board’s commitment to its nonpartisan mission.
“You're going to see that from our programming leading up to the election and after the election, we want to make sure that all voices and viewpoints are heard. And today was the first example of that,” Skidds said.
Skidds added that Card was “the perfect example” for an event with “the theme of unity.”
“Just the way he spoke, he was very open and unifying and appealing to people from all political backgrounds,” Skidds said. “He's a Republican by identification. But if you didn't know that going into the event, you wouldn't have thought that at all.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abby Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
