Chinese and Iranian officials sent their condolences. The Cuban foreign minister offered airspace and airports to American planes. Putin added, “We will not let these values be destroyed.” Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien denounced the “cowardly and depraved assault.” He tightened security along the border and arranged for hundreds of grounded airplanes to land at Canadian airports.Įven leaders of countries that did not tend to get along terribly well with the American government expressed their sorrow and dismay. Russian president Vladimir Putin called the strikes “a blatant challenge to humanity,” while German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder declared that the events were “not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people.”
Meanwhile, statesmen and women rushed to condemn the attacks and to offer whatever aid they could to the United States. Congressional leaders responded, too: They passed a $40 billion disaster relief bill in September and, the next year, the USA Patriot Act, which gave investigators a great deal of leeway in their domestic surveillance activities and made immigration laws more stringent.įlowers piled up in front of American embassies. Cities and countries commemorated the attacks in a variety of ways: Queen Elizabeth II sang the American national anthem at Buckingham Palace’s Changing of the Guard, while in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro put up huge billboards that showed the city’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue embracing the New York City skyline. Bush was able to win a broad mandate to act in the nation’s defense. In a speech on September 20, he asked citizens to be “calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat,” and promised that the United States would triumph over terrorism–“stop it, eliminate it, destroy it where it grows.”Īfter the United States began military operations in Afghanistan in October, the president’s approval rating soared to 90 percent. New York Governor George Pataki activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center created a new Office of Public Safety to check on the state’s bridges, tunnels and water supplies and won bipartisan support for a plan to establish a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and a state-run World Trade Center Relief Fund. Giuliani appeared on “ Saturday Night Live” with several firefighters on September 29 (in the opening monologue, Lorne Michaels asked if it was okay to be funny at such a sad time Giuliani replied, “Why start now?”) and orchestrated a major promotional campaign designed to lure tourists back to his beleaguered city. New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who rose to national prominence thanks to his leadership in the wake of the attacks, urged decisive action against terrorism and encouraged New Yorkers to try to return to their normal lives. Political leaders urged calm and promised aid. So you get a little bit of hope in togetherness.” We all feel differently about what to do in response, but everybody seems to agree that we’ve got to be together no matter what happens. “I don’t know why I’ve been coming here, except that I’m confused,” one young man in Union Square told a reporter from the New York Times. They gathered in common places, like Chicago’s Daley Plaza, Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach and especially New York City’s Union Square Park, to post tributes to the dead and to share their grief with others. People attended impromptu candlelight vigils and participated in moments of silence. Celebrities organized benefit concerts and performances. Others pinned it to their lapels or wore it on t-shirts. Some flew the American flag from their front porches and car antennas. Shortly after the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, the nation began to mourn, and around the country Americans began to commemorate the victims and demonstrate their patriotism. Never Again: The 9/11 Commission Report and The Department of Homeland Security.