George W. Bush Honors American Spirit of Unity at 9/11 Commemorations For Flight 93 Victims

Former U.S. President George W. Bush honored the passengers aboard Flight 93, who thwarted a terrorist attack by storming the cockpit, 20 years ago today.

In the two decades since, foreign policy has been upended. Security measures at global borders, airports and office buildings reshaped travel and international business. New York City was transformed.

The echoes of the destruction wrought on 9/11 -- and what it took to rebuild after -- haven’t been lost on those gathering Saturday at Ground Zero, resounding the message by New York Governor Kathy Hochul: “We never forget, but we go forth into the future steeled in the conviction that yes, we were knocked down, but we are never out. Whether it’s a terrorist attack, whether it’s the pandemic.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, an Afghan war veteran, paid tribute to the 184 people killed when a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon, saying “we do know that America will always lead.”

“We must be tireless guardians of our ideals, as well as our security,” Austin said in remarks at an outdoor ceremony at the Pentagon attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, President George W. Bush and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “Because we cannot have one without the other.”

He recalled that President Franklin Roosevelt gave a fireside chat on Sept. 11, 1941 -- before the U.S. entered World War II -- to rally Americans against the global threat of fascism. Roosevelt’s call for “clear heads and fearless hearts” is valid again today, Austin said.