From Juicy Ecumenism. (Photo credit: Michael Foran/Wikimedia Commons)
The following remarks by Tucker Eskew were delivered to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, 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 smoke billowing from the rear. I knew it wasn’t the Executive Office Building, but I did peer into the hallway just in case.
The Media Affairs team gathered in my office at 9:40 or so. This was, we learned later, only a few minutes after the attack on the Pentagon. The last staffer to arrive said, “people are evacuating, should we go?” I said I’d go if and when an alarm went out. I took one breath, and the door opened with an order to leave.
I told everyone to grab their phones and we began filing out.
As we turned down the steps leading to West Executive Drive, agents yelled at us to run. Women were told to take off their shoes and run.
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That’s how it began. It’s imprinted on my memory. When Oran asked me to do this, the word he used was ‘preach.’ I told him I was hesitant to call it that. He gave the right direction. “Just keep it simple. Tell us what happened to you. Tell us your story.”