FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH THE U.S. CAPITOL As the workday began for First Lady Laura Bush, Melanie Jackson, the first lady’s deputy director of scheduling and advance, was waiting in the Diplomatic Reception Room on the Ground Floor of the White House to see Mrs. Bush off for her short ride to the U.S. Capitol. The first lady was going to brief the Senate Committee on Education about the Early Childhood Cognitive Development Summit she had held earlier in the summer. Going with her were, among others, her chief of staff, Andi Ball, White House Domestic Policy Adviser Margaret Spellings, Press Secretary Noelia Rodriguez, and Personal Aide Sarah Moss (now Garrison). At approximately 8:55 a.m. White House Chief Usher Gary Walters was ready to escort the first lady to her limousine at the South Portico.13 Before getting in her car, Mrs. Bush was informed by her Secret Service agent, Ron Sprinkle, that a plane had just crashed into a tower at the World Trade Center.14 By the time she arrived at the Capitol, the second plane had hit. Mrs. Bush was met at the Capitol
by her Senate host, Committee Chair Edward M. Kennedy (D.-Mass.), and they went to a private room in his office.15 The hearing was postponed, but Mrs. Bush prepared and delivered a statement for the press, accompanied by Kennedy and Ranking Chair Judd Gregg (R.-N.H.). Waiting to speak publicly until the president spoke first at 9:30 a.m., she directed her comments to the people of New York. On the walk back to Senator Kennedy’s office she learned of the attack on the Pentagon from her lead advance staff, John Meyers,16 and she watched the horrific images from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with Andi Ball on a small television in Kennedy’s office. After United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Mrs. Bush was evacuated to an undisclosed location, and she insisted her staff must come with her. Referring to the press pool reporters who had traveled with Mrs. Bush to the Capitol, Noelia Rodriguez told Deputy Press Secretary Ashleigh Adams, “You’re going to have to tell the reporters that they are on their own.”17
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