White House around 5:00 p.m. that afternoon and summed up the day’s emotions: “The day was very meaningful in ways I never anticipated. . . . I will always remember who I was with, what I did, how we all thought about we needed to do to help. We wanted to work.” John McConnell walked back to the White House and convened with his speechwriter colleagues in Mike Gerson’s ground floor West Wing office. The OEOB was locked down, but he convinced the UD officer to allow him to quickly go and retrieve his phone and apartment keys. The building was completely silent and dark, and he felt his way up the stairs to his office by holding onto the railings. He heard the president’s helicopter arrive and “felt a big lump in my throat thinking he was supposed to be dead and this building was not supposed to be here.” About this time, back at the DaimlerChrysler office, I went room by room. Everyone had left, and I collected any papers or documents left behind. On top of the stack of papers was the original copy of the list of names that had been sent to the Situation Room, of the people who evacuated and worked there that day. These papers were, after all, presidential records, and I brought all of them to the Office of Records Management to be included in the materials and files that go to the National Archives. It was not until I walked back the few blocks to the White House to get my car and drove home that I thought about how my husband and I had been in the same place all day and if something had happened to us, what would have happened to our two children, ages one and four, who were at home with a babysitter? Kara Figg walked back to the White House from her father’s office that evening to join her boss Brad Blakeman, who had returned from the DaimlerChrysler office. Despite the unnerving sight of National Guard, tanks, and armored vehicles on the streets and surrounding the White House, Figg says, “I strangely felt safe in the White House.” For Melissa Bennett, “It was very emotional to see Andy again. . . . He gave us the comfort we needed.” She reflects, “All day [at the DaimlerChrysler office], I just wanted to do whatever I was asked to do.” Back at the White House, “Everything was different but anything we have to do to support this mission, we will do it.” Nick Calio, who was in the PEOC and remained at the White House throughout the day and late
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into the night, recounts how he was able to bring several of his senior team back to the White House on 9/11, including Bob Marsh, Jack Howard, and Kirsten Chadwick. They worked out of Calio’s second floor West Wing Office to reach out to members of Congress and governors. Calio remembers the senior staff meeting in the Roosevelt Room that evening and seeing the president sitting in the Oval Office before his speech. “I asked the president, ‘How are you doing?’ His response: ‘I’m ready. You be ready, too.’” “There was a laundry list of legislation ahead,” recalls Calio, “including aid for New York and Pennsylvania.” “I went to the Hill that night with [Attorney General John] Ashcroft and [FBI Director Bob] Mueller to brief the members of Congress after the president’s speech. I went home about 3:00 a.m., and was back at 5:30 a.m. A couple of the Leg Affairs admins were nervous to come back the next day, but everyone wanted to return.” On the night on 9/11, Clay Johnson was in the PEOC and remained at White House until late. Reflecting on the gravity of the day, he says, “What I saw at every turn was incredible professionalism.” For his own part, “Whatever was going on had nothing to do with Presidential Personnel but we just did whatever we were instructed to do with no questions asked.”
SEPTEMBER 12, 2001: “WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO” Johnson directed his staff to come back to work on September 12. “I went to the OEOB the next day to connect with my team. They were quiet and concerned but showed confidence to stay focused on business.” Eric Motley on Johnson’s staff recounted, “Clay came over, and in a very calming way talked about what we had experienced, how sad and devastating it was.” “He also talked about the president’s speech,” and said, “We are here to support the president, and we have a lot of work to do.” “We felt ennobled and emboldened,” remembers Motley. “It was patriotically riveting.” Karen Keller returned to the White House on September 12 after OMB Director Daniels had called her the night before at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. and said he needed her back. “It was surreal getting to work and seeing big, huge military vehicles all around the White House. I was scared but I knew I had to go back and I wanted to be there,” she recalled. The thirty-year veteran staff member
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“I’m ready. You be ready too.”