would say, ‘Oh, come on. Don’t be a fool. This is nothing to worry about. Everything is cool,’ there was a certain feeling of cold, death, not sure of what the next day’s going to be, for the longest time.” He experienced two months of looking up in the sky and feeling anxious whenever he heard an airplane overhead, observing its height in the sky. “And then I must say, I observed people much more than I did before.” Later Mesnier purchased a painting of the World Trade Center twin towers. He said he needed to have it even though he is not a New Yorker and not religious, but he believed God was giving sun and dry weather for people to recover the remains of those who died in New York. Rickey McKinney said, “Personally, I think it has made me aware of how short life can be. There are a lot of things that we take for granted. We take for granted that we’re going to get up in the morning. We take for granted we’re going to go to work. And you learn to appreciate the things that ordinarily you would take for granted personally. Family is a given. You learn to appreciate and realize how much your family means to you, but in my case, I think I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that out of all the people in the world, I’m among the few chosen ones that get to come through that gate every day.” In the aftermath, safety procedures were developed and security policies improved. An emergency response committee was established to address procedures and preparedness. This small group unified and empowered staff to make changes and improvements for all emergencies. It recommended additional communications devices, Victim Rescue Units (VRUs), and emergency supplies for all staff. Daily procedures changed. Copies of the computer database were stored at off-site locations. Departments instituted new policies and security procedures. Offices printed small cards listing emergency contact phone numbers for staff to store with their badges. Administrative Usher Worthington White led much of this effort. “I try to calm people’s nerves, that our getting prepared is less response to the terror attack than it is to the fact that those attacks showed us that we had a lack of preparedness for all kinds of different emergencies.” Lydia Tederick said the Curator’s Office staff began carrying radios and regularly communicated to others in the office where they were working in the Residence, especially if in basement storage areas or Private Quarters where there was no
telephone reception. Bill Allman received a government-issued cell phone. China and glassware collections were divided for storage between off-site and on-site locations so that an emergency could not eliminate an entire collection. Public tours and events hosted by President and Mrs. Bush ceased for many weeks. East Executive Avenue and the Ellipse were closed to the public. New steel plate barriers to control vehicular traffic appeared. Soon after September 11, procedures were changed to require every visitor that enters the White House for a tour to undergo a Secret Service background clearance. Staff must now show photo identification and a parking pass to access the Ellipse. Through the day of September 11 and the year thereafter, the Residence staff remained steadfast in their sense of duty and commitment to the president and first lady and the White House itself. Buddy Carter said, “But, we’re here to take care of the president and first lady. That’s our job. That’s our obligation.” Claire Faulkner recalled, “I don’t know if I was ever really afraid of dying, but I was more afraid of actually losing the White House, not just for me, but just the thought of not having the White House as a national monument, and all of the things inside, that was what was so horrifying.”
sources The conversations on which this article is based were conducted by the author in 2002 and 2003. The author would like to thank her colleagues at the White House and the National Archives and Records Administration in the publication of this article.
white house history quarterly
85