because I was returning to work at one of the previous day’s targets. The bus stopped short of its regular route and I got off with trepidation, then walked up to a new barricade that was now a block farther away from the White House. We had a new perimeter. I wondered if this is how life would be from then on. I showed my White House identification and was allowed through the checkpoint. Once inside, I got word that President Bush wanted to go to Camp David that weekend to meet with his advisers. Mrs. Bush wanted to have a simple menu like burgers and fried chicken— comfort foods of a sort. The president would first travel to New York City to see the devastation of the World Trade Center, and once at Camp David he would meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and many other top officials. The whole world had changed. And, like the rest of America, I was unsure of the future.
That Thursday morning, I arrived at Camp David in a secure car with an army sergeant who drove me through multiple checkpoints heavily guarded by Marines with bomb-sniffing dogs. The van was searched along with my luggage. It felt like I was entering a military base in a war zone. In essence, I guess I was. I finally made it through the camp’s large, iron gates. I had been in touch with the camp staff to let them know about the menu and number of guests expected. This was not a typical visit to Camp David, where the first family had been many times already for relaxation. Vice President Cheney was already there, and the other top administration officials would soon follow. The president arrived about 11:00 p.m. after a long day viewing the destruction in New York City. At Camp David, the guests eat at one large table. Meals are served family style. Mrs. Bush’s choice of comfort foods for that weekend aimed to ease some of
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the stress and sadness that everyone was feeling. I had never expected anything like an attack on our nation to happen, and now I was to prepare and serve foods that would not only comfort but sustain the people who were making the hardest decisions of their lives, decisions that would affect our country forever. SOURCE Matthew Wendel’s account first appeared in his Recipes from the President’s Ranch: Food People Like to Eat (Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association, 2020), 20–21, 22–25, 26.
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