On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.
On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors.
As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767—United Airlines Flight 175—appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor.
The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and onto the streets below. It immediately became clear that America was under attack.
The hijackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by the al Qaeda terrorist organization of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America’s support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East.
Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Others had slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and acted as the “muscle” in the operation.
Where Did the Planes Take Off From?
The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports—Logan International Airport in Boston, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. and Newark International Airport in New Jersey—and boarded four early-morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles.
As millions watched the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., before crashing into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m.
Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building, which is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.
All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.
Less than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke.
The structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel.
At 10:30 a.m., the north building of the twin towers collapsed. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. Almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.
Meanwhile, a fourth California-bound plane—United Flight 93—was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground.
Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection.
One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett, Jr., told his wife over the phone that “I know we’re all going to die. There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey.” Another passenger—Todd Beamer—was heard saying “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll” over an open line.
Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were “Everyone’s running to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.”
The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of 500 miles per hour, crashing in a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m.
All 44 people aboard were killed. Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard.
A total of 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorist hijackers aboard the four airplanes. Citizens of 78 countries died in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died after the two planes slammed into the twin towers. That figure includes 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors.
At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, including 64 on American Airlines Flight 77, the airliner that struck the building. On Flight 93, 44 people died when the plane crash-landed in Pennsylvania.
America Responds to the Attacks
At 7 p.m., President George W. Bush, who was in Florida at the time of the attacks and had spent the day being shuttled around the country because of security concerns, returned to the White House.
At 9 p.m., he delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, declaring, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”
In a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there, began on October 7. Within two months, U.S. forces had effectively removed the Taliban from operational power, but the war continued, as U.S. and coalition forces attempted to defeat a Taliban insurgency campaign based in neighboring Pakistan.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, remained at large until May 2, 2011, when he was finally tracked down and killed by U.S. forces at a hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In June 2011, then-President Barack Obama announced the beginning of large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan; it took until August 2021 for all U.S. forces to withdraw.
Department of Homeland Security Is Created
In the wake of security fears raised by 9/11 and the mailing of letters containing anthrax that killed two and infected 17, The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the Department of Homeland Security. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2002. Today, the Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet responsible for preventing terror attacks, border security, immigrations and customs and disaster relief and prevention.
The act was followed two days later by the formation of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The bipartisan “9/11 Commission,” as it came to be known, was charged with investigating the events that lead up to September 11th. The 9/11 Commission Report was released on July 22, 2004. It named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind behind 9/11, “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.”
Mohammed led propaganda operations for al Qaeda from 1999-2001. He was captured on March 1, 2003 by the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and interrogated before being imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay detention camp with four other accused terrorists charged with 9/11-related war crimes. The use of torture, including waterboarding, during Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s interrogation has received international attention. In August 2019, a U.S. military court judge in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba set a trial date for Mohammed and the other four men charged with plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks to begin in 2021; it was later postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economic Impact of 9/11
The 9/11 attacks had an immediate negative effect on the U.S. economy. Many Wall Street institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, were evacuated during the attacks. On the first day of trading after the attacks, the market fell 7.1 percent, or 684 points. New York City’s economy alone lost 143,000 jobs a month and $2.8 billion wages in the first three months. The heaviest losses were in finance and air transportation, which accounted for 60 percent of lost jobs. The estimated cost of the World Trade Center damage is $60 billion. The cost to clean the debris at Ground Zero was $750 million.
Thousands of first responders and people working and living in lower Manhattan near Ground Zero were exposed to toxic fumes and particles emanating from the towers as they burned and fell. By 2018, 10,000 people were diagnosed with 9/11-related cancer.
From 2001 to 2004, over $7 billion dollars in compensation was given to families of the 9/11 victims and the 2,680 people injured in the attacks. Funding was renewed on January 2, 2011, when President Barack Obama signed The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law. Named for James Zadroga, a New York City Police officer who died of respiratory disease he contracted after rescuing people from the rubble at Ground Zero, the law continued health monitoring and compensation for 9/11 first responders and survivors.
In 2015, funding for the treatment of 9/11-related illness was renewed for five more years at a total of $7.4 billion. The Victim Compensation Fund was set to stop accepting claims in December 2020.
On July 29, 2019, then-President Trump signed a law authorizing support for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund through 2092. Previously, administrators had cut benefits by up to 70 percent as the $7.4 billion fund depleted. Vocal lobbyists for the fund included Jon Stewart, 9/11 first responder John Feal and retired New York Police Department detective and 9/11 responder Luis Alvarez, who died of cancer 18 days after testifying before Congress.
9/11 Anniversary and Memorial
The 9/11 Survivor Tree
On December 18, 2001, Congress approved naming September 11 “Patriot Day” to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In 2009, Congress named September 11 a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The first memorials to September 11 came in the immediate wake of the attacks, with candlelight vigils and flower tributes at U.S. embassies around the world. In Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth sang the American national anthem during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Rio de Janeiro put up billboards showing the city’s Christ the Redeemer statue embracing the New York City skyline.
For the first anniversary of the attacks in New York City in 2002, two bright columns of light were shot up into the sky from where the Twin Towers once stood. The “Tribute in Light” then became an annual installation run by the Municipal Art Society of New York. On clear nights, the beams are visible from over 60 miles away.
A World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was held to select an appropriate permanent memorial to the victims of 9/11. The winning design by Michael Arad, “Reflecting Absence,” now sits outside the museum in an eight-acre park. It consists of two reflecting pools with waterfalls rushing down where the Twin Towers once rose into the sky.
The names of all 2,983 victims are engraved on the 152 bronze panels surrounding the pools, arranged by where individuals were on the day of the attacks, so coworkers and people on the same flight are memorialized together. The site was opened to the public on September 11, 2011, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum followed, opening on the original World Trade Center site in May 2014. The Freedom Tower, also on the original World Trade Center site, opened in November 2014.
Photo Galleries
The wreckage of the World Trade Center smoulders in this aerial view of Manhattan taken September 15, 2001.
A series of images showing the planes hitting the towers on September 11, 2001.
A rescue worker helps people evacuate the World Trade Center area after the collapse of the towers.
A piece of the outer frame of the building is all that is left standing in the ruined base of the World Trade Center.
A firefighter uses a thermal imaging device to look for signs of life during the morning of September 12, about 24 hours after the first airplane hit the World Trade Center.
MTA workers assist in rescue and recovery efforts at the site of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
An aerial view of the remains of the Twin Towers and World Trade Center, eight days after they were destroyed by he terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The site soon became known as Ground Zero.
An NYPD patrol car, destroyed by falling debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center, sits amid the rubble at ground zero on the night of September 11, 2001.
An office space is destroyed and covered with debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center.
In the days after 9/11 families of missing people put up thousands of posters with photos and descriptions of their loved ones. Parks like Union Square became gathering points for people to come together, share stories and lend support.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the funeral for New York City Fire Department Chief Peter J. Ganci. Chief Ganci, a 33-year veteran of the New York City Fire department, and its highest ranking uniformed officer, was killed during the collapse of the World Trade Center.
Mourners at a funeral for one of the New York City firefighters killed on September 11, 2001.
Flyer asking for help in locating Matt Heard, a missing Morgan Stanley worker, surrounded by candles at a memorial for victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
A statue becomes a shrine to fallen firefighters who died during the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.
One of the two Tribute in Light columns at Ground Zero, memorials to the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.
1 / 15: Reuters/CORBIS
Civilians bolt in the opposite direction as firefighters rush towards the Twin Towers of the New York City's World Trade Center after a plane hit the building on September 11, 2001.
Suicide hijackers flew planes into both towers of the World Trade Center, causing the towers' eventual collapse. The 9/11 attacks not only became the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history, they were also the deadliest incident ever for firefighters, as well as for law enforcement officers in the United States.
The New York City Fire Department lost 343 among their ranks on 9/11. Here, FDNY firefighters react after the collapse of the building.
A New York firefighter is seen alone amid the rubble of the World Trade Center following the attacks. "We had a very strong sense we would lose firefighters and that we were in deep trouble, FDNY Division Chief for Lower Manhattan Peter Hayden later told the 9/11 Commission. “But we had estimates of 25,000 to 50,000 civilians, and we had to try to rescue them.”
Members of the FDNY carry fellow firefighter, Al Fuentes, who was injured in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Captain Fuentes, who had been pinned under a vehicle on the west side highway, survived after his rescue.
A firefighter crouches in grief at the World Trade Center site on 9/11.
The rubble of the World Trade Center smolders on September 12, 2001 as firefighters continue recovery efforts.
A New York City fireman calls for 10 more rescue workers to make their way into the rubble of the World Trade Center September 14, 2001 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
On September 14, 2001, President George W. Bush flew to New York City and visited the World Trade Center site. Here the president comforts New York City firefighter, Lt Lenard Phelan of Battalion 46, whose brother, Lt Kenneth Phelan of Battalion 32, was among the 300 members of the FDNY still unaccounted following the attacks. Kenneth Phelan was eventually identified among the firefighters killed.
An estimated 17,400 people had been at the World Trade Center on the day of the 9/11 attacks, and some 87 percent of them were safely evacuated thanks in large part to firefighters' heroic efforts.
1 / 10: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images
In this handout provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, first responders on scene following an attack at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 in Arlington, Virginia. American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists who flew it in to the building killing 184 people.
A rescue helicopter uses Washington Boulevard outside the Pentagon to evacuate injured personnel after the terrorist attack on the building on September 11, 2001.
First responders pour water on the fire on scene following the attacks.
The Pentagon was heavily damaged after the hijacked commercial airliner crashed into the southwest corner of the building.
This FBI photo shows a closer look at the damage to the building.
Emergency workers and firefighters worked through the night searching for survivors.
Firefighters and soldiers unfurl a large American flag over the side of the Pentagon during rescue and recovery efforts.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visit the Pentagon to view the damage the day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A piece of debris from American Airlines Flight 77 that was collected by the FBI on scene following the attacks.
Another piece of debris from American Airlines Flight 77 that was collected by the FBI on scene following the attacks.
The 19 hijackers who took control of four commercial airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Circling the base of the Washington Memorial in Washington DC, American flags fly at half-mast in the week after the September 11th attacks.
1 / 12: Federal Bureau of Investigation via Getty Images
Smoke rises behind investigators as they comb the crater left by the crash of United Airlines flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania September 12, 2001. Flight 93 is one of four planes that were hijacked as part of a deadly and destructive terrorist plot against the U.S. September 11.
A yellow crime scene tape lays discarded next to a cross draped with white cloth that was erected on a hill overlooking the once peaceful valley where United Flight 93 crashed, killing 38 passengers and seven crew members. This photo was taken on September 24, 2001 as charred trees and piles of dirt still remain as reminders of the fateful day. Power lines and paved roads were installed by the investigators in the rural setting.
This photograph released by the U.S. District Court shows the flight data recorder found at the scene where United Flight 93 crashed.
In the woods behind her home, about six miles from the crash site of United Flight 93, Melanie Hankinson of New Baltimore found several pieces of charred paper that she believes drifted through the air after the crash.
First Lady Laura Bush speaks at a memorial service for victims of United Flight 93 on September 17, 2001. Hundreds of family members of the victims from all over the country were present.
Amy Shumaker, of Hooversville, PA, holds her son Ryan Shumaker, 4, at the Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 2002. Shumaker said she was one of the first EMT's on the scene at the time of the crash.
On September 24, 2002, Congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act. The Act created a new national park unit to commemorate the passengers and crew of Flight 93 which opened to the public in 2015. The Flight 93 National Memorial is pictured here on September 10, 2016 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
1 / 7: David Maxwell/Getty Images
President George W. Bush reacts as he's informed by his chief of staff, Andrew Card, of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The president had been reading to a second grade class during an early morning visit to an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida on September 11, 2001.
As Dan Bartlett, deputy assistant to the president, points to news footage of the World Trade Center, President Bush gathers information about the terrorist attack. Also pictured in a classroom at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota are, from left: Deborah Loewer, director of White House Situation Room, and Senior Adviser Karl Rove.
U.S. Secret Service and Military Police go on high alert and double up security checks for all passengers boarding Air Force One 11 as President Bush departs Sarasota.
Back at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney watches the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center in his office before being led to the underground White House bunker.
Vice President Cheney with senior staff in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), the Cold War-era bunker under the White House.
President Bush speaks to Vice President Cheney by phone aboard Air Force One on September 11, 2001 after departing Offutt Air Force Base in Sarpy County, Nebraska.
President Bush watches television coverage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, from his office aboard Air Force One.
President Bush talks on the telephone as senior staff huddle in his office aboard Air Force One. Not knowing how many more hijacked planes might be heading for the nation’s capital, the Secret Service decided it would be unsafe to take the president back to Washington.
President Bush and his staff look out the windows of Air Force One at their F-16 escort on September 11, 2001, while en route to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Initially, they weren't sure whether the approaching planes were hostile. Pictured from left are: Andy Card, White House chief of staff; Ari Fleischer, press secretary; Blake Gottesman, personal aide to the president; Karl Rove, senior adviser; Deborah Loewer, director of White House Situation Room, and Dan Bartlett, deputy assistant to the president.
An F-16 escorts Air Force One from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska back to the nation's capital on September 11, 2001.
1 / 10: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
This pair of women’s heels belonged to Fiduciary Trust employee Linda Raisch-Lopez, a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center. She began her evacuation from the 97th floor of the South Tower after seeing flames from the North Tower. She removed her shoes and carried them as she headed down the stairs, reaching the 67th floor when the South Tower was stuck by Flight 175. As she headed uptown to escape, she put her shoes back on, and they became bloody from her cut and blistered feet. She donated her shoes to the museum.
This American Airlines flight attendant wings lapel pin belonged to Karyn Ramsey, friend and colleague of 28-year-old Sara Elizabeth Low, who was working aboard Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Following the memorial service for Sara, Karyn pinned her own service wing on Sara’s father, Mike Low. Mike Low would refer to the lapel pin as “Karyn’s wings.” Watch this video to learn more.
This pager, recovered from Ground Zero, belonged to Andrea Lyn Haberman. Haberman was from Chicago and was in New York City on September 11, 2001 for a meeting at Carr Futures offices, located on the 92nd floor of the North Tower. It was Haberman’s first time visiting New York; she was only 25 years old when she was killed in the attacks.
On the morning of September 11, 55-year-old Robert Joseph Gschaar was working on the 92nd floor of the South Tower. At the time of the attack, he called his wife to let her know about the incident and reassured her that he would safely evacuate. Robert did not make it out of the tower alive. A year after the attacks his wallet and wedding ring were recovered.Inside his wallet was a $2 bill. Robert and his wife, Myrta, carried around $2 bills during there 11-year marriage to remind each other that they were two of a kind.
On September 11, FDNY Squad 18 responded to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Among this unit was David Halderman, who was a firefighter just like his father and brother. His helmet was found crushed on September 12, 2001 and given to his brother, Michael, who believes his death was due to the the collapse of the tower and a strike to the head. David Halderman’s body was not recovered until October 25, 2001.
This I.D. card belonged to Abraham J. Zelmanowitz, an Empire BlueCross BlueShield computer programmer. On the morning of the attacks, he was working on the 27th floor of the North Tower, along with a wheelchair-bound friend, Edward Beyea. Zelmanowitz decided to stay behind to remain by his friend’s side as the rest of the company began to evacuate. Coworkers who evacuated informed professional emergency responders that the two were awaiting assistance inside.FDNY Captain William Francis Burke, Jr. arrived at the scene on the 27th floor as the South Tower began to collapse. Burke, with the same bravery as Zelmanowitz, sacrificed his life to help others by telling his team to evacuate to safety while he stayed behind to try and help Zelmanowitz and Beyea. The three men would only make it as far down as the 21st floor, making phone calls to loved ones before their deaths.
This gold link bracelet belonged to Yvette Nicole Moreno. Bronx native Yvette Nicole Moreno was working as a receptionist at Carr Futures on the 92nd floor of the North Tower, after recently being promoted from a temporary position. After the North Tower was hit, she called her mother to let her know she was heading home. However, on her way out of the office she was struck by debris from the South Tower, dying at the young age of 24.
This baseball cap belonged to 22-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department, James Francis Lynch. At the time of the attacks, James was off duty and recovering from surgery, but felt the need to respond. He had previously responded to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He died at the age of 47 that day, and his body was not recovered until December 7, 2001.
This police badge belonged to John William Perry, a New York Police Department officer with the 40th Precinct and a N.Y. State Guard first lieutenant. He was another off-duty officer who responded to the attacks. He had plans to retire from the police force to pursue a career as a full-time lawyer. He was 38 years old.
On March 30, 2002 a firefighter working at Ground Zero found a bible fused to a piece of metal. The bible was open to a page with fragments of legible text reading “an eye for an eye” and “resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Watch this video to learn more about the bible.
1 / 10: The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
Sources
"Study Confirms 9/11 Impact on New York City Economy." The New York Times "September 11: nearly 10,000 people affected by 'cesspool of cancer.'" The Guardian. "Congress passes 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund extension championed by Jon Stewart." CNN.com The Encyclopedia of 9/11. New York Magazine. FAQ About 9/11. 9/11 Memorial. September 11th Terror Attacks Fast Facts. CNN. 9/11 Death Statistics. StatisticBrain.com.
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