2026年9月6日 / 美国东部时间上午9:39 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
2001年9月11日，一个晴朗的周二，乔治·W·布什总统抵达佛罗里达州萨拉索塔的艾玛·E·布克小学，为阅读成绩的大幅提升开展庆祝活动。凯·丹尼尔斯老师班上的二年级学生们都热切地想要见到总统。“那天的开端美好极了，”丹尼尔斯说道，“妈妈们都给孩子们梳了头发，校服也熨得平整，每个人都兴奋不已。”
她表示，布什总统“态度轻松，也很平易近人。”
2001年9月11日周二上午，乔治·W·布什总统在佛罗里达州萨拉索塔的艾玛·E·布克小学参与阅读展示活动。埃里克·德雷珀 供图，乔治·W·布什总统图书馆/盖蒂图片社
孩子们正要给总统朗读时，现场的氛围开始变得异样。正如丹尼尔斯回忆的那样：“卡德先生走过来，凑到总统耳边低声说了些什么，我整个人都僵住了，因为我知道，这种情况本不该发生。”
随后，总统的神态发生了变化。“他离开了我们一会儿，”丹尼尔斯说，“不是身体上离开，但我能感觉到他心神不宁了片刻，不过他很快又回来了。我当时在想，刚才那一会儿到底发生了什么？”
总统又继续朗读了指定读物《宠物山羊》几分钟——随后向全国发表了简短讲话，并未透露太多细节：“今天，我们遭遇了一起全国性悲剧。两架飞机撞上了世界贸易中心，这显然是针对我国的恐怖袭击。”
丹尼尔斯说：“那一幕我永远都不会忘记，因为它已经成了我生命的一部分。就像呼吸一样自然，那天的记忆也刻在了我的骨子里。我永远都不会忘记。”
布什的幕僚长安迪·卡德如今已经79岁，同样也无法忘却那一天。尽管他已经25年没有踏入过这间教室，但在一次回访中，所有记忆都涌上心头。“那天我暗自告诉自己，一定要保持冷静、沉稳，协助好总统，”卡德说道，“那么，到底该告诉他什么？我决定只说两个事实，再加上一条显而易见的评论：第二架飞机撞上了第二座塔楼，美国正遭遇袭击。当时我一直在祈祷，总统千万不要在那些二年级学生面前表现出任何恐惧。”
他确实做到了，但这一行为后来遭到批评，被指显得优柔寡断。
“如果有人认为他当时做得不对，我会感到不快，”卡德说，“因为如果他做得不对，那也是我的失误。所以我愿意承担责任。当时我们完全不知道现场到底发生了什么。但我确实认为，那一刻让他明白了作为总统真正的职责所在。”
那天早上，往返于总统身边的信息流混乱不堪。像我这样的记者们都在拼命搜寻零星信息，为直播报道做准备。
当被问及是否感到害怕时，卡德回答：“我有过恐惧。但我不确定自己是否会用‘害怕’这个词来形容。当时我满脑子只有任务。”
卡德凑到总统耳边低语的画面，如今已成了美国历史转折点的永恒象征。
2001年9月11日，在佛罗里达州萨拉索塔的艾玛·E·布克小学访问期间，白宫幕僚长安德鲁·卡德凑到乔治·W·布什总统耳边，告知他一架飞机撞上世界贸易中心的消息。道格·米尔斯/美联社
“那张照片成为了标志性的时代印记，却把我也拍了进去，这让我有些愧疚，”卡德说道，“因为我根本算不上什么标志性人物。我只是尽力协助总统完成工作。我相信，有成千上万的美国人都会挺身而出，像我当时那样协助总统做正确的事。我的问心无愧，但我也清楚，或许有些事我并没有处理好。”
今年春天，卡德和丹尼尔斯在布克小学举办的纪念活动上重逢，这是9·11事件以来两人第一次见面。
今年早些时候，凯·丹尼尔斯和安德鲁·卡德在布克小学的纪念仪式上重逢。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
对于那些亲身经历过灾难的人来说，9·11事件承载着一项神圣的责任：永不忘记。这是9·11纪念活动的主旨，也是向那些尚未记事的年轻一代讲述历史的使命。
如今，这项使命的一部分包括一根从世界贸易中心南塔回收的钢梁，它正在全国巡展，以纪念9·11事件25周年。这根钢梁长约22英尺，重17000磅，直观地展现了那场破坏的惨烈程度和损失的沉重——这种沉重，没有人比小斯蒂芬·西勒体会得更深。他的父亲斯蒂芬是纽约市消防员，9·11当天本在休假，听到求救警报后立刻赶回岗位。
“于是他抓起装备，扔进卡车里，开车前往布鲁克林 Battery 隧道，”西勒说道，“但到了那里，隧道已经关闭了。所以他背上装备，徒步跑向世界贸易中心，最终在那里牺牲了。”
西勒带着这根钢梁巡展全国，以纪念他的父亲，这也是他为“隧道至塔楼基金会”所做工作的一部分。“我们希望人们能够走到这根钢梁前，”他说，“希望人们能在它面前祈祷。我父亲的遗体从未被找到。他的精神，早已和这根钢梁融为一体。”
小斯蒂芬·西勒在布克小学展示的世界贸易中心钢梁前讲述往事。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
当被问及想让那些没有亲身经历过9·11事件的年轻美国人了解什么时，西勒回答：“其实我也是其中一员。9·11当天我才九个月大，所以我完全理解，在对当天发生的事情缺乏深刻认知的环境中长大是什么感觉。”
卡德则表示：“如今25岁左右的年轻人，并不清楚我们曾承诺过永远铭记的是什么。我觉得自己有义务把这个故事讲下去。”
Remembering 9/11: Andrew Card on the moment everything changed
September 6, 2026 / 9:39 AM EDT / CBS News
President George W. Bush arrived at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., on a clear September Tuesday in 2001 to celebrate a surge in reading scores. Teacher Kay Daniels’ second-graders were eager to meet him. “It was a beautiful start of the day,” Daniels said. “Moms had done hairs, and uniforms were pressed, and everybody was excited.”
President Bush, she said, “was light, and he was approachable.”
President George W. Bush participates in a reading demonstration the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla. Eric Draper, courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library/Getty Images
The children were about to read to the president when the light began to turn. As Daniels recalled, “Mr. Card came up and whispered in the president’s ear, and my whole being just froze, because I knew that was not supposed to happen.”
And then something happened to the president’s attitude. “He left us for a moment,” said Daniels. “Not physically, but I could tell he left us for a moment, but he came back. And I’m wondering, what was that moment about?”
The president read the assigned book, “The Pet Goat,” for a few moments – then briefly addressed the nation with few hard facts: “Today, we’ve had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”
Daniels said, “That is a part of me that will never go away, because it’s a part of me. Just like breathing is a part of me, that day is a part of me. I’ll never forget it.”
Bush’s chief of staff, Andy Card, now 79, can never forget, either. Though it had been 25 years since he was inside the classroom, it all came flooding back on a return visit. “That day I promised myself I was going to be cool, calm, and collected, and help the president,” Card said. “So, what do you tell him? I decided I would tell him two facts and make one obvious editorial comment. A second plane hit the second tower; America is under attack. And I was praying that the president did nothing to demonstrate fear to those second-graders.”
He didn’t, prompting later criticism for appearing indecisive.
“I’m offended if people think he was doing it wrong,” Card said, “because if he was doing it wrong, I had done it wrong. So, I’ll take the blame. We didn’t know much about what was going on at all. I do think it was the moment that he realized what the real job of being president was.”
The flow of information that morning to and from the president was jumbled. Reporters like me scrambled for scraps of facts as we prepared for live reports.
Asked if he’d felt afraid, Card replied, “I had fear. I’m not sure that I would call myself afraid. I felt very mission-driven.”
Card’s whisper to the president is now an enduring image of a moment America changed.
White House chief of staff Andrew Card whispers into the ear of President George W. Bush to give him word of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, during a visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., Sept. 11, 2001. Doug Mills/AP
“I feel guilty that that photograph, which is iconic and defines an era, includes me,” Card said. “Because I’m not iconic at all. I tried to help a president do a job. I’m sure there are millions of Americans that would stand up and do the same thing that I did that would help the president do the right thing. My conscience is clear, but I also know maybe I didn’t do some things right.”
This past spring, Card and Daniels reunited for the first time since 9/11 at a commemoration held at Booker Elementary.
Earlier this year, Kay Daniels and Andrew Card reunited for a ceremony at Booker Elementary School. CBS News
For those who suffered up-close, 9/11 carries a sacred obligation: Never forget. It’s the anthem of 9/11, and a mission to educate those too young to know.
Part of that mission now includes a steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center, on a nationwide tour marking 25 years. The steel, roughly 22 feet long and weighing 17,000 pounds, conveys the enormity of destruction, and the gravity of loss – a loss few know better than Stephen Siller, Jr. His father, Stephen, a New York City firefighter, was off-duty when he heard the distress call on 9/11.
“So, he grabbed his gear, threw it in his truck, and drove to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel,” said Siller. “When he got there, it was shut down. So, he grabbed his gear, put it on his back and ran to the World Trade Center, where he ultimately lost his life.”
Siller travels the country with the steel truck to honor his father, part of his work with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. “We want people to go up to it,” he said. “We want people to pray over it. My father’s body was never recovered. Who he is, is ingrained into that steel.”
Stephen Stiller Jr. discusses the steel girder from the World Trade Center displayed at Booker Elementary School. CBS News
Asked what he wants younger Americans who have no living memory of 9/11 to know, Siller replied, “Well, I’m one of them. I was nine months old on September 11th, so I completely understand growing up without the depth of knowledge of what occurred that day.”
Card said, “People that are 25 today don’t know what it is that we promised never to forget. I feel an obligation to tell the story.”
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