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The 25th Commemoration of the 9/11 attacks: A Poignant Look Back at that Fateful Day and its Aftermath · That KEVIN Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: From the birthplace of radio's greatest era, now from New York,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: it's Radio Night Live with Kevin McCullough. Unlike anything else
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: on radio today, it's a front row seat for great
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: information with today's leading experts. Travel with a third generation
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: travel icon, Linda Perillo. The Fox News Medical All-Stars featuring Dr.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Mark Siegel, Dr. Marty McCary, Dr. Jeanette Nishwat, and the.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: OG, Dr.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Nicole Sapphire.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Legal analysis from former prosecutor and court journalism superstar Imran
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Ansari and Christine Nicholas, the quintessential heartbeat to New York hospitality.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: All joining legendary broadcast pro Kevin McCullough on a mission
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: unlike any other. United to bring back New York. Now,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: live from Studio 111, here's Kevin McCullough.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: All right, Kevin McCullough, glad to have you with us.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Thank you for being here. I don't know how often
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: it happens. I was trying to think this morning if
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: it had happened in the five years that we have
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: been together, Christine Nicholas, as we welcome people to Radio
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: Night Live. We normally dub this the Fun Friday. It's
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: hard to have the Fun Friday today. It just is.
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  Speaker 4: It's a serious day. Serious things happened. Things that I
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: will never forget. And I wasn't even a New Yorker
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  Speaker 4: at the time when it happened, though in my heart,
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  Speaker 4: I think all of America became New Yorkers for a
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  Speaker 4: good number of months following. But 25 years later, Christine Nicholas,
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  Speaker 4: you were in the thick of it. You were in
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  Speaker 4: the middle of it. What are your thoughts tonight?
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  Speaker 5: Well, it is a very somber day, Kevin. But, you know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: when you look, as I watched the ceremony this morning,
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  Speaker 5: one of the things I noticed more this year is
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  Speaker 5: the pairing of the readers of the names. And it was,
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: you know, they're all relatives. So they all have a
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  Speaker 5: connection to somebody that they lost. but it's usually an
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  Speaker 5: older person and a young person, not related, but it's really, um,
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  Speaker 5: I think important, um, that, and when I say young people,
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  Speaker 5: I mean, I think they're, they're five, some are five
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  Speaker 5: or six years old.
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  Speaker 3: I've seen in recent years, very poised.
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  Speaker 5: Very poised that they, you know, they took the time
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  Speaker 5: and they, they pronounce the names. It's really beautiful. But
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  Speaker 5: then they say a little something about their loved one. And,
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  Speaker 5: What's so important is they are the future. They are
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  Speaker 5: the ones that will carry this history. They will remember this.
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  Speaker 5: This is a big, big day for them because it's
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  Speaker 5: the first time that they're up there. And they will
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  Speaker 5: carry that for the next 80, 90 years, God willing,
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  Speaker 5: and keep the memory alive because we should obviously never forget.
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  Speaker 5: But as I was at a film preview this this week, um,
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: heroism and resiliency. And, um, Andy card, who was George
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: Bush's chief of staff was on the panel following the film,
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  Speaker 5: the man.
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  Speaker 4: Who whispered into his ear, just so people remember exactly
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: who he's the one that came when Bush was reading
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: to the young people and says in his ear, we're
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: under attack.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 5: And what he said is that he now, um, speaks
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  Speaker 5: at many colleges and there isn't, there isn't an event, uh, Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 5: where a college kid will get up and claim that
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  Speaker 5: this is in was an inside government hoax. And the
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: groans in the room, you know, of a packed house
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  Speaker 5: of many first responders. Gary Sinise was the narrator. So
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: many people were there from the Gary Sinise Foundation. And
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: it was just a depressing reality that he is out
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: in the field in these colleges and that generation. Many
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: think that this was an inside job. And he said,
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: the way I answer it is absolutely not. I want
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: to be very clear. It was not, and I'll tell
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: you how I know it wasn't, not only because he
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: was in the government, but he said the government would
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: never be able to pull it off without leaking it.
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  Speaker 5: So he, of course, you know, made light of it
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  Speaker 5: in some respects, but I think it's absolutely true. Having
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  Speaker 5: worked in government before, in the press office of both
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: the mayor's office, a congressional office, and then press secretary
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  Speaker 5: for President Bush. It's so true that if you were
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: to try to pull something like that off as a
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  Speaker 5: government hoax, it would take so much coordination that somebody
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  Speaker 5: would be bound to leak it. And so he kind
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  Speaker 5: of put that to rest. And as he's doing at
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: all of these college tours, I'm glad that he is.
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: And I'm glad he is. Because our voice.
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  Speaker 6: You know.
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  Speaker 4: You can't have people. And our current mayor has at
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: times been sympathetic towards, you know, urging those discussions forward.
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  Speaker 4: And you're like, you can't be the mayor of New
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: York City and be.
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  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 4: It's such a surreal day, Christine, that we're coming to
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  Speaker 4: this 25th anniversary. Because who would have thought that within
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  Speaker 4: one generation. we're at the point where the hoax accusations
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  Speaker 4: and a guy that kind of sympathize with the other
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  Speaker 4: side is now leading the city that was under attack.
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  Speaker 4: It's like, it's really difficult to comprehend that.
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  Speaker 5: Well, even governor Pataki, who was at a, I was
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: at a film preview and he was our guest last week.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 5: He, um, he said on, on this show, you can't
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  Speaker 5: have it both ways. You can't want as the mayor
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  Speaker 5: of New York city to be at the ceremony and, um,
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: you know, breathe with the families yet at the same time,
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: be buddy buddies with a guy who says that Americans
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: deserve nine 11, who, who is Hassan Piker, who is
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: one of the mayor's very good friends. And governor Pataki says,
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  Speaker 5: I don't know how he can do both. And he
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: should be asked that if you are, you know, planning
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  Speaker 5: on going down to the ceremony, which he did, how
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  Speaker 5: you need, you need to denounce that because otherwise your, your,
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  Speaker 5: You're lying to one group. And I think we know
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: what it is. He said it so poignantly, not only
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: on our show, but then also at the preview of
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: his film, which is really wonderful. It's about the rebuilding
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: of New York and how he was able to get
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: the Freedom Tower built when the the LMDC, the Lower
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: Manhattan Development Corporation was well on their way to picking
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: a different plan, which would have been horrible, absolutely horrible.
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: So he prevailed and Lower Manhattan has never been stronger.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, not only is it a, it's now again,
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: the place of commerce for the nation, but it's also
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: a vibrant 24-7 living community, you know, with schools and
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: you know, people, I would have never imagined people would
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: want to live in wall street, but they do. So
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: thanks to governor Pataki for bringing that all back.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Well, and, and to have the kind of memorial that
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: we do, that will not be easily discarded from history.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: Like you can knock over a statue, you can knock
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: down a building. It will never, there will never not
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: be a part of ground zero. That is what it
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: is because of the attacks. And we will be forced
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: with that memory, which I, I feel like it's a
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: really good thing. My daughter just yesterday was kind of
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: confronted with 9-11 in school for the first time. And
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: she had some anxiety about it. And we talked it
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: through and there was some good discussion about it. And
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  Speaker 4: I was able to kind of highlight the good things
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  Speaker 4: that people had done in response, even in the immediacy
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  Speaker 4: of the response. But we have to keep the seriousness
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: and the mindfulness of what happened there alive. so that
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: the future generations don't forget because freedom isn't free. I
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: was in the airport yesterday coming back from Nashville and
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: this woman that was in front of me in the
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  Speaker 4: security line, she could, where are you from? Well, we're
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: from the New York area. Um, she's like, Oh, tomorrow's
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: a big day. I said, yeah, it's the 25th anniversary.
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  Speaker 4: And she goes, well, freedom's never free. I said, never
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  Speaker 4: has been. And there are, there are things sometimes we
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: work ourselves into knots and discussions about, well, what are
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: you really willing to shed American blood for and spend
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: American lives for? Well, We've always, from the revolution forward,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: said there are some things worth dying for.
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  Speaker 2: And the.
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  Speaker 4: Knowledge, the experience, and the capacity that liberty gives us
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  Speaker 4: as freedom, I think is a godly virtue that people
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  Speaker 4: have given their lives for. And I would never besmirch
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: the service of those that have made that sacrifice so
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  Speaker 4: that we could have a free society to live in
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  Speaker 4: and to still experience, you know, all those things that
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  Speaker 4: our founders had for us. It's interesting that on the 250th,
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: it's the 25th. You know what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Well, folks, we have some special guests coming up.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: Really special.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: We have John Avalon. He was Mayor Giuliani's speechwriter on
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: 9-11 and following the months after. And then we also
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: have coming up, Jed Bernstein, who is the president of
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: the Broadway League, and how he can talk about how
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: we were able to get Broadway back and running after 9-11.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 4: Stay with us the rest of Radio Night Live straight ahead.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: From New York, it's Radio Night Live with Kevin McCullough.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Times Square studios for Radio Night Live.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Glad you're with us. It is September the 11th, 25
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  Speaker 4: years to the day. And Christine, it's already been an
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  Speaker 4: emotional night. And all we've talked about is our monologue
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: so far. But we've got some really special guests that
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: are going to remember this day with us. Why don't
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: you do the honors for our first one?
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: In fact... John Avalon is a dear friend. First time
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: on Radio Night Live, so we're welcoming John. John, as
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: you probably know, Kevin, is, you know, on CNN quite often.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: He's senior political analyst and anchor. He's also the editor-in-chief
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: of the Daily Beast. You know, so you see John
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: on CNN a lot, but what you may not know
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: is back on 9-11, John was Mir Giuliani's chief speechwriter
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: during the attacks. You probably When you see those photos
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: of Rudy Giuliani, you can sometimes see John was with him.
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: And it's remarkable when you say, well, you're a speechwriter
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: for a mayor, you know, so what does that actually
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: mean normally, John?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, just a regular mayor.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: And then what did it mean following 9-11?
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Christine. And thank you, Kevin. Two totally
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: different things, particularly in the case of Rudy. I mean,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Christine hired me more or less right out of college.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I was 27 when I became chief speechwriter. uh to
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: the mayor running that team and deputy communications director um
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: and and you know the mayor of new york in
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: particular is uh very busy doing multiple events a day
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: and i think it's fair to say particularly as a
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: former u.s attorney rudy would would riff off remarks for
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the most part um and um uh and we would
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: have a written communications but On 9-11, everything changed for
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: the city, for the nation, and certainly our jobs changed,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: myself and the rest of the speechwriting team, Owen Brennan,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Matt Lockwood, Mark Ribbing. And we were there that day,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: that morning, on the steps of City Hall when the
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: first tower collapsed. And then, you know, after the evacuation,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: worked out of the various temporary offices, first the police academy,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: then the pier, and then back to city hall, primarily
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: writing the eulogies for the 343 firefighters who were murdered
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: that day in the protection of the World Trade Center.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And then, of course, the police officers from the NYPD
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: and court authority. And that went on multiple funerals a
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: day for months, in addition to some of the major
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: speeches of the time when Rudy addressed the United Nations,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: for example, or the prayer for America service at Yankee Stadium.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: We'll get into a little bit. I want to talk
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: more about that, hear more about it. But walk us
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: through your day for 9-11 and what what speeches you
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: were planning on delivering to the mayor. But just walk
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: us through what your schedule was like on that day.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Well, we've been working most of the weekend through Monday
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: on starter revision, provision, things that became instantly irrelevant. I
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: remember there was a terrible rainstorm the night before. We
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: were saying goodbye to one of our colleagues, Alan Dobrin,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: who's been the Department of Information and Technology Commissioner there.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, September 11th, 2001, dawned a blue
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: sky day. And I was getting ready to go down
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: to City Hall for my apartment in Greenwich Village. And
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: then I heard this loud noise and I actually saw
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: the steel belly of the first plane fly over my
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: apartment window. And it, you know, it was low and
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: loud and there was... Nothing, you know, no frame of
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: reference could explain it. I think all of us assumed
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: that it had to be an accident. And there was
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: only one precedent, which is that the Empire State Building
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: had been hit in the late 1940s by a B-bomber
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: in heavy fog, which was a blue sky day. But
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: it was incomprehensible that it could be attacked at that time.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Of course, once the second plane attacked, it was clear
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: that America was under attack. I walked down 6th Avenue
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: as people were walking up from Lower Manhattan. The towers
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: had not yet collapsed, and there was sort of this
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: quicksilver sheen around the impact zone. And I remember passing
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: a playground on the corner of Houston and 6th and
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: watching the kids play as the teachers looked up. But
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: there was no concept that the towers would collapse. Came
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: down the city hall, got through the gates. Christina, I
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: remember seeing you in the press office that morning. And
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I remember thinking that the day's newspapers, which always piled
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: high on press office desks, were instantly irrelevant. They were
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: news from another century. We were clustered on the steps
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: of city hall when the first tower fell. And it
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: was unimaginable. I remember It was a 2.4 on the
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Richter scale. It was like a earthquake in lower Manhattan.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: You could hear the sigh and the screams and the
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: shock and the plume of smoke, not plume, waves of
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: dirt and dust and smoke rolling towards us three blocks
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: away at City Hall. And then you could hear the
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: patter of debris on the roof as we rushed inside.
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I remember the dust from the chandelier, which is
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: in City Hall. was falling it was just uh things
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: that you just weird things that you remember like that
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: um but i remember standing on the steps of uh
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: city hall and um when the big dust ball came
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: the rumble i i actually i remember being with jd
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: dapper who at the time i believe was with wabc
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: and we um thought it was a nuclear bomb because
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: it had that plume like a mushroom cloud and And
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: it came rolling up Broadway and it covered us. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: we prayed together, thinking that it was going to be,
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: you know, hot and toxic. What you learn, you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: the duck and cover. And we held hands and prayed.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: And we realized that our skin was not burning off.
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: And he then ran down to the tower. And I
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: was instructed to run or to evacuate north. at that
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: point outside city hall park but what a day um
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: and uh the fact that you were the eyewitness to
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: it and then able to bring that into um that
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: shared experience with the man that you were writing speeches
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: for i don't know how anybody else would have been
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: able to write speeches if you hadn't had that but
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: didn't did you you met up with him later that
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: day is that correct.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. After the first and then the second
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: tower fell, we evacuated City Hall with the senior staff
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: and members of my team. And it was a literal
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: fog of war in lower Manhattan. I remember initially we
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: were under the impression that Tommy Von Essen, the fire commissioner,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: had been killed as well. He survived. although the fire
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: department lost half its historic total that day. There had
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: been roughly 700 members of the fire department killed in
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: the line of duty up until that point. And then
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: in one moment, we lost 343. We evacuated through the dust.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: I was with Beth Hatton, who is a dear friend
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: of all of ours, whose husband, Terry Hatton, was captain
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: of Rescue 1. And I was with her when the
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: second tower fell, and she instinctively knew that her husband,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: who would always report with his team definitionally for the
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: most dangerous duties, had died. And I remember trying to
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: console her. And then I evacuated with Beth and other
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: members of the team, and we were in a van.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: And we met up with Rudy at a fire station
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: on 6th Avenue and Houston Street, right around King Street.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: which many of you might know, which I had passed
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: hours before. And we met up with Rudy there. And
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: then we didn't have a concrete plan of where we
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: would reassemble. So we made ten other plans to come
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: up to Gracie Mansion. That's where we met. We figured
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: it would be outside. John, hold the story right there.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: Hold the story right there.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: We've got to take a break.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: But coming right back, John Avalon with us. award-winning journalist,
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: but eyewitness to all things on 9-11.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Don't go anywhere.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: And now, from New York, back to Radio Night Live,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: here's Kevin McCullough.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: Welcome back.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: It is the opposite of a fun Friday on a
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: day like today, the 25th commemoration. I refuse to use
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: the word anniversary or celebration or anything like that. It
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: is a somber moment that we are seeking to remember
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: for somber reasons, lessons, hopefully, that we will learn. to
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: help us as a nation go forward. It is Radio
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Night Live. She's Christine Nicholas. I'm Kevin McCullough. John Avalon
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: is with us. John, all these weeks and years in
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: the business since then, and I had gotten my first
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: talk show on September 10th and put in an 18-hour
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: day on September 11th. trying to make sense for listeners
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: what was going on. But I don't think any of
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: us really knew how to make sense of any of
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: it for quite some time. But I'm curious, as someone
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: who's now been in part of the journalism news sector
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: for the last 25 years watching Sense, what are some
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: takeaways for you as to what we've lost or learned
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: or forgotten or need to be reminded of again? What
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: are the big takeaways for John Avalon?
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Sure, Kevin. You know, and I have done every year,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: I write either a column or I've done a television commentary,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: because I think it's vital we don't forget. And I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: think there's a danger of 9-11 amnesia, the rewriting of history,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: some people will try to rationalize the attacks, and I
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: reject that utterly. I think the first thing we lost
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: was that moment of national unity, which we had, which
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: was profound, and international solidarity. Article 5 of NATO being
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: invoked immediately. And that's something we need to gain back,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: that powerful national unity that we squandered in part because
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: of the politicization of the memory of 9-11 by some
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: folks on the right and the left. pushing their own agendas.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: I think the war in Iraq muddied the moral clarity
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: of the mission of bringing bin Laden to justice. But
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: for me, it's how we remember, it's how we teach it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: And it's surreal that my children now are learning about
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: 9-11 in school and I was reading one of their assignments.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: And I think the thing we need to keep clear
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: is that the defining image for me and I think
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: for us, should not just even be the towers coming down.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I think that's pornography of violence. I think it's the
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: memory of the firefighters and police officers and civilians who
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: ran into the fire and up the stairs to save
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: their fellow citizens. This is a moment to remember not
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: just their loss, but their courage, their physical and moral courage.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: And to remember the best of what we briefly rediscovered.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, the city's response to being attacked was that
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: of a civil society. We bonded together. We put all
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: our differences aside because they were small in comparison to
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: what unites us. And we did meet the worst of
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: humanity with the best of humanity that day and in
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: the days after that. And that's what I'd like us
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: to remember. That's what we need to remember to reunite
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: as a nation.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: It's interesting you brought up your children because last night, yesterday,
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: was the first day I think my 11-year-old had been
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: in class, in school, confronted with some 9-11 stuff. And
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: she had some anxiety about it. And as someone who
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: did not live through it, has not been forced to
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: recognize it, and we've always tried to protect her to
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: some level, it was a good first conversation for us
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: to have about the very things you just talked about.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: The FDNY, the NYPD. the cooperation of the different leaders
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: that were involved, but also people like the 40 passengers
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: on Flight 93. And in many ways, those FDNY, those NYPD,
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: those passengers, they were the first to call to action
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: to defend our country and to be... face this challenge
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: with heroism, with bravery. And they responded.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: To the call.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: They did. And I think that's one of the other
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: big takeaways for me is that 9-11 taught us that
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you don't have to be perfect to be here. You
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: just have to do the right thing when it matters most.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: And for most folks, that's instinctive in the same way
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: that the people on the planes and the calls we've
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: heard recorded There are messages of love even in the
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: face of the horror they were facing. It's the expression
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: of love, of rushing into a fire to save your
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: fellow citizens, even when you don't know their names. That's
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: the spirit of 9-11. We need to remember and teach
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: our children.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: You know, John, you mentioned that. I was at the
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: preview of Heroism and Resilience. It's a new film. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: Gary Sinise is the narrator. And Andy Carr, who's the
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: chief of staff, was the chief of staff to President Bush.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: And when he was asked on the panel, you know,
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: what it was like and what are his thoughts, he
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: said that love prevails. Like he listened to every single
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: phone call on the, you know, on the flights. And
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: everybody had a chance to say that to their loved one,
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: I love you. And he just said it was the
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: same thing over and over how much love Americans have.
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: And he said, we could just keep that in mind.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: But this film, I urge you all to, it's streaming.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: It's called Terrorism and Resiliency. And it's about 9-12 and
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: how America came together. And it goes through all of
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: the four planes and the devastation, but then how we
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: rebuilt ourselves and our nation. And it was a bright
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: day after the darkest, so. Thank you so much, John.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: We appreciate you being with us. And God bless you.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: And we really appreciate your work.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Coming right back from New York.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: Don't go away.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: What a little moonlight can do.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: It's Radio Night Live. Here's Kevin McCullough.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Welcome back.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: It's Radio Night Live, 25 years after the fact of 9-11.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: And as Christine and I have already been talking on
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: tonight's show, none of us will forget where we were,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: the moments that it happened. Christine, I made a point
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: of saying on my national show earlier today that seeing
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: the second plane fly in, live was exactly what the
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: terrorists wanted us to do. They crashed the first plane
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: with the intent of the second plane being the one
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: that the national media grabbed. And it's one of those
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: things where you look back and you go, man, we
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: wish we'd known so much different than what we did.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: And that's why it's important for us to take tonight
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: and to remember and to not ever, ever forget what
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: we've been through. Why don't you introduce our next guest?
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: Right, Kevin. Our next guest is not a stranger to
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Radio Night Live. He joined us when we were commemorating
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: 9-11 five years ago for the 20th. Jed Bernstein, at
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: the time of 9-11, was the president of the Broadway League,
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: which is the trade association that handles all things Broadway.
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: Very important, powerful position. Broadway would not be what it
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: is without the Broadway League. Jed is still in the
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: theater world. He is the president of Above the Title
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Entertainment Productions. But Jed Bernstein was with me, Kevin, on
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: September 12th. We were together at a meeting that Mayor
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Giuliani assembled of all of the city leaders. And he
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: counted on Jed to make sure that Broadway would reopen
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: in a timely fashion. But Jed, we never really talked
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: about where you were on 9-11. So just tell us.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: what you remember of that and where you were.
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: I was, uh, at a breakfast meeting in the theater
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: district and the, um, manager of the restaurant came over
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: and said, uh, a plane has just hit the world
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: trade center. And I remember, you know, the stories my
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: parents told me when I was a child about, uh,
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: you know, a plane flew into the empire state building
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: by accident. And so that's really what I thought happened. And, um,
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: I went upstairs to my office after breakfast and the
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: whole team at the league were all sitting in the
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: conference room watching. And I arrived just as the second
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: plane crashed. And then, of course, it became clear that
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: this was no accident.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: So, Jed, you know, walk us through how you were
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: able to bring Broadway back. And the call that I
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: made to you that you needed to be at a
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: meeting with me in the morning. And we should be
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: prepared to figure out when Broadway could open. But tell
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: us your recollections because, you know, mine is from my perspective.
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: Well, the mayor gathered a meeting the next day on
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: the 12th with a lot of business leaders. The head
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: of the New York Stock Exchange, Dick Grasso, and Christine
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: was running NYC and Company then and myself. And it
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: was clear that we had already moved from rescue into recovery,
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: and the mayor was very focused on what comes next.
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: And his strategy, which was really pretty clever, was that
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: for New York to survive and to rebuild, we had
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: to project to the rest of the world that we
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: were not going to let this overcome us.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Us and our efforts.
• 29:17
  Speaker 6: And so he turned to Dick Grasso and asked when
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: the Stock Exchange could be reopened. And Dick said, well,
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: we have no electricity, but if you can get us electricity,
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: I think we can reopen by Friday. And I think
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: he made that deadline. I don't remember exactly.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: And then he turned to me and said, well, when
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: can you get Broadway open?
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: And I said, well, uh, the biggest problem is that
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: so many of our workers live outside the city. And the,
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: if you all remember the transit system was down, the
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: tunnels were closed, uh, the bridges were closed. And, uh,
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: I said, if we can get the workers in, uh,
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: we can reopen. And, uh, he turned to one of
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: the deputy mayors and said, um, I'd like you to,
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: I want you to call the Port Authority and tell
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: them that if anybody shows their Broadway Union card, they
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: are to be let in. And I said, OK, well,
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: today's Wednesday. We can open tomorrow night.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: And we did. Thursday the 13th.
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: I remember Joe Spinato, I believe from the Hotel Association,
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: was asked after us when the hotels are, you know,
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: what will the hotels be able to do? And I
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: wanted to listen to that answer, Kevin, you know, because
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: I was the head of NYC and company and Rudy interrupted.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: And I think you said, Jed, Christine, don't you have
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: some place to be if you want to get those
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: theaters open tomorrow? And so we kind of like sulked
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: out embarrassingly, like tried to tiptoe. There was silence in
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: the room. Yeah. And then we headed uptown and Jed
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: was able to put together a meeting. I forget which
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: which theater did we meet with all of those union leaders?
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I think we met at the league, actually.
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: I can remember them being all around the table at
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: the conference room at the league later that afternoon.
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: I do remember meeting at a theater, though, with the
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: ghost light.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, in the evening, yes.
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you told me that I'd have to say
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: a few words, and I can just remember my legs
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: shaking because there wasn't even, like, a podium to hide
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: behind the way I could at City Hall. It was
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: just like, here's a mic.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, my gosh.
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: So I had profound respect, even more so, for Broadway
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: actors and politicians, for that matter, to be able to
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: be put on the spot like that because not all
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: of the union... Folks were all gung-ho about getting to
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: work the next day or the confidence that they'd be
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: able to perform in front of what would probably be
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: half-filled theaters. But we managed it, Jed.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: People were terrified.
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: They were scared that there'd be more attacks.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: And they were sad. It was not a.
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: It was a double paralysis of what you just described.
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: It was the fear of what might still happen, but
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: the enormous fear. pain of the loss that we were,
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: it was, it was, it was a shock to the system.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: And I'm not sure that we came out of it
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: for weeks, you know, emotionally. Um, but it was one
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: of those things where, and just to hear the two
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: of you talk, and it's fun to just sit and
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: listen to you guys talk about this because there was
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: an obvious kind of laser focus that the mayor had
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: about how to get the city to begin to heal
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: from it. And it started the day of the attack.
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: And you guys were part of that solution, but it was, it's,
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: it's interesting to see how much focus he had on
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: what the city needed to do to begin its immediate recovery.
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: It was a time when, um, New York was so together.
• 32:39
  Speaker 6: Nobody said no to anything. You remember that famous commercial
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: with all the Broadway people in the middle of Times Square. And, uh,
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: we didn't, the press, we must've had 200 press people and, uh,
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: there was no place for them to stand.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: It was in the middle of Times Square. There was traffic.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: And so we called, Christine called Coach, and they sent buses.
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: And the photographers all stood on the top deck of
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: the bus.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Everybody helped each other.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Great time.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: Well, thanks for sharing your memories tonight, Jed.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: We appreciate it.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: We've got to come right back. Final few minutes of
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: Radio Night Live straight ahead.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Thank you, guys.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Once again, from New York, here's Radio Night Live and
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Kevin McCullough.
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: All right, welcome back to Radio Night Live. Real quickly, Christine,
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: every year in my broadcast, I replay a production that
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: we first made on 9-11, the day that I was
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: on the air for 18 hours. But what you're about
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: to hear is all actual clips as they came across
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: the wires in real time as the day played out.
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: And this is the way. We say goodbye tonight, but
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: I guess there is one big tip you want to
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: give everybody.
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: Well, yes, we usually do tourism tips at the end
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: of each show, but my tip tonight would be to
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: never forget, to remember, take this weekend to reflect not
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: only the loss that we had, but also how we
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: all came together on 9-12.
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: It's absolutely an appalling day, not only here in Manhattan,
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: but also in Washington, where the Pentagon also was apparently
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: the subject of a strike by one of these hijacked.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Airliners, flying bombs, really.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: The Pentagon still very much on fire.
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: The damage there perhaps not as severe as it is
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: at the World Trade Center, but clearly America is under attack.
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: It's not easy trying to understand How.
• 34:35
  Speaker 8: The world can be so cold, stealing the souls of men.
• 34:41
  Speaker 8: Let the skies rain down on all your dreams.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: You wrestle with the fear and doubt.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard, but.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: You gotta believe. There's a better.
• 34:55
  Speaker 8: Place where I'll find the way.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: And every tear, he'll wipe away.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: The darkness will be gone.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: The reach.
• 35:15
  Speaker 8: Our police department, our fire department, and our emergency people
• 35:22
  Speaker 8: are being stretched to the limit.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we've also lost a significant.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Number of them.
• 35:31
  Speaker 8: Many of the important institutions here in Chicago shut down
• 35:38
  Speaker 8: as a result of the United.
• 35:42
  Speaker 7: States terrorist acts that have occurred. The victims were in
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: airplanes or in their offices, secretaries, businessmen, women, military and
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: You prepare for the worst, but you don't believe it'll happen.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: And this is the worst.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: The voices of.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Earth with the angels will sing.
• 36:13
  Speaker 8: Every knee will bow.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: Sin will.
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: Have no trace.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: And the glory of his amazing grace.
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: Across the way, the construction workers just hung their signs outside.
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: God bless America and pray for families and victims.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: Than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: Even though I walk
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: Through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear
• 37:08
  Speaker 7: no evil, for you are with me.