September 11, 2001 was a turning point in U.S., world history, and local history, marking a clear before and after.
The day and weeks before had been largely ordinary.
Alongside recipes, the weekly doctor’s column and “All Around Town” by Judy Vollrath, the Owen Enterprise from fall 2001 reported largely routine items in the weeks leading up to September 11. Among news items were reports that fall sports had started, the new CreekSide Convenience store was open, and three new teachers (Theresa Anderson, Brian Lewison, and Wayne Lubke) had just come to Owen-Withee High School. Wedding and engagements were also announced, while the Holy Rosary Summerfest was reported to have enjoyed “another successful year,” and the overpass at Curtiss was finally approaching completion.
On a national level meanwhile, the United States of September 10, 2001 and before had just been through a contentious presidential election and vote recount less than a year earlier. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore had stopped a paper ballot recount in Florida after what some called confusing paper ballots resulted in “undervotes” and partially punched paper ballots with statistically unlikely choices in specific Florida counties. The Court’s decision to stop the recount had meant that George W. Bush clinched Florida and the presidency by just 537 votes, losing the popular vote but winning the Electoral College.
Bush had campaigned on a domestic agenda that was education focused, with September 10 finding him in Jacksonville and Sarasota as he promoted education reform.
At the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had just given a major speech on reforming the military bureaucracy, following news that the Department could not reliably track $2.3 trillion in transactions. At New York City on September 10, the Dow Jones closed the day at 9,606, while the Nasdaq was around 1,695.
Internationally, news out of Afghanistan reported the assassination on September 9 in Afghanistan of Ahmad Shah Massoud, by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers posing as television journalists. Massoud was the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, former Afghan defense minister and a Sunni Muslim, warning the European Parliament at Brussels in April 2001 that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were planning a large-scale terrorist attack outside Afghanistan. The Taliban government that harbored Al-Qaeda and its terrorist training camps meanwhile had emerged from a student cleric movement in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. Just that past spring, the Afghan government had dynamited giant statues in Bamiyan dating to the area’s Buddhist past, deemed idolatrous by Taliban leadership.
Massoud, a leading anti-Taliban figure in a poor country that was engaged in civil war, was largely ignored in his warnings before the attacks in the U.S.
Come September 11, that all changed.
The Owen Enterprise, then published weekly by Mark Renderman and edited by Judy Vollrath, was able to get a short story on the top front page of the Wednesday, September 12 issue:
“September 11, America’s Second Pearl Harbor!” the headline read.
A short article summed up what had just happened the day before.
“Tuesday, September, 11, 2001, has been called a day that will go down in infamy, comparing the tragic events to Pearl Harbor.
“Two hijacked, domestic airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a rural field outside of Pittsburgh.”
The article went on to report celebrations in Palestine, then engaged in the Second Intifada with Israel, while the U.S. military was said to be on heightened alert. The National Aerospace System, or NAS, was closed to civilian air traffic across the United States, while trading was cancelled on Wall Street, not reopening until September 17, six days later.
Sympathy poured in from places like Canada and Russia, with newly minted Russian President Vladimir Putin, then in his first term, declaring a moment of silence at 12 noon to honor the victims and support the U.S. The European Union followed suit with its own display of support, adopting an action plan September 21 for the fight against terrorism. NATO’s Article 5 was invoked, leading to a joint war effort in Afghanistan.
It would later be determined that a total of 2,977 victims had died in the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda on U.S. soil, along with the 19 hijackers. The count included 343 New York firefighters, 71 law enforcement officers, and 55 military personnel at the Pentagon. This would later rise in years to come, with dust breathed in at Ground Zero causing health problems that grew the death toll.
In the U.S. patriotism surged, with people lining up to donate blood and support those in Washington D.C. and New York. Airports nationwide were closed, along with some post offices and shopping malls. Schools were open, while prayer services were being planned “as the nation comes together for comfort and solidarity.” A prayer service was planned locally on Wednesday, September 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Nazareth Lutheran in Withee, with all welcome.
People gave blood, local gas prices temporarily spiked—reportedly from miscommunication—and people started writing letters to the editor, ranging from declarations that the acts were “evil” and “unholy,” to “an open letter to a terrorist,” in which the author penned a statement of U.S. resilience, to one months later and post invasion of Afghanistan in which a reader with a Withee address called on people to “allow the Lord to be judge of right or wrong - not man.” Still another weeks later called on the importance of instilling good values in the youth as crucial to a strong country.
Writing a week after the attacks on September 19, then Mayor Tim Swiggum penned a front page column entitled, “A Message from Mayor Swiggum,” in which he assessed the situation.
“In the aftermath of September eleventh’s tragic attack, we are left with an empty and uncertain feeling,” he wrote. “What will life be like in the future?” Saying that “we have lived without fear of disaster of human or natural origin” Swiggum asked. “How long until we can feel completely safe again?” The nation was preparing for a war on terror, while the larger government had urged people to get back to their normal lives. “This will not be easy as ‘normal’ then and ‘normal’ now seem worlds apart,” Swiggum wrote. The outpouring of support in New York had brought a burst of hope for humanity, with hope that the example set could inspire all to do what they could to help neighbors in need.
“Out of tragedy comes a new strength and unity for the whole country,” Swiggum wrote. “Let us learn the lessons we can from this and move onward towards a more compassionate and united future.”
Nine days later President Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, paying tribute to heroes like Todd Beamer of Flight 93 while making demands on the Taliban government harboring Al-Qaeda.
Speaking at 9 p.m. from the U.S. House chamber to a united Congress and nation, Bush demanded that Taliban leaders hand over Al-Qaeda leaders to the United States or share in their fate, adding that “these demands are not open for discussion or debate.” Bush also nominated Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge for a newly proposed Department of Homeland Security, which would seek to close security gaps and increase intelligence sharing among agencies like the CIA and FBI.
Bush then declared the start of a global War on Terror, stating that “our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there.” He said that every nation of the world had a decision to make, and that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
“We are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom,” he said. “Our grief has turned to anger and our anger to resolution.”
The time before September 11 was over, The time after, had begun.