Bush, Rice reflect on 9/11 decisions at 25th anniversary event

Former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly reflected on their memories and decisions during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at a 25th-anniversary event held at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. The event, titled "A Legacy of Service: America at the 25th Anniversary of 9/11," marked Bush's only public remarks on the attacks this year. Bush recalled the moment he was informed of the second World Trade Center attack while reading to schoolchildren in Florida. "America is now under attack. I didn't have much time to process that, but it was pretty clear to me that if we were under attack, then my job was to defend the child that was reading to me, and her family, and her country," he said. Rice, who served as National Security Advisor at the time, shared that she raised her voice at Bush during a phone call that day. "I did something I would never do again. I raised my voice to you because you said, 'I'm coming back.' And I said, 'Stay where you are. The United States of America is under attack. It's not safe here,'" she recounted. Bush described his decision to return to Washington, D.C.