https://web.archive.org/web/20181203035817/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bush-learns-of-attack-on-world-trade-center

On the morning of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush is en route to a visit with schoolchildren in Florida when he receives word that a passenger jet had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Within an hour of this first report, Bush was reading along with children in a classroom when he was informed that a second airliner had crashed into a second tower.

Earlier that morning, Bush had received a scheduled security briefing and learned that there was a heightened but non-specific threat of a terrorist attack that day. Warned but undeterred, he continued with a pre-arranged trip to visit Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, to promote a new education bill. On the way from his hotel to the school, aides passed word to the president’s car in the motorcade that a passenger jet had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 am EST. Bush initially thought, as he later told a reporter, that the crash was the result of a terrible accident or pilot error. Bush arrived at the school shortly after the initial report and was waiting in an empty classroom at Booker Elementary with his Secret Service detail when the earliest news footage of the first plane crashing into the tower played on the school’s television screens. Just moments before the second plane hit, Bush was whisked into the classroom where he proceeded to meet with a group of first graders.

Video cameras were filming Bush’s school visit when White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card slipped into the room at 9:06 a.m. and whispered in the president’s ear that the World Trade Center had been hit by a second airplane and that the nation was under attack by an unknown entity. Bush appeared momentarily stricken, yet maintained his composure and continued to listen to the children read aloud for an additional eight to nine minutes. Bush explained in a White House press conference a week later that his reaction that fateful morning was one of slowly comprehending shock: “I’m sitting in the midst of a classroom with little kids, listening to a children’s story and I realize I’m the Commander in Chief and the country has just come under attack.” At the end of the story, Bush commended the children on their reading skills and encouraged them to continue to read more and to watch less television. He then posed for photos with the children, their teacher and school administrators. Under bright lights, while cameras clicked and whirred, a reporter could be heard asking the president if he was aware of the attacks. Not wishing to frighten the children, Bush replied tersely, “I’ll talk about it later.”

After the photo opportunity, Bush was escorted into an empty classroom, where he watched updated news reports of the attacks and consulted with Vice President Dick Cheney and New York Governor George Pataki by phone. Still on the school grounds at 9:29 a.m., Bush made his first of several live announcements that day regarding the unfolding tragedy. Secret Service agents then rushed Bush to Air Force One, which was waiting on the tarmac at Sarasota’s airport. On his way to the airport, Bush heard about a third attack, this time on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Once aboard Air Force One, the plane’s pilot flew in circles at cruising altitude while Bush and Vice President Cheney discussed via phone where the president would be safest. The presidential plane stopped briefly at an air base in Louisiana before proceeding to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Bush did not remain away from the capital for long: by 6:42 p.m., he was back in Washington.

Obviously that was one of my unknown unknowns.
That also demonstrates how much our opinions are based on only selected portions of the facts (and some people have selected portions of fantasy).

Bonus video: Bush reaction to 9/11 (Full Classroom Footage)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suB5wNSNBjs

..and it was reprehensible of the Democrats and media to chastise him for it.
Imagine the alternative headlines for Clinton, Obama, or now Biden, also in either case: they would have been 180 degrees different.

Pfui.

Good point.

I was long familiar with that Empire State crash, because a good friend of my mother’s was one of the people in the building that day who was killed by it.

Art Deco:

Fine. Then make your argument specific and substantive. It should be easy.

But of course, you can’t, so you insult me and leave the field declaring victory.

Somehow I’m not persuaded.

I agree completely that Bush acted correctly upon learning about the second plane. But, of course, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t: as it was he was vilified for supposedly not taking it seriously, but if he’d run out of the room he’d have been vilified for panicking.

No reason for the national government to start running in circles to presatisfy the inevitable complaints from people who need a hobby or something. Bush and Rice acted correctly wrt the first strike.

You’ve received multiple responses, none of which you understood.

I find Bush’s behavior very plausible. He was told to wait for further information and instructions:

Upon arriving at the Sarasota, Florida school, the president was informed of the first plane crash into One World Trade Center, though he was briefed that it was probably just a small propeller plane. While President Bush sat in Kay Daniels’ classroom, and her students read “The Pet Goat”, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card interrupted the president to whisper in his ear: “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.”

Afterwards, the children continued to read and President Bush sat while—as described by The Wall Street Journal—”trying to keep under tight control.” Despite the president’s efforts, students knew something was wrong; they later said that the president’s face became red and serious, and his expression was “flabbergasted, shocked, [and] horrified”.

According to Bill Sammon’s book Fighting Back, Bush’s gaze flitted about the room—the children, the press, the floor, his staff—while his mind raced about everything he did not yet know. After receiving cue-card advice from his press secretary, Ari Fleischer (“DON’T SAY ANYTHING YET”), the “notoriously punctual” president lingered in the classroom after the reading exercise was finished: he adamantly did not want to give an appearance of panic. After chatting with the students and their teacher, Bush deflected a Trade Center-related question from a reporter, and began to learn about the magnitude of the attacks…

The commander-in-chief’s supporters argued that there was nothing for Bush to do but wait for more information while not alarming the pupils. On his own behalf, Bush said that “his instinct was to project calm, not to have the country see an excited reaction at a moment of crisis. The national press corps was standing behind the children in the classroom; he saw their phones and pagers start to ring. The president felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening.” Booker Elementary Principal Tose-Rigell supported the president’s reactions at her school—”I don’t think anyone could have handled it better. What would it have served if [Bush] had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?”—as did Daniels’ students, who later said that Bush’s actions were the right ones.

I agree about Bush. He kept what I assumed was a dignified (although I think misplaced) silence about Obama, but somehow found his voice to speak against Trump. I think that’s reprehensible. But I also think it has to do with the very personal and long-lasting animus Trump had displayed towards Bush and the Bush family, some of it very vicious stuff. Please see this post I wrote on the subject.