I was 27 on September 11, 2001. A few months earlier I had just begun my first term as mayor of North Carrollton and President George W. Bush was in his first term. Here, twenty-four years later, I’m serving my fourth term as mayor and President Bush has now retired. Oh, there have been many times I have referred back to that day. Just like in my second term as mayor I have referred back to then while here on the local level during the COVID-19 pandemic during the first term of President Donald Trump.
In 2001, on that September morning, I was leaving for city hall and on the television both towers of the World Trade Center were on fire, smoke billowing from the gashes left by the two airplanes which had crashed into them minutes before. I realized we were under attack.
There were four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the East Coast to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington D.C., in an attack on the nation's capital. The third succeeded in crashing into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and instigated the multi-decade global war on terror.
I remember President Bush was reading to students in Florida when his chief of staff informed him of the attack. Back at city hall when I got there that day, the fax machine was bombarded with information about cities and towns on the attack and it came with an uncertainty about what would happen next that day and throughout the days ahead.
The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks. He also emphasized the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. Three days after the attacks, Bush visited Ground Zero and met with the mayor, firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. President Bush addressed the gathering with a megaphone while standing on rubble: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
We will always think about that day and how in a moment things can change. Next week on Thursday, September 11, 2025, will be the twenty fourth anniversary of 911 as we remember and honor those we lost, we have emerged stronger and will never forget the service and sacrifice.
Ken Strachan serves as the mayor of North Carrollton, is a member of the Mississippi Municipal League board of directors, and serves as the North Central Mayor’s Association president.
