The Glenn Beck Program - 18 Years After 9/11: We Must UNITE Again | Guests: Bob Beckwith, Brad Meltzer, & Garrett M. Graff | 9/11/19

Episode Date: September 11, 2019

It’s been 18 years since September 11, 2001, but has America ever recovered? As the next generation comes of age, we must remember living through the fear and confusion of that day and the unity of the day after. Retired New York fireman Bob Beckwith recalls how he became the national hero who stood arm in arm with President Bush at Ground Zero. Best-selling author Brad Meltzer joins to discuss his personal story of 9/11 and his new children’s book, “I Am Walt Disney.” Garrett M. Graff, author of “The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11,” discusses his research for the book, which is composed entirely of quotes from the people who were there, from survivors to the president’s staff and everyone in between.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I woke up, I remember being a beautiful day, and I had, normally had to get up early, so I slept in. And I just remember thinking, it's a really nice day out. I could just be able to. I was actually deployed with the United States Marine Corps at the time. Funny enough, I remember the exact outfit at war that I was sitting in my boss's office installing a software at the conference, so I went up to the library. September 11th, um, changed my life entirely. Hi, my name is Glenn Beck.

I was born just outside of Seattle. I'm Rich Hudson for. from Lake Forest, Illinois. My name is Jared Rue. I'm from Dallas, Texas. My name is Ashanti. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska. Jason Butchell.

I'm from the small West Texas town of Abilene, Texas. My name is Voma. I'm from Plano, Texas. And this is what I remember. My name is Sean, and I'm from Brooklyn, New York. And this is what I remember about 9-11. Miles and miles of sunshine. Other than that, it's kind of quiet around the country.

We like quiet. It is beautiful outside. Perfect September day with lots of sunshine. Oh, would you look at Washington, huh? It's Tuesday. September 11th, 2001. Morning, 64 degrees at 840 on this Tuesday, September 11th. Thousands of New Yorkers will head to the polls today to cast ballots for mayor and a host of other city offices on primary day.

American 11 lost on to me now. I'm monitoring the hall in which White 11. The flight attendant is advising our reps at the pilot everyone's been stabbed. Everybody moves. Everything is okay. There's someone in the cockpit that's taken over. You have no idea where he's going? on flight 11th. The plane's in a rapid descent.

...andahecker there in the cockpit. I think we might have watched her. I hope to see your face again, baby. I love you. Bye. Kenning Town reports that there was fire at the World Trade Center. I understand that there has been a plane crash on the southern tip of Manhattan. A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York,

852. Lots of thick black smoke coming from the top of the World Trade Center. It looks like... The plane struck about quarters of the way up maybe a little higher. Yeah, I can't. It's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this in my life. I was on a job about five months. I'm a firefighter for a local city.

And I just heard on the radio going to another station that an airplane ran into the entrance. And my mom ran into her bathroom. She said, Sean, I played into building. I said, hey, get out here. There's something on the news. We're sitting there. We went through our lessons for the day.

She goes, a plane just flew through the World Trade Center. They came on the televisions and it was all over the news. I remember looking up on the screen as soon as I walked in the door and seeing a smoking buildings. It appeared to be an accident to me. I was supposed to be on the 82nd floor for 9 o'clock meeting. One out, World Trade Center 1060. Send every available ambulance, everything you've got to World Trade Center now.

Those images always make my heart hurt. I'm Hillary. That's your four-minute buzz, and here's Glenn and Stu with the start of our show. Good morning. Good morning. Today is going to be a riveting, riveting show. You're not going to want to miss a second of it. First, let me tell you about our Blaze Spotlight sponsor that has made this telecast possible. Most of us have tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe in our equity in our homes. It's a savings account. It's a nest egg. Quick cash and emergency.

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where all of these electronic titles are coming in and out. when titles are legitimately exchanged and changed. Hometitleck.com. Make sure you're not a victim. Hometitlelock.com. This is the Glen. This is a very different day and a different year. I'm approaching this moment, this day of commemoration of 9-11 differently than I ever have. It feels different to me.

and we'll talk about that a bit today. We have a show you do not want to miss. I wanted to begin with something I hadn't heard in 18 years. They were the first words that I spoke publicly on radio as I started my show 18 years ago today. Here it is. As I came in this morning, I don't know about you, but it all seemed so surreal how even this morning I was on the phone with Stu at about 8.30. So we were getting ready to go over what we were going to do on the show today.

And I said the biggest thing that's happening is probably the economy. And George W. Bush being in town screwing up our highways, I was shaving. As I heard Jack Ted and Sharon say that a plane, had hit the World Trade Center. At first I thought it would be just a small Cessna, and when I saw the size of the hole, and I heard speculation that it was an airliner, had an awing feeling at the bottom of my stomach.

A beautiful day in New York. There's no way. A plane could miss the World Trade Center. See the news? As we were on the phone, we both watched in horror as a second plane hit the World Trade Center. Center, time we're under attack, World Trade Center. Minutes later, the Pentagon.

It's been 18 years since that day, and I think it's time to look back up into the sky. I think it is time for us to look back up and say, what have we done with our time? What path are we on? Have we made things better or worse by the decisions that each of us have made since that day? because we promised each other on that day that we would, that we would hold together, that we would work together, that we would find our way back out of the rubble and the dust and the blood. We've done a pretty lousy job. This year is the year that we must answer the question.

Who are we? The only way we can figure this out is to look at where we. we've been. I continue in one minute. I want to tell you about Charles. He's a listener to this program. He has lived almost his entire life with frequent pain in his joints. He's 50. That's a long time to live with pain and he's halfway done. And everything that he would take, it would leave him feeling sluggish. He would be out of sorts. Charles, you're a lucky dude, man. You have a wife just like mine. She decided.

One day, she said, I'm just going to start giving you relief factor. Charles, I am happy to report now says his pain is almost completely gone and he feels like a new man. Charles, I couldn't be happier for you. And thank you for marrying up.

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70% order it month after month like I do. Almost 18 months on Relief Factor now. I take it every day. Strug-free natural way to ease your pain and get your life back. Go to Relieffactor.com. That's Relieffactor.com. on. The World Trade Center is on fire. Seriously, the top of the building, we're trying to get information.

Deadly. Top level of one of the news to unfold from New York. A plane crashed. My sister's in that building. Okay. And I hope she's okay. And I got to run to New York. Oh, my God.

It's a complete pandem over there. First of all, calm down. There's raining papers and ashes. Everything. People are jumping out the windows. A second plane has now flown in. Wait, explosion into Pentagon? A third location is on the lawyer.

I don't have words to describe what I'm witnessing right now. Effective immediately until further notice. Flight operations in the national airspace system by United States civil aircraft and foreign civil and military aircraft are prohibited. Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. And freedom will be defended. Oh, my God. Oh my God.

Oh, my God. One of the World Trade Towers has collapsed and fallen. I've got to see anything like this. And a pedestrian. Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. This is Glenn Beck. Dateline, New York. And one of the most audacious attacks ever,

terrorist hijacked two airliners, crash them into the world. Trade Center in a coordinated series of blows today that brought down the twin 110-story towers. Thousands may be dead. 58,000 people. Work at the World Trade Center. One plane, United Flight 93, crashed north of Somerset County Airport, a small airport 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. United said that flight. Boeing 757. That is

the news of this day. September 11th. 2001. That was the thing that brought us together. E. Pluribus Unum from many one. We've lost our one.

We've lost our... Our unum. Can we take the day and just... look for it for a second get away from all the other noise and just look for that back with more in 60 seconds first let me tell you about Norton secure VPN we are entering a new world and it is incumbent upon us to open our eyes and see the world that is just over the horizon we through the Patriot Act and other things we started violating the Constitution and we got in love with all kinds of technology and this technology is going

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We started going back and listening to what we did on September 11th, 18 years ago. And I remember doing one thing. I haven't heard it since. Do you please play the last cut? G.B.'s Prayer. I have not heard this since I did it, and I remember the moment. Go ahead. I think it is appropriate

as we end our business day today, that we together ask for her blessing on this great nation. So I ask you to pull over your car, stop what you're doing, hush your surroundings, and take a moment.

with me you speak to our father who gave us life. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we ask you today to watch over us. Your children are confused and frightened. We are saddened by the loss of our

brothers and saddened by the violence that our other brothers have brought upon us. We ask for your warm embrace. We ask for your we beg for your guidance now. We ask for the guidance of our leaders that they may put aside all hatred and have a

clear view as to the truth and what must be done. I remember giving this prayer and I remember looking up at Stu early on and he was, we had never done anything. It was a different world. We had never done anything like that before. And I looked up and he looked at me like, you're going to pray. Do you remember that still? Sounds like something I would do. Yeah. And I wanted to play that

because when when was the last time we actually reached out like that to him? When was the last time we had that that much of a heartfelt collective we're in trouble

please help us. Perhaps that's why we are struggling as much as we are. You've heard the old saying how an armed society is a polite society, and it's basically true. I mean, unless you're in the Wild West or, you know, unfortunately in Chicago. In America, we have the right to protect ourselves and the duty to protect those that we love from the harms that sometimes can come out of a really dark and twisted world. It isn't a joke or some flight of fantasy. It is a solemn testament between the balance of freedom and responsibility. The USCA, the United States Concealed Carry Association, exists to provide self-defense education training and legal protection to over 300,000 responsibly armed Americans like you and me.

We are going to need legal protection. Please, I would urge you to join, like I have, the USCA. Now, to introduce themselves to you, they're giving away $1,000 to $19 winners this month. You can use that money to buy a cig or a Glock or anything else. Just text the word Beck to the number 87222. That's the name Beck to the number 87222 to protect yourself and the Second Amendment. Picture seared in the nation's memory. President Bush at Ground Zero three days after the attacks, a bullhorn in one hand,

and the other draped around firefighter Bob Beckwith. That firefighter with President Bush was Bob Beckwith. Beckwith stood shoulder to shoulder with President. Bob Beckwith, a firefighter from Queens, New York, in his mid-60s. That day, he stood alongside the president and stepped on to the national patriotic stage. Bob, are you there? Yes. Hi, Bob.

How are you? Very good. And yourself? I'm very good, sir. Very good. I just wanted to touch base with you. Your experiences with 9-11, because I painted a painting of you a couple of weeks ago for an auction. And as I was painting you, I thought, you know, I know this man's story, but not really.

And now that you've had, you know, almost 20 years to digest it, I'd love to hear, first of all, where were you on 9-11 when it? When it happened? When it happened, my daughter had called me that my grandson going to school on his bicycle was hit by a car about two blocks away from me. And I ran over there to see what was happening and I saw him on the ground, but he was moving. So that was a plus. And I found out from the ambulance driver where the hospital they were taking him to. And I came home to get my car.

I listened on the radio and I heard the guy saying... And so I came inside and my wife had it on the television already and they had cameras there. I was looking and I said, that's a little bit bigger than a small plane. Yeah. I figured I got a bad day going. My grandson gets up by a car and now a plane goes in. Where were you living at the time, Bob?

I live in right here in Baldwin, New York. When did the phone call come in that you had to go? Were you with your grandson in the hospital? Or when did you? I went to the hospital to be with him. Everybody was watching television at the hospital. And I saw the South Tower come down. Oh, my God.

One World Trade Center has collapsed in its entirety. One World Trade Center is gone. And then a few months later, the North Tower came down. There was guys in the building, you know, because the firemen were in there, you know, what goes through your head when it just hit you pretty hard. Bob, did you have any inkling that those towers might come down when you saw? Never thought it would, Ed. I really, honestly, never thought that they were coming down.

Boy, was I shocked when that happened. So when did you first arrive at Ground Zero? What happened was I came home from the hospital later that day. And I told my wife and my kids that I'm going down to Ground Zero. And they said, don't go down you too well. I was 69 years old. And they thought I was an old man there and I'm going to get in the way. so just don't go down there.

The next day, I find out that Jimmy Boyle, now Jimmy Boyle was the president of the UFA, the Uniform Firefighters Association, and I was one of his delegates. And when I found out his son is missing, I said, that's it, I'm out of here. And I suited up the next morning, and I got to go down to Ground Zero.

So I'm driving down there. I'm on a BQE, the Brooklyn Queen's Expressway, and I'm going towards the Williamsburg Bridge. Guess what? The bridges are closed. And I saw a copse car going over the bridge with two vans behind it. I said, I'm going to give it a shot. And I drove between the cones, and I went on the bridge.

But when I got over to the other side, there was nobody. Nobody was there. Everything was gray. And I went over to the house watch at 55 engine. And I told him I'm going down to Ground Zero. And I said, well, good luck. I said, what the heck did that good luck about? Anyway, the police department, they're lined up on the perimeter all around ground zero.

I said, I got to get in there, you know. And I showed them my badge, and they let me in. And then the guy said to me, good luck. So I went down to about a block or two, and then I see the National Guard. They were on the perimeter also. And I said, we don't care that you're a fireman, but the, You're not getting in. So I had to think fast, and I talked my way in.

You know, I was at that perimeter. I don't know how anyone could have talked themselves through that line. How did you do it? I told a little fibbedev. I told them I missed a rig, and I was going to get in trouble if I didn't get in there, and they bought it. Wow. Wow. Okay.

So you're there. You snuck across the bridge on the island. Then you sneak across the barrier with National Guard. Right. And then what happens? And then I came into ground zero, and I tell you, it was a shock. You can see the people running as the buildings begin to cross. Running, racing for their lives.

One of the buildings is partially corrupt. It means that as yet unidentified survivors will be found in underground. The first thing that came to my mind was just as how it probably looked in the blitz when. Wow. You know what happened? I worked down there all that day, and I was on the Bucca Brigade, and I found a shovel, and I started digging with the guys, and we found a pumper. A pumper is a fire engine in the rubble, and we told the crane operator to put the D-Rig out in the street,

which he did. Some guy comes over, and he says the president is here. And I saw the guys put their shovel down, and I put mine down, and I walked out to the street. And there's that pumper we just dug out of the rubble. I jumped up on it, and right across the street was a command post, a tent with all microphones in front of it. I figured, oh, that's where the president's going to talk. This Secret Service man came over to me, and he said, is this safe? I said, yeah.

And he said, we'll jump up and down on it for me. So I jumped up and down on the forum. And he said, okay. He said, somebody important is coming over here. And when they come here, you help them up, and then you get down. I said, okay, because you do what the Secret Service guy tells you to do. The president comes around, and he does a hard right, and he comes right in front of me, and he puts his arm up.

So I pull him up, and I turn him around, and I said to him, are you okay, Mr. President? And he said, yeah. And I start to get there. He said, where are you going? I said, I was told to get down. He said, no, no, you stay right here. And he put his armor on me and that's my story. That's unbelievable. I didn't know, I didn't know any of those things. What did the president say to you at one point? Do you even remember when he turned to you in the middle of the speech and he said some things to you? Do you remember? No, we couldn't hear. We couldn't hear each other. We did speak to each other, but we didn't hear each other. It was too loud. The guys were yelling.

I didn't remember him having that megaphone, that bullhorn. Really? And then he started to speak, and he's speaking to the right. And the guys on the left, they're yelling, we can hear you. And he said, then he turned to the left with the bullhorn, and he said, I can hear you. And the whole world hears you.

We'll hear all of us soon. They went crazy. They went nuts. They started chanting USA, USA, USA. And it was, he said everything in those three sentences. So Bob, you were given a flag right after his visit, right? Yes. When I was helping him get down from the rig, somebody handed him the flag. And he puts his arm up and he waves the flag. I saw Governor Pataki

Stand in there so I tapped him on the shoulder And he turns around and he grabs my legs And he picks me up and he puts me out in the street I said you're gonna hurt yourself He said I'm a big guy I said okay I'm walking back to go back to work And this secret service guy

Taps me on the shoulder and he said The president's been looking for you I said oh now what did I do And he said he wants you to have this flag I said oh very nice Thank you. And I stuck it in my pocket and I'm going back to work. Anyway, Glenn, the Secret Service guy that told me when the politician comes over there and takes my spot, get down. When I went on television, I would tell them my story.

And I got a letter from the White House. I'm the guy that told you what to do. Thank you for calling me a Secret Service guy. But any scientist, Carl Rove, senior advisor to the president. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Exactly. That's what I said.

So let me ask you this, because the day before your family was saying, you're just going to get in the way. When you got home after sneaking across the bridge, sneaking past the National Guard, working, then the president is giving one of the most memorable speeches probably since the day of infamy. what did your family say? I drove over and I said, who's going to believe that I was with the president? There were no cameras down there, Glenn.

No cameras at all that I saw. Anyway, I pull up in front of my house and people are coming out, my neighbors, and they all carry in the candles. That was the day they had candles. And they came into my driveway and this police officer across the street from me, a city cop.

And he said to me, Back, you're on television. I said, get out of here. There's no, there were no cameras down there. So I came in the house, and my granddaughter was sitting on the couch, and she says, Grandpa, you're on watching, you're on television. And they were showing it over and over. I said, wow, I was surprised that they had me,

and the president was the most important thing. Yeah. You stayed in touch with the president? We did. We still keep in touch. Myself and my wife and a couple of my kids, we were invited to the Oval Office. And it was very nice. Everybody was there, you know, Governor Fattaki, Carl Rove was there, Mayor Giuliani, Tommy Von Ness and the Commissioner, Chuck Schumer.

You've had some special experiences because of that picture. Yes, we were called into, excuse me, Germany three times and then twice. cologne and that really treated top shelf so bob when you look back at this now what is it that you take away what is it that we should as a people take away from that moment on the fire truck you know what what glenn we fought two wars we fought the japanese and we fought the germans and we stuck together and that's the same thing that happened at 9-11. People came in from every state to help us. Search and rescue and the food.

I was there, Bob, and I saw people come from all over the country to feed you guys. My wife and I went. These firemen were coming out after a long day, and both of us just started to applaud. Like, I don't know. It was just, it was everything. was upside down and the enormity of it was just remarkable. Yes, stuck together and we received rigs that we lost in it.

And other states helped. They built the rigs and sent them to us. You know, this is America and the people are great. They really are. Bob, it's an honor to talk to you. It really is. I made a painting for charity, and I was wondering if you would be willing to sign it. If I sent it up to you, would you be willing to sign it?

Of course. That would be great. That would be great. Bob, thank you so much. God bless you. Glenn. Thank you. Bye-bye.

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Enter the promo code, Beck. This is the Glymbeck program. There are two new books that are out today that are remarkable. One is by Brad Meltzer. He's one of our favorite guests, and he is the guy who found the 9-11 flag. we'll talk to him about that. He's in studio, is he not? Maybe not, maybe not.

But he'll be with us here in a few minutes. And then the other book that has come out, the only plane in the sky, an oral history of 9-11. I've never read a book like this before. It is riveting from cover to cover. Started reading it, and I thought I would just browse through it.

I couldn't put it down. It is, I don't even know how this author wrote this, how he gathered this information. He talked to people who were up with counterfeitsch Gerald. I mean, I thought all of them died. This is a remarkable history of 9-11, and it's not told by him. It's all of the people in chronological order

that were affected at different points and what was going on from start to finish. It's incredible. He's going to be with us. His name is Garrett Graf. He's going to be with us in hour number three. this is a show you don't want to miss a second of as we remember 9-11 perhaps we should honor our promises that we all made to each other we wouldn't forget we wouldn't we

wouldn't break ranks with one another and boy have we ever and uh really a lot of our problems that we have right now the issues that we're dealing with right now were made i think you know with good reason at the time and good faith at the time. And we should re-evaluate those things and what we originally said we would do all on today's broadcast. You're listening to Glenn. Gosh, for those of us who were old enough to really be parents at the time, this is a bizarre day. I want to talk to you about our cruise through history. How do we put the pieces back together?

How do we come back together as a nation? I mean, we have now been on a course that's just a collision course now for about 20 years and tearing ourselves apart. How do we do it? Well, that's one of the things that we're going to talk about and is going to play a big role in 2020 in my personal life and this broadcast life. And we are putting all of the pieces together for about 3,000 people on board this ship that we're going through the Mediterranean. We're going to be in Venice and Athens and the Holy Land with Rabbi Lappin, with David Barton, with Tim Ballard, with Bill O'Reilly. It's what are the lessons that we learned from Europe and what are we really based on? And if you would like to come on this cruise, very few seats are still available, but it's 100% all included.

No tips, nothing. You don't have to bring your wallet, just your passport. Cruise through history, go to come sailaway.com. and learn more about it and get on board now. Come sailaway.com. Entertainment and enlightenment. There is a famous picture from 9-11 that happened 18 years ago that is almost my generation's version of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

But that flag was lost. People thought they had the flag and it wasn't the flag. It wasn't the right flag. The guy who found it, his search is incredible. A good friend of ours who has a new book out starting today, Brad Meltzer. He joins us in just one minute. This is the Glimbeck program. As a conservative living in today's America, I am well aware.

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Patriotmobile.com slash Beck. I have I have never gone back and listened to my own archives for the week of 9-11. and it is it's been something that I just haven't wanted to do at all. I just don't go back and listen to my old shows,

and 9-11 that week was extraordinarily painful. But my staff has gone back, and they've brought a couple of things to me that I had forgotten about. that kind of put the day into perspective. And can we just, before we go to Brad, can we just play the clip of what I said during the show, everything that was closed on this day, to give you some perspective of what this day was like 18 years ago. The White House, the Capitol, the United Nations have been evacuated. For the first time ever in the history of our country, we have stopped all aircraft. All flights nationwide stopped at their departure airports.

All international flights were diverted to Canada. Fighter jets are now circling Washington, D.C. and New York City. Only medical personnel are allowed to use the streets in Washington. Israel has evacuated their embassies. Chicago, Sears Tower, has been evacuated. The Centers for Disease Control. Atlanta Evacuated

CDC at this hour is preparing bioterrorism teams 16 fighter jets scrambled over Washington, D.C. Shopping centers across the country have been closed. Kennedy Space Center, L.A.X.

Disney closed. World markets today down dramatically. U.S. Mexico border closed. And that was all for six inches of snow. And, you know, no, it was a bizarre day that you completely forget what that day was like even if you were there. Brad Meltzer is a good friend of mine.

We became friends after 9-11, a few years after that. And we have connected on history. and Brad is with us. He has a new book out today. It's about Walt Disney, and I want to talk to him about it. It's a great children's book. I am Walt Disney.

But I also wanted to talk to him about 9-11. Where were you, Brad, when the towers came down? I was in Washington, D.C., of all places, and this is, you know, we lost our friend, Michelle Heidenberger, was a flight attendant on the Pentagon flight. And my wife, this is why it hits me today, not because of the finding of the flag,

which obviously was an honor, but it was the personal side. As we all know, we all have our one story that makes up this quilt of history. And my wife worked in the U.S. Capitol, and she was driving to work. She was eight months pregnant, giant belly, my son about to be born in October. And my wife thought, you know, the towers were hit. I wonder what security. I wonder if they'll increase security at the Capitol. And she said, wait a minute, our security is terrible.

And she pulls over to the side of the road and calls me, says, I have a bad feeling. I'm just going to stay home. And I know to this day that but for the heroes on United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, that if that flight did not go down in Pennsylvania, it was headed to the Capitol. I know people say the White House, but if you look, the plaque that honors them is actually in the U.S. Capitol. And but for them, my life could have been profoundly different. And I think of them, of course, every 9-11, but they deserve to be remembered every single day for what They did. That was one of the most moving things of 9-11 was not only the way everyone kind of pulled together,

but what those people on that flight did. And it wasn't, you know, it was weird. I haven't even heard this. Can I me play my response? Somebody called into the show. I haven't heard this yet. This is seven hours after the planes hit the word. World Trade Center.

There's plenty of time to scream for blood. There is plenty of time to exact the price of the day's events. But I don't know about anybody else. I'm not there yet. I'm barely hanging on emotionally just on the overwhelming events of the day. I haven't been able to process, take out the human. Take out the human toll. I haven't even been able to process that the skyline of New York is different.

Let alone that there is a possibility with 58,000 people working in the World Trade Center, the possibility within an hour of business this morning, we lost more American lives than we're lost in the entire Vietnam War. I'm not ready to scream for blood yet. devastating. I think it's time to be around like-minded people. People that you don't know. Hold on to them for dear life.

It was such an... I mean, remember that day we didn't... We really thought 30 to 50,000 people could be dead. By God's grace. I remember being in D.C. and we didn't... You know, it was... We were putting together the funeral for my friend Michelle, who was the flight attendant on the Pentagon.

flight and driving down to make photocopies for the memorial program and the big poster of her, I should say. And there was armed guards like it was under martial law that we thought there was another plane coming at any moment. We didn't know what, you know, we lose that. And I really was struck, Glenn, by what you just said in that clip, which is, you know, holding on to people you don't know. And I'm just so saddened as I, as we all relive this moment of 9-11 and those visceral memories

kind of come back, that in that chaos, there was that unity again, right? We felt somehow that these United States of America were that magical word again, united. And it's so horrifying to me that it takes a tragedy to do it. But it is amazing what kindness comes out in those low moments. You know, the lowest moments will always bring out the best of us. And when we were searching for the 9-11 flag, and everyone knows the great photograph of the firefighters raising the flag at 9-11. And the flag went missing 24 hours later. I became obsessed with it and started searching for it. We did a story on it on our TV show and said, to America, please bring it back.

Now, here's the story I don't know if anyone knows. Is on the episode of our TV show on History Channel where we asked to come back, I said, I added something to the script that we had. And I said, I want you to bring it back from my friend Michelle Heidenberger, this flight attendant on the Pentagon flight. because 3,000 people dead, it was always too hard to imagine. But for me, it was always for my friend. And when the flag finally was returned right after the episode aired,

I couldn't tell anyone but four days later, a man walked into a fire station in Washington State in Everett, Washington, and said he was a former Marine. He said, here's the flag. I saw lost history, and I want to bring it back. And I finally, secretly, when it came back, I called him to say thank you on behalf of the American people. And I said to him, he said to me, you want to know why I brought it back, Brad?

And I said, yeah, I did. Because we offered a reward. To this day, he's never taken the reward. We offered him $10,000 to whoever brought it back. He's never taken it. But he said, you want to know why I brought the flag from 9-11 back? And I said, sure. And he said, because of your friend, Michelle Heidenberger, he's like, you mentioned her on the air, and it got to me.

And I knew I had to bring it back in that moment. How did he get it? I love that. How did he get the flag? He was like yourself and myself. He was a collector. But his specialty was American flags. And he got it from someone who lost someone at ground zero.

And he doesn't even know. Someone gave that flag to that person who lost their loved one. And, you know, again, at that moment in time, it wasn't a famous flag. It was just a flag that had been lifted. It didn't become famous until it ran on the cover of Newsweek and everywhere else. So it wasn't like anyone was like secretly going. oh, I'm going to steal this flag and give it away. It wasn't famous then.

No one knew what it was. It was just a flag. So he got it from someone who just cleared it out of their attic and said, you know, I don't want this anymore. He saw the show and returned it. And again, to be a small part of that on the 15th anniversary of 9-11 a few years ago, I got to unveil that flag in the 9-11 museum. It is currently on display. And I highly encourage anyone, as you think of it today when you're in New York next time, go to the museum. It is a museum that is proof that heroes still exist in the world.

And we knew that that wasn't the right flag, not this one, but like, I think with Giuliani, didn't he go out to Yankee Stadium and he claimed that that was the flag? And somehow or another, somebody figured out that's not it. How did that happen? Yeah, so Giuliani and everyone signed the flag at Yankee Stadium and had this big kind of homecoming and they brought the flag out and everyone cheered. And they all signed it. And the owners of the flag was actually taken from a boat down at Ground

down zero was this Greek couple. And the Greek couple said, hey, that's our flag. And everyone knew it was off their boat. They knew where it came from. They said, can we use the flag at a charity benefit? They're doing a 9-11 benefit. We'd love to bring the flag there. And the city said, of course, they gave the flag to the couple. And the couple unfurls the flag at the event. And they realized this flag is gigantic. Their flag was small. They're like, someone switched the flag. They lost it. And then to cover it up, someone just added a new flag. So that was how they finally realized it was missing and that's how of course we got on the case and just said you know someone out there must have the real one and please bring it back to us i'm going to ask you a tough question um that is kind

of unfair in some ways to ask you on the spot but i am i'm looking at the last hour i played something that i haven't heard in 18 years i was on the air and it was at the end of the broadcast and i think we had been on the air for about eight hours and i said i want you to pull your car over because I think it's appropriate that we pray. And in that, it was a real anguished kind of help us, Lord, kind of prayer. And I think we have gone so far astray because as I was listening to that, I thought, I don't know the last time we as a nation collectively said, help us, we're in trouble. Listen, I think that's, I, I say a prayer.

Of course, I say my prayers every day, every night, right? But on this 9-11, and my prayers will, of course, be with those we lost. But the prayer that I'm saying today is, I just read this article that all the first responders, right, who were lost 18 years ago, how many of their kids who were just born are now signing up to be firemen and firefighters and police officers that are in this incoming class. Now you know exactly what is at risk. They know exactly the cost of this job 18 years ago. They lost their dad, their moms.

And my gosh, how do we not include them in our prayers too? As a thankful like that these people are out there. Hang on. I want to ask you a different question in one minute. Brad Meltzer, who's got a new book out, it's fantastic. And I am a Disneyophile. It's called I.M. Walt Disney for your kids. So well worth it. We'll talk about that coming up in just a second.

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Call them now American Financing at 1-800-906-2440. It's 800-906-2440 or Americanfinancing.net. Americanfinancing.comnet. 10 seconds. Station ID. American Financing Corporation, NMLS-182334, www. nMLS Consumer Access.org. So, Brad, we are now paying for the consequences of our actions, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, all of these different things. What is the lesson, and you might even want to come back tomorrow and answer this.

What is the thing that we have done in the last 18 years that we should now look back and go, that was a mistake. We probably shouldn't have done that. And we should talk about it and correct this mistake. Listen, I think when we look back on history and obviously be happy to come and talk tomorrow, because I know, you know, there's just two big issues to talk about that. And we have to, but, you know, I think the thing that haunts me is that misinformation that took us to war as if we were, you know, we were so rightfully, you know, looking for someone to get, right? We were attacked personally. Yeah.

And I do think that, you know, and I was at President Bush's funeral. I saw W. It was at dinner with him months ago. Right. But that is haunting, that we had the wrong information and went to war on the wrong information. In Iraq. That is forever haunting because, you know, I've done books on Dover Air Force Base and the men and women who take care of our fallen soldiers. Yeah.

And how many fallen troops have gone through Dover for truly. what I can only say is the wrong reason, and not just because it's wrong that anyone should die, right? We don't want any one of our troops to pay the ultimate price, but, you know, sent to battle for what? You know, and that's what, you know, you have to, at the end of the day, we see war, and that's a big word. But we forget that, you know, when you enlist in the military, they will tell you as the spouse of someone who is sending their, spouse into battle, that if two people show up at your front door, it means your loved one's dead. And if one shows up at your door, they're just injured. And those are real things that happen. Those were real funerals that happened. Thousands of, you know, men and women buried because of this.

They told me, you know, at Dover, that at the height of Iraq and Afghanistan, there were so many bodies coming through there that they literally had to, you know, find another cooler to stack them up on. They were coming so big, so many so fast. And that's the thing that I look back on and say, that's what, you know, one of the places where we went so, so wrong. Brad, let me switch to your book. I am Walt Disney. You know how much of fan I am of Walt Disney. I did not know about the tar painting on the back of his house. How good. So, listen, again, oh, and you know, we're talking about heroes. So let's actually talk about the positive side of this, right? I mean, the reason why we're so moved today, I still believe, is our culture is, you know, I started this book series. And in many ways, you know, almost in the similar vein, I was tired of my kids looking at people who are famous for being famous, famous for the wrong reasons. I wanted to give my kids heroes like these 9-11 heroes, but heroes of character, heroes of kindness and compassion and hard work and perseverance. And I, And we did, I am Amelia Earhart and I am Abraham Lincoln and I am George Washington.

But our number one requested hero is the one that comes out today. I am Walt Disney. Number one request? Number one request is I am Walt Disney. We had to do the book. And kids, when they come to my book, sometimes they don't make requests. They make the man. They're like old now.

When you're really old or really young, you can get away with that. Hang on just a sec, Brad. I've got to take a quick break. Back with Brad Meltzer, who is gracious enough to be with us. today and talk about 9-11, but also heroes. And I want to talk about heroes when we come back, because the world is in need of heroes, and you're starting to see them. You're starting to see them.

And what would the world be like without some of these heroes? And I put Walt Disney into that category. More with Brad Meltzer here in just a second. You're listening to Glenn back. You know, sometimes I think the primary reason to come to work every day so I can sit in the X-chair. you know so you can sit you can sit and you're comfortable and this is this is a chair that if they had them at a movie theater I would not complain you sit in movie theaters and sometimes you go to these ones

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Shut up. I'm telling you, Stu, I want the Glenn Beck radio program, shut up, T-shirt. I need a T-shirt. That's all it says, shut up. And I thought maybe, you know, maybe we could talk about, you know, what did we learn in the last 18 years? And one of those things is we got it from Flight 93, heroes. We got heroes. and there are a lot of heroes. Brad Meltzer is with us. He writes a series of books about heroes, and he's got a new one out today called I Am Walt Disney,

who is truly one of my heroes. I have to ask you, you are also one of my heroes because somehow or another, you got the rights to include all the images of Disney, Mickey Mouse, and all of the characters in your book. How did you do that? We're going to have to talk about this for short tomorrow

because I've got to run in one minute, but I will tell you this. They just look two things at once. Let's save it for tomorrow because it's a crazy story. It's got to be. I had to give away a child to get Mickey, but it might be worth it. Okay. All right, we'll have you back.

Thank you so much, Brad. Gosh, I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Brad is always fascinating. He is the guy who we got to know each other real well because he called me up and he said, you love history. He said, yeah.

And he said, you know that they're tearing down the Superman house? I'm like, you know Superman is a comic, right? And he said, no, the two brothers that came up with Superman and the one brother did on the wallpaper, right behind the wallpaper of this house, you have the original sketches of Superman. And they were tearing it down. It was in Ohio, and we raised money to save the house. We've been good friends ever since. He is a real lover of history. Let me ask you, Stu.

I think it's the Patriot Act for me. What is the one thing that we walk away after 18 years and go, shouldn't have done that or should have done this? Wow, it's an interesting on-the-spot question. I don't know that I have an instant answer to it. I mean, the Patriot Act, I think, is an interesting example because it was something that, at least for me, helped me understand that even when

you know something has a good intentions right I think it did largely and B I think it was actually written in a way that that safeguarded against many of the ways it was misused I mean it was actually a lot of the things that were in the Patriot Act were written to guard against the way

it was actually used and still the government misused it I mean it shows you You can't have too little faith in the federal government. You can't have too little faith in this type of situation, even in those most desperate moments. And I come back to thinking about 9-11 and the Patriot Act often when we have these terrible mass shootings and terrible events like that,

where afterwards the media not only doesn't learn the lesson of that particular part of 9-11, where if you rush to try to do things in a big hurry and implement them that has long-lasting consequences, they cheer it on. They say, how can we not act? Look at what New Zealand did.

They had a mass shooting and they just changed all of their laws. And they say that as if it's something to praise, something to chase after as a country. And it's like, that's the exact opposite. If you would have learned the lesson, I mean, it's an important lesson to learn, I think, from a lot of the stuff

that we did after 9-11, which is, even though completely good intentions were there. And a real serious situation. And we probably did actually, when it comes to the Patriot Act, probably did prevent terrorist attacks, or at least it may have.

And even with all that, I mean, we've basically shredded the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. We've given up incredible amounts of our liberty. We've given up the, I mean, there's really no party now that's pushing back against mass surveillance in ways

that we never could have imagined even after the Patriot Act was implemented. I mean, the guy who wrote it said afterwards, none of this stuff was allowed by what I wrote. I mean, that is a, you just realize that no matter when or

how you increase the power of the government, eventually they will take it further. And that's why sometimes we hold, I, I get really iffy about holding lines on stuff that I, you know, you were talking, you were talking yesterday about guns and you said I can't, we got off the air and you said, I can't

believe the guy who is more on, you know, surveillance and new technology. I can't believe that you are saying, well, okay, if we're going to have, you know, a gun check and then we have to check it, you know, against selling guns to strangers. Right. Don't have a problem. And I have to tell you, I retract that. I retract that. And it bothered me all day yesterday.

Bothered me all day yesterday. and because I do want to do things that are sensible. But you know what? Having the government involved in background checks and having it becomes very easily, as we're talking about the Patriot Act, none of this was in there. Okay, same thing.

That becomes a registry for guns. And we already have enough on these things. Guns are not for sporting. It is not for hunting food. It is for protection and not even protection of yourself. It is for protection against the government. And if we really want to take the Second Amendment seriously,

it is a protection against an out-of-control government. and anything, our government is already out of control, and we all know it. Both sides know it. And yet both sides seem that think that their style of government will correct it. It won't. And, you know, with what's happening in China and how close we are with the government and Google right now, they are already in bed with each other and it's only going to get worse. No, no. I retract what I said. Nothing. You get nothing. Guns are weapons of war. And guns are weapons of war against any out of controlled government anywhere in the world that is holding their people captive and violating the rights of man. The rights of man. I have a right to be free.

and we are quickly closing that door and anything that gives the government more power over the only real power we have. The only reason why these doors have not closed on us sooner is because we are an armed society. They must be afraid of a educated, a well-educated, well-armed and responsible citizenry. Yeah, I mean,

I always think of the Second Amendment as not, it's not that we have guns and it's going to, like, it's not necessarily even to defend yourself in a war or some terrible government crackdown. God forbid Adolf Hitler gets elected. It's because no one would ever try it. It's to prevent it from ever occurring. That's why they're all saying,

we're not going to confiscate your guns. Of course you're not. Of course you're not. You will lose. and people say you're going to fight against the U.S. Army? Yeah. How long have we been fighting the Taliban? People were throwing rocks at us. It's really hard. I think that's pretty darn effective.

I think it's pretty darn effective. It's not that you're going to wipe out. It's going to be a simple war, but you don't lose your freedoms. And it's not your freedom that you're protecting. We have to look at the First Amendment. I did a lot of thinking about this yesterday. We have to look at the First Amendment as, hey, I have a right to question you, to gather, to be in a group. I have a right to say, what are you doing? Stop it. I have a right to expose you in the press. I have a right to do all of that to the government. All of that is to the government. Remember, your First Amendment is not for, you know, what you can say in a movie theater. It's what you can say about the government. So the First Amendment is, I can say whatever I want. Well, that doesn't mean anything if they have a militia or a military unless you have another.

counterpiece. If you've ever played chess, you know you don't make a move if you know they can make a move and hurt you just as bad. That's what the Second Amendment is. I can say whatever I want about you in the government. I can question you. I can gather together in groups to question you. I can print anything I want against you because I might think that you're corrupt, might think that you're corrupt. and the second amendment says, and you know what? I have the steam to back it up. I don't want to, but it keeps them at bay. It keeps them in check.

That is the critical part. And that is the thing that we are forgetting right now. And every time we have done something in the last 18 years for security, and it's common sense, and we should do this. And well, that's just, I mean, we should just, it doesn't work out that well. I mean, look at the TSA. I don't mean to drag down the TSA because there are a lot of good people. There was a guy here in Dallas who I think was the best TSA guy I've ever seen.

And, you know, I have to take off your belt and your shoes and everything else. And he's like, don't touch that. Don't touch. He was an Indian guy. He's like, don't touch. No, no, no, no. Don't touch. And he was running that line.

But he was effective and he was good. and he wasn't doing it because he was some overlord. He did it with a sense of humor. We're all in this together, but I know how to make this line work fast. I loved the guy. Love the guy. There was another woman who was in another airport.

I think this was in Los Angeles. And she said, you have tickets. That's how she, you have tickets. And I said, yes. And I was headed toward the place where you show them the tickets. And I said, yes. and I showed them, and she just looked at me, and it wasn't because she even knew me.

She just looked at me and she gave me the dirtiest look. All right. And I'm like that. What is this? This is a government official. That's what that is. When you put the government in charge, you wanted to do TSA?

Good. Do it privately. And those airports, they have a choice. Those airports that are doing it privately, they're the ones every time we do a check on the, TSA, those are the airports that catch something wrong. Every time we get the government involved, every time it ends up poorly. No, sorry, you get no more. None.

You're not responsible with the powers that we gave to you. It's time for the people to start taking those powers and the states to start taking those powers back. All right. I tell you about response to this. hour. Charles is a listener of this show and he has lived his almost his entire life in pain. He's 50. He's 50. Can you imagine living in pain your whole life? Now he's tried a lot of revenues over the years. He's had a few different medications. He has taken all kinds of medications. Some of them make him feel sluggish and, you know, he's 50 now. He's lived his whole life in pain.

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Welcome to the program. We're so glad to you're here. We have a guest on Next. He wrote the book, The Only Plain in the Sky. and I picked it up. I thought it would be good to talk to the author. But I didn't think it would be a book

that I would like to read cover to cover. And it's just an oral history of 9-11. And this is the most fascinating history book I have ever read. There is no opinion from the author because it's all firsthand accounts and it is all in order. So he like interviewed somebody maybe for an hour.

And then he was like, okay, well, so what happened first? What happened? And then he took them and pieced everybody's together in chronological order. So they're all telling the story in real time, but you're seeing it from, you know, 10 different perspectives, the same moment from 10 different perspectives with no stringing together of anything, just their words. I'm telling you, I started reading this last night and I could not put this book down.

It is, it's the way history book should be written. I can't even imagine like the undertaking that is to put together because they have quotes from everybody in the room. Everybody. Yeah, I mean, it's everybody. Yeah. He's got people. I thought they were dead. He has people that were way up in the World Trade Center.

That you're, I have no idea. I had no idea. that all of these people were even alive, let alone he's just talking to, you know, just regular people that were in the building, you know, regular police office. I can't imagine the research and the amount of time it took to write this book.

And it is the best history book I think I've ever read because it's, there's no opinion. There's no opinion. It's just the words of the people who experienced it. It's called the only plane in the sky. It is out this week. It was written by Garrett Graff, an oral history of 9-11.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Truly remarkable work. He's going to be going through it and we're just going to go through some of the most riveting parts of this book. Right after the top of this next hour. Stand by. You're listening to Glenn. This hour is going to be.

Rividing this new book that is out. Garrett Graff is going to be joining us. It is one of the best books I've read in a long time, best history book I've read in a long time for sure. Right now, I want to just ask you if a large amount of your monthly budget is going towards credit card bills. And it's possible that it is because, you know, that's double-digit interest rates,

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Call 800, 906, 2440. Americanfinancing. I have to tell you, a new book has come out, and I was not interested really in reading it because of the format, I think. And I thought I had read everything about 9-11. And then last night I took this book home, and I have not been able to put it down. I think this is the best history book. have read in a very long time and you know I love history. This is an oral history. I don't know how this guy did it.

This is the most comprehensive look at any event I have ever seen in in American or world history. This is the future, I think, of history books. And it is riveting, absolutely riveting. I can't recommend it highly enough. The only plane in the sky an oral history of 9-11. It has just come out. We have the author on with us today,

and I will show you why it is so riveting in 60 seconds. This is the Glenback program. You know, sometimes you're waiting for a flight. You charge your phone at one of those airport USB charging stations. That's something you really have to pay attention to. and not necessarily the safety speech, because cybercriminals have modified some of those USB connections and installs malware on your phone and downloads your data without your knowledge.

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If you use the promo code back, call 1-800 Lifelock, 1-800 Lifelock or head to lifelock.com. Use the promo code back and get an extra. 10% off now. The name of the book is the only plane in the sky, an oral history of 9-11. Garrett Graff is the author. Garrett, welcome to the program.

Thanks so much for having me on this day. It's an honor to have you. I have to tell you, this, your book, you are going to sell, I hope, millions of copies. This is a hard topic to get people to look at. And I don't really want to live through another rehash of 9-11,

and I don't want somebody's opinion on 9-11. I just want to know what happened. How long did it take you to put this book together? It was three years start to finish, trying to pull together, ultimately, what are the 480 voices that I follow across America, coast-to-coast morning tonight that day. I mean, it is incredible the number of people that you have in.

And your voice is not one of them, which I so appreciate. It is just, did you interview everyone about that day and then cut them up minute by minute to place them? Yeah. So the book is a mix of my original interviews, several hundred stories that I collected myself, and then some incredible work by institutions like the 9-11 Museum in New York, the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Pentagon historian, people who recognized after 9-11 the importance of capturing these stories. And we started the book with about 2,000 of those archived primary source oral histories

that I ultimately spent, you know, months and years boiling down to this story minute by minute. And I think that to me, the reason that I wanted to tell this story, and I think that the reason you're feeling that it's so powerful, is that when we say never forget, what we generally mean on 9-11 now are the facts of the day, you know, the four planes, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, Shanksville. And what we are losing as we celebrate, you know, this 18th anniversary now this year, is what that day was like to experience. What it was like to live through. Because the story that we now tell ourselves of 9-11 is so much neater and cleaner than the day that we lived as Americans that day. That, you know, we now know the attacks were 102 minutes long from the first crash at 846 to the collapse of the second tower at 1029. We didn't know that on 9-11. And when you go back and you tell that story through the voices of the people who were living it,

what you come away with is the fear and the confusion that we felt that day, you know, well into the afternoon worrying about follow-on attacks, worried about more hijacked planes in the skies. I mean, Disney closed that day. You know, Disney feared an attack on itself that day. The Sears Tower in Chicago was evacuated. You know, schools closed coast to coast. And everyone that day, you know, no matter how far you were from the Twin Towers, from the Pentagon, from Shanksville, you felt that visceral fear that we now, I think, have lost as we sort of forget just what that day was like to live.

And let me, if I may, just, I just want to read a couple of things from this. And I'm going to kind of jump around a bit. But this is how this book has written. Robert Letter, executive of SMW Trading Company, North Tower. I was on the 85th floor. I was looking out the window facing the Empire State Building. When I saw the plane come into the building, there was such a dramatic change of atmospheric pressure.

The building swayed from the impact, and it nearly knocked me off my chair. Our ceiling imploded. Some of the walls began to explode. Harry Waits or Tax Counsel, Canter Fitzgerald, North Tower. I was in the elevator at 846 in the North Tower when the first jet hit the Trade Center. My office was on the 104th floor.

I had gone up to the sky lobby on 78, and I had made the transition over the local elevators. I was somewhere between 78 and 104. Gene Potter, Bank of American North Tower, 81st floor. I was thrown out of my chair, like thrown. It was a horrible, loud explosion. The building started to rock back and forth. Smoke filled the air immediately. We were fortunately right by the staircase because our floor,

was fully involved with fire. Maybe I heard four or five survivors from above us. Vanessa Lawrence, artist North Tower 91st, I literally put one foot

out of the elevator onto the 91st and was thrown to the side. Smoke and debris blasted down our corridor and the building shook. Richard Eichen, I saw my left shoulder

an Asian man coming towards me. He was on the 90th floor. He looked like he had been deep fried. He had his arms out. His skin was hanging like seaweed. He was begging me to help him.

He said, help me, help me. And then he did a face plant right between my legs. He died there. I looked down, and that's when I saw my shirt was full of blood. I didn't know that I was hurt. You go into the accounts of the people in the elevator that had burst into flames. I didn't know any of these people survived. Stories are so harrowing to hear in part because, and this was one of the things that just really came across to me.

in doing this research and telling these stories is what the sensory experience of 9-11 was like. That, you know, we remember, you know, the facts of the day, but none of us, none of us actually really know what 9-11 tasted like, what it smelled like, what it sounded like, what it felt like. And so, you know, I was amazed as I was going through and writing this and compiling this is, it, is, You know, what this, you know, the people talking about the smell of the plane crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville as those volunteer firefighters arrived on the scene. You know, the people like Harry Weiser and Richard Eichin talking about what that heat felt like. You know, they get down then through those stairwells. The stairwells have the fire sprinklers going. And so they're coming out the bottom of the Twin Towers soaking wet, that water pooling,

at the base of the stairwells. And the idea that these people in their final moments before they walk out to freedom, they are wading through knee-deep water in the stairwells of the Twin Towers as it's pooling at the bottom. I mean, what the dust of the collapse tasted like in your mouth, what it was like to step in it.

You know, just the sounds of that day. I mean, it was just so, so amazing to sort of understand that sensory experience. The chapter at Emma Booker Elementary School is also fascinating to me. The way that Rudy Giuliani, when he first heard, you know, he was at a hotel and he was like, hang on, I go, I got to go to the bathroom because I probably would be out for a long time. But he had no idea the gravity of it. He thought it was a small Cessna.

Let me just read to this part. A thousand times a day, this is Andy Carr, the guy who told the president at the elementary school. Dave Wilkinson said, we're beginning to get the motorcade up and running, getting the motorcycle cops back. We're ready to evacuate at a moment's notice, and all of a sudden it hits me. The president is the only one who doesn't know that this plane has hit the second building. It was a discomfort to all of us that the president didn't know. The event was dragging on, and that's when Andy Card came out. Andy, a thousand times a day at Chief of Staff has to.

ask, does the president need to know? This was an easy pass to test. My job that day was to be cool, common, collected. Not the same magnitude, of course, but I knew my job on 9-11 was cool, common collected. Carl Rove, I remember Andy Carde pausing at the door before he went into the classroom. It seemed like forever, but it was probably just a couple of heartbeats. I never understood why, but he told me years later that he needed to spend a moment formulating the words he wanted to use. Andy, I knew I was delivering a message that no president would want to hear. I decided to pass on two facts as an editorial and an editorial comment. I didn't

want to invite a conversation because the president was sitting in front of the classroom. The teacher had asked the students to take out their books and I took that opportunity to approach the president. I whispered in his ear. A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack. I took a couple of steps back so he

couldn't ask any questions. Then you quote a couple of the students that remember his face and how it changed. Andy, I was pleased how the president reacted. He didn't do anything to create. fear. Then he walked out, Carl Roves said, when the president walked back into the staff hold, he said, we're at war. Give me the FBI director and the vice president. I mean, it's, you've, just by using the dialogue, it's almost a movie script, the whole thing. And it's, it's

riveting, absolutely riveting. Let me take a one minute break and then we'll come back with Garrett Graf. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you want to have a real history book on what actually happened, the only plane in the sky, an oral history of 9-11, it is absolutely fantastic. Please get one for your library at home. Our sponsor this half hour is Simply Safe. Would you ever really be able to feel secure at your home,

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We pause for 10 seconds, station ID. Talking to Garrett Graff, the author of The Only Plain in the Sky. Garrett, what was the thing that there had to be more than one that jumped out at you as you were going through this, that you thought, oh my gosh, I've never read this, I haven't heard this. this is incredible to me. Well, I'll tell you one of the, you know, so many of these stories I felt, you know, just very lucky to be able to help tell and share with America about that day. But one that really stood out to me was I spoke to Commander Anthony Barnes, the Navy officer

in the bunker with Vice President Cheney under the White House that day. He's never spoken publicly before. And he told me for the first time the story of what it was like asking Dick Cheney, the vice president, for shoot-down authority of the hijacked airliners. He was a naval aviator himself. He was the person that morning running sort of liaison between the Pentagon and the White House. And as they feared that more hijacked planes were coming towards Washington, towards the Washington. White House towards the Capitol. He told, you know, he went to Vice President Cheney and asked for military authority to shoot down hijacked airliners, you know, a decision that no one had ever

contemplated before. And Vice President Cheney immediately said yes. And Commander Barnes went back a second time and asked again. And then he went back and he asked a third time because he knew just what an order he was asking, sort of just how unprecedented. And he wanted to make sure that there was no confusion about what was transpiring, what the authority he was asking for. And finally, Dick Cheney got fed up and basically said, yes, I know what I'm doing. We need to shoot down any hijacked airliner that's heading towards a population center if we can't get them to change course. You know, just an incredible moment of that day that, you know, America had, would have been unimaginable, you know, even 90 minutes earlier. How did you get a sense at all?

I haven't read that part yet. You get a sense at all about how Dick came to that. Is it just years and years of experience? Or how did he, do you get any sense of that? Yeah. And that's really exactly what had happened was, you know, sort of one of the things that we forget about Dick Cheney's career was, you know, he had been Secretary of Defense. He had been White House Chief of Staff before. And so he had been part of these government training exercises for, you know, emergency operations for continuity of government exercises for years.

And so, you know, in some ways, one of the quotes that really stands out for me in the book was Dick Cheney saying, you know, as terrible as 9-11 was, we have actually trained for worse. And so I had this set of instincts from my decades of government service to fall back upon that day. Where was Bush at the time? So this was, you know, Bush was just being hustled out of the Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota rushed aboard Air Force One. And Bush, you know, was really torn that day between, and, you know, you're a student of American history, so you understand this tension. The role between being head of state, the person who is sort of supposed to be reassuring the country, and the person who is commander in chief, the person who is supposed to lead. the military and to preserve the office of the president. And so he's rushed aboard Air Force One.

Air Force One takes off, flies over the southeastern United States, goes first to Barksdale Air Force Base and then eventually to off at Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. And through that whole day, President Bush is pushing to come back to Washington. You know, he's, you know, shouting at the pilot of Air Force One, shouting at his, uh, uh, uh, you know, Chief of Staff, Andy Card and the Secret Service agents who effectively say, you know, Mr. President, this isn't your decision, this is ours. Our legal duty today is to protect the Office of the Presidency, and we can't let you go back to Washington until we're sure that it's safe. They land at Barstale Air Force Base sort of late morning, and it's this incredible visceral reaction that they have the passengers as they're getting all. off the plane. They land surrounded by armored vehicles, Humvees with 50 caliber machine guns, men in flack jackets with M16s, and they sort of realized that they had taken off in peacetime from Sarasota and that they have landed now in Barksdale and America is at war.

Garrett, I, this is, you've done a remarkable job. Did you, did you, did you, did you, Was there a reason you selected this style? Yeah. So to me, it's very much, you know, the goal of telling the book this way was to capture the way that America lived the day. You know, that we know the facts. And, you know, there are some great books that have been written about it in a narrative sense. You know, the 9-11 commission spent years and millions of dollars, you know, compiling the world. world's most accurate second by second TikTok of that day.

And yet what we are, I think, sort of in danger of forgetting is what the day was like to live, what the day was like to experience. And so my goal for this was they are trying to capture, you know, the voices of 9-11 as America lived it. and not get bogged down in the facts of the day. Really, truly amazing. Garrett, thank you so much for your book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

It is the only plane in the sky, an oral history of 9-11. It is fantastic. Get it now. You're listening to Glenn Beck. All right. There is a great new deal happening at Tukovus, and I'll tell you about it here in just a second. before I get into the details of a free gift purchase,

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That's T-E-C-O-V-A-S dot com slash Beck. Tonight we talked to someone who went through 9-11 in real terms. BlazTV.com. The promo code is Glenn. Get $10 off your subscription. The only plane in the sky in oral history of 9-11 is the name of this book that has just come out. And Stu and I have been both reading it,

and it's just absolutely riveting. Things you'll never have heard before. This one, this is this is a ticket agent at Portland International Jetport Mike Tuey ticket agent

everyone was in a good mood it was a gorgeous day and things looked like they were going like clockwork Von Alex ticket agent Washington DC International Airport Virginia these two guys came running in the front door looking around and didn't know which way to go Mike I saw these two

fellas standing there looking around I looked at the tickets and I go whoa first class tickets you don't see a $2,400 ticket anymore. There were less than 30 minutes prior to the flight when they arrived. The younger fellow was standing off to the right. I was asking the standard questions. Has anybody given you anything to carry on board the plane? Have your bags been out of your control since you packed them?

He was shaking his head, smiling at me. So it was okay. Alex Vaughn. We had just finished the morning check-in, and the counter was clear. I said to the other agent, here are the passengers that are running late, but I think we can get them on. Mike Tuwey. I said, Mr. Atta.

If you don't go now, you're going to miss your plane. Oh. Yeah. Now, that is amazing. You have in the book, there's another piece of a woman who is in first class with one of those phones, you know, that you could use your credit card with. Yeah, the air phone. Actually, she was a flight attendant. A flight attendant.

Yes. And she is in contact and talking about how they believe they've been hijacked. and it goes through, you know, it's minute-by-minute transcript of all of these calls. And, you know, we've heard pieces of some of these, but, I mean, the detail is ridiculous. Let me give you this. This is from actually Madeline Sweeney. She was an American Airlines flight 11 flight attendant. She's in the middle of all this going on.

It's 8.44 a.m. So, right, I mean, 846 was when the plane hits the building. She calls her service, her friend Michael Woodward, who's a services manager and a friend of her. she says, the flight has been hijacked. This is Flight 11 from Boston to L.A. The plane is a 767. I'm in the back with Betty Ong, a flight attendant.

A man in the business class has had his throat slashed and is presumably dead. Number one, flight attendant has been stabbed and number five, flight attendant has been stabbed. There is a bomb in the cockpit. I can't make contact with the cockpit. Can you do it?

We have paid for a doctor or a nurse for the flight attendants. The coach passengers don't know what's happening. The hijackers are of Middle Eastern descent. One spoke a good English and one didn't. It is a rapid descent. Something is wrong. I don't think the captain is in control.

I see water. I see buildings. We're flying low. We're flying very, very low. Oh my God. We're flying way too low. That's the transcript. From this, from a, I mean, I mean, it's page, every single page has stuff like that on it.

I'd forgotten too that Muhammad Atta, when he was trying to page the plane and tell them, he said, we have some planes, just stay quiet and we'll be okay. We're returning to the airport. Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you will just injure yourself in the airplane. Please stay quiet. Nobody move, please.

We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves. He thought he was talking to the actual airplane, the passengers, and he had called back to air traffic control by mistake. So they have all of that. I mean, can you imagine being on the other end of that call? No. It goes through, I mean, it really is incredible. So somewhere over the planes,

Major Scott Hooter Krog, F-16 pilot with the fighter squadron, Houston. We started following Air Force One North. They had just taken off from Sarasota, and they were on each wingtip. At some point, I was expecting them to turn east and head to Washington. The longer we were heading north. north, the more I realized something was unsettled. They still don't feel safe returning to Washington. I asked for a tanker to come and meet up.

After I hooked up, I asked for every radio channel between, I asked him for every radio channel between here and Canada. Ann Compton, reporter ABC News, in each cabin on board the Air Force One, three digital clocks stare out from the bulkhead. The LED numerals show the time in Washington, the time in the current location, and the time of the plane's destination.

all three clocks read 1.36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time until the destination clock snapped to central time. 1236. That was our only stunning confirmation that Air Force One was headed west away from Washington. Andy Card, also on the plane, Chief of Staff, there were lots of tears, there were lots of quiet moments staring at a TV screen, no conversation. There were prayers and fear. It was a roller coaster because we were just in the, it wasn't a roller coaster. because we were in the pits. Oh, my God, this is terrible. And that's worse, and that's even worse. Major Scott Hooter Krog.

It was an eerily silence on the radio. There was no one in the air. We were talking among ourselves, the fighter pilots, on our radios. I wonder if we're going to Canada. A lot of, man, this is effed up. I also was talking the guys through what happens if we have to shoot someone down. The world is watching. Let's fly by the book, and let's do everything we can to protect the president.

We know this is a plum target, but we also figure no one would expect Air Force One right now to be flying over North Kansas. Ari Fleischer on Air Force One, listen to this. There was no live television. It put us in a different spot than most Americans that day. A people around the world will riveted to their television sets. We had intermittent television on Air Force One. We had it in Barksdale at the base commander's office, but there was no. No email even on Air Force One at the time.

You're in the air. You're completely cut off. Eric Draper, presidential photographer. Everyone was starving for information. We couldn't hear anything unless the plane was flying over a major city. Ellen Eckert's stenographer. The plane was like in this twilight zone. There was no one aboard anywhere.

The staff cabin was empty. The guest cabin was empty. That's when it all came falling apart for me. I saw one of the agents standing in the hallway, and I went up to him and I said, so this is the safest place to be, right? This is Air Force One. He said,

ma'am, we might as well have a big red X on the bottom of this plane. We're the only plane in the sky. That was scary. It didn't help. I went to the bathroom and used one of those Air Force One note pads to write a letter to my family, six siblings and two parents. They're never going to see this.

I'm going to burn up in a fiery inferno. One of the flight intendants opened the door and comforted me and gave me a washcloth. We've got the, this. We have this. We're all together. Major Scott Krog on the wingtip of Air Force One. Fifteen minutes after we tanked up, we saw Air Force One begin to descend. I did the math and figured out we were probably headed to off it. Now we had a full tank of gas. You can't land like that in a small plane, let alone Air Force One. So we were doing Afterburner 360s at 7,000 feet

to burn off enough gas to land. Mike Morell, President Brefer Central and intelligence agency. On the way from Barksdale to off it, the president asked to see me alone. It was just me, him, and Andy Carr. He asked, Michael, who did this? I explained that I didn't have any intelligence, so what you're going to get is my best guess. He was very focused. He said, I understand that. Get on with it. I said there were only two competent countries capable of carrying an attack like this, and that was Iran and Iraq. But I believe both would have everything to lose and nothing to gain from the attack. When all is said and done, the trail would lead to Osama bin Laden.

I told him, I'd bet my children's future on that. They talk about how Dick Cheney was picked up. They have pictures of him in the office of the White House. How long before the plane hit the Pentagon? Like a minute? Yes, it was one minutes. They went to, the Secret Service came in and picked him up. And I think the way they described it was that he,

his feet only sometimes touched the ground as they carried him into the bunker. And it was one minute later that the plane hit the Pentagon. Now, obviously, they at that point believed it may very well be coming to the White House. And that's got to be a weird moment. I mean, think about this. You're Dick Cheney. You're one of the most powerful men in the world. People do what you tell them to do in an everyday life.

And here's a moment where physically you're being taken over by other people and told, basically no we're not listening to you right now we're going to do what we're doing uh i have been in that situation not like on 9-11 but uh been in that situation before with my protective detail when we've had a threat it is the weirdest thing ever because you don't they're not talking to you they're not talking to you they just come in pick you up by your belt and you're lucky if your feet hit the at the floor i mean i'm a big guy and i have been picked up and removed and thrown into a car. It's bizarre.

It's bizarre. And all they're saying is go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. No explanation. No explanation. No detail. The only thing I heard was go, go, go, watch your head as they threw me into the car. And then the door was closed. They hit it on the top.

Go! And the car went away. It was, it's incredible. But if you think you're Dick Cheney or the president, on the plane and he's like he's shouting at them turn the plane sorry sir you are not in control here you don't have anything to say when you are in that situation you're the president you they make the decision you don't because you are no longer you're their property now you're you're you're the office of the president you are not you're not a person anymore you're the entire office

i don't care mr president i don't care we're here to protect the office of the president shut up. Here's where we're going. That's for the most powerful man in the world, that has got to be a bizarre thing. And we saw that in the recent documentary, Angel has fallen, where thousands of little tiny drones come along when they're fishing and attack. Wow, just another tragedy that we'll remember in 18 years as well. Not a documentary. All right. By the way, on today's TV show, we have a two-day episode. I have two people that were there in the building at the time.

And I told them, you know, when we were recording this episode here just a couple of days ago, I had both of them together and we were thinking about doing them separately. And after reading their stories, I realized they had one thing in common. And they didn't even catch it. After they heard their stories, I said, so what do you think the thread is here? And when you see the thread, it's remarkable. and it's just remarkable and something that you need to see. Tonight at 5 o'clock only on Blaze TV,

a story you've never heard, two stories, you've never heard before that I think you will really, really get a lot out of, especially when you see the thread. BlazTV.com slash Glenn. BlazTV.com slash Glenn. promo code is Glenn. All right. Car shield. Supposed to be another pleasant drive to work.

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CarShield.com promo code Beck. You're listening to Glenn Beck. You know, I think I may be one of the only ones that am disappointed that John Bolton is leaving the White House. And not for the reasons, you know, I used to be a hawk. I'm not a hawk anymore. Stay home.

Stop it. But I liked the idea that you had somebody balancing the president who is not a hawk. And I liked that. Yeah. You know, I'd like the two strongest voices in the room being a hawk and a guy who's not a hawk with the guy who's not a hawk having the final say. You know what I mean? Right.

If the best voice in the room who's a hawk cannot convince him, that's great. I want that strong voice there. And I thought it was a great balance myself. I really liked it. I'm bummed that he's gone. I don't care at all who quit, who fired. I don't care. I believe John Bolton, but it doesn't matter.

Why are we arguing about this? None of that matters. I mean, you know, look, he was never a good ideological fit with the president. I mean, the president does not want to go to war, does not want to be involved in these things. And John Bolton is very aggressive on those terms. But I like it too. I mean, the sort of team of rivals situation is good. It's a good thing. And, you know, he's done that several times in a lot of these different arenas where he has real strong opinions. I mean, I think that's one of the things he really believes strongly, right? Cudlow. Yeah. Cudlow is not a guy

and trade. He's not a guy who's with, excuse me, with the president on trade. No. But he's in there and he's advising. And I think that's great. I mean, I'm, unfortunately. more voices, you know. President doesn't ever need to be triggered, and he's not. He's a big boy. He can handle it. Give him something that he doesn't agree with so he can reason it out himself and go, well, that's the best case. I don't agree. And those things work usually for a time.

There's usually an expiration date on relationships like that. When you have people who are going at each other that aggressively, I mean, Bolton really disagreed. I mean, the thing that apparently had set him off more than anything was inviting the Taliban to Camp David on the week of 9-11. Couldn't be worse optics. I mean, yeah, that's, you know, that's not something that I support. And ultimately, the president didn't support it either as he wanted to canceling it. But, you know, I think the media leaks were an issue, or at least an alleged issue with Bolton in which he wanted everyone to make sure they knew that he was not into this idea of a meeting with the Taliban at Camp David.

and you know the president eventually those those relationships when you disagree they can be fruitful for a while but eventually you hit a wall where okay well you're just sticking to your side i'm sticking to my side and we're not getting anything out of this anymore i just hope he in i hope he replaces john bolton again with somebody who doesn't necessarily always agree with him the glimback program