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When the Towers Fell | National Geographic

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Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11

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Twenty years ago, Americans came together – bonded by sadness and patriotism – after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But a review of public opinion in the two decades since finds that unity was fleeting. It also shows how support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was strong initially but fell over time.

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Note for screen reader users: once expanded, the first four items of the navigation menu have some associated content which may provide additional information of interest. These sections can be located by jumping to the level 3 heading which follows each sub-menu.

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Investigator Green: I saw the second plane come around and go into the building. I told my colleague, "This is no accident. We're under attack."

Michael Lomonaco, chef and director of culinary operations at Windows on the World, a restaurant on the North Tower's 106th and 107th floors: I'd been in the shopping center on the lower level when the North Tower was hit. They evacuated us very quickly. I made a couple of calls to let people know I was safe. Then I heard a roar of jet engines. I looked up at the South Tower and saw the moment of impact. A fireball exploded. This was a tremendous shock. I thought of all my friends and colleagues at the restaurant, and I started to do a mental list: Who's up there now? Who's working? We had 72 of our Windows family working that morning. We also had more than 100 people in a private dining room. So, after the second plane hit, I became emotional and felt tears well up in my eyes.

Lolita Jackson, an assistant vice president for Morgan Stanley Investment Management's Mutual Fund Sales Department, who worked on the 70th floor of the South Tower: We were told to listen to our company's head of security, Rick Rescorla, and he told us to leave. It took about 35 minutes to get out of the building. I didn't know the towers got hit by planes, but standing there on the street, it looked like something from The Towering Inferno. It's hard to remember that 20 years ago there was no Twitter. There was no Facebook. There was no internet the way we know it now. So, we had no way of knowing what was going on unless somebody texted you. The Port Authority was telling people not to leave. The only reason we all lived is that Rick ignored what they were saying.

Salvatore Cassano, a Fire Department assistant chief of operations who became chief of operations right after September 11: The World Trade Center was built to withstand a plane crash. Well, it withstood the plane crash. It just didn't withstand a fire from the thousands of gallons of jet fuel that were incinerating everything in there.

Systems analyst Lazaros: We got into the stairwell, and it was so quiet.

Everybody knew something really bad had happened, and everybody just wanted to get out of there. We all just started walking and walking and walking down. We saw the firefighters, a lot of them. They started coming up the stairwell. So, we all moved over for them. They had so much equipment on them. And it was smoky, and they were sweating already. They were walking up the stairs. We asked them, "Where are you going? Where do you have to go?" They said, "Oh, we have to get underneath the fire. But you go."

They had all these ropes and things, and all those guys never got out of there. Never.

We got to the end of the stairwell and went through the open door. At first we had no idea where we were. I said, "This must be some kind of old subbasement, somewhere that's full of debris." It was the lobby we had come into in the morning, but everything had been destroyed.

Stanley Praimnath, an assistant vice president for Fuji Bank, who worked on the 81st floor of the South Tower: I'd seen huge chunks of fireballs falling from the North Tower. I took an elevator to the 78th floor of my building to switch to an express elevator, to leave. The security guard said, "Your building is safe, is secure. Go back to your office." I stepped back into the elevator, went back into my office, and the phone was ringing, so I answered it. I'm standing up with a phone in my hand, and I see something gray, a plane, small at first, then larger and larger. I'm mesmerized, not realizing a plane is coming toward me. The plane starts to tilt, and it looks like time just stopped, and it's happening in flashes of a minuscule second. I can hear the revving sound of the engine, and the plane is coming closer, closer, closer. I dropped the phone and I screamed, and I dove under the desk. All I remember saying at that time was, "Lord, I can't do this. You take over."

The bottom wing took out most of the floor I was on. It looked like a demolition crew came and ripped the entire office apart. Every piece of furniture was mangled. The only desk that stood firm was the desk I was hiding under. My Bible was on top of that desk. That's the only reason I can attribute to why I was saved.

The ceiling above me collapsed, and the sprinkler system came on. I was screaming for somebody to help me: "Please don't leave me to die." Somebody on the floor heard me, and the person had a flashlight.

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Remembering the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, 20 Years Later

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Investigator Green: I saw the second plane come around and go into the building. I told my colleague, "This is no accident. We're under attack." Michael Lomonaco, chef and director of culinary operations at Windows on the World, a restaurant on the North Tower's 106th and 107th floors: I'd been in the shopping center on the lower level when the North Tower was hit.

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My Investigation