President Bush Reads to Students on September 11, 2001
In this photograph, President George W. Bush participates in a reading demonstration with second grade teacher Sandra Kay Daniels at Emma E. Brooker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida on the morning of September 11, 2001. The president participated in the reading demonstration to raise support for his "No Child Left Behind" nationwide educational initiative. During the demonstration, President Bush was informed by chief of staff Andy Card of the second strike on the World Trade Center in New York City. After delivering brief remarks at the school, Bush boarded Air Force One for his own protection, accompanied by roughly 65 advisors, security agents, and staff members. For the next several hours, President Bush worked from his office aboard Air Force One, where he monitored the crisis using the secure phone lines and televisions installed in the aircraft.