The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history represented one of its greatest leadership challenges, and the decisions made on that day still reverberate 25 years later.
asserted
decisions → represent → day
President George W. Bush was elected in the contentious 2000 election largely on a domestic-focused platform.
asserted
Bush → elect → platform
Several of the key figures in the administration remain well-known, for better or worse, while others have faded into relative obscurity.
asserted
others → remain → obscurity
Unlike his father, President George H.W. Bush, who had served as President Ronald Reagan’s CIA director and took a special interest in foreign policy as president, the younger Bush campaigned on domestic issues and saw himself as the figurehead of “compassionate conservatism.”
asserted
Bush → serve → conservatism
However, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks threw his plans for his presidency into disarray.
asserted
attacks → throw → disarray
Bush’s approval rating skyrocketed to 90% in late September 2001, as the country rallied around its leader as he visited the site of Ground Zero in New York City and announced the beginning of the Global War on Terror.
asserted
he → skyrocket → Terror
American troops entered Afghanistan to hunt down al Qaida terrorist cells in the country by October of that year, and Bush further escalated the GWOT by accusing Saddam Hussein’s Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction.
asserted
Bush → enter → destruction
Though the Iraq War proved to be one of the most controversial parts of Bush’s presidency, the U.S. invasion boosted his approval rating from 57% to 71% in March 2003.
asserted
invasion → prove → March
The subsequent years of an escalating insurgency, increased U.S. troop deployments and casualties, and the Great Recession led his approval rating to crumble to only 28% in November 2008.
asserted
years → escalate → November
After President Barack Obama took office, Bush recused himself from the political stage like many of his predecessors.
asserted
Bush → take → predecessors
While Bush publicly disagreed with Obama’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq in 2011, calling it a “strategic blunder,” Bush also told late-night host Jay Leno, “I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor.”
asserted
president → disagree → successor
The former president campaigned for his brother Jeb Bush as he battled for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, and later refused to endorse President Donald Trump’s campaign.
asserted
he → campaign → campaign
Bush again did not endorse any presidential candidates in 2020, but held a virtual fundraiser for Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
asserted
Bush → endorse → Collins
The former president condemned the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the attempted assassination of Trump in 2024.
asserted
president → condemn → 2024
Bush also took up painting as a hobby after leaving the presidency, inspired by reading Winston Churchill’s essay “Painting as a Pastime.”
asserted
Bush → take → Pastime
Arguably the most well-known figure in the Bush administration outside the president himself, Vice President Dick Cheney had decades of experience under his belt by the time of 9/11, but had not yet generated the controversy that dogged him post-Bush administration.
asserted
that → know → administration
He served in the House from 1979–1989, then as secretary of defense under George H.W. Bush.
asserted
He → serve → Bush
He was chosen as George W. Bush’s running mate in part to boost the president’s national defense credentials.
asserted
He → choose → credentials
Cheney’s experience in foreign affairs and defense helped turn him into one of the most powerful vice presidents in history, as Bush delegated much of the handling of the Global War on Terror to him.
asserted
Bush → help → him
He was a leading figure in advocating for and leading the Iraq War, something that would lead to his widespread unpopularity by the time he left office.
asserted
he → advocate → office
The vice president ended his term polling at around 13%, and largely stayed out of the public eye after.
asserted
president → end → eye
Cheney was one of the worst-hit Republicans by the Trump revolution, quickly fading into irrelevance after 2016.
asserted
Cheney → hit → 2016
He backed his daughter, Liz Cheney, who was trying to position herself as a leading anti-Trump Republican, in an effort that met disaster when she lost to her Trump-backed challenger in 2022 by over 33 points.
asserted
she → back → points
Dick Cheney died on Nov. 3, 2025, at age 84, of complications from pneumonia and vascular disease.
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Powell was the subject of bipartisan respect at the time of 9/11, being the first black U.S. national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush, and secretary of state under George W. Bush.
asserted
Powell → die → Bush
He was the first Bush Cabinet official to accept their post, doing so before the president’s inauguration.
asserted
He → accept → inauguration
He played a key role in shoring up U.S. alliances to pursue the GWOT.
asserted
He → play → GWOT
Powell’s most controversial moment came when he claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in front of the United Nations Security Council in February 2003, an address he soon after admitted was filled with inaccuracies, and described it as a “blot” on his record.
asserted
he → come → record
He soon was on the outs with Bush and was pushed to resign shortly after his reelection in 2004.
asserted
He → push → 2004
As with several other Bush administration officials, Powell would distinguish himself as a major anti-Trump figure, even disavowing his Republican Party membership in 2021 after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
asserted
Powell → distinguish → riot
He died on Oct. 18, 2021, at age 84 of complications related to COVID-19.
asserted
He → die → COVID-19
Upon returning to the secretary of defense post under Bush after his service in the Ford administration, Rumsfeld held the unique distinction of being both the youngest and oldest man to serve in the position.
asserted
Rumsfeld → return → position
Rumsfeld was praised as a heroic figure during the Sept. 11 attacks, as he was at his office in the Pentagon when one of the hijacked planes hit.
asserted
one → praise → planes
The secretary of defense ran to the crash site and personally helped evacuate the wounded.
asserted
secretary → run → wounded
His goodwill would run out in the years that followed, after he became the face of the administration’s defense of the Iraq War.
asserted
he → run → War
He resigned in 2006 after sustained pressure from controversies surrounding the war, especially the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.
asserted
He → resign → war
He died on June 29, 2021, at age 88 after battling a “long illness.”
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice
Rice, like Powell, set a number of civil rights-related records, including the first female national security adviser.
asserted
Rice → die → adviser
Coming from an academic background specializing in Soviet and Russian affairs, she had previously served Bush’s father as a member of the National Security Council staff.
asserted
she → come → staff
Rice would draw heavy scrutiny over the intelligence failures preceding 9/11, especially a now-famous Presidential Daily Briefing given just one month before the attacks in which she warned that Bin Laden was preparing to attack the United States.
asserted
Laden → draw → States
She would draw even more controversy as a central advocate for the Iraq War.
asserted
She → draw → War
When asked in September 2002 about evidence for Iraq possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction, “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”
asserted
gun → ask → Destruction
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
