The National Geographic Channel’s hour-long special “George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview” is a spoken timeline of that day told only from the viewpoint of former President George W. Bush. Despite the weighty topic, there are portions of the documentary that offered a lighthearted glimpse of Bush as a person, reacting to both his family members and staffers.
In the movie, Bush discusses being driven around the Barksdale, La., Air Force Base several hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and making a joke to get the driver to stop speeding. “I said, slow down, Al-Qaeda’s not here,” Bush recalled. He also reminisces about the false alarm he and the first family had to be evacuated for at the end of the day, when a rogue plane seemed to be heading toward the White House. Bush says the first thing he did then was scoop up Barney. “The day ended with Laura, me, Barney and Spot trudging upstairs to get some rest,” he said.
At a screening at the National Geographic Headquarters in downtown D.C. Tuesday night, producer and director Peter Schnall told the audience about some of the stuff he edited out, having the tough task of cutting four hours of interview into an hour-long film.
Schnall shared an anecdote about the president trying to find his parents on 9/11. “He did get through to them actually, he did talk to them and he asked them where they were and they said somewhere in the midwest,” Schnall explained. “And he said, ‘what are you doing there?” And his mother said, ‘well, you grounded us.'”
Schnall also talked about how the president was greeted in New York City, after Bush made that famous impromptu speech in Ground Zero. “There were thousands of people along the highway and they were cheering and waving flags and the president said it was the first time he’s been in New York where everybody was waving at him with all five fingers.”
“George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview” premieres on the National Geographic Channel this Sunday at 10 p.m.
