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Unfortunately, many websites continue to do a mis-service to the cause of truth. They continuously cite the time
frame of Bush continuing to remain in the second-grade classroom as "twenty minutes" or twenty-five minutes.
From my research, I have found 3 pool reporters who were in the room with the President at the time Card leaned over
and whispered to the President.
Bill Sammon was one of those pool reporters. In his book FIGHTING BACK, Sammon notes when Bush entered the second-grade
classroom, when Card leaned over and interrupted the President (9:07 a.m.), and says Bush stayed in the classroom for approximately
six more minutes before he exited to the adjacent room called the holding room. This room was the one equipped with
a secure phone line.
Not an exhaustive listing of websites with the incorrect reference:
twenty minutes
25 minutes later
You need to keep up on your math skills to determine whether this is accurate, and beware the slant and potential
for misquotes
9/11/01: Where Was George?
What we do know is that Bush continued to read to the children and pose for the cameras long after the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon,
the White House, the Secret Service and Canada's Strategic Command were all aware that three jetliners had been hijacked.
The President's entourage hung around a full fifty minutes after CNN broadcast the news of the first crash. Half an
hour after the first plane hit, Bush told the children, "Hoo! These are great readers. Very impressive! Thank you
all so very much for showing me your reading skills. I bet they practice, too. Don't you? Reading more than they watch TV?
Anybody do that? Read more than you watch TV? [Hands go up] Oh that's great! Very good. Very important to practice! Thanks
for having me. I'm very impressed."
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