Eighteen years ago today, the United States of America was struck by the deadliest act of terrorism in history. The attacks, which were carried out by the militant terrorist organization al-Qaeda, initially killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others.
One airplane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after many of the passengers heroically fought back against several al-Qaeda affiliates who attempted a hijacking. Another hijacked airplane crashed into the Pentagon headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia. Two more passenger airplanes were flown into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The attacks in Manhattan–which were the most deadly attacks of the day–became the focal point of Sept. 11, 2001.
Over the last century, certain events in the U.S. have affected the American people to the point where they can vividly recall what was happening when they heard the news. For example, most people who were alive in the 1960s can say exactly where they were when they found out that U.S. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Many Americans who were alive in the 1980s could recount what they were doing when they heard that NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
William Schulte, an associate professor at Winthrop University’s mass communication department, distinctly remembers where he was when he heard the news of the attacks.
“I was working in the newsroom in Richmond, Indiana, watching CNN and watching a lot of the events unfold as they happened,” Schulte said.
Schulte said that initially, while details were scarce and it was unclear what exactly had happened, it appeared that there was a fire in the north tower.
“It didn’t look, in the first tower, as bad as it became. It looked like there was a fire. It looked like something that could be put out. Watching the news unfold, that’s when we watched the second plane hit,” Schulte said. “It’s almost indescribable, the shock of seeing that, to see it unfold right in front of your eyes.”
Christopher Van Aller, a professor of political science at Winthrop, was on campus when he got word of the attacks.
“I remember I was teaching an HMXP class over in Dinkins,” Van Aller said, noting that one of his initial concerns was the potential for overreaction by the U.S. government.
“I knew enough of what’s called ‘terrorist theory,’ for lack of a better word, that I was very worried that we would overreact,” Van Aller said. “People didn’t want to hear that. We had a big meeting at Winthrop, and I remember I was one of the people on stage, and I said, ‘We’ve got to be careful not to hurt people that are not our enemies,’ and I could hear people getting mad at me.”
In the aftermath of the north and south towers at the World Trade Center collapsing, the horrific and grim reality of what had taken place began to set in. Media outlets covered the attacks exhaustively and many of the disturbing images quickly circulated around the country.
“No picture that day looked like anything that had ever come across our wire service. In journalism, you try to maintain your objectivity as best as you can and I’m not sure we were very objective that day. We were angry, we were frustrated, we were shocked and there were a lot of raw emotions as you might imagine,” Schulte said.
As the aftermath played out, journalists found new stories and new ways to cover them. Schulte said the media outlet he worked for continued to cover the story of 9/11 “throughout the rest of the year.”
“The story wasn’t over on 9/11,” Schulte said.
In the wake of the attacks, the U.S. launched an invasion of Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001. The invasion of Iraq followed on March 20, 2003. Van Aller said that 9/11 “made a huge difference in foreign policy.”
“We spent about $2 trillion on those two wars and we’re still spending on the Afghan one. It reoriented U.S. foreign policy, at least initially, for at least 10 years into a quasi-war stance,” Van Aller said.
Van Aller said that in a post-9/11 world, “waves of terrorism against the first world” have “ebbed,” due in part to the fact that “we’ve gotten really good at hunting down terrorists and persecuting countries that harbor them.”
While the effects of the wars that followed the attacks are still being felt today, Winthrop has welcomed a freshman class that largely has no recollection of the day that changed the country 18 years ago.
“[The Sept. 11 attacks] didn’t personally affect me, mainly because I couldn’t remember the events, but my mom has talked numerous times about [how] it seriously impacted her. She told me she was laying down on her bed, holding me when I was a baby, and hearing the news,” freshman Ava West said. “She said that not only did it terrify her, but she was shocked. She couldn’t believe something like that could happen so close to home and feared for my future. She was saddened by all those who lost their lives and hoped that the nation could recover in some way and be more united from such a tragic event.”
In a post-9/11 world, security has become a popular topic of conversation with many of the new security measures still impacting many Americans in their day-to-day lives.
Freshman Grace Harlow, who was born less than two months before the attacks, said that these new security measures directly affected her family while her father was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island near Beaufort, South Carolina. Harlow said that her mother took her and her brother to the doctor on the base several days after the attacks.
“Our doctor was on the military base and so we had to go through the gate to get [in]. Before 9/11 you only had to show your ID, and it was lower security,” Harlow said. “But when my mom took us to the doctor that week, there were men at the gate with guns looking into each car as it came through.”
Winthrop freshman Makinna Campbell also noted the increased security measures while having no memory of the attacks.
“I was almost one when it occurred, so I haven’t had a direct impact of the event. However, it has impacted me through the changes in society like how strict airport security is,” Campbell said. “Also, it had the effect [on] my education as I’ve learned about it every year in school. The terror of that day will never really resonate fully, but I do feel saddened by it.”
Schulte said that the attacks of 9/11 and the ensuing changes had a drastic impact on the American people.
“Not only the political aspect of what occurred, which was a big deal, the social aspect of what occurred was as big of a deal. The way people’s mindsets shifted over what they thought was the reality of the world into what became the new reality of the world and there was a lot of innocence lost that day,” Schulte said.
If there is a silver lining in the proverbial grey clouds of such a tragic and catastrophic event, it can be found on Winthrop’s campus.
“Because of my dad’s service, he was eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, part of which helps allow me to attend Winthrop,” Harlow said.
Kiki Todman contributed to this story.
