From The Atlantic · Jonathan Lemire · · 4m
New York, 25 Years Later
A quarter century after 9/11, New York City has rebuilt itself. But the nation it symbolizes remains fractured.
In brief
A quarter century after 9/11, New York City has rebuilt itself. But the nation it symbolizes remains fractured. New York's physical and cultural recovery from 9/11 showed what American unity could achieve, but the nation has since grown deeply divided, and the president won't even attend this year's memorial…
New York as America's mirror
New York City symbolizes the nation's money, power, diversity, and freedom. For those wanting to strike at America's heart, it was the perfect target 25 years ago.
A nation briefly unified
After the attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and toppled two signature skyscrapers, rescue workers from red and blue states raced to help. American flags appeared everywhere, and for the first time in decades, the nation felt unified.
A young reporter at ground zero
The author was a 21-year-old intern at the New York Daily News on September 11, 2001. He walked south from uptown toward the World Trade Center, eventually reaching Ground Zero to document the indescribable.
Empty hospital beds
Sent to a major hospital to witness the arrival of injured survivors, the author instead found rows of empty beds. The scores of survivors never came; there simply weren't many.
The smell of loss
At Ground Zero, the rubble continued to burn. When the wind turned, an acrid blend of jet fuel, steel, and other things too sad to consider filled the air.
Firefighters from across America
In the weeks that followed, the author covered dozens of funerals. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of firefighters journeyed from departments across the country to ensure each service was well attended.
Rudy Giuliani's moment
Mayor Rudy Giuliani woke that morning as an unpopular lame duck. But with President Bush largely out of sight, Giuliani became the face of a mourning yet determined city. His leadership was nothing short of heroic.
NATO invokes Article 5
Congress passed a victims-compensation fund in bipartisan fashion. NATO allies stood by America, invoking the Article 5 mutual-defense clause for the first and only time in the alliance's history.
The memorial takes shape
One World Trade Center rose to 1,776 feet. The eight-acre site became a peaceful park with two reflecting pools where the towers stood, ringed by the names of nearly 3,000 victims.
The city roared back
Businesses returned to Lower Manhattan. Apartment prices skyrocketed, young people transformed Brooklyn and Queens, crime plummeted, and Broadway boomed. The city today is safer and more vibrant than ever.
A Muslim mayor leads the city
In a development unthinkable a quarter century ago, New York's 34-year-old democratic socialist Muslim mayor will lead this year's September 11 remembrance services.
A template for resilience
New Yorkers' communal response to the terror attacks provided a template for calamities ahead. The city banded together through the 2003 blackout, Hurricane Sandy, and the pandemic.
National unity crumbles
The initial feeling of unity was dealt body blows by the Iraq War, the 2008 financial panic, and racist backlash to the election of the first Black president. The country became angrier and more polarized.
Trump widens the fissures
Over the past decade, Donald Trump has widened the nation's political and cultural divisions, eroded trust in American institutions, and governed like president only of his supporters.
Giuliani's fall from grace
Rudy Giuliani, once heralded as America's Mayor, embraced Trump's lies about the 2020 election. He faced indictment, disbarments, and a 148 million dollar defamation lawsuit over false claims about Georgia election workers.
Trump's insensitive moment
Hours after the towers fell, Trump told a local television station that a building he owned had suddenly gained in stature. His claim about 40 Wall Street was inaccurate and deeply insensitive.
“actually was the second-tallest building in Downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest”
Trump skips the memorial
Trump will not attend this year's Ground Zero ceremony. The New York Times reported he's instead attending a Pentagon event because Manhattan organizers wouldn't let him deliver a speech.
Operation Rotten Apple
Trump's administration announced a deportation surge for New York dubbed Operation Rotten Apple just days before the solemn Ground Zero commemoration.
The city moves forward
Former presidents from both parties will attend Friday's ceremony. The memorial will open to the public, where visitors from red and blue states will share quiet moments at the reflecting pools.
Light guides us home
When night falls, the Tribute in Light will beam pillars upward. The illuminated towers will stretch to the heavens and guide so many of us home.
What it means
New York's physical and cultural recovery from 9/11 showed what American unity could achieve, but the nation has since grown deeply divided, and the president won't even attend this year's memorial.
