The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Bob Beckwith, Brad Meltzer & Garrett M. Graff ｜ 9⧸11⧸19

00:00:00.000 Hey, podcasters. It is Wednesday, September 11th, 2019. 18 years ago, we were on the air telling

00:00:09.040 America about the World Trade Center coming down. And we really, we really focused on that. And we

00:00:16.060 had a couple of really amazing guests to talk about it. One is Garrett Graff. He's the author

00:00:23.020 of this new book called The Only Plane in the Sky. It's the best history book I have I've read in a

00:00:28.140 long time. There's no opinion in it. It's just the oral history in a minute by minute what happened

00:00:35.020 that day. And it's riveting. We go through some of those stories. Also, Brad Meltzer joins us all of

00:00:41.240 this today on the podcast. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:00:58.140 All right. Say again.

00:01:15.020 Executive 956, did you understand that transmission?

00:01:17.900 Yeah, that transmission, he said it was unreasonable. It sounded like someone said they have a bomb

00:01:21.600 on board. Sir, did you hear the 5-6 was there? He probably just said he had a bomb on board.

00:01:25.560 Affirmative. He said there was a bomb on board.

00:01:28.720 That's what we thought. We just, uh, we didn't get it clear.

00:01:32.900 That aircraft, he can't get a hold of it. Has he turned to the east now?

00:01:35.360 He's just turned to the east also.

00:01:37.640 Executive 956, we had a visual out of this standby.

00:01:40.180 Do you have a visual on him now?

00:01:41.700 We did, but we lost him at the turn.

00:01:43.400 If you can make a turn back to a 220 heading, let me know if you can see him.

00:01:45.520 We're making a turn at 956.

00:01:47.480 Man, Z-100 852. Something weird is going on. The World Trade Center is on fire.

00:02:08.080 Oh my goodness.

00:02:08.840 Seriously, the top of the building. We're trying to get information.

00:02:10.860 The top level of one of the

00:02:13.500 news to unfold from New York City.

00:02:16.380 A plane crashed.

00:02:18.700 My sister's in that building. 0.74

00:02:20.180 Okay.

00:02:20.620 And I hope she's okay and I gotta run to New York.

00:02:22.880 Oh my God, it's complete pandemic.

00:02:24.720 First of all, calm down.

00:02:25.840 There's raining papers and ashes.

00:02:28.980 Everything.

00:02:29.100 A second plane has now flown in.

00:02:57.960 Wait, exposed it to the Pentagon?

00:02:59.180 A third location.

00:03:01.100 I don't have words to describe what I'm witnessing right now.

00:03:05.920 Effective immediately until further notice.

00:03:08.320 Flight operations in the national airspace system by United States civil aircraft and foreign

00:03:13.340 civil and military aircraft are prohibited. 0.71

00:03:16.880 Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. 0.79

00:03:21.120 And freedom will be defended. 0.96

00:03:22.740 I need to go.

00:03:23.860 Oh my God.

00:03:25.940 One of the World Trade Towers has collapsed and fallen.

00:03:31.900 It's a whole freaking evening.

00:03:33.620 What's happening?

00:03:35.620 I got no time.

00:03:37.940 Let's go.

00:03:39.760 Let's go.

00:03:40.460 Let's go.

00:03:40.940 Let's go.

00:03:41.700 Oh my God.

00:03:47.620 I didn't have seen anything like this.

00:03:51.840 I've got five patients.

00:03:58.720 They need to be.

00:03:59.260 We got a man that is full of cops and pedestrians.

00:04:01.520 We got a man that is full of cops and pedestrians.

00:04:01.560 We just collapsed.

00:04:03.180 We don't have much more.

00:04:04.440 We got another town that just came downtown.

00:04:07.760 Let me out.

00:04:08.800 Let me out.

00:04:09.640 Let me out.

00:04:10.020 All the cops away from the building.

00:04:12.360 Help.

00:04:13.700 You got a female officer down there. 1.00

00:04:16.020 A female officer. 0.93

00:04:17.160 Where are you now, King?

00:04:19.560 Where are you, King?

00:04:20.580 We're not going to be stopped.

00:04:29.960 We're not going to be deterred.

00:04:31.980 We're not going to stay at home.

00:04:33.620 We're not going to be frightened.

00:04:35.120 We're going to live our lives as Americans.

00:04:37.500 We're all brothers.

00:04:44.920 We've all got to stick together.

00:04:46.000 My God.

00:04:55.380 Look at the skyline without the towers.

00:05:00.840 It is Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.

00:05:05.960 This is Glenn Beck.

00:05:12.640 Dateline, New York.

00:05:15.060 In one of the most audacious attacks ever,

00:05:19.080 terrorists hijacked two airliners,

00:05:22.340 crashed them into the World Trade Center

00:05:24.000 in a coordinated series of blows today

00:05:27.920 that brought down

00:05:29.380 the twin 110-story towers.

00:05:34.360 Thousands may be dead.

00:05:36.720 58,000 people

00:05:38.420 work at the World Trade Center.

00:05:41.540 Sean, it's me.

00:05:42.600 I just wanted to let you know I love you.

00:05:44.580 And I'm stuck in this building.

00:05:46.400 A plane hit the building where mom went off.

00:05:48.560 We don't know.

00:05:49.100 But there's lots of smoke

00:05:50.260 and we just wanted you to know

00:05:51.640 that I love you.

00:05:52.420 What way?

00:05:53.320 What way?

00:05:53.700 What way?

00:05:53.720 What way?

00:05:54.220 What way?

00:05:54.520 What way?

00:05:54.800 One plane.

00:05:57.880 United Flight 93.

00:06:00.300 Crashed north of Somerset County Airport.

00:06:03.580 A small airport 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

00:06:07.980 United said that flight.

00:06:11.340 Boeing 757.

00:06:14.120 Left Newark at 801.

00:06:16.280 And in present Francisco with 38.

00:06:17.920 It doesn't know I'm done.

00:06:20.100 We'll prevail.

00:06:21.000 Everything we have to fear,

00:06:23.480 We will not turn.

00:06:25.040 It is as old as the scriptures.

00:06:26.280 We will not falter.

00:06:27.460 And it is clear.

00:06:28.360 And we will not fail.

00:06:29.480 The American Constitution.

00:06:31.580 That is

00:06:32.040 the news

00:06:34.060 of this day.

00:06:40.280 September 11th,

00:06:42.980 2001.

00:06:46.260 The United 93.

00:06:49.160 The United 93, man.

00:06:50.760 United 93.

00:06:54.920 United 93.

00:06:57.820 United 93.

00:07:00.860 United 93.

00:07:02.020 United 93.

00:07:05.120 United 93.

00:07:08.180 United 93.

00:07:10.540 United 93.

00:07:10.800 United 93.

00:07:12.160 United 93.

00:07:12.920 United 93.

00:07:16.260 United 93.

00:07:17.240 United 93.

00:07:18.040 United 93.

00:07:18.780 United 93.

00:07:18.960 United 93.

00:07:20.420 The Glenn Beck Program.

00:07:50.420 Won't be really free if we don't stay united, cause divided, we will fall for anything, it's true, so I have decided, I will stand for you, and I will.

00:08:17.260 I will make us stand, I will raise my voice, I will hold your hand, cause we are one, I will beat my trump, I have made my choice, we will overcome, cause we are one.

00:08:39.820 We are one, we are one.

00:08:48.820 We started going back and listening to what we did on September 11th, 18 years ago.

00:08:57.980 And I remember doing one thing, I haven't heard it since.

00:09:07.880 Could you please play the last cut, GB's prayer?

00:09:15.540 I have not heard this since I did it, and I remember the moment.

00:09:22.280 I think it is appropriate, as we end our business day today, that we together ask for a blessing on this great nation.

00:09:41.620 So I ask you to pull over your car, stop what you're doing, hush your surroundings, and take a moment with me.

00:10:02.620 As we speak to our Father who gave us life.

00:10:14.260 Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we ask you today to watch over us.

00:10:34.200 Your children are confused and frightened.

00:10:37.500 We are saddened by the loss of our brothers and saddened by the violence that our other brothers have brought upon us.

00:10:56.460 We ask for your warm embrace.

00:10:59.840 We ask for your, we beg for your guidance now.

00:11:03.720 We ask for the guidance of our leaders that they may put aside all hatred and have a clear view as to the truth and what must be done.

00:11:29.700 I remember giving this prayer.

00:11:34.500 And I remember looking up at Stu early on, and he was, we had never done anything.

00:11:40.680 It was a different world.

00:11:41.760 We had never done anything like that before.

00:11:44.780 And I looked up, and he looked at me like, you're going to pray.

00:11:50.140 Do you remember that, Stu?

00:11:51.940 Sounds like something I would do.

00:11:53.160 Yeah.

00:11:53.980 And, uh, I wanted to play that.

00:12:01.000 Because when, when was the last time we actually reached out like that to him?

00:12:11.080 When was the last time we had that, that much of a heartfelt collective?

00:12:21.240 We're in trouble.

00:12:22.700 Please help us.

00:12:27.720 Perhaps that's why we are struggling as much as we are.

00:12:33.660 The best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:12:38.020 Hey, it's Glenn.

00:12:46.120 And if you like what you hear on the program, you should check out Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:12:50.320 His podcast is available wherever you download your favorite podcast.

00:12:53.620 The picture seared in the nation's memory.

00:13:00.180 President Bush at ground zero three days after the attacks.

00:13:04.900 A bullhorn in one hand, the other draped around firefighter Bob Beckwith.

00:13:08.300 That firefighter with President Bush was Bob Beckwith.

00:13:11.900 Bob Beckwith stood shoulder to shoulder with President Bush.

00:13:14.320 Bob Beckwith, a firefighter from Queens, New York in his mid-60s.

00:13:18.600 That day, he stood alongside the president and stepped onto the national patriotic stage.

00:13:27.740 Bob, are you there?

00:13:30.220 Yes.

00:13:31.100 Hi, Bob. How are you?

00:13:32.620 Very good. And yourself?

00:13:33.740 I'm very good, sir.

00:13:35.300 Very good.

00:13:36.040 I, uh, I just wanted to touch base with you, um, your experiences with 9-11.

00:13:42.500 Because I, I painted a painting of, of you a couple of weeks ago for an auction.

00:13:48.600 And as I was painting you, I thought, uh, you know, I know this man's story, but not really.

00:13:55.660 And now that you've had, you know, almost 20 years to digest it, I'd love to hear, first of all, where were you on 9-11 when it happened?

00:14:06.180 When it happened, my daughter had called me that my grandson, going to school on his bicycle, was hit by a car about two blocks away from me.

00:14:18.260 And I ran over there to see what was happening, and, and I saw him on the ground, but he was moving, so I, uh, that was a plus.

00:14:27.960 And I found out from the, uh, ambulance driver where, what hospital they were taking him to.

00:14:34.520 And I came home to get my car.

00:14:37.080 I, I listened on the radio, and I said, I heard a guy say...

00:14:39.960 And so I came inside, and my wife had it on the television already, and they had cameras there.

00:14:50.980 I was looking, and I said, that's a little bit bigger than a small plane.

00:14:54.660 Yeah.

00:14:55.360 I, I figured I got a bad day going.

00:14:57.560 My grandson gets hit by a car, and now a plane goes in.

00:15:00.700 Where were you living at the time, Bob?

00:15:03.140 I was living right here in Baldwin, New York.

00:15:05.940 When did the phone call come in that you had to go?

00:15:09.340 Were you with your grandson in the hospital, or what, when did you...

00:15:14.500 I went to the hospital to, uh, be with him.

00:15:17.800 Everybody was watching television at the hospital, and, and I, I saw the, the South Tower come down.

00:15:24.360 Oh, my God.

00:15:26.120 One World Trade Center has collapsed in its entirety.

00:15:29.260 One World Trade Center is gone.

00:15:31.580 And then a few months later, the, uh, the, the North Tower came down.

00:15:36.840 The other tower has just collapsed, waiting to collapse, waiting to collapse.

00:15:39.420 And I knew that there was guys in the building, you know, because that, the firemen were in there.

00:15:43.920 You know what goes through your head when, uh, it just hits you pretty hard.

00:15:48.680 Bob, did you, did you have any inkling that those towers might come down when you saw them?

00:15:56.280 I never thought it would, uh, I really, honestly.

00:15:59.260 I never thought that they were coming down.

00:16:02.060 Boy, was I shocked when they, when that happened.

00:16:05.220 So, when would you, when did you first arrive at Ground Zero?

00:16:09.260 What happened was, I, I came home that, uh, from the hospital later that day.

00:16:16.680 And, uh, I told my wife and my kids that I'm going down to Ground Zero.

00:16:20.900 And they said, don't go down, you're too, well, I was 69 years old.

00:16:25.480 And, uh, they thought I was an old man there, and, uh, I'm going to get in the way.

00:16:29.920 So, uh, just don't go down there.

00:16:32.220 The next day, I find out that, um, Jimmy Boyle.

00:16:36.160 Now, Jimmy Boyle was the, uh, the president of the UFA, the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

00:16:41.620 Uh-huh.

00:16:42.340 And that was one of his delegates.

00:16:44.420 And when I found out his son is missing, I said, that's it, I'm out of here.

00:16:48.440 And I, I suited up the next morning, and I got to go down to Ground Zero.

00:16:52.720 So, I'm driving down there, I'm on a BQE, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and I'm going towards the Williamsburg Bridge.

00:17:01.540 Uh, guess what?

00:17:02.900 The bridges are closed.

00:17:04.500 And I saw a cop's car going over the bridge with two vans behind it.

00:17:10.220 I said, I'm going to give it a shot.

00:17:11.700 And I drove between the cones, and I went on the bridge.

00:17:15.500 But when I got over to the other side, there was nobody, nobody was there.

00:17:19.240 And everything was gray, and I went over to the house watch at 55 Engine, and I told them I'm going down to Ground Zero.

00:17:28.280 And I said, well, good luck.

00:17:30.640 I said, what the heck is that good luck about?

00:17:33.220 Anyway, the police department, they, they, they lined up on a perimeter all around Ground Zero.

00:17:39.820 I said, I got to get in there, you know.

00:17:42.160 And I showed them my badge, and they let me in.

00:17:45.360 And then the guy said to me, good luck.

00:17:46.960 So I went down to about a block or two, and then I see the National Guard.

00:17:52.300 They were on the perimeter also.

00:17:54.720 And I said, we don't care that you're a fireman, but you're not getting in.

00:17:58.820 So I had to think fast, and I talked my way in.

00:18:02.200 You know, I was at that perimeter.

00:18:05.420 I don't know how anyone could have talked themselves through that line.

00:18:08.800 How did you do it?

00:18:09.560 I told the little fib, Deb, I told them I missed the rig, and I was going to get in trouble if I didn't get in there.

00:18:17.800 And they bought it.

00:18:19.120 Wow.

00:18:19.960 Wow.

00:18:20.560 Okay.

00:18:21.420 So you're, so you're there.

00:18:23.120 You snuck across the bridge on the island.

00:18:26.520 Then you, you, you sneak across the barrier with National Guard.

00:18:31.940 Right.

00:18:32.320 And then what happens?

00:18:33.820 And then I came into ground zero, and I tell you, it was a shark.

00:18:38.300 You can see the people running as these buildings begin to crash.

00:18:40.860 As we were running, racing for their lives.

00:18:43.100 One of the buildings is partially collapsed.

00:18:46.200 The remains that has yet unidentified survivors will be found in underground.

00:18:50.200 The first thing that came to my mind was, this is how it probably looked in the Blitz.

00:18:55.720 Yeah.

00:18:56.500 Wow.

00:18:57.320 You know what happened?

00:18:58.560 I, I worked down there all that day, and I was on the Bucket Brigade, and I found a shovel, and I started digging with the guys, and we were, and we found a, a, a, a, a pumper.

00:19:10.200 A pumper is a fire engine in the rubble.

00:19:12.500 And we told the crane operator to put the, the rig out on the, in the street, which he did.

00:19:20.500 Some guy comes over, and he says, the president is here.

00:19:25.920 And I saw the guys put their shovel down, and I put mine down, and I walked out to the street.

00:19:31.660 And there's that pumper we just dug out of the rubble.

00:19:34.440 So, I jumped up on it, and right across the street was a command post, a tent with all microphones in front of it.

00:19:43.300 I figured, oh, that's where the president's going to talk.

00:19:46.560 This secret service man came over to me, and he said, is this safe?

00:19:51.340 I said, yeah.

00:19:52.540 And he said, well, jump up and down on it for me.

00:19:54.600 So, I jumped up and down on it for him, and he said, okay.

00:19:58.340 He said, somebody important's coming over here, and when they come over here, you help them up, and then you get down.

00:20:05.820 I said, okay, because you do what the secret service guy tells you to do.

00:20:10.300 The president comes around, and he does a hard right, and he comes right in front of me, and he puts his arm up.

00:20:16.460 So, I pull him up, and I turn him around, and I said to him, are you okay, Mr. President?

00:20:21.720 And he said, yeah, and I start to get down.

00:20:24.820 He said, where are you going?

00:20:25.960 I said, I was told to get down.

00:20:27.560 He said, no, no, you stay right here, and he put his armor on me, and that's my story.

00:20:32.780 That's unbelievable.

00:20:35.320 It is.

00:20:35.760 It really is.

00:20:36.860 I didn't know any of those things.

00:20:39.540 What did the president say to you at one point?

00:20:42.640 Do you even remember when he turned to you in the middle of the speech, and he said some things to you?

00:20:47.560 Do you remember?

00:20:48.460 No.

00:20:49.040 We couldn't hear.

00:20:49.940 We couldn't hear each other.

00:20:51.260 We did speak to each other, but we didn't hear each other.

00:20:54.800 It was too loud.

00:20:56.280 The guys, they were yelling.

00:20:58.560 I didn't remember him having that megaphone, the bullhorn.

00:21:02.460 Really?

00:21:03.160 And then he started to speak, and he's speaking to the right, and the guys on the left, they're yelling, we can't hear you.

00:21:11.280 And then he turned to the left with the bullhorn, and he said, I can hear you.

00:21:16.540 And the whole world hears you.

00:21:19.400 And the people who knocked these buildings down.

00:21:22.660 We'll hear all of us soon. 0.62

00:21:25.200 They went crazy. 0.98

00:21:27.420 They went nuts. 0.65

00:21:28.740 They started chanting, USA, USA, USA.

00:21:32.880 And it was, he said everything in those three sentences.

00:21:38.100 So, Bob, you were given a flag right after his visit, right?

00:21:45.120 Yes.

00:21:46.120 When I was helping him get down from the rig, somebody handed him the flag, and he puts his arm up, and he waves the flag.

00:21:56.560 I saw Governor Pataki standing there, so I tapped him on the shoulder.

00:22:01.700 And he turns around, and he grabs my legs, and he picks me up, and he puts me out in the street.

00:22:06.160 I said, you're going to hurt yourself.

00:22:07.260 He said, I'm a big guy.

00:22:08.260 I said, okay.

00:22:09.720 I'm walking back to go back to work.

00:22:13.260 And this Secret Service guy taps me on the shoulder, and he said, the president's been looking for you.

00:22:19.620 I said, oh, now what did I do?

00:22:21.740 And he said, he wants you to have this flag.

00:22:24.740 I said, oh, very nice.

00:22:26.060 Thank you.

00:22:26.660 And I stuck it in my pocket, and I'm going back to work.

00:22:29.300 Anyway, Grant, the Secret Service guy that told me when the politician comes over there and takes my spot to get down, when I went on television, I would tell them my story.

00:22:42.420 And I got a letter from the White House.

00:22:45.700 I'm the guy that told you what to do.

00:22:48.660 Thank you for calling me a Secret Service guy, and he signs it.

00:22:53.020 Carl Rove, senior advisor to the president.

00:22:55.900 Oh, my gosh.

00:22:56.980 Oh, my gosh.

00:22:57.460 Yes, exactly.

00:22:58.740 That's what I said.

00:22:59.720 So let me ask you this, because the day before, your family was saying, you're just going to get in the way.

00:23:06.740 When you got home, after sneaking across the bridge, sneaking past the National Guard, working, then the president is giving one of the most memorable speeches probably since the day of infamy.

00:23:24.240 What did your family say?

00:23:26.220 I drove over, and I said, who's going to believe that I was with the president?

00:23:31.100 There were no cameras down there, Glenn.

00:23:33.260 No cameras at all that I saw.

00:23:36.300 Anyway, I pull up in front of my house, and people are coming out, my neighbors, and they're all carrying candles.

00:23:41.820 That was the day they had candles.

00:23:44.200 And they came into my driveway, and this police officer across the street from me, a city cop.

00:23:50.860 And he said to me, Becky, you're on television.

00:23:54.620 I said, get out of here. 0.56

00:23:55.580 There were no cameras down there.

00:23:57.960 So I came in the house, and my granddaughter was sitting on a couch, and she says, Grandpa, you're on television.

00:24:04.660 And they were showing it over and over.

00:24:07.100 I said, wow.

00:24:07.960 Well, I was surprised that they had me and the president, who was the most important thing.

00:24:15.500 Yeah.

00:24:16.240 You stayed in touch with the president?

00:24:19.060 We did.

00:24:19.880 We still keep in touch.

00:24:21.540 Myself and my wife and a couple of my kids, we were invited to the Oval Office, and it was very nice.

00:24:31.040 Everybody was there, you know, Governor Pataki, Karl Rove was there, Mayor Giuliani, Tommy Varnessen, the commissioner, Chuck Schumer.

00:24:40.620 You've had some special experiences because of that picture.

00:24:44.100 Yes, we were called into, excuse me, Germany three times, and then twice in Cologne, and really treated top shelf.

00:24:57.320 So, Bob, when you look back at this now, what is it that you take away?

00:25:03.920 What is it that we should, as a people, take away from that moment on the fire truck?

00:25:10.840 You know what, Glenn?

00:25:13.080 We fought two wars.

00:25:15.140 We fought the Japanese, and we fought the Germans, and we stuck together, and that's the same thing that happened at 9-11.

00:25:23.860 People came in from every state to help us.

00:25:26.680 Search and rescue and the food.

00:25:30.180 I was there, Bob, and I saw people come from all over the country to feed you guys.

00:25:35.980 My wife and I went, these firemen were coming out after a long day, and both of us just started to applaud.

00:25:45.380 Like, I don't know, it was just, it was, everything was upside down, and the enormity of it was just remarkable.

00:25:54.400 Yes, it really was, but we stuck together, and we received rigs that we lost in it, and other states helped.

00:26:06.800 They built the rigs and sent them to us.

00:26:10.380 You know, this is America, and the people are great.

00:26:13.380 They really are.

00:26:14.140 Bob, it's an honor to talk to you.

00:26:18.660 It really is.

00:26:20.000 I made a painting for charity, and I was wondering if you would be willing to sign it.

00:26:26.700 If I sent it up to you, would you be willing to sign it?

00:26:29.160 Of course.

00:26:30.060 That would be great.

00:26:31.220 That would be great.

00:26:32.780 Bob, thank you so much.

00:26:33.920 God bless you.

00:26:35.060 God bless you, Glenn.

00:26:36.220 Thank you.

00:26:36.920 Bye-bye.

00:26:37.180 Bye-bye.

00:26:40.700 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:26:44.140 Brad Meltzer is a good friend of mine.

00:26:55.980 We became friends after 9-11, a few years after that, and we have connected on history, and Brad is with us.

00:27:03.880 He has a new book out today.

00:27:05.680 It's about Walt Disney, and I want to talk to him about it.

00:27:08.860 It's a great children's book.

00:27:10.280 I am Walt Disney.

00:27:11.600 But I also wanted to talk to him about 9-11.

00:27:13.240 Where were you, Brad, when the towers came down?

00:27:17.560 I was in Washington, D.C., of all places, and this is, you know, we lost our friend Michelle Heidenberger, who was a flight attendant on the Pentagon flight.

00:27:26.040 And my wife, this is why it hits me today, not because of the finding of the flag, which obviously was an honor, but it was the personal side.

00:27:34.920 As we all know, we all have our one story that makes up this quilt of history.

00:27:39.340 And my wife worked in the U.S. Capitol, and she was driving to work.

00:27:43.240 She was eight months pregnant, giant belly, my son about to be born in October.

00:27:47.100 And my wife thought, you know, the towers were hit.

00:27:52.120 I wonder what security.

00:27:53.360 I wonder if they'll increase security at the Capitol.

00:27:56.100 And she said, wait a minute, our security is terrible.

00:27:58.980 And she pulls over to the side of the road and calls me and says, I have a bad feeling I'm just going to stay home.

00:28:03.220 And I know to this day that but for the heroes on United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, that if that flight did not go down in Pennsylvania, it was headed to the Capitol.

00:28:12.920 I know people say the White House, but if you look, the plaque that honors them is actually in the U.S. Capitol.

00:28:17.860 And but for them, my life could have been profoundly different.

00:28:20.980 And I think of them, of course, every 9-11.

00:28:24.220 But they deserve to be remembered every single day for what they did.

00:28:27.280 That was one of the most moving things of 9-11 was not only the way everyone kind of pulled together, but what those people on that flight did.

00:28:44.140 And it wasn't, you know, it was weird.

00:28:46.360 I haven't even heard this.

00:28:47.560 Can we play my response?

00:28:50.100 Somebody called into the show.

00:28:51.940 I haven't heard this yet.

00:28:53.380 This is seven hours after the planes hit the World Trade Center.

00:28:57.820 There's plenty of time to scream for blood.

00:29:02.740 There is plenty of time to exact the price of the day's events.

00:29:14.680 But I don't know about anybody else.

00:29:16.620 I'm not there yet.

00:29:18.560 I'm barely hanging on emotionally just on the overwhelming events of the day.

00:29:31.660 I haven't been able to process.

00:29:37.220 Take out the human. 0.94

00:29:38.900 Take out the human toll.

00:29:40.300 I haven't even been able to process that the skyline of New York is different.

00:29:45.260 Let alone that there is a possibility with 58,000 people working in the World Trade Center.

00:29:58.420 The possibility within an hour of business this morning.

00:30:08.000 We lost more American lives than were lost in the entire Vietnam War.

00:30:15.260 I'm not ready to scream for blood yet.

00:30:29.800 Devastating.

00:30:30.660 I think it's time to be around like-minded people.

00:30:34.200 People that you don't know.

00:30:39.800 And hold on to them for dear life.

00:30:41.880 It was such an—I mean, remember that day, we didn't—we really thought 30,000 to 50,000 people could be dead.

00:30:54.300 By God's grace.

00:30:55.200 I remember being in D.C.

00:30:56.740 And we didn't—you know, it was—we were putting together the funeral for my friend Michelle, who was the flight attendant on the Pentagon flight,

00:31:03.620 and driving down to make photocopies for the memorial program and the big poster of her, I should say.

00:31:09.720 And there was armed guards, like it was under martial law, that we thought there was another plane coming at any moment.

00:31:17.420 We didn't know what—you know, we'd lose that.

00:31:19.160 And I really was struck, Glenn, by what you just said in that clip, which is, you know, holding on to people you don't know.

00:31:26.420 And I'm just so saddened, as we all relive this moment of 9-11 and those visceral memories kind of come back, that in that chaos, there was that unity again, right?

00:31:38.640 We felt somehow that these United States of America were that magical word again, united.

00:31:44.820 And it's so horrifying to me that it takes a tragedy to do it.

00:31:48.580 But it is amazing what kindness comes out in those low moments.

00:31:52.480 You know, the lowest moments always bring out the best of us.

00:31:54.920 And when we were searching for the 9-11 flag, and everyone knows the great photograph of the firefighters raising the flag at 9-11,

00:32:02.440 and the flag went missing 24 hours later, I became obsessed with it and started searching for it.

00:32:08.660 We did a story on it on our TV show and said to America, please bring it back.

00:32:12.580 Now, here's a story I don't know if anyone knows, is on the episode of our TV show on History Channel where we asked to come back,

00:32:21.060 I said, I added something to the script that we had, and I said, I want you to bring it back from my friend Michelle Heidenberger, this flight attendant on the Pentagon flight.

00:32:28.500 Because 3,000 people dead, it was always too hard to imagine.

00:32:32.740 But for me, it was always for my friends.

00:32:34.400 And when the flag finally was returned, right after the episode aired, I couldn't tell anyone, but four days later, a man walked into a fire station in Washington State, in Everett, Washington, and said he was a former Marine.

00:32:47.560 He said, here's the flag.

00:32:48.840 I saw a lost history, and I want to bring it back.

00:32:51.760 And I finally, secretly, when it came back, I called him to say thank you on behalf of the American people.

00:32:57.440 And I said to him, he said to me, you want to know why I brought it back, Brad?

00:33:02.620 And I said, yeah, I did, because we offered a reward.

00:33:05.580 To this day, he's never taken the reward.

00:33:07.200 We offered him $10,000 to whoever brought it back.

00:33:09.440 He's never taken it.

00:33:10.820 But he said, you want to know why I brought the flag from 9-11 back?

00:33:14.080 And I said, sure.

00:33:15.480 And he said, because of your friend Michelle Heidenberger.

00:33:18.420 He's like, you mentioned her on the air, and it got to me.

00:33:21.480 And I knew I had to bring it back in that moment.

00:33:23.800 How did he get it?

00:33:25.280 How did he get the flag?

00:33:27.440 He was like yourself and myself.

00:33:29.760 He was a collector.

00:33:30.640 But his specialty was American flags.

00:33:33.400 And he got it from someone who lost someone at Ground Zero.

00:33:38.900 And he doesn't even know.

00:33:40.240 Someone gave that flag to that person who lost their loved one.

00:33:44.780 And, you know, again, at that moment in time, it wasn't a famous flag.

00:33:48.800 It was just a flag that had been lifted.

00:33:50.960 It didn't become famous until it ran on the cover of Newsweek and everywhere else.

00:33:54.800 So it wasn't like anyone was, like, secretly going, oh, I'm going to steal this flag and give it away.

00:33:58.760 It wasn't famous then.

00:33:59.700 No one knew what it was.

00:34:00.400 It was just a flag.

00:34:01.720 So he got it from someone who just cleared it out of their attic and said, you know, I don't want this anymore.

00:34:05.680 He saw the show and returned it.

00:34:08.160 And, again, to be a small part of that, on the 15th anniversary of 9-11 a few years ago, I got to unveil that flag in the 9-11 Museum.

00:34:16.000 It is currently on display.

00:34:18.180 And I highly encourage anyone, as you think of it today, when you're in New York next time, go to the museum.

00:34:22.720 It is a museum that is proof that heroes still exist in the world.

00:34:26.140 And we knew that that wasn't the right flag, not this one, but, like, I think with Giuliani, didn't he go out to Yankee Stadium and he claimed that that was the flag and somehow or another somebody figured out that's not it?

00:34:39.900 How did that happen?

00:34:42.020 Yeah, so Giuliani and everyone signed the flag at Yankee Stadium and had this big kind of homecoming, and they brought the flag out and everyone cheered.

00:34:49.060 And they all signed it, and the owners of the flag, it was actually taken from a boat down at Ground Zero, was this Greek couple.

00:34:58.320 And the Greek couple said, hey, that's our flag.

00:34:59.980 And everyone knew it was off their boat.

00:35:01.220 They knew where it came from.

00:35:02.540 They said, can we use the flag at a charity benefit?

00:35:05.240 They're doing a 9-11 benefit.

00:35:06.600 We'd love to bring the flag there.

00:35:07.840 And the city said, of course.

00:35:09.020 So they gave the flag to the couple, and the couple unfurls the flag at the event, and they realized this flag is gigantic.

00:35:15.920 Their flag was small.

00:35:16.720 They're like, someone switch the flag.

00:35:18.120 They lost it, and then to cover it up, someone just added a new flag.

00:35:21.920 So that was how they finally realized it was missing, and that's how, of course, we got on the case and just said, you know, someone out there must have the real one, and please bring it back to us.

00:35:31.840 I'm going to ask you a tough question that is kind of unfair in some ways to ask you on the spot.

00:35:38.560 But I'm looking at last hour I played something that I haven't heard in 18 years.

00:35:44.200 I was on the air, and it was the end of the broadcast, and I think we had been on the air for about eight hours, and I said, I want you to pull your car over because I think it's appropriate that we pray.

00:35:57.460 And in that, it was a real anguished kind of help us, Lord, kind of prayer.

00:36:06.680 And I think we have gone so far astray because, as I was listening to that, I thought, I don't know the last time we as a nation collectively said, help us, we're in trouble.

00:36:21.900 Now, listen, I think that's—I say a prayer.

00:36:27.560 Of course, I say my prayers every day, every night, right?

00:36:30.360 But on this 9-11, and my prayers will, of course, be with those we lost, but the prayer that I'm saying today is—I just read this article that all the first responders, right, who were lost 18 years ago,

00:36:45.260 how many of their kids who were just born are now signing up to be firemen and firefighters and police officers that are in this incoming class.

00:36:56.340 Now, you know exactly what is at risk.

00:36:59.560 They know exactly the cost of this job.

00:37:02.320 18 years ago, they lost their dads, their moms.

00:37:05.720 And, my gosh, how do we not include them in our prayers, too, as a thankful like that these people are out there?

00:37:10.900 Hang on.

00:37:11.400 I want to ask you a different question.

00:37:13.440 So, Brad, we are now paying for the consequences of our actions, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, all of these different things.

00:37:26.580 What is the lesson—and you might even want to come back tomorrow and answer this—what is the thing that we have done in the last 18 years that we should now look back and go,

00:37:38.380 that was a mistake, that was a mistake, we probably shouldn't have done that, and we should talk about it and correct this mistake?

00:37:47.420 Listen, I think when we look back on history—and I'd obviously be happy to come and talk tomorrow, because I know, you know,

00:37:53.440 there's just two big issues to talk about, and we have to—but, you know, I think the thing that haunts me is that misinformation that took us to war,

00:38:04.560 as if we were, you know, we were so rightfully, you know, looking for someone to get, right?

00:38:10.220 We were attacked personally, and I do think that, you know, and I was at President Bush's funeral.

00:38:17.960 I saw W. I was at dinner with him months ago.

00:38:20.880 Right.

00:38:20.900 But that is haunting, that we had the wrong information and went to a war on the wrong information in Iraq.

00:38:27.600 That is forever haunting, because, you know, I've done books on Dover Air Force Base and the men and women who take care of our fallen soldiers.

00:38:35.220 Yeah.

00:38:35.340 And how many fallen troops have gone through Dover for truly what I can only say is the wrong reason,

00:38:45.360 and not just because it's wrong that anyone should die, right?

00:38:48.700 We don't want any one of our troops to pay the ultimate price, but, you know, sent to battle for what?

00:38:56.060 You know, and that's what—you know, you have to—at the end of the day, we see war, and that's a big word.

00:39:00.720 But we forget that, you know, when you enlist in the military, they will tell you, as the spouse of someone who is sending their spouse into battle,

00:39:13.720 that if two people show up at your front door, it means your loved one's dead.

00:39:17.940 And if one shows up at your door, they're just injured.

00:39:20.900 And those are real things that happen.

00:39:23.840 Those were real funerals that happened.

00:39:26.760 Thousands of, you know, men and women buried because of this.

00:39:29.980 They told me, you know, at Dover that at the height of Iraq and Afghanistan, there were so many bodies coming through there

00:39:37.540 that they literally had to, you know, find another cooler to stack them up on.

00:39:42.460 They were coming so big, so many so fast.

00:39:45.540 And that's the thing that I look back on and say that's, you know, one of the places where we went so, so wrong.

00:39:53.660 Brad, let me switch to your book.

00:39:55.560 I Am Walt Disney.

00:39:56.620 You know how much of a fan I am of Walt Disney.

00:40:00.680 I did not know about the tar painting on the back of his house.

00:40:04.480 How good?

00:40:04.940 So, listen, again, you know, we're talking about heroes.

00:40:09.120 So let's actually talk about the positive side of this, right?

00:40:11.500 I mean, the reason why we're so moved today, I still believe, is our culture is, you know, I started this book series.

00:40:18.240 And in many ways, you know, almost in a similar vein, I was tired of my kids looking at people who were famous for being famous, famous for the wrong reasons.

00:40:26.580 I wanted to give my kids heroes like these 9-11 heroes, but heroes of character, heroes of kindness and compassion and hard work and perseverance.

00:40:35.860 And we did I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln and I Am George Washington.

00:40:39.500 But our number one requested hero is the one that comes out today.

00:40:42.760 I Am Walt Disney.

00:40:43.760 Number one request?

00:40:45.860 Number one request is I Am Walt Disney.

00:40:47.820 We had to do the book.

00:40:48.740 And kids, when they come to my book signs, they don't make requests.

00:40:50.940 They make demands.

00:40:52.060 They're like, oh, you know.

00:40:52.580 And when you're when you're really old or really young, you can get away with that.

00:40:59.060 Hang on just a sec.

00:40:59.780 Brad, I got to I got to take a quick break back with Brad Meltzer, who is gracious enough to be with us today and talk about 9-11, but also heroes.

00:41:09.360 And I want to talk about heroes when we come back.

00:41:14.660 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:41:22.580 Hey, it's Glenn.

00:41:28.040 And I want to tell you about something that you should either end your day with or start your morning with.

00:41:34.180 And that is the news and why it matters.

00:41:37.000 If you like this show, you're going to love the news and why it matters.

00:41:40.520 It's a bunch of us that all get together at the end of the day and just talk about the stories that matter to you and your life.

00:41:46.720 The news and why it matters.

00:41:47.860 Look for it now wherever you download your favorite podcast.

00:41:50.200 The name of the book is The Only Plane in the Sky, An Oral History of 9-11.

00:41:56.400 Garrett Graff is the author.

00:41:59.020 Garrett, welcome to the program.

00:42:01.620 Thanks so much for having me on this day.

00:42:04.260 It's it's an honor to have you.

00:42:06.100 I I have to tell you this.

00:42:08.480 Your book, you are going to sell, I hope, millions of copies.

00:42:13.440 This is a hard topic to get people to look at.

00:42:19.860 And I don't really want to live through another rehash of 9-11.

00:42:23.760 And I don't want somebody's opinion on 9-11.

00:42:26.660 I just want to know what happened.

00:42:29.580 This how long did it take you to put this book together?

00:42:32.900 It was three years start to finish trying to pull together ultimately what are the 480 voices that I follow across America coast to coast morning to night that day.

00:42:47.540 I mean, it is it is incredible the number of people that you have in and your voice is not one of them, which I so appreciate.

00:42:57.320 It is it is just you.

00:42:59.440 Did you interview everyone about that day and then cut them up minute by minute to place them?

00:43:06.540 Yeah, so the book is a mix of my original interviews, several hundred stories that I collected myself and then some incredible work by institutions like the 9-11 Museum in New York, the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Pentagon historian, people who recognized after 9-11 the importance of capturing these stories.

00:43:29.280 And we started the book with about 2,000 of those archived primary source oral histories that I ultimately spent months and years boiling down to this story minute by minute.

00:43:44.020 And I think that to me, the reason that I wanted to tell this story, and I think that the reason you're you're feeling that it's so powerful is that when we say never forget what we generally mean on 9-11 now are the facts of the day, you know, the four planes, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, Shanksville.

00:44:05.420 And what we are losing as we celebrate, you know, this 18th anniversary now this year is what that day was like to experience, what it was like to live through, because the story that we now tell ourselves of 9-11 is so much neater and cleaner than the day that we lived as Americans that day.

00:44:28.580 That, you know, we now know, you know, we now know the attacks were 102 minutes long from the first crash at 846 to the collapse of the second tower at 1029.

00:44:40.520 We didn't know that on 9-11.

00:44:42.640 And when you go back and you tell that story through the voices of the people who were living it, what you come away with is the fear and the confusion that we felt that day, you know, well into the afternoon, worrying about follow-on attacks, worried about more hijacked planes in the skies.

00:45:03.200 I mean, Disney closed that day.

00:45:06.000 You know, Disney feared an attack on itself that day.

00:45:09.860 The Sears Tower in Chicago was evacuated.

00:45:13.200 You know, schools closed coast to coast.

00:45:16.600 And everyone that day, you know, no matter how far you were from the Twin Towers, from the Pentagon, from Shanksville, you felt that visceral fear that we now, I think, have lost as we sort of forget just what that day was like to live.

00:45:31.840 And let me, if I may, just, I just want to read a couple of things from this, and I'm going to kind of jump around a bit.

00:45:37.700 But this is how this book is written.

00:45:39.840 Roger, Robert Letter, executive of SMW Trading Company, North Tower.

00:45:45.920 I was on the 85th floor.

00:45:47.220 I was looking out the window facing the Empire State Building when I saw the plane come into the building.

00:45:52.120 There was such a dramatic change of atmospheric pressure.

00:45:55.420 The building swayed from the impact, and it nearly knocked me off my chair.

00:45:59.520 Our ceiling imploded.

00:46:00.840 Some of the walls began to explode.

00:46:03.000 Um, Harry Waitzer, tax counsel, Cantor Fitzgerald, North Tower.

00:46:08.680 I was in the elevator at 846 in the North Tower when the first jet hit the Trade Center.

00:46:13.420 My office was on the 104th floor.

00:46:15.260 I had gone up to the Sky Lobby on 78, and I had made the transition over to the local area, uh, local elevators.

00:46:21.480 I was somewhere between 78 and 104.

00:46:24.180 Gene Potter, Bank of America, North Tower, 81st floor.

00:46:26.940 I was thrown out of my chair, like thrown.

00:46:29.480 It was a horrible, loud explosion.

00:46:31.260 The building started to rock back and forth.

00:46:33.380 Smoke filled the air immediately.

00:46:35.300 We were fortunately right by the staircase because our floor was fully involved, uh, involved with fire.

00:46:41.620 Maybe I heard four or five survivors from above us.

00:46:45.260 Uh, Vanessa Lawrence, artist, North Tower, 91st.

00:46:47.880 I had literally put one foot out of the elevator onto the 91st and was thrown to the side.

00:46:52.540 Smoke and debris blasted down our corridor, and the building shook.

00:46:56.320 Uh, Richard Eichen, I saw on my left shoulder an Asian man coming towards me.

00:47:01.500 He was on the 90th floor.

00:47:03.380 He looked like he had been deep fried.

00:47:05.460 He had his arms out.

00:47:06.560 His skin was hanging like seaweed. 1.00

00:47:08.440 He was begging me to help him.

00:47:10.240 He said, help me, help me. 0.98

00:47:11.380 And then he did a face plant right between my legs. 1.00

00:47:14.320 He died there.

00:47:15.540 I looked down, and that's when I saw my shirt was full of blood.

00:47:18.640 I didn't know that I was hurt.

00:47:21.120 You go into the accounts of the people in the elevator that had burst into flames.

00:47:26.120 I didn't know any of these people survived.

00:47:31.200 Yeah, and those stories are so harrowing to hear, in part because, and this was one of

00:47:38.480 the things that just really came across to me in doing this research and telling these

00:47:44.460 stories is what the sensory experience of 9-11 was like, that, you know, we remember, you

00:47:52.260 know, the facts of the day, but none of us, none of us actually really know what 9-11 tasted

00:47:58.920 like, what it smelled like, what it sounded like, what it felt like.

00:48:04.560 And so, you know, I was amazed as I was going through and writing this and compiling this is,

00:48:11.780 you know, what this, you know, the people talking about the smell of the plane crash of Flight 93 in

00:48:18.300 Shanksville as those volunteer firefighters arrived on the scene, you know, the people like Harry Weiser

00:48:24.200 and Richard Eichen talking about what that heat felt like, you know, they get down then through those

00:48:31.060 stairwells.

00:48:31.780 The stairwells have the fire sprinklers going.

00:48:35.760 And so they're coming out the bottom of the Twin Towers, soaking wet, that water pooling at the

00:48:42.260 base of the stairwells.

00:48:44.360 And, you know, the idea that these people in their final moments before they walk out to

00:48:49.360 freedom, they are wading through knee-deep water in the stairwells of the Twin Towers as it's

00:48:57.280 pooling at the bottom.

00:48:58.740 I mean, what the dust of the collapse tasted like in your mouth, what it was like to step in

00:49:05.300 it, you know, just the sounds of that day.

00:49:10.620 I mean, it was just so amazing to sort of understand that sensory experience.

00:49:16.560 The chapter at Emma Booker Elementary School is also fascinating to me.

00:49:26.300 The way that Rudy Giuliani, when he first heard, you know, he was at a hotel and he was like,

00:49:32.160 hang on, I gotta go to the bathroom because I'd probably be, you know, be out.

00:49:35.300 For a long time.

00:49:36.640 But he had no idea the gravity of it.

00:49:39.480 He thought it was a small Cessna.

00:49:41.960 The, the, let me just read this part a thousand times a day.

00:49:45.140 This is Andy Carr, the guy who told the president at the elementary school, Dave Wilkinson said,

00:49:51.500 we're beginning to get the motorcade up and running, getting the motor, motorcycle cops

00:49:54.860 back.

00:49:55.280 We're ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.

00:49:57.180 And all of a sudden it hits me.

00:49:58.660 The president is the only one who doesn't know that this plane has hit the second building.

00:50:02.800 It was a discomfort to all of us that the president didn't know.

00:50:06.060 The event was dragging on.

00:50:07.240 And that's when Andy Card came out.

00:50:09.160 Andy, a thousand times a day, a chief of staff has to ask, does the president need to know?

00:50:13.840 This was an easy pass to test.

00:50:16.300 My job that day was to be cool, calm and collected.

00:50:18.520 Not the same magnitude, of course, but I knew my job on 9-11 was cool, calm and collected.

00:50:24.620 Carl Rove.

00:50:25.280 I remember Andy Card pausing at the door before he went into the classroom.

00:50:28.700 It seemed like forever, but it was probably just a couple of heartbeats.

00:50:31.700 I never understood why, but he told me years later that he needed to spend a moment formulating

00:50:35.440 the words he wanted to use.

00:50:37.080 Andy.

00:50:37.720 I knew I was delivering a message that no president would want to hear.

00:50:40.880 I decided to pass on two facts as an editorial comment and an editorial comment.

00:50:44.920 I didn't want to invite a conversation because the president was sitting in front of the classroom.

00:50:49.800 The teacher had asked the students to take out their books, and I took that opportunity

00:50:52.880 to approach the president.

00:50:54.300 I whispered in his ear, a second plane has hit the second tower.

00:50:57.420 America is under attack.

00:50:59.200 I took a couple of steps back so he couldn't ask any questions.

00:51:03.600 Then you quote a couple of the students that remember his face and how it changed.

00:51:07.700 Andy, I was pleased how the president reacted.

00:51:09.900 He didn't do anything to create fear.

00:51:12.820 Then he walked out.

00:51:13.960 Karl Rove said, when the president walked back into the staff hold, he said, we're at

00:51:18.660 war.

00:51:19.300 Give me the FBI director and the vice president.

00:51:22.780 I mean, it's you've just by using the dialogue, it's almost a movie script, the whole the whole

00:51:30.340 thing.

00:51:30.760 And it's it's riveting, absolutely riveting.

00:51:34.900 Let me take a one minute break and then we'll come back with Garrett Graff.

00:51:38.180 I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

00:51:41.500 If you want to have a real history book on what actually happened, the only plane in the

00:51:48.840 sky, an oral history of 9-11.

00:51:50.980 It is absolutely fantastic.

00:51:55.200 Please get one for your your library at home.

00:51:58.600 The Blaze Radio Network.

00:52:03.000 On demand.

The Glenn Beck Program - September 11, 2019

Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Bob Beckwith, Brad Meltzer & Garrett M. Graff ｜ 9⧸11⧸19

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