Former Congressman Jeff Flake recalls Capitol chaos and bipartisan unity on 9/11

In 2001, freshman Republican Jeff Flake was dropping his wife Cheryl off at the airport before heading to a House hearing when the first plane slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Within minutes a second plane hit the South Tower, confirming a coordinated terrorist attack and causing chaos inside the Capitol, where Flake and colleagues fled after a clerk urged them to leave. After the danger subsided, roughly 150 members of both parties assembled on the Capitol steps, singing “God Bless America” as a symbol of unity, a moment Flake says still moves him.

In the following days Congress overwhelmingly approved the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and the USA PATRIOT Act, measures Flake supported at the time but later critiqued for the prolonged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He now emphasizes the importance of remembering the solidarity shown by Americans and allies worldwide in the wake of the attacks.