Four Living Former Presidents to Gather at Ground Zero for 25th 9/11 Anniversary
Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton are expected at the New York memorial as Trump plans to mark the anniversary at the Pentagon.
NEW YORK — Four former presidents representing two decades of American leadership are expected to gather at Ground Zero on Friday as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are expected to attend the anniversary ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan. Bush, who was president when the attacks occurred, has separately confirmed plans to participate in the Ground Zero commemoration.
President Donald Trump will instead attend the annual 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon, one of three locations targeted in the attacks. Vice President JD Vance is expected to represent the administration at the Ground Zero ceremony, while other administration officials are scheduled to participate at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The difference in where the nation's current and former presidents will observe the anniversary has drawn attention, particularly because this year's commemoration marks a quarter-century since nearly 3,000 people were killed in attacks that reshaped American politics, national security and foreign policy.
Trump has said he will honor the victims at the Pentagon. Reports have said his decision not to attend the Ground Zero ceremony was connected, in part, to the memorial's longstanding policy prohibiting political speeches. Trump has disputed that characterization and said the New York ceremony is intended to remember the victims and their families.
The Ground Zero ceremony has traditionally emphasized the victims and their families rather than political leaders. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has maintained restrictions on political speeches at the annual observance since 2012.
For Bush, the anniversary carries a particularly personal significance. He was president on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania after passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 fought back against the hijackers.
Bush is scheduled to participate in the Ground Zero ceremony with former First Lady Laura Bush. The Bush Presidential Center has also organized a 25th-anniversary program featuring reflections on the attacks and their aftermath.
The four former presidents' appearance together will create a rare image of American presidential history at a memorial dedicated to people who died during one of the nation's darkest days.
But the focus of the ceremony will remain on those who were lost — the office workers, passengers, firefighters, police officers, emergency medical workers and others whose lives were forever changed by the attacks.
As the 25th anniversary approaches, the commemoration also comes at a time when thousands of first responders and survivors continue to live with illnesses connected to exposure at Ground Zero.
For families who return each year to read the names of loved ones, the anniversary is less about the political divisions of the present than the memories of Sept. 11 and the lives that were taken.
