>> at some point andy carr walks up to the president.s right into his right ear. i was standing back in the press and we were whispering to each other. we were thinking this is odd. what do you think this is? >> i knew something devastating had happened. >> i thought his face got red. i thought he had to use the bathroom. i don't know what's going on. >> i was waiting for security to come and take care of the manner but no security came. >> he kind of regain his composure and continued on with the lesson with us reading. he was supposed to pick up the book immediately and participate with the reading lesson but he didn't. >> i can feel president bush leave the room mentally, spiritually. >> you can see he was staring off in the distance in some way but trying to come back to give the task at hands that needs to be finished which i can't frighten these kids and i can't signal to the world, he's thinking we need to finish this off and i need to calmly get back into this whole room and get more information. >> after we finished the lesson -

let's bring in andy carr, the former chief of staff to president george bush.ou listen to that report, what goes through your mind, andy? >> k.s.m. should have been -- its embarrassing our judicial system in the military world now is going through what it's going through. frustrating and disappointing to the family members who were hoping that justice would be served. we have to remember it's important for us to not forget what happened on september 11th, 2001. we have to remember all of those people that were truly innocent, just going to work, going on a plane, showing up at the world trade center or the pentagon or the heros on flight 93, the first heros that said let's roll and caused a plane to crank in shankstown. >> martha: unfortunately your audio is breaking up, andy. i want to jump many. maybe we can get it stronger to continue. andy card worked with us on a documentary that we put together called "i can hear you." it about president bush's visit to new york three days after 9-11. it was an incredibly emotional day, and it was a very fraught emotional

maria: was then white house chief of staff andy carr who whispered the news into president bush's earrkest day. now 20 years ago. >> today we had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. >> the south tower collapsing the north tower falling 20 minutes later. in washington the center of american leadership the pentagon targeted and another hijacked plane. flight 93 crashing inching so pennsylvania. on wall street the explosion of the first building to calm down was being felt in real time. >> i just came back from outside and i'm cover was set, i was outside with the third explosion occurred. the whole area turn pitch black when the third explosion happened. i don't know if you could see my jacket in my shoes but i'm completely covered in white smoke. >> we were attacked by a faceless coward. and freedom will be defended. maria: i'm filming in the very place that i recorded 20 years ago after the attack and what was most important for me that day was to communicate to the world that everyone was accounted

maria: was then white house chief of staff andy carr who whispered the news into president bush's ear0 years ago. >> today we had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. >> the south tower collapsing the north tower falling 20 minutes later. in washington the center of american leadership the pentagon targeted and another hijacked plane. flight 93 crashing inching so pennsylvania. on wall street the explosion of the first building to calm down was being felt in real time. >> i just came back from outside and i'm cover was set, i was outside with the third explosion occurred. the whole area turn pitch black when the third explosion happened. i don't know if you could see my jacket in my shoes but i'm completely covered in white smoke. >> we were attacked by a faceless coward. and freedom will be defended. maria: i'm filming in the very place that i recorded 20 years ago after the attack and what was most important for me that day was to communicate to the world that everyone was accounted for here at the

back in austin in andy carr's office, who was the chief of staff he pretty much offered me the job on the spot and he said we know you are a good photographer because i had that advantage of traveling with the staff. they knew me, they knew my work and how i worked and the first thing he said is can you manage and of course i said yes. what he really meant was and these words stuck with me he said working at the white house is like trying to get water through a fire hose at full throttle and he was right because i discovered immediately just how much happens and how much i had to manage as the personal photographer to the president and director of the white house photo office. the first thing i had to do is hire a staff to handle the workload because i spent all my time traveling with the president and shooting in the document and trying not to miss a thing and what happens with the photos afterwards is very important. a big part of my job was maintaining that archive which at the very beginning was just a handful of film and eight years later nearly 4 million images and the entire da

back in austin in andy carr's office, who was the chief of staff he pretty much offered me the job on the spot and he said we know you are a good photographer because i had that advantage of traveling with the staff. they knew me, they knew my work and how i worked and the first thing he said is can you manage and of course i said yes. what he really meant was and these words stuck with me he said working at the white house is like trying to get water through a fire hose at full throttle and he was right because i discovered immediately just how much happens and how much i had to manage as the personal photographer to the president and director of the white house photo office. the first thing i had to do is hire a staff to handle the workload because i spent all my time traveling with the president and shooting in the document and trying not to miss a thing and what happens with the photos afterwards is very important. a big part of my job was maintaining that archive which at the very beginning was just a handful of film and eight years later nearly 4 million images and the entire da

and andy carr joins us now along with jeh johnson. good morning, gentlemen, great to have you with us. >> great to be with you. >> let's start with you, andy, i said at the top of the show it never gets less powerful to be here. >> literally 20 years ago was the day people woke up with no fear. september 11, 2001 did what the terrorists wanted to do. fear is their ally, their mode of operation. they attacked us to try to have us be so afraid that we would collapse. instead, it was a unifying moment. very, very sad. but america had all of its people giving up the labels of the past, republicans or democrats, they said we are american we will not let fear drive the way we do our business. so it changed the world, changed america, but september 10, 2001 was a day we woke up happy, no fear, went to work, some people were getting ready to take trips from boston to los angeles or from newark, from dulles airport and everything changed on september 11th. the message i delivered to the president i knew was a misor the you can message, i didn't

in sarasota, florida when the 43rd president learned from the whisper from andy carr that the second plane had hit. you got to remember, they thought it was like a private aviation accident at first. and now here we are all these years later. you basically look the same. but the country, the country is very different, brother, are we not? >> yes, i think we are. i mean, i really identify with so much of what you said. and i think what struck me is how short lived the best of ourselves were back then. that period where we came together because when you face an external threat to who we are, we were reminded of who we are. and the best of ourselves. and i think president bush at the time captured the sense of vulnerability and also the resolve and the bull horn moment when i was, you know, 20 yards from him when he had that bull horn on september 14th, and that was the spontaneous moment in front of that crowd, he reflected that moment so well. but 20 years later, i'm just reminded of how short lived that sense of togetherness was. i mean, i have all the same stories. you know, my firs

the pilot of air force one to the fighter pilots who accompanied him to white house chief of staff andy carr and karl rove, the other senior aides aboard the plane, the press, security and the stenographer aboard the plane that day. he published, as i said in 2016, and i was astounded by the feedback i got the day that it published and ultimately scores and finally hundreds of letters from readers of people sharing their own stories of 9/11, and their own reactions. probably for 9/11 this year this is the first year when you have college students arriving on campuses across the country born after 9/11 that this year for the first time, we have american servicemen and women being deployed to fight in a war older than they are. and this year in march marked the beginning of the time when the first recruits to the new york city fire department born after the attacks could apply to join the fire service. and so my goal with turning thit shares the same title the only plane in the sky referring to the end of 9/11 when president bush left the air force base outside of omaha nebraska and flew back

we're joined by andy carr and one of the second grade students at emma booker elementary school 20 yearsrare message. and the venue was completely disconnected from the magnitude of the message. walking into a classroom of second graders, in front of a press pool, where you really couldn't have a conversation, and the complete innocence of those second graders, it was just surreal. normally a president would be getting a message in the oval office, be woken up in the middle of the night and it wouldn't have been one person going in, it would have been two or three people and it would have been a discussion. i knew what i was about to say to him would change his presidency. i also knew that it was a dramatic moment. it's an iconic photograph. i am not iconic. but that picture does define an era. and those students responded so well. i kind of followed some of the students since those days and had the privilege over the last few days to actually connect with a couple of them. and they had two different views of what had happened. and i just think that's entirely appropriate. and it's good

daniels second grade class was reading to the president when his chief of staff andy carr came in theer attack. >> we actually learned with the word terrorist was that day, it was explained to us. we learned that war is real and possible and people are dying. >> i deftly think about those guys every day, men and women, children, however lost their lives that day. my family is constantly praying for you guys. >> lane in constant contact with my students since that time there was a bond that was formed and it has never changed. >> mrs. daniels that she is not only proud of the men and women that her students have become but also the children they used to be because they work so hard to improve their reading scores and that's what got the attention of president bush. >> john: if you can imagine having been in the classroom that day. jonathan, there's an entire generation of americans who weren't even born on that day now who are looking at this 20th commemoration. i think it's impacting so many people across the united states. great stories that you brought us today. >> absolutely. i tha