George W Bush Paints the Moment He Was Told US Was Under Attack on 9/11

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Former President George W Bush unveiled a collection of paintings marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, including his own rendering of the moment he was told America was under attack.

Bush, who began painting after leaving office in 2009, released images of the artwork Friday, a quarter-century after the attacks that transformed his presidency, with one painting recreating perhaps the most recognizable image of him from that morning.

(Screengrab via Instagram)

It depicts then-White House chief of staff Andrew Card leaning toward Bush as the president sat with second-graders at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida.

“A second plane hit the second tower,” Card told him at the time. “America is under attack.”

Bush, who had previously been informed that a plane had struck the World Trade Center in what was initially believed to be an accident, remained seated as the children continued their reading exercise.

Footage of his expression and the minutes that followed became one of the defining images of the day in the years after the attacks. Bush has said he remained in the classroom because he did not want to alarm the children.

The painting is one of 16 works in “Remembering 9/11,” an exhibition being displayed this month at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum in Dallas.

Other pieces depict smoke rising over New York City after the towers were struck, the badge of a police officer killed in the attacks and a large American flag hanging from a building.

“Twenty-five years ago, the actions of an enemy revealed the spirit of the American people,” Bush wrote alongside images of the collection.

“May we always honor the precious lives stolen, and may God bless America,” he added.

Bush joined the other living former presidents at a memorial service at Ground Zero on Friday, while President Donald Trump marked the anniversary at a ceremony at the Pentagon.

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