The Book Bush Was Reading on 9/11

I'm often asked why I have this book. Well, this book is a piece of American History. It is the book that George W. Bush was reading when 9/11 happened. That morning, he was at M. E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, following along as students read his story from Reading Mastery Level 2 Storybook 1, Rainbow Edition. Specifically, the story on page 152, "The Pet Goat."

It's about a little girl who gets a goat that won't stop butting things. At 9:05, his chief of staff whispered into his ear, "A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack." In what he later described as an effort to project strength and calm, Bush continued to sit and listen to the story for 10 more minutes.

Critics called it inaction and indecisiveness. Michael Moore made the moment infamous in "Fahrenheit 9/11," and a few weeks later, Osama Bin Laden jumped on the incident in an attempt to embarrass Bush. Since then, many students and faculty present that day have defended Bush, asking what good it would have done if he'd rushed out of the room 22 minutes before the Pentagon was struck.

The classroom read the final words of "The Pet Goat."