President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will honor the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks by visiting each of the three sites of the terror attacks. They will start the day with a commemoration event at Ground Zero in Manhattan before traveling to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial. They will then conclude their day at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for another wreath-laying ceremony. Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, will also be present at Ground Zero and plan to travel to Shanksville. It is unclear whether the two parties will cross paths at any point during the day.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will also be attending an event to commemorate the anniversary, although the location has not been disclosed. Trump and Harris will already have had their first in-person meeting at a presidential debate the night before. In past years, candidates have avoided politicking on the anniversary of the attacks, but given the current contentious nature of the campaign cycle, it remains to be seen how each campaign will approach the day.
On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives when Islamist terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. Two planes were flown into each of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, another into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to stop the hijacking. This year, both Biden and Harris will be participating in ceremonies to remember the lives lost and the impact of the attacks on the country.
Biden has marked previous anniversaries in different ways. Last year, he commemorated the 22nd anniversary with a ceremony involving American service members in Alaska, where he wrongly claimed to have visited Ground Zero the day after the attacks when he had actually visited nine days later. In 2022, he visited the Pentagon for the anniversary, and in 2021, he and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to all three sites with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama who joined them for the remembrance in New York.
As the nation reflects on the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the ceremonies at Ground Zero, Shanksville, and the Pentagon serve to remind us of the lives lost and the impact that day had on the country. From the moment the first tower was hit to the heroic passengers of Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers, the events of September 11, 2001, will never be forgotten. The presence of current and former political leaders at these ceremonies illustrates the unity and resolve of the nation in the face of tragedy and the continued commitment to honoring the memory of those who were lost.
