O Magazine interview

Rice talks her initial reaction to the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center in an interview with O Magazine.

I was at my desk in the White House at around 8:45 when my executive assistant came in and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought, What a strange accident. I called the president and said, Mr. President, a plane hit the World Trade Center. And he said, What a weird accident. Around nine, after I went to a staff meeting, my assistant handed me a paper that said a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, and I thought, My God, this is a terrorist attack.