Twenty-five years can change almost everything.
Children born after September 11, 2001, are now adults. The skyline of Lower Manhattan has been rebuilt. The smoking ruins of the World Trade Center have become reflecting pools surrounded by thousands of names carved into bronze. Presidents have entered the White House and left it. Wars have begun and ended. Families have grown older around an empty chair that never stopped being empty.
But every September 11, for a few hours, the country returns to that morning.
And this year will be different.
On September 11, 2026, America will mark exactly a quarter-century since the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
At Ground Zero, four men who once occupied the Oval Office are expected to stand together: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
They are all of America’s living former presidents.
But the man who currently occupies the White House will not be beside them.
President Donald Trump will instead mark the anniversary at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance represents the administration at Ground Zero. (The Independent)
It will create a remarkable image.
Four former presidents.
Two Democrats.
Two Republicans.
One place where politics is traditionally asked to remain outside.
And one conspicuous absence.
The Morning That Belonged to No Political Party
Before September 11 became history, it was simply Tuesday.
George W. Bush had been president for less than eight months.
Bill Clinton had left the White House earlier that year.
Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator largely unknown outside his home state.
Joe Biden was serving in the United States Senate.
Donald Trump was a New York businessman.
None of them knew that before the morning ended, the country they inhabited would be permanently changed.
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 9:03, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower.
At 9:37, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
At 10:03, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks.
The numbers became part of history.
But for the families gathering at Ground Zero every September, they were never numbers.
They were names.
Mothers.
Fathers.
Brothers.
Sisters.
Children.
Friends.
Firefighters.
Police officers.
Coworkers who had gone to work that morning expecting to come home that night.
And So, Every Year, the Names Are Read
The annual ceremony in Manhattan has deliberately resisted becoming an ordinary political event.
There are no campaign speeches.
There is no convention-style applause.
Since 2012, political figures have not been given speaking roles during the Ground Zero ceremony. The emphasis remains on victims and their families. (Currently)
Instead, family members read the names of those who died.
One after another.
For hours.
Some readers remain composed until reaching one particular name.
Some speak directly to the person they lost.
Some mention grandchildren the victim never got to meet.
Some say how much they still miss them.
Then another name is read.
And another.
And another.
Twenty-five years later, that ritual remains at the heart of the anniversary.
That is the ceremony four former presidents are now preparing to attend together.
Bill Clinton Will Return
Bill Clinton was the most recently departed president when the attacks occurred.
He had left office less than eight months earlier.
By September 2001, George W. Bush was responsible for leading the nation through a crisis unlike anything the new administration had anticipated.
Yet Clinton remained part of the broader national response, appearing alongside other leaders during a period when Americans were trying to comprehend the scale of what had happened.
Now 25 years have passed.
Clinton is 80.
He and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are expected to attend the September 11 ceremony in Manhattan. (CBS News)
For Clinton, it will mean returning to a place whose transformation spans almost the entirety of his post-presidential life.
But one man standing nearby will carry a uniquely complicated relationship with the anniversary.
For George W. Bush, September 11 Will Always Be Different
Every president eventually becomes associated with certain moments.
For George W. Bush, none is more powerful than September 11.
He began that morning visiting an elementary school in Florida.
Then an aide approached while Bush sat before a classroom of children.
Andrew Card leaned toward the president and whispered into his ear.
America was under attack.
The expression on Bush’s face became one of the defining images of the day.
Everything about his presidency changed.
Everything about the country changed.
Twenty-five years later, Bush and former first lady Laura Bush have formally announced that they will return to Ground Zero for the anniversary ceremony. (George W. Bush Presidential Center)
Their visit will extend beyond the memorial itself.
The couple also plans to visit a New York fire station and spend time with families of first responders who died on September 11. They are scheduled to attend a memorial service at the U.S. Secret Service’s New York Field Office, whose personnel were among those responding that morning. (George W. Bush Presidential Center)
And before arriving in New York, Bush will do something unusual.
He will remember September 11 through paintings.
Sixteen Paintings, Twenty-Five Years Later
The former president has created 16 new works of art commemorating the courage, sacrifice and resilience associated with September 11 and its aftermath.
They are being displayed at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum throughout September.
On September 9, Bush is also scheduled to sit down with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Dallas to reflect publicly on the meaning and legacy of the attacks.
The Bush Presidential Center says those will be his only public remarks specifically reflecting on the anniversary. (George W. Bush Presidential Center)
Then he will travel to New York.
Two days later, he will stand where the towers once stood.
Nearby will be the presidents who followed him.
Barack Obama Will Be There
Barack Obama inherited a country still living with the consequences of September 11.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq remained central to American politics.
Osama bin Laden remained alive.
Then, in May 2011, during Obama’s presidency, U.S. forces killed the al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan.
A decade after the attacks, another chapter had closed.
But September 11 never stopped belonging to the families.
Obama is expected to join Clinton, Bush and Biden at Ground Zero for the 25th anniversary. (The Independent)
He will stand beside the Republican president he succeeded and the Democratic vice president who served beside him for eight years.
Joe Biden.
Biden Will Return With Jill
Former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden have also confirmed plans to attend the New York ceremony. (The Independent)
Biden’s connection to September 11 stretches across several different chapters of his public life.
He was a senator when the attacks happened.
He became vice president during the long aftermath.
Then president.
Now, for the first time at a major milestone anniversary, he returns simply as a former president.
That distinction produces something American history rarely provides.
Every living former president gathered around the same memorial.
Clinton.
Bush.
Obama.
Biden.
Except that phrase requires one qualification.
Because technically there is another living man who has already served as president.
He simply became president again.
Donald Trump Will Not Be at Ground Zero
Donald Trump is both America’s 45th and 47th president.
He is also a native New Yorker.
Yet on September 11, 2026, he does not plan to attend the Ground Zero ceremony.
Instead, Trump and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to participate in the commemoration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (CBS News)
The Pentagon is, of course, not an unrelated alternative.
It was itself one of the three sites attacked on September 11.
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building that morning, killing all 64 people aboard the aircraft, including the hijackers, as well as 125 people inside the Pentagon.
So Trump will still participate in an official September 11 remembrance.
When reporters asked why he had chosen the Pentagon rather than New York, his answer was straightforward:
“Because I’m going to the Pentagon.” (CBS News)
But another explanation soon became part of the story.
The Dispute Over Why Trump Is Skipping New York
Reports suggested Trump’s absence from Ground Zero was connected partly to the ceremony’s longstanding prohibition on political speeches.
The New York Times, as summarized by multiple outlets, reported that Trump had wanted an opportunity to deliver remarks, while the Manhattan ceremony does not permit politicians to give speeches. Logistical considerations were also reportedly involved. (Currently)
Trump strongly disputed that characterization.
He called the reporting false and argued that he understood perfectly well that politicians do not speak at the solemn Ground Zero ceremony. (Currently)
So the precise motivation has become politically contested.
What is not contested is the schedule.
Trump plans to be at the Pentagon.
Vance plans to be in New York.
And Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden are expected at Ground Zero. (CBS News)
Vance Says There Is No Security Issue
Vice President JD Vance has also pushed back against speculation surrounding Trump’s absence.
He said there was no security concern preventing the president from attending the Manhattan ceremony.
Instead, the administration’s approach is to have senior officials commemorate September 11 at different locations connected to the attacks.
Trump at the Pentagon.
Vance in New York.
Other administration officials representing the government at the third major site, Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. (CBS News)
That explanation transforms the schedule from an absence into a division of responsibilities.
Critics may interpret it differently.
But on the morning itself, politics is unlikely to be what the families gathered beside the reflecting pools care about most.
Because Ground Zero Has Its Own Rules
There is a reason political speeches disappeared from the ceremony.
September 11 already contains enough history.
It doesn’t require another speech to make it important.
At the memorial, water now falls endlessly into two enormous square voids occupying the footprints of the Twin Towers.
Around them are names.
The memorial architecture forces visitors to look downward.
Perhaps that is fitting.
You do not stand there looking toward a politician.
You look at the names.
For twenty-five years, presidents have changed.
The names haven’t.
Five Presidents, Five Different Relationships With One Day
The image created by this anniversary will tell its own story.
Clinton was the president immediately before September 11.
Bush was president when it happened.
Obama oversaw the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
Biden served as Obama’s vice president during that operation and later became president himself.
Trump served one term, left office, then returned for another — something only Grover Cleveland had done before him.
All five living men who have occupied the presidency since the attacks remain alive in 2026. Jimmy Carter, who died in December 2024 at age 100, had been the sixth living president until his death. (People.com)
Four will gather in New York.
The fifth will remember the same tragedy approximately 230 miles away.
And Perhaps That Is the Larger Story
America in 2026 is not America in 2001.
Political divisions are deeper in some ways.
The five living presidents disagree profoundly about policy, leadership and the direction of the country.
Their supporters disagree even more loudly.
Yet September 11 exists outside the normal rhythm of those arguments.
Not because politics disappeared after the attacks.
It certainly didn’t.
But because the center of the anniversary has always been something more personal.
A photograph on a mantel.
A firefighter’s helmet.
A voicemail someone saved.
A child who grew up knowing a parent only through stories.
A name engraved in bronze.
Twenty-Five Years Is Long Enough for a Generation to Forget
That may be why the 2026 anniversary carries unusual weight.
New York City has announced a $1 million initiative to expand September 11 education for public-school students, including free field trips to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum for roughly 20,000 eighth graders. (ABC7 New York)
Those children were born long after the attacks.
To them, September 11 is history.
To their parents and grandparents, it may still feel like memory.
That gap grows wider every year.
Eventually, there will be fewer people who remember exactly where they were when the first plane hit.
Fewer firefighters who entered the buildings.
Fewer survivors.
Fewer parents who can tell children firsthand what New York felt like that morning.
That is why remembrance changes as time passes.
At first, a nation remembers because it cannot forget.
Eventually, it remembers because it must not forget.
September 11, 2026
When the morning finally arrives, television cameras will inevitably capture the unusual presidential gathering.
Bill Clinton.
George W. Bush.
Barack Obama.
Joe Biden.
There may be handshakes.
Quiet conversations.
Images of political rivals standing only feet apart.
And there will certainly be discussion about the man who isn’t in the frame.
Donald Trump will be at the Pentagon with Melania.
JD Vance will represent the White House in Manhattan.
Commentators will debate the symbolism.
Supporters will defend the decision.
Critics will question it.
But then the bells will sound.
The moments of silence will begin.
And the names will be read.
One by one.
Nearly 3,000 lives.
Twenty-five years.
Five living presidents.
Four at Ground Zero.
One at another place scarred by the same morning.
And perhaps, for a few hours, the most important people at either ceremony will not be presidents at all.
They will be the people whose names have been waiting there for twenty-five years. (Currently)
For more poignant stories, you might want to read about Carla Jeffery’s final Instagram post or hear Erin Piacenti’s family break their silence.
