(Between 11:00 a.m. and 11:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001: First Lady Calls Daughters and Mother from Secret Service Headquarters

Laura Bush with her mother, Jenna Welch. [Source: Tara Engberg / White House]Laura Bush, the president’s wife, talks over the phone to her daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and then to her mother, after arriving at the Secret Service headquarters in Washington, DC. [ABC, 9/18/2001 ; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] Bush and her entourage were brought to the Secret Service headquarters for their own security (see (10:10 a.m.-10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Upon arriving, they were taken to the director’s office (see (10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Kessler, 2006, pp. 136; Bush, 2010, pp. 200-201] There, Bush told her staffers to call their families and let them know they were alright. [National Journal, 8/31/2002]
First Lady Calls Daughters at 'Secure Locations' - Bush now makes her own calls. First, she calls her twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who are both at university. [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] She tried to call them earlier this morning, but was told they had been taken to “secure locations” (see (9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Newsweek, 12/3/2001; Andersen, 2002, pp. 6] Barbara and Jenna Bush have now reached these “secure locations” (see 10:51 a.m.-10:57 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Sammon, 2002, pp. 108; Woodward, 2002, pp. 17] The first lady will later recall that she calls her daughters now “to make sure they were fine and to tell them I was fine.” [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001] She tells them they are “going to be safe and that… I loved them and… that things were going to be alright,” she will say. [ABC, 9/18/2001 ]
First Lady Calls Mother for Reassurance - Bush then calls her mother, Jenna Welch, at her home in Midland, Texas. [Andersen, 2002, pp. 7; Bush, 2010, pp. 202] Bush will describe: “I called my mother to tell her I was fine. But the fact is I was calling her to hear her voice, to be reassured myself.” [Us Weekly, 10/15/2001] However, when she tries phoning President Bush at this time, her calls cannot get through. She will eventually talk to him at around 11:45 a.m. (see (Shortly Before 11:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Bush, 2010, pp. 132; Bush, 2010, pp. 202-203]