Weekend Edition Sunday

The Sept. 11 attacks were the defining moment of the Bush presidency. It affected the political and electoral landscape in the decade since the attacks. Audie Cornish talks to NPR's Don Gonyea. She also talks to NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson about the "Concert for Hope" at the Kennedy Center on Sunday.

John Romanowich spent four months at Ground Zero, working for the Department of Design and Construction, the city agency in charge of the clean up. He recalls his experiences.

Audie Cornish talks to Philip Zelikow, the former executive director of the 9/11 Commission. She then talks to NPR's Robert Smith who is on the streets of New York City among the many people drawn to lower Manhattan; Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site.

Audie Cornish talks to NPR's Tom Gjelten and Steve Coll, president of the New America Foundation and a writer for the New Yorker. Also, Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, marks the event.

The Twin Towers could be viewed from many places around Manhattan, including Jersey City, N.J., across the Hudson River. Thirty-seven Jersey City residents died in the attack and the waterfront town was transformed into a relief and recovery staging area in the days that followed. Audie Cornish talks to NPR's Joel Rose about the events there to mark the anniversary. Also, transmissions from American Airlines Flight 11 provide an insight into what happened in the plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Audie Cornish describes the transmissions.