STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
September 11 divided the world for many people. The times before and after the attacks were completely different. On September 10, 2001, for example, I wasn't covering a war. Instead, I interviewed a rising lawmaker named Nancy Pelosi, who was seeking to become the first woman in party leadership in Congress. We met in the busy speakers' lobby of the House of Representatives.
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NANCY PELOSI: The fact that I am a woman only enhances the situation. It is a giant plus. Women across the country, as I campaign for other Democrats, are very enthusiastic about finally breaking the barrier into the top leadership in the Congress. And why not?
INSKEEP: Pelosi was the very last person I interviewed in that pre-9/11 world before I was sent to cover the Pentagon, which was struck by a plane the next morning in Washington. Twenty-five years later, we've called back Nancy Pelosi to reflect on that time and how it changed the country. Speaker Pelosi, welcome back.
PELOSI: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: How did that day unfold for you?
PELOSI: That morning, I was in the leader's office, Dick Gephardt's office, as a leading appropriator. And he had brought together leadership of the Appropriations Committee to talk about how we would advance and put forth our legislative appropriations agenda. While we were in the meeting, the attack took place, and then we saw on TV what happened. And before you know it, it happened again. And we thought, are they doing a recall of it? No, because you can see smoke coming from two different buildings. It was shocking. It was shocking. When we saw the second attack was when we knew it was an attack on our country. It wasn't an accident of an airplane flying into a building, which is what we thought it was to begin with.
INSKEEP: Did you have a moment of thinking they may be coming for the Capitol?
PELOSI: Well, as everybody else did, we - the leader told us to just go to our offices - just get us out of there, out of the Capitol. Not necessarily because they would be coming - it was a possibility. Became more of a possibility when we got to our offices and could practically see the smoke coming from the Pentagon.
INSKEEP: Right.
PELOSI: Oh my God. Something bigger than we even thought - smoke coming from the Pentagon. And that's when, you know, they just took us to an undisclosed location. Nobody knew very much. Everybody knew what they were seeing in the news because it was so spontaneous. What we did worry about is where the president of the United States was. When we went to the steps of the Capitol the night of 9/11, the evening of 9/11, and sang "God Bless America," it was very unifying - Democrats and Republicans together.
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UNIDENTIFIED MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: (Singing) God bless America, my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home.
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PELOSI: And I will say this about President Bush - that when he arrived on the site and he was speaking to the first responders...
INSKEEP: The president visited ground zero, put his arm around a firefighter and spoke to first responders through a bullhorn.
PELOSI: One of them said, we can't hear you. And President Bush said, but I can hear you. It was the most beautiful, perfect statement - and spontaneous - for the occasion.
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GEORGE W BUSH: This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDER: Bush, we can't hear you.
BUSH: I can hear you.
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BUSH: I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people...
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BUSH: And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
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UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDERS: (Chanting) USA. USA. USA. USA.
INSKEEP: You can hear Nancy Pelosi's respect for the president of another party, although they disagreed later. Pelosi recalled supporting the war in Afghanistan but voting against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
PELOSI: As much as I opposed the war, I went to the floor of the House, and I never asked anybody to vote for or against a war. That's just none of my business. That's all their business. They know what that is. It's not they need an explanation or something. But I told them why I was against the war, and a majority of the Democrats voted against the war. Now they would say, Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco, liberal. She's against the war. No. I'm for the facts.
INSKEEP: Looking back 25 years later, what are some of the lessons of that day, 9/11, that are still relevant now to this country and the way it is governed and the way maybe it should be governed?
PELOSI: It was unifying for the country. Our police and fire, our first responders, were magnificent. They saved lives. So I think we had a heightened appreciation for our first responders, in addition to a more intense unity for our country. And what are the lessons learned about going to war? Well, you better be telling the truth about it because it not only has an impact on your country, but it's destabilizing to the region, which then has another impact on our country.
What should we be doing? We have to be on our guard, and we have to be prepared. And we have to listen. I mean, really, going to war shouldn't - should be so clear that it shouldn't be a question, because we always want to support our troops when it's difficult and when it is easy. And this is difficult. So in any case, I think we have to take the partisanship out of it and not have war be a political weapon. When we go to war, you really want the American people to be with you on it. And for them to be with you, they have to know the truth.
INSKEEP: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thanks for taking the time. I really appreciate it.
PELOSI: Thank you. Bye-bye.
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