As the United States marks the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks, attention has returned to the politicians, emergency workers, survivors and ordinary citizens whose names became inseparable from one of the defining tragedies of modern American history.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. The 9/11 Memorial records 2,977 victims, including 343 New York City firefighters and paramedics and 23 NYPD officers. ([911memorial.org](https://www.911memorial.org/node/81111?utm_source=openai))
Some of those associated with the attacks became symbols of leadership or courage. Others carried lasting physical and psychological injuries, while many have spent the years since campaigning for the health and welfare of the people exposed to the disaster.
Rudy Giuliani and the political response
Rudy Giuliani was New York’s mayor when the World Trade Centre was attacked. His daily briefings, visits to Ground Zero and support for bereaved families and first responders made him one of the most recognisable faces of the aftermath.
He was widely praised for his conduct during the crisis and became known as “America’s Mayor”. Time magazine named him its Person of the Year in 2001.
Giuliani’s later political career changed public perceptions of him, but his association with the response to 9/11 remains. In 2025, he was injured in a car crash in New Hampshire after the vehicle in which he was travelling was struck from behind. President Donald Trump subsequently announced that Giuliani would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing his leadership after the attacks. ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/world-news/former-new-york-mayor-rudy-giuliani-hospitalized-after-crash-4217641?utm_source=openai))
President Trump has also used this year’s anniversary to honour other figures linked to the attacks, including Welles Crowther, the equities trader remembered as the “Man in the Red Bandana”. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/09/president-trump-honors-9-11-heroes-and-renews-americas-vow-to-never-forget/?utm_source=openai))
The survivors who became enduring images
Marcy Borders was photographed moments after escaping the North Tower, her clothes and face covered in grey dust. The image, taken by photographer Stan Honda, became one of the most recognisable pictures of the attacks.
Borders had been working on the 81st floor of the tower when the South Tower collapsed. In the years that followed, she spoke about post-traumatic stress, depression and addiction. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2014 and died the following year, aged 42.
Her family said she believed her illness was connected to the toxic debris at Ground Zero. The federal World Trade Centre Health Programme now provides monitoring and treatment for certified conditions including cancers, respiratory disease and post-traumatic stress disorder among eligible responders and survivors. The programme serves more than 125,000 people and is authorised until 2090. ([cdc.gov](https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/conditions.html?utm_source=openai))
The long-term health consequences of 9/11 have affected people who were not in the towers, but who worked, lived, studied or took part in the rescue and clean-up operation in the months afterwards. The programme says eligible people may receive treatment for conditions linked to exposure to dust, debris and other hazards at the disaster sites. ([cdc.gov](https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/requirements.html?utm_source=openai))
George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice
George W. Bush was in a Florida classroom when he was told that the first plane had struck the World Trade Centre. Days later, he stood at Ground Zero with a bullhorn and told rescue workers: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
His administration responded by invading Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been sheltered by the Taliban, and by introducing sweeping changes to national security and domestic surveillance. The Department of Homeland Security was created and Congress passed the Patriot Act.
Since leaving office, Bush has concentrated on painting, charitable work and projects supporting military veterans.
Condoleezza Rice was Bush’s national security adviser on 11 September 2001. She helped coordinate the White House response and later became secretary of state, helping to shape the administration’s foreign policy during the wars that followed.
Rice remains active in public life as director of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where she writes and speaks on international affairs, national security and American leadership. ([hoover.org](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/condoleezza-rice?utm_source=openai))
Firefighters and emergency workers
Joe Pfeifer was the first New York City fire chief to reach the World Trade Centre after the first plane hit. He established an initial command post in the North Tower lobby and directed rescue efforts as the buildings began to fail.
He also witnessed the second plane strike the South Tower and lost his younger brother, Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer, in the collapse of the North Tower. Joe Pfeifer later became the FDNY’s chief of counterterrorism and emergency preparedness before serving as the department’s first deputy commissioner.
Father Mychal Judge, the FDNY chaplain, rushed to the complex to pray with and comfort firefighters and other victims. He was killed by falling debris in the North Tower lobby and was recorded as the first certified fatality of the attacks.
Another of the best-known emergency workers was Rick Rescorla, a Vietnam veteran who headed security at Morgan Stanley. After the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, he had introduced evacuation drills and prepared workers for the possibility of another attack.
When the North Tower was hit, Rescorla ordered thousands of Morgan Stanley employees to leave the South Tower. He helped lead them down the stairwells, then returned to search for anyone who remained inside. He was last seen going back up shortly before the building collapsed.
Flight 93 and the decision to fight back
Todd Beamer became a national symbol of resistance after he and other passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to retake control of the hijacked aircraft.
Beamer spoke to telephone operator Lisa Jefferson using an Airfone and told her that the plane had been seized. Jefferson later recounted hearing him rally the passengers with the words, “Let’s roll.”
The passengers and crew then moved against the hijackers. Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania at 10.03am, preventing it from reaching its intended target. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the aircraft was probably heading towards Washington and estimated that it could have arrived between 10.13am and 10.23am.
The campaign for those left behind
John Feal was badly injured while working on the Ground Zero clean-up operation. He later founded the FealGood Foundation to support first responders, rescue workers and others suffering from occupational illnesses and injuries.
With comedian Jon Stewart, Feal became a prominent campaigner for the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The law established the World Trade Centre Health Programme and expanded financial support for people whose illnesses were linked to the attacks and their aftermath. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/doj/page/file/1246541/dl?utm_source=openai))
For families in New York, Washington and Shanksville, and for the communities connected to the four hijacked aircraft, the anniversary remains a day of memorial services and private remembrance.
The names of the dead will be read again at ceremonies across the United States, while survivors, first responders and those who worked in the dust continue to live with the consequences of 11 September 2001.
