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Vice President Cheney at Ground Zero
Vice President Dick Cheney, kept largely out of sight since the terrorist attacks, got his first tour of the World Trade Center rubble on Thursday.
Vice President Dick Cheney, kept largely out of sight since the terrorist attacks, got his first tour of the World Trade Center rubble on Thursday.
Cheney said he watched the attacks on September 11 unfold from the White House. "This is the first time I've had the chance to be back in New York since then and I'm trying to think if there's anything I've ever seen that rivals this," Cheney said.
"Television is great but it doesn't convey the sense of destruction that clearly happened here."
Accompanied by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki, the vice president shook hands with firefighters and workers at ground zero. Cheney's wife, Lynne, and daughter Liz were also on hand.
The site has drawn a wide range of visitors in the more than five weeks since September 11, including Miss America, Muhammad Ali, Saudi and British princes, dozens of members of Congress, governors and other celebrities.
Cheney work a black baseball cap emblazoned with NYPD and FDNY, for New York's police and fire departments.
Later Thursday, Cheney was scheduled to give the keynote speech at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial dinner, a benefit traditionally stocked with political heavyweights.
Cheney was rushed to a bunker below the White House just after the September 11 attacks on the trade center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
With the exception of a few national television interviews he has been largely out of sight since then, spending most of last week working out of an undisclosed secure location.
When Bush addressed Congress September 20 Cheney stayed away.
A Senate historian believes it is the first time that a vice president stayed away from a joint session of Congress because of security to ensure that the line of presidential succession is maintained. Bureau Report
Cheney said he watched the attacks on September 11 unfold from the White House. "This is the first time I've had the chance to be back in New York since then and I'm trying to think if there's anything I've ever seen that rivals this," Cheney said.
"Television is great but it doesn't convey the sense of destruction that clearly happened here."
Accompanied by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki, the vice president shook hands with firefighters and workers at ground zero. Cheney's wife, Lynne, and daughter Liz were also on hand.
The site has drawn a wide range of visitors in the more than five weeks since September 11, including Miss America, Muhammad Ali, Saudi and British princes, dozens of members of Congress, governors and other celebrities.
Cheney work a black baseball cap emblazoned with NYPD and FDNY, for New York's police and fire departments.
Cheney was rushed to a bunker below the White House just after the September 11 attacks on the trade center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
With the exception of a few national television interviews he has been largely out of sight since then, spending most of last week working out of an undisclosed secure location.
When Bush addressed Congress September 20 Cheney stayed away.
A Senate historian believes it is the first time that a vice president stayed away from a joint session of Congress because of security to ensure that the line of presidential succession is maintained. Bureau Report