By Jeremy Wallace, Herald-Tribune / Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Former President George W. Bush returned to Sarasota on Tuesday for his first public appearances here in more than seven years, and for just the second time since the area became a backdrop for one of the darkest days in American history.
In a morning speech, Bush reminded the audience that he was at Emma E. Booker Elementary on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked planes for attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bush, who was president from 2001 to 2009, recounted reading to schoolchildren at Booker — less than three miles from the site of Tuesday’s speech — and his determination to remain calm, even at a moment that would kick off the defining crisis of his presidency.
