Updated on: September 6, 2026 / 10:47 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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From journalist and former Carter White House speechwriter James Fallows, thoughts on the legacy of 9/11, 25 years after the terrorist attacks:We live through history's turning points, but with no idea which way history will turn.December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, a date which will live in infamy, marked the end of U.S. isolation, and the beginning of permanent engagement around the world.And September 11, 2001? At the time, it seemed to change everything. But on this 25th anniversary, here is my sense of changes we might have hoped would be permanent, but weren't, and others that future generations may strive to change back.The worst of times can bring out the best in people. "We are all Americans," as the French newspaper Le Monde put it. For the only time in NATO's history, its member countries all voted to come to a stricken ally's defense.In the U.S., people honored our first responders and ordinary brave fellow citizens. President George W. Bush, who had been caught unawares by the attack, went just days later to Washington's Islamic Center. There, he reminded the entire country that while the attackers were Muslim, Islam itself was not the enemy: "In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect," he said.Too much of that unifying sentiment faded too fast. And too little of what lastingly changed in America has received the awareness and scrutiny it deserves.
