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CNN Sunday Morning

Where Were You on September 11?

Aired September 23, 2001 - 08:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is impossible to argue that the events of September 11th have changed the course of history forever.

CNN's Anne McDermott this morning and a look at some of the other defining moments in the history of the U.S.

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ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Where were you when Kennedy was killed? For most Americans of a certain age, that was the question. That was the defining moment.

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ANNOUNCER: The final journey for John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

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MCDERMOTT: But that was before September 11, the defining moment for us all now.

Once, that moment was Pearl Harbor, so terrible, so sudden. And then a season of assassination; the killing of King, the killing of another Kennedy.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the senator, he had blood all over.

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MCDERMOTT: Too much to take, maybe. Americans got hardened, so much so that awful as the attempt on Ronald Reagan's life was, it was not a defining moment. And neither was this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful, just beautiful.

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MCDERMOTT: We knew the men on the moon would succeed, but defining moments are about failure, sudden horrible failure.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report from a flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.

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MCDERMOTT: And it was seen live on TV. All defining moments are live these days.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a third, about a third of the building has been blown away.

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MCDERMOTT: Blown up buildings, or kids blowing away kids. Columbine was a searing image, and so was the North Ridge Quake. But you had to be there to feel the terror, and quakes in California are not uncommon.

But this, this was impossible. This could never have happened. This, we won't ever forget.

Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: September 11th. Where were you? Everyone has an answer for that question.

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