COLUMBIA LOST
Bush again leads a nation in mourning
By Maura Reynolds
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — It was 9 a.m. Saturday at Camp David, the placid presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland. President Bush had just finished an intelligence briefing and was looking forward to relaxing with his wife, Laura. In a nearby guest cabin his chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., was idly channel-surfing.
Associated Press
Card's attention was caught by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's live coverage of the landing of the shuttle Columbia. He watched as the shuttle passed over Texas, and he watched as the signal was lost.
After an emotional call yesterday to the families of Columbia's crew that had gathered in Florida, President Bush spoke to the nation from the Cabinet Room of the White House.
Even as NASA scrambled to locate Columbia, Card sensed that something was wrong. He telephoned the White House Situation Room. He then tried to call NASA, but didn't get through. He decided not to dawdle. By the time the shuttle was supposed to have landed at 9:16, Card had already burst in on the president's idyll and delivered the bad news.
Bush's immediate response was to express "deep concern for those on board and especially for their families," said deputy White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
From then on, not only was Bush commander-in-chief, he was the chief mourner.
He dispatched National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who was also at Camp David, to command the White House Situation Room. He put in a call to NASA chief Sean O'Keefe. The Secret Service scrambled to assemble a motorcade so that the president could return to Washington; heavy fog in the nation's capital meant there was too little visibility for a helicopter ride.
And perhaps most important, White House speechwriters were told to get to work. The president needed to call the nation to grief and offer what he could in the way of comfort.
Bush arrived at the White House at 12:20 p.m. He was in the Oval Office 10 minutes later and quickly reviewed the first draft of his speech. His priorities, he told aides, were to express sympathy for the families and dedication to the space program, and to provide comfort to the nation. He suggested a few edits.
Then, at 12:45 p.m., he picked up the phone to make his toughest call of the day.
At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they had gathered to welcome their loved ones home, astronauts' family members instead held hands and gathered around a speakerphone in a conference room.
"I want to express our love and appreciation for all who died today," Bush told them. "I want the loved ones to know there are millions of Americans praying for you." Two of them, he said, were himself and Mrs. Bush.
"I wish I was there to hug and comfort and cry with you right now," the president said. "God bless you all. God bless."
Bush then hung up and stepped out of the Oval Office into his private study, apparently to compose himself, leaving a handful of aides standing respectfully in silence.
When he returned a few minutes later, he went into the West Wing's Roosevelt Room for a briefing with Rice, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, and John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He signed a proclamation ordering all flags at federal facilities in the United States and abroad, and on all naval vessels, lowered to half-staff through Wednesday.
By now it was nearly 1:30 p.m. Bush returned to the White House residence and made a series of telephone calls.
The first was to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to whom he expressed "deepest condolences" over the death of Ilan Ramon, an Israeli Air Force hero who was the first from that country to fly into space. Sharon, in turn, expressed his sympathies for the loss of the Columbia crew.
Bush also returned phone calls to other leaders: Mexican President Vicente Fox, over whose territory some space shuttle debris may have fallen; French President Jacques Chirac; and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. Bush and Putin pledged to work together as the two countries deal with the aftermath of the accident, which complicates their joint work on the international space station. Bush told Putin that despite the accident, space exploration remains a priority for the United States.
It was nearly time for the president to address the nation; while in the White House residence, Bush had changed his clothes, returning to the Oval Office in a somber dark blue suit and a blue-and-white patterned tie. He reviewed the text prepared by his speechwriters and made some changes. He spoke briefly to Karen Hughes, his former aide and informal political advisor, who suggested that he add a Bible verse from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. And a few minutes after 2 p.m., he walked the few feet from the Oval Office to the Cabinet Room and stepped up to a lectern hastily set up in front of the fireplace.
The president looked into the TV cameras: "The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors."
