Giuliani, Six Years Later

Sept. 11, 2007 — -- Today, the former mayor of New York City attended a memorial for the victims of Sept. 11.

Because, in large part, he responded to what happened six years ago, he is now a Republican hopeful for the presidency of the United States. Also there this morning was Jim Riches, a battalion chief on 9/11 and a 30-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department. Riches says he voted for George Bush and for then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Riches was at home six years ago when the phone rang. "Somebody called me up and I responded right away. I knew my son was working."

His 29-year-old son Jimmy was also a firefighter. Riches recalled what he saw after rushing to the World Trade Center. "The scene was chaotic. I mean there were bodies all over the place. We were helping injured people to the ambulances. I saw a couple guys that I knew and they said they had seen my son go in the North Tower and I figured right away he was gone."

Giuliani also rushed to ground zero that morning. His former deputy Joe Lhota was there as well.

"I remember telling him people are jumping and he said to me 'No, no they're not jumping.' I said, 'Yes, people are jumping.' I think there is an HBO special that shows him in slow motion turning around as I am pointing up and you can see his face and the emotions in his face as he realized the severity of what was going on."

On that day, all eyes were on Giuliani and he seemed to know it.

Another New Yorker called to service on 9/11 was Michael Cohen, a psychologist who had been involved in crisis management after the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. Giuliani wanted to meet with him on the morning of Sept. 12.

"It was very early in the morning. It was just turning into daylight," Cohen said of his meeting with Giuliani. "I was pretty impressed. I felt like I was really in the presence of a presence."

That morning, Cohen spent an hour with Giuliani, a mayor he did not vote to elect, and advised him to be "authoritative and truthful." Within an hour or so of that meeting with Cohen, Giuliani held a news conference reassuring New Yorkers that the city would get through the crisis and become stronger.

"He was brilliant," said Cohen. "If I made any contribution, it was helping him organize what he was already instinctively doing. I never saw him exaggerate, underestimate or overestimate his role."

The mayor was a powerful presence. Images of him covered in soot at ground zero were broadcast to the world, reinforcing the sense that he was in charge. Time magazine made him "Man of the Year," and he was quickly dubbed "America's Mayor."