Chronicles is made possible by Springhill Senior Living.

The Regional Science Consortium.

And the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

This is WQLN.

In 1994, the people of Pennsylvania put their faith in a guy nobody ever heard of, from a city nobody had ever seen.

And I've worked very hard to honor that trust.

I want to continue to be your governor, to make Pennsylvania an even better place to live.

And with your help, we will.

Thank you.

It's worth holding the office, it's worth working hard, regardless of the odds.

It's yours to be had only through serious, sustained effort and interaction with a constituency you want to represent.

It's got to have it in your blood, it's got to be part of your DNA.

Pennsylvania is in the middle of another revolution.

It's a peaceful one.

A revolution in how we create jobs, how we embrace technology, how we view the world.

It's how we teach our kids, how we protect our environment, and how we treat your money.

Pennsylvania will keep winning if we stay focused on the people behind the numbers.

Let's answer their call.

I ask for your help to pass this budget for the people of Pennsylvania.

Thank you.

Think about it.

We're about to go into a record-setting, four-y.. Economic momentum, the state was safer.

Environmentally, we were attractive across the entire country because of our Growing Greener pursuits.

We were not going to rest in our laurels.

To our friends and partners, the Schweiker team, much of what we've done, we've done together from day one.

And we enjoyed the campaigning.

We enjoyed two victories.

I think Mark and I enjoy the opportunity to work with this extraordinary group of men and women to lead Pennsylvania.

Michele and I are so happy to have an opportunity to spend four more years with you as well, as friends and partners.

This is part and parcel of your commitment to Pennsylvanians when you take the oath.

Taking the oath is not just a historic occasion.

You're really announcing to 12 million people, young and old, that we're going to go morning new tonight to improve your lot in life.

That's what the oath connotes.

And so there was no sitting back.

When you take the oath for the second term, they don't change it.

They don't take away powers and say, "Well, you can't do that now.

You should have done that in the first term.

So this power is coming back."

You still have the same powers.

And our job is to ensure that we are as effective in the second term as we were in the first term, that there's still work to be done.

All our lives, we've been hearing politicians talk about that children are our future.

They're our most important resource.

And so many times when it comes to making the investment and doing what we need to do for our children, we don't see it.

Here was a man who was willing to step up to the plate.

The Governor has developed a system by which the healthcare system and the education system and social service law enforcement system have been integrated in such a way that they understand that all of these agencies need to work together to make sure that children are given what they need right from the time that they're born until they enter school.

I knew he was very happy being governor.

So when he's happy, we're all happy.

In some small way, I wish we would have had more context back then to just how unique of a position it really was.

I mean, from a historical standpoint of Pennsylvania, it was kind of an uncommon situation of having young kids there day in and day out.

I think we were the youngest first family to come in.

There's a little bit of that appreciation at that young age to realize how special and unique it was in that moment.

But yeah, it was good.

Lots of happy times.

-Yes.

We're in the top of the tower at the top of the World Trade Center for the PA Society, December 2000.

There's a big luncheon on Saturday that the Governor threw, and there are literally hundreds of Pennsylvanians there.

And toward the end, like everything else, we were always the last people to leave, our wedding reception, whatever.

We're always the last people to leave.

So he had me come over to the big window, and it was a beautiful December day.

The sky was crystal blue, the sun was shining, and we looked out at the river, and he said to me, "Take a good look, because this is the last time you're going to see this view."

And I said, "What are you talking about?"

And he said, "The terrorists came in 93 to try to take down the World Trade Center."

He said, "The one thing I know is that they'll come back.

They will be back."

He said, "Do you know how devastating it would be if something happened?

We would never get out of this building."

So next year, I've already told my staff, they've already booked the Tavern on the Green for the same luncheon in December 2001.

It was like he almost had this sort of pre-sentiment that something was going to happen.

[Music] That day, I happened to start the day visiting my mother, who happened to be in the hospital.

So my memories of that day, as it is for most Americans, is vivid in all the passions that you possibly experience.

Anger, sorrow, another day of infamy that America has endured, and then responded to.

I was in a little family breakfast room reading the paper, and the chef came in and said, "Mrs.

Ridge, you have to come and look at the TV."

And that was the first plane going into the tower.

And I said, "Oh my God."

I said, "That's a big plane.

That's not an accident.

That's on purpose.

That's being done on purpose."

So now they're scrambling to find the Governor.

The lieutenant in charge of the detail came to me.

He said, "Mrs.

Ridge, where would the Governor be?"

I said, "I can tell you right where he is.

He's out in the garden digging in the dirt.

Tell the trooper to pull up the driveway and go away in the backyard.

You'll find him back there."

Because that's how he cleared his mind.

Pulled in the driveway.

There was an individual there who told me of the first incident in New York City, the first plane.

I immediately went into my home, turned on television, called my office, and watched like most Americans did with horror when the second airplane struck the Towers.

There's an iconic photograph, and there aren't that many iconic photographs, but there's one that I am in.

And it's of me whispering into President Bush's ear in the classroom in Sarasota, Florida, the Emma E. Booker School, on September 11, 2001.

I made a decision to pass on two facts, make one editorial comment.

He opened the door to the classroom, came in kind of from backstage to the president, leaned over and whispered in his ear, "A second plane hit the second tower.

America is under attack."

Obviously became aware of what was happening.

I couldn't reach him.

Self-service was non-existent.

I happened to be with the rest of the senior staff and some members of the cabinet.

We got together.

We knew there was a plane loose over Pennsylvania.

I evacuated the Capitol campus.

I sent all the state employees home.

Finally got ahold of him.

I said, "Hey, by the way, I just sent all the state employees home."

And he was like, "You did what?"

And then we moved on.

And we had to get him to... had to get a plane up in the air because they weren't flying, but we got a plane up in the air.

We got him to Harrisburg.

We got him out to Shanksville.

And from there we went.

Now, just after the three plane crashes in New York and Washington came reports of a fourth plane crash, this one hitting close to home, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco was hijacked.

It was a Boeing 757 with 45 people on board.

It went down north of Somerset County Airport.

That's about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, short of whatever target it had planned.

The chaos, the confusion, flight restrictions that had been put into place.

It is very difficult for anybody to move around and respond to the various attack sites in New York City and at the Pentagon.

What was remarkable was Governor Ridge on that day is going to not only respond to Harrisburg to where he needs to be, he's going to then transfer and see what is happening on the ground after the crash of Flight 93 and see what's transpiring with the state-level response that's taking place and to see how that can integrate on a national level with what's been taking place that day.

I was on Air Force One traveling with the President back from Sarasota, Florida, we had stopped at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, then we flew to Omaha, Nebraska to Stratcom.

I remember the President sitting at his desk in the office on Air Force One as we were flying from Barksdale Air Force Base to Omaha, Nebraska when he takes a call from the Vice President.

The Vice President asked the President if he would authorize our fighter jet pilots to shoot down commercial jetliners if they were not responding to the communications from the FAA to go land.

And I remember the President authorizing our troops to shoot our pilots to shoot down commercial jetliners.

I honestly believe the Vice President had already approved that, but that's another story.

But I was very impressed when President Bush hung up the phone after talking to the Vice President and authorizing that order to go out.

The President leaned forward into me and said, "I was a National Air Guard pilot.

I can't imagine receiving the order."

It was minutes after that that we got word that a plane had crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Todd Beamer and others on that flight that rushed the cockpit and changed the direction of that plane from probably heading towards the U.S.

Capitol in Washington, D.C.

to a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, would have them all earn the Medal of Honor if they had been wearing a uniform.

They weren't wearing uniforms.

There were civilians who answered a call to duty with prayer and a command, "Let's roll."

And their sacrifice saved people in the U.S.

Capitol, I honestly believe.

And they'll never be forgotten.

And I've been to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and I will go again to say, "I will never forget."

[Music] Governor Ridge's decision to come here on the day of the crash and arrive here so dramatically in that helicopter at 6 o'clock in the evening and get that firsthand look of this crater when it was still smoldering.

It clearly has stuck with him.

So many of us, I know, were just focused with all our being on that press conference at the edge of the cornfield the day that he came here.

And to hear him reassure us.

We can all draw our own conclusions about the security and I guess one of the things that this country and the airlines and everybody's going to have to review but I would dare say that it won't just be the airl.. country's going to have to rethink about how it challenges in many instances the very kind of society that we are and that we believe in.

I remember very clearly one thing that he said that was meaningful to me as a mom that, "What do we tell the children?"

He wondered to himself what he was going to tell his own children who were close in age to mine.

How do we explain that something so horrible can happen in America?

To explain to your children in the world's most open and freest society that has enormous respect for individual rights and to tell them and reassure them that this is still the greatest country in the world.

That we're peace-loving country, but there are some people on the face of the planet who don't share our values don't share our beliefs.

And who are committed to a cause that leads them to do things that we consider cowardly and horrific.

I just don't think i'm gonna be able to have one conversation i think this is gonna be a conversation we're gonna have to have over all parents are gonna have to have over the next couple days it's pretty difficult to explain to your kids that there are people in the world who would kill innocent men women and children.

Any time there is a tragedy, whatever the response is, those that are in need are looking for help.

And the question I always think of is, "Who's going to show up?"

Who are the people in service that are going to be either capable of responding or available to do that?

And it's important in any tragedy to have leaders that are capable, they're tested and they're willing to step in and lead by example.

Tom Ridge was uniquely positioned to bring empathy from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C.

when he went to the White House to help create a new agency called Homeland Security.

Good evening.

Today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.

I recall getting a phone call from the President's Chief of Staff and the Vice President got on as well and said they wanted the... I was willing to come down and talk to them and the President the next day.

I said, "Of course, of course."

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.

Well, you know, he came back from Shanksville that day.

He walked into the back hall of the governor's residence and he looked so angry.

I don't think I've ever seen him look as angry as he looked that day.

He was very angry about what happened.

Today our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature.

And we responded with the best of America.

I remember when I called him to see if he would come to the White House and my question was, "Would you take a call from the President and say yes?"

Or, "Do we have the President call you even though you're saying no?"

He was the first choice, the only choice in the one the President wanted, but the President didn't want to name Tom Ridge if Tom Ridge didn't want to accept the responsibility.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world.

And we stand together to win the war against terrorism.

Tom Ridge is a warrior.

He's a complete gentleman.

He's a gracious soul.

But when he flips the switch in a military sense, he becomes a warrior.

None of us will ever forget this day.

Yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Thank you.

Good night.

And God bless America.

When I got to the White House, Andy Card, his Chief of Staff, was there and the Vice President was in his office.

And then the President entered.

Never forget this because I've known him for a long time.

And I remember he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, "Ridgey, I need somebody like you, but you're the only you I know."

There's no other word you can say when your President calls and asks you to serve, but "yes."

And I said, "We'll just have to figure it out.

You're going to have to do this.

You do realize it."

I said, "I don't know too many people that got drafted twice, but of course, like everything else you do in your life, you never do it the way everybody else does it."

He called me mid-morning.

He said, "I better tell you what's going on."

And he starts walking through the meetings that he'd had with the Vice President and with Andy Card, who was the President's Chief of Staff.

And he's describing the initial sort of formation of a homeland effort at the federal level.

And I'm jotting notes and he said, "I'll be coming back up in two hours.

Meet me at the airport.

We'll figure out what to do."

But I knew immediately that much like when he got the call to be drafted, what he was going to do.

We got into the governor's study and started to launch, with some small measure of pride, I presume, into our case for why Governor Ridge should say "No, thank you," to this opportunity.

And we got seconds into it and we got the hand.

Nope.

Didn't want to hear it.

And that is a Ridge signal that has instant meaning in Ridge World when you're five years in like we were at that point.

He did not want to talk about it.

His Commander in Chief had come to him in a moment of great need and said, "I need you in this position."

And the old Staff Sergeant was not going to say no.

He was going to say, "Yes, sir."

And that's what he did.

And he had zero interest in a conversation about whether this would be good for him when his President and his Nation was calling him in a moment of need.

Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting Homeland Security.

These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level.

So tonight I announced the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security.

And tonight I also announced a distinguished American to lead this effort to strengthen American security.

A military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend, Pennsylvania's Tom Ridge.

[Applause] I've got a public service gene.

I've always believed in public service.

But when you're asked by a President, I think anybody and everybody would probably have said yes.

No, I don't believe that for a second.

I guess I'm a little bit more of a cynic than Tom is.

To step forward as a uniquely qualified and capable leader at a time when the Nation needed a uniquely qualified and capable leader to do the job.

Were there other people around in the United States that might very well have done as good a job as Tom Ridge at the time?

Probably so.

But thank God George Bush knew of one in Pennsylvania that he knew damn well could get the job done.

And so the unique character of almost anyone stepping into that kind of a set of responsibilities and performing as he did, no, that's not the case.

Military historians talk about the cloud of war and how information is often so hazy or ambiguous or just outright unclear or unheld.

And it is so hard to think clearly in that environment.

And Governor Ridge's ability to think clearly in those moments and show strength.

Strength that Pennsylvanians could rally around inspired me personally.

I would watch his press conferences at those times and I would stop being his press secretary.

I'm just listening to this person who is speaking to me and 12 million other people in ways that really matter and really help as we're all navigating something none of us had ever encountered before.

But the most impactful of all those broader memories at that time was in Governor Ridge's farewell address before he left Harrisburg to go down to D.C.

And as he was about to begin his address, and I have a perfect side view on this from my seat on the side, reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a three by five card and puts it right in front of him.

Then goes and just nails his remarks.

How do you sum up the best seven years of your life in one speech?

How do you adequately thank all the people who helped make those seven years so productive and so memorable?

And how do you say goodbye to the people of Pennsylvania?

If we are to protect all Americans, then all Americans must get involved.

Not all of us can wear the uniform of this great country.

Lord knows I doubt if I could get into mine.

Not all of us can work at the Office of Homeland Security.

But I think we all have a role to play.

So to answer the question I've heard so often from Pennsylvanians over the past 21 days, what can I do?

I say, do what you're doing right now, but do it even better.

And if we all do that, and if we all do it together, we will build a stronger Commonwealth and a stronger country.

And that will be more than enough.

Thank you.

God bless Pennsylvania and God bless America.

Good job.

Thank you.

Concludes his address, standing o, walks off to the side to depart the house, and we get into the office, the door closes, and my first question for him was, "Governor, I saw you pull out that three by five card.

What was that?

That was not a normal part of our practice nor anything we had discussed."

Didn't say a word.

He had put the card back in his pocket, and he pulled it out and showed it to me.

And in his distinctive handwriting was written this short message to himself, "Be strong.

The bastards will be watching."

Chronicles is made possible by Springhill Senior Living.

The Regional Science Consortium.

And the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

We question to learn.