The National Archives just published a huge cache of previously unseen photos of Vice President Dick Cheney on September 11, 2001. There’s no apparent connection to a special anniversary, or some kind of current event with a special connection to the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.
Instead, the photo dump was a part of a larger response to a Freedom of Information Act request asking for “responsive photos from the White House Photo Office.” According to The Hill, the FOIA request was from Colette Hanna who works for Frontline on PBS.
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In the photos, Cheney looks like a worried Vice President watching something terrible happen, and then talking to his staff about what to do next.
The photos are by a Vice Presidential staff photographer, who snapped the shutter liberally throughout the day as Cheney met with President Bush, and staffers like Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. It must have been obvious at the time that a whole lot of history was happening.
All 356 photos are available on Flickr.
Note: A previous version captioned photos with “Air Force Two” in Error. The name of the helicopter is “Marine Two.”