9/11 with POTUS

Inside the White House Travel Pool

By: Chris Carlson

Narrated by: Brett Rockwood

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Imagine, you're with the president in Florida when America was attacked on 9/11. Buckle your seat belt—you're in the White House Travel Pool. It's going to get wild! As told by cameramen, reporters, and WH staff—all with the president, the week of 9/11. Revealing stories!

News cameraman Chris Carlson was there, in the White House Press Pool, and is your guide. On the morning of 9/11, America had no idea what was happening. The president and the White House Press had less information than the average US TV viewer watching CNN. Learn about the struggle to get any information while Bush escaped to the skies on Air Force One. Learn what happened to the remaining press members who were left in Florida and how it bruised many egos. The back story on every step of the journey. This account isn't coming from the typical political and editorial spin zones. You'll hear it from the cameramen who followed the president with their 20x1 zoom lenses, the ones who were there. This is an up-close, in-your-face, totally new account of the week of 9/11. You're in the White House Travel Pool!

©2021 Chris Carlson (P)2023 Chris Carlson

The fly on the wall

Everyone knows the 9/11 story. We’ve heard it from so many perspectives, each telling is different in its own way. But consider this: What is the perspective of the network cameraperson who is on site, like a fly on the wall. He or she is there for every significant event in an American president’s life. That person does not demand, or ask, or question. That person records and he or she does so for history. The people standing in front of that lens see only the lens. They do not see the persons behind the lens. That person is invisible, but has eyes that are focused like lasers, and ears that hear words that may not be meant to be heard. They record history - the moments we see again and again over the years, They carry memories and thoughts of what happened that day that they don’t generally share with the public. Chris Carlson is sharing those moments in this book. He’s telling all, and it is eye-opening.

Think back to the moment when George W. Bush got word about the planes that hit the World Trade Center. He was reading to school children. Chris Carlson tells the story of what happened before and after that moment. He describes a fly that was on the desk at which the President was sitting in a way that will make you sit back and wonder about how something that seemingly insignificant can make an impression that stays for decades with those who saw it happen.

He will always show you another side - the human side - of the press that you may have never considered. What happened to the White House Press Pool on September 11, when the presidents flew off on Air Force One without them. What was most important to them at that moment in the several days that followed. The answer may surprise you.

This is such a human story, warts and all. It will make your think, and it will make you appreciate even more what the people who record history do for us. It’s truly a book for the times in which we now live. And Brett Rockwood’s narration is the perfect companion to what Chris Carlson is going to show you.