October 13, 2001 – CBS Radio News + CBS Weekend Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
October 13, 2001 – Still reeling and in a state of shock over the events of a month earlier, we were now having to deal with another threat; this time Anthrax. Traces were found at NBC News and around Capitol Hill. It was one more dose of fear and paranoia that had now gripped America since one of the worst terrorist attacks the country had ever seen.
So news this day was about this new threat, the heightened state of emergency and the affect it was having on everyone in America. Reports on how our society had changed, some felt irrevocably, since that September 11th only a month earlier.
The war footing was engaged. Already American planes were staging raids in Afghanistan, including one which mistakenly targeted civilians, an event that would be re-run several times over the ensuring years.
New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, holding another press conference to give updates on the Anthrax scare, how an envelope delivered to Tom Brokaw of NBC was found to have traces of the chemical and how it triggered panic that others may have been exposed. An envelope addressed to Senator Patrick Leahy was found to have contained the deadly substance, and that triggered another wave of fear that we were once again, under attack.
But aside from the news reports and fears, were the commentaries and interviews, all pointing up to the profound observation that America, as of September, had changed, possibly forever. But how, rather than seek avenues of escape to a more peaceful state of mind, we were now flocking to movie theaters to see Training Day and Don’t Say A Word. We were angry, fearful people, caught up in a frenzy of hate and revenge. And things were not going to calm down anytime soon, at least not in October of 2001.
And that’s what was going on, this October 13, 2001 – a Sunday – as reported by CBS Radio News and The CBS Weekend Roundup.
