Former President Bill Clinton issued a formal statement Friday marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania and renewing a quarter-century-old pledge that the nation would “never forget” those who died or were permanently affected by the tragedy.
The Statement
Clinton posted the statement to X on the morning of September 11, 2026, writing only, “My statement on the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks:” before attaching the full text.
The attached statement, titled “President Clinton’s Statement on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11,” read in full:
“Today we remember all those who lost their lives in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001; honor the courage of the first responders who risked and gave their lives to save others; and renew our commitment to all the people who have borne the pain of the attacks over the last 25 years-including the many who continue to fall ill due to their exposure to toxic materials. Shortly after 9/11, I was honored to partner with Senator Bob Dole to launch the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which has awarded more than $193 million in scholarships to nearly 4,000 children and spouses of those who passed away or were permanently disabled as a result of the attacks. New funds, such as the September 11th Descendants Scholarship, which awarded its first six scholarships this year, continue to uphold the pledge we made 25 years ago that we would never forget. The Families of Freedom Fund, Descendants Scholarship, and other worthy organizations serving those affected by 9/11 are still needed and we should support them as we can. We can’t erase the nightmare that so many have lived through and are still living with today, but we can support the people who have given and lost so much by treating one another with respect, in person and online, and recognizing that what we have in common is far more important than what divides us. As 9/11 moves further from lived experience into history, may we always take this solemn anniversary to come together and keep alive the memories of all who were lost. We owe that to them, to their loved ones, to each other, and to future generations.”
A Recurring Theme: Unity Over Division
The central message of Clinton’s statement centered on the idea that shared identity should outweigh political and social division a quarter-century removed from the attacks. He wrote that the country “can’t erase the nightmare that so many have lived through and are still living with today,” but argued that Americans could still support 9/11 victims’ families “by treating one another with respect, in person and online, and recognizing that what we have in common is far more important than what divides us.”
Clinton closed the statement by framing remembrance as an obligation that extends beyond the families directly affected by the attacks. “As 9/11 moves further from lived experience into history, may we always take this solemn anniversary to come together and keep alive the memories of all who were lost,” he wrote, adding, “We owe that to them, to their loved ones, to each other, and to future generations.”
The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund
A significant portion of Clinton’s statement focused on the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which he co-founded with the late Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole in the weeks after the attacks. Clinton said the fund “has awarded more than $193 million in scholarships to nearly 4,000 children and spouses of those who passed away or were permanently disabled as a result of the attacks.”
The fund was launched in late September 2001 as a joint campaign chaired by Clinton and Dole, former political rivals in the 1996 presidential election, to provide postsecondary education assistance to the children and spouses of those killed or permanently disabled in the attacks. It was established by the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America and the Lumina Foundation for Education, with an initial fundraising goal of $100 million.
At the time of its launch, Clinton said the fund was meant to ensure that young people left without parents by the attacks would “go on to great things,” while Dole said the effort was intended “to help ease the burden of the victims and their families.”
The fund, now administered by Scholarship America, has grown considerably since its founding. According to Scholarship America, the number of eligible students expanded by nearly 50 percent over the years in part because of the rising number of illnesses among Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers exposed to toxic materials at the site. The organization has said the fund is expected to sunset in 2030, once the last eligible children have completed their education.
The September 11th Descendants Scholarship
Clinton’s statement also highlighted a newer initiative, the September 11th Descendants Scholarship, which he said “awarded its first six scholarships this year.” He described the new fund, alongside the Families of Freedom Fund, as continuing “to uphold the pledge we made 25 years ago that we would never forget,” and said such organizations “are still needed” and should be supported “as we can.”
Four Former Presidents Gather at Ground Zero
Clinton’s statement came as he joined three other former presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Joe Biden — along with Vice President JD Vance, at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan for the 25th anniversary commemoration ceremony. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Jill Biden also attended, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The ceremony took place as the names of the 2,977 people killed in the 2001 attacks were read aloud at the site, with moments of silence observed at 8:46 a.m. — the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center — and at other moments throughout the morning marking each subsequent strike and collapse. President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended a separate ceremony at the Pentagon.
Hillary Clinton’s Separate Remarks on Counterterrorism
A day before Clinton’s statement, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a more pointed assessment of the current terrorism landscape during an appearance at the VOICES 25th Anniversary Symposium, an event reflecting on the attacks. In an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, she said the Trump administration has not done enough to monitor lingering terrorist threats to the United States.
“I worry a lot that we’ve let down our guard on counterterrorism, and I don’t say this to scare anybody or to exaggerate, but I think we are not paying enough attention to resurgent terrorist actions,” she said, adding that the threat “did not go away — it receded — but it is still there, and there are still many thousands of extremists in the world who wish us a great deal of ill.”
Criticism From 9/11 Families
Not all remarks at Friday’s commemoration struck a unifying tone. Terry Strada, national chair of the advocacy group 9/11 Families United, used her remarks at the ceremony to criticize successive presidential administrations — including those represented by the former presidents in attendance — for what she described as a pattern of shielding Saudi Arabia from accountability related to the attacks.
“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” Strada said, adding that officials “withheld evidence” and “vetoed JASTA,” a reference to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
Background: The Fund’s Origins
The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund traces its roots to the weeks immediately following the attacks, when Harvard University made an initial $1 million donation to establish a college fund for affected children, later folded into the broader Clinton-Dole initiative. Andrew McKelvey, then-CEO of TMP Worldwide, also provided an early $1 million contribution. At the time, Clinton said the tragedy had “left many young people without parents” who, “with a helping hand and the chance for a higher education,” would “go on to great things.”
Since its founding, the fund has drawn contributions from more than 20,000 corporations, foundations, educational institutions and individual donors nationwide, and is now administered at no charge by Scholarship America, the country’s largest private scholarship administrator.
A Quarter-Century Later
Clinton’s statement arrived on a day the United States marked one of the most significant milestones since the 2001 attacks, with ceremonies held not only in New York but also at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 crashed after passengers stormed the cockpit. Andy Card, the former White House chief of staff who informed President George W. Bush of the attacks in real time on September 11, 2001, also marked the anniversary, saying Americans have a duty to “keep the promise that we made when we said we would never forget.”
Clinton was in his second term as president when the attacks occurred, having left office in January 2001, eight months before the towers fell. He has since remained closely associated with 9/11 remembrance efforts, most notably through the scholarship fund he built with Dole, a partnership between former political opponents that has endured for nearly 25 years and, according to his Friday statement, is not expected to conclude until 2030.