september 11th attacks
One of Americas most tragic days was on September 11th, 2001. On 9/11, America was under attack, four planes were hi-jacked by 19 members of the Islamic extremist group known as Al-Qaeda. Once two of the four planes had been taken over, they had a destination for the World Trade Centers in New York City. The first plane, American Airlines flight 11, crashed into the North tower at approximately 8:46 AM, and instantly, the tower had a gaping hole that began spewing out smoke, flames, fireballs, and debris. Since the plane crashed at the 92nd floor, nobody above that floor could evacuate. Then, the second plane, United Airlines flight 175, crashed into the South tower at 9:03 AM between floors 75-83. The south tower begins spewing smoke, flames, fireballs, and debris. In both towers, people began to panic. People that were above the floors that had been struck by the planes started to panic, and began jumping from the floor they were on in an attempt to save their lives. 62 minutes after the south tower is struck, it collapses, causing a flood of debris and dust, and killing hundreds more innocent people. 23 minutes after the south tower collapses, the north tower collapses. There is no known reason as to how the towers fell, but some engineers say that the fire caused from the plane crash caused the steel beams in the World Trade Centers to get heated to an intolerable temperature, causing the steel beams to bow inwards, causing the towers to fall. While New York was under attack, the two other planes had destinations that they intended to reach. The third plane, American Airlines flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States department of defense, at 9:43 AM, causing an eruption of smoke and flames. The fourth plane, United Airlines flight 93 that had been taken over by hi-jackers and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. What people infer is that passengers aboard flight 93 had heard news about the two planes crashing into the World Trade Centers and the one plane hitting the Pentagon, and realized that the plane was headed for the White House. The heroic passengers took over the plane and crashed it in the field to save the White House. The overall death toll on this tragic day was approximately 2,977 people.
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first african-american president
In 2009, Barack Hussein Obama the second was sworn into office, being the first ever African-American President of the United States. In the 2008 election, Obama won by a landslide, winning 365 electoral college votes (need at least 270 to secure the win). One of Obama's biggest accomplishments in his first term was making the Healthcare Reform Act. The Healthcare Reform Act made health insurance available to millions more Americans, a task that wasn't taken on by past presidents. Obama decided to run for president again in 2012, and people clearly liked the progress that he made in his first term, because he was re-elected for a second term. Obama has had many tasks to overcome through his presidency and has completed most of them. In 2011, Obama got all soldiers out of the war in Iraq, which he promised to do while campaigning in 2008. Throughout his terms, Obama had to deal with riots and protests that began because of innocent black teenagers getting killed for suspicious behavior.
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