In an interview with National Geographic, former President George W. Bush explained that his non-reaction to news of the 9/11 attacks — and therefore his attention to “The Little Goat” — was a conscious decision to project an aura of calm.
“My first reaction was anger,” he said. “Who the hell would do that to America? Then I immediately focused on the children, and the contrast between the attack and the innocence of children.”
Bush said he “made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm. I had been in enough crises to know that the first thing a leader has to do is to project calm.”