Bob Beckwith is a retired member of the New York City Fire Department

New York City Fire Department

The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...

. He became well known to the United States' public after he stood next to President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 as the president gave a speech at the ruins of the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Photos of Beckwith and the president appeared on the front page of the New York Daily News and the cover of Time magazine. This exposure launched him into the national spotlight and led to press attention and interviews. Beckwith has met several times with President Bush since then, spoken extensively in public, and acted as a fundraiser for charities.

Family and career

Beckwith has lived for more than 50 years with his wife Barbara in the same house in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York

Baldwin, Nassau County, New York

Baldwin is a hamlet located in the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 24,033 at the 2010 census.Baldwin is also a station on the Babylon Branch of the Long Island Rail Road....

. The couple has six adult children. Beckwith is a veteran of the New York City Fire Department

New York City Fire Department

The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...

 with 30 years of service.

Actions at Ground Zero

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Beckwith was tending to his grandson, who had been hit by a car while biking to school. Before he arrived at the hospital with his grandson Beckwith was aware that a plane had struck the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

. When the boy appeared to be in stable condition, Beckwith left the hospital and went to World Trade Center site after he saw the South Tower collapse via television. Even though he had been retired for seven years from the New York City Fire Department

New York City Fire Department

The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...

, he grabbed his old gear and bluffed

Deception

Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...

 his way past the blockades and barricades that had been set up and began helping with bucket brigade

Bucket brigade

A bucket brigade or human chain is a method for transporting items where items are passed from one stationary person to the next.The method was important in firefighting before the advent of hand pumped fire engines, whereby firefighters would pass buckets to each other to extinguish a blaze. A...

s and missing person

Missing person

A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....

 searches.

On September 14, after Beckwith and some men had unearthed a fire engine buried in rubble from the fallen buildings, they tested its stability as a stand from which to speak, and a Secret Service agent ordered him to help President Bush onto the platform. Beckwith handed Bush a bullhorn with which to address the crowd of responders and workers and was told to climb down by the Secret Service and Karl Rove

Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

, but Bush insisted that Beckwith stay with him. An image of Bush with Beckwith was featured the next day on the front page of the New York Daily News

New York Daily News

The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

.

National fame and activities since 9/11

A photo of Bush with Beckwith standing together was published two weeks later on the cover of Time magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

, catapulting Beckwith to the national spotlight. Rejecting his new-found fame, he initially refused to speak to various news personalities and shows—Diane Sawyer

Diane Sawyer

Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....

, the Today Show, and Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American stand-up comedian, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family...

—though he eventually appeared on MSNBC

MSNBC

MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

 and other news channels and programs.

Beckwith continues to be bashful about his fame, though an enlarged version of the Time magazine cover that made him famous hangs in his den. Regarding the cover, Beckwith said that "[a]ll these guys that come over to interview me, they all have to have a picture of it." Beckwith also has a first edition

First edition

The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...

 print of the cover, which is encased in a display box together with a flag that waved at Ground Zero, given to him by President Bush. Beckwith has volunteered to have the items in his possession go to the 9/11 Memorial after he dies. He has already donated the clothes and helmet that he was wearing that day to the memorial.

Beckwith has visited 11 times with President Bush, traveled and spoken extensively, and dedicated much of his activity to fundraising for the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation.

On February 25, 2002, in a White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 ceremony together with Governor George Pataki

George Pataki

George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

 of New York state, Beckwith presented to Bush the bullhorn the president had used to address workers at the World Trade Center site just days after the attacks.

In the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

 by a team of U.S. Navy Seals

United States Navy SEALs

The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...

, Beckwith was asked his opinion. He stated: "I would have liked it to be on George Bush's watch, but it wasn't, so OK". He also said: "But I'm glad we got him. He's burning in hell and he's going to rot there."

External links

• WPIX Interview with Beckwith following the killing of Osama bin Laden