Closings and cancellations following the September 11, 2001 attacks
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September 11, 2001 attacks, several institutions responded with closures, cancellations, and postponements. Some of the most significant are listed here. They were closed primarily because of fears that they may be attacked. At some places, streets leading up to the institutions were also closed. When they reopened, they opened with heightened security. Many states declared a state of emergency.
Closings
(unusual closures on September 11, for any reason)- The stock exchanges on Wall Street. Wall Street stock markets did not open on September 11, even as CNN continued to show futures numbers early in the day. As Wall Street itself was covered in debris from the World Trade Center and due to infrastructure damage, it remained closed until Monday, September 17 - four normally open days, six including Saturday and Sunday.
- The Washington Monument
- The Statue of Liberty
- The Virginia State Capitol
- Other US landmarks, including the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.
- All federal buildings in Washington, D.C., including the White House. Across the country approximately one million federal workers were sent home.
- NASA
- The Supreme Court of the United States
- Resorts and vacation spots
- *Disneyland (only on September 11)
- *Walt Disney World (only on September 11)
- *Universal Studios Florida
- *SeaWorld
- All TV and Movie Studios in Hollywood
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
- All federal and state buildings in Massachusetts
- Many schools across the country, and a number in Canada
- * The schools that closed took no chances after the attacks and dismissed their students early, understanding the fact that children were watching the television coverage of the attacks and that they had been victims of an act of terrorist violence before--the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Evacuations
(evacuation in light of perceived threat of attack)- the United Nations headquarters in New York City
- the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois
- several skyscrapers in downtown Houston
- the Transamerica building in San Francisco
- the Renaissance Center in Detroit
- parts of Washington, D.C., and New York City
- international flights bound for the USA were diverted to Canada (known as Operation Yellow Ribbon)
- in London, Canary Wharf tower and the Stock Exchange Tower
- the Empire State Building in New York was evacuated several times on September 11 and after due to false reports of potential threats.
- the HSBC Tower in Buffalo, New York
- the Bank of America and Wachovia headquarters buildings in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Tribune Studios was evacuated when there were no shows being taped.
Cancellations
In an atmosphere reminiscent of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and for the first time since then, everyday life in the United States came to a standstill in the days after the September 11 attacks. There was a widespread perception immediately following the attacks that recreational events and sports were not appropriate out of respect for the dead and wounded. For this reason, as well as for reasons of perceived threat associated with large gatherings, events were postponed or cancelled. A sampling of cancellations:- Broadway theater shows (until Thursday evening, September 13, when they resumed with dimmed marquees)
- US sporting events including [those on this list]
- *Major League Baseball. Games were first postponed for one day, then three, then all games through Sunday September 16 were postponed. The games were tacked on to the end of the regular season, delaying the post-season and the end of the 2001 World Series to November 4 that year.
- *Minor League Baseball. All championship series were cancelled. Teams that had led their respective series were awarded league championships, or teams which were scheduled to play in such series were awarded co-championships.
- *The National Football League postponed football games on Sunday September 16 and the Monday night game the night following. Those games and the playoffs and Super Bowl XXXVI were put back at the end of the regular season.
- *NASCAR postponed the Sunday September 16 Winston Cup New Hampshire 300 race at New Hampshire International Speedway until November 23, the day after Thanksgiving, the next available date for racing.
- *Division I-A college football games to be played Thursday, September 13 and Saturday, September 15 were postponed. This was not an insignificant decision; in 1988, Syracuse University was severely criticized for allowing a basketball game be played hours after 35 of their students were killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Some games were played in early December, others were cancelled. Other games were added as a result of teams being unable to find makeup dates.
- *The PGA golf tour cancelled the World Golf Championship (the American Express championship at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri). This was the first time in five years the PGA cancelled a tournament. (In 1996, the PGA Tour cancelled the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am because of weather conditions, and subsequently added a new rule that a tournament would not be official unless 54 holes were played.) This event was not made up, and the purse monies were donated to charities.
- Voting in the (September 11 city of New York mayoral primary election was halted. Elections in Syracuse, New York and Buffalo, New York were delayed.
- Even months after the attacks, events were still impacted, with Blockbuster Entertainment cancelling its spring 2002 awards show. Another event impacted by the attacks were the 2003 Grammy Awards, which would was held at Madison Square Garden instead of Staples Center.
- Cartoon Network cancelled Mobile Suit Gundam after the attack and took an episode of Cowboy Bebop that dealt with terrorist bombings ("Cowboy Funk") out of the Adult Swim lineup for nearly a year afterwards.
- Jeopardy! four-time champion Ramsey Campbell's fifth game, against Nancy Casbeer and Kevin Laude, was slated for a Series 18 game to air on September 11. Campbell was going for his fifth win, the car, and a slot in the Tournament of Champions. The show did not air until June 2005 on GSN, not in its serial position. Laude became the show's infamous "lost champion", as his game did not air for four years. However, he was paid $8,100 for the win shortly after Sony announced the show would not air.
Postponements
- The 2001 Emmy Awards. Scheduled for September 16 2001, the glamorous awards show was rescheduled twice (among rumors of cancelling it) before taking place on November 4, with a somewhat somber atmosphere.
- The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a meeting of the heads of government of the nations of the Commonwealth of Nations to be held in Brisbane, Australia, was postponed. The organisers of the meeting claimed the cancellation was not so much a fear of terrorist attack on the meeting itself, but a desire by many Commonwealth leaders to stay at home in case of any further crisis-making world events (such as the commencement of overt military action in Afghanistan or elsewhere).
- Even after normal television programming resumed after nearly a full week of news coverage following the attack, some daily talk shows such as The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Daily Show and Late Show with David Letterman took additional time before beginning to broadcast new installments, with Letterman in particular stating that he was not sure he wanted to continue to do the show. All the shows did eventually return, though their first episodes back were somber affairs.
- The fall season premieres of a number of American TV series were delayed.
- The 2001 Ryder Cup of golf, held at The Belfry in England, was postponed a year.
- The World Wrestling Federation postponed a SmackDown! Television Taping on September 11, and instead aired the show live on September 13. The show was dedicated to the victims of the attacks with straightforward wrestling matches interspliced with wrestler's thoughts on the events.
Travel effects
For at least a full day after the attacks, bridges and tunnels to the island of Manhattan were closed to non-emergency traffic in both directions. Among other things, this interrupted scheduled deliveries of food and other perishables, leading to shortages in restaurants.All civilian airplane traffic in the United States and Canada was grounded until Thursday, September 13 2001. United Airlines cancelled all flights worldwide temporarily. First the stranded planes were allowed to go to their intended destinations, then limited service resumed. All incoming international flights were diverted to Canada in Operation Yellow Ribbon. On Thursday night the New York area airports (JFK, La Guardia, Newark) were closed again, and reopened Friday morning. The only traffic from La Guardia during the closure was a single C9C government VIP jet, departing at approximately 5:15PM on the 12th.
From September 27 one-occupant cars were banned from crossing into Lower Manhattan from Midtown on weekday mornings, in an effort to relieve some of the crush of traffic in the city (the morning rush hour was lasting from 5:30 AM to noon), caused largely by the increased security measures put in place.
Service on the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line, a major subway line in New York City, was crippled, as it ran directly under the World Trade Center.
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