Several weeks ago, former Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker spoke to the Pennsylvania Press Club offering his reflections on the events of September 11, 2001. The 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City, the Pentagon, and the downing of United Flight 93 in Somerset County serves as a much-needed reminder of what happened that sunny late summer day.
Mark Schweiker was serving as Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor on September 11, 2001. The office of Lieutenant Governor in Pennsylvania tends to be largely ceremonial and inconsequential. On that September day, however, Mark Schweiker was anything but inconsequential.
Governor Tom Ridge had delegated to Schweiker the portfolio of leading the state’s emergency management infrastructure. A former Bucks County Commissioner, Schweiker took the role seriously. Thus, when Flight 93 crashed into a Shanksville field the man was ready for the moment.
It would be easy to give responders a pass by saying nobody could have been prepared to deal with the biggest attack on America since Pearl Harbor. Lt. Governor Schweiker, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and Somerset County’s local responders were ready.
But when they arrived on scene there was no rescue because there were no survivors. The brave passengers aboard Flight 93, aware of the earlier crashes in New York and Virginia had taken matters into their own hands and rushed the cockpit to prevent the plane from reaching its destination, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
It crashed at full speed into the bucolic Somerset County countryside.
Schweiker and his team now faced a new and even more daunting challenge: securing what was essentially a crime scene, navigating massive media coverage and – most importantly – providing answers and comfort to the families of the passengers aboard that jet.
Ridge and Schweiker handled the unprecedented situation with professionalism, grace, and compassion. As events unfolded President George W. Bush took notice and asked Ridge to join him in Washington to deal with ongoing security concerns. That led to Ridge becoming the first Secretary of the new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security.
It also elevated Mark Schweiker to the governorship from which perch he continued to oversee operations in Shanksville.
His biggest challenge was yet to come.
On July 24, 2002 tragedy once again thrust Somerset County – and Mark Schweiker – into the national spotlight. Miners in the Quecreek Mine accidentally breached an abandoned neighboring mine causing millions of gallons of water to flood into the active Quecreek Mine.
Eighteen miners were trapped with nine being able to escape. The other nine remain trapped for 77 hours.
During those 77 hours Governor Mark Schweiker led frantic efforts to locate and rescue the miners. He did not do this from behind his desk in Harrisburg, he quickly traveled to the site where he drew upon his expertise and contacts from his emergency services work as Lt. Governor.
Schweiker and his team were able to pinpoint the exact underground location of the trapped miners then engineered the drilling of a narrow shaft which was then used to lift the miners to safety.
When the miners appeared at the surface Mark Schweiker was there to greet them – all of them . . . rescued . . . alive.
Although he would dispute the title Schweiker was hailed as a national hero. It is doubtful anybody else could have done what he did.
But his governorship was destined to be short. In what I view as the biggest political miscalculation in recent Republican gubernatorial history, Governor Mark Schweiker was not endorsed and nominated for a full term in 2022. That nod went to Attorney General Mike Fisher who subsequently lost the General Election to Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell.
Fisher previously had run for Lieutenant Governor teamed with William W. Scranton, III in 1986. The duo lost a close race to Rober P. Casey, Sr. in what was considered at the time to be somewhat of an upset. Fisher was subsequently elected Pennsylvania Attorney General and considered to be “in line” for the 2002 gubernatorial nomination to succeed Tom Ridge.
The events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent elevation of Tom Ridge to the presidential cabinet and Mark Schweiker to the governorship dramatically changed the political calculus. But the GOP did not adjust sticking with its plan to nominate Fisher rather than the now incumbent Governor Mark Schweiker.
Schweiker was a good soldier and did not contest the nomination. Fisher went on to lose the General Election. Ed Rendell went on to become governor. Schweiker went on to become a national hero.
Mark Schweiker’s time as governor was brief, but highly consequential – especially for nine men in Somerset County.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal and American Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)
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