Who Coined the Term 9/11?

 
The term ``9/11'' became such a fixture in our vocabulary so soon after the World Trade Center attacks nine years ago today, that it's hard to remember which person or news organization used it first.

As best as I can tell, The New York Times first used the term ``9/11’’ in a headline for a Bill Keller op-ed article on September 12, 2001: ``Correspondent: America’s Emergency Line: 9/11’’

   When asked about the origin of ``9/11’’ Jack Rosenthal, President of The New York Times Company Foundation, responded by email on his recollection of the day.

 ``Like just about everyone else in America, I kept asking myself all day, what can we do. That evening, the answer dawned on me: do just what we do every day at The Times Company Foundation, philanthropy. Why don't we start a relief fund? We already had in place the machinery for our annual Neediest Cases Fund -- 501c3 tax exempt status, phone numbers, online contribution site, credit card phone lines. Let's create a special solicitation of Times readers around the country. 

That night, sitting at my laptop in my Manhattan apartment overlooking the Hudson River, I sent e-mails to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., our chairman and publisher; Rhonda Brauer, our Foundation lawyer; and other executives describing the idea and calling it The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund. By morning, everyone had signed on so I did the next natural thing for a former reporter and editor; I wrote it up as a story, as a convenient way to get the information across to the hugely harried Times news department.’’

    The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund’s first article appeared on September 13; and according to Rosenthal, the fund raised $62 million with the money distributed within the first 6 months which benefited 30,000 of the neediest families.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]

Comments

[jeff]

My thoughts go to all the people who lost loved ones that day 9 years ago.... May God be with you!