Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, September 11, 2026
Joe Daniels, former CEO of the National September 11th Memorial & Museum, discusses the museum's mission to convey the emotional impact of 9/11 through first-person accounts and sounds from the day. He emphasizes its importance as a resource for younger generations who don't remember the event firsthand.
“Well, thanks for having me. And our whole approach with that museum is to take a first person approach to use the voicemails, the actual sounds and words that all of those. victims were speaking on that day. And by doing that, it delivers a real emotional punch.”
“This museum is such a vital resource with every year that goes by. A hundred million Americans now, one in three, were not born before 9-11. But when you go to that museum where you stand at the memorial with all of those names etched in bronze forever while you look at the memorial pools and it does transcend you. It does give you a feeling of what this country went through, even if you weren't born then.”
“And for the memorial and the museum, it's visitors that are coming to New York that know about 9-11 and they want to experience the sacredness, the solemnity, and they leave feeling touched, honestly.”