Striking photos show Dick Cheney reacting to the Sept. 11 attacks

Dick Cheney
(Image credit: David Bohrer/U.S. National Archives)

Newly released photos from the U.S. National Archives show an emotional then-Vice President Dick Cheney in the moments after the Sept. 11 attacks.

More than 300 images by vice presidential photographer David Bohrer were made public Friday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Cheney is joined in some of the photos by senior White House staffers and then-President George W. Bush.

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Five days after the attacks, Cheney appeared on Meet the Press and spoke of the nation's need to work "the dark side," an early reference to the war on terror. "We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world."

Check out the full album here.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.