Bush Will Visit 3 Crash Sites to Mark Sept. 11 Anniversary

President Bush will mark the anniversary of Sept. 11 by visiting the three places where hijacked airplanes crashed that day: the Pentagon, a field in southwestern Pennsylvania and the World Trade Center site in New York.

In announcing Bush’s plans Friday, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the trip’s aim would be “to continue to rally our nation and to mourn and to pay respects to the memory of those who lost their lives and to their families.”

The anniversary commemorations will offer Bush a fresh opportunity to tap into the extraordinary reservoir of goodwill and public support for him that surged after the terrorist attacks but that polls show have started to slip.

White House aides also are acutely aware that, with his every move analyzed in a political context, Bush will need to walk a fine line in the Sept. 11 commemorations.

“The president will not overdo it,” a senior White House official said. “He’ll be very involved in a dignified way that reflects his personal style. He’ll reach out and be seen in a role Americans have come to appreciate him in, but he will not overdo it.

“There will be elements of commemoration, talk of strength and unity. It gives us an opportunity to look backward and to look ahead.”

Landon Parvin, a former speechwriter for President Reagan, said of the challenge facing Bush: “If you don’t do enough, you’ll get jumped on; if you do too much, you’ll get jumped on. As a citizen, I don’t want to see too much.

“Understated is what’s needed: simple, honest, short. That’s his nature.”

Buchan announced Bush’s plans for Sept. 11 as the president left Washington for a three-day weekend in Maine at his parents’ seaside compound.

Bush will return to the White House on Monday, after detouring to Pittsburgh for a Republican fund-raiser, a public speech on homeland security and a private meeting with the nine coal miners recently rescued from underground near Somerset, Pa.

On Tuesday, he is to undergo his annual physical and sign into law one of his legislative priorities: a bill granting him increased power to negotiate trade agreements. He then will fly to his ranch near Crawford, Texas, and won’t return to Washington for the rest of August.

While vacationing much of the time, Bush is scheduled to visit as many as 15 cities around the country for policy speeches and political events during the month. His expected stops include San Diego and Stockton.

On Aug. 13, he will host a daylong economic conference at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The White House has summoned policymakers, small investors, industry experts, business ethicists, union members, corporate leaders and business students, among others, to discuss the economy and highlight the president’s economic agenda.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is scheduled to visit Bush at the ranch, according to the White House. And in late August, Bush is expected to meet in Texas with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this report.