After the 9/11 Attacks, Boston Found a Focus for Its Anger

Terrorists boarded two planes in Boston and flew them into the World Trade Center. Massachusetts zeroed in on its top airport official, who has never quite recovered.

BOSTON — Virginia Buckingham remembers the moment when she realized that she had been singled out. She had stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on her way into Logan International Airport, which she oversaw as the top official at the Massachusetts Port Authority. As she stood in line, a man behind her whispered to his friend, “That’s her.” The week before, terrorists had boarded two jets at Logan, hijacked them, and flew them into the Twin Towers. The city’s newspapers had plunged into reporting on the airport’s security record, and into her, a political appointee. But no one had been fired yet, and the columnists were getting antsy. “When do the heads start to roll at Massport?” wrote Howie Carr at The Boston Herald. “It’s been over a week now, and Ginny Buckingham still isn’t a stay-at-home mom.”