New York City was crushed by the 9/11 attacks, its Twin Towers in rubble, its tourism industry paralyzed, its sense of security imperiled. Posters of the missing were on lampposts, reminding us daily of the human toll. There was an eerie silence in restaurants and on Broadway as we all tried to regain our confidence.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, was in New York City with his wife and son on the day of the attacks. In the days following, he decided to move the annual meeting to New York City, the first time in 30 years that it would relocate from Davos. As a soon-to-be released biography of Schwab says, “A city accustomed to being one of the crossroads of the world had suddenly experienced what it meant for the world to stop coming…What if the Forum went to New York. The question became, would the world come?”
The WEF team secured the Waldorf Astoria Hotel as the hub for the meeting, then surrounding hotels for the delegates. Tom Ridge, newly appointed director of the Department of Homeland Security, was the next stop in Washington, followed by the FBI. Both promised agents to guarantee security for the participants.
Schwab then proceeded to New York City just as Mayor Rudy Guiliani was completing his term in favor of incoming Mayor Mike Bloomberg. He said that he was Giuliani’s last visitor at Gracie Mansion and Bloomberg’s first. He went on to the New York Stock Exchange to announce the Forum’s decision to convene in Manhattan.
On January 31, 2002, only four and a half months after the attacks, over 2,700 participants from 102 nations came to Davos in New York City. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bono, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, former President Bill Clinton, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and music producer and composer Quincy Jones were among the delegates. Mayor Bloomberg said in his speech, “By coming here, you have done something unprecedented…I have come today to give the thanks of the people of New York City to Klaus Schwab. The decision to come is a profound statement.”
Schwab’s decision to bring the World Economic Forum to New York City was a powerful vote of confidence in the city at a moment when it was badly needed. In doing so, he took to heart the admonition of English Methodist minister William Lonsdale Watkinson in 1907: “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” It gave New Yorkers a much needed shot of optimism, that we could build back the City’s reputation as the global center of commerce. We would face down the terrorists who sought to intimidate us and change our way of life.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
