Eleven days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed a law establishing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to compensate families who lost loved ones on 9/11. Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, author of "What Is Life Worth?," was chosen to head up the taxpayer-funded effort and was solely responsible for determining how much each family would get paid. In all, 5,500 people received a combined total of $7.1 billion, with the average payout being $2 million.

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To mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, we present first-hand accounts of that day from first responders, journalists, political figures, and others. You'll hear from New York City firefighter Tim Brown, World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein, photographer Doug Mills, reporters Ann Compton and Andrea Mitchell, President Bush assistant Anita McBride, Rear Admiral David Thomas, Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), and F-16 pilot Major Heather Penny.

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New York Times staff photographer Doug Mills has won 3 Pulitzer Prizes for his work covering the White House & Washington, Super Bowls, Olympics, and many other major events. He tells us that he's taken over one million photographs of President Trump alone. In our conversation, he talks about some of the events he's covered going back to the Reagan administration. He talks about being in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, photographing the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992, accompanying President George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, and taking the photograph of the attempted assassination of President Trump in 2024, which won him his third Pulitzer Prize.

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From the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Neil Gorsuch discusses his children's book, "Heroes of 1776," about the signers of the Declaration of Independence and other, lesser known, revolutionaries who put their life, liberty, and property on the line to gain independence from the British.

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This week on Q&A, it's a rare interview with one of America's leading historians. We tour the New York City office and home library of Pulitzer Prize-winning bestselling biographer Robert Caro, who is currently working on the final volume of his 5-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. During the tour, Mr. Caro talks about his research and writing process on the LBJ series, and the impact of "The Power Broker," his bestselling 1974 biography of NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses.

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The Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum's Jennifer Levasseur discusses the history of the 135-mission Space Shuttle program (1981-2011), its accomplishments, and two tragic failures that led to the deaths of 14 shuttle astronauts. Ms. Levasseur, the curator in charge of the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, where this interview took place, also takes us on a tour of the shuttle orbiter.

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Actor Mark Harmon and retired NCIS special agent Leon Carroll, Jr., discuss their book "Ghosts of Sicily," the latest in their series about real-life Naval intelligence operations. "Ghosts of Sicily" tells the story of the U.S. government's use of the American mafia to fight the Nazis and Italians during World War II.

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Tad Devine, former chief campaign strategist for Bernie Sanders and the author of "How the Democrats Screwed Bernie," argues that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee used dirty tricks, dark money groups, and the mainstream media to thwart Sen. Sanders' presidential run in 2016.

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On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana while re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board. Former Space Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach, who led debris recovery and reconstruction efforts following the accident, talks about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and the investigation into its causes. Mr. Leinbach is the co-author of "Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew."

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As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, former U.S. ambassador David McKean and former State Department historian M. Todd Bennett, co-authors of "The Flag Was Still There," look back at the 1776 founding and the four previous semi-centennial celebrations of America in 1826, 1876, 1926, and 1976.

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