Transcripts For CSPAN First Ladies Influence Image 20140204

I am here to voice my strong support for the courageous people. Women and men who have suffered for years under the taliban regime will stop each and every one of us have the responsibility to stop the suffering caused by malaria. Every life in every land matters. And all of us can do something to help. After studying the first ladies and knowing some of them very well like my mother in law, one i admire very much. , our country benefits by whatever our first lady champions for. Laura bush became first lady after a controversial election brought her husband to the white house. Nine months later was the 9 11 attacks and she helped cover the nation while pursuing interests important to her including education, literacy, and womens health. Good evening and welcome to first ladies image and influence. Would take the story of the life of our 43rd president , laura bush. Here to do that are two people who know her well. This is a laura bush biographer. Her book the perfect wife, tells the story of laura bush. Welcome to the program. He is a president ial historian and is currently working on a book the relationship between 41 and 43. Ush and your biography, you refer to the role of first lady as the most bizarre volunteer job in the world. We heard laura bush talk about having her mother in law as a role model, whenever thought she may have had about how she would 11d the role after september and we told her recently. She talked about that day. I want you to watch a combat and talk about how she responded and how it redefined what her years would be like. I was on my way to capitol hill to brief the Senate Education committee in Early Childhood education. To brief that committee on Early Childhood education when i was getting into the car and the secret Service Agents leaned over and said an airplane had landed into the world trade center. We went to the capital. We assumed as we started driving it was some strange accident. By the time we got to the capital, we knew the second plane had hit the we knew what it was. The secret service came to get me. At first they were thinking it would take me to the white house. They had to regroup and figure out where it was. Staff was getting word to run. And they were kicking off there have high hills and running from the white house and i know they expected to have glamorous and interesting jobs at the white house. Anyway, the secret service came to get me and senator greg kennedy walked me out to the door and i drove to where i went was the secret Service Building which has been reinforced after in ourrorist attack embassy. Really, after the Oklahoma City bombing. A lot had been reinforced. That is where i went and spent the day. Had you told your husband or girls at that point . I cannot remember. From the day to remember. I talked to george once i got there and my mother. She was the one i really wanted to call. I wonder her to say everything would be all right. I called her and said everything will be all right. How did she respond . How did she redefine her role . Say, i was with her that day because i was covering her for the washington post. There was some confusion anybody was whether going to she and senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press over there. I can remember looking at her she twists her fingers at her sides when she is struggling with something that is very traumatic. She isber thinking getting her mother lost wisdom. Motherinlaws wisdom. What she kept a say over and over again, we have to make sure we tell our children we love them as america is a strong country and will get through. Keeping with her as a library and teacher and she dedicated herself to that. Things were very different. To thewrote a letter children of america a day after 9 11. Some of what it said a personal message. As a nation, we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe since the attack on pearl harbor. What do americans want from the white house, the first lady . There aretunate many moments will have the right people for the right moments. Choose the right first lady. We forget now, but we did not know what to do. We did not know how to react to this. This in the clip region showed. She sat comfortably her children. Rigell to your kids. They want you right now. Reach out to your kids. That helped them get through this trying time. Of a very teacher picture of she served texas straw. It imitates from her. Ed. Benefit that Texas Connection is where we are going now. Bushes assented to know them, you must know midland, texas. Where was she born and tell us about her Early Childhood . Texas, it is west texas. Is the kind of place you can see from miles away. 30 milesrs like oz, away. It is very wide and flat in big sky. Her father was a builder and her mother was a homemaker. Her mother came from texas. Her mother had managed a dairy farm. When her grandfather was away. It was a place of who she was. And gave her a sense of strength about the land and the prairie and doing for yourself. I remember going there the first time, people talking about crying. She says she will for western pennsylvania having been educated. Her husband so we are going to move out there and make our fortune in oil. She said, what is it like . There is a town and called no trees. Bush says she remembers, from the supermarket with tumbleweeds. She had no idea how to get to her house. It is very harsh and for bidding and in that way. You have to have a special appreciation. That made her tough. A loveer book, it is letter to midland, texas. So much a part of her. She talks about the sky. And she usedther to look up at the sky for hours on end how important that it is for that part of the country. What did george w. Bush mentioned what time is that allows you to see people for who they are. There are no trees and sky is the limit. Midland and the 1950s was supportive but also could be insulating for some in what ways was a insulating . She was an only child. As always insulating in a way. It can be a lonely existence. There were not a lot of folks who came from the outside. And when they did a canton oil business, it took him time to get adjusted. Own ways ofheir being. And where you were and the social stratosphere. Odessaed to say about that you raised hell in odessa and raise your kids in midland. Certain ways of acting and propriety. She went to the presbyterian church. People are dependent on each other and have to be because it can be kind of partial stop midland today has a large hispanic population. What was the light and terms of minorities what laura was growing up . As to how itpeak was then. There were three different high schools. When they got together for a reunion, when the bushes were in the white house, nobody remembered to invite kids from the other high school. Not a matter of a word separation overt separation but almost oblivious this obliviousness. I was going across town to do an interview and people and has a going to that part of town . People cap to their own lanes. It had its own shaping. When she sme of went to smu, she said they do not have remembrance of dr. King and the race riots going on. Sodas. Ere sock hops and we want to put the parents names on records. Her father was harold bruce welch. Died in 1995. At her mother was general luis uise andtill jenna lo is still alive. At 17, laura was in a car crash resulted in the death of a close friend of hers and stop she spoke about that and she wrote about in her book at our recent interview. Lets listen. About abush, you write and ault period of 1963 loss of faith. Your faith. Why . I was in a car wreck. I wrote about extensively in my book. The whole time i was in the hospital, not injured really. I had a cut at a broken ankle. That the otherng person in the car would be ok and the other person in the car was one of my best friends. I did not know. Do not really recognize that his father came up. He lived past where the car wreck was. I recognize his father but i did not understand that was my friend who was there. Because i prayed over and over again for him to be ok and if he wasnt, i thought nobody listened. God was not listening. I went through really a very long time of not believing and not believing that prayers could be answered. It took me a long time broadly that it a longtime really and a lot of growing to come back to faith. The car wreck shaped her in what way . Itwhat she has said about and what she mentioned to me uput it was that you do grow when you are young and you expect the world is one to be a certain way. She wouldve attained that majority anyway but it came to her pretty quickly. I think she is an empathetic person by nature and i think it probably made her less so now about other people. In a way that we do not often , she ashington i think that has certainly made her the kind of person. She worries about her daughters and her husband because she saw how a miscalculation can change everything. She talks about her face. Faith. When you talk about faith. She said in an interview i did with her that she grew up out of that experience. You have to find a way to live on. But veryrience formative for a young girl was helpful to her in the days after 9 11. Just seeing the role of that faith can play. As realized you have to move on. You have to be strong. It was very helpful. A great role in both of their lives. Bush became a bornagain christian when he was a midland. It changed his life in a lot of ways. She was vocal about her religious faith that he is. Shes a little bit more lowkey about it but it is important to both of their lives. She is the second first lady to have a postgraduate degree. What is important about her education and job . People frequently overlooked that. They make the mistake of thinking she is a conventional woman which she is not at all. Have uite interior is and has a certain modesty. She did not ever really boast about it at all. She was very selfdirected and and teachingm smu and said she wanted to go to the university of texas and get a degree as her father said, that will never get her a husband. She goes on to get her masters degree. Degree. R and mrs she very purposely moved into a part of austin which is still the barro of the east side and taught at a middle easts at a mainly spanishspeaking school. Can have impact on children helping them learn to read and exposing them to what they were not getting. That is a part that is really important. How yout to tell you could be involved with the program. Three ways. We have a conversation going on facebook. Using the picture of laura bush and you can join the conversation. You can tweet us. Ts as we in as many twee can. Or you can call. There are two phone lines. A question from twitter. I have a question about laura bush. Was she out with a republican . I was a republican . I will say im not a fan of the muppets. No. I think she supported eugene mccarthy. She was a cardcarrying democrat for many years and she married into republican family. She loves her husband and has great faith in him and his judgment. And supporting its platform. No, she is not a natural republican. Set of relationships that his character throughout her lifetime is a group of girlfriends and she made in midland. How important are they and what did they provide . What she and the president have a very strong set of friends that have been their friends forever and has been their sustaining aspect. You come to washington and his best to have your own friends. They have been with you and you know where they stand and they trust you and you have their loyalty. Shes always treasured going off with them. Even when she was in the white house, they will go on trips once a year where they will go rafting and care for each other. They are mostly progressive democrats, the group of girlfriends. It is interesting. As mark said, she loves her husband and his loyal to her husband. One of the things i have, to admire and appreciate about barber about laura and she commonalityeas of of people she might find differences. She would campaign for republicans but i saw her once changed his speech in midscript because the person who she was campaigning for, she is not going to attack a Texas Democrats that were running against. I think she has things that are very interesting. They care about literature. She is an avid environmentalist. She pretty active in womens rights. That set of friends you therence have really kept ground. They knew them well. That gave them great comfort when they were in the white house. Both of them talking about bringing in their friends. Pals in theg his oval office. Hey looked at george you are in the oval office. They are both very self defecating and having that circle of friends. Bushura welch and george were young people in midland. Did they ever meet as children . And they did not. They attended the same schools. She said she does not recall him. Inc. She knew who he was after a time. Came from a good family, a wellknown family. At one point, they lifted the stay building at the chateau vermont. I think she thought he was a bit rascally. Her friends from midland fixed them up. 30 eight he was about the same age. They were ready to settle down. They got married very quickly. I wanted to ask you. Ofs a portrait of a library who is very orderly and very measured. She did something marrying after 4 months. How did she described the courtship and the decision . She had a lot of suitors and her life but none of them quite she talked about feeling like an old maid. By texas standards, she probably was. Her comes this guy who was so different from her and so, mentoring and so comp lemetary. They clicked. She talked about how they went out of the campaign trail right after they got married. George bush campaigned unsuccessfully. They got to know each other so well that in these endless hours of riding around west texas talking about their lives really helped their marriage. What attracted laura to george . They seem so different in their younger years. Herhe always say he made laugh. She said she wanted somebody who would make her laugh. She had grown up as a lonely only child. She did not have a brother or a sister. Her mother had miscarriages. She always wanted a sibling. Boisterous, cut up in nature. He wanted somebody steady. So by to settle him down. I see that in him still. You never know what is in somebody elses marriage. I was struck when i saw the recently. He said something and she tossed her head back and i giggled and laughed. Bond that have that he is funny. Where the great moments for when she was as the white house for the Correspondents Dinner i think in 2005 and she took the podium in place of her husband and talked about the fact that he goes to bed at 9 00. And she stayed up to watch saiderate housewives, and i am a desperate housewife. They have this great reporter. They can kind of rib each other. A caller for so you are on the air. Injuriestrue that her and afghanistan began in the sixth grade . I have never heard that. Can you tell me a little bit more. , she had toook write a report on a country as she and her father went to the globe and spun the globe at her finger landed on afghanistan. She wrote that in her own book. Talking about how exotic it felt. Inc. That when i travel with her to europe. Paris. Red the museum in there were a lot of the antiquities from that country is she is veryacts, taken that you can have this robust civilization and then it can be blown to bits in a matter of days. It was really quite impelled by that. Compelled by that. It might have been in her roots. Congress after they got married. Did she know she was going to be marrying a politician . Well, not exactly. He promised she would never have to give a speech. He broke that nearly immediately. Knew he was from a very political family. She described herself as not being a very political. That means they find politics this tasteful. They just do not like that. They think it is nasty. Oneupsmanship. She did not have much appetite for that. Was she interested in politics or pushed into it . Very quicklyrust in a world went fashion. They hit the campaign trail. Unsuccessful . Ng he had to figure out what he has to do a wooded to the oil business in midland. Thats where they were for the first 10 years of their marriage. That is where their daughters were born. And the childhood years. A prettyt was middleclass existence for a long time. He decide to do other things. Middle class by choice or necessity . He came from a very wealthy family. Think there is a certain modesty about them that continues. They do not have the hugest, most appointed house in dallas. It is nice. I think he felt a strong need to make it on his own. This bookrking on about the relationship between down. As you find, you do not want to feel as if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. , he was [indiscernible] the other thing is midland is ust town depend on the oil industry. It was really in bust mode. Not very profitable at that time. He struggled in that business before finding great successes as the owner of the texas ranger. And his fathers friends were there to bail him out. They were not uncomfortable by any stretch of the imagination. The twins were born in 1981. You write in her book they had considered adoption before they were born. What was parents and for them . Can you talk about how their children were raised . To havenk she wanted children. She always knew she wanted to have children. She always imagined herself as having a family. She described that as an idyllic time. She had these darling little girls erasing them and being immersed in caring for down. I think your children find a way to challenge the misconceptions of what it would be like. They had a set of twins. One who probably has her daddys press about personality a bit more and the other her mothers and they delighted in that. Together and what was a very close town, alston often austin. Hi, lucy. Thank you. When you were talkg about lauras lack of faith after the accident, was there something that happened that caused her to find that back in her life . Curious whenlittle she said she came back. I was wondering if there was something that brought her back to faith. I do not know do you know of anything that would have been catalytic in her life . I agree with you. I think that the kind of modesty she projects and the kind of privacy she shepherds means that she is not really given anything , whether it is her husband talking and witnessing her faith in a public fashion. She was raised a methodist. Always had a church. It was part of community life. The comfort of that, certainly she has talked about the comfort of scripture in a way that is part of her interest in literature. I remember her aching a bible verse out after september 11. She was looking forwards to give her meaning and strength. It is probably more complicated than that. I would not presume to speak for her in that way of how she found her footing again. Call mentioned billy graham and he had a role to play in george w. Bush embracing faith and stopping drinking alcohol. Bushes met each other, he was a bit of a browser perouser and made the decision to give up alcohol and i wonder if laura bush was a factor in that decision. She realized he was drinking too much and he realize that at some point. I think there was a conversation that george w. Bush had with billy graham and kenny. Billy graham was a guest at his fathers compound. I think that, as he began talking to billy graham, he began embracing god in a way that he had not before. Middleage, hef turned 40 when he gave up drinking and took god into his heart. Was extremely supportive of all of the decisions that her husband made, including his embracing christianity. Quick scheme made the decision that he wanted to make a bid for the Governors Mansion in texas. Thee was concern because of twins being young at that point. Ultimately, she agreed to support him at that point. Was she embraced the people . I think she was. In many ways, it was a very lowkey position. She talked about how she liked sneaking out the back door and going around the corner to the drugstore to buy postage stamps. It is hard to imagine that somebody could live like that today. I think she really enjoyed it. She had a rich life and enjoy the texas festival. Texas book six festival. I think she had influence on him with his education initiatives. As is the case with lots of married people, he learned about what role Early Education had and she talked about the importance of that. I think they very much enjoyed that life those years. For the girls, it was easier for them too. They could be part of a set of wellconnected, uppermiddleclass did in austin. Stin. Ds in au nobody looked at them too harshly. Life wouldstood what be like in the white house. For thedecided to go president ial election, how supportive was laura bush at that point . She was supportive. There is no question about that. She was confident he would win. When everyone thought he was going to lose to an richards, she knew he was going to win. She knew that he was tenacious in his drive. I think she had the same thing in 2000. Promisedwoman who was she would never have to make a speech, in 2000, she was asked to address the National Audience at the republican convention. We will show you a clip from that, when many people in the public got to hear her voice for the first time. I am so thrilled and i am honored to be here. I have to say, i am just a little bit overwhelmed. Thatlp open the convention will nominate my husband for the president of the United States. [applause] mostresident is our visible symbol of our country, of its heart and its values and its leadership in the world. When americans vote this november, they will be looking for someone to uphold that honor and that trust. You can see it in the pictures. Of the most are one compelling stories of this campaign. We first saw them on our very First Campaign trip. They are the pictures of americas future. Moms and dads and grandparents. They hold up pictures of their children and they say to george, i am counting on you. Son or daughter to respect the president of the United States of america. [applause] that comment about respect came on the heels of the president s impeachment and what would be a very Contentious Campaign in 2000. Can you talk about their andsition into the bushes all of that acrimony lyrically and how the bushes establish themselves in the white house after that. It was a very important advantage. They had been there before, in a way, because george bushs father was president of the United States. They had spent a lot of time there. Running for president is a marathon. Get there or you do not, you are in for a surprise either way. That is a very steep learning curve and i think they had some exposure to that. The transition was somewhat used for them. It was a famously bitter recount. How she triedut to keep herself busy. Ande was this time to wait you could not get too much started because you were not sure what was going to happen. Once they were sworn in, she spent many months not being in washington. She had two daughters who were going to college. She wanted to make sure she got things settled. I think she was only beginning to figure out what she was going to do, if she was going to focus her attention when september 11 came along. Historic proportions. We have the biggest impeachment in history before the election. We have the Supreme Court making a decision and the outcome of the election. How difficult is it for a presidency to establish itself in the wake of all of this turmoil . I think they transitioned into the white house life relatively easily. Occurred,re 9 11 laura bush started hitting her stride as first lady. She had her first beginner for the president of mexico. Big dinner for the president of mexico. She had done her First National book festival using the texas festival as a template. She was starting to hit her groove in that role and then 9 11 occurred. She talked about a friend of hers who had called her and said, when you first took on this role, i thought, i do not envy her at all, but now i envy her because you have a role to play. A very difficult role to play as our nation picks itself up in the wake of this tragedy. And she did an admirable job of it. Michael is washing from washington dc. Is watching from washington dc. As conservative in her politics like abortion and gay marriage as her husband is . Like she is ael smoker . Does she still smoke today . Do we know . Do not know that. There are people who have said she would sneak one every once in a while. She has said that she gave that up because she knew it was not good for her because her daughters did not like that and she knew that it was not healthy. She, like her motherinlaw before her, barbara bush, who was married to a congressman from houston who championed funding for planned , thoseood 40 years ago women sometimes will give the sense that they are more liberal than their husbands and that can work well for the party. There is not necessarily evidence that that is true. I do not know that we can really answer that. View of of her personal the world, i would say that she is not a judgmental and harsh person. Alsold say that she has not ever felt that it was her role to crusade on behalf of o reproductive rights or benefits for samesex couples. She has tried to have her impacting areas which we might consider safe subjects that everyone can get behind. But she would feel and i would argue correctly can have impact. Her Foundation Gives 1 million to libraries every year, which are woefully inadequately funded across the country. The book festival remains a persistent legacy of hers. 200,000 people went last year. And she admired Lady Bird Johnson because all of these , there was the initiative to put wildflowers on the nations highways year after year to bring a sense of beauty. I think she has tried to make her impact where she could and let her deeds speak for herself. Is ano not think she ideologue. I think that is absolutely right. A first lady could take on a cause and make a real difference coming world events across their desk. And then 9 11 occurred. Instead of getting deeply involved in education or literacy, as she would have liked, she had to do other things. Festival,ional book which she emulated on the model she built in texas, she was working on it days before the 9 11 attack. From september 8, 2001, and First Lady Laura Bush was on the National Mall in washington. She was talking about the first annual National Book festival. One thing i like about this festival, the National Book festival, and the texas book festival, they are right here in the capital. We are on the steps of the library of congress with the United States capital behind us. I love the whole idea and the idealism of books and the that books, with our National Government and our democracy, because the ideas in books are an important part of our democracy. Both of you are authors. Has beenshing industry a little bit left of center over the years. Was there skepticism on the part of book writers or authors on the first lady getting involved and if so, how did she mitigate it . She made the book festival enormously successful and gathered writers who did not share the politics of her husband in of her husband. They had a wonderful experience. I think that might have helped. I think books are an easy cause to get behind, whether you are a liberal or conservative. Rally. Was an easy she did have an issue in the white house after the war began in which she had been having a series of symposiums, one on libraries and the role they have played and won that she was going to do on poetry. She invited a number of american poets, some of whom were very left of center and opposed to the war. And outspoken on that subject. It, that out about they would not come and if they did, they would protest. The cries got loud enough that she canceled it in the face of that. It was not without controversy. She was not universal accepted. Universally excepted. And there have been librarians who have questions whether she has thrown her might into the fight over educational tact and the idea of whether we teach evolution or whether we teach Sex Education and emphasize abstinence. Those kinds of intellectual sort ofs have sometimes ensnared her. Despite her efforts to stay away from that. Pablothat note, references that incident. Has she ever commented directly on that debacle, as this viewer calls it . Has she ever spoken out about what that meant . Not that i am aware of. Aware of. T i am i think she has a tendency to say that it is unfortunate that people cannot come together and have a civilized discussion. That, once again, you might be able to find some Common Ground if you get beyond that rhetoric. I do not think she spoke about it directly. Marcy is with us from the washington suburbs. You are on. Hey. Thank you so much for taking my call. It is interesting. Between laura bush and last week, Hillary Clinton, they are to women of my generation. One has chosen one path and another has chosen another path. Both women i admire very much. The one success that they have had is that they have both raised strong, successful young women. Can you comment on the difference between the two and why . Thank you. On the difference between the two and why they both managed to raise strong women or implying. What she is very different women and yes, their children are both strong. I guess i believe this my self. Woman who i hope has raised strong and successful daughters. There could be there should be room in america for all kinds of women to have all kinds of personalities and temperaments in to devote our attention whatever ways we want to, whether we set aside our own careers for a time, pick them back up again, stitch our lives together through the decades to make it work within our own families. We each have our own ways we can pursue that to reach the same kind of levels of what we would feel as satisfaction and success raising our children. I think they are very different. Andink they are both women i would say a lot of these first ladies would tell you that they saw their time in office as being primarily to be a support to their husband. I think there are people that rubs the wrong way. They think it is an antifeminists edition antifeminist position. You should be able to work and pursue your own interests, maybe even disagree with your husband. Particular hothouse of being in the white house and the stresses on any couple, if you do not have a strong partnership, the president is not going to be as successful as he can be or would be even less successful than he might have been. Certainly, george bush has spoken about that directly and everyone of them have is spoken about that has spoken about that. I think it is a partnership. Of 2001, shortly after the attacks, laura bush made history by becoming the first first lady to deliver the president s weekly radio address, which is a custom. Thateflections on experience and a little bit of the address that she gave. Did it surprise you when you first became first lady at the platform that you were given and the voice that you have . I knew that, of course. I knew intellectually because i had seen my mother on the platform that she had to talk about literacy, which was her interest. I had seen Lady Bird Johnson and how she influenced me here at home, in texas, because of her interest in native plants. I did not know it until i made the president s radio address in fall of 2001 after the terrorist attack, to talk about the way women and children were treated by the taliban in afghanistan. Good morning, i am laura bush and i am delivering this weeks radio address to kick off a worldwide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the Al Qaeda Terrorist Network and regina supports in afghanistan and regime it supports in afghanistan. The people of afghanistan, especially women, are rejoicing. They know through hard experience what the rest of the world is discovering, the riddle oppression brutal oppression of women is a singular goal of the terrorists. Because in afghanistan, we see the world the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us. All of us have an obligation to speak out. We may come from different backgrounds and faiths, but parents the world over love their children. We respect our mothers and sisters and daughters. Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture. It is the acceptance of our common humanity. That is the first time i realized that people hurt me heard me and that what i said, people listen to. I knew from then on although, i think you never really know until maybe after you leave and see what the platform is. That experience helped laura bush find her voice as first lady. She did find her voice. She talks about going to austin to visit her daughter at the university of texas. Jenna was attending college and talked about going to the department store. The people behind the counter thanked her for making that speech about the brutal beating of women under the taliban in afghanistan. She realized what a profound difference she could make. You do not see the people, but at that moment, they told her she was making a difference. How did she use that voice once she found it . She is one of the few people i have ever encountered in washington who refuses to take credit for what she has accomplished. This is a city where people are always taking reddit for things they have nothing to do anything with. She was instrumental in spurring a program whereby Liz Claiborne and the Singer Sewing Machine Company donated so that they could become selfsufficient in afghanistan. Thinking about our previous caller, one of the things that she and Hillary Clinton share is the believe that societies cannot be successful if they do not take advantage of half of their population. She was very interested in doing that. Although ira member pressing her repeatedly to say, how does secretary chao get involved . How did Liz Claiborne get involved . Finally, he mumbled out, i got secretary chao. I think finding a voice from her, her bully pulpit is she likes to use it in a way to get results. She continues to do that today. She travels quite a bit, i have noticed. She speaks on behalf of a lot of organizations who are raising money for things she believes in. Connie is watching us in east lansing, michigan. What is your question for us . Does laura bush have a project does both george w. Bush and laura bush have a project or foundation that they both work on and i am wondering if you could talk about that a little bit. I am sorry that we do not know more about it. Can you talk about how this works in the world of giving and finance and how one can be a public figure and except contributions like this and what it does politically . Laura bush continues to work on the issues that are of importance to her. The bush center is a collaboration of a number of different institutions. Including the bush library and the Bush Institute. The bushes continue to further the causes they began to take initiatives towards in the white house. They do that with the help of donors. Yes. They raise money that goes into the Bush Institute and the bush library as well. In the case of laura bush, her husband is not going to be running for president again and she is not going to be running herself. Those donors might gain if there were another bush, for instance, that might run for president. Yes, i think that is possible. I think that they are sort of protected at this point from that. With mrs. Clinton and the clinton global initiative, i think this remains an area that the public rightfully wants to watch for. Those of us in journalism continue to try to track, because if she were to run again, those people who have paid her money for speeches or donated to her various causes have a relationship with her. Everyone watching this program knows about the many challenges during the eight years of the Bush Administration. It was a difficult time for the country. Not only the 9 11 attacks, but the decision to pursue a war in iraq and afghanistan. During that time, there was Hurricane Katrina and ultimately the 2008 financial crisis. On the domestic policy side, the Big Initiative was no child left behind. The administrations major education initiative. Laura bush continued to pursue her own interests even as the country responded to the various Bush Administration policies. We have seen this throughout this series about first ladies standing behind beside their husbands and the Public Opinion of their work changes. How difficult is that to see the increased criticism that the person you are married to is receiving . It is very difficult for them to receive the scrutiny directed at their husband. They know the man. They know the real person. Very often, we can get caught up in the heat of the moment when we scrutinize our president s. They all become characters, in a way. Laura bush is so deeply in love with her husband. It hurt her deeply. She continued to stand by him. She traveled far more in his second term than in the first term. Again, she had found a voice on so many issues, particularly related to women. She hit the road and tried to be, tried to better explain his policies to our nation and the world. For the reelection bid, laura bush was on the road extensively. This next clip shows you one of the challenges of being the first lady when you are trying to pursue your own agenda and the press corps continues to ask questions. I am very proud of no child left behind and the way schools in states all across the country are rallying to meet the goals of that. It is the same goal. We all have the same goal and that is to make sure every child has a great education. There is a very wide achievement gap between title i schools and students in poor schools and that is what we have to address. It is not fair in our country to have that achievement gap. How has it been in the last couple of weeks for you watching your husband the criticized widespread around the world for the behavior of the United States military . I am sorry about that. I know that they do not reflect the vast majority of our military. They certainly do not reflect the values of the United States of america. I know this. It is terrible, but the good news in our country is those people will be prosecuted. There will be transparency and what happens and that is one of the benefits of living in a free country. That i am sorry about and i am sorry about what happened to the iraqi prisoners. Because it does not reflect our country. What are you seeing there . I think one of the things we never talked much about our qualities of leadership. We talk about leadership in terms of chief executives, people who we elected to put in charge. Leadership is also being specific and targeted and focused about how much time you have and what you can accomplish with that time you have. In the case of laura bush, particularly in that second term, when she realizes it is her last chance to have an impact, there are many things she may be concerned about that she may discuss privately with her husband that she is not going to relate to the rest of us. The idea of trying to remain focused on the areas where she could have impact in knowing that she could fritter away her time if she doesnt remain what we would call on message, i think with 10 years past, i would leave it to viewers to decide if there is sincerity there are not, whether she does in fact say im very sorry about that, or whether she is simply trying to take a pass on it. For the most part it is an anomaly to have her address that there. She was speaking about education and initiatives. What was her role in no child left behind . As a teacher, did she support the direction the reform policies were taking . President bush campaigned talking about the soft bigotry of low expectations. They really wanted to narrow that achievement gap. What she said that night behind closed doors, we dont know. She said if i had differences with my husband, i wouldnt be telling you. She supported his policy by speaking about it publicly. On the international front, she traveled extensively, as you mentioned. She ultimately visited nearly 75 countries. She became very much involved in the president s african aids relief and malaria eradication efforts and also met with burmese refugees and exiles at the white house. She chose to be involved internationally. I think what drove a lot of those decisions was the issue of womens rights, and in this societies in which they work. An extension of that was women wanted to know that they could raise their children to have lives that were sustained and successful as best they could. And human rights flowed out of that, the teachings of the dally lama he have been of interest to her in a way philosophically there have been a couple of members of the family that have been engaged in that. I think she saw a female leader in a country that had been repressed and that moved her. What do you think about that . Why he got involved in aids relief in africa, where no other president really had given much thought to africa. George w. Bush did by far more for the continent of africa than any other president. The reason is, to whom much is given, much is required. He saw that he could do something about aids. He thought if he didnt do that, if you didnt take a chance and invest money in that calls in the eradication of that insidious disease, he would be judged in years to come. I think a lot of it had to do with his religious faith. And i think laura bush shares that. This is kathy in illinois. The reason i was calling is, earlier in this program the question was raised about when lara found her faith once more. I had read her book and she mentioned, i lost my faith that november, lost it for many, many years. If i recall correctly, when she was on the book tour, programs where people were interviewing her about the book she had written, she was asked when did you find your faith . She said he came back to her gradually and she mentioned when her twin daughters were born, she said good things started happening and i found my faith gradually. I found it interesting on that subject in her book, she also mentioned, she said the one fact is i had faith that one is never alone. I think that probably sums up how she felt about her faith. Thank you very much for calling and adding to our discussion. Another issue is social policy issues. And earlier caller mentioned, here is what she writes in her memoir. On the issue of abortion, how rarely the alternative of adoption is raised. There are so many family members who adopted. George and i were expecting to be one of those. Infertility is the issue that is most personal to them. We are a nation of different generations and believes. We have always believed abortion is a private decision and no one should walk in anyone elses shoes. Something that she and george w differ on. A thing she said publicly when she was first lady she was not in favor of overturning roe versus wade. She was asked whether gay people had slept at the white house while she was first lady lady, and she said possibly. The interviewer asked her if she would object if that were the case, and she said certainly not. She let her views be known in subtle ways, i think. You mentioned that she and president bush had trouble conceiving. In fact, they went to adoption organizations to see if they could adopt when, and ended up having their own set of twins. We have been talking a lot in this program about the amount of work she did on the road and throughout the 20th century first ladies, that has been a story told again and again. We asked her about whether or not first lady should earn a salary or all their work. Should the first lady receive a salary . I dont think so. There are plenty of perks, believe me. A chef that was really great. I miss the chef. I dont think so. I think the interesting question really is not should they receive a salary, but should they be able to work for a salary at their job that they might have already had . I think that is what we will have to come to terms with. For certainly a first gentleman, they might continue to work at whatever he did, if he was a law your or whatever. So i think that is really the question we should ask. Should she have a career during those years that her husband is president , in addition to serving as first lady . At the state level, some first spouses have been able to pursue their own careers. What about conflict of interest . Is it possible for someone in this day and age to having a life fully outside the white house . I think we have to give it a try and see how we think it works out. I think there are certainly the ceremonial aspects of the job or you might be able to find some flexibility. We have had other president s who have gotten married and had hostesses who carry that on for them. Some of those really oldfashioned ways of being i think it is a relational job. It is not a political job in many ways, being first lady. It is a job about tending to the principal in its highest form. Im not suggesting that a first lady is a staff member, but im saying that she once said to me, being the wife of george bush is my most important job, whether her husband is president or not. By that, i took her to mean that that is her primary relational core of life, and she has other pursuits and she certainly has hobbies, many of which you doesnt share that she takes on on her own. But i think anyone would be hardpressed to continue, but there is always a first time for everything. I would think they would say the most Important Role they play was at pillar of strengths to their husband, being there. When we have a female president , which im sure we will, im sure that spouse will feel the same way about supporting her. We have a chart about the president s popularity ratings during his eight years in office. As you can see, it peaked enormously after the 9 11 attack and then continued downward through the years of his presidency. Laura bush, however, remain popular with the American Public. In 2006, she had a much higher rating than the president. What does this say about the American Public and their ability to see separately the roles of the people in the white house . I think that the American People are pretty wise. In many ways, they certainly know that she hasnt been elected to that position, that she somewhat is there by virtue of her relationship to the president. She does what she needs to do. She cannot be held responsible entirely for the political decisions he makes. I suppose that sounds naive to a lot of people, but people would say she seems so like this or like that. She really likes bob marley, so what does she think when she talks to him because he is a warmongering man . That is the wrong question. You are speaking as a voter and a citizen. But she is his wife. She is a constituent, but that is not her primary role. Dennis is watching us in brooklyn. Thank you for this series, it is great. My question for the panel is, was she more compassionate and sympathetic than other recent first ladies . I remember her saying she would daily read the New York Times row files of the dead were published at the time and recall her many visits to the Walter Reed Hospital to visit veterans. Was this rooted in her being a wartime first lady, or does it fit in with her personality and demeanor in general . I think it was both. There are too many first ladies who are overtly political. I think she played a more traditional role as first lady then say Hillary Clinton or Eleanor Roosevelt. The things the gentleman mentioned were very much consistent with her personality, reading that a beach wares of the dead and comforting people in need, that was very much part of her personality. This was her trip to the white house Correspondents Dinner. Just as nancy reagan had done two decades earlier, she went to the press corps to have people see her in a different light then perhaps they did when covering her regularly. You will remember this time when she spoke up surprisingly. The city slicker asked the old guy have to get to the nearest town. Not that old joke. Not again. [applause] george always says he is delighted to come to these press dinners. Baloney. [laughter] he is usually in bed by now. Im not kidding. I said to him the other day, george, if you really want to end tyranny in the world, youre going to have to stay up later. [applause] i am married to the president of the United States, and here is our typical evening. 9 00 mr. Excitement here, sound asleep. And im watching desperate housewives. [laughter] [applause] with lyn cheney. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, i am a desperate housewife. Laura bush at the 2005 white house Correspondents Dinner. It was well received. One of the things we have talked about with each of the first ladies profiles is her stewardship of the white house. During her time in the white house, laura bush did a restoration of the lincoln bedroom. We will watch as she talks about that, next. We have refurbished the lincoln bedroom. I would say that is the biggest renovation project that we worked on. It was last done by truman when he set it up to be the lincoln bedroom, to have the lincoln furniture in it. When lincoln lived here, the room was his office. When truman redid the house in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he set up that room, the room we now call the lincoln bedroom, to commemorate the fact that it was lincolns office, and it was the room he signed the emancipation proclamation in. So the room itself is really a shrine, i think, to american history. Truman did the room then and it had never been refurbished, so it really needed it. The carpet was over 50 years old. I had worked with the White House Historical association, the Preservation Board who are furniture curators, they are the real scholars, and the white house curator, of course. We looked back at the wallpaper lincoln had in his office, at the carpet he had in his office, and we did reproductions of those. Then we had old photographs of the way Mary Todd Lincoln dressed the lincoln bedroom the purple and gold and french and legs, high victorian decorations. We did have later photographs with the bed still dressed the way she had dressed it, so we did that again. How did the bushes used the white house as a social instrument during their years . What was entertaining like while we had wars going on . I think they had only really begun to entertain, i think it backfired literally because they had fireworks and they had not warned everybody that it was happening, so they sort of exploded all over town. Then after september 11, i think there was a great deal of thought as to what was appropriate and how to do it. I think laura bush was instrumental in seeing the white house as a living, Historical Institution and using it as a way to help people understand what the lives had been like for people who lived there at the time and the way it reflects the period in the context of the time. The meticulous need to recreate what mary lincoln had done is also about showing the tenor of the time and what was considered the right way to be. They favored smaller gatherings, certainly. She was right, he went to bed at 9 00 at night. Let me take a call from david in utah. I was calling to ask about laura bushs influence on politics or the democratic rights in burma. I know she was championing that at the beginning of the second Bush Administration. I found it kind of curious and i wish i knew more about that. I have not been able to understand exactly what moved her to do that. She really became quite outspoken in away i would argue that is her more forceful and surprising role as a first lady to wade into Foreign Policy in an area where the United States had been not all that engaged in speaking out against the generals and all that. She is persistent, and i think that continues to this day along with her interest in womens rights in afghanistan. She recently appeared with secretary kerry and former secretary clinton at the state department to make this plea to not leave women behind. The issue about burma is a fascinating one, and i dont know very much about where that is coming from. She mentioned the White House Historical association. I want to remind you that the White House Historical association has been our partner in this series. Im cognizant of our time here. I want to put on the record some of laura bushs accomplishments in office. As we mentioned, the first first lady to deliver the president s weekly radio address, the founder of the National Book festival, which continues to this day, visited more than 75 countries during her eight years in the white house, and renovated the lincoln bedroom, among those that we are highlighting. In 2009 she became a private citizen again. How has she approached that aspect of her life . They went very comfortably back into their private life. I dont think they missed the grandeur of the white house. I think they eased very gracefully into private life in dallas. Mrs. Bush continues to be very much involved with the bush center, which i referenced earlier, which includes the bush library. She was instrumental in the planning of the bush library and i think her touch can be seen in the ground surrounding it with their native grasses and native plants, something she had great passion for. She continues to lead a very full life. She continues to pursue some of the qualities that were dear to her as first lady. You think you have just a brief time, but your impact us continue. She actually has more room to continue to be involved in these policy initiatives then a former president does or has suggested he wants to. He doesnt think it is ripe for a president to be criticizing another. She and mrs. Obama have had they have worked together on a number of things and she and the secretary she has been surprisingly and happily engaged in a way she thought she might not be. We have a clip of her trip to africa with the current first lady, michelle obama. Lets watch that next. That is why we are launching the first ladys initiative. We want to convene this annually to highlight the significant role that they can play in addressing pressing issues in their country. I get asked, especially in the first term, are you more like laura bush or Hillary Clinton . Im like, is that it . Everyone said, are you Hillary Clinton or barbara bush . I said, i think i will be laura bush, having grown up as her. You have had the opportunity to see these first ladys talking about the role. What you hear is the desire of the part of the public to typecast, and their desire to be themselves. They will always be competitive, are you going to be a more traditional first lady like Mamie Eisenhower or an activist like Eleanor Roosevelt . Which one will you be . I think they all put their unique stamp on the role, and laura bush was no exception. Her memoir, you have talked along the way about what a guarded individual she was. When you read her memoir, was it more i was interested in hearing from her in her own words what she wants to reveal about who she is and what she reveals about what is important. I think one of the keys to understanding laura bush is that she is a reader. That is an integral part. The gentleman david who called in from provo and wanted to know about whether she was more empathetic. I think that she finds power in the narrative and in story and in the human story. That is what she responds to. That is what touches her. That is what compels her to act, in many ways. I gathered from her a deeper understanding from that book the meaning of the west texas land, the sound of the wind, the great giants of texas literature who have come before her that she returns to again and again. That is really a key to understanding who she is. She is not a crusader as much as she is a reader, and that informs the way she looks at life in many ways. He talked about the incongruity of being in west texas and reading plato. And leaving midland through those pages, through those narratives. I think it is exceptionally wellwritten. I was far more interested in the first part of it, which is the story of her growing up in midland. She writes so poetically about her duties as first lady which often gets into one ceremony after another. It is difficult to write compellingly about ones tenure as first lady because it is so ceremonial in nature. I want to thank you very much for this program. My question is, we have many influential first lady say go back through history. That could be Hillary Clinton, michelle obama, or laura bush. What is the most important thing you believe that laura bush has done for womens rights . Susan, of all the first ladies, which ones have impressed you the most . Im going to pass on that. Did she make any advances for womens rights, the caller wants to know . I think with all these first ladies, it is really hard to judge them in the contemporary times in which we are in now. I would defer to my historian colleague here. I write about the now, in many ways. I think its too soon for us to know exactly what kind of impact laura bush has had, in terms of womens rights. I think she has been a representative in her own way for rights in a way that is not as expected as someone who has crusaded. What im trying to say is, does it come from a more traditional mean, to speak from that position on behalf of women who do not have opportunities . In some ways it makes them more effective because it is not quite as expected. Both the bushes take the long view of history. Laura bush talks about the fact that she admired her husband for taking a long view of history and making difficult decisions during the course of his presidency that would not necessarily manifest themselves in popularity. I think you are right, his presidency, how it is reflected, is very much in the balance. We will see what happens. He knows that and most historians know that. Her contributions as first lady will be revealed as we begin to see the forest for the trees. We have just a couple of minutes left. People have asked along the way and i have been negligent in asking on their behalf, since she is the only first lady to have had a motherinlaw who served in the role, people are curious about the relationship between the two of them. What can you tell us . I think they have a good relationship, and a strong relationship, as best as i can tell. I wouldnt presume to say you know exactly what is between a motherinlaw and her daughterinlaw. Barbara bush has a large personality. When she first came to kennebunkport, she was said to say, what do you do . She said i read, i smoke, and i admire. That was her way of saying this is who i am and what im going to be doing, and i may not fit some mold. I think she respected very much her motherinlaws life. Barbara bush, for her part, has been very grateful to laura for settling down her boy. There is great mutual there is great mutual admiration. They are very different women, but i think thats right. I think barbara bush saw and laura bush the qualities of a great political partner, a great spouse for her husband as he embarked on a political career. Daughters, jenna, merited, not in the white house married, not in the white house. They gave george and laura bush their first grandchild. Barbara is a ceo of Global Health core. As we close, i would like to say thank you to our two guests. Thank you for both of you for being care. Taking our callerss question. Well close with thoughts of the bush family. The president himself and these daughters. Thank you for being with us. Stealo not want to barbara, i feel like i always do. You go first. I would say probably her work for women. And all over, really. We were so lucky because our parents took also travels to africa and we got to see clinics and schools and whose lives would forever be changed. Her work for women. And my dad, too. I echo that. It was brought up by anita, after 9 11 my mom played i am going to cry. Think the work she did after 9 11. It is an incredible legacy as was really critical to the country healing after 9 11. [applause] i were doing a series on first ladies, i would be proving this question. Could the first lady handle the pressure . , the life of, no the president will be miserable. She would call me and she is a pillar of strength in the midst of all of it. The finger pointing and yelling and all the stuff that goes on in washington. Shes a great first lady. A really great first lady. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] join us for first ladys next monday when we examine the life of michelle obama. From her time at princeton to the Chicago Law Firm where she n mentored barack obama and the causes she has taken on. That is next monday at 9 00 p. M. On cspan and cspan 3 as cspan radio. Our website has more about the first ladies including a special section reduced by our partners the White House Historical association. It chronicles life. You can find out more at www. Cspan. Org firstladies. We are offering a special edition of the book. It is presenting a biography and portrait of each first lady. And comments from noted historians. You can find it for the 95 plusted price of 12. Shipping. As part of her series, we lady with former first laura bush on the campus of smu in dallas. Over the next hour and a half she talked about her life before the white house. What she has been doing since leaving at her reflection on her time as first lady. Your initial reaction the first time your husband said, i think i am going to run for president . I cannot remember exactly what my initial reaction was. I think it was a little bit slower than saying, all of a sudden, i am going to run for president. He was governor. He had been governor for one term and reelected. Slowly, i think we both started talking about it. He talked about it and other people were talking to him about it. And i knew what it was like. I knew already what it would be like to run for president. I knew what it would be like to live in the white house. George and i had an advantage that only one other family has had so far, the John Quincy Adams family, the guys we have seen somebody we loved in that office and we visited them very often. We lived in washington, in fact, or 1987, rather, to work on resident bushs bushs campaign. They still had time to benefit to babysit barbara and jenna on saturday night when george and i would want to go out to dinner. President bush was elected in november of 1988. It was a wonderful bonding time for our family, the only time i ever lived in the same town with my inlaws. My motherinlaw and i had a chance to bond. Our little girls had a chance to get to know their grandparents in a way that they had not really. Their grandfather had been Vice President for the most part in their lives. They were born right after he was elected Vice President. I knew what it would be like. My whole hesitation was because i knew what it would be like. In politics, you can be defined in a way that you are not. That is what we saw with president bush. It was so distressing for us in 1992 when he lost. Because he was characterized in a way that we knew he was not. That is just the risk you run. It is also what you know it is going to be like, i think, which makes all the difficulty of it, the difficulty of being defined in a way you are not or being criticized by your opponents or even your friends. You know, something that you can live with because you know that is just how it is in america. And one of the great things about our country is that we can say whatever we want about the people who run for office. And even about our president. Is a tough to develop that thick skin . It is. And of course, it always bothers you. On the other hand, i know george and i know what he is like. Just like his dad. We know what he is like as well. The criticisms, in a lot of ways , just our criticisms from people who do not know and are not with you everyday, like i was with george everyday. You grow into the first lady role . It took me a long time to grow into it. I had watched my motherinlaw, which was a huge advantage as well. That wereot of things minor things about living in the white house. I knew that you needed to keep a christmas theme in march, be ready with the christmas decorations. For the White House Christmas card, you needed to start quite early, especially if you want to use an american artist. Those were things i already knew and it was a huge help to know those. Not only did i know how to do those things that the first lady, or at least i wanted to be involved in, but i also knew everyone that worked there. We knew the bothers, the ushers, the white house court, all of the people who served there for president after president. That was a huge advantage for us. When we moved in that first day, there were lots of hugs with the butlers and the ushers that we had known before. Of course, resident bush and barbara bush were there on our first night in the white house. All of us were in the house together that first night and we knew all the people there. Rather, when88, inaugurated,h was january of 1989, the white house florist met little barbara and jenna, who were seven. When they got too cold at the parade and wanted to come into the white house before we had left the parade and president the and barbara had left parade, nancy clark, the white house florist, met them at the door and took them down into the lowest shop to make a little bouquet for their bedrooms where they were staying in the white house. A wonderful sense of security to already know everyone who works there and have a friendship with them. Laura welch in midland texas in the 1950s, did you ever imagine a life that you have had . Never. I never would have ever thought that i would live in the white house or expected to marry someone who would become president. I think that is what happens to a lot of people. Things happen in your life that you do not expect. A lot of them are great and wonderful. Some are not. But i would have never expected to live in the white house. Say, i was ave to teacher, a librarian. That is what i always wanted to do. When i was in the second grade, my favorite thing to do, reading , i did expect that. That is what i worked for always. I went to graduate school or undergraduate school for an education. That is what i did expect in my life and that is what i would not have thought would have helped with my husband when my husband became governor and then president. It was really great preparation for a life in politics, to have worked in Public Schools, to have taught in Public Schools and to have been a Public School librarian. It was a great advantage to know what it was like to work in the schools, because education is such an important issue. Both for a governor, but also for president. That was very helpful to me. And then, of course, having read a million stories to kids all those years was good experience for speech giving. In your book spoken from the heart, you talk about your grandmother and your mother and their talents. My mother and my grandmother were both naturalists. My mother is 94. She is alive and she lives in midland, texas. She is doing very well. I try to go out there every few weeks to see her. She is not traveling anymore, but she is doing great. My mother and my grandmother were both naturalists. They were very interested in gardening. They were interested in lance. Mime in plants. My mother became a birdwatcher. She really got a lifelong interest in bird watching. That was something that informed my life. That love of the outdoors, the whole idea of how beautiful the Natural World is, especially plants in the landscape. When Lady Bird Johnson was the first lady of the United States, i was always proud that the texas first lady saw the beauty in the Natural World and encouraged people in all parts of our country to plant wildflowers on the highways, both because they do the best there because it is their natural habitat, but also because they are beautiful. When year in washington, the daffodils bloom on the George Washington parkway, i am reminded of Lady Bird Johnson, because i know she wanted it to be that way. When we plan the bush library, we wanted our 15acre park that surrounds the bush center to be like a prairie that would have been exactly like the settlers would have found when they came through your through here. We worked with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center to plant the plants that we had all around the library. It is a mixture of five native texas or, mainly buffalo grass, which stays low, but others as well. The first big application of it as nady turfgrass. And also, they do not need to be watered very often. How did you get to smu from midland, texas . I went to look at a number of schools with my mother. I looked at tulane, texas tech, which is where my dad went, in lubbock, not far from where i grew up, and i looked at the university of texas. With one of my really Good High School friends, we both said, lets go to smu. That is what we decided to do. I watched a lot of smu Football Players like don meredith and a few others at the high school and i knew about smu from their football program. Also, they are Southern Methodist and this is a methodist school. What was it like growing up in midland, texas in 1950 . It was a wonderful place to grow up. Midland is very safe and eight very Loving Community where you knew if you did anything wrong and some neighbor saw you, they would tell on you. To go everywhere in midland. We rode our bikes to the little Shopping Center to the lunch at the pharmacy. Lots thee has drugstore, i had lots of really good friends and i am still very close with the people i grew up with in midland. Withct, i hike every year a group of four other midland friends of mine. We see each other all the time. It is really terrific now to be with them. Now it takes five of us to remember somebodys name. We also know each others history and all of our old boyfriends and all of the same things about each other because we were in elementary school, junior high, and high school together. There is Great Security in having friends that were your friends when you were a child and having that kind of history of friendship and george also grew up in midland. Bushes lived in midland until they were in the eighth grade, when they moved to houston. From elementary school, those same great friends of mine were in the first grade and second grade with george. Friends that his he played baseball with were my friends. We used to invite all of them to the white house. A very thrilling valentines dinner once with all of those friends of ours and one of my friends who came from that and shebreast cancer was dying. She died in april after that. It was really wonderful to have the chance to be with those theyds and to know that were our friends for our whole life and they would be our friends for the rest of our life. You even went hiking with that group of friends when you were first lady. That is right. We hiked for years before george became president. Hiketered the lottery to in the camps of yosemite for about three years while george was governor. Our names were never drawn. As soon as he was elected, i called him and said, guess what . We won the lottery. Yosemite,e hiked in one of our most Beautiful National parks. We did not displace anybody because we were always a day ahead of the other people that came into the camp. Theiked one day before upper camp opened. That was really fun. We hiked in all of the big National Parks. The grand canyon was the First National park we hiked in together. Many years ago. When george was president , we all took our girls. Barbara, one of my daughters, was in africa, working in a hospital. , butid not yet to go jenna, that was a lot of fun. We still get to go. We have been back to glacier and yellowstone and probably not too yosemite because it is just too hard for us at our age. Have you been stopped and recognized . We always do. We have one party as a fundraiser. Western parks have friends groups. This summer, we had a big party at the superintendents house for all the supporters of yellowstone National Park to come. That was fun. What do you enjoy most about being texas first lady . I love being texas first lady because i love my state and i know my state so well. I have always lived here. Have traveled all over our state. I do not think i made it to every single county. M,think there are 253 of the but i did make it almost everyone. In many cases, it was nostalgic. Being a part of the state that i visited with my parents. We would go on summer vacations or a part of the state where my grandmother had lived in el paso or lubbock, where my dads mother lived. So i love that. See theoved getting to very best of your state. And in the most unlikely corners of your state. I would see the most terrific ramps programs that texas had founded. Programs,eally great just groups, womens clubs started to support either Child Protective Services or protection of children who were abused, were in foster families that needed special care or literacy programs that were founded so that anyone could come in and be taught how to read. In our state, we have a lot of people who do not read in english. Andwant to learn english read in english. Those programs were great to see. Texas, wherest people are very rural eyes r uralized, i saw terrific rogue programs that go around so people can be tested to see if they have breast cancer. Just to get into the biggest hospital is a long drive. Would you consider yourself a natural campaigner, a natural public person . I think i would now. I would not have thought that to begin with. After all, i am a librarian. I am an interview at i am married to an extrovert, which i like. I am an introvert. I am married to an esther vert, which ill tax an extrovert, which i like. I wanted to be married to someone who could entertain me for the rest of my life, and he has, for sure. I think there is a place even for introverts in politics. Grow to not be the kind of shy person i thought of myself as. Do you remember the first time you had to give a public speech . George and i, he promised i would never have to give a political speech. About three months into our marriage, there i was on the steps of the courthouse during this speech because he could not come, with all of the other candidates for the congressional race he was running for, 2 democrats and 3 republicans. George had some obligation so he could not come. The candidates themselves were shaking their heads to me, you can do it. That was sweet. All the people on the front row. People are very kind, especially to the spouse of a candidate in our state. Do you still get nervous before speeches . Not that much anymore. I also know i have to have a speech and be prepared, know what i am going to talk about. As long as i have this speech that i think is a good speech, i am not that nervous. As an older child, what was it like marrying into the bush family . It was terrific. When i was little, i wanted brothers and sisters. My mother lost several pregnancies and i knew that was their great desire, that they wanted a lot of children. I wanted brothers and sisters, and that is what i felt like i got when i married george and got his brothers and sister and their spouses, of course. Family andand her one of his brothers and his family live in washington dc, so we saw them all the time. There is great emotional support having your family Members Around you live at the white house. I would notice that his brother tough,when times were would call and say lets watch the game this weekend. They would not talk about politics. George in martin could sit and watch a george and marvin could sit and watch a game in a way that only you can with your brother or your sister. I worked out several times a week with my sisterinlaw, margaret. She would drive him from alexandria to the white house early in the morning so we could work out together. That was a lot of fun and also great emotional support for me. They all came to camp david with their children. They had a standing invitation, george told them. Many times, when we were going to camp david for the weekend, they would come and have a lot of fun. We went to church at the chapel at camp david and they would be there with us. How important, during your presidency, was the ranch at camp david . It was very important to us. We did not go that often. Almost every year that george was president and that was going to be there with them, president bush and barbara, where they were. We did not go after Hurricane Katrina. We had not gone that summer as we were scheduled in a way that we could not go. So we did not go at all that year. In the going there summer was just to be with them, president bush and bar. And barb. And to get that emotional support that you get from being with your parents, especially in such a familiar location that george had gone to his whole life with his parents and grandparents. The ranch was very important. Whenis where we vacationed ,e took the weeks off in august when congress had gone home for a vacation. We went to our ranch. Home and our furniture, the house we had built the that was our property. The house we had built. That was our property. In a way, it was a break from living in the white house, being in our own home. We also used it to entertain a lot. I think we asked more than a dozen people to the ranch and it gave us a chance to show them what our life was like and give us a chance to entertain them in a way that was very personal. Not that entertaining at the white house was not also personal. Of course, all of the World Leaders wanted to come to the white house. Visitedthem had already president clinton at the white house. To come to our ranch was a special thing that we had and they appreciated it. We are doing a big prairie restoration at our ranch. We started in 2000, when we bought the property. That is one of the reasons i wanted to do this prairie at the because i wanted to let people in texas know what our state was like before it was grazed and built over and paved in many parts. At the bush center, we are right by a central expressway. We are by a big freeway. To be able to see what this part of the state would have been like. That is what we have done at the ranch. We had a chance to show our s, the heads of state that came to visit, what a Central Texas prairie would have been like. It, ira member the australian Prime Minister that came. The whole aussie party wanted to talk about it because they were the same way. They had this very large, wideopen country, like ours was. They talked about how they restored their grasslands as well and what they did to do that. What was your approach to entertaining in the white house and how do you go from one day being the first lady of texas to entertaining foreign leaders . That was really a very enjoyable part of it could part of it. There is a huge team that works on entertaining. Obviously, the state department, you are working with them on the plans for the state dinner, on the invitation that goes out to the world leader to ask them to come. He White House Social Office and secretary as well and the white house florist and the white house chef, everyone involved in trying to plan a dinner that would be the most american but respect the culture of the world leader who you are entertaining. It was really fun to work on those and make all of those plans. He always did a tasting of the food that the chef had proposed. We would ask members of congress to come to the tasting and tell them they were guinea pigs for the state dinner they were hosting. Of course, they would be very forthright and say, i do not think you should do this. This is not that tasty. They would be more forthcoming than our friends would be, who would just say, that is great, whatever youve got. That was fun, really. We would spread it out over a number of nights to do tastings and talk about what we would have. Of course, we would try to get entertainment that represented the United States in a wonderful way, like the new orleans jazz