Transcripts For CSPAN The Presidency 20150510

Remain a free society. As soon as we start picking special groups and say, you get to change something for everybody else, where does that and . That is why the constitution was written the way it was written. We must remember that. We must be courageous. It is going to be up to us, we be people. We have to learn to think for ourselves. We cannot let other people tell us what we ares supposed to think. If we listen to the pundits and the political gurus, they will all steer you in a certain direction. That is the direction we have been going in for decades. This is where we have landed. What we need to is listen to what is being said. We need to listen very carefully. Something that benefits me and my children, and my grandchildren, and freedom is going to preserve our constitution . Is this something that is going in a different direction . We are the ones to make that decision. No one can take that for us unless we fall down on the job. I do believe we have the ability to analyze these things deeply. We look at the National Debt that we are facing. Over 18 trillion. That is ridiculous. It is beyond ridiculous. There is so much money. If you try to pay it back at a rate of 10 million a day, it would take you 5000 years. We are putting that on the backs of our children and grandchildren. It is absurd. Most economists will tell you it puts a tremendous pressure on an economy, once the gdp reaches 90 . We are at 103 . The gdp will be smaller than the National Debt. It is the first time that has happened since we were in the middle of a war. There is no end in sight. We have leaders who think that they have scored a victory if the debt doesnt go up as much one quarter as it did the last quarter. That is the wrong criteria. [applause] dr. Carson we need to be talking about that. We need a balanced budget amendment. We need to be talking about term limits. [applause] dr. Carson not only for people in congress, but term limits for judges. [applause] dr. Carson when we put our constitution in place, the average age was 47 years old. It doesnt matter if we give them a lifetime appointment. Now it matters quite a bit. We obviously need to adjust with the times. You look at social security. When we put that in place, the average age of death was 63 years old. Now it is 80 years old. If we dont adjust things we wind up behind the eight ball. Getting back to the economy, so many of our problems are linked to a poor economy. This has been a long recovery and we are still in a recovery process. Some people will tell you, like this administration, that things are great. Unemployment rate is down to 5. 4 . Everything is humming. We have all these wonderful jobs. One of the reasons that a lot of people are frustrated and easily manipulated into rioting, when they open their eyes and look around they dont see it. There has been plenty of change, but there is little hope. That is what is killing us. [applause] dr. Carson in concentrating on that economy, the most powerful economic engine the world has ever known, we possess it. How do we get it moving again . We have the highest Corporate Tax rates in the developed world. That is the easy one. Cut them back down like everybody elses. Here is the cool thing. There is 2 trillion of our money sitting overseas that corporations are not bringing back here because they dont want to face that taxation. What if we just said we are giving you a tax holiday for six months and let the money come back into our country . That would be a wise move. [applause] dr. Carson that would be a major stimulus. It wouldnt cost taxpayers a single dime. The other thing we need to do is get rid of the unnecessary regulations. I stress the word unnecessary. As our Founding Fathers said, if men were angels, no government would be needed. Men are not angels, nor are women. We do need some rules and regulations there. We need a reasonable tax structure. Our tax code is 80,000 pages long. Nobody can comply with all of that. We need to scrap the whole thing and start over again. [applause] dr. Carson with something that makes sense, something that is proportional, and you make 10 billion, you pay 1 billion. Make 10, pay 1. Same proportion. You get the same rights. [applause] dr. Carson some people say, but it is not fair because the person who makes 10, he cant afford to pay any money. He cant pay a dollar. I had the opportunity to experience every economic level in this country, from the bottom to the top. A lot of people on the bottom also have pride. [applause] dr. Carson they dont want somebody patting them on the head and saying you cant carry your part of the load. They want to be a part of the american system also. What we need to be concentrating on is finding ways to provide ladders so they can climb out of that situation and realize the american dream. That is the key for everybody. [applause] lastly, we cant he ashamed of who we are. As we give away parts of who we are for the sake of political correctness, we wont have a vision. We wont even know who we are. We wont know what we stand for. With the carson scholars fund, which is a National Scholars program my wife and i started, and for those who think that doctors dont know how to do anything, i should say nine out of 10 nonprofits fail. Ours not only didnt fail, it is active in 50 states and the District Of Columbia has one won multiple national awards. Many of them being awards only given to one organization in the country for outstanding performance. [applause] dr. Carson our slogan, is think big the t is for talent honesty, insight, k for knowledge. Be for books, and the g is for god. Lawyers say you cant put it in a Public School because the g stands for god. What a bunch of crap. [applause] dr. Carson we had a vigorous argument. I suggested maybe we can resolve it at the level of the Supreme Court, which seemed bold and reckless. It really wasnt. I knew the next week i was going to the Supreme Court to receive the jefferson award. I figured i would ask while i was there. Sandra day oconnor say they were with us. There was no violation. People who say silly stuff like that, what do they know about our country . Our founding document talks about certain unalienable rights given to us by our creator, the pledge of allegiance says we are one nation under god. Many courtrooms say in god we trust. Every coin in our pocket. If it is in our founding documents, it is in our pledge it is in our court, it is on our money. We are not supposed to talk about it. What and the world is that . In medicine, we call the schizophrenia. [applause] dr. Carson does not explain a lot about what is going on in our nation today . We need to make it clear it is ok to live by godly principles of loving your fellow man, of caring about your neighbor, of developing your godgiven talents that you become valuable to the people around you who have had values and principles. If we do that, not only will we remain a pinnacle nation, we will truly have one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. [applause] Carly Fiorina thank you. Thank you for hanging in all day. Im so impressed with your stamina. Thank you for that warm welcome. Like Hillary Clinton, i am running for the president of the United States. [applause] Carly Fiorina unlike Hillary Clinton, i am not afraid to answer questions about my accomplishments. Hillary clinton has taken exactly 7 on the record questions since april 12. I have answered over 200 on the record questions since monday of this week. [applause] Carly Fiorina i have to admit that one of those questions was did i consider a hot dog a sandwich . We will subtract that. Is it a sandwich . Yes, no . The New York Times has a new regular feature. It is called questions we would have asked Hillary Clinton if we had only had the opportunity. I bet you have some questions. I certainly do. Like for example, why in your first Public Statement after the terrorist attacks that killed four brave americans in benghazi, why did you talk to us about the need for religious tolerance . Why do you lecture us on the need to emphasize with our enemies while christians are being beheaded and crucified in the middle east . [applause] Carly Fiorina did you really see no conflict of interest while your Family Foundation took millions of dollars in donations and your husband took very large speaker fees from foreign governments who had business before you while you served as secretary as of state . Tell us why we should be reassured that you had two secret Service Agents guarding the server in the basement . We are not worried about the server being stolen, we are worried about the server being hacked. Perhaps we should have some in the white house that understand something about technology. [applause] Carly Fiorina recently while i was reading my daily scripture i came across matthew 12 34. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Today i want to speak to you about what fills my heart. When i was a little girl one morning and sunday school my mother said to me what you are is gods gift to you, what you make of yourself is your gift to god. I started my career as a secretary in a nine person real estate firm. Ultimately, i would become the chief executive officer of the Largest Technology company in the world and run for president of the United States. [applause] Carly Fiorina that is only possible in the United States of america. It is possible here and only here. Our founders knew what my mother taught me. Our founders built a nation on the visionary and at the time radical idea that every life has potential, that everyone has the right, the right to fulfill their potential. That is what our founders meant when they talked about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They believed that right to fulfill our potential came from god. It should not be taken away by man or government. [applause] Carly Fiorina i have seen people in all kinds of circumstances, in desperate and destitute circumstances, yet it is true that every person, every person has godgiven gifts every persons life is given godgiven potential. Whatever their circumstances everyone does have the capacity to live a life of dignity and purpose and meaning. We now that dignity comes from work and that purpose comes from family, and meaning comes from faith in our lives. [applause] Carly Fiorina i have been blessed in my life but i have also been through hard times. I managed hewlettpackard through the dotcom bust. The Worst Technology recession in 25 years. Over six years we transformed that company from one falling behind to one charging ahead even as so many of the companies against which we competed disappeared off the stage altogether. At the end of that time i was fired in a board room. Leaders challenge the status quo and there are people who fight to preserve the status quo. Those who fight to preserve the status quo become the enemies of leaders who fight to change the system. [applause] Carly Fiorina when i battled cancer six years ago, i relied on the strength of my family and the power of my faith. When a short time at the tail end of that, we lost our younger daughter to the demons of addiction, my husband and i relied on our personal relationship with jesus christ to save us from a desperate sadness. I met frank who was here today. I met him 34 years ago. When we married 30 years ago next sunday as a matter of fact, our 30th anniversary. [applause] Carly Fiorina thank you so much. When we married 30 years ago i learned that his mother had been told to abort him. She was a woman of great faith. Great courage. She chose to bring her child into the world. She spent a year in the hospital following his birth. Yet, frank was the joy of her life and he has been the rock of mine i think often about how different my life would be had she made a different choice. [applause] Carly Fiorina as you know, i ran for the senate against Barbara Boxer in california in 2010. I ran as a prolife conservative. You dont do that unless you really mean it. [applause] Carly Fiorina but those of us who believe in the sanctity of life know that science is proving us right every day. We now know the dna in a zygote is the same dna as the day you die. Life is a continuum. A gift from god, and every life is filled with potential. [applause] Carly Fiorina i dont about you, but i am tired of being called extreme on this issue. The platform of the Democrat Party is a life is not a life until it leaves the hospital. That is extreme. [applause] Carly Fiorina i must tell you as i have traveled across this country, over the last several years, i sensed a deep disquiet. It is not political. It is not partisan. People are disquieted because they fear we are losing something. They think we are missing something. They fear we are losing that sense of limitless possibility that has always defined this nation. We always knew if something was worth doing, the nation would do it. Even better if it was hard to do. We would figure out how to do it. We knew our lives were filled with possibilities that came with our godgiven gifts and we trusted that our children and grandchildrens lives would be filled with greater possibilities. Yet, people no longer feel this sense of possibility. And when we lose a sense of limitless possibility that has always defined this nation, we lose the core of who we are. Theres a reason my people feel as though we are losing possibility. I see too many lives tangled in webs of dependence. I see too many familyowned businesses, farms, getting crushed for the first time in u. S. History. We are destroying more businesses than we are creating. The government has become so big, so powerful, so costly, so corrupt, so crushing in its weight and its ineptitude that only the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the wellconnected can survive. [applause] Carly Fiorina if you doubt that, think about the result of dodd frank, a piece of legislation passed to protect us. The consequences, 10 wall st banks have become 5 wall st banks too big to fail. 3000 Community Banks have gone out of business. Industry after industry, the crushing weight of government complexity ensures that only the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the wellconnected can deal with it. This is called crony capitalism. The answer to crony capitalism is not more government, it is less government. [applause] Carly Fiorina we truly have reached a point in this country where the potential of the people of america is being crushed by the weight of the government of america. [applause] Carly Fiorina that is why this is a Pivotal Point in our nations history. That is why im running for the presidency of the United States. [applause] Carly Fiorina people think that we are losing the sense of limitless possibility and they are right, and what they think we are missing is leadership. It is worth talking a moment about what leadership is. It is different than management. Managers are people who do the best they can in the existing system. Managers dont challenge the status quo. Managers tinker within the status quo. A leaders job is to challenge the status quo. A leaders job is to refuse to accept what has been broken simply because it has been that way for a long time. When i was a secretary all those many years ago, i thought a leader was somebody with a big office. If you had perks and a title you must be a leader. I got older and wiser and i learned there were people with big titles who hadnt led a day in their lives. We have one of those in the oval office right now, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] Carly Fiorina leadership is not about position. It is not about power. It is not about perks. Leadership is about changing the order of things for the better and the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential and others. In others. That is the leadership we now need in washington, d. C. [applause] Carly Fiorina it is important to remember that ours was intended to be a citizen government. That is what by, for, and of the people means. When did we get used to the idea that only a professional Political Class could run for office . Those protectors of the status quo, they have let the citizens of this nation down. [applause] Carly Fiorina there is no greater example of this than the veterans administration. How long must we live with this stain on our nation that we cannot serve our veterans the way we should serve them . [applause] Carly Fiorina until friday of last week, i served as chairman of opportunity international. We have lent 8 billion, 150 at a time. I can deliver to a woman in the slums of new delhi a loan over a cell phone. If you are a veteran, you are going to spend months filling out paperwork while some bureaucrat checks your paperwork while another bureaucrat decided you get an appointment or not. Theyve had to have the foundation of the building reinforced because of the weight of the paperwork on the bureaucrats desk. We cannot settle for this anymore. [applause] Carly Fiorina we need leadership here at home to unlock the potential of this great nation and to restore possibilities to every person regardless. We need leadership around the world. The world is a more dangerous place when america is not leading. [laughter] Carly Fiorina i have met more leaders with the exception of Hillary Clinton accepts i wasnt doing photo ops. I was having private meetings with world leaders, talking about serious issues like business or charity, and the issues that matter to them. I have served for the Central Intelligence agency advising the secretary of defense, secretary of state, secretary of homeland security. I have sat across a table from vladimir putin, just he and die, and i, and having met this man, it is clear that a reset button will not for his thwart his ambitions. [applause] Carly Fiorina there are some things we could do. There are some things we could do that would cause him to say i am standing now seeing an america of strength. We should rebuild the Missile Defense program. We should conduct military exercises in the balkans and we should arm the ukrainians. [applause] Carly Fiorina every single one of the things i just mentioned is within this countrys control. President obama presents a false choice. He says if you dont agree with me the only option is to march off to war. That is untrue. I have been asked what i would do in the first hundred days in the oval office. There is much work we would have to do in that first hundred days. I will tell you two things i would do on the first day, i would make two phone calls. The first, to bibi netanyahu. [applause] Carly Fiorina the Prime Minister of israel. I would make that phone call not just because i have known him for a long time. I would make that phone call because i want the world to know that america stands by our allies, and i want him to tell the world that his was the first phone call i made. [applause] Carly Fiorina the second phone call i would make would be to the Supreme Leader of iran. He would get the message loud and clear. The message would be this. Whatever the circumstances were, the circumstances have changed now. Until and unless you submit to unfettered inspections of every single Nuclear Facility in your country we will exact and in the enact the most crushing sanctions we can. We have a lot to do with how easy or how hard it is to move money around the Global Financial system and i would ensure that it was very hard for iran. I would keep the pressure up until he engages in inspections. [applause] Carly Fiorina by the way, there is much we can do to help our allies fight against this terrible, evil enemy called isis. We can arm the kurds as they have been asking us to do for years. We can share intelligence with the egyptians. We can give the jordanians bomb and material to fight this fight for us. Every single one of those things are within our control and we have done none of them. [applause] Carly Fiorina several weeks ago, i was asked by a reporter whether a womans hormones prevented her from serving in the oval office. [laughter] Carly Fiorina ladies, this is a test. Can any of you think of a single example in which a mans judgment was clouded by his hormones . [laughter] Carly Fiorina any at all . [applause] Carly Fiorina even in the oval office . [laughter] [applause] Carly Fiorina Hillary Clinton must not be president of the United States, but not because she is a woman. She must not be the president of the United States because she is not trustworthy, and she does not have a track record of accomplishment. [applause] Carly Fiorina when i was the ceo of hewlettpackard, a publicly traded company, if i made a misstatement of material facts about my record, or about our results, i could be sued and charged. If i told one person something that we intended to do in the future, and then told another person something different, but about what i intended to do in the future, i could be sued and charged. Imagine if we had this level this standard of accountability among the professional Political Class of washington, d. C. [applause] Carly Fiorina the American People will have a choice. Are we going to demand trust transparency, and more than words from our political leaders . Do we want someone in the white house who is not afraid to be held accountable, who is not afraid to challenge the status quo . Have we had enough of a ruling Political Class that doles out favors to the wealthy, wellconnected, and the few . We have everything we need to solve every problem. All of our wounds are selfinflicted. We have a potential of the American People. All we need now is leadership and citizenship. If you want to help me, please go on to carlyforpresident. Com and sign up and sign on. [applause] Carly Fiorina we rightly celebrate our Founding Fathers because they were men of vision and courage, but two of the most powerful symbols of this great nation are women. Lady liberty and lady justice. Lady liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear eyed, resolute, she faces outward into the world as america must. She holds her torch high because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a troubled world. Lady justice, she holds a sword in one hand because she is a fighter, she is a warrior for the values and principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in the other hand and with that scale, she reminds us that all of us are equal in the eyes of god and therefore all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and government, powerful and powerless alike. [applause] Carly Fiorina she wears a blindfold. She reminds us this must be always a nation where it truly doesnt matter who you are what you look like or what your circumstances are. Here, in this country, every americans life should be filled with possibilities with liberty and justice for all. And so let us rise together to restore the promise of this great nation. Let us rise together to meet our challenges. Let us ensure that this is the greatest century for this, the greatest nation the world is has ever known. Thank you so much. [applause] monday night at the communicators, we met up with an author who says we are in a new phase of Human Development and through robots and other technology, we are likely to enhance the human condition. Robots arent interesting one. 2014 was the year of robot angst. I dont know if the day went by when i didnt see something of story that robots are stealing jobs. Here is a robot that is a bartender. That is a waitress and so on. The thing that i find, the point that is missed, every prior revolution or advance in automation has resulted in better jobs for humans. We are really worried about the robots taking our jobs and we are having trouble imagining what we are going to be doing that just 200 years from now but 10 years from now. I think history has shown we will figure out a way to combine with the robots to create new jobs that were previously unimaginable. Monday night at 8 00 eastern. Cspan2. In his weekly address present obama president obama honors the anniversary of pe day. Ve day. Representative Tom Mcclintock has the republican response. President obama today marks a historic anniversary. 70 years since the victory in europe during world war ii. On v. E. Day, people swarmed the streets of london and paris and moscow, in the cloud of fear that had hung for so many years lifted. At home, from small towns to times square, crowds gathered in celebration, seeing in dancing with joy. It would be three more months of deadly fighting in the pacific but for a few hours, the world rejoiced in the hope of peace. General eisenhower announced the news with low fanfare. The mission of this allied force was fulfilled. The simple message like the extraordinary nature of the big and staggering human loss. Over five years, brutal fighting laid waste to an entire continent. Mothers, fathers, children were murdered in concentration camps. By the time the guns fell silent in europe, some 40 Million People on the continent have lost their lives. Today we pay tribute to all who served. They were patriots, like my grandfather who served in the army soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guard, merchant marine, and the women of the wacs and waves. They served and gave their lives so that we and people the world over could be free. They were women who stepped up in unprecedented numbers manning the home front and like my grandmother, building bombers on assembly lines. This was the generation that literally save the world, that ended the war, and laid a foundation for peace. This was the generation that traded in their uniforms for a College Education so they could marry a sweetheart, buy homes, raise children, and build the strongest middle class the world has been. They included heroes like the tuskeegee airmen and the navajo code talkers and continue the fight for freedom here at home, expanding opportunity for minorities and women. We will be forever grateful for what these remarkable men and women did for the selfless grace they showed in one of our darkest hours. As we mark the 70th anniversary, lets not just commemorate history. Thats rededicate ourselves to the freedoms for which they fought. Lets make sure we keep striving to fulfill our founding ideals that we are a country no matter where we come from or what we look like or who we love, if we work hard and take responsibility, every american will have the opportunity to make of our lives what we will. Lets stand united with our allies in europe and beyond on behalf of our common values, freedom, security, democracy human rights, and the rule of law around the world and against bigotry and hatred in all their forms so we give meaning to that pledge never forget, never again. Most of all, lets salute that generation of americans whose courage and sacrifice are the reason we are here today in peace and freedom. Their spirit lives on in our brave men and women in uniform and their families continue to defend freedoms our parents and grandparents fought for. As americans grateful for their service, lets honor them on this day and every day with the gratitude they have earned and respect that they deserve. May god bless them, and may he continue to bless the United States of america. Congressman mcclintock right now, congress is considering an important legislation to create more jobs and prosperity for the American People. I would like to visit with you about it. Trade means prosperity, more prodex mean more jobs and higher wages. More products entering our economy means more Consumer Choices and lower prices. Here is the problem, unfair trade regulations, labor standards, high taxes, and foreign subsidies put American Workers at a real disadvantage. To remove these barriers we have to negotiate trade agreements to put americans back in the game. We havent done that recently because the Legal Authority expired years ago and we are seeing the result. Since 2000 there have been 48 trade agreements among asian nations and americans were part of only two of them. China is writing the rules while we are being left behind. That is why trade Promotion Authority is so important. It is the key to restarting the trade engine. Here is how it works, Congress Sets 150 objectives that our negotiators have to advance. Fair rules both sides have to follow, everything from food safety to labor standards and trading on the internet. If these objectives arent met the deal is off. If they are met, then the agreements published in full for 60 days so the American People can weigh in, and only then will Congress Vote to approve it or reject it. This gives our negotiating partners the confidence that the concessions that they make will not be endlessly altered once the agreement gets to congress. It will either be voted up or voted down. That ensures negotiators will bring back the very best from our trading partners without Holding Anything back. We negotiated trade agreements since the 1930s. Very much like this since the 1970s. In some quarters it has become controversial. Some opposing because of the pressure from special interests. Protectionism is the fastest way to destroy an economy as this nation has learned repeatedly. Some on the right oppose it because they do not trust the president and his history of executive overreach. That is why i support this bill. Without it he can negotiate anything he wants. Trade Promotion Authority binds him to the will of congress before the agreement is reached if and only if he meets congresss objectives will congress then agree to not necessarily to pass the agreement but to vote on it after the American People have had their say. I am particularly concerned about illegal immigration. I dont know about you but i am tired of years of economic stagnation, of watching our country marginalized and an administration that often operates in direct defiance of congress and the American People. This bill is a giant step to solving these problems. The Free Exchange of goods whether between people nations means the people of the sides come away with something of greater value to themselves or the trade wouldnt take place. Freedom creates prosperity and the greater the freedom the greater the prosperity and the Promotion Authority is the means by which this freedom is advanced for ourselves and for our children. Freedom works. It is time we put it that to work. Remarkable partnerships. Iconic women. Their stories in first ladies. She did save the portrait of washington which is one of the things that endured her to the nation. Whoever could find out where she was staying, wearing, what she was doing, that was owing to help sell papers. How do you do that . She did it. Quite she exerted and normas influence. She would move a mountain to make sure her husband was protected. Looking inside the personal life of every first lady in american history. Based on original interviews from cspans first lady series. Learn about their lives ambitions, and partnerships with their spouses. First ladies president ial historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women. Cspans first ladys is an illuminating entertaining, and inspiring read. Now available as a hardcover or ebook. This sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern we will look into the lives of two first ladies. Elizabeth munroe broke the tradition of making social call to rich she spoke french inside the white house and gained a reputation for being queenly. Louisa adams was the first born outside the u. S. To date. She had difficulty winning the approval of her motherinlaw, abigail adams. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady. From Martha Washington duchenne mel Martha Washington to michelle obama. On cspan. Air special mothers day presentation begins with the greatgranddaughter of herbert and lou hoover and the daughter of gerald and betty ford. This is part of a discussion that took place in the ford president ial library. It is just under one hour. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. It is always a pleasure to be here. If what just happened back there in the last 10 minutes, this is going to be a lot of fun tonight. We are going to be talking about three enormously different and enormously important first ladies. Enormously different and important first ladies that span a large part of this countrys history in different times. We are proud too these three first family representatives here. This is a unique club. There are not a lot around and having them all here tonight is a tribitute the foundation, the library and to the ford family we appreciate you bringing another Great Program to grand rapids. Margret hoovers greatgranddaughter was lou hoover and cliffton truman whose grandmother was harry truman and we have the daughter of betty ford. Starting you have, margaret, you have a lot of insight on a woman who served a difficult presidency. She did indeed. Thank you, susan, for inviting us and the foundation for hosting us. It is a privilege to be here in grand rapids with the libraries for the first time. We have done this a little in the past susan and i so forgive us we may adjust a little. To me lou hoover was born in 1874 in waterloo iowa raised in california and died where she lived with my greatgrandfather. She died 20 years before he did. She was in the whitehouse during a really difficult time. Her legacy as the first lady is little known because her papers were not opened until 1984 20 years after hoovers death. And she was lost in the shadow of the Great Depression and hoovers reputation were the worst calamity the country went thew. What i learned about my greatgrandmother is sharing her legacy. She was a pioneering woman much like bess and betty ford she broke the morals of her time. Hopefully i will have time to tell you more about how her time in the whitehouse and i dont want to go on and on but how the time in her life was such an extroidinarily hard to pigeon type and created a model that elnore roosevelt first. Lou hoover was an activist first lady doing things that had never been done and that was consistent with how she lived her life to that point and after the presidency as well. I have to make a disclaimer before going to cliffton. The first president i met was gerald ford. The first president i ever saw was harry truman at his home in independence. I grew up 90 miles south of independence and take great pride in harry truman. I want you to tell me about perhaps the most reluctant first lady bess truman. You have my grandmother who is not an activist. When she got into the whitehouse, the first thing she did was canceled elenornors press conference. She published a short biography and didnt talk after that and requested press questions coming in writing and she replied no comment to most of them. Not quite the openness that she thought the role of a political wife was to sit next to her husband, keep quite, and make sure her hat was on straight. That said she didnt quite do that. My grandmother was very interested in my grandfathers career liked politics understood it liked the game and liked being off side in the game but didnt have to participate. But she really enjoyed hearing what was going on in his life and helping him when she could. I wrote a book last year with my grandmothers letters. My mother had not published the letters and left them to do and i think she did that to maintain my grandmothers privacy. But i am a rotten