Transcripts For CSPAN2 After Words With Ellen Malcolm 20160417

Who really knows. People are talking about 500 billion a year, thats not just a loss to us, a large chunk of that is going to the pockets of some of the worse people in the planet. People who would like to do us harm in other ways. You can watch this and other programs online at booktv. Org. Cspan, created by american cables Television Companies and brought to you as a Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. Afterwords is next on book tv. Host well, hello,ellen. It is so good to see you. Guest like wise. Host when women win and the rise of women in politics. It brought back so many memories. Guest i bet it did. Host im so proud of this book. It should be required reading in every college and university. Guest thanks. Host what were you thinking about when you decided to write this book . Guest you know, we had such a phenomenal change on the democratic side at least over the past 30 years and people have been asking me to write this book and, you know, i have to get the record out there on what we have done and how its changed, of course n the prosceses remembering all these remarkable women, these wonderful races and wins and the world is a different place when you look at the congress now, three quarters of the women in congress are Democratic Women. Host thats right. Guest which we are very proud of and theyre making a terrific difference just as you are and you see them in action all of the time. Host yes, absolutely. I think back about when i first came into office. I want to thank you because i received support from emilys list. We didnt spend as much money in those days, so 60,000 was huge. Guest wow. Host thousands of women had gathered under the leadership of emilys list and we had that night, i think barbara was there, i think dian was there and, of course, hillary was our main guest that evening. What did it feel like walking in the room . Guest it was phenomenal. It was 30th anniversary. Gathering of elected women and members who have helped elect those women, it was a real power event. It was so much fun. Barbara had announced the day before that she was retiring. Host thats right. Guest i was introducing her, she was introducing me, rather and i gave her a copy of the profile we sent out in 1986, she became the first Democratic Women ever elected to the senate. Host thats right. Guest that was our first election and victory and it was so poynant at that moment to have her retiring. Then, of course, there was a lot of excited because hillary hadnt decided if she was going the run for president. Guest thats right. Guest everybody left to their feet, im smiling down at her and looking over at nancy policy pelosi who was laughing. It was a fun night. Host i was watching you, i thought to myself, what might she be thinking, she created this and shes walking into this room where all of these women who have received support from emilys list and it doesnt get any bigger than that. But, you know, i also thought about how did she come to believe that somehow she had the power to determine that there were going to be more women elected to office and that she had to do something about it and that the group that you put together to say no more women simply the wives of men who have served, we have got to have someone women elected to the United States senate and her own right, how did you think all these big thoughts . Guest i didnt think it was big thoughts. I was frustrated and angry and a group of us who worked for the National Political caucus and equal rights amendment shared the frustration, why arent there more women in office, we would hear all of the time about women that would go, they would go to the party establishment, theyd say im ready to move up to congress, would you help me, i have a district and a track record and support and the guys would kind of lean back and say, you cant win, we are not going to give you any money, well, of course, when they couldnt give them any money, the women were stuck, they were caught in this vicious circle. They couldnt raise any money because nobody believed they could win. This group of friends of mine, if we knew, we could raise a lot of money for them. Lets start a network and figure out how to do that. So we began in misbasement with 25 people sending out letters. It was a far cry from our 30th anniversary celebration. Host thats the point that you decided to name it emilys list. Thats a nice little story. I thought emily was probably the name of your mom or something. Guest right. You named it after yourself. No, no, im ellen. We did that because we we wanted to raise early money and we thought if we gave women credibility by raising early money, then they could go on and raise the additional money they needed to win. So we were like little political venture capitalists and go out there and kickstarter for women and emily stands for early money is like yeast, we make the dough rise. Host can you repeat that so all the people that know and not go around like people like me thinking about its the name of their mom or something . Guest early money is like yeast and we make the dough rise. Thats fabulous, you know, embarking on what you embarked on, of course, you have had wonderful wins but you have had at least a dispoint that you describe in the book and i was it was harriot. Guest we were so angry that she hadnt won in the senate because the democratic establishment never believed she could believe that u. S. Senate seat. They withheld her money, she ran out of money in the last couple of weeks and lost by only 25,000 votes, so they missed the opportunity to pick up that seat for democrats, we were so disappointed about that. So we were motivated really to change that and in 1986 when our first election came along, harriet ran along and harriet didnt win. Thats right. That was a tremendous disappointment and head host thats right. Guest of course, our victory was senator. Host absolutely. In reading the book, my heart was breaking as you described how well she had done up until almost election day and the polls showed all of that and if she had only had the money to put in, she could have won that race and as it turned out she lost in the last day or two of the election. Guest she did. Its so negative in campaigns now. When a candidate doesnt have money to defend themselves and go back and set the record straight and remind that theres positive reason to support them, they just become sitting ducks. Thats what happened to her. She was doing great and up in the polls and pulling right into the lead and then the ax fell. It was a terrible thing in 1982 and we are sorry she didnt make it in 1986. Host in the book not only do you describe that but you describe the rise of National Womens political caucus. I remember these women. Guest of course, you do. You were in the California Assembly and you were active in the caucus, you and a whole group of people were working with a party to get equal division that women are equally represented and all the Democratic Committee and function, so, yeah, the caucus is a real breeding ground and activist ground. Another person that i learned of and then got to know a little bit from the caucus anne richards. Host she says ver clayly, she would not have become governor had not she gotten support from emilys list. Inch the i remember the speech. [laughter] guest poor george, referring to george bush who was running for president , senior george bush. He cant help it he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. Host they never forgave her for that too. Guest the other one is ginger rogers. Anne, and in high heels. [laughter] host she was wonderful. I loved her because, of course, she was competent and capable and all of that, but she shared her life with all of us. Guest she did, she had a struggle with alcoholism and stopped drinking many years before she ran for office and but she was opened about it, in the primary that she was in, her opponent attacked her for it and did all of drinking and doing drugs and awful things. Emilys members were the biggest of her primary race. We stayed with her and all the way through the election. Shes just marvelous. Host people appreciate some honesty and openness. She was a real star for all of us. But, of course, you talked about a lot of key women in the Womens Movement at the time and, of course, my friend bella. Guest yeah. Host these women who were all active and i think about it today when we talk about issues like equal pay for equal work. I mean, back then we were on top of those issues guest right. Host some of the young people think its kind of knew new that this had just started. Guest women like bell and sherley had done good things to help, good men to help promote the issues to support women. And when Ronald Reagan came in 1980 and the republicans took over the senate, they started undoing all the things that we had spent the Womens Movement trying to get passed. When we started in 1985 and kicked ourselves out there, it matters who chairs those committees and sets the agent and has the ability to control what legislation is heard and voted on. And so we decided to support only Democratic Women, we were the First National organization to support Democratic Women candidates, all the other organizations before that were bipartisan. So now you see this huge divide and its very simple to understand why we might support only democrats but it was a brave move back in those days. Host absolutely. Not only were you supporting women at the national level, you went onto empower women at the state level and this example of a women who was head of Reapportionment Committee is a good example of how women in positions to make policy can create change. Guest thats right. I was just in florida talking about the book and theres a wonderful women there by gran margolas who in 1990 was in the Senate Leadership for her the democratic party, she said, you know, if you helped me elect some women, we can take over and become majority and then i will make sure we draw a good Congressional District line. So in 1992, the Congressional District Line Committee was chaired by karen they therman and carrie from miami. We elected new women from florida because of the work we had begun to do a little help at the state level to ultimately get more women into congress. Thats a real example of power and organizing to exercise power. In all of this, numbers paint a picture, how many women do you count having been elected because of emilys list now . Guest let me put it in context because i love the difference. There had never been a democratic elected governor of a large state until anne. There were 12 Democratic Women in the house at at 435 members of the house, we were about 5 of the democrats in the house, republicans were about the same level, they were 11 and there never been a Democratic Women elected to the senate in own right, we had 11 Democratic Women governors during that time, the 12 very lonely Democratic Women in the house weve added 110 women to the house. Host thats powerful. Guest of course, we have helped 19 Democratic Women get elected to the senate. On the democratic side, youll see a real shift in women in the room and im sure you see it when the Democratic Caucus gets together and says who is going to be leader, there are a lot of women making sure its nancy pelosi. Host i tell you, arent you proud of nancy pelosi . Guest absolutely. Host even before that, she emerges as perhaps the most powerful speaker thats ever led, you know, the house, and so shes done a great job. Guest shes a brilliant strategist. Host absolutely. Guest when people were going to challenge her, she had two political bases, one is the california that was so big and all the women we helped elect to the house, Democratic Women to the house when she was sworn in, there were 50 Democratic Women in the house on the floor that say she took the office. So i was there, i was so proud. I was so excited. [laughter] host she has been true to her efforts for women. Guest she has. Host supported women and organized women and try to seek out women, so she is doing emilys list good to helping her to encourage women to run. Guest thats right. Host how much money has emilys list has raised. Guest 4 million. Its kind of amazing. There were not Women Political donors. Host thats right. Guest women didnt write checks to politicians. I would do anything to get money. She said i had bake sales, bowling, barbecue and women would give her 5 to 10 but that was sort of it, and we had to kind of show women that it was okay to give to politicians if they wanted to support and told them a lot about what is going on in the campaigns so they had a lot of confidence of where they were investing and over the years we have turned emilys list into this powerful financial resource about 90 of our money comes from women. Absolutely. If you could describe in more detail how you recruit women to be owners and you put the information and get it out to them, how does that process works . Guest back in the 80s, everybody got their money from pacs and, in fact, they still are a huge force. They support incumbents and they can only give up to 5,000 per election. We said, thats not going to work, we need to get more help for our women to get credibility and our members are smart people. We would like you to be a member of emilys list, pay 100 to be a member for two years and we will give you information about prochoice and women who have a chance of winning, we are not going to waste your money and give you information and set profile that tells you all thats happening in the raise and what the candidates positions are. So if you have a thousand people writing 100dollar checks, you could raise 100,000 as opposed to the 5,000 the pac has contributed and and revolutionized politics. [laughter] host i was there and i went to helped her out and emilys list ran the campaign. Guest but she had no capacity to raise money. She didnt do special interest policy. Host i know. Guest she was open in primary. Winner of primary would go and the political establishment said we have this guy, he is going to be the front runner, he is passively supported by the governor and strongest man, four african american. Grassroots network got together and it was phenomenal opportunity to add a great women to congress. She ended upbeating him hand didly. She had 60 of the world. The political world was in shock and its a wonderful story to remember. Host it really is. I want you to know just as youre describing her and what she cares about, she just had a conversation with me and she said, you know, ive got to do something about welfare. She said, and, you know, i love serving on the Financial Committee but im really thinking about going, you know. I just feel that i am this is my responsibility to do it and shes willing to even give up seniority on the Financial Services committee. Guest good for her. Host im so proud of her because not many people want to do that work. Guest yeah. Thats just who she is. She sees a problem and she tackles it. Host absolutely. And looking at the women, some of the more recent women, Christian Cinema who comes from arizona, who comes with a very wonderful background, smart woman. Comes from a state thats basically conservative and shes been able to come and, you know, make her mark. What are the kind of what growth do you see in us from the time you first met us and the first womaning in, have you seen that we have grown in sophisti sophistication. [laughter] guest one of the things that i was delighted that you have had seniority and critical position on Financial Services. We see both in the house and senate. Thats why barbara was chair of the Appropriations Committee when democrats held the senate. You see the wonderful strategic women that not only were the first to go from their area, but learn and be smart and strategic with obviously on the house side nancy leading the way for all of you. Host thats right. Guest now making tremendous difference in leadership position. So that is just so exciting for me to watch all these women senators and Congress Women chairing committees make a lot of trouble when things are going wrong trr the other side and its really phenomenal to watch. Host when you look at january jan and some of the other women, they are able to exercise power because you cant help but to be so very, very proud of them. So having done all of this work guest i want to say theres this evil about women that they dont help other women and thats not true. Nancy is the greatest example of that because she has open door for women all of the time. She expects you to do a good job but she really makes sure women have a fair chance to lead as well and appoints them to critical positions over and over again. Host and shes in this power position where shes been pulled on, you know, in all directions, not all democrats are progressive and, she, you know, has to work with all of that, but 14e she remains progressive and she works on the Financial Service committee on the issues where often times we have segments of our own caucus thats not supportive but she had not wafered and she will come to you and not only offer to be of assistance but lead in the caucuses over time. Im very pleased to have the opportunity to to serve with nancy and to serve under nancy. Here you are. You are the founder and creator of emilys list. Guest i call myself the pushy broad. Got the job done. Host history is going to record you, of course, the founder, visionary who really understood even when you didnt know a lot of our politics. You just said something is wrong. Something is wrong with this picture. And so not only were you a young woman, you know, welloff family. I dont know how you didnt end up, you know, being a republican, but you didnt. Guest thats what my mother said. [laughter] host im sure. You went back to school and got an mba because you wanted to be able to exercise your business knowledge and you wanted to be able to even use your inheritance in a way that made you had the power to and the fortune to inherit money and you wanted to do it right. You were a determined woman. [laughter] i think we were so fortunate in a way because i graduated from college in 1969, it was at the height of the antiwar movement, Civil Rights Movement and so we were in this active crazy time to be young and to learn and i remember going up to philadelphia knocking on doors for mccarthy because he was the antiwar candidate. Host thats right. Guest so, we know, learned a lot and theres a lot of conversation about millennial voters and their support bernie sanders, of course, i support hillary. I said, well, you know, i dont, because thats what happened to me when i was in my 20s and young and starting out and i think its great that these new people are getting political, learning skills, i hope they have the bug just like i caught it and a lot of Millennial Women out there that are going to be leaders of organizations moving forward and, who knows, maybe even run for president. Host not only did you have the bug and concerned about woman, you had a social conscious and you had Something Special that happened to you when Martin Luther thing was killed. Guest yeah. Host its one thing to, you know, arrive at this leadership position and have resources and be able to gather more resources, but its another thing to use that power for the good of people. Guest well, i got that from my mother. My mother was a women of her generation who believed when you got married you stopped working and you went home and you started your family. But she was always very active as a volunteer in the organizations in our community. She ended up being the head of the united way, cheering the board there, Mental Health association, just was always involved, so all during my childhood, i saw this woman giving back, believing that she had a probability to help and that became my role model, but it was a little funny in the beginning, one year in college i decided to go work at job training because my naive 20yearold way, if we could all get skills and poverty would be over. Could you hook me up with somebody in a job training place, she called the head of the job training, Government Agency in newark and they had me come in as a volunteer over the summer and i taught people how to read and i did administrative work. So im sitting in this cubby hole one day and this person comes by and kind of walks by and looks at me and then goes back and walks by and looks at me and goes back. I said, can i help you. She said, are you the volunteer, and i said, yes, i just we wanted to see from a volunteer from the government looks like. [laughter] guest i actually became a tourist attraction of being volunteer in Government Agency. Host was that the place where you made the radical decision to wear pants . Guest that was in college. Host i see. Its so funny to consider that, you know, radical and revolutionary but at the time it was. Guest it was kind of me. I have done a lot of things to create social change but its always been within the confines of the process and years and years ago i met a wonderful guy name charley butcher who was an entrepreneur and i was trying to figure out why we were succeeding and what it meant and he said, youre an entrepreneur, he said, you know, when you start a company you cant take on your big competition. He had a wax company. He said, i cant take on proctor and gamble. Its like sailing. If you want to get anywhere, you have to attack to get where youre going and i just thought, thats lightbulb moment, thats what emilys list does. Some people sail right into the wind. Why cant we get anywhere . Emilys list and i know yourself we tacked and we get to where we are going eventually. Host thats an excellently way to describe where to go. You know, how does it feel to know that the next president of the United States is going to be a woman . Guest it feels good, im not celebrating, we have a lot work to do. Its going to be a nasty general elections. Host are we ready, are we prepared for the struggle . Guest i think we are, i think we are. Hillary clinton is the most phenomenal women i have ever met and i know people say that about politicians, im telling you this women knows so much about so many things and so committed. She is the child of the 60s who committed herself to making a difference in peoples lives and she has done it ever childrens defense on all the way up to running for president of the United States, so im excited about it. Im nervous, i wont be happy until its over but i can sometimes imagine going to that inauguration and seeing a women take the oath of office. Host i do think about that d envision that. I listened her that when she won arizona and she talked about her vision for what is possible and she said in the most profound way that this gloom and doom that is being preached about how bad we are, how we dont have favor in the rest of the world and we are not respected, she said, no, this is a great nation, and we can look forward, you know, to Better Things each, even, i think we needed that and she did a wonderful speech because shes so smart. Guest i think its going to be a contrast in the general election. It looks like its going to be donald trump. Hes certainly the voice of anger, you know, i think blaming people and dividing people and she is the voice of how do we come together and go as a United States of america, and so its going to be a big debate, are people with anger going to come forward and say we reject that and are people going to say, you know, its true. Its a powerful country thats doing phenomenal things and lets move forward. Host i felt so good listening to her with that hopeful middle message and i thought, thats hillary. The other thing thats happening with the campaign is a lot of the young women are learning a lot of about how women have been treated and how trump continues to be disrespectful and dismissive of women and this is a great learning lesson for a lot of the women who thought it was behind them. So many of the young people are probably going to be at emilys door. Its going to inspire them to run for office and be appointed for offices and commissions, et cetera, et cetera and so i think emilys list is going to continue to grow and continue to inspire women to be elected to office and continue to raise money and be as powerful as any other Lobbyist Group in washington and thats exciting and i know that you have to feel good about that every night when you go to bed and every morning when you think about it. Guest i do. Host you are an example of someone who has created something powerful, and, you know, made it grow and watched what has resulted from your work with all these women elected for office. How did you decide that you were going to turn the leadership over . You know, thats hard to do to say, well, you know, ive done it and its time for me to, you know, how did you decide to do that . Guest well, it took a while. Host must have. Guest i was the head of emilys list, president for 25 years. Host yes. Guest i thought it was time for a new leadership. I thought it was time for a younger person that could speak to this next generation coming up, who were very internet comfortable and savvy but i also wanted someone who could do the political strategy and its very hard in politics to find people that both get the marketing fundraising piece and the political strategy and i found the perfect women and that is stephanie shriag who has been president since 2010. She was howard deans finance chair when he ran for president , the first internet fundraising Success Story in politics, and then she ran two senate campaigns, john tester in montana and two of the closest senate races taking back republican seats, tough, tough raises. Shes brilliant strategically and i couldnt be prouder because it really does say to me emilys list is going to continue. Host how much time did you spend with her when you decided you were going to make this big transition doing dual leadership . Guest guest we had a lot of conversations. I had to step out of the way and let her go and become the leader of the organization. It have not easy for me. Host no. I could imagine. Guest no founder is always a failure. Dont worry about it. Sometimes the first person is a failure. No, no. Stephanie and i are very competitive and we were determined to make it work. I chair the board so im still involved but its very clear emilys list is led by stephanie shriag. Host what advise would you give women about running for office . Do you talk about and help them understand that it is extremely competitive and you have to be involved in raising money and that youre going to have the good days, youre going to have the bad days and people you thought loved guest the first problem is to get women to run. Host thats right. Guest its not because theyre not interested in running. We would talk to women to do this training. If you asked a man in your community to run for the state senate, he would probably say, oh, no, im running for president of the United States, i dont have time to run for a state senate. You go for a women about running for office and she will say things, you know, ive always wanted to do that but nobody has ever asked me to run. One of the things we do and im going to do it right here, we want you to run, if you care about whats going on in your community, you care about issues go ahead and give it atry, we will help you, other organizations will help you, but its important that women step up and run, we need women to make politics work better and to make elected offices work better, so thats our first challenge, and im happy to say when they feel that someone is doing it with them, emilys list and the other people in our training sessions and theyre not alone, they jump in and they start running, which is terrific. Host it is terrific, you have a few women who decided they want to run and im wondering, do you get does emilys list get cold calls and say, i heard about this organization, im not so sure about everything you do, will you help me if i tell you guest absolutely. Host you get cold calls . Guest we do. We have state and local races. One of the problems we have is theres thousands of state legislations, we wish we could do more. We wish we could do for congressional races, we dont have the resources for that. We could be very helpful to give understanding what it is to run for the state legislature, theres really little out there that helps any candidates know how to run, so we do that for our women and get them started and, of course, we are always getting calls for people who want to run for congress and stuff, but we are out there looking for women all of the time at no matter what the level, the minute theres a political opportunity, we have someone there falling into the community, who is out there, who would be good for congress, who should we talk to, we talked to our aallies, we are always in the process for looking for good women to run. Host does nwpc still do that kind of searching for women and encouraging women . Guest i think so, yeah. Host that was their mission at one point and kinds of opportunities that women never thought they would have access to, so this business of outreach and encouraging and supporting women and helping them to understand it is possible is part of the job that emilys list is all about in addition to raising all that money. Right, right. And so again, if women are interested in running for office, they can call emilys list and begin those conversations. Guest we will tell you who the candidates who are running and need help. All kinds of people become political venture capitalists. Host well, okay. Its being told you cant run because who is going to run the kids . Is that just about over . We had women in congress. They had no reference point. Congressional candidates dont usually get that kind of innocence anymore. I think when you move up to the next level and breakthrough another part of the Glass Ceiling it comes all back. Are you tough enough . Always gender stereotype. And frankly even knowing this i was shocked. Host yes. Nutcrackers. Just awful, awful things. Theres still, though, conversation about her shouting, which i think is bizarre. Host im so pleased that some men have come to her assistance in dealing with this issue and recognizing. You know, we dont ask men that. Guest nobody says to bernie sanders, why are you shouting so much. Host trump. Guest i tell you what im worried about, im worried about the general election, i think donald trump who has managed to hit every button there is, is really going to go back to that. I think whats going to happen, though, he is going to be in for a shock because i think youre right, women and men will now say, dont go after that, you know, shes done so much stuff about if a women challenges him, head immediately makes comments about appearance and obsession with megan kelly. I think hillary is going to be a bit of a shock to him. When he tries that stuff, hes going to find out that theres a lot of people in this country that say enough of that innocence. Nonsense. Host thats right. Its going to backfire. Ellen, when i ran for office, i remember using the phrase, why not a woman. What i discovered when i was running many africanamerican women in my community who are not accustomed to supporting women, we had one or two and when i start to use that phrase, you know, im running for office, you know, its time, why not, and i started repeating that in the literature, it still works, doesnt it . Guest it does. I think it might have come out of the caucus. I dont think it was us. It was in that era when we were all doing so much. And now, of course, when you see so many women doing wonderful things, i will give you an example. Women do govern differently. I think so. If you bring all kinds of people together and elect them to office, then we have policies that take care of our very diverse country. Host absolutely. Guest women now were only 18 of the congress. We still have a long way to go to get quality, but even having said that, you see all this fighting and this nonsense and did lock when gridlock and when the government was shut down, there was a couple women on the democratic and republican side coming together and finding a compromise and getting the Government Back to work. Even john mccain said it was the women who really got the Government Back. Host and youre absolutely right o. Not only the ability to come together but on Public Policy, making sure that we had money in nih for research on heart disease. Most people thought it was cancer, help for the children. I created the veterans women center because veteran women were not being taken it really makes a difference in Public Policy. Guest it does. I will tell you a wonderful hillary story that just shows what a women will do to help women. When the whole country was putting schedule together, i want to meet with your women. I want to mete with your women leaders, you can imagine the shock of the leaders in those countries like we have women leaders, where are they . Go find me women leaders. They were forced to deal with the fact that there werent women. It gave the women so much power host absolutely. Guest because the media was following hillary around, they learned who these women were and they gave them safety in these very difficult communities and she would do over and over and over again. Host what a wonderful way. What about that great speech in china . Guest human rights and womens rights. Host thats right. We should not forget that she led internationally that way, you know, as first lady. She took that kind of leadership. Guest right. Host okay, here we are, 2016, emilys list powerful. Thank god that you are still serving on the board. I like that. Guest thank you. Host we look forward for more women seeking out opportunities to run for offices. They have some place to call and ask about what it takes and what do i need to do and what kind of support i can give and i want to tell you, i dont know how you get advice, serving on the board, women calling you or picking up some story but dont ever stop. Guest thank you. I wont. Enjoy the book because it has wonderful stories about victory and progress and social change for women and families. Host it absolutely does and i meant it that i said it should be required reading because not only does it remind us all of the sacrifices that women have made and the work that they have done to get us to this point, but it also inspires other women and younger women to take up the man till mantle and get involved in equal and just representation and as you have said and pointed out u not only women, you know, getting elected to office help to bring about change that would not take place but for these women who are willing to work across the aisle and are willing to basically take up Public Policy that others would not take up, but you have proven that this country not only is a better place because of women but you have shown the power of women, you are recorded in history in a very special way and im proud of you, so many women are proud of you. Guest thanks. Host just tell us, what else are going to do . Guest well, i believe that social change comes in little steps and then you go backwards and you have to fight and keep moving forward. What i think youre going to see from emilys list is phenomenal wins in 2016 hopefully with first women president and women take back the senate and even the house, we have strong candidates. But we cannot take anything for granted. We see this incredible assault on planned parenthood and the war on women. Its a constant process of social change. Theres no one victory, thank you very much im done, no, its a constant commitment year after year after year and what im going to continue doing is stay in that fight and i think the members of emilys list will because weve learned, sometimes we win and sometimes we lose but we never stop and we just keep tacking that sailboat to get to where we are going. Host thank you for reminding all of us that even though you make progress that you should always be aware that going backwards is something that could happen and guest it does. Host we wont get so focused on the progress and we are always prepared to fight that fight because there are those force that is would take us back. Thats a good lesson to share. Guest otherwise we will win and itll all be gone before we know it. Host so, ellen, do you have a final word that you would like to give to the women that are so many thousands of women who are listening and watching you today . Guest you know, i think politics even though we see it as awful and makes us angry allot, when women women is win theres a lot of good stories of good things that happen in politics. Women can participate at all levels whether youre a voter, contributor to candidates, you run for office itself, but the country needs the involvement of women, it makes our country better. Host thank you so much, i have a copy of your book here and you have not signed it for me. Guest im going to do that. Host this would be a very special edition to my library so im going to give you my book and somebody will hand you a pen and in just a few minutes and you sign my book. I can say that i was here today and i had this wonderful opportunity to interview you and talk about future and enjoy your welcome. Guest thank you. Host youre so welcome. Cspan created by americans cable Television Companies and brought to you by a Public Service by cable or satellite provider. Paulie applied to the university of North Carolina graduate school and within weeks of her application the president Franklin Roosevelt went to the campus to speak and his address shortly after the midterm elections it was a widely anticipated address, people were very excited, arrangements were made to broadcast the speech internationally and Franklin Roosevelt with all kinds of praise for liberalism and progressive views on all rights and paulie was beside herself because she knew that they didnt accept black students but she had hope that had her application was accepted, anyway, it was not. When she read the president s the transcript of the president s speech in the new york times, she was living in new york, harlem at the time, she just could not sit still, so she with her typewriter began a threepage, singlespace letter which she sent to the president calling him to task for his praise of the university and the universitys policy which forbid the admission of black students, forbid the hiring of black professional staff in any capacity. And she sent this hot letter to the president but as she was getting that letter ready to go, she thought, well, you know, he has amazing secretaries, it may not make it through, perhaps i might send a copy of this to elanor with a cover, which is what she did. The president s office forwarded to the office of education and they responded about a month later, but elenor wrote back promptly over her own signature and in that letter she said that, i understand your concerns, but i want you to know that great change is coming and its best to fight in consilatory ways, but dont push too fast. That was his caution and holly was very happy to get the letter from elenor, however, she was not to accept the advice that she needed to slow down or be more patient, so this was symbolic of the relationship in the early stages when the relationship first began. Paulie, the impatient youth unwilling to compromise and very anxious for a dramatic social change and elenor roosevelt, first lady of the nation feeling very much that her role would be supportive of her husbands approach on the question of civil rights. Theres this tension of paulie wanting to lets go and lets get moving and