Transcripts For CSPAN3 Womens 20240705

In addition to being a House Historical Association board member, in my prior life, i did eight years in the Obama White House, six years as mrs. Obamas chief of staff during the entire eight years, i also ran the White House Council on women and girls. And so theres a special place in my heart for women in the white house, where women in history or women as leaders our country, and how important it is to tell that story wherever it is and bring out that rich history. I was struck last night by the photo of the first steak dinner that we saw and how it was just a bunch of men gathered in the blue there and how things are now, but how we should uncover the stories because there were clearly women behind all those men standing in that picture as. There are women throughout history and through what were doing. And so that how we will the panel that we will have this morning to discuss this. And so let me introduce our panels. We have as our moderator, greta bronner, who is a host for cspan and executive producer for the affairs programing, joining her on stage on our panel. Be Amy Bracewell superintend of the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic site brut brooke clement, whos the director of the Gerald R Ford president ial library and museum Barbara Franklin the 29th United States secretary of commerce and Christina Shutt executive director of the Abraham Lincoln president ial library and museum. So let me welcome then to the stage and enjoy the discussion. Good morning, everyone. Im glad youre all here this morning. I heard there were some people, you know, participating the at the bar last night. So it was nice of you all to get up early and join us for this conversation. And i do hope its a conversation this morning. Were going to talk up here for about an hour and were going to open up to questions. But i also want to throw out there we would to hear your comments and your ideas as well, so that its a conversation with all of you this morning as well. So let me just get started im going to start with our directors and our superintendents of these president ial sites and then well talk to secretary franklin. So lets just begin, brooke, down at the and well go down the line here. If you could just talk about big picture your site and how did you get to the position that youre in today . Okay i am the director of the Gerald R Ford president ial library museum. Its the National Archives position. And so we have actually two sites that we in the National Archives, the Gerald R Ford president ial museum is split the museum is in grand rapids and the library is in ann arbor. So yeah. And then how i got here, i started out at Gerald R Ford library in 2004 as an archives technician and then i moved to texas ten years. I worked at both bush library and i moved to chicago, worked at the Obama Library for five years, and now im back at the Gerald R Ford president ial library museum. Im back home. Wonderful. Well, you know, for us, i was like to start our mission to inspire Civic Engagement through the diverse lens. And thats important of Illinois History and share with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. And so that really is who we are as an institution. And were lincolns official president ial library and, of course, his museum. But we also tell the story of Illinois History. So contextualizing lincoln, not just as this sort of great man who went to washington, but really providing context about his illinois roots, about the life that he built, about the women in his lives. And we do that in. Our facility in springfield. And then in terms of my background, i am a and museum nerd at heart. I thought i was going to be ice cream taste tester thats what i wanted to be using. But i just am so passionate about libraries and museums and them and these Community Connected places. So ive worked in libraries, museums across country most recently before this job i was the director for the mosaic templars center, which is the state of arkansass africanamerican history museum. So i did that and ive been at the lincoln for about two and a half years now. Wonderful for being here, amy. Yes, good morning. Good morning, everyone. My name is Amy Bracewell. It is a privilege to serve as a National Park Service Superintendent over four National Park sites in upstate new york. The home of fdr, Eleanor Roosevelt house, vanderbilt mansion and Martin Van Buren and. Ive been with the park service for about 16 years. I got my as a Student Conservation Association intern as a interns interns and fell in love sharing learning but also sharing it with the public. I was the historian at Mount Rushmore for about six years. I moved on to a tiny park in virginia and and then became superintendent at saratoga National Historical park before moving to hyde park, new york. Wonderful. And as you heard in the introductions by tina, we have a unique perspective this morning with this on the panel. And thats the commerce secretary, Barbara Franklin. Before you know, before you became the 29th commerce secretary, you were in the nixon administration, you had a very unique job and role assigned to you by the president. What was it. Well, i should say first. Thank you. Im i was secretary of commerce for george president george h. W. Bush. So thats the time frame. And now we go back 20 years before that. When i in the Nixon White House and my job. Well, let me back again president wanted to advance women in the federal government at a time when not everybody thought that was such a great idea there was not consensus our society then about the proper role of women and i was not that far out of Harvard Business school at a time when nobody knew what to do with a woman mba either was because im older than all of you. Probably i remember all of this anyway. My job. My my job in the Nixon White House was to recruit women for the policymaking in the federal government and what the departments, the cabinet departments and agencies were doing in progress for action plans that the president had required of them. So part and parcel that my job and that had not been done i was not a headhunter by training id come from citibank in new york and i had to just go and beat the bushes and find women all over the who were. And thats what i did, i went to various cities and federal regions and said who were the who were the outstanding women here . And i dont care about their politics. Just tell me who are and from there we built talent bank of women who could considered for that level of appointment and off we went. Now i have to say a lot of people in this or we never do anything all alone and that definitely true back then then and i to say that im proud to have been part of it it would not have happened without president ial leadership at that time either because of our society was. But the results i think speak for themselves and in very first year we nearly quadri people. The number of women in the top jobs and there are women maybe youve never heard of, but maybe you have. But we had jobs that women had never held before. Dixy lee ray was the chair of the old Atomic Energy commission. Catherine maybe dell chair of the whats Something Else now . The tariff commission. There were the first women generals and there and armstrong became became counselor to the president with cabinet rank and the reams of others just like that and its its a its a great chapter once those barriers came down and women into those jobs and did them successfully, there wasnt a question about whether a woman could do that job. That was really the whole the whole point and then the next level down there were breakthroughs as well. Women became fbi agents in narcotic agents and tugboat captains sort hold that. And once again, barriers fell that didnt come back up and subsequent administre sessions just built on the progress. And today you see some more breakthroughs. First woman secretary of the treasury because you have a woman Vice President , thats but the treasury secretary. One was one of the last ones to fall. We havent got defense, but you you just keep keep pecking away and. And thats what has happened. The other thing that happened back then, believe, was because government was an example of how to do things. Im not sure thats quite as true today, but it was then and progress made to advance. Women in the federal government rippled our society and made opportunities available for women in a whole bunch of different eras and walks of life. The secretary is is a essentially saying she put the first binder full of women. I guess so. So i want to know who was pushing this. You said it took president ial leadership. Yes. But who beyond the president do you think was, pushing this, mrs. If anybody knows anything at all about pat nixon. She came a little town in nevada worked her way through and california and then got herself to new york came back married the president. She was, i believe, very influential in in the president s head was on of this. Not that she was overtly vocal, but certainly was about the supreme court. She wanted a woman on the supreme was very unhappy with her husband. According to the oral history from her daughter jewelry. Julie, when her husband didnt appoint a woman. She told him she was not happy about that. I she had a lot to do with that. Yeah. To her her own story and own attitudes and you know pillow talk counts and the thing is, the president did have two daughters. I think that made a difference. The other thing going on at the time with some of you remember was a growing and increasingly noisy Womens Movement and that was starting to have some political clout. I think it was a combination of of things that caused that president to do. He did at that time as i said, i dont think some of these breakthroughs would have made then they would have been made later, but not then unless it had been led by president of the United States. Well, thats a good segue way to. Talk about these the president ial and the first ladies at these president ial. Thats not our focus. But they are, you know, the most prominent women at your sites. And thats what people think of to what your sites. So, amy, if you could start us off, you know, how do you feature the first lady . How do you talk her at your site . Well, it feels like easy topic for us. Eleanor roosevelt, National Historic site is the only park unit dedicated to an individual first lady. And so we have her home, we have her history and its its in addition to her life with fdr. We have his presidency, we have his history. But she her site was established and her history and legacy was really on its own right with her own agency and her own mission. And often during fdr, president s see she would go perhaps against what he was able to do politically and constrained by politics. She was able to go out and speak freely on civil rights and lynching and other human rights ventures. So its its great place to start learning about how to have a voice, how to be a change agent, especially in politics, may or may not up to speed to where youre thinking. We also like to think youre talking about, you know, bedroom conversations when president roosevelt contracted polio, she really ramped up her travels. She was his eyes and ears across the nation going to different places, all in the us, but also around the world coming back and telling him what lives were like, what people were going through. People would write her letters and through her relationship ups she became very Close Relationships with women, with women who were making changes the world. Mary Mcleod Bethune, pauli murray and we tell stories as well. We really elevate all of those stories and give them their own platform for they were doing and not necessarily in association with someone else. And well talk about that in a little, those other women. But im curious how are featuring what youre talking about at your site when it comes to the first lady. Sure. So we have our traditional house tours. You can learn about her, really. We focus on kind of post fdr death, 1945 to 1962. Shes writing a daily my day column. Shes sharing her thoughts with the public. She was appointed to un committee for human rights and is actively writing universal declaration of human rights, which were celebrating the 75th anniversary of this. So we we get into that we get into her World Campaign for human rights every day. And we do we share we go into her relationships, her stories. She lived at val hill with a couple, Marian Dickerman and nancy cook. We just finished commissioning a a study on Eleanor Roosevelt and sexuality and theres a copy in the exhibit room for people to peruse. And so we try to tell that whole breadth. But what i also hope that we can do at her site is have it be at a place for people to explore these conversations, for people to learn from eleanors passion about human rights and being a change agent and figuring out how can do that ourselves. Because she worked every day to change the world. I dont know how she that energy between a my day column and traveling she was very impressive and i think theres a lot that we take from that. Christina yes. So were fortunate to have a very sort of well discussed, but also well misunderstood. First lady. So for us, you know, the most prominent space that see her and you see mary lincoln is through the the blue room. So we have a recreated white house. When you walk into our museum and you see mary lincoln and shes getting dressed for a ball. Elizabeth is zipping up or i guess tying her up in the back. And then all of these sort of headless mannequins who are supposed to be other wealthy white women who are in the original design were gossiping about mary and talking about how much. They hate mary lincoln. And its one of those things where i can always tell if the exhibit team, the Design Museum was diverse or not, because if its not, thats the kind of narrative you get when. And of course, the exhibits field is overwhelmingly male and which is part of the challenge. Right. But so you have these kind of headless women who gossiping about mary, and that was the original interpretation. And one of the ways in which weve actually that is to really start to center the women in their own stories. So instead of talking about all the ways that these women hated mary, really talking about what were these women doing at the time using their social and Political Capital at a time where they couldnt vote to try and change the conversation and to try and push the narrative or push the needle. And so weve thats area in which weve really focused on updating the interpreter option and making it more modern. So when little girls on school trips come to visit us, they can see that even in, you know the 1860s women were making an impact and essential to the story of america its not just they were gossiping and dressed for a pretty ball when you went to have that conversation about changing the exhibit, was it like, you know, i had some people who said, oh, were ready for it. And of course, there were folks who said, well, but what did women like . Women just got dressed up and went to pretty balls. And i think that starts with this sort of assumption and recentering peoples assumptions, right . If we begin with an assumption that that women were footnotes to, history, then there will always be footnotes to history. We begin with the assumption that women were essential but you cannot understand the american story. Understanding the role of women. They would begin to look for those places which women were acting and moving right. That becomes the place with with which we draw our story. So then when were sitting and having those conversation about, well, what is the interpretation, what should the exhibit look like, then we with the place that, okay, were putting out the exhibit where women and i think the same thing goes true to you know were africanamerican hands were latinos, right . Were american is where are these people . Because we know that they were essential and are essential to understanding the american story, brooke. First lady and how youre how you are putting it, your exhibit. Well, i think its great. Christina brought up the assumptions like you got mrs. Ford and everyone loves buddy you know shes i her but she she is not represented i would say in our exhibit like we we have these assumptions people want to come to our museum and want to see the pretty dresses or the china sets. But she is to host elaborate state dinners. And i think that its since the first iteration of the president ial shes definitely more present, but its still not enough like are lucky to be entering 50th anniversaries of the ford presidency and so were going to have an opportunity to really dive a lot deeper into the story and how she was implementing implementing change within the womens Rights Movement like ensuring that that women were getting you know essay and things and again like she as barbara was just mentioning, his like she was that the voice the pillow talk but the president ford had and they had a daughter too and you know these president s who have daughters they are feminists and in their own way and so i think that we just to amplify those stories in ways that just dont get done and i will just add on to like i worked at the bar at the george h. W. Bush president ial library when they did a reiteration of their exhibit. And it was interesting because at the time, mrs. Barbara bush was still living and she would see the designs like, oh, i do exist. So its like i think that its its just important as we move forward to continue get more and more presence of these first ladies. So as you get to change that exhibit, what kind of conversation are you guys having . And and what is the outline or the strategy . I think that, you know, we have really focused on betty and like temporaries that its or we have, you know, a couple spaces that are solely body but and then shes sprinkled throughout i think that these are opportunities for us to say heres the 50th anniversary of her Breast Cancer diagnosis. What did that mean for her and for the rest of america it was the first time really the breast was said in public. I mean, so we we have an opportunity to just tell her story and make sure its no, its not. Its not a well researched history either. And i think that so weve got her Breast Cancer diagnosis, her 60 minutes interview, her work on era. We have a lot of great that we need to be presenting to the public as secretary franklin was talking about the different women that she recruited that filled those positions there are even at the times that that were talking about here other women and who maybe are footnotes in history but you are trying at your exhibits in your sites to feature them. So lets talk about some of those other women. Christina, i want to just start us off. Yeah. So i would say probably my favorite other woman is keckley. Elizabeth keckley was born into enslavement. She ultimately purchased her freedom through her dressmaking in to she was actually supporting her enslavers family at one point through her dressmaking, they were on her as their main source of income which is for not i mean its just it blows my mind. All right. Theres the talent. And so she purchases the freedom for her, her son. She eventually ends up makes her way to washington. And, of course, becomes a dressmaker for lots of wealthy white women in the city and ultimate lee becomes the dressmaker to mary lincoln and becomes to her kind of close personal as well. In fact, one of the things most people dont realize about, elizabeth, is that she actually mary, is in such mourning after the death of their son, that its her, that she actually dresses the body and prepares her sons body for burial. I mean, that just the deepness, right, of that relationship. And i think what is unique about her is, again, shes not just making pretty dresses right . Shes using the income that she makes from that as a way to support really establish the contraband relief association, which for those of you dont know, it was an organization she founded to help freedom seeking africanamericans as theyre theyre coming fleeing into d. C. And theres really this sort of refugee crisis in the city. And so shes helping to get them resources that they need due to the sort of racialized poverty that had been created as a result of slavery. And so only is she, as she found in this, but she also gets the lincolns to like help support it, and she gets Abraham Lincoln to visit it these camps. So i mean, again, think about it. You know, in the 1860s, a black woman convinces the president of the United States to visit these contraband camps. And its because of that visit. Right. That he begins to change his about the role of African Americans. While lincoln was always antislavery lincoln did not always believe that black people stay in this country. And here is woman who is using her power, her, her, her social capital, her Political Capital to change the and expose a different story. And again, i think that just so is just so remarkable. Right. As as a black woman, i just think like, wow, if she can do that, you know, what am i doing with my life every thats amazing. And other other other women that that you want to mention today. Yeah i mean you know lincoln often encountered other women like Sojourner Truth he you know he was someone who was not afraid to have controversy actions with women. And again, i think, you know, we think about it now, were fortunate to be to have women in positions of power. Right. At positions of influence and at that to be willing to have conversation and to be willing to even entertain womens. You know, mary lincoln was one of his closest advisors before. He goes to washington and now hes got all these men to which, of course, is what created a lot of tension, both in their marriage, but also in the sort of political sphere. But think thats one of the things that is, again, just so amazing that these women are noticing theyre these antislavery conversations to begin these conversations around. Suffrage, you know, we often celebrated to think of those things as separate things. But in theyre not they are closely tied together. It was this antislavery conversation that then begin to open the door and the conversation around women gaining the right to vote about women being active in the political sphere because. In fact, many of the antislavery societies were closed off to women, and so they were forming own societies and they were realizing, hey, we can do this. Like what . We could sit around and we could have influence and we can make a difference in communities. And again, i think thats the story thats so powerful. So how were you this how are you telling that story . Well, one of the ways that were really starting to explore this more is through new partnership that we have with thoughtworks. And with google. And so you heard actually yesterday we talking a lot about air technologies. So one of the things well be bringing to the museum next year is an air experience that helps people take a deep dive into stories like women, women of the era and really explore that. And so using our existing museums space to do that, but really adding that augmented reality layer over it so that were not just talking about the dress or you dont just walk through the white house kitchens and youre like, oh, great, im in a kitchen. People made food, but were talking about, well, who are those people that are having conversations . What are their names, their stories . Because theres power in names, right . Power in the remembering of things. And so im so excited that well be opening that next year. And in partnership with our friends at google, brooke, you call it centering, right . Is that your strategy . Whats that whats your strategy at your site . I have feature these other women. I think that this is something that we are looking towards doing like we we have amazing women this administration that again i said theyre just not well researched. I went to go try and find a book on secretary carla hills theres nothing out there. So unless these women are writing their own stories, its not being told and. So if anybody wants to write a book about the Ford Administration women, please. But but i think that have great women that are that up in interesting places. Carla hills in our cabinet room, you know, brings everybody into the cabinet room, explain what is done at that table, how the seating structure is. But thats it for her and the council. And then we have somebody like anne armstrong, who started out as to the president for ford as well, and then came back as ambassador to the uk. She was also a Vice President ial consideration for both when rocky was selected and then again when dole was selected. She was a prominent name that that could have been the very first Vice President. And then we sheila weidenfeld who is mrs. Fords press secretary, who wrote her own book, which is great because she like puts stories. But you would just never know about she you know, she challenged drawn us into a poor race that way she could get extra staffing, which she didnt get, by the way. But she won. But she won the race and, you know, so people like that. And then another person that i stumbled across their memoir was mary fisher, who was the the first female advance person. And so i bookended that research that i was doing. I was like, well, thats amazing. Like, she the very first advance woman. However, like you go do research on youtube the Obama White House im see they they did two youtube videos that showed how advanced are done and you can see them in their meeting rooms and at least ten women in that office and its just so it is like well this was the start and this how were getting there so but yeah we just were, were going to get better about presenting these stories too. There are people in the audience who are probably in similar positions at their own site. How are you going about the research . Are you finding the women . You know, because youre not quite yet telling us stories, but how are you them . Well, i, i a blog, you know about, the ford presidency. And so im doing my own my own research. And just like where are these stories that people dont really know anything about . And so when i was invited to do this panel. Its like, oh more research than i can get into. And so i found these stories that way. But were in the process. Like i said, we in the 50th anniversary, we can amplify these stories through that anniversary. We are going to be our website in the next year and i look forward to ways that we can not only amplify mrs. Fords story through interact timelines, you know, showing that, yes, she had a trajectory all her own. But it also intersected with the president s and i think that theres ways for us to also incorporate all of these amazing women into our new website as well. Well, if any of you in the audience this morning are having that same sort of struggle or challenge, it would be interesting to hear from you when we get to question and Comment Period and if any of you have any ideas, i think it would be great to hear that those as well so that we have a conversation. Amy, you call it flipping the narrative, is that right . So as is centering the narrative, weve been calling it flipping the narrative of instead of, you know, fdr and eleanor or fdr and civil rights. We are flipping it to really highlight and put front and center the the conversation we want to have. And its no less important of president roosevelt and his career life. But like weve been talking about, people deserve to be named. Their names deserve to be called out. They deserve their own attention in their own and their own power and agency. And weve been doing this in a variety of ways. Weve talked about research. We have our sexuality study. We also just finished a study on civil rights leaders in the roosevelts and that study is also in the exhibit space and we have a great relationship with our fdr president ial library that is on site. And they just opened a new civil rights exhibit where they get into the details. Again, focus on individuals like mary Mcleod Bethune, who was the highest africanamerican woman in fdr government. She was part of what they informally underground called the black cabinet and effected change from they were inside the system, worked with the system to effect change. These were Amazing Stories of people who use their position and their knowledge to gain that influence. So she was able to effect influence way. We have another great story of lizzie and malcolm macduffie they were fdr cars. They were an africanamerican couple mack was fdr personal valet. Lizzie was his maid and was the only one interested to clean his room and to be in his room. First off, you know, we really. We want to highlight and have the conversation, mack mcduffie, to what an intimate relationship would be to dress. President roosevelt bathed president roosevelt get him ready for the day, possibly carrying and transferring him to a wheelchair. Such an intimate relationship. Lizzie also had ear. They had a great relationship. Lizzie and mack traveled from hyde park to the white house and back and forth. But actually lizzie also went on the campaign trail and, spoke to africanamerican citizens. We have records of regular citizens writing to mack and lizzie, sharing their experiences and, knowing that they had the ear of. The president so again working their position and their situation for change. So you go to your sites, then what, does that look like. So weve been doing small changes to be able to incorporate those stories into higher level. For mack mcduffie and lizzie, weve actually taken out a couple of artifacts and pieces fdr clothing and laid them out or, opened up the closet and had the effects that mack mcduffie might have been handling. And that is our segway into having these conversations. Who is in the room and how are they interacting and what are those conversation. And i think those are the easy, easy, low hanging fruit that weve been to do. And again, president ial libraries exhibit has dedicated sections on africanamerican leaders. And those impacts to the society and the nation. Secretary franklin. Sure you will be talked about at. The Nixon Library. What you the role that you played during that administration. But and we can talk about what the Nixon Library is doing to future women. But first i want you to tell the audience how you did your job. You on a little bit but the recruitment and i mean you had did you have to make it up as you went . I mean, how did you go about it . I made it up the i checked with some headhunters. I remember i was i was at citibank in new york and i was not doing anything like. This i was a banker. I went to and said, you know, could you help . Were looking for four women who could be a appointed and the the uniform answer was, no, we dont have any women in our files because clients dont ask for women. That was the state of of affairs. Thats why i had to go. What call beat the bushes, go to ten regions, find a hub city, find contacts in that city and keep asking the question who . What are the prominent women . And we gathered all that together. Did background and information on them. And thats how we got with what you call the binder. But it was that was the the talent bag and that talent bag was was used then across. Government. One of the things that had to do because i was in president ial personnel, it wasnt like i was up here in the white. I was kind of like, youre i needed to alliances all over the place within the white house and, i might add. The president wanted, but not every male in that white house thought this was the really neat thing to be doing. I wont names, but could someday you might someday. I someday i might. I do to talk about Susan B Anthony for a minute okay gets a gets at this i just lost my myself here building alliances so i had to know among the folks at hand who were going to help me with this and then build the relationships so that i could go to them. And if we saw a job coming open that i would not have known about and that i could then go the powers that be up the line and say, give me a shot, that job and. If i cant get candidates that are workable, then okay, but give me a first chance at it. Now, it was known that i did that some. People didnt like it. They thought that was a little unfair. But it worked. It worked. But the the the friendships and alliance, this really helped me. And that was not only in the white house, it was across government, because the president s plan was that each cabinet secretary had to submit. Also had to name who was going to be responsible for in that department. So there a key person everywhere and every agency as well. And so i was wired into those those people to. So it was a really a effort where a lot of people joined together, i was kind of a whatever leader of the band in the white house and i was the one who was who was out. But but a lot of people helped to push all of this forward. Thats how it worked. And it was managerial. Thats the other thing. There were objectives. There were numerical targets. There were action plans. And there was monitoring. Now, i was doing the monitoring. And if a cabinet secretary did a good job, that secretary got nice note from the president. If the opposite were true we got a different note. And i know that because i was drafting those notes and sending them upstairs and that makes a difference. I dont think those, folks, i shouldnt this, but im going to those cabinets. At the time, they were all men. If the president had just sat in cabinet meeting, would you please do this . Some might have and some might have. I think the fact they knew that there was monitoring and that the president was actually watching this, i think that made a huge difference. Thats just management 101. Everybody. Thats no big secret. Yeah. To that did did the president have a conversation with you that knew he was going to hold them accountable . Or how did you know beyond the letters . How did you know that that going to happen . Well, it was it was set up managerial that were inside. And i was i was a said president ial personnel. President ial personnel doesnt isnt set up this way anymore. And it hasnt been since. And i was working for a man named fred malik who was the key there, and he reported up to bob haldeman. It was on haldeman side of the house, if this makes any sense. The policy side was the erlichman side of the house. And we i and i have to tell you this too, i crossed over some times to the erlichman side to get into issues like era, like child care, like title nine, because wasnt anybody else. I was the house woman without wanting to be necessarily the house woman. Thats what i was. And so if womens groups were coming to me and they were with issues, i had to go somewhere if it wasnt just personnel. So did i do . Well, i crossed over and it was okay as as i was doing what i was to be doing over here on the personnel side. If i crossed over, fine and and i think that made a difference. Now, found some of my old memos about era and other stuff and im quite proud of what i did. You forget sort of what you you did. But i was doing what i thought needed to be. I got to tell you about Susan B Anthony, because this we found her some groups wanted to give a bust. Susan b anthony for obvious reasons to the white house. This would have been 1973. I think. Well, okay, they got her made shes a copy of the one in the crypt of the capitol but shes metal and shes very looking. They delivered her to my office and she had to be somewhere. The time she came and she was to be presented to mrs. Mrs. Nixon. Well resided in the top floor of that top in my closet. A closet in my office in the third floor. The Old Executive Office building and in the dead night. On occasion she would steal out of there and she would land in the office of someone in the house who had said or done something to women, oh, so great. And then in the morning i had to pick her back up and put her back in the closet. But it was no the spirit of susan binford. They roamed the white house at night and that. Thats right. Thats a well, another way to make the point. Yeah well, we can pick up on that of, you know, in your face. But theres also something that the secretary mentioned, which is friendships and alliances so what have you at your sites of where there is there were friendships and alliances is made to push an agenda forward . Amy. Absolutely. There were many and ive mentioned many before. I want to highlight a different one. Frances perkins was the first female cabinet leader of department of labor. Give a shout out to her. She established a friendship fdr while was governor of new york worked with him then and when he became president he appointed her as department of labor and really sought out and affected a lot of his new deal projects. Frances perkins, first woman secretary, established the 40 hour workweek. Establish workmans comp, established established whatever else there was the new deal child labor laws. It was the relationship that got her the end and took it and ran with it. The same eleanor so many relationships and so deep relationships. Ive mentioned many. I want to mention polly murray again. I love polly. I wish that her name was more wellknown in society in the thirties as she was questioning her identity and talking with doctors about her identity, she was writing letters, her letter writing and her incessant push for universities to welcome africanamericans and women into colleges and universities. Thats where she befriended eleanor and through their relationship eleanor invited her to volk hill and hyde park. She many people to her home. She was very much interested in welcoming people. Its a very cozy place if youve been its like your grandmothers couch. You can sit there and you can picture eleanor knitting, but she would invite for weekends and for overnight stays and her and polly murray had a really strong relation together. Eleanor attended many womens meetings in new york and in d. C. , again, mentioning Mcleod Bethune and going against fdr as politics during his campaign and. He acknowledged to eleanor many times he couldnt go against social democrats that werent ready to discuss antilynching bills, to discuss civil rights. And eleanor went out on her own. She was able to have that freedom and boldness to be able to stand on her own, to stand up for what she believed and really elevate those stories in media, in her my day column in jet magazine. I everything she wanted to make she used the media to her advantage. Brooke friendships and alliances i mean i hear that question, but i want to take a slightly different tack. It i think that for the Ford Administration mrs. Ford really presented herself to the country as somebody who could your best friend like she herself presented herself that way through her candor through her grace. She i cant tell you how many letters have gone through where people opened up to her in ways that they probably never would have in. Yeah. After she had her Breast Cancer surgery and telling them or telling her their own experience voices and how great it was that she did this. And, you know, how proud they were of her. The fact she campaigned hard for mra call state legislators to try and get that the amendment passed and you know, when it was erupting, the sense of like, oh, well you know, is it okay for first lady to be doing this . She went ahead and just installed her own telephone line. Shes like, well, were going to do it one way or the other. And and then the fact that, you know, she when she was helping campaign the president in 1976 and she got on her cb, she was just, she was just the girl next door in a way that, you know, if the white house was next. But i mean, and i think that for her, it meant something to be able to touch and be a friend to the whole public and. Again, just stories we need to continue to amplify. Yeah christina, you have any thoughts on that . Yeah. So, you know, i think for for us for me i see it oftentimes in civil war letters. So we have a large collection of letters of civil war soldiers. And when i say word soldiers, you probably immediately thought of men. But in fact, there were women who were disguised as men who would dress up as men so that they could fight in the civil war and thats a story that were still exploring and want to tell more of. We do it a little bit, but really we often know about that because these women would then petition for because they had fought the civil war and there wasnt a large swath of them maybe to and a half dozen or so that we know about so far but again, the idea that women are fighting on the front lines disguised as men so that they could unless so that they could serve their country and fight against the insurrection. And so i think thats one way in which we see that allyship, kinship. And whats cool about it is that oftentimes when it came about their pension and about course they would say, look, youre a woman, you cant receive a pension. And it was the other men in their units who would then, hey, they should get the pension. They served valiantly alongside. They should receive the pension. I have this button in my office that was from the it was a Campaign Button from like the 1920s. And i got a replica of it and it says its a mans world. Unless women vote. And when you think about that right it was only through the power through men voting to give women the right to vote. And so the need allyship and as we often talk about it in our office conspirator ship were doing something a little know getting into that good trouble that. John lewis says thats the kind work that we need to have more women in places of power and influence would like to move to the questions and comments from all of. So while youre thinking of them or getting line at the two microphones, i just want secretary franklin to talk about the whats happening at the Nixon Library site and i know youre part of that conversation so how are they going to feature you and other women. Well its a great new exhibit that opened last year i really like called evening the odds women leading the way and its in an entire floor to ceiling thing and its in parts women influenced president nixon women of forgotten leadership and im honored to be in that piece and a bunch of the others. And then the last piece is athletics title nine and what that did for women and there is this huge huge olympian photos there. And its its its just a wonderful panorama of what happened for women in that era. I really like it. And the bust of Susan B Anthony, we found her. She had stood in from the east wing for a decade after she was presented to mrs. Nixon and then she disappeared and she was in the bottom of the white house. We got her back and she now is on exhibit. That bust is on exhibit in the library. Oh thats right. Why dont we start over here first . Hi. Thank you all for being here today. A special thank you to secretary franklin paving the way for all of us women who are here listening to you. I cant tell you how much i appreciate it. I have a job now. Thanks. And that the tune would like to ask for sort of your thoughts on something. I read an article other day talking about, you know, sort of ways women are being taken down a notch in our society now and start by saying, i work at the bipartisan policy center. I like to consider myself pretty bipartisan person, but to be fair, as i think all of us know, i think were seeing a lot of these threats to womens rights coming the right. I wont even talk about reproductive rights today but this article i was reading was talking about this push towards marriage and women being sort of shepherded back into this household idea. There was a quote from a fox news anchor after the 2022 midterm elections and he said, single women are breaking for democrats by 30 points. So we need these to get married and its time to fall in love and just settle down, guys, and go put a ring on it. Wow. And that shocks me because that is hes so blatantly calling for these women to be basically silenced by marriage and i would love to hear your thoughts as powerful women sitting up here and as one who has paved the way for many of us to, you know, rise into positions, power. Do you worry about state of women today now that these threats are coming . Oh, who wants to take that one . Oh, i would. So so i had i recently had a baby whos 11 weeks old. So i have two sons, one son was born in a different state and then once and of course i live in illinois now. We love women in illinois, but one of the things that was different about both those pregnancies, i worked for both of them. One of them there was no such thing as paid Maternity Leave, right . It was well, you can go out on disability. Right. As if pregnancy is a disability and thats what you get right in illinois we now have a 12 weeks of paid Maternity Leave for actually maternity and paternity leave. So for both parents as as for state employees. Right. So imagine i mean just right there. Right. The difference in terms of and you know barber you talked it a little bit on child care about these issues that often are surrounding women. Right. We tend to be not always but tend to be caregivers in the families. And so those are the sort of silent ways in which we tell women theyre not welcome in the workplace right. So its not even the most blatant. I mean, those are obvious, right . But its those sort of silent ways that exclude women that those are the things we have to watch for. And those are the things we have to fight for. You know, im thankful that in illinois only do we have, you know, 12 weeks of of family leave. We also have a number of women who serve Agency Directors like, myself. And again, i think that a huge difference, not only in the perspective that its offered and the perspective that we bring to the table, but also helping to remind the governor of the importance of women and the importance women to the conversation. When i say that you cannot the american story without understanding women, i am dead serious about it. You miss half the story. If you dont have women at the table, if you dont have women present. And so we have to be telling these stories. We have to be putting women first and foremost. And we have to remind people that women have always been essential to america. Id love to get in all these questions. Absolutely anybody else quickly want to respond . I was going to emphasize that in in in in our work in whatever you are in scheduling a meeting of creating an exhibit out of making sure that there is that diversity at the table so that those different can be seen and can be brought up. Its so vital. We were talking behind the scenes about exhibits that we may seen recently or that we may have that you can tell there was not diversity at the table when designing it its so whatever, wherever your power is you are in creating a panel or a meeting or a a forum. Take a moment and take that opportunity to have those voices sector really agree with with with all of what youve said. Im up here 30,000 feet and philosophically speaking, theres been a lot happened for womens equality over the past 50 years. Even 60 years. I have lived through it often. When Something Like that happens, theres pushback. I think whats happened is that for some people, theres been a little too much equality. Were getting some pushback now. What we cant do as women is allow the pushback to take over. So we to for whatever chair were sitting in, keep going in the direction that we want to go. And i think now im telling younger women, dont do it in such a way that ruffles too many feathers. Just do it. Have objective and keep working toward it and just do it. But i think thats whats happened. I think the pendulum swung and happens in the Public Sector all the time with issues goes here. George schultz said this beautifully in his book. I think thats whats happened with of the equality issues. And i think we just to keep moving forward from wherever were sitting. Lets go over here. Good morning. Allie mazzara with the roosevelts school at long island university. Great to hear all of you. And your what you doing . One quick comment, because you will for that is an excuse me im with Roosevelt School and theres sagamore hill down like nine miles away in our super intended is here. And one of the woman who the executive director the oyster Bay Historical society, sagamore hill, is shes an African American also with native american roots. And she did a wonderful exhibit of the africanamericans excuse me, during theodore time, where he stayed there. And if any of you are interested, id be more than happy to share her contact. Its really amazing. I and i could be corrected that the first or second africanamerican, an fbi agent, was through president rose of Theodore Roosevelts leadership and mentorship. And then i just want to say, i want to really all the friendships and alliance is and since the Roosevelt School and were near new york city, we do a lot with the u. N. So we are talking to the u. N. About doing something for the 75th signing. And wed love to partner with you if theres a way we can do that or anyone else. So thank you. And i have lots questions, but i know theres other meetings. Just a wonderful thank you for the comments. Hi. Thank you all so much. A really remarkable panel. My names elizabeth reece. I am with the white house next gen leaders. Im also a fellow at the rubenstein here, but im actually completing my ph. D. At the university of oxford in uk. And i researched the east staff. So its been fantastic to hear all of your comments today. And ive had the pleasure of being at the ford library and the Nixon Library. So i actually read some of your papers, actually. Franklin and that was a really wonderful experience, so, so nice to hear you speak in person. But throughout, i mean, sort of in the spirit of conversation, i think the thing that i have found really difficult is sort of trying to reinstate women into the narrative as a historian. And i think one of the things that we really need to on is sort of just shifting the focus away from purely focusing on things like policy, because its not that these women arent that they absolutely are, that were just not necessarily looking in the right place all the time, i think. And of to that end, i wondered if maybe could reflect in terms of the sites that you run on the value of doing alternative forms of history. You know, material culture has kind of been mentioned in terms of clothing oral is now a really great way for us to kind of like reinstate these women back into the narrative. So i just would like to invite you sort of reflect on actually the exciting opportunity i hope that you guys have to really pioneer forms of history. Yeah. Well start with you and ill go, oh, i hope you check out our Eleanor Roosevelt and sexuality study because it is all about that and it highlights the fact that she was born at a very different age than when she died. She was born into an old money family privilege, very sheltered and and got married at a time where it was expected that you were the housewife, that you were the the coordinator of the household that was new to her. Then she immediately jumped into politics in the world and and her world opened. And she its like she took off changing. And you see all of her relationships, all of her worldviews evolve old as she as she grew older and and all of those relations shifts and experiences really shaped her and shaped her writing, shaped her outlook on life. And so it is those relationships that made that impact. Its her writing and how she shared that with others. It was her unapologetic relationships and friendships, men and women and in various levels of of of relationship. And so using those studies and examples to really elevate not only she evolved and how she expressed herself, but those people that came into her life and what were they bringing in, i think was really important. Hmm. Yeah. So one of the stories that we were telling this year with our we have a new exhibit, a temporary exhibit here. I have lived home in illinois. About half 39 different people found home in illinois. And one of the stories were actually using, lincolns shaving mirror that he had. But were not talking lincoln actually, from that. Were telling the story of rita de freitas was a portuguese immigrant. She was a young woman who served in the lincolns household. So i think thats one of the ways in which we can even use president ial items to tell the stories women. In addition to that, were working on a new project that was for the life of mary lincoln. Through the flowers, she grew in her garden. So again, using things that are those sort of everyday objects like you mentioned and the script, right . Centering the narrative on the women and telling the stories way i think has lots of potential. I think that for the National Archives and the president ial libraries that this is something weve been talking about. We talked about yesterday actually in terms of like how do we meet people theyre at, which is a really resonant that seems to be popping up a lot over the last couple of days. And i think for us looking at that, we can not only bring people the library and and explain the administration and these men and these women, but also to get those stories out. Is that a podcast . Is that you talking to these these great administrators like secretary of re glenn and doing great oral history projects dont really know what that necessarily like yet but we certainly are in that process of communicating and like trying to identify how we can collectively Work Together to to come up with something. That would be great to get the the womens stories out. Wonderful. Please. Hi. My name is sharon ziegler. I envy all of you who are site administrators and work there. Im just a lawyer, retired, but you were talking about lack of research on on certain women prominent women and of a lot of women voices havent and who havent even named yet and i am involved in a small way in aauw. And i wondered if site administrators who are looking for research and, graduate students who are looking for funding might also have have a three way alliance with. The university your for example and aauw funding because theres a lot of it available for women in all fields and particularly theyd be very interested in research on well thank you for that idea thats great im going to i wouldnt i just have less 10 minutes so im just going to take these two real quick. One, two and then well respond, if thats okay. Go ahead. Morning. Thank you so much for your panel. Its been really wonderful to hear the womens stories. My name is patty dowd and im the ceo and president at the National First Ladies Library and museum at the National Historic site in canton, ohio, thats solely dedicated to the first ladies. So hearing you all talk about how you are trying to begin reframing some of the narratives of our first ladies at your president ial sites is really heartwarming for. So one of the things that we talk lot about is looking at the first ladies through the lens of their entire life, not just the four or eight years potentially that they were in the white house. And that has really helped us at our site to try to talk about the whole woman and reframing it in terms of her leadership as a woman. So i think what i would love to hear youre all doing such great work is how can you what are the takeaways that you can give some of the folks here as to truly how to start to integrate the whole woman of the first lady into your president ial sites rather than potentially relegating her to that sort of secondary story . Great. Last question will take years as well. And then well final thoughts. Sure. Absolutely. Im erin adams. Im the director of education at Andrew Jacksons hermitage in nashville. So thank you all for your comments today. One, im feeling very empowered by an observation that was started by ms. Schutt, but it but the history of one woman leads us to the history. Another woman. Right. We we Research Woman and she leads us to the next one who leads us to the next one. And thats miriam powering. But my question sort piggybacks on this one, which is many of our president s, their wives were not their first ladies, right . Andrew jackson is example his niece, Emily Donaldson was, 21 years old and shes not running the white house. She is running washington. Right. And shes having children and shes living her life. So my question was about age and addressing sort of the whole woman. What about these very women who find themselves in the position of first lady or official white house hostess that dont have, you know, a College Education or a strong upbringing already or a history of business that informs their practices as hostess so that was thats a great thats a great way to end. Thank you both for that. So final thoughts. Lets go down the line, brooke. I mean, im just im jazzed just to sit in here and being able to, like, talk to these women and hear theyre doing things. I think that i would love to talk to more people. I will say real quick to discuss the woman who mentioned research, the ford, our Ford Foundation and will, you know, does a lot of research grants. And i will say they have funded many, many, many, Many Research grants over the last 50 years. But still, were not seeing those women being studied. And so i think that there are ways for you if, you have suggestions that there are ways for us to look, reach people to get get that research done. We would love to talk to you. Ill jump in here. Sorry. So our our site has an extraordinary research arm to it. The first ladys library was established 25 years ago. We our curator and archivist here, michelle gillion, and she knows more, i think about the first ladies than almost anyone in the country. So we are always a resource for research on women. First ladies for your president ial site. So wonderful. I would say of course, start with assumption that women women were things right. So when you begin with the assumption, you start to look for things and then start to ask questions about it. So curious, what was it like a young woman . 21 right, to be washington and to make these these maps. Right. Who did have to go to to get access to things . How did she learn how to do the job right . Start asking questions. And as you start asking questions, you begin to discover and find. Sometimes those threads and answers to the stories. Ill also add from the research perspective, newspapers are actually wealth of information. Women were often very naughty things and they would get arrested for them, especially the story of black women thats often a really good way to find the story of black women or women of color. Right . What were they being arrested for . Because thats one way in which to tell their story and to find out what were they doing, what were the laws that existed or even was there a law that prohibited someone from doing . Because if there was a law that prohibited them, they were probably doing that. Right. So its another way in which uncovering and scratching the surface of women secretaries book being written by by heath hardinge we historian about pat nixon will come out next year and i think it will cover her whole life including her influence on her husband about women. I hope that thats true but i think that kind of thing im sure the library will make very big deal out of out of this next year but that kind of thing im a fan of oral too and theres a bunch of oral histories that we got started actually there now at the library, but called a few good women that were capturing the histories of the some of the women appointees in the nixon and we got 50 of them and now theres, you know, nobody nobody left really like me. But those are all accessible. Were not promoting this very much. But i think i think it tries to me this this question cries out for a bunch of people to sit down and, say, okay, what can we think of thats new and different to highlight and honor the women that we know in this era. Thats what to me, it needs some new motivation. And i think to touch on what brooke was saying going to where people are rather than waiting for them to come to you amy first thoughts i may be biased but i think Eleanor Roosevelt is such a good example of this. Looking at the whole life, i get inspired learning about the evolution, her thinking, and her life coming from old world family to become the World Champion of human rights as she was going, she stumbled. She not perfect. There was africanamerican magazine that called her out on using derogatory terms and publicly wrote back and and explained was humble and said i am still learning. This is where i come from and thank you for sharing this and i want to do better. And i think those are those moments where you look at you look at the writings, look at people like. Lizzie mcduffie and what was she doing as a maid in the Roosevelt White house . You look at who is in the room, whos how did their outlook change and how did they change society . I mean, eleanor changed society because she was so out there and just doing doing everything that world stage. Thank you all for joining us this morning. You to the panelists at the