Respondent to being in service to the president. Is. But i think it would be a far reach to see anything like duri dowton abby. Mr. Walters, i have a very simple question to ask you. During your tenure, who was your favorite social secretary that you worked with . Somehow, i thought a former social secretary might come up with that question. And, of course, it had to be caprica marshall. Th we spent probably more time with each other than we did with our spouses for eight years. This is working, yes, absolutely workinu at the white house. This is a light hearted question, but i noticed when yo. Were talking about the pingpong, you never said who won. Thats right. I didnt. Tt. G you mentioned that at one time there was the suggestion during mr. Trumans administration that they tear down the white house and start over again. And i wonder, have there ever been serious recommendations that it might be healthier if the president and his family lived separately from their office . At least some studies have shown that its good to have a chancek to get out of ones residence and work apart from it, rather than having it all in one ery building. Has there ever been thatan proposal . Im sure that every president and first lady feels that way, that they could leave the white house behind andel go elsewhere. That is one reason why camp david is such a benefit to the presidencymp. D the president , first lady can get on the helicopter or drive d to camp, david, in the helicoptr in less than half an hour, in a car in about an hour and a half and they can spend their weekent there. Say theres probably some people on the staff that dont want to hear me say this because it e we found that it is true, that white house staff is much more reluctant to call the president y or the first lady at camp davidi than they are if theyre just next door in the white house. So i i think there have beeno considerations, but having the benefit of the white house home and office so close at hand witl everything that goes along withl it, i think, are extremely important for the presidency. I dont ever see it changing. I was curious about the personal expenses which you said the president and first lady pat themselves, things like toothpaste and personal items, they pay all that themselves and i realize that theyre that entertaining, you know if theyre entertaining anything that has to do with the presidency, thatasnd is picked d and they dont pay for it, but m youre saying any personal friends that come in, they would have to pay for the meals that you prepare and could you detain that a little more . Certainly. Any item that they use personally or that their guests use personally and that of an individual is not an official guest, like at a state dinner o, a reception held by a politicald committee, state dinner reimbursed to the white house via the state department, politicacaly events are reimbur. By the political entity that was responsible for the event, but any of the personal items that r the president and the first lady, their family and their personal guests use are paid fo, by the president. Bottle of water. Te and the accounting that i talked about, keeping account of d two things, if we get a crate of eggs for the kitchen and two eggs go to the president s breakfast in the morning, those two eggs are accounted for. If three dozen of the eggs go to a dinner for the state department, thats accounted for. H, a if three eggs go to somebodys lunch, a guest of the family, that gets charged along with the two eggs in the morning. So we kept track of everything. Of course, if theres a broken egg, its spoilage and we keep track of that, too. Ay for but, no, they pay for all of their own personal expenses. First of all, thank you for the most enlightening session. Ae i was wondering if theres something you can share with us, the most outrageous or memorable request that was ever made. Pres ive never had an outrageous request by the president of the United States or his wife. At least none that ill share. Ie your remarks, i think, are yu incredible because they humanize the people in the white house that the American People dont see. You plan to write your memoirs or at least this kind of thing and put it in print for people to read . At this time, no. I was able to get and was probably the only person that spoke to both the president and the first lady on a daily basis. And i believe that their privacy is more important than my telling that part of the story. A most of there things that i related here today, either the president or the first lady have mentioned in casual conversations with friends and r know that that information is out there. Or and i just believe that it is ym their history, w not mine. As i get further away from when i retired in the second bush th administration, i have a memory of historians that have asked sd me, you know, you ought to put this down. And some of these stories ought to be told and i had an and i Incredible Opportunity to see ao incredible amount of history. I owe the thank you to the president s that kept me there. I wondered what your typical day was like as far as how many hours a day you worked and if you have children, did they get to interact with any of the family members . Yes. My typical day was not very typical. Lly i usually got to work at about 6 15 in the morning. To establish the routine for the day, pick up notes that came in overnight. And i never knew what time i was going to go home in the around. It depended on the president and the first ladys schedule, what activities were going on. Certainly if theres a world situation that occurs, i have spent three, four, five days there at a time. At th so i really cant say that thera is a typical day. They were all memorable and i cant say they were all enjoyable, but most of them were very enjoyable but very tiring. D the staff was the same way. Theyw i knew that i could count on them. They had regular hours. They were there from such and touch time to such and such time. But i knew if i said, look, pred something justen happened in th middle east, and the president is going to have a News Conference at 9 00 at night so i need you seven people to stay ta here, you cant go home at 2 30e 3 30, you need to stay here and be prepared for that. They knew that that was their pa responsibility and there was never any question. They knew that was what we were there for. I hope that answers your question. I have a daughter and my wifl could tell you many stories about burnt meals and yelling at me for not et getting there in time to have dinner with she ano my daughter. But we do have a wonderful collection of photographs with my daughter with the president s and first ladies were very kind. Each christmas, they invited the residence staff in for a personal Christmas Party and they always took photographs. So i have photographs of my daughter from the time she was born until the time she went to college and, in fact, when she d was in college the first year, y she called home and said, dad, am i going to be invited to the Christmas Party this year . Any other questions . Could i just add one thing. F i made a couple of notes. Pops in keeping with the first ladys theme here today, there were just some things that i think i need to see about to say about r the first ladies and what they meant to the white house as it related to the years that i was there. Iginal mrs. Nicks crone, she brought ae significant amount of original white house antique American Furniture to the white house. Us mrs. Kennedy, in 1961, 6 3, did a tremendous job as we heard earlier today. But mrs. Nixon, about ten years later, working with the curator of the white house, did a gainin tremendous amount of behind the scenes work gaining original white house items and original white house antiques furnishings. Mrs. Ford, a great promoter of womens rights, breast cancer, e drug and alcohol awareness and she was very involved in the white house tours. Ite mrs. Carter, her efforts to broaden awareness. Not many people know about that, but she did a tremendous effort there. Mrs. Reagan raised private funds for redecoration. Once again, this is ten years later. A 10 y 61, 7 1, 81, there seems to be s tenyear theme on redecorating the white house. The monies that she raised for private funds redecoration and the white house China Service that she was criticized so terribly for. Na servi we hadnt had a China Service for so many years that we didnv even have enough pieces of china from one service to serve a state dinner. In fact, her first question to chiethf usher rick scouton when they were coming into the white house is what does the white house need the most . And he told her a white house China Service for 200 people. Thats what she went about doing and i used the line just say no program on drugs. Mrs. Barbara bush, her promotion of childhood literacy and literacy for adults increased support for the White House Committee for preservation of the white house and the redecoration efforts throughouti the executive residence and establishing the White House Endowment fund, a 25 million fund so that private funds are available to keep the public rooms of the white house the way you see them when you go and visit. Closed and certainly mrs. Clinton was a major supporter of that effort and closed out that effort. Thor 20 million endowment which is handled c by the White House Historical association. And mrs. Clinton expanded on that idea and people who wanted to give money for specific acqu purposes, now there is a white house major acquisitions trust. N so that when major paintings or if theres a piece of furniture, people can give money for a buh specific purpose. A tremendous effort on behalf of the white house. And laura bush, her activities a on literacy and the major renovation of the white house, once again on a tenyear cycle and also a major renovation of the truman bedroom i mean thu lincoln bedroom which hadnt e o been done since the truman administration, which she allowed cspan to come in and d a tour of that room when it was made. I wanted to mention those first lady thats i several and what they did for the white house and for all of us because the white house is our house. Audience memt you silence all electronic devices. And now, to begin our first session, entitled paving the way, will you please join me in welcoming the moderator for the session, the director of education and special events, of education and special events, lucinda. [applause] thank you. [applause] thank you, and thank you, everyone, who is involved with the harding symposium. You have absolutely no idea how thrilled my colleagues and i are all to be here. Anytime we get a chance to present first the ladies, we always first ladies, we always present our mission, you can tell im really good today. [laughter] which is to to get the public about the lives and the activities of the first ladies of this country. And believe me, they were all wonderful. And as i was talking to somebody last night at the reception, we think all the president s were quite intelligent. Everyone of them. Because they were smart enough to marry the woman whod who became the lead partner and the first ladies of our country. We want you to be wowed. Thank you. [laughter] a reall right . Are we all right . Day, it is a every privilege to work with them. Introduced like to friends that we know very well through the years. As a introduce each one in the harding, of florence followed by Grace Coolidge, followed by hoover, their representatives will give a brief biography to you of how wonderful they really were. First, a good friend of ours, sherry holmes. Of the warren g. Harding president ial site. This is very unusual. Sherry is a former journalist. She is one of the two newspapers, [indiscernible] was at the canton repository. [bad audio quality] she is a lector and an author. And has authored several books. Would you please introduce ms. Harding . I would be happy to. [indiscernible] was a native of marion, ohio. She and her two younger brothers [indiscernible] an industrious and selfmade businessman, [indiscernible] she attended the cincinnati conservatory of music as a teenager, studying piano. And it shocked her parents when she awoke at the age of 19, literally, with the boy next door. The marriage produced a son, marshall, before imploding in divorce. In 1891, 30yearold florence married 25yearold Warren Harding, editor of the marion daily star newspaper. Florence embraced newspapering as a Family Business and quickly jumped in to revamp the circulation department. She was not a woman to make housekeeping and cooking her life possible. Thewhatever reason, hardings did not have children other own. Thistion that lifethreatening malady severely impacted her quality of life and her philosophy of how to the for life. As her husband entered and 60 did in National Republican politics, florence was always his most enthusiastic supporter. The hardings entered the white house in march of 1921, following the presidency of woodrow wilson. They spent just what a ninemonth there before his first term was over. President harding died of a heart attack and congestive Heart Failure in august of 1923. Florence died just 15 months later. She died of Kidney Disease and Heart Failure in november of 1924. She was 64 years old. Cynthia. Cynthia is the former executive director of the Calvin Coolidge memorial foundation. She is a lector and author, as well as we found out a commentator. And you have a column of your own now and then that keeps you very active. Cindy has authored the book, star,coolidge, southern and when im really excited to get a hold of. Cynthia, will you please introduce grace . Grace was born 10 we third, 1879 in burlington, vermont. One of vermonts larger cities. You probably know vermette does not have very many large cities. She was an only child and her very middleclass parents could afford to send her onto the university of vermont. She graduated in 1902 and immediately set out for northampton, massachusetts to be trained to teach deaf children in the oral method. Which is a very, very tough way of teaching. She then taught until her marriage to Calvin Coolidge, a young lawyer in town. Her mother had wanted her to stay in burlington so she could find a nice, handsome doctor for her, but grace said you was going to northampton, the home of Smith College where there werent hardly any men. But she found the one guy in town. They lived in a two family house in North Hampton and raised two sons there. She stayed at home while her husband commuted by train to boston to the legislature. When calvin was tapped to run for Vice President , they relocated to the Willard Hotel in washington dc. I think well hear through our discussions today what happened at the white house next. Thank you. And another dear friend of ours. An historian, lecturer, and author. Her books, one of my favorite because she is a near and dear to my heart, the story of Frances Wilson cleveland, americas youngest first lady. She has also written a book that is very personal to her. Dunlap here has a few books to come out very soon. 2016, charles g dodd. The other in 2017, i cant wait to get a handson, is im sorry, i have the right title today. She is working on a biography. Women. Among a woman among women. Her middle name, short for louise, was born on march 29, 1874 in waterloo, iowa. Her parents were charles and florence henry. And, yes, daddy wanted a boy. And so momma allowed her eldest daughter to be named lou. We all think that that is modern. In many ways, lou was raised as a boy. She was touched or hunt, shoot, fish, and read a horse, but her mother also major she learned how to sew, cook. The fact that she was brought up with those twin threats from both of her parents contributed to the quite unique woman that she did eventually become. When she was 11, her father took a banking job in california. They moved there in 1885. And lou pretty much consider there to be her home. She entered originally los angeles normal school. Then when her family moved, she ,ransferred to San Jose College where she got her teaching certificate. She wanted to teach the upper grades because of her love science and because she was so young and a woman, she could not find a position in that field. She was attending lectures that were available there in the area by the recently opened stanford university. And she heard a series of lectures by dr. Grammar on matters related to the allergy. Stanford, when it was opened, was coeducational and was one of the first private universities founded in this country that was not affiliated with a religious institution. It is also completely tuition free. Brennerlou wrote to dr. And asked if it would be possible that she, as a woman, could come study theology. She was admitted and became the first woman to receive a bachelors degree in geology and that university. It was there that she met hoover, whom she is actually older than, but because she had excuse me,evious teachers education, she was obviously a freshman when he was a senior. The courtship eventually developed. He graduated and left for australia, where he found a position in mining. And the two of them continued their correspondence and lou eventually agreed to marry him. Dr. Brenner, who is tying to find her a job after she graduated from stanford, learned of the engagement and wrote them a letter saying, here i am trying desperately to find you a job and yet you have decided to get married and to leave us. And he signed it, your loving professor in law. [laughter] the hoovers were married on february 10, 1899. And the left the very next day for china. Where bert had a mining job. Over the next several years, the couple traveled all over the world. Lived in many different places. Lou went into the minds with bird. She was kind of like the what we see so often with many women of professional men who had the same educational background she was sort of the unpaid employee. They lived in london for a number of years. Lou was very instrumental and active in helping when world war i broke out, which will get to later, and then when they return to living fulltime in the