To help. After studying first ladies and knowing some of them well like my own motherinlaw or one that i admired very much, a fellow texan Lady Bird Johnson, is that we benefit our country benefits by whatever our first ladies interests are. She is the wife of one president and the daughter in law of another. Laura welsh bush became first lady after a controversial election brought her husband george w. Bush to the white house. Laura bush helped comfort the nation pursuing interests including education, literacy and womens health. Good evening and welcome to cspan series first ladies, influence and image. Tonight well tell you the story the wife of our 43rd president. Laura welsh bush and here to do that are two people who know her well through their work. Ann gearhart at the Washington Post is a laura bush biographer and her 2004 book the perfect wife tells the story of laura bush and covered the former first lady since 2001. Welcome to the program. Thank you. Mark updegrove is a president ial his torn and author of several books about the presidency and currently is working on one on the relationship between president s bush 41 and 43. Nice to see you this evening. In your biography, you refer to the role or the job of first lady as this is a quote the most bizarre volunteer job in the world. And we heard laura bush talk about having her motherinlaw as a role model, whatever thoughts she had about how she would perform the role of first lady were upended september 11. And we talked to her recently. I would like you to watch that and talk about how she responded to that and how it redefined what her years as first lady would be. Lets watch. I was on my way to brief on Early Childhood education and hosted a summit on Early Childhood education that summer. And i was going to brief that committee on Early Childhood education. When i was getting into the car and my agent secret Service Agent leaned over to me and said a plane has just flown into the world trade center. We went to the capital. We assumed as we started driving it was some strange accident. By the time we got to the capital, we knew the second plane had hit the we knew what it was. How did you leave . The secret service came to get me. At first they were thinking it would take me to the white house. They had to regroup and figure ut where it was. The staff was getting word to run. And they were kicking off there have high hills and running from the white house and i know they expected to have glamorous and interesting jobs at the white house. No one ever thought they would have to run from the white house like they did. So anyway, the secret service came to get me. And senator gregg and senator kennedy walked me out to the door. And then i drove to the where i went really was the secret Service Building which had been reinforced and after the terrorist attacks. And in our embassies. And really i guess after the Oklahoma City bombing, the federal building. A lot of them had been reinforced. And that one had been. So thats where i went. Spent the day. Had you talked to your husband or your girls at that point . You know, i cant remember. I wrote this down in the book because i had the logs from the day to remember. But i did talk to george once i got there. And the girls. And then of course my mother was the one i really wanted to call. Because i wanted my mother to say everything is going to be all right. And of course i called to her and said everything is going to be all right. And i wanted to say, well, certainly it is. How did she respond . How did she redefine her role after that day . Well, i have to say i was with her that day because i was covering her as first lady for the Washington Post. And so there was some confusion initially as to whether anyone was going to and the hearing was suspended and she and senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press were there. And i can remember looking at her. And she its always remarkable composed but twists her fingers at her side. When shes struggling with something that was clearly very dramatic and i remember thinking she is wise enough, her motherinlaw was in this white house. She knows her life has changed n this moment. She said what she came to say over and over again we have to make sure we tell children we love them and that americas a strong country and we will get through this. It was spontaneous and sincere. Very much in keeping with her as a librarian and teacher. And i think she dedicated herself to that. But things were very different immediately. And in fact laura bush wrote a letter to the children of america the day after 911. And heres some of what it said. I want you to know how much i care about all of you. This is a personal message from the first lady. Be kind to each other. Take care of each other. And show your love for each other. Mark, as a nation, we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe since the attack on pearl harbor. There wasnt a role model for this. What do americans want from the white house, from their president and first lady in times of extreme National Crisis like this . Well, were fortunate, there are many moments when we have the right person for the right moment. She was the right first lady for that moment. Because i think we forget now but we we didnt know what to do after the attacks. And she mentioned this in a clip you just showed. She said comfort your children. Go out there and reach out to your kids. Your kids want you right now. They need you right now. And i think that that helped us to get through that very trying moment. She laura bush is the very picture of equanimity. She is she served texas strong. Theres a strength that emanates from her. And i think we benefited from having her in the white house during that period. That texan connection is where were going to go next as we learn more about her life. Both bushes say that to know them you must know midland, texas. So where was laura welch born and tell bus her Early Childhood. Well, midland, texas s. West texas. It is boom and bust oil country. It is the kind of place that you can see it from miles away. Its kind of shimmers like oz. From 30 miles away on the horizon and very wide and very flat and very much big sky. And her father was a builder. Her mother was home maker. Her mother came from texas Strong Female stock. Her mother had managed a dairy farm. When her grandfather when her was away. And i think that it was very much a place of who she was. And gave her a sense of strength about the land and the prairie and doing for yourself. I can remember when i went there the first time. People talked about always saying they cried and a friend of barbara bush said she moved from western pennsylvania having been educated at smith, and her husband came back and said were going to move out there to make our fortune in oil, and she said, whats it like . He said, well, let me say this. A town nearby called no trees. And her friend jan oneil who introduced her to george bush came home from the supermarket and a tumbleweed the size after volkswagen and couldnt get in her house. So harsh and forbidding in that way. So i think that you have to have the special appreciation for it. And i think that it made her tough. In her book, her book is really a love letter to midland, texas, in a way. Its so much a part of her as you suggested, susan. But she talks about the sky. And how her mother and she used to just look up at the sky for hours on end and how important that is to that part of the country. And i think what george w. Bush mentioned to me one time is that kind of country broadens your horizon. You sort of see people for who they are. There are no trees. And the sky is the limit. Well, midland, you write, in the 1950s, was supportive. But it also could be insulating. In what ways was it insulating and how did that shape her . Well, shes an only child and i think thats also insulating in a way. It can be a lonely existence. And there werent a lot of folks who came in from the outside. Or when they did could thefromthe oil business it took them time to get adjusted. People had their own hide bound ways of being and their own divide as to where you were in the social stratosphere or whether you were a wildcatter and say about owe desa that you were raised hell in odessa but raised your kids in midland. So there was a certain way of behaving. And a propriety for that. And went to the Methodist Episcopal Church and you had to depend on each other and you had to because it could be harsh. Midland today has a large hispanic population as much of texas does. What was it like in terms of minorities when laura welsh was rowing up . They all got together for a reunion, when the bushes were in the white house, it seemed that nobody can really remember about the i dont think it was a matter of overt separation as much as within a certain class of people. There was almost an obliviousness and when i went back there to do reporting, i would say i was going across town to do an interview and what are you going over thattothat part of town for . So i think that in many ways people kept to their own lanes as it were. And that had its own shaping. When she went off to s. M. U. , you know, she had said some of her friends that they didnt necessarily have a remembrance of some of the race riots that were going on around the world. There were the sock hops. And there was the sodas at the drivein and in that way it was isolating. We want to put their parents names on the record because we didnt do that. Her father was harold bruce welch. 1912. Died in 1995. And her mother, Jenna Louise Hawkins welch was born in 1999 and is still very much alive. Right after the age of turning 17, laura welch was in a car crash. In midland, texas. And it resulted in the death of a very close friend of hers. She spoke about that. She wrote about it in her book. And she spoke about that in a recent interview. Lets listen. Mrs. Bush, you write and spoken from the heart about difficult period, november, 1963. And a loss of faith. Your faith. Why . Well, i was in a car wreck that i wrote about extensively. In my book. And the whole time i was in the hospital, not injured really. I had a cut on my leg. And a broken ankle. And i was praying that the other person in the car would be ok. And the other person in the car was one of my best friends. Which i didnt know. I didnt really recognize that. At the site of the crash. His father came up. His father happened they litched and just passed where the corner with her. Where the car wreck was. And i recognized his father. But i didnt understand that that was mike that was there. And i think because i prayed over and over and over for him to be ok and then he wasnt. I thought, well, that nobody listened. God was not listening. My prayer wasnt answered. And so i went through really a very long time of not believing. And not believing that prayers could be answered. And it took me a long time really and a lot of growing up to come back to faith. The car wreck shaped her in what way . Well, i think what she has said about it and what she mentioned to me about it was that we do grow up. And when youre young, and you expect that the world is going to be a certain way. And she would have attained that maturity but it came to her pretty quickly. I think that she is an empathetic person by nature. And i think it probably made her less judgmental about other people. In a way that we dont often see in washington. I think she is much more given to thinking people may have entiror backgrounds and things that shape them that we dont know. So i think that that is certainly made her the kind of person. I think she worried more about her own daughters. I think she worried about her husband. Because she had seen at a very early age how an instant miscalculation can change everything. Mark updegrove, in that clip she talks about her faith. Would you spend a little time talking about faith and george and laura bush. Sure. Let me just mention, though, she said in an interview i did with her, that she sort of grew up out of that experience. And there were things that happened in your life that you cant change and you have to find a way to move on. And that experience very formative for a girl in midland, texas, in 911, the role that fate can play. And you have to move on and you have to be strong and you have to move on. So i think its very helpful. And i think faith plays a great role in both of their lives. George w. Bush became a born again christian when he was in midland. I think it changed his life. In a lot of ways. She is less i think vocal about her religious faith than he is. Shes a little bit more lowkey about it. But i think its important to both of their lives. She is the second first lady to have a postgraduate degree. Can you tell us whats important to know about her education and her early jobs. I think that people frequently overlook that. Because they make the mistake of thinking that she is a conventional woman which she is not tall. She is quite interior and has a certain modesty if that word really means much anymore. So that she didnt ever really boast about it a lot. But she was very selfdirected and she came back from s. M. U. And teaching and said she wanted to go on to the university of texas and get her library of science degree. And she said her father said now well never get her a husband. To go on and get her masters degree when many people thought if you went to college at all, it was for an m. R. S. Degree. And then she very purposefully moved into a part of austin which is still the barreo on the east side and taught at an almost entirely Spanish Speaking school. And in a very dedicated fashion deliberately chose a school where she thought she could have impact helping kids learn to read and to feel as if they were exposed to other kinds of parts of life they werent getting. And you know, i think thats a part thats a part thats important and she maintains to this day. Let me tell you how you can be involved in the program. There are three ways you can do it. We have a robust conversation going on on facebook. If you go to cspans Facebook Page youll see the picture of laura bush and join the conversation there. You can also tweet us. Using the twitter handle firstladies. And well mix as many tweets as you can and you can call us use the Old Fashioned telephone to be part of the conversation. We would like to hear your voice. There are two phone lines if you live in the eastern and central time zones 2025853880. If you live in the mountains pacific time zones 2025853881. Well get to your calls in just a little bit. The question from twitter. Someone named muppet fan 1968 asks i have a question about laura bush. Was she always a republican . Well, let me just start off by saying im not a fan of the muppets but i will answer the question. A movie coming out. Everyone is a fan of the muppets. No. I think she supported uejoon mccarthy. I think she was a card carrying democrat for many years. I think she married into a republican family. And loves her husband. Has great faith in him. And his judgment. And i think supported his platform. But no. She is not a a natural republican. Before we leave the midland days, whats carried her through her entire life a group of gifrl friends she made in midland. How important are they to her and what do they provide for her and she for them . I think both she and the president have a very strong set of friends who have been thr their friends forever. And that have been really sustaining aspect for them. And come to washington, its best to import your own friends. Theyve been with you at the beginning. And you know where they stand. And you know that they trust you. And you have their loyalty. And she particularly has always treasured going off with them. Did that even when she was in the white house once a year they would go and have these trips where they would go rafting in the wild. And they would care for each other. You notted that they are mostly progressive democrats, the scope of girlfriends. What clue should that give us about her own politics . Its interesting. I think that she as mark said, i think that she shes very loyal to her husband. And one of the things that i have come to admire and appreciate about laura bush as she has navigated this bizarre volunteer job in the aftermath is to find areas of commonality with people with whom she might find differences. So she would campaign for republicans, for instance, but i saw her once change a speech in in script because the person who she was campaigning for, she was not going to attack the texas democrat. This person was running against in that specific way. I think that she has things that are very interesting to her with her friends. They care about literature. They care about the book festival. Shes very much is an avid conservationist. An environmentalist. And so she finds those ways. Shes pretty active in womens rights and taking those things on. That set of friends that you referenced from midland, texas, really kept them grounded, too. And those are people who knew them when. And that gave them great comfort when they were in the white house. And those are the bushes talk about the story of bringing their friends in. And president bush having his pals in the oval office. And one of his friends looks in and says, gosh, bush, can you believe it . Im in the oval office. And they looked at george. And youre in the oval office. And they sort of the bushes are both very selfdeprecating. And having that circle of friends around gave them great comfort during the stresses of the white house. Laura welch and george bush were both Young Persons in midland, texas, did they ever meet as children . They did not, actually. They attended the same schools. But she says that she doesnt recall him. And they didnt then i think she knew who he was after a time. He was a roustaabout from a good family and wellknown family in midland and at one point they lived in the same building at the chateau marmont in houston. But i think she thought he was a bit rascally and had other pursuits. And then her friends from midland fixed them up. And they were both she was 30. And he i guess was about the same age. He was ready to settle down. And they got engaged and married very quickly. In three months. Thats one thing i wanted to ask you about and the portrait you have painted of a woman, a librarian, who is very orderly. Very measured. And she did something that seeps very impetuous marrying after four months after meeting someone. How did she describe the courtship and the decision to marry so quickly after she met george w. Bush . She had a lot of suitors in her life but none of them quite clicked. And in texas at the time, talks about feeling like kin