Yorba linda and the new Richard Nixon president ial library and museum. Im william barlbault, president of the Nixon Foundation and im glad youre here on an important day for the library. Joining us is the president of the library and the blue coats of the gentlemen recognized today. Thank you. Before i introduce larry higby, who introduced jo haldeman, i want to introduce members of the haldeman family who are here, particularly three of jo and bobs children, hank haldeman, susan haldeman, and ann cot bee. Thank you. Two of our Foundation Friends who knew bob haldeman well are also here. First, my predecessor as president and now a board member of the Nixon Foundation, sandy quinn. [ applause ] and a truly remarkable and very special woman who was at ucla with bob haldeman and John Ehrlichman in the post world war ii years. When she graduated she took a train to washington, d. C. And in july of 1951 Rose Mary Woods hired her to join the staff of a newly elected california senator, Richard Nixon. Since then lloyd gaunt has been a mainstay of every nixon office and campaign, a friend to the nixon family, an important staff member and for many years the assistant secretary treasurer of our foundation board. Lloyds knowledge about Richard Nixon and career, her dedication, her intelligence and integrity have guided and inspired generations of her colleagues and friends. Were delighted that she is here today. [ applause ] were here this morning to welcome jo haldeman, the wife of president nixons chief of staff bob haldeman and to celebrate the publication of her first book in the shadow of the white house a memoir of the washington and watergate years, 1968 to 1978. Was that theres no sequel . [ laughter ] our good friend and board member larry higby will have the honor of introducing jo and i have the honor of introducing larry. Larry is a native angelino and a true bruin, a ucla undergrad in business school. At the age of 23 he became Deputy Assistant to the president of the United States as the righthand man to president nixons chief of staff, h. R. Bob haldeman. After the Nixon Administration larry worked for pepsico, unical and the times mirror company. When he retired in 2008, he was chief operating officer of the Apria Health Care group. In his retirement, although i think his wife dee might quarrel with the word, larry has been busy serving on boards, working on nonprofits and keeping up with kids and grandchildren. Under his chairmanship, the splendid new Orange CountyPerforming Arts Center was built and opened. Larry has been a board member and a chair of the new majority, a republican nonprofit think tank. Among many notable honors, hes a recipient of the Horatio Alger award. As a member of the Nixon Foundation board, larry has played a prominent and generous part in opening up our new nixon library. Its my pleasure to introduce the honorable larry higby. [ applause ] thank you very much, bill. And good morning. Let me add my welcome to everyone here in the east room of the new nixon library. And a special welcome to our cspan audience all across america and around the world. I want to thank bill also for that very generous introduction. My job this morning is to introduce jo haldeman who is going to read from her remarkable book, in the shadow of the white house about her life and times with her husband, bob. In the shadow of the white house mostly covers the historic and dramatic nixon years from 1968 through 1974. It begins in the fall of 1968 with president elect nixon asking bob to come to washington and be the white house chief of staff, and it ends in the fall of 1978 with bobs release from prison. Before i introduce jo, i thought it would be a good idea to begin by saying a few words about her husband, bob. Although many years have passed, a reviewer wrote just last week in the wall street journal, bob haldeman invented both the modern president ial campaign and the modern white house. From his time in the Nixon Administration, for the next two generations, the haldeman system helped one white house after another attain a level of professional excellence in staff work and efficiency and organization that met the growing responsibilities of government and the demands of global leadership. Bob in a quote that quickly became famous described his job a little more succinctly. He said every president needs an s. O. B. And im nixons. At the time, many people took that literally, and it didnt help bob when watergate focused a National Spotlight on bob. People who didnt know bob and only saw him as a tough white house chief of staff whose crew cut was as intimidating as his prose style missed the whole point. Because far from being everybodys s. O. B. , bob haldeman was one of the most thoughtful, human, and humane people i have ever met. He was a demanding but fair boss and he was a true patriot. Bob was born in los angeles in october of 1926. He was an eagle scout. He was in the Naval Reserve at the end of world war ii. He graduated from ucla in 1948, and in 1949 he joined the Advertising Agency j. Walter thompson. Even before he reached the white house, bob had a life of impressive accomplishment. Over the course of a 22year career, he rose to the highest corporate ranks at j. Walter thompson. He was the primary fundraiser for the building of Pauley Pavilion at ucla, he was the chairman of disneys California Institute of the arts, he was a member of the State College board of trustees, and a regent of the university of california. All of this was done before he was 40. I met bob in 1967 when i was the Vice President of the student body at ucla and he was president of the alumni association. These were very Turbulent Times on american campuses and the two of us were setting up programs to make sure that the communication lines between student and Community Leaders stayed open. Unlike what was happening up north for those of you who happened to go to berkeley or stanford. On Graduation Day bob offered me a job working for him, which i politely refused because i was determined to go to graduate business school. The result of that conversation and several more that followed resulted in a work hour for me that began with 30 hours a week working for bob and then working late nights on my mba. As i worked for bob, two things happened. First, we became very good friends. Second, i figured out that he was far more interested in the opportunity to spend time in Public Service than he was to continue in advertising. We shared an interest in politics, and in january of 1968 did a careful study and concluded that Richard Nixon had a whopping 16 chance of winning the presidency. But by the end of that tumultuous year, things had changed, and Richard Nixon was the 37th president elect of the United States. With that nixon victory and thanks to bob, i began an odyssey few people have been able to experience as Deputy Assistant of the president , working in the office of the chief of staff. After nixons victory in november of 1968, bob and the president elect essentially had 60 days to organize and staff the Worlds Largest corporation, the government of the United States. He did a great job. And, as a matter of fact, in essence, bob haldeman created the modern office of the president. On his first day on the job as white house chief of staff, bob was 43 years old. Even more strange, i was 23 years old. [ laughter ] over the next five years, from 1969 to 1973, i became known as haldemans haldeman, and i took that as the highest praise, although to be honest, im not sure most people saw it that way. I was privileged to go to china and the soviet union and many other places as president nixon worked to end the vietnam war and set the world on a path to lasting peace. In addition to running the White House Office every day, bob had a strong sense of history and his duty to it. He applied this extraordinary discipline in writing and later recording a daily diary of the events that he experienced and observed. The haldeman diaries, which are now available on kindle, is increasingly considered to be one of the most remarkable and insightful windows into the american presidency. At first, bob wrote his diary in longhand and accountants ledgers. This is what they looked like. Here is the title page with the dates he filled in, january 18th through april 25th. And when he came to the last page, he began the next volume. Heres what is typically clear and disciplined handwriting that haldeman was famous for looked like. Bob was also interested in developing technology in the movie cameras, which were becoming portable for the first time. He had one of the early east super 8s, kodak that was still experimental, and later a cannon. He used his total access to president to film everything from the apollo astronauts talking when they returned from the moon to the president of the United States walking on the great wall of china. Bob reunited a unique archive of home movies. But in bobs house the home happened to be the white house. Bobs movies became the main basis of an awardwinning documentary, our nixon. In 2008, the haldeman family donated bobs super 8 collection of 25 hours and 20,000 feet of film to the national archives. Theyre stored right here below us now here in the nixon library. Bob was president nixons strong right arm, as well as being a wonderful family man and father. And that brings me to why were here today, to meet jo and hear her read from her book, in the shadow of the white house. As she writes, her book isnt bobs story or nixons story. Its her story. And its compelling and moving that she tells with great skill and subtlety. Jo ann horton was born as a Third Generation californian, also in los angeles. Now jos best friend in high school set up a date with jo with her brother and thats how the 15yearold jo anne horton met the 17yearold bob haldeman. Because her friends greatest love was horses, jo and bob each mistakenly assumed that the other was into horses. But once they got past that, they discovered they really did have some interests in common and that was the beginning of a wonderful 48year love story and marriage. Jo and bob have four children, susan, hank, peter and anne. In addition to being a fulltime mom and the wife of a rising advertise executive, jo was always active in community and church groups. Service was something jo and bob had in common. And when bob was working at the white house, jo volunteered a the the district of Columbia City hall Complaint Center and as a caseworker assistant at juvenile hall. After bob left the white house and his legal case made its way through the courts, he served his sentence in lompoc. Suddenly confronted with having to be a familys breadwinner, jo became a licensed Real Estate Agent and was a successful associate in the hancock park office of coldwell banker. Bob later became a Senior Executive in the murdoch association. In 1986, jo and bob retired to santa barbara, where they enjoyed church work and spending time with their extended family of kids and grandkids. Were proud to have more than 70 members, 70 members of the haldeman family here today with us. I think so. [ applause ] after bob passed away in 1993, jo continued to do church work and devote herself to her family and grandchildren. And she decided to write a book about the time when the haldeman family had a rendezvous with Richard Nixon and American History. Working an average of 12 hours a day for all those years as i did, i also became a member of the haldeman family. Jo was and is a remarkable and inspiring person. During those white house years, with their good times and bad times, jo was supportive and strong and refreshing and capable of absorbing whatever joys or sorrows the days dealt, as she supported bob and raised four wonderful children. Jo haldemans strength and faith played a central part in bobs life, and therefore, in the life of our nation. I am proud to call her my friend, and it is my privilege to introduce you to her this morning. Please join me in welcoming jo haldeman. [ applause ] thank you for the lovely introduction, larry. Bob was a hard task master and i have always taken his complete confidence in you as the highest compliment. You referred to bobs diary and i would like to share his entry from the administrations first full day in office, january 21, 1969. Lots of lastminute getting ready at the white house so we can move in with minimum disturbance. Things appear to be pretty well set. All plans working excuse me. All plans working out reasonably well. Higby really snowed with office assignments, equipment, phones, et cetera. Tough job for a 23yearold. He is doing great. [ laughter ] [ applause ] id also like to recognize the Richard Nixon foundation for sponsoring this event and the Richard Nixon library for hosting it. I want to specifically recognize bill baribault, frank gannon, larry and all of the incredibly kind and helpful people who make things happen so smoothly and graciously here at the library. So thank you, all of you. [ applause ] last but not least, id like to thank my wonderful supportive family, many of whom are here today. So, thank you. [ applause ] welcome. When my now 34yearold grandson, who is here today, was in the seventh grade, he offhandedly mentioned that his class was studying watergate. 22 years later, here i am presenting the result of his remark, my memoir. It has been a long haul, but i was determined to give bobs and my grandchildren a fuller picture and appreciation of our life and experience in washington than what they would get from their textbooks. My story covers, as youve heard several times now, the tenyear period from president nixons nomination in july 1968 to the day bob walked out of prison on december 1978. In december 1978. It was a turbulent time in our countrys history. The generation gap was widening and counterculture values were replacing past social and moral codes. Growing frustrations over the vietnam war and racial and gender inequalities divided our nation. We lived in a World Without cell phones, computers or the internet. We had no voice mail, caller i. D. , let alone texting or email. A gallon of gas cost 35 cents, a double cheeseburger 49 cents, and a luxury Lincoln Continental sold for 6,046. What i have written is not bobs story, nor is it the story of our family or an explanation of watergate. What i wrote is my story. Today im going to read several selections from the book. The first one takes place two months after the first inauguration. Bob was immersed in his new job in washington and i was still living in los angeles with our four children until they completed the school year. Susan was in the ninth grade in high school pardon me, susan was a senior in high school, hank a sophomore, peter in the sixth grade, and anne in the fourth grade. Bob was 42 and i was 40. This was my first visit to washington to see bob, who was living a few blocks from the white house in the jefferson hotel. While in d. C. , i planned to look at houses and check out schools. The first excerpt is titled first ladies dinner party. On the evening of friday, march 14, 1969, bob and i attended two different functions. While he dresses for the gridiron dinner, where members of the administration are traditionally roasted by the press, i dress for mrs. Nixons dinner honoring the white house wives. This is new to me and the protocol is intimidating. I wished bob were going to be at the white house with me. I ask him for advice. Just follow the other ladies, he says. Do what they do. Im sure you wont be the only one there for the first time. Dressed in white tie and tails, bob leaves first. When the zipper in the back of my dress gets stuck, i have to ask the doorman at the hotel to zip me up. [ laughter ] a white house car takes me to the South Entrance of the white house, where we wait in a long line of government limos that look exactly like our black mercury sedan. We inch ahead. Then suddenly, my door is opened by a uniformed white house social aide. Stepping out of the car, i silently repeat bobs words like a mantra follow the ladies, do what they do, just follow the ladies, do what they do. Swept up in a steady stream of elegantly dressed women, i enter the diplomatic Reception Room expecting to see others who are obviously here for the first time. Im disappointed. No one looks lost. For a moment i feel terribly alone. I check my fur stole and as i start to climb the stairs to the entrance hall, a woman breezes by me. Isnt it fun to be here without your husband for a change, she asks, in a bubbly enthusiastic voice. Sure is, i reply, attempting to sound blase. Halfway up the red carpeted stairs an attractive woman with reddish hair taps me on the shoulder. Would you mind zipping me up, she asked, pointing to the back of her dress. Jerry had to leave before i finished dressing this evening. I smile. Im happy to help her. When i discovered that the woman is betty ford, wife of the