evention of the awkward or unfair laws have happened. that doesn't speak specifically to dominicans but that's a very specific experience that i had in arizona. >> there's an interesting demographic and economic shift taking place because mexico -- mexico is doing better. >> it is. >> the mexican economy is doing better than other central american -- i mean, you have the horrible problem with the drug wars but in some of the central american countries that are sending a lot of migrants they're really fleeing, you know, terrible levels of violence. so some the jobs that mexican immigrants used to do are now being done by the -- the lowest jobs are being done by central americans. and the interesting thing about the child migrants is that, you know, first they had to endure this, you know, very dangerous journey from central america through mexico and then get over the border. but the interesting thing is that they get kind of dumped into this system of -- where they have the possibility of asking for asylum even though it's a very narrow path they have opened to them legally. but mexicans who come over, mexican youth and children are not given that right to say, i want to apply for asylum. they're turned around and sent back. that's all kinds of strange things that go on. some mexicans say they're from el salvador because that way they won't be turned around on the next bus. >> right. >> so there's a lot of interesting dynamics going on and i think as mexico's economy improves and they're talking about falling birth rate in mexico and -- >> down two per family. >> yeah. they're predicting less immigration. >> hoping you can do it in a way that brings us back to hart-celler. >> this is your test. >> i think we think of our borders as the borders we see on map. but when we look at the immigration from latin america, our world board -- borders are not the ones you see on the map. mexico is monitoring its southern border, probably with the u.s., and it's made it much harder for those who cross the southern border to come north. i'm sure you have seen images of the trains that had been featured in movies where there are people crowd on top of them. and it's a very dangerous journey. but now they're not being allowed to travel on this train. so many of them don't have then a way to get from the southern border to the northern border. >> well, the coyote price has gone up. >> i think your question was more about -- but if i can bring it back to hart-celler, which is what we're here to talk about, the opening up of migration for other people from other nations in central and south america and can anybody speak to that? erica -- through visas, et cetera. >> one thing that hart-celler did, so that countries that exceed the cap, there's only four. mexico, china, india and the philippines. you don't have really long waits for visas from other countries you have the problems of undocumented migration. it's not just a question of the availability of visas, but you have to qualify and you have to have somebody in this country who going to vouch for you and take care of you. so there's a fair amount of dominican undocumented migration, people who come on a tourist visa and overstay, because they cannot get in through the regular route because they don't meet the income requirements. there's quite a bit of that. >> i don't know about you, but my confidence and hope and ability of congress to ever pass something that could comprehend the complexity of this is lowered. >> pass anything. >> richard, let's not go there. the government will be open tomorrow, richard. but we want to thank you all for coming. thank these brilliant people for sharing. >> we invite you all to join us at the reception. make a right and all the pan panelists will be there. follow us online, this will be up online tomorrow morning. thank you. thank you, c-span. wednesday night on american history tv on c-span 3, programs about the civil war. at 8:00 p.m. eastern the 150th anniversary of robert e. lee's surrender at an bomb atrox. and then the union p.o.w.s will be honored. later at 12:35, we talk to historian leslie gordon. the civil war at 8:00 p.m., wednesday, here on c-span 3. all this week on c-span 2 an encore of the q&a interviews. wednesday, artist and columnist molly crabapple on her drawings and of the guantanamo bay detention center. as well as video she's made on immigration detention centers. that's 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. abigail fillmore was the first first lady to work outside the home, teaching at a private school. she successfully lobbied congress for funds to create first white house library. mamie eisenhower created fashion sensations. mamie pink was marketed as a color and stores sell clip-on bangs. and jacqueline kennedy created the white house historical association. and nancy reagan saw her name mistakenly on the list as nazi sympathizers. she appealed to ronald reagan for help and she later became his wife. all these are in "first ladies." the book makes a great gift for the holidaholidays. giving readers a look into the first lives of every first lady. share the stories for the holidays. "first ladies" is available as a hard cover or ebook from your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. order your copy today. coming up next on american history tv,ua l ph.d. candidat the university of colorado boulder christopher foss on politics and globalization in the pacific northwest. he'll talk about the definition and origin of globalization in the region and how politicians focus on increasing economic development in the area. we interviewed mr. foss at the western history association's annual conference in portland, oregon, in october. this is about 20 minutes. >> chris foss, your work has focused on the pacific northwest from 1950s to 2000. why did you pick that period of time? >> well, i think that a big part of it has to do with that's really the emergence in my mind of the pacific northwest as the region that a lot of people in the united states think of it as as an environmental destination, a tourist destination, a place to go and have fun and to recreate. but it has to come through the process and the process that i look at it as having become then is through this process of globalization. now, we talk about globalization as being a -- something that's relatively new. something that starts in the 1980s which is really when the buzz word starts to get thrown around by political scientists and then by historians and try as a way to kind of interpret and understand the world, the post cold war world. but what we're seeing as historians research this phenomenon more and more, globalization has been with us for a long time. in the pacific northwest, a lot of global trade has come in and out of the region. but in the post world war ii era, what really changes is that the northwest -- its traditional reliance on global trade is augmented by the rise of industry on the one hand and also the rise of a number of really significant political players. so some of the members of congress that i focus on in my work includes senators henry jackson, warren magnusen, congressman tom foley, later speaker of the house and then senator wayne morris', the most vociferous opponent of the wars for years. these are figures who i'm arguing because of their positions in power, in congress, they are channeling their influence and their power back to home to make the pacific northwest an even bigger player on the global stage starting with world war ii and really continuing on. >> you mentioned the state of washington and or. -- and oregon. when you look at the pacific northwest, is it primarily those two states or any -- >> well, yeah. i mean, the definition of the pacific northwest is one of these things that is very arguable and it's a great argument to have. a historian in his textbooks about the pacific northwest that go to high school students all over, he focuses on washington, oregon and idaho. william robbins recently co-authored a book looking at the region more broadly and including montana and british columbia. and i think why i center on washington and oregon is because these are the states that are always in every definition of the northwest. they're never left out. sometimes alaska is left out because it's kind of up there on its own. but these are states that are contiguous with the u.s. and on the pacific ocean and they're the closest u.s. states to japan, to china and so these are big links there. that's a lot of what i'm exploring in my project. >> before we talk more about that period after the second world war up to 2000, can you talk a little bit about the economies of oregon and washington leading up to 1950 and what the primary industries were and how much trade was going on before that? >> absolutely. so the primary industries are mainly extracted in nature. so they're very agricultural. so timber in western oregon and washington and on the east side of the state to some degree is a huge resource domestically. what's mostly traded abroad prior to 1950 is wheat from eastern oregon and eastern washington. and the variety of other products. apples, washington is known as the biggest exporter of apples in the world, strawberries, huckleberrys. other goods that require farm workers, farm hands and that sort of thing. and this is -- these primarily are -- these are industries that they're very agricultural in nature. so what then we see after 1950 is a diversification of the economy. you actually see in the timber industry japan post-war emerge as one of the big exporters of northwest logs. and it's ironic that that move i think helps to start to change the economy of the region because the region's politicians and business leaders start to realize, hey, we might actually need to diversify things a little bit because the timber industry is declining. there's a lot of sales of logs internally and also externally to the japanese. so you have players like boeing in western washington with sales of their planes. they just completed a big sale to china, but this has been ongoing for the last 40 years. sales to china. that becomes a big thing. in the '80s you have nintendo of america make its headquarters in redmond, washington. you have the rise of silicon forests in the suburbs of portland. intel has a big base out there. nike becomes a huge global player. so these are much more kind of -- sort of the more modern industries that we think of as opposed to the farming -- more agricultural industries which were dominant in the -- early or before in the 1950s. >> i hoped we could look at two politicians who might be familiar to c-span viewers, because they have long careers in washington. but tom foley, a democrat, from washington. and mark hatfield, a republican from oregon. let's start with mark hatfield. maybe in talking about him, you can explain how they worked -- how they worked to pass laws or grow and diversify the economy. >> so i think when we talk about hatfield, a good place to start with him when he becomes governor actually before he becomes senator, he's a governor of oregon from 1959 to 1967. when hatfield takes office, it's at this moment where the timber industry ever so precipitously is starting to decline in oregon. you see this in papers of his associates. you see that there is this greater realization by hatfield and his staff that we've got to shake up the economy of oregon. we've got to attract industry from out of state. we've got to attract more foreign trade partners as well. so as far as i can tell, hatfield is really the first governor from oregon to engage in international trade missions. you know, either going to or receiving japanese delegations during his time in office. he is the main impetus behind the organization of the oregon counterinstitute, to try to draw in people to learn scientific and other trade skills that would then lead to jobs that would better integrate the oregon with the globalizing industrial economy. so hatfield continues to work for ventures like these. even as he becomes senator there after. from '67 to 1997 i should say. >> so when he got to congress, was there work that he did as a member of the committee or, you know, initiate changes in u.s. policy that made it a better environment for globalization? >> certainly. so on the one hand, hatfield and his -- he's very involved with liberalizing immigration. now in this he is not saying that i want to, you know, bring millions of new americans to our shores. what his focus is on is on refugee relief. helping, for example, southeast asians after the vietnam war. and in doing so, i think it's more implicit than explicit, but in doing so, he is helping to diversify the region and make it more attractive to a wider array of cultures, wider variety, wider groups of people, to come, not just to oregon but to the pacific northwest in general. boeing has already been doing this to a much more overt extent in trying to attract folks from outside of the united states who are talented scientists and engineers to work there. but hatfield does this as well for oregon. i think without even thinking about it, in talks with hatfield staffers what they have emphasized is that hatfield was acting out of a sense of duty, a sense of morality. not just religious, faith was a big part of the senator's -- of his dna, of his makeup. so a lot of that plays a role into why he helps to bring in so many refugees but what that does is that it does help the state and the region grow economically. in kind of a -- kind -- in a way that we wouldn't think of so much if we were just kind of, you know, reading off of the text. the other thing that hatfield does to build the local economy in an international way is to reconceptualize what we think about when we think of national defense. so hatfield a long opponent of the vietnam war says a better way to defend the nation is not to launch unnecessary wars like the vietnam war. it's to build the nation through education. he said that education brings national security. so as chair of the appropriations committee helping to bring in money that fueled education particularly at oregon health sciences university here in portland. so not only does education bring national security, but he strongly believed that health did so as well. so he fostered the building of the v.a. hospital up here in portland's west hills in the 1970s. and millions and millions of dollars in appropriations to make it the world class institution that it is today. so it's in these kind of softer realms of foreign policy, not the diplomacy. not the military that hatfield is having a role in internationalizing the northwest. >> tom foley from washington, can you talk about his career and again what he was doing during his career to promote this kind of globalization and diversity? >> so foley is very involved on a number of fronts. so a little bit about tom foley, his background. he's born in spokane and raised in eastern washington. and from an early period, he goes to the university of washington to do graduate studies in the early 1950s. heetss -- he's in the soviet studies program at one point so he very early on becomes an internationalist and becomes very interested in what's going on outside of just his home state. and another really formative moment for him in this is much later on. so he becomes congressman from the fifth district in eastern washington in 1965. and he's assigned to the house agriculture committee which is a really big assignment for eastern washington congressman because he can directly affect the lives of his stitss. -- constituents. but one of the things that happens to him, he's in a meeting with the agriculture committee i think in 1967 or so and a delegation from japan comes to the meeting and they come to thank the house agriculture committee for some work they had done for them. and they're actually treated very rudely by the house agriculture chairman who keeps trying to get them to leave and there's a cultural misunderstanding. they don't really understand -- their english is not very good. so -- so they're just kind of berated, pushed off the house floor. foley sees what's going on and he goes over to the delegation and he says, what can we do to help make this right? and he actually ends up inviting them all over to dinner in his apartment that evening and, you know, they have food and drinks and it starts this relationship with japan for foley that ends up being a very personal relationship for him. but also works out really well for the northwest because already by this point japan is major buyer of northwest wheat, both in oregon and in washington. so foley is always a big proponent of helping private enterprise in washington to do sales to private enterprise in japan or also helping to get northwest businessmen to sell wheat products through public law for the food for peace program, the foreign aid program. so he does this with japan. then he also does this with china and the soviet union. wheat sales as well really greasing the wheels for a lot of this. >> so when you look at oregon and washington today and based on your research of this past five decades or so, what do you see today that is a direct result of what was happening then? >> well, the region today is a lot more global in a basic word than it was, you know, even 20, 25 years ago. i can remember as a kid, you know, kind of the institutions, the businesses, the schools that felt very kind of parochial and provincial. not that that was necessarily a wholly bad thing. i think that the northwest had a somewhat more distinct -- it was much more distinct. i think the region is much more cosmopolitan now because you have so many new voices from the outside, so many new businesses. you have nintendo of america here as i mentioned. you have a lot of japanese companies in the silicon forest, just outside of portland. so what -- and you have the container ships coming in to seattle and until recently to portland as well, bringing in millions and billions of dollars of new goods annually to the region and traveling through the region. so what you see i think is is a closer connection, a closer realization on the part of northwesterners that they're not alone in the world. that there is a lot to be learned from the world outside of it and there's a lot to be gained from the world outside of it. this is not a unique realization. this is happening all over the united states, but i think northwesterners have had a distinct kind of impression of themselves as being somehow different from other parts of the nation. somehow more tucked away in their own little corner of the united states, but now is the opening of the trade with the pacific rim, growth of immigration. you start to see the northwest as an integral part of this growth. but it's one out of a lot of different pieces of the puzzle in the pacific rim. >> so how have you gone about your research on the subject? >> well, i started by reading a lot. you have to -- you have a lot of different books on various defense and trade and immigration of related subjects a lot. backing in terms of the pacific northwest and also in terms of how the federal government works itself because early on i identified my thesis being that it's the political culture of the northwest that is to me the most unique and distinct feature about this region. you have politicians here who have a perception i think by northwesterners of being very honest, very good at their jobs, of bringing really good amounts of money and projects to the region, jobs, federal dollars. and in so doing so, with a minimum of the corruption you see in other places in the country with -- and just being genuine people. being genuine politicians. being really, really like -- you can go out and relate to someone in rural enterprise oregon, as much as the city slicker in portland. that sort of thing. that's what draws me to the politicians. so i went to the papers that are -- the depositories of scoot jackson and tom foley's papers, in pullman, and another major figure in this era of transformation from the northwest, his papers at the university of oregon. and i have also spoken to a lot of staffers who worked for senator mark hatfield as being the most recent career of the four individuals. there's still a lot of senator hatfield staffers that are active and engaged on matters of foreign policy. so that's -- it's a huge space, it's a lot to bring together. i think that the picture that has emerged really has kind of -- has deepened my understanding, but it also has backed up i think a lot of our -- those of us who live in the northwest, the understanding of the individuals as truly dedicated to the public good in a way that i think is unique in terms of talking about a region as whole, in terms of its politicians. >> chris foss, thank you so much for stopping by to talk to us. >> thank you so much. it's been a pleasure. tonight on american history tv on c-span 3, programs about the civil war. at 8:00 p.m., the 150th anniversary of robert e. lee's surrender. at 10:20, we go for a ceremony honoring union p.o.w.s who died. later at 12:35 a.m., we talk to historian leslie gordon. the civil war at 8:00 p.m., tonight here on c-span 3. this holiday weekend, american history tv on c-span 3 has three days of featured programming. beginning friday evening at 6:30, to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of president dwight david eisenhower, his granddaughters susan and mary eisenhower gather for a rare discussion at gettysburg college to talk about his legacy and relevance for 21st century americans. then on saturday afternoon at 1:00, 60 years ago rosa parks defied a city ordinance for blacks to leave their seats to make room for white passengers. her stand helped instigate the montgomery bus boycott. we'll reflect on the boycott and see what role lawyers played in the protest and the civil rights movement. as we heard from fred gray, attorney for rosa parks and montgomery bus boycott demonstrators. then at 6:00, historian william davis on the little known aspects of the lives and leadership of union general ulysses s. grant and robert e. lee. and then on real america, a 1965 progress report on nasa's projects including the manned space program and the mariner 4 fly-by of mars. and writer and award winning documentary filmmaker on how the public learns about history through film and television. american history tv, only on c-span 3. c-span takes you on the road to the white house and into the classroom. this year, our student documentary contest asked students to tell us what issues they want to hear from the presidential candidates. follow c-span's road to the white house coverage and get all the details about our student cam contest at c-span.org. former president george w. bush made a rare visit back here in washington, d.c. to talk about employment opportunities for post 9/11 veterans. he was one of the many speakers at the summit titled mission transition, creating employment opportunities for post 9/11 veterans and military families. the former president says one thing he misses is being commander in chief in the military, and interacting with the service members who volunteer to serve. this is just under 30 minutes. >> really great to be back. [ inaudible ]. -- critical missions facing our country and that's how to serve and care for our returning veterans and their families. the bush institute's military service initiative is hiring our heroes program have joined together today to address the critical issues around employment. but first, i want to thank all of you who are currently serving our have served in our military. thank you for volunteering to wear our country's uniform and to protect the freedoms that make our country so great. thank you to your families too. everybody join me in giving them a round of applause. as president bush has rightly said, our country can never fully repay our veterans, but we ought to try. and because of the support that president and mrs. bush, we're here to talk about how to do that. i thank them both for their leadership. today we've brought together leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to discuss where progress has been made and addressing military employment and where there are still challenges to overcome. we'll hear from americans of our military -- members of the military and their families and we'll hear about their struggles and triumph as they navigate to civilian life. we'll get a first look at the road map created by the bush institute in hiring our heroes. the road map serves as a guide for the men and women of our military as they seek meaningful, long term employment as civilians. we know that securing military -- meaningful, long term employment and experiencing a successful transition from military to civilian life go hand in hand. our fellow citizens have answered the call to support our veterans and military families with opportunity. over the past five years, over 2,000 businesses who are part of the three coalitions in this room hiring our heroes, the 100,000 jobs coalition led by jpmorgan chase, black stone as well as organizations like bank of america have committed to hiring veterans. our government partners at the v.a., the department of labor and the pentagon have made successful employment transition a top priority by providing new programs, resources and partnerships. we have seen the emergence of nonprofits like hiring our heroes and american corporate partners and hire heroes usa to name just a few. this collective effort is paying off. we see that in improved hiring and employment rates. while there have been many successes, there is still work to be done. it's too early to declare victory. we must sustain the attention, resources and effort we have begun to give this critical issue. we must leverage the lessons and best practices as we address the gaps that remain and better focus our efforts going forward. we all know that our veterans are an experienced and valuable group of individuals. we know that sometimes translating their experience in a way that leads to a job can be challenging. employers often struggle to understand the skills, experiences, strengths and challenges they have. this is called the civilian military divide. that's why it's important to include military families in our discussion, military spouses are the first line of support for the veterans and are the backbone of the family while the service member is deployed or returning to civilian life. today we'll hear about their unique challenges and how their employment is a key component to the family's financial stability and overall wellness. we believe that helping members of the military and their families successfully transition to civilian life is part of our national responsibility. not only because it's the right thing to do, but because it's good for our economy and our national security. thank you again for joining us today and your commitment to providing job opportunities and financial stability to our veterans and military families. i look forward to our conversations ahead and to the ongoing work to support the men and women who have volunteered to protect our country. now, it's my pleasure to introduce our partner for today's event. my good friend, the mighty president and ceo of the u.s. chamber of commerce, tom donahue. >> thank you very much, margaret. good morning, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the chamber and our hall of flags. if you can look up at the ceiling one time, you will see the history of the opening of the western world. if you look at the flags, they're the flags of the great explorers and we have many of them here with us today. margaret was a very effective leader of the chamber's foundation that was the home for all that we're doing in hiring our heroes. we had to let her go so that she could go to texas and help the president and it's worked out very well for all of us. the center and its military service has been a strong partner to the u.s. chamber's foundation hiring our heroes. we couldn't be prouder of our hiring our heroes program and all the good work that it's done and continues to do. it was build around a pretty simple idea. if we could honor the men and women who have served our country, by connecting them with good jobs and putting them on fulfilling career paths, we would be doing something highly significant. there was and there remains a real need for these efforts as nearly a million service members transitioned out to active duty into the civilian workforce in the next year. eric ebersol and his growing team -- he keeps hiring everybody in town, have done a great job advancing this mission. state and local chambers have rallied to it. helping to drive a nationwide movement. leaders in the private and public sector and businesses of every size have lined up to support this mission. they have given their time, their money and their commitment to hiring veterans and military spouses. one of our strongest partners is capital one, which has been instrumental in our hiring 500,000 heroes campaign and its success. i'm pleased to announce that as of last week the campaign has reached its goal over a half a million veterans and military spouses have found jobs through this initiative. and stay tuned we're going -- [ applause ] stay tuned, because we're going to top it. the companies have committed to hiring another 200,000 veterans and spouses. it's a remarkable milestone, but the truth is that is never really been a hard sell. when employers do the math, they see that hiring these heros is not only the right thing to do for our country. it's the smart thing to do for their business. so we're going to keep the momentum going. we look forward to working with all of you and making this a much bigger program in the future. ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special guest today. to help us kick off our program. president george w. bush is a leading champion for this generation of american heroes. as a commander in chief, he supported our troops and their families in ways large and small. in private and in public. and continuing to honor and support those who have served our country remains a central part of his life after the white house. both for him and mrs. bush. please join me in welcoming the 43rd president of the united states, the honorable george w. bush. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. tom, i'm -- it's nice to be back here. kind of. [ laughter ] i'm very proud to join efforts with the u.s. chamber and especially to be able to honor their hiring the heroes program which as you just heard has been effective. it takes a lot to drag laura and me back to the swamp. i mean, you know, being a grandparent is pretty comfortable. by the way, our grand child is the smartest grandchild in america. i -- but supporting our vets is really important and i'm honored to be back here to do so. i know the secretary of labor will be here pretty soon. i want to thank him for coming. i want to thank jim nicholson, former secretary of the veterans affairs, a key member of my cabinet, for being here. admiral sandy winfield, united states navy. vice chairman of the joint chiefs. thank you for your service. i want to thank the active duty members and vets who are here. if you'd stand up, i need to look at you. there you go. thank you all. of course you heard from margaret so we poached margaret from the chamber. prior to that, she was the secretary of education. did a really good job. and she is helping us at the bush center there on the campus at smu in dallas, texas, to foster smart policy and to take action to help change people's lives. that's what i think the post presidency ought to be about. like margaret, laura and i who by the way is here, who you will hear from shortly, we're still passionate about education reform. you know, i ran for governor for texas and because of education, i remember calling up my mother. i said, mother, i want to run against anne richards. because i believe so strongly in education reform. she said you're not going to win. gee, mom. so at the bush center, we defend accountability in our public schools and we're helping principals become the leaders they should be. we believe women will lead the freedom move. -- movement in the middle east. i believe that freedom is a universal right. i believe freedom is the only way for peace. and i believe women will lead the movement and therefore, we're helping women in tunisia and egypt become leaders to help change those societies for the sake of peace. we're working with presidential libraries. there are good assets in our part of the world called presidential libraries. lbjs. 41s. 42s and 43s. that would be dad, clinton and me. along with lyndon johnson. so we launched a presidential leadership scholars program. now, here's what we did. we take talented professionals from all over the country, all walks of life, all fields of work and we've developed a curriculum that will sharpen their leadership skills by using case studies at each presidential library. those who have served in our military have a special knack for leadership. and a special place in my heart. you know, i'm asked a lot, do you miss being president? i miss some things about being president. i miss having a shower on an airplane. i miss the pastry chef. i miss the people with whom i served. i don't miss much else. i'm comfortable in my life. but there is one thing i miss hand is -- and that is looking in the eyes of the men and the women who volunteer to serve our country and saluting them. i miss being the commander in chief of our great nation. and so i have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to helping our vets, to helping those with whom i was honored to serve. after 9/11, you know, as a vietnam era guy it is really startling to think back about the response by our country after 9/11. when millions volunteered and now they're coming home. and they're trying to re-enter society. over the next five years, one million brave men and women will complete their military service and return to civilian life and the question is, can we help them? in a meaningful way. they face challenges different from the battlefield. some feel misunderstood or underappreciated. too many desperately so. they struggle to find the right kind of help for their specific situation. and they rate higher than the rest of the country, post 9/11 vets have trouble finding careers. so the bush institute initiative is helping americans better understand the veterans, more effectively support the veterans and take advantage of the opportunity to employ our veterans. that is our mission. it is led by army colonel miguel howell, special operator and fine man who you will hear from later on. as well as being helped by a marine. matt amadont. i'm pleased to report they get along pretty well. i want to thank those of you who have helped miguel and matt get our program started. one such stage, a dear friend of mine, is general pete pace. the 16th chairman of the joint chief of staffs and the charge of the advisory committee. fortunately, pete is one of these kind of guys who does not believe in retirement. once a marine, always a marine. general, it's good to see you. our war started with this realization -- support for our troops since 9/11 has been overwhelming, but we haven't asked many important questions like who are the vets? what do they need? so in an effort to better know our veterans and understand how to help them, the bush center partnered with the institute of veterans and military families at syracuse university. we completed one of the most comprehensive studies conducted on post 9/11 vets. we learned some hopeful things. 82% of the post 9/11 vets said they'd recommend military service to someone considering signing up. and when asked if they're proud of their service, 94% said yes. we found some troubling statistics. 84% of the veterans say that the american public has little awareness of the challenges facing them and their families. it turns out most americans agree. 71% of americans said they do not understand the problems facing our veterans. we call this the civilian military divide. one lesson of our research is that the divide is exasperated that the veteran is either a hero or to be pitied. most veterans don't consider themselves heroes or victims. they see themselves as americans who took on a tough job and did it well. they don't want lavish celebrations. or expressions of condolences. well, never hurts to say thanks. that's not really the point. what most veterans want is to have their service understood and appreciated for what it is. a values that prepare them to succeed in civilian life. americans when they came back from vietnam were treated shabby. no matter opinions about that war or not. the treatment of our vets was disgraceful. a shameful period. 9/11 has been a healthy debate on the war as it should be, but americans have put political views aside and strongly support our troops and vets. more than 45,000 not for profit organizations in our country, have a mission at least partly related to serving veterans. it's a big number and it's a ;)r great testament to our country's strong support for our veterans, but it can be overwhelming for newly returned veterans looking for help and while these organizations have good intentions, some deliver better results than others. so, the bush institute has undertaken a project to help measure the effectiveness of these ngos. we studied data, and outcomes produced. to help refine our analysis, we conducted case studies on some of the leading and effective organization. we released toolkits at organizations and funders can use to achieve higher standards and match good intentions with good results. our study revealed that post 9/11 veterans face even higher rates of unemployment than their civilian counterparts and that's a top concern. most of the effective veterans serving non-profits have recognized and are responding to that priority. in addition to the chambers hiring our heroes program ably led by eric, we're joined by hire the heroes usa and american corporate partners. i want to thank you for all you're doing. the unploim problems especially intense for younger veterans, enlisted veterans without certification and women. and sadly the costs of unemployment are not only financial. studies show that veterans without a steady job are more susceptible to other problems like depression, addiction, homelessness, and suicide. we've studied and analyzed the most significant barriers to veteran employment. one problem is that veterans and employers both have a hard time translating military experience. there's a language barrier. say a person applies for a job and on the form there it says skill set and he says sniper. likely the vice president of human relations is going to say we don't need one this year. [ laughter ] had that person put on the application form that i've had a lot of experience dealing with pressure, that i'm a team player, i'm loyal to a cause greater than self, i understand how to follow instructions, i'm a responsible citizen, that vice president more likely would say that's the kind of person we want working for us. i've employed a lot of people, some argue too many, during my time. but what i've learned is that skills are teachable, but what matters most is the character of the human being. the values, the work ethic, and that sense of personal responsibility, and this is what our veterans bring. and this is what all of us in this room are going to help our employers understand. when a resume says united states military, to me, it says you can count on the applicant to be loyal, disciplined, a team player, and a proven leader. across our country businesses are recognizing that hiring the heros, hiring the veterans is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. part of our mission at the bush center is to call attention to those folks. many companies have innovative programs and some of them are here. by the way, we're not only talking about vets. we're talking about their spouses as well. i'm going to give a shout-out to 7-eleven, bank of america, black stone, jpmorgan chase, uber, usaa, and walmart. there are a lot of other companies, there's no question about it, but these are the ones that have come to our attention with innovative programs that are more than just a program. they're actually providing work that lasts and we thank them for that. bank of america is a company that understands hiring vets is more than a moral imperative. it is good for the bottom line. i want to talk about sergeant kyle white. he took advantage of the g.i. bill. he graduated with a degree in finance from unc charlotte. he got hired by merrill lynch as a product specialist. i don't know what that means. anyway, what he calls himself is a product sergeant. every day at the office he brings to bear what he calls the bag of skills that he learned in the military. i met him there in dallas. he came. you might have heard from him, about him. he's a medal of honor winner. he's one of these men who put his life on the line to save his buddies. he talked to me about the challenges he faced transitioning. he had what was then diagnosed as ptsd. the symptoms of post-traumatic stress can be tough on veterans and their families. another problem is there's a stigma attached with pts. partly because it is mislabeled a disorder. and partly because many people aren't aware of the treatment options some veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress are reluctant to seek help. as a result of this misunderstanding, pts is another barrier to employment, and something that we're trying to help the employers understand to make the results on the job front even better. most doctors will tell you post-traumatic stress is not a disorder. it's an injury that can result in the experience of battle. it's treatable. and the military and medical communities have made progress in developing effective ways to deal with pts. so therefore at the bush center we're starting an effort to drop the "d" to help people better understand that we're talking about an injury. we want to make sure that the vets retrieving -- receiving treatment are not viewed as damaged goods. they're not mentally shattered. they're people who got hurt. employers would not hesitate to hire a talented employee getting treatment for high blood pressure or recovering from a broken arm. they should not hesitate to hire a vet being treated for pts. one of the leaders in this area is general pete corelli. he was the head of the army when i was president. he's a good man. he's on our advisory council. he's made it his mission to spread the word about the science behind pts and the medical treatment veterans can receive. bush center we work with pioneering programs like pete's one mind, nyu cohen military family clinic, the national intrepid center of excellence and others to address challenges caused by pts. our goal is to eliminate the invisible wounds of war as barriers to employment and empower our vets to realize their full potential and therefore empower our country. to help veterans overcome the obstacles to employment and find the resources they need and navigate the complicated path to meaningful civil careers, today we're releasing the veteran employment transition road map. as the military would say, vet road map. we developed it in partnership with hiring our heros. starting this morning veterans can download it for free at bushcenter.org. the road map breaks down the job search into three clear phases. it outlines essential steps and provides vetted resources designed to help veterans succeed and lead as civilians. our vets have taken on the toughest tasks imaginable, and now it's our turn to continue to help. laura and i are thrilled to be here. we thank you for your efforts. there's no doubt in my mind we can succeed. god bless. [ applause ] a look now at the veterans' affairs department plans to consolidate its private healthcare programs. they recently held a hearing to examine the goal to improve veterans' access to treatment and increase their healthcare services. witnesses include deputy v.a. secretary sloan gibson and v.a. undersecretary for health dr. david shulkin. they were involved by

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