Good evening. Have the honor of being executive director of Ronald Reagan president ial foundation. I am John Heubusch and i thank you for coming this evening. Hon. Men and women in uniform who defend our freedom around the world if you would stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Before we get started there are a few people in the audience i would like to make sure we are recognized today and i begin with the former first lady of the state of california gayle wilson. [applause] we also have with us the Vice President of Strategic Communications for general electric. Gary . [applause] tonight is a special night as we have with us a very special group of students from around the country. 20 Reagan Foundation scholarship winners and their families. Please stand. [applause] they will be attending the university this fall, one of this countrys greatest companies and one of its greatest president s, thank you for coming. People often ask me whether there is a criterion for someone who speaks at the reagan library. Has many of the regulars no, we have posted a wide joy ryan the of political figures, some of International Importance and some who were president of the United States. We also see candidates for the presidency such as the 4 country dwell that will be here for the president ial primary and the. We also host important book authors, people who shaped the course of the nation. One thing some of these people have in common is an important connection to president reagan in one way or the other. Today we have with us correction carlson, Gretchen Carlson, in some recognizable figure in america. Cheese important given she helps to inform the opinions of millions of people around the world. In addition to her fame, her career and her very persona have a great deal, with our full refund president. How is that . There is a theory i have, one type of life and success of Ronald Reagan that is not much talked about but is most certainly true and that is i believe that people underestimate the value of underestimation and i think this is something Gretchen Carlson would agree with that let me explain. Ronald reagan got very far in life and became one of our countrys greatest president s for a lot of reasons. He was smart, he had lots of talent, he was a great communicator and had not moral compass that helped him determine right from wrong. One thing he had going for him is people often underestimated him. This served to his benefit many times. See if you remember some of these. He was a be rated movie actor, someone not serious enough to be taken for president. He was too conservative to be elected to national office. He wasnt smart enough, he came from hollywood, he shouldnt be taken seriously. The list goes on and on. All of these concerns about Ronald Reagan led many people, his critics, is enemies, opponents for Public Office to just plain underestimate him every single day. I know he didnt that these criticisms affect him. In fact i think he enjoyed the underestimation. And often allowed him to beat expectations and succeed in whatever he chose to accomplish in his life. Gretchen carlson is a perfect example like president reagan of someone who succeeded beyond while this dreams and the expectations of others because she too has been underestimated her whole life. Gretchen carlson has done well for herself, she calls it the bimbo factor. What are some of the catcalls she has experienced. This quintessential dumb blonde. She is just not smart enough. Never mind the fact that she graduated from Stanford University with honors and studied at oxford. She is the miss america type, literally. Dont take her seriously please nevermind the fact that she has succeeded in winning that contest from an organization that is to this day the Worlds Largest provider of academic scholarships solely for women. Talent counts for half of the score. I know this to be absolutely true. I was a judge for the miss America Pageant and i can tell you i would have voted for her hands down. Talent. What talent. She was trained as a classical violinist and to this day can play with just about any orchestra she might choose. I am not exactly sure how management or board rooms or society at large made decisions to promote her but it is the fact that like Ronald Reagan she has become a tremendous success in great part because she has been constantly underestimated every step of the way. I have a feeling that is fine by her. She has used it to work even harder and importantly to reach out to others who like her have dreams of their own. It is her story that provides key inspiration they might need to succeed as well so they isnt gentlemen, if you would, please join me in welcoming to the stage at coiGretchen Carlson. Gretchen carlson. Reporter i love that analogy to Ronald Reagan. Overwhelming and nostalgia for me because i had the opportunity to meet president reagan in lenovo office when i was miss america, probably the promised day of my year as miss america. I will never forget what he said to me. In new i was a student at stanford. He said that place has really gotten liberal. I was able to say to him when i came to stanford from a small town in minnesota i had just turned 18 and it was the first time he was running for president and i got to vote in the president ial election for Ronald Reagan. [applause] people may know me from television but here are a couple things they may not know. I am 100 swedish. I was a high school valedictorian. I grew up in the halloween capital of the world in minnesota. I am not the shortest miss america ever. I hate putting on makeup when im not at work, i dont know how to type, i dont know how to parallel park. I cant whistle. I grew up the chubby teen which i will get to. When i was a little girl before i had braces i could fit this finger between my two front teeth. Why did i want to write getting real . I wanted people to know the real me. Sometimes people get impressions of Television Personalities that and not completely accurate. They never had any problems, never had any struggles, they got that golden phone call from new york one day, want to come to new york can be a star . It never happened that way for me. The real me, the child who was a concert violinist from the age of 6, the young woman who took on the challenge of but not us to try to become miss america, the Television Journalist for 25 years, the mother of two whod just like so many other women with their work inside a home or outside struggle with that concept of having it all, a woman guided by her faith and my mother who always told me it night after she said my prayers to me, you know you can be anything you want to be in this world and i believed her. I knew with a tremendous amount of hard work and perseverance and pitfalls along the way that that was possible, that that the American Dream was alive and well for me. Recently in reporting the news on a daily basis in the last ten years fewer people actually believe in the American Dream than before and that is sad to need. I wanted to write this book to let people know that if the rest of the little girl from a small town in minnesota who plays a mean filing could unexpectedly become miss america and have her own tv show on the National Scene for 25 years later, if i can do a a want you to get your list of things to do that has been sitting there for a long time and feel inspired for you to be able to do it as well. Here is what i tell my kids now in an excerpt from my book about working hard. We all have some luck in our lives but i dont tell my children maybe you will get lucky. I tell them to work hard and study and give every challenge theyre all. I make sure they understand what it means to have strong values and strive to do the right thing. My dream as a young girl was to play the violin on the worlds stage. No one told me i wasnt good enough or skinny enough or any other enough, my life stretched out ahead of me full of possibilities and i lived with the everpresent idea that i could do anything if i set my mind to it and was true to myself. In life what we learned, the failures and pitfalls actually built our character and made stronger people land appreciates success that much more. I was a chubby fact teen. In retrospect that was a blessing. When it forced me to do was build my selfesteem from the inside of my soul and not worry about the next year and is that a great life lesson for young people today in 2015. Social media and technology and photoshoping, unrealized expectations of trying to be perfect. We need to go back to that idea of building who we are from our soul. My favorite hobby today as back then was to eat. I love it. My favorite thing to do. I still struggle with my weight today, it is just that i know how to deal with it a little bit better. When i was a kid i didnt care. My mom was a gourmet cook. That cannot help matters. This hole spread of food and she would leave the house and leave me with my baby sitter, congresswomen Michele Bachman of minnesota and she would say do not eat any of the doughnuts that i made or any of the chocolate chip cookies or beefs do and foreshore dont let her drink any great soda. The minute the door would close michele would look at me and go lets go for it. It was during her share period when she babysat me. Her hair went down here and i idolized her for her beauty even then. Hard to believe she is ten years older than me but we grew up in the same count and she was my baby sitter. My mom would come home and say who ate all the food . When my best friend was with me i would point to her, it was her, the only problem was molly kept getting thinner and i kept getting rounder. Remember levis genes or corduroys for those of regeneration . Why would they put the waist size and the height size on the back for everyone to see . I would immediately get out the sharky and cross it off. My wastes size would actually be a higher number than my height sides. What finally changed me to want to lose weight . It was a boy. Tenth grade. I overheard the High School Senior who i like that you know, shes a really great girl but i cant date her because she is too fast. That day i finally went on a diet and i lost 35 pounds. I didnt go on a date with him after. For me it was the violin and that is where i build myself up. I want to share with you the conundrum i had in my life growing up, lucky to have fill me cultivate. And how to live a double life. This is for much after the 9 titles sparkles, the nickname my grandfather gave me. My heart was beating in my throat. My hands felt clammy. Waiting in the wings for my name to be announced by closed my eyes and repeated the words to the lords prayer once again. At 13 i was about to give the biggest performance of my life. The Minnesota Orchestra was on stage at orchestra hall playing a rousing piece for the common man, the music was fastpaced and uplifting. I was up next to play a solo, the First Movement of the symphony. A rush of cold air came at me and i became the long walk across the stage, violin in hand. I was a chubby girl, awkward in my floor length white dress but on that day i was a Concert Artist who would lead the orchestra in a performance. The audience rose to its feet, and i heard bravo, bravo. It went on forever when i returned twice more for encore. It was a thrilling moment and then it was over. Normal life resumed. I changed out of my white dress and my mom drove me to school. I got there in time for math class and lucky for me there was a test. My fellow students had no clue where i had been that day. To them i was just one of the kids. They didnt understand the other me, the one who just performed at 13 with the Minnesota Orchestra. That is what i thought i was going to do in my life. And baath everything changed because i just liked too many other things. A famous Concert Artist, i would have to give up Everything Else in my life. It would have to be tunnel vision. I went to my parents and told the my wanted to quit. They were devastated. Because of the immense commitment that i had put into is this for my first 17 years. My parents promise to come up with another way in which to use this talent to achieve some sort of other gold. In the meantime i went to Stanford University and concentrated on my academics, a phone call for my mom and she said i found something for you to try. I said what . She said i got a brochure in the mail. It is from love miss America Pageant. 50 of the contestants points are based on talent and they interview you, they want smart people, i think you should try it this. I said i you nuts . Remember, i grew up the chubby kid, i was a tomboy, i was much happier playing army and football with my brothers than anything else. I didnt watch pageants. She said i think you might be able to try this. Lets say my mom is a motivational person and over time she convinced me to try this. I was a total novice. If you havent noticed, i am short. I was from the state of minnesota that wasnt known as a great pageant stage. I played the classical violin. It had never won and still never has again. My own grandfather was a lutheran minister in town, gave me my religious hard work ethic and he even said to me, i know you are fantastic granddaughter but you are never going to be miss america. Why not . He said because you are too short. I went to the library before the internet and looked up and found the first miss america ever, margaret gorman, bless her heart, 5 foot 1. Hi went to my grandfather and i said even your words are not always gots words. I have 21 2 inches on her. I left stanford to accomplish this dream and i told no one. When i went to tell the dean at stanford the guy was trying to go home, to try to become miss america she looked at me and said that is the stupidest thing ive ever heard. So i went home in silence and went back to my violin and worked out like crazy and studied everything i could get my hands on for the interview. When i got to the competition in Atlantic City there was this guy who had become well known for doing this Computer Program and he would pick his top ten based on dumb things. Like hair color, what state you are from, how tall you were, what your talent was. On the morning of the pageant it is published and i am no where in any of his predictions. I will never forget my mom coming to the lobby, she was shaking me saying you can do this. You have worked so hard. Forget that computer guy. You know what happened at the next year . The computer guy was out of business and he is quoted in my book as saying these contestants keep getting more talented and more smart. It is too hard to predict who is going to win. Becoming, miss america is this wonderful achievement i had worked so hard on but i have to tell you that it was a shocking revelation very soon after about how people would just try to take you down because. Almost as if my entire resume evaporated overnight. At first in the first couple hours on is dubbed the smart miss america. This is a great headline. This will be a good year for me. That lasted just a matter of hours. I went to my First Press Conference in new york city and another female reporter, a wellknown reported deliberately tried to take me down and give me a test. She asked me who is on the 50 bill, what year did the vietnam war end, and finally have you ever done drugs and have you ever had sex . At which point the entire new york press corps booed her and the two report is from minnesota in the front row passed out. They were like whoa it is true, by the way. They couldnt believe, i couldnt believe she treated me with such disrespect. I learned right then and there i was going to develop some tough skin that year. It didnt stop there. I had a really famous celebrity judge, William Goldman who i just found out also judge in 1994 why did and ask him back . Wait till you hear what he did to me. He directed. And the sundance kid, the princess bride, wellknown dive. He decided to write a book about me the year after he judge. And here is what he said, published in 1990. I say this. It is a good thing i didnt know about the book until later because it might have taken my confidential to read page after page about my inadequacies wrapped around the title he gave me, miss piggy. He also called me and god cluster because i set my faith was important to me. To goldman i was chunky at 108 pounds. Too chunky to make the top ten. He seemed downright offended that talent should surpass the score and didnt much care for my violin performance which he referred to as fiddling. He admitted to favoring miss colorado, still his criticism of me throughout the book was a little over the top. His identification of me and the other women in the pageant was demeaning. Rereading it recently, i was surprised to find that it still stunned. I was embarrassed, even ashamed. It made me realize shaming is a potent force. For decades, i hid my feelings because it was so be the ruling but i certainly have no reason to feel that way. Now i understand this kind of degrading talk is what keeps young women from being full the themselves or even trying. Knowing yourself, not letting your detracted get you down is the message of my book. Miss america toughened my skin and i needed that when i bought to fox news. Before i get to that i want to share with you why i have great empathy for anyone who has ever been fired or lost their job because it happened to me too. A week after i got married, in cleveland, ohio, we were part of the revolutionary two female 1813, the first to do local news with two women at 6 00, and 11 00 and it didnt work out. I got called to the general Managers Office the week after my honeymoon and here is an excerpt. My instincts were correct, the two female anchor concept isnt working, he told me bluntly. Unfortunately we dont have another position for you at the station based on your current salary. Oh, my stomach cliched as i realized my worst fears were being realized. What is going to happen to the broadcast, i asked. Denise is saying on and we are replacing you with a man, he replied. Then he added now that you are married you will be fine. I was too stunned to respond but later those words, now that you are married you will be ok that upset me. I was so disappointed that after i had spent four years at his station he still had no idea who i was. I was a professional who dedicated years to establish in my career and he had brushed me off with a gratuitous remark. I had never heard about man losing his job and being told dont worry, you are married, you will be okay. My career had zero to do with whether or not my husband also worked. It had everything to do with personal identity, personal goals and making the most of my life. Again, another example of for years i never spoke publicly about being fired. I was too embarrassed and too ashamed. It was a huge failure. But i tells this story openly in the book because i want to help people get back on their feet and to know that i have been there. So i give advice in the book, mainly to get close to every Family Member even if you are at bad terms his your going to need the. Network with every person you have ever known in your whole life, not even your own career paths. Call every person you have ever known. End be willing to take a job that may not be the job you really want. You might have to take a step back. And then you got to work triply hard at it. And that is how you get back in the game and that is what i did this is the second year of my marriage i spent away from my husband and moved to dallas and she stayed in cleveland. Mack to getting to fox news and the thick skin being miss america and being used that the cyci coin a phrase in the book, reach the bimbo trifecta. Former miss america, blog fox news host, i can joy about it because it doesnt take a Rocket Scientist to understand labels have more to do with silly attitudes and stereotypes and who i am or whether i am smart. Isil scratch my head trying to figure out how being blond became synonymous with being dumb or some people assume attractive women are not smart but i dont waste my brain cells trying to figure these things out. When people dont like what you have to say and dont want to debate you on the smart ideas of the day it is easier to call you dumb blonde from fox news. I remember the park bench in central park and i call my mom and cried my eyes out. I said you know how much i have always wanted to have kids. That is sometimes a silent struggle that many couples have had. So i wanted wanted to share our struggle with that. We have been blessed with two children, i call it my miracle family in the book. What comes with that is the idea for men and women of having it all. I say that i in the book that it is a bit of a curse. Curse. Whether you work in the home or out of the home, lets face it thats an expectation that puts immense pressure on women and it ultimately makes us feel like failures. Heres what i say. These days, there is an ongoing debate whether women can have it all and i have been asked that question time again. In fact, the first time was at the ms. America pageant. I America Pageant. I was the only contestant who said no. I didnt mean that women shouldnt fully pursue their dreams, only that we need to be honest with ourselves, im a person who likes to give 100 to everything i do. I want to be the best at my job and as a mom. I realize i can only give 100 in the moment. If im at work, am i giving 100 my kids . No. If im my kids . No. If im home, and my giving 100 to fox . No. Its a balancing act but worth while as lanes we dont kid ourselves that we are not super women. My kids are ten and 12 years old. My son who is ten still lets me kiss him on the lips when i kiss him good night. My daughter is 12, shes a little sassy now. Now that now that ive been on the book to her and away from home, they like me little bit more. Want to share with you some funny stories that i note we can all share if we are lucky enough to be parents. Its really all that matters, right. The most wonderful thing about children is their great curiosity and complete honesty. I would love to capture those priceless moments in the years before they grow up and become guarded. And stop sharing every little thing that is on their mind. Even when the question brings chuckles to the adult. My daughter at three, we we would and our nightly prayers with amen. Looking confused, asking mommy, why at the end of our prayers do you say old men . Or at five mi parent 60 the anniversary, my grandma asking grandma are you going to have any more babies . [laughter] or my son at eight years old observing that he thought a woman at the pool had fake boobs. When i pick myself up off the floor and asked him what he meant, he explains well, i knew they werent real because like yours when you bend over they fall all the way down. [laughter] hers when she bent over at the pool, mom they didnt move. [laughter] he has always been bursting with curiosity, asking questions we dont necessarily always want to answer, like this time when he saw an ad to the baseball game and ask mommy, whats viagra. [laughter] so the moral of the story about my book, is through hard work and perseverance and a bunch of pitfalls along the way, i have accomplished some great dreams. I want to inspire everyone out there, young, middleaged, or old that you are never too old to continue to challenge yourself and learn. I often see the best golfers in the world, the best tennis players and they are changing their swings, do you ever noticed that . I ask myself, why would they be doing that . They doing that . They are number one at their sport. But they are doing it because they want to continue to be better. That is how i have lived my life and how i want to inspire others to live theirs. Thank you so much for having me here tonight, it has been my great pleasure. [applause]. We have a few minutes and gretchen has been kind enough to take some questions for the audience is. Contract audience. If you could come to the mic thank you. How did you get to fox . I just celebrated my ten Year Anniversary with fox this past week. [applause]. I can always remember that because i went when my son was three months old, so when he turns 10i i was like oh yeah, ten years. I was at cbs news in new york for five years before that. I started at the correspondence for cbs news. In fact i just ran into my old boss this morning at the local fox station, he is now the news director through there. Television is a tiny world. I then got promoted at cbs to do the saturday morning early show, then my contract was up and i got a call from fox. They wanted to know if i was interested in potentially coming to do a five day a week morning show. Of course fox and friends which i did for eight years. I have had the great opportunity to do my own show now in the afternoon. So that was my story and it was the best move i made. I noticed in your book you said you and your family enjoyed the traditional swedish food at the holiday. Do you still eat. Oh yes. Im 100 swedish as i mentioned. Been 100 of anything was like incredibly were so proud of that growing up in minnesota. We are the only bad thing is we had to eat all the food. Less so was actually something you could stomach. Its a potato pancake that is rolled out, it actually has no taste and elaborate with butter and sugar and roll it up like sugar. I thought youre going to ask me about ludicrous. It is codfish, delicacy for swedish people during christmas time. Its christmas time. It soaked in line which is what you make so out of. You get it at the butcher shop and you have to keep it in the garage when you come home because it stinks so bad. Then you have have to cook it in a tinfoil pan because it black in setting i span you have. Just to give you a general sense and has consistency of jellyfish and it has bones in it. So you put it on your plate and douse it with melted butter or this white, pasty, glue glue like sauce. Sounds great right . My grandfather would go to these dinners at every church all across the minnesota in december and he would even every single night. So we would be like a grandpa yes we love it, its fantastic, ha. We finally developed an acquired taste for it. It was definitely something i will never forget. Since you are an insider at fox, i have a twopart question. Are you vetted across the board for truth . Everything you say is it checked out to see correct . You mean are other people checking us out like the newspapers. Im sure they are. Because i talk to people that say they dont tell the truth. Williams has a different point of view of some others that box, he has a gion at five. As far as the truth goes look, that fits into my whole narrative in the book about tractors. You cant give all of that time a day because you have to believe in yourself and what youre doing. No one is speaking in ear piece telling me what to say. Im telling people what i have learned and what i have read. I have two questions for you. In your experience have men or women been the ones who have given you harder time and how you understand that and who have your true mentors by question mark. Many times you hear or read a bout the fact that women are not nice to women in the workplace and i have been so fortunate to have amazing female role models starting with my mother. She now at 74, runs our runs our family business. I have a great role model from her and my work and personal point of view. I i had great fema bosses in the tv world. My first boss in richmond virginia, she made me the political reporter overnight. This is 26 years ago. Ago. I was one of the only women covenant covering the governor at that time. I had had no idea what i was doing at that time. She believed in the philosophy sink or swim, and she believed in me. It was influential and meet Building Confidence in what i was doing a television and believing in myself. Another woman at fox, she ended up going to work in dallas and she ended up rehiring me a year later at that job. She believed to me as well. I had also have fantastic mailboxes. One i just ran into this morning. As far as mentors, definitely those women and men who were my bosses. Most importantly, i believe so strongly now of being a mentor to young people because i had help along the way. My assistant today was my intern on fox and friends, because she had the same hard work ethic that i did, i said im hiring you. So i am a huge believer in helping young people and directing them, giving them advice, and i always say quite literally, my doors open. I feel like we live in a nation that is polarized, typically where to you consider yourself on the political spectrum . So i say the book its not going to be a surprise, im a registered registered independent, so is my husband. I think being in the News Business you have to be that. So i do see issues from both sides of the perspective done. I dont know but the gender thing but i have a sneaking suspicion that some women believe more and trying to find common ground. Some things we could work out, it bugs me that we dont get anything done on capitol hill but thats because im a doer. I know some people say we dont really want them to get things done because we dont agree with what they might get done. Ronald reagan got things done, he found a way to get things done. He found compromise. I do think we have great leaders that we should look back on and maybe try to model what they did. Washington is really broken right now, it doesnt serve any of us if theyre knackered to get anything done. By the way, we dont like any of them. The polls show of them. The polls show they only have a 13 approval rating. I feel like if we did get some things done, bipartisan way that wed have a better feeling about our country in general. Thats my personal opinion. We were wondering, zero why did you go back to school question what. It was so important for me to go back and get my degree. I did have a opportunities after ms. America zero where i wouldnt have been able to go back. The greatest joy in my life, from the scholarship money i want from was to call my parents and say i am paying for the rest of my stanford education. I went back and graduated with freshman, because i have been gone that long, the year of being with ms. America and sometime after. My degree was an automatic. Im from minnesota. Wow you really know what cold is its the ice packs of the nation, right . Wonderful congratulations to all of you. My question is i am a concert pianist, so i was wondering how you transition . I didnt play in college. I went stanford, i brought my my violin but i brought it to the locker the entire time. My parents didnt like that but i went to play for the violin teacher at stampfer. He had never heard about me because i was trying to be anonymous. So i tried to play difficult passage. I can still see the look on his face. He was like why have i not heard of you. The coasts i said thats what i wanted to be. And i took the violent back in the locker and never played it for four years. You are here at at 11 00 oclock in the morning, i get to watch you and wanted to know if the format of your show this year in september would there be any changes, different times, anything . Do know something i dont know . I dont know about any potential changes. Were always changing the format. We are another big lesson of life, always trying to improve yourself. One thing i started incorporating is this one minute is something i feel particularly passionate about, that i will give my take of the day i think were going to stick with that. Now were getting we broke news and its exciting part of doing the news every day is that it changes every day. If you want a desk job and do the same thing, dont get into tv. And then we have solid breaking news and everything goes out the window. You have to be able to just go with it and talk about stuff you really dont know that much of about and make it sound like you do. I think im going to still be at 2 00 oclock at least for the next couple of months. Other any specific points that you would give to your children about selfimage and perception that you would like to share. Just the whole idea of building their souls. There inside, for example i i never told my daughter is ms. America. Someone else finally did. She was eight years old and i was waiting for as long as i possibly could because i want her to have some weird perception of what that have or feel inadequate or feel that was something she had to attain. She came home home from school one day said mommy, someone at school so that you did some american thing. I said well now what else did they say. So then she wanted to see everything in my closet. I have my gown, it was solid beads, it weighs more than ten pounds, i have it in a shoebox because he cant really hang it up because its too heavy. On my 25th anniversary ms. America, i got this harebrained idea about five days before is going to go give a speech, maybe i could get my big toe into that thing. I called up the designer who made the dress, were still friends, do you think i could wear that thing . There is dead silence on the other end of that phone. I was like why the silence. He said well there is something called spanks now. So i mail them at this special shop on broadway where all the actors go, we put a bunch of contraptions on and i got the darn things it up and when he opened the curtain he said oh my gosh your boobs look amazing. Yeah i said ive had two kids. So thats a roundabout way of saying i want my kids to build their selfesteem from the piano, and practicing sports, and doing well and academic life, and going to church, and figuring who they are in the inside first. I gretchen,. My work husband, i run into them all the time. I still do radio with some once a week so i see them frequently. I actually go down to the same area. We keep growing so we have different floors, i still go to the same place to get my hair done in the morning so i used to joke that i would see them more times than i would see my own husband. So i missed that but i dont miss the alarm at 3 30 a. M. My kids love my new schedule, the only thing they cared about was mommy, can, can you sometimes drive us to school now. You are an inspiration. My question is the news is so horrendous today, does it ever affect you, what you have to report and what you actually think question marks. It does, and i have to be sensitive because when you have small children at home that through their eyes how about the news really is. Because sometimes when i have it it on because i have to, my 10yearold will say, will you turn that off please i can hear that. I need to be sensitive as to how much im paying attention to the news when im actually home. I will tell you about a horrible story that happening connecticut, the new town shootings have years ago and how that story has turned into a positive for our family. My daughter, in the book she gave a piano recital at nine years old, of 11 classical pieces that she wanted to do only she can help people. This was right after the newtown shootings. She researched and found out that there is a little girl whose family had set up a charity for the arts, which was fitting. She said mommy, do you think any of the kids who passed away that day loved animals . She loved animals. Lo and behold another charity was being set up to build an Animal Sanctuary in newtown. So my daughter gave us piano recital and raise 10000 for them. So we took this horrible tragedy , i have to tell you it was my proudest moment as a parent, watching this recital. Those. Those families came to the recital. They watch my daughter play the piano and now she serves on the childrens Advisory Board for that Animal Sanctuary. She is learning firsthand about what it means to get back. [applause]. We have time for one more question. Thank you so much for what you are doing. And to remind us about the dream, the passion, like do it again like ronald rikers said. Could you please share how your faith in god shaped we are today. It is it is everything. I am one of the few National News anchors who speak openly about my faith on the air, and trust me i have a lot of critics. When i came to fox, cable in and of itself is more ad lib. And we are on 247. I felt comfortable talking about it one day on fox and friends. And the reaction i got from people i might meet on the street nine times out of ten they might say thank you so much about speaking about the foundation for what you are brought up, the faith and the way you choose to live your life. [applause]. Luckily, i i grew up with a grandfather who is a minister, going to truth church was going so neat. As an adult i i have continued with those decisions, i joke now that the judge who told me i was a god pusher right now, why would he say now that my husband i Teach Sunday School together question mark i also joked that thats the one hour a week that i will actually see my husband. I think its the greatest gift you can give children along with teaching children how to get back. Thank you so much. [applause]. Book tv and reading the summer. Mike quigley tweeted im reading hamlets. Representative Brian Higgins of new york said, thanks for asking during trip back and forth from buffalo im enjoying the American Dream. Florida representative dennis ross said he is currently reading the conservative bit of heart by arthur brooke. We want to know what you are reading, tweet is that book tv, post on on her facebook wall or send us an email. Welcome to book tvs live coverage of the 15th annual National Book festival. Things were joining us today. The next nine hours you can watch and talk to some of your favorite nonfiction authors. Such authors. Such as david mccullough, tom brokaw. For the full schedule of events go to book tv. Org or you can follow us on facebook and twitter to to get schedule updates. Facebook. Com book tv and at what tv address. This is the second year in a road the National Book festival is being held indoors at the end Washington Convention center. This is after many years on the national mall. A live coverage will begin in just a minute for the history and biography news. Cokie roberts will kick off the festival with her most recent book on women and the civil war. Book tvs live coverage begins now