Transcripts For CSPAN3 Role Of The First Lady 20140712

This program is about an hour and 20 minutes. It is such an honor, pleasure to be back in little rock, the rock. And here at president clintons president ial library. It is an honor for me to be on the stage with these extraordinary women. You are going to be fascinated with everything they have to say. I also want to thank bob beatty for the partnership and putting on all of this wonderful informational conference that you have been experiencing. I experience a bit of it last night, and it has been invaluable. I have had great opportunity, as many of my colleagues have, to visit your library and they all are extraordinary, offering such a special slice of American History. We have all served in a very similar capacity for our first ladies. Each of us have brought a very different but woven in the same cloth perspective on the first ladys role in history. And i hope that today you walk away with a new understanding of that role and how it played a very important part in our American History. I would go through and do the individual biographies of all of these wonderful women, but i think that you will learn more about them as we get right into the meat of the questions. But let me do say this, that it was better able beth able, the youngest serving social secretary. [applause] she beat me by two years. Just two years so that goes right off of the page of my biography. But it is an honor to be on the stage with these extraordinary women. Let me jump right into asking them questions, and then we are going to reach out to you. Please begin to think about fascinating, engaging questions that you would like to ask of our panelists. Let me begin with the woman who mentored me before i started in the privileged post as a social secretary and working for the fabulous Hillary Rodham clinton, a daughter also of arkansas. With anne stock. Anne, can you give us your, an impression of Hillary Clinton as first lady, something unique that may be many of our audience members may not be aware of . Well, she has the best belly laugh of anyone i know. I am not kidding. When she laughs, you can hear it reverberating off the wall. But seriously, she has a wonderful sense of humor. The other thing i didnt see when i was reading things about her during the campaign was how much she cares about her friends and is always trying to do special things for them. Have parties, invite them in for tea. Go see someone who is sick. One of her friends was sick for a year, she went every couple weeks to see her. I know those sounds like small things but it surprised me because there was a warmth and a humanness that i do not think you saw come through in pictures. This warm personality that took over the white house. I would say sense of humor, her determination and her caring for friends and for others, especially children. Beth, was there Something Special about mrs. Johnson you can share . She, uh. I have the set the stage. Mrs. Johnson moved into the white house at a difficult time. The clintons moved into the white house after a triumphant campaign and a huge inaugural and parades and so forth. The johnsons moved into the white house after tragedy in dallas that killed president kennedy. That was something that both the president and mrs. Johnson were very sensitive to. I remember mrs. Johnson saying if linden could pull down all the stars in the sky and make a necklace for jackie, he would make it happen. She was constantly asked, when would she be moving into the white house . And she said, there are not a lot of things i can do for mrs. Kennedy, but at least i can serve her convenience. They were a couple weeks before they moved into the white house. Mrs. Kennedy asked the johnsons if she could continue running the nursery school. Anyway, the kennedys were running a nursery school. For the little ones. And the johnsons said, lease continue that, as long as it is convenient for you. That was the so they moved into a house that was covered in black crepe. So it was not the way one would choose to move into that beautiful house. Maria, you have an interesting perspective on that as well, because the Ford Administration began under the resignation. So would you like to offer background on that . Well, mrs. Ford was not in any hurry to move into the white house. She did not relish it. She had been in washington for many years when jerry was a leader in congress. So she knew what she was getting into, but she also was concerned about the children and they were older but not that much older. And so she took her sweet time getting there, but once she got in and got her feet wet, by the end of his term, she just really would have been very happy to stay on. I think a lot of people felt that way. I think in the fall, i will digress a little bit. Shut me up when you want to. Go ahead. Im fascinated. In fall, 1976, the president ial campaign you saw all of these keep bettys husband in the white house. This pleased her. This was a woman who had been unknown three years before. And as i said, she did not relish the position that what she realized what she could do and speaking out on the issues that were of concern to her, she made some controversial moves, but she always had the president s support for that. A lot of those things moved on to become part of her legacy. The Betty Ford Center in particular. And the problem with breast cancer. I know im eternally grateful to her. I was a woman that took Early Detection and it saved my life. Its hard to say how many millions of people she saved. I think that is what she was the proudest of is her years at the white house. Didnt she also support the era early on . Oh definitely. It is the most interesting part. I will shut up. Was when morley safer did the 60 minutes interview with her and he led off with asking her what she would do if susan had an affair. Shes only 17. They did not ask questions like that. She was taken aback. Then she said, i would talk with her and counsel for and help her make her decision. And safer said, you would not cover out of the house . She said, of course not. He went on to ask some personal questions of her. And i wont bore you with them, but she held her ground and stood up to him, but the mail at the white house after that was justhorrendous. People had turned against here. This was 1976. 40 years ago when she was really up front on all these things. And somebody asked the president , what did you think of what you heard about your wifes comments . And he said, i figured we lost 10 million votes. After i read what she said, i knew we lost 20 million. Anyway, i wonder myself what some of the earlier first ladies would have thought if their privacy was completely blown away. There was no privacy. This had not been the case. Ok. That is an interesting question is first ladies are conveyed in a certain way through the media. Is there, do you think, an aspect of mrs. Bush that did not get conveyed through her official activities . Well, i think that the media is going to print. Mrs. Bush did something at the end of the administration in october, she invited 20 historians to the state floor where her chief of staff and the curator spoke about her call bushmans and she had a private lunch and for them in the private residence and toured the lincoln bedroom. Each of the historians that write about present at first ladies, shouldnt they hear from her what her competence had been over the last 8 years . That was a special event. I think to this day, i believe the people that are writing, reflect on that day she had them into the private residence. They are the ones that will be writing about her. I think mrs. Johnson had a big advantage as a first lady moving into the white house because he was a journalism major at the university of texas. In fact, when she wanted to it would be involved with her beautification project. He called her old journalism professor and said, do you have anybody that you might recommend to come out and work for me . And he had the perfect person, and she got on the train. As she was there through the johnsons time. And we still see here at lots of johnson events. She was an invaluable. That journalism degree. She was not, she considered the press, they were friends. They did lots of trips together. They followed her onto the space program. And just added so much to her life as she did to theirs. Technology, the new technology in the white house. We had a little snafu with iphones going into the first state dinner. So technology is interesting in how it is used with the first lady and with folks going into the white house. You can generally take pictures, but for some state dinners we have folks check their iphones. And we cannot get pictures out prior to what we want to release. Which i think is interesting and the press does not love that. Its been interesting the Way Technology has changed very fast. Is there an aspect of mrs. Obama that does not get conveyed to the media that is a boisterous laugh or i worked on the obama president ial campaign as the finance director. I worked more with the president. The first lady was wonderful in doing fundraising events, but after i became social secretary, i was not really working with her. Shes so warm. If any of you met her, she gave you a hug and warm smile. You are like mom. She is very conscientious with your time and her time as she is very direct in what she wants to do. Asks opinions, but she knows where she wants to go, whether it be doing events, doing policy initiatives, which is very refreshing and wonderful. Theres no wishywashy with her. That is something that may not be conveyed in the press. What is your role in the office of the first lady demand of you that you had no expectations that it would . We talked about this a little bit, but i think you know youre going to work 24 7, but you do not know what that means until you get there. And you are working 24 7. I tell the story that i think is indicative of how hard you work and how the you are there all the time. We are doing Christmas Parties and we are two weeks into it. And if you who read about the holidays halfway through i got sick on a saturday night and i started a big dinner and i went home. Knocked on the door. Steward answered the door. Go upstairs. Ill run you a bath. I hear this voice on the third floor. My son goes, mom, suck it up and quick whining. You chose to do this. I quit whining and i went back to 24 7. The one thing we would agree on is the social office is the center of putting all of the events together with the exception of private oval office appointments. You are literally doing, helping conceptualize events, mediating between disputing, warring factions who want one way or another, trying to have that would be stephanie who wanted it one way. But we learned to coexist. Until bruce would weigh in with something else. But i think you come to respect what everybody in the white house does. When you think about it, you literally are working with the Vice President s office, the National Security council, with the political office, with the press office, with every constituency in the white house and then the dnc and rnc and state department, all of the cabinet agencies, but you are trying to bring all that together. And the way things move now with events, you are may be lucky if you have 24 to 48, 72 hours to put something together. So i think, the 24 7, and im sure it is even worse, easier with technology but harder because you are never off. Menu also have the residence staff at some point saying, we cannot we do not have the manpower. Too much overtime in one night. You have to consider the people of the house itself. I was social secretary for just one year. What i learned is that killed christmas for that year for me. I think whether you are jewish. Because you start in july. This woman passed away. Shes a master calligrapher. She was, have you thought about the holidays . Oh, labor day . Sure. No, christmas. Have you thought about what the theme is going to be . Its july. She said, we are already a month behind. For that year, i thought, let christmas be over with. You guys felt that way, too. Yes, yes, yes. Maria, were there any demands of the office he did not expect it all . The office of first lady changed considerably from when mrs. Ford was there to now. One thing that was interesting when i was there, i had previously been in the west wing. I worked with and armstrong who was our ambassador to the court of st. James. Anne was a tremendous woman. We were the only two women in the west wing and that was a little rough. We had ehrlichman and alderman. Those are some names. I meant that nicely. They were good to me. I lost my train of thought now. Sorry. But anyway, when one of the things that mrs. Ford asked me when she interviewed me for the job, because i was closing up annes office after president nixon resigned and i got a telephone call from another colleague saying, maria, mrs. Ford is looking for social secretary. I said, give me a couple of days because i have some other things i have to take care of. Thinking because part of my job with anne was to recommend people for president ial appointments. So i thought, ok, ill Start Talking with people and come up with names. My friend said, no, i am talking about you. I said, lord, no. I do not know where to begin with that job. He said, it is too late. Your name is in the hopper. With that, a few days later i got a call from mrs. Ford asking me if i wanted to be considered. And i said yes. Then it was interesting because shed been in washington, she knew everything that went on. She said one of the questions that she interviewed me three separate times. Each time for three hours. She knew exactly what the position entailed, what she was looking for. In fact, much later on she said to me, if i ever come back to the white house as other than the first lady, i would like to be social secretary. She was very sincere. But one of the questions that she asked me in these interviews was, i know, maria, that you worked in the west wing and you know a lot of the president s staff. If they start pressuring you, what are you going to do . They can play rough sometimes. I said, i can play rough. [laughter] [applause] the little bit i nkow, i know, my first state dinner, i really got whammoed by some fo the boys. The first lady always has the last word. We made it through that. Sometimes i think when youre dealing with the west wing, they do that, do i have to call the president to get this person on the guest list . I say, yes. You do. Interesting because so many times the west wingers would ask me advice about certain things that i said, lets talk with mrs. Ford. To a man, they were petrified. They did not want to go near mrs. Ford. I mentioned it to her one day and she said, i did not want to say anything to you because i did not want to frighten you. But just before you came on board we had a major blow up. The west wing was going to take over the guest list. And so she said i had to call a few of the boys into the woodshed. So that is where i got my toughness. I love it. How did you become social secretary and how did the role of social secretary function within the office of the first lady and within the white house at that time . I came to the job from the johnsons house because i had worked with them since, actually, i started that job because my husband had lied to me. Because he told me that when we got married that he was going to build his life, not like my father had, not like his stepfather had. He was going to build his life around his hobbies and his familys. And suddenly i looked up after during the campaign in 1960 and where was he . He was nowhere. He was off traveling. Doing advance trips for senator Lyndon Johnson who was then on the ticket with senator kennedy. I could not talk to anybody for 18 months. So i thought, i will go to the Democratic National committee and see if they will take on a volunteer. The Lyndon Johnson speechwriter. So i showed up, and i was not a speechwriter. I was a typist. It was a useless office because johnson only gave one speech during the whole campaign. And he gave it over and over and over again. [laughter] but there was mail coming into the dnc. To senator johnson. Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Johnson. And sometimes the mail would come into the johnson girls. And people were handling mail for the kennedys. And handling the mail for senator johnson. But nobody was doing anything with mrs. Johnsons mail. I thought, i can do that. That is easy. I was used to working with the congressional office. When the mail comes in, you answer it. I went down and got some stationary from an artist with the address on it. I. Answered the letters signed Lady Bird Johnson. And put them in the mail. I mean, it was what i should be doing. So after the election, mrs johnson called me and said that she had a present for the baby. The baby is now 50. His name is lyndon. When his brother was born, senator johnson called me in the hospital and said, i hear you had a boy. What did you name him . I told him [indiscernible] he said, too bad. If you had named him lyndon, i would have given him a cat. So we started thinking about that. We thought, we are going to have 7 or 8 children, but that sounds like a good name. The next baby was lyndon. And then i did not have any more. After he was in the white house, i was there a lot. He was always coming around with a pad or a cocktail napkin and a pen. I think this would be a good name for lyndons cat. You know a lot more about brands than i do. I told him, i guess your cat died. Its hard to see if she had any more cats. But ii was for the johnsons. I loved them. I loved them. There were tough times, but there were wonderful times. I think most first ladies spend a lot of time. I know mrs. Reagan used to have henry, the chef she would taste the food that was going to be served ahead of time to make sure it was right. When mrs. Johnson was what were her goals . What was she concentrating on as are as food and decor . She said, i have had to worry about those things for 30 years. Now, i have all of these wonderful people in this house and they do that. I can concentrate on the guest list and doing things for people. That is what she said. As you can tell these ladies , are extraordinary and have the best stories. On that note of doing things for people, i would like to hear from all of you about what special projects your first lady worked on that have left a Lasting Imprint on the white house or for us in the country. I think lets move is one. You see a lot of that and the new mesh you see a lot of nonprofits supporting that in the Childhood Health initiative. They are around the grounds. Do not let the first ladies see you eating the ice cream. It makes you think. That is something that will stay around after they are out of office. There are spinoffs now, right . I know from personal experience that many Global Leaders are planting gardens. It has really started something beyond the white house and the United States. That has been wonderful. Thank you for your help with that. What is it . We have where was that . In new york. We did farming and gardening with a lot of international spouses. It was very important. I can see the obama president ial library and that part, a garden, a Childhood Health initiative. I can see that being part of the programming. Hers involved literacy and womens health. And, military families. You would all be interested in hearing about what she did at the white house. She recognized that it was a home, a museum, a special events venue, and it had to be maintained. She thought it was important that every first lady did their part while living there. I will never forget when the head housekeeper said to me, mrs. Bush is so great. When they go out of town, she encourages us to do the deep cleaning. It is everything from the unglamorous things to painting the exterior and all of those rooms that she renovated while she was there. It makes a difference. The rooms start to get tired over time. The dining room rug that mrs. Obama replaced, that was one on her list that she did not get to. You clean it over and over and, at some point, it needs to be replaced. That was very important to her, to preserve the white house and turn it over in good shape. Mrs. Johnson is associated with beautification. It is such a sissy word. [laughter] there were two things that she did. She hated those words and could not come up with anything better. So, she started in washington, d. C. There are triangles throughout the city. They are at the entrances to the city. They are beautifully landscaped. For many years after she left washington, she used to get letters from taxi drivers, thanking her for making their job nice in the springtime when they drive in from the airport. And then, when she was back in austin, well, she had another hometown to take charge of. So, she worked on the hike and bike trail. The mayor of austin wanted to name it lady bird. The mayor and leaders of austin wanted to name it lady bird lake. She said, no. No. If you want to do that after i am dead, that is ok. Not now. After she died, they changed the name to lady bird lane. When i was down for the service for mrs. Johnson. The final goodbye. And, when her body was taken from the Memorial Service to the ranch, there were people lined up on the roadway. It was about an hours drive. I will never forget this pickup truck with these carpenters. They were there and they had a big sign. It said, thank you, lady bird. There were so many people who were so grateful to her. The other thing that she always wished there was another name for was the women doers luncheons. She liked to gather a group of interesting women for lunch. She would have one person who would be the speaker. This started when she was married to the Vice President and they went on these trips, the first trips were arranged by the state department and they did not seem to know anything to do with the wife and the Vice President except send her to an orphanage or school. Or, a hospital. So, that first trip that mrs. Johnson came back from, she was just horrified. She said, you know, i am taking taken into these places and the press is with me. We are bringing all kinds of germs in there to these sick people. The next trip was later onto an trip was to iran, an entirely different place. But, she said, i would like to meet interesting women. The ambassadors wife invited the first woman lawyer. She had written her marriage contract. There were a couple of doctors at the university. There was a woman who had been there was a woman who had a boutique in tehran. She was a designer. They were a Wonderful Group of people. I was in this group. An embassy wife came over and said to the woman i was talking to, who i think was the dean of the university, she said what , does your husband do . This woman pulled herself up and said, i am here because of what i do and not because of what my husband does. [laughter] [applause] that is great. Well, every spring, i drive in washington and i think Lady Bird Johnson for the tulips, the trees, the parks, because they make me smile. Hillary did a number of policy related things. What will always stand out is what started in arkansas, empowering women and girls, youth, underserved, and emerging leaders. She never stopped or stop when she has never stopped. When she was first lady, she took 84 trips to all kinds of countries. One thing she was insistent on was that every trip, she meet with women and girls. She did a meeting on microcredit loans that started in arkansas. One of the things we laughed about when she was secretary of state is that the if the state department had only listened to what she was talking about from 19932000. They would have been in better shape when she was secretary of state. They had to ramp up again. She did 112 trips as secretary of state and, every single trip, they had an important meeting to empower women and girls. It could be with the heads of state. She did a lot of behind the scenes talks and talked about how they are not going to be able to compete in the modern day world. She talked behind the scenes to leaders about how they had to compete in the modern day world. This is something that she is consistently passionate about. Not one specific project. Has been a passion of hers her whole life. She has not only never backed off of it, she looks at what other people need to do to empower girls. She has led the way. From my point of view, looking at all of the policies and the arts preservation of the house. Think about the house. It is a worldclass museum. It is National Park number one. All of the things that she did to further that. She put in a sculpture garden. She made it nonsmoking. Part of that was to make sure that she was protecting the priceless antiques in treasures in the white house. I think all of the people have said that, if you look at every piece of the white house, you make sure that you are leaving it better than you found it and it is a trust that the American People give you that they need to take care of. We can talk about a lot of things. Empowering women and girls is the most important accomplishment. It started right here in arkansas. Mrs. Ford was very adamant about showcasing the white house. She was adamant about showcasing everything american in the white house. We were there in the bicentennial year. It brought it more to the forefront. She always felt that we had wonderful crafts and wonderful antiques. She came up with the idea of having a theme for every state dinner. Because it was the bicentennial, it felt like there was a state dinner every other week. It was not quite that often. It was often. We began with him for emperor hirohito and the king of france. We went to various museums. One of my favorite dinners was president and mrs. Sadat. It was a beautiful dinner. It was the first time an egyptian leader had came to the United States in many years. Prior to his being in office, they had no relationships there. For president sadat, we went to the Amon Carter Museum and asked them if we could borrow some of the remington and russell sculptures. The ford knew that president loved everything about the American West and early america. To our great surprise, they lent us almost the entire collection and we ended up using the smaller pieces as centerpieces on the dining table for the dinner. Then, we scattered them throughout the house. The only person who gave us a hard time was the president. He had bronco in his office. Mrs. Ford said, if we do not have bronco, we will look at. Bad. We have all these other pieces. Mr. Ford said i want it back in the office immediately after dinner and he was watching. We built so many wonderful relationships with different museums. I remember the man who is the king of jordan now was at Deerfield Academy and he and his brother were docents there. He told everything we did about it. It was a nice experience in a nice way to show up america. It was a nice experience and a nice way to show off america. Everything was american. The food, the lights, the entertainment. It got to be interesting. That was what she was keenly interested in. We were not at the white house that long. But it was a very enjoyable time. If many of young know that, after the president leaves office, a lot of furniture is auctioned off. That changed. That changed with mrs. Kennedy thank the lord. , she began trying to get things back. She established the White House Historical association. Right. It was not her. President johnson made that in law. That the president could not just round up and take things with him. Some things did filter back through the years. So. Maria continues to look at the last maria continues that work at that historical association. We are grateful for all that you do there. Thank you. My pleasure. Let me open it up to the audience and ask anyone here if they have a question for the panelists. Yes . Some of your first ladies can you stand, please . Are you from a site core library . I am a writer at the first ladies library. From canton, ohio. Wonderful started during the , clinton administration. Thats right. Yes. Thank you. We would love to have her back again. Some of your first ladies have been in washington many years, like mrs. Ford and mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Clinton and mrs. Obama came from the outside. Did you see that they had a hard time acclimating themselves to that rough washington crowd . Was there a bigger ramp up than some of the other first ladies . Actually, in my interview with hillary, that is one of the things that we talked about. We were supposed to do a 20 minute interview and we did 1. 5 hours. One of the things was how to open up white house and make it it look like america while coexisting with the structure in washington, not becoming part of it. One of the things we did, early on, was small dinners of 40 or 50 people. Some from washington and others from other parts of the government. It brought people together to set the diplomatic table. To hear what people in washington are thinking about and they heard what the clintons had on their agenda. You start to build relationships. It is about relationship building. One of the things that is happening in washington is that relationships do not exist anymore. Part of it was about making sure you were bringing people together. They were quite successful and we did them a lot. Also, part of it is simple things. There are traditions that go along with the first ladies and president s year after year. And make sure that, for example, in september, when obama was running, i went to chicago and set down with mrs. Obama to go through what the traditional events that you almost have to do or the nation thinks that you are not going to be a traditional first lady. You could do some of those and take those off the table. Then you can put your stamp on the administration. The world looks to the first lady and the white house is a , pulpit that can be used for that. You have to think about what that is and, if you go and do the traditional things, you can put your own stamp on it. Lets move is a perfect and wonderful example. All of those different projects. They were very aware of that. They worked very hard to bring people together and getting to know people. I think the president and mrs. Clinton are very curious and want to know all kinds of different people. They did a good job of bringing people together. I think the obamas, much like the clintons, having children, it is keeping its the it is keeping it the peoples house. We couldve done a better job at the washington establishment. They do some dinners and some events. They tend to make it more national. They do not have dinners with historians and journalists. Washington is hard. I think having the girls in school, they have met some great folks that way. That is a unique perspective. The clintons and obamas walked in with young children. That has to be, as many has reflected, the white house serves multiple purposes and this was a place to raise your child. How do you do that with a balance . I think it was done spectacularly well. Mrs. Clinton was phenomenal and she sought out the advice of first ladies in doing that because these young ladies are growing up. These young ladies are growing up lovely. I think chelsea is fantastic, she is having a beautiful baby and we are excited. Does someone else have a question . I am sarah jenks. I am from fords theater. We interpret a first lady who was very much denigrated at the time and still today, mary lincoln. She was a strong woman at a time when there were not many. Or, at least, if they were strong, not publicly. How has the question of the role of women, which has changed so much in the last 40 years, affected your jobs as social secretaries. For instance, mrs. Obama and secretary clinton have law degrees. They are professionals in their own right and are being asked to play a role that is more traditional at the same time. I wonder if you would all speak to that. [laughter] the reason i bring it up is because im looking at the history and interpreting it. Sure. I think, obviously, mrs. Obama is brilliant. She and her husband have different styles, in the way that they work. She is raising two strong daughters and that is her primary focus right now. She is somebody that the president confides in and get s advice from. She is she can be outspoken in so many ways and is enjoying the issues that she is taking on at the first ladys office. We may see that change. Mrs. Johnson ran a television station, longdistance. When i worked for her first, i was on the payroll of the station. There is a lot of monkeying around. I needed another person working in my office. I would call my husband. I would say, can i borrow carol over the Christmas Season . She was the secretary in his office. We were just rounding. He said, sure, when do you think i could have her back . She stayed until johnson left the white house. [laughter] she stayed on the post office payroll. I bet you dollars to donuts that that is still going on. [laughter] you borrow people from other agencies and do not send them back. It is true. That does happen. When we were in the white house, it was just beginning to turn and mrs. Ford was very adamant about having women in their own rights, not because their husband was this that or the other. I know other first ladies did, mrs. Kennedy used roundtables. That, people were seated stickley by protocol. I remember Helen Bentley coming she was the head of the maritime committee. They had seated her according to her husbands rank. They all heard about it. Rightfully so. Even the introduction of the guests in the reception area i do not know if you are aware of this, when they are announced to the state dining room to be received or the president and guests, even then, just the announcing, we had to make sure that we included the list and people. That was all very new. I was very new on the job and my first was from quinn of the Washington Post, who took offense with i forget now what it was i ended up saying that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. That is how we decided that. It started and she was very careful about that in every respect to make sure that we gave women their due. To follow up on that point, one of the most important roles the president and first lady moralre they are being compasses for the country. We made sure the guest list was diverse. Ill give you an example of hillary at the state department making sure that women are part of the exchange. I was the assistant secretary. I was the assistant secretary of state for education and culture. It brings changes to the United States. When i started and hillary started, 43 of them was woman and she said, this has to go higher. Im talking empowering women and girls. That theo make sure exchange we say to countries that it has to be half man and half women. That number went to 52 . Because we insisted and lead by we wanted everybody to come, but they had to make sure women were on the delegation. If they were not, they did not come on the exchange. As an exampleer and setting an example, and having the world see and the United States see that you are setting an example for others. Another question from the audience . Yes. Tell us where you are from, as well. I am Eric Montgomery with the wilson boyhood home in augusta , georgia. Is there a secret manual hash from a social secretary to another . Do you figure it out on your own . Do not tell him. [laughter] there is not a written manual. We have a tradition that, when a new secretary comes in, the outgoing social secretary host a lunch and we talk trash. [laughter] we dont remember anything because we have line. We have wine. The thing that you know is that, it does not matter if you are a republican or democrat. Most situations are the same. That is what binds us together. Yes, there is a small written book. The incoming secretary meets with the outgoing secretary. Part of it is that it is a sorority now, with a male being part of our sorority. He is part of our sorority. He can feel free to pick up the phone and ask anybody a question. You are not going to read it in the newspaper. It is just that kind of professional wonderful , relationship. I was lucky enough when i was social secretary, we were on the phone and emailing 20 times a day. She is always so wonderful to say that the obamas may do it this way or that you could do it this way. I said just tell me what to do. , tell me the right thing to do. [laughter] she is so lovely. The other advantage the resident staff is incredible and they do not change with administrations. Whether it is the people in the kitchen, the butlers, the calligraphers, the military, they give you great support. You ask their opinion and they say, this is the way it has been done. But you can do it anyway you like. Be careful. That will get you in trouble. Do you have a perspective on that . I am sorry. I missed the question and what maria said. Her voice does not work with my hearing aid. Try me. We will come back to you. I have a great question that i am holding for you right now. I wanted to see if there was another audience yes, please speak up. Tell us where you are from, name and title. We are getting a microphone to you. Here we go. My name is sherry and i am from president hardings home. Wonderful. Im interested in the relationship between the social secretary and the first lady. Obviously, we spent a lot of time with the first lady. There has to be a line between are you friends, acquaintances, are you just working associates . Does the first lady confide in you at all . There has got to be a very high level of trust, obviously. The johnsons adopted their staff as family. I do not know that was the tradition with other administrations. It was part of their personality. For me, i had worked on the campaign and came from a different perspective. When i was asked to be social secretary, i was working at another agency and doing something entirely different. International trade. The president asked me to go to the Reelection Campaign just before they left for the holidays in 2010. I said, do you think i am doing a bad job as social secretary . He said, no. I want you to go do what you did before. I said, ok, what are you going to say to mrs. Obama . He said, i got this. Dont worry. [laughter] they came back from hawaii and i got summoned to the residents. And he had not told her. She was like, so, i hear you are going to the campaign. [laughter] so, for myself and the obamas, we are friends. We work together. I do not consider myself family. You may feel different with the bushes. I met the president and mrs. Bush in 1988. I developed a friendship before he became president. We developed a relationship long before he became president. So, i had a relationship. One thing that is interesting about the job is that you work where they live. By virtue of your job, you see them for large portions of the day, into the evening. It is natural that you are so close to them and there is a great proximity. You often get a call to run through what was good and what could have been improved. Part of it is the proximity and working where they are living. I had a different situation and i think it was harder for me for the six months, because i did not work on the campaign and did not know the staff coming to the white house. I had met the first lady in an interview and met president clinton here. The first six months, for me luckily, i had worked in the white house before. I knew the white house. But the first six months, for me, were learning a staff and building a trust. Part of it was not a mistrust, but i did not work on the campaign and i had to overcome not working in the campaign and i can still do the job. Does that make sense . Not with her. More with staff. You are friends and staff. It goes back and forth. It is just an amazing experience to work for them. On the heels of those comments, i had a different perspective. I worked on the campaign back in the day when we do not have cell phones, beepers, or pagers. You were running and hustling. My fondest memories were of the 1992 campaign. You see the blackandwhite photographs and it brings a well of memories back to me. I worked closely with her. At the time everybody want to governor,show, the and i wanted to work for this amazing first lady, america upon americas top 100 lawyers. I was almost fired. On the first day i was out there on the road, i was doing an advanced job. I was sent to louisiana and i was standing there. I was getting the motorcade in order. We were at this airport. I was supposed to greet mrs. Rodham. And, escort her to the car. We had the secretary of state, Mary Landrieu and alston johnson. I am standing there and in my Brooks Brothers suit. Im waiting for her to arrive. Im excited because everything is in perfect order. A man goes, hey, lady, who are you waiting for . I said i am waiting for mrs. Rodham, the first lady of arkansas. He said, no planes are landing here today. We sent them all over to the other airport. I was like, what . [laughter] i said, everybody get in the car. Run we were racing over because she was set to land in two minutes. It is a good thing that shreveport is about two minutes long. We get over there and wait. Alston johnson, stephanie knows him well. Theaid im going to tell governor all about you and i will have you fired. On dont even have a watch trade you dont even know what time it is. [laughter] a parade of other things happen throughout the day. They told us at this event i had to bring a box. I did not know what was. So, i bunched up all of the microphones and i put a big bow around that. I thought, doesnt that look pretty . She walked up to the microphone and looked at this bunch, this flower, this bouquet of microphones. She looked back at me and i said, i know that i am fired. [laughter] gratefully, her plane broke down and she could not fly out. I got to spend an hour with her in the vip lounge. Just chatting her up. I convinced her that i was fabulous. [laughter] we had this great exchange. Getting to know her, i felt like that was the seed of my relationship was planted. Watching myself onto this woman and i am never letting go. I have not, 20 years later. Was special to all of us when we ran the white house. She knew the second i was pregnant and we were sitting by the pool. She said you have something to , tell me. I said, how do you know. She said, dont worry. We will work this out. I know you want to continue doing what youre doing. I need you to continue doing what you are doing. But i want you to enjoy this time and be a good mom. While i was pregnant, i would work late at night with state visits and state dinners. She would send over a platter of broccoli, because you need full folic acid. When he was born, she let my mom come in. There are pictures of my mom with him and a carriage on the south grounds. She set up a crib so i could go up and be nursing him and taking care of them. She is uniquely special that way. It was not just me. She did this for so many. We were all popping out babies for some reason. We were all having babies. The speechwriter had twins. The speechwriter had twins and she gave us all special treatment. Tell them about her inaugural ballgown. I dont want to tell that story. It makes me look like a dodo. There is a special way you enter the white house. It is called the wave system. It is called waves. Im not sure what it stands for. It is called waves. To gain access to the white house, you need to be waved in. All president s, before they move in, stay at the guest house, the blair house. It is a treasure in our government. I was at the blair house after the inauguration. I did not go to the hill. I was getting everything organized and i want to personally carry the gown to the white house. I did not want it to get lost. Pennsylvania avenue had traffic. I was dodging traffic, carrying this dress. I do not know why i thought this was a good idea. [laughter] i get to the gate. I get to the northwest gate. Said, i have the first ladys gonna need to come in. The secret service is looking at me like, and, so . You are not on the access list. I said, ok. I start waving. [laughter] i saw mike, and he is like, hi. I am like, i am waving to go in. Meanwhile, everybody else was going in. It was like, what do i have to do here . It finally dawned on me that was not going to give me access to the white house. Finally, somebody came out and had me cleared so that i could bring her her dress. It got lost. We had to find it. When you walk into the white house, it is so immense. You think, how will i ever figure this out . By the time you leave, it is so small. We need another room. Special times. Special relationships. Another question . Over here. Good morning. Thank you so much for the exciting panel. I am mary ann p, National Park Service Superintendent for the Adams Historical park. Was the first lady to move into the white house. We celebrate that every day. I have a curious question. What about weddings at the white house. I know the johnson girls were married in the white house. Nixon girls, around the time nixon was president. Could you speak to theat . This is about weddings at the white house. It was a wonderful experience. So, i did not have a wedding, myself. My husband and i. E. Loped. Eloped. Sband and i while, we would be talking about something that might or could happen. She would say, what did you and tyler do. I remember, you did not do anything. [laughter] there were two entirely different weddings. Lucy wanted to be sure her dress was perfect. Not envision or imagine a dress fitting her. We went to priscilla of boston, who made wedding dresses. Priscilla was wonderful. Dress. Ed out a Liz Carpenter who was mrs. Johnsons press secretary, took on the job of trying to keep lucys dress a secret. Lucy did not want pat or anybody else to know what she was wearing until she walked down the aisle. Peopleere a lot of making that difficult. One night, one night, i got a call from the president. He had, i think, david nowitzky was with him that evening and he was the head of the international ladys garment workers union. He had come to the president because he was hurt that lucys dress was made in a nonunion shop. [laughter] the president is calling me at if theres a, mistake to be made on this wedding, it is because you did not think of it. [laughter] there were other mistakes to come. [laughter] but, uh, i said, i will talk to priscilla and im sure we will work something out. Im sure well work something out that will make you both happy. The next morning, i called priscilla and explained the situation. She said, it is not a problem. I promise you that there is a bridal house in the same building as my work room and my office. I have already to her and we are going to make another dress and it will have a union label. We will send you both dresses. What you do with them is up to you. I clipped the union label out of one dress and sewed it in. [laughter] [applause] brides are supposed to wear, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. [laughter] lindas wedding was much easier. [laughter] it all happened in the white house. She worked with Geoffery Beene on the dress. He also made the bridesmaids dresses. I have a wedding story. Married ingot crawford, texas. She wanted something small and away from the limelight of the white house. The imitations went out in the mail. Mrs. Bush called me and said, i think we have a problem. She said, crawford is so small. Even very few relatives are being invited. As you know, the bushes have an enormous family. She said, we will need to have a separate reception. It was a private event at the white house a month after jenna was married. We had a reception where she was able to invite the more extended family and School Teachers she had taught with. And her husbands family. They recreated the wedding cake and the flowers. We all agreed that she should not wear her wedding down because it was a reception. We kind of recreated the event at the white house for the reception. It was a lovely event. Many numbers. We did a wedding in the white house. It was secretary clintons brother. Tony got married to nicole boxer, the daughter of barbara boxer. The only the biggest challenge was that it was working through the bride and the senator. There was always a discussion with the bride and a discussion with the senator. Then, the discussion back to us. We finally got it all together. They did a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wedding. Probablyse garden was with probably 500 people. Dinner and dancing in the east afterwards. Hillary wanted her brother to be married in the rose garden. It was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. It was the negotiating was something i had not bargained for. Another question from the audience . Yes. Tom schwartz at the Herbert Hoover museum. We are currently having a first lady exhibit. I want to thank my colleagues for their cooperation helping make it a terrific exhibit. One of the stars of the show is 1929 custombuilt cadillac. She broke convention by driving herself, she did not use a chauffeur or driver. By all written accounts of people who were passengers with her in her motoring exploits, they said she had a lead foot. The newspapers criticized her for being undignified and driving herself around town and passengers without an escort. Others saw that as an example of an independent spirit. So, i am wondering what kind of guilty pleasure the first ladies may have exercised that defied convention. Here, i have specifically in mind the iconic photo of mrs. Ford. I think in the cabinet room. What is this . There is a photo that is widely circulated of mrs. Ford on top of the cabinet table in the cabinet room. I will never forgive david kennerly. What happened, this was taken shortly after the election. I remember mrs. Ford saying to me, everybody around here is with their head down and moping around. I thought there had to be something to cheer them up and get them out of the doldrums. She said, we were Walking Around and i found a table. I jumped up and started doing a dance. Kennerly prompted it a bit. He was very close to the fords. He was like a son to them. Him and davideft loved the president and first lady very much. The photographers gremlins got the best of him. I remember mrs. Ford saying to me, i guess i should not have done that. [laughter] she did not say, i am sorry. Kennerly insisted or she wanted to do it. It is one of the most popular photographs. A beautiful photo. She was a Martha Graham dancer. Yes, she was. Anyone else . Guilty pleasures . I do not think i should comment on that right now. [laughter] i do not think any of us should. One thing that we did enjoy is scheduling meetings. They were also a time to try new goodies from the kitchen. The chef would bring out a variety of tasty treats that we would indulge in. That was during the scheduling meetings. I remember hillary coming in with a stack of letters and a yellow legal pad with 50 things on it. We all had to go out and do. I had a guilty pleasure with every state dinner. I always did the seating for the state dinner a few hours before because some people had to cancel or we added people. I would close the door in my office. The people in my office would make these round discs. We had little arrows with everybodys name. We had the president s table and mrs. Fords table. The cabinet people would host a table. I would go through the list and i would do this because i knew almost everybody coming for the state dinner. It was the official party traveling with the president. You knew them almost by rank. I remember one day in particular. I would laugh. The door to my office would be shut. My staff said, we could hear you howling. You are getting your revenge. [laughter] night, the Ford Foundation had their meeting. I saw general schoolcraft, who was the National Security advisor. The most capable and beautiful man ever. Whenever i had a difficult person, i would always put him at his table. Kissinger was something else. Dinner, iarticular think it was a french dinner. For some reason, there was a person very high up who had taken real offense against someone at the Washington Post had taken a real offensive against this woman. They were doing this campaign against this woman. It was almost like annihilation. I got to feeling sorry for the woman. She did not need me to feel sorry for her. Believe me. I thought, ok. I will sit her at scocrofts table. I will seek the washington lady and put the general between the two. When he came out of that dinner , the poor guy was reeling. He looked at me and he said, thanks. [laughter] he remembered that. We talked about that the other night. Ok. I am getting the lets wrap it up sign. Unfortunately because this has been a wonderful time. On behalf of the clinton president ial center, i want to thank our esteemed panel. They hold a revered position, like their first ladies, in our nations history. These are unique stories only they can tell. I want to thank you all very much. [applause] you are watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To join the onversation, like us facebook. 40 years ago, the watergate scandal led to the only resignation of an american president. Throughout this month and early august, American History tv revisits 1974 and the final weeks of the nixon administration. This week, here the Supreme Court oral argument as the Watergate Special prosecutor contests the president s claim of executive privilege over his over office recordings. The president may be right in how he reads the constitution. But he may also be wrong. If he is wrong, who is there to tell him so . Thehere is no one, then president , of course, is free to pursue his course of erroneous interpretations. What then becomes of our constitutional form of government . Watergate 40 years later, sunday night at 8 00 eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Baseball does strike me, i dont want to get metaphysical about this. Thes a good sport to be National Pastime of a democratic nation because democracy is about compromise and settling. You dont get everything you want. Baseball is like that. There is a lot of losing in baseball. Every team that goes to spring training knows it will. Win and lose 60 games they have a whole season to sort out the middle 42. If you win 10 out of 20 games, you are mediocre. 89 games, you have a good chance of playing in october. George will on his latest book and the recent controversy surrounding one of his columns sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q a. By this time of the war, a lot of soldiers have been away from home three or four years. They were getting letters saying the farm is falling to pieces. We have patrollers in the area taking supplies, when are you going to come home . There is a large problem of desertions at this time. They were not desertions from soldiers not wanting to go into battle. Their heartstrings were being pulled by their families needing them back home. Lee impost was a fairly strict set of orders that deserters would be sometimes shot. There were several occurrences of this happening. Morale was so low about this time Les Miserables came out in book form. Several confederate troops are in a richmond shop. They saw it on a shelf. He said it is lees miserables. At 6 00 and 10 00 eastern on American History tv on cspan3. , next on American History tv the president ial historian gives scholars a preview of his manuscript in progress when the world seemed new. The director of the center for president ial history at Southern Methodist university responds to critics of his manuscript and answers questions posed by his colleagues, the audience, and andrew card, who served as George H W Bushs deputy chief of staff. This event is called a manuscript review. It was suggested about 10 years ago. Nelson said, it is a great conference, but you need something to tie the room together. Why dont you have a leading scholar come in and present a manuscript in progress and really bring some of the leading