Watch American History tv this weekend on cspan3. Up next on American History tv on cspan3, an interview laura bush, what was your initial reaction the first time your husband said i think im going to run for president . Well, i cant really remember initially what my act reaction was. I think it was a bit slower than all of a sudden saying im going to run for president. He was governor and had been governor for one term and reelected and i slowly think we both started talking about it. He talked about it and of course other people were talking to him about it. I knew what it was like. I knew already what it would be like to run for president. I knew what it would be like to live in the white house. George and i had an advantage that only one other family has had so far, the John Quincy Adams family. Because wed seen somebody we loved in that office, and we visited him very often. We moved to washington in fact in 1987, rather, to work on president bushs campaign. And so i saw them then when they were campaigning nationwide, and they still had time to babysit barbara and jen on a saturday night when george and i would want to go out to dinner. Really that year and a half we lived in washington until president bush was elected in november of 1988. It was a wonderful bonding time for our family. It was the only time i ever lived in the same town with my inlaws. And my motherinlaw and i really had a chance to bond. Our little girls had a chance to get to know their grandparents in a way that they hadnt really because their grandfather had been Vice President for the whole part of their life. They were born in 1981 right after he was elected Vice President. So i knew really what it would be like, and my hesitation was because i knew what it would be like. I know that in politics you can be defined in a way that youre not. Thats what we saw with president bush, and it was so stressing for us in 1992 when he lost because we saw him characterized in a way that we knew he wasnt, and thats just the risk you run. And its also what you know its going to be like, i think, which makes all the difficulty of it, the difficulty of being defined in a way that youre not or being criticized by your opponents or even by your friends, you know, something that you can live with because you know thats just how it is in america. And one of it really great things about our country is that we can say whatever we want about the people who run for office. And even about our president s when theyre serving. Is it tough to develop that thick skin that you need . It is. And of course it always bothers you. But on the other hand, i know george. And i know what hes like. Just like we knew his dad. And we know what hes like as well. And so the criticisms in a lot of ways just, you know, are criticisms from people who dont know and who arent with you every day, of course, like i was with george every day. How do you grow into the first lady role . I think really it took me a long time to grow into it. I knew already. Id watched my motherinlaw which was a huge advantage as well. I knew a lot of things which were the minor things about living in the white house. I knew you needed to pick a christmas theme in march so youd be ready with the christmas decorations. I knew for the White House Christmas card you needed to start quite early especially if you wanted to use an american artist to do the art for the Christmas Card. Those were just things i already knew and it was a huge help to know those. Not only did i know how to do those things that the first lady or at least i wanted to be involved in and i was interested in but i also knew everyone that worked there. George and i knew the butlers. We knew the ushers, we knew the white house florist. We knew all the people who served there for president after president. And that was a huge advantage for us. When we moved in that very first day there were lots of hugs with the butlers and the ushers that wed known before, and of course president bush and barbara bush were with us on that first night at the white house. And all of georges brothers and sisters and my mother and barbara and jenna, all of us were in the house together that very first night. And we all knew the people there. In fact, in 1981 or 1988, rather, when President Trump was inaugurated, january of 1989 the white house florist met little barbara and jenna who were 7. And when they got too cold at the parade and they wanted to come into the white house before we had left the parade and president bush and barbara had left the parade, nancy clark, the white house florist met them at the door and took them down into the florist shop and helped to make a little bouquet for their bedrooms where they happen staying in the white house. So really for us it was a wonderful sense of security to already know everyone that worked there and to already have a friendship with them. Mrs. Bush growing up as laura welch in midland texas in the 1950s did you ever imagine the life that youve had . Never would have ever thought, you know, that id ever live in the white house, never expect today marry someone who would become president. And i think thats what happens to a lot of people. Things happen in your life that you dont expect and a lot of them are great and wonderful, and of course some are not. But i would have never expected to live at the white house. And i will have to say i was a teacher, i was a blibrarian, thats what i always want today do when i was in the second grade. I truly made my favorite thing to do, reading, into my career. And did expect that. I went to undergraduate school for an education degree and then to graduate school for library science, and thats what i did expect in my life. And thats what i wouldnt have thought would have helped when my husband became governor and then president. But actually it was really great preparation for a life in politics to have worked ipPublic Schools, taught in Public Schools and even been a public librarian. I worked for Houston Public Library for a year. It was a great advantage to know what it was like to work in schools because engication duca such an important issue both for a governor but also for president. So that was very help fool to me and then of course having read a million stories to kids in all those years was good experience i think for speech giving. In your book spoken from the heart you talk about your grandmother welch your grandmother and your mother jenna welch, and their talents and their abilities. My mother and my grandmother were both naturalists. My mother is 94. Shes alive and lives in midland, texas. Shes doing very well. I try to go out there every few weeks and see her. Shes not traveling really anymore but shes doing great. But my mother and grandmother were both naturalists. They were very, very interested in gardening. They were interested in native plants. My mother became a birdwatcher when she was my girl scout leader and we got our bird badge. None of us remember it but she really got a lifelong interest in bird watching. And that was something that informed my life, that love of outdoors, the whole idea how beautiful the Natural World is and especially native plants and the use of native plants in the landscape. So when Lady Bird Johnson was first laido of the the United States i was always proud that a texas first lady saw the beautiful of the Natural World and wanted and encouraged people to plant native plants and wild flowers on the highways both because they do the best there, because that is there natural habitat but also because theyre beautiful. And every year when they bloom im reminded of Lady Bird Johnson because i know she wanted it to be that way. When we planned the bush library we wanted our 15 acre park that surrounds the bush center to be like a Native Prairie that would have been exactly what the settlers in north texas would have found when they came through here. We worked with the Lady Bird Johnson center to develop turf grass we planted all around the bush library. Its a mixture of five native texas grasses, a grass that stays low but others as well. Three grandmas and curly mesquite. And this is first application of it as a native turf grass. It should be able to stand up to the use that a College Campus lawn would get and then also to not need to be watered and mowed very often. How did you get from msu to texas . I went to look at a number of schools with my mother. I looked at texas tech which is where my dad went, and its in lubbock, not far from midland where i grew up, and then with one of my really Good High School friends we both said lets go to smu, and thats what we decided to do. I watched a lot of smu Football Players as a High School Student and knew about smu really from its football program. And then also of course im a methodist and this is methodist school. What was it like growing up in midland, texas, in the 1950s . Well, it was a wonderful place to grow up. Its a safe and very loving community. A community you knew if you did anything wrong and some neighbors saw you they would tell on you. We were free to really go everywhere in midland. We rode our bikes to the little Shopping Center to eat lunch at the counter there, at the pharmacy drugstore. I had lots of really good friends i was with for all of those years, and im still very close to the people i grew up in midland. In fact, i hike every year and have for years with a group of four other midland friends of mine. We see each other all the time. Its really terrific now to with them because now it takes five of us to remember somebodys name. But we also know each others history. We know all of our old boyfriends, all of the same things about each other because we were in elementary and junior high and high school together. And theres great security, really, in having friends that were your friends when you were a child and having that kind of history of friendship. Georgia also grew up in midland. The bushes lived in midland until we were in the eighth grade and they took his oil Company Offshore and they moved to houston. So from Elementary School those same great friends of mine were in the first grade and second grade with georgia, and his friends that he played Little League baseball with were my friends. And we used to invite all of them to the white house, all of those friends. We had a very really festive Valentine Dinner once with those friends of ours. And one of my friends who came from that dinner had Breast Cancer and she was dying and we knew she died in april after that valentines. But it was really wonderful to have the chance to be with those friends and to know that they were our friends for our whole life, and theyd be our friends for the rest of our life. You even went hiking with that group of friends when when you were first lady. Thats right. We hiked for years before george became president , and we had entered the lottery, the concession lottery to hike in the tented camps of yosemite for about three years while george was governor, and our names were never drawn. So as soon as he was elected i called them and said guess what, we won the lottery. So in 2001 we hiked in yosemite which is one of our most Beautiful National parks. We hiked from tented camp to tented camp and we didnt really displace anybody because we were always a day ahead of the other people that came into the camp. We hiked one day before the upper camps opened. So that was really fun. We hiked in all the big national parks, yosemite and glacier and yellowstone, and zion, and denali and grand canyon. When george was president we all took our girls with us. One of my daughters was in africa working in a hospital then so she didnt get to go, but jenna did and that was a lot of fun. And so we still do that. We hiked in yellowstone this summer. Were repeating now a lot of the big parks. Weve been back to glacier and back to yellowstone, and probably not to yosemite because its just too hard for us at our age. Have you been stop asked recognized . Yes, we always do. We have one party as a fundraiser. Especially the big western parks have friends groups. And so we this summer we had a big party at the superintendents house for all the supporters of Yellowstone National park to come, and that was fun. What did you enjoy most about being texas first lady . Well, i loved being texas first lady because i loved my state. And i know my state so well having always lived here. The towns i visited when george was governor and i dont think i made it to every single county. I think there are 253 of them, but i did make it to almost everyone, and in many cases it was nostalgic, be in a part of the state i would visit with my parents when we would go on summer vacations or it would be in a part of the state where my grandmother lived in el paso, for instance, or lubbock wheren my dads mother lived. So i loved that. I also loved getting to see like you do get to see in a state that every governor and every governors spouse gets to see and that is the very best of your state and the most unlikely corners of the state. I would see the most terrific programs that texans had founded. A lot of literacy programs of course because that was a particular interest of mine but a lot of great programs that just groups, womens clubs had started to support, either Child Protective Services for protection of children who were abused or who were in foster families that needed special care or, you know, literacy programs that were founded so anyone could come in and be taught how to read. And of course in our state we have a lot of people who dont read in english and want to learn to speak english and read in english. I saw out in far west texas because youre a long way away from the biggest part of the city stha city they go around to see if people can be tested to see if they have Breast Cancer because to get into the hospital close to them is a long drive. Would you consider yourself a natural campaigner, a natural public person . I think i would now. I dont think i would have thought that to begin with. After all i am a librarian, and i would say im on introvert. Im married to an extravert, which i like. One of things i loved most about george was he loved to talk and his sense of humor. I liked that a lot. I wanted to be married to someone who could entertain me for the rest of my life, and he has for sure. But i think theres a place even for introverts in politics, and also it made me grow in a lot of ways to not be the shy person that i thought of myself as. Do you remember the first time you had to give a public speech . George i i the great joke is we had the prenup. He had promised i would never have to give a political speech, and about three months into our marriage there i was on the steps of the courthouse giving the speech because he couldnt come. With all the other candidates for the congressional race he was running for, two democrats and three republicans and george had some obligation so he couldnt come. And of course the candidates themselves were the ones who were shaking their heads to me. You know, you can do it. That was sweet. All the people on the front row people are very kind, i think, especially to the spouse of a candidate in our state. Do you still get nervous before a speech . Not that much anymore, but i also know i have to have a speech. I have to be prepared and really know what im going to talk about. And as long as i have a speech i think is a good speech im not that nervous. Laura bush, ozan only child what was it like mar yg into the bush family . It was terrific, my wish on the star always is that i wanted brothers and sisters. My mother lost several pregnancies and i knew that was their great desire, that they really wanted a lot of children, so i did, too. I wanted those brothers and sisters. But then thats what i felt like i got when i married george and got his brother and sister and their spouses, of course. And his sister and her family and one of his brothers and his family live in the washington, d. C. Area, so we saw them all the time. And theres great emotional support really in having your family Members Around when you live in the white house, and i would notice that his brother would, you know, when times were tough would call and say lets watch the game this weekend and would come, and they wouldnt talk about the politics, but george and marvin could sit and watch a game, i think, and relax in a way that only you can with your brother, with your sister. And then i worked out several times a week with my sisterinlaw margaret. She would drive in from alexandria to the white house early in the morning so we could work out together, that was really a lot of fun and also great emotional support for me. They all came to camp david with their children. They had a standing invitation, george told them. And so many times when we were going to camp david for the weekend they would come and that was a lot of fun. We went to church there at the chapel at camp david, and theyd be there with us. How important during your presidency was the ranch at camp david . Well, the ranch was very important to us, and of course we didnt go that often. I think we went almost every year that george was president and that was going to be there with them, with president bush and barbara where they were. We didnt go in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. We had not gone that summer because we were just scheduled in a way we couldnt go, and we had scheduled it for the fall, but after Hurricane Katrina we didnt go at all that year. But part of going there in the summer was just to be with them, with president bush and bar. And that emotional support you get from being with your parents especially in such a familiar location that george had gone to his whole life with his parents and with his grandparen