Knowing some very well, like my own motherinlaw, or one that i admired very much, is that we benefit, our country benefits by whatever our first ladys interests are. She is the wife of one president and daughterinlaw of another. Laura welch bush became first lady after a controversial election brought her husband, george w. Bush, to the white house. Less than nine months later came the 9 11 attacks while she helped comfort the nation with education, literacy and womens health. Welcome to cspans series, first ladies. Tonight, well tell you the story of the wife of our 43rd president. Here to do that are two people who know her well. Ann is a laura bush biographer. Her 2000 book the tells the story of her as she covered her since 2001. Welcome. Mark is a president ial historian, the author of several books about the presidency and is working on one about the relationship between president s bush 41 and 43. In your biography, you refer to the role of a job of first lady as, this is a quote, the most bizarre volunteer job in the world. Whatever thoughts and we heard laura bush talk about having her motherinlaw as a role model, whatever thoughts you might have had about how she would perform the role of first lady were upended september 11th. She talked about that day. Id like you to watch that then have you come back and talk about how she responded to that and how it redefined what her years as first lady would be. I was on my way to capitol hill to brief the Senate Education committee on Early Childhood education. Id hosted a summit on Early Childhood education that summer and i was going to brief that committee on Early Childhood education when i was getting into the car and my agent, secret service agent, leaned over to me and said, a plane has just flown into the world trade center. And we went ahead to the capitol. We got in the car. We just assumed as we started driving, that it was just a some strange, you know, accident. So, but by the time we got to the capitol, we knew the second plane had hit and we knew what it was. How did you leave . Well, the secret service came to get me and said its time to, at first, they were thinking they will take me back to the white house and so they, they had to regroup and figure out where i should go because obviously people at the white house were getting, the staff at the white house was getting the word to run and people who, in my office, young women, who worked for me, were kicking off their high heels and running from the white house. And i know they expected to have glamorous, really interesting jobs a at the white house and no one ever thought they would have to run from the white house like they did. So any way, the secret service came to get me and senator greg and kennedy walked me out to the door then i drove0n0ngp to the i went, really, was the secret service . the girls and then of course my mother was the one i really wanted to call because i wanted my mother to say everything is going to be all right. And of course i called her and said everything is going to be all right and i wanted her to say certainly is. Ann, how did she respond . How did she redefine her role after that day . I was with her that day because i was covering her for the Washington Post and so there was some confusion initially, as to whether anyone was going to disappear or speak or anything then the hearing was suspended but then she and senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press who were there. And i can remember looking at her and when she, was always remarkably composed, but she twisted her fingers at her side when shes struggling with something that ogec clearly ver dramatic and i remember thinking, she is wise enough, her motherinlaw was in this white house. She knows her life has change nd this moment and she said in that moment, what really, she came to say over and over again, which is you know i think we just have to make sure we tell children that we love them and that america is a strong country and that well get through this. It was spontaneous and sincere. Very much in keeping with her as a librarian and teacher. I think she dedicated herself to that. But things were very different immediately. In fact, laura bush wrote a letter to the children of america the day after 9 11 and heres some of what it said. 6 ur jjrj r t hahp hc muchfnr i care about you. Be tind to each other, take care of each other and show you love for each other. Mark, as a nation, we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe since the attack on pearl harbor. There wasnt a role model for this. What do americans want from the white house, from their president and firstrr] lady, i times of extreme National Crisis like this . Were fortunate in our country, there are many moments where we have in place the right person for the right moment. She was the right first lady for that moment. We didnt know what to do after this. We didnt know how to react to that. One of the things she said and sheepjl mentioned this in the c you just showed. She said comfort your children. Go out there, reach out to your kids. They want you right now. They need you right now. And i think that helped us to get through this very trying moment. You know, laura bush is the very picture of eck wii. Shes texas strong. Theres a strength that imnaemas from her and we benefitted from having her in the white house during that period. That tech connection is where were going next as we learn more about her life. Both bushs say that to know them, you must know midland, texas. So where was laura welch born and tell us about her Early Childhood. Its west texas. It is boom and bust oil country. It is the kind of place that you can see it from miles away. Shimmers like oz from 30 miles away. Her father was a builder. And her mother was a homemaker. Her mother came from texas Strong Female stock. Her mother had managed a dairy farm when her grandfather was away and i think it is very much a place of who she was. And gave her a sense of strength about the land and the prairie and doing for yourself. I can remember when i went there the first time, people were talking about crying. They say they cried, a friend said when she moved from western pennsylvania having been educated at smith and her husband came back so were going to move out tehc and make our fortune in oil and she said, whats it like . He said, well, let me say theres a town nearby called no trees. Ox3 then her friend, jan, who introduced her to george bush, say she came home from thm well, shes an only child, so i think thats also always insulate ng a way. a lonely existence and there werent a lot of folks who came in from the outside. Or when they did and they came into the oil business, it took them a little time to get adjusted. Think that it, people had their own ways of being and their own you raised hell in odessa, but raised your kids in midland. She went to the episcopal church. People also depended on each other and had to because it could be harsh. Midland today has a large hispanic population, as much of texas does. What was it like when laura was growing up . Well, i cant really speak exactly as to how it was then. There were three different high schools and when they all got together for a reunion, when the bu bushs were in the white house, nobody even really remembered about the high school and invite so many kids from that. I dont think it was a matter of overt separation as much as within a certain class of people. There was almost an obliviousness. Even when i went back there to do reporting, i was going across town to do an interview, what are you doing that for. So many ways, people kept to their own ways and that had its own shaping. When she went off to smu, she said they didnt necessarily have remembrance of Martin Luther king and some of the race riots going on. I think they were the sock hops and there was sodas at the drive in. Were going to put the parents names on the i; jy her father was harold bruce welch. Died in 1995. And her mother was born in 1999 and is still very much alive. In car crash in midland, texas and resulted in the tet of a close friend of hers. She wrote about it in her book and spoke about that in a recent interview, lets listen. Mrs. Bush, you write and spoken from the heart about difficult period, november 1963. And a loss of faith. Your faith. Why . Well, i was in a a car wreck. I wrote about a extensively in my book. Folh and the whole time i was in the hospital, not injured, really. I mean i had a cut on my leg and a brokenxkli ankle. I was praying that a the other person in the car would be okay. And the other person in the car was one of my best friends. Which i didnt know. I didnt really recognize that. At the site of the crash. His father came up. They lived just passed where the corner where the car was and if recognized his father but didnt understand that was mike that was there and i think because i prayed over and over and over for him to be okay then he wasnt, you know, i thought well, that, nobody listened, god was not[5xn listening. My prayer wasnt answered. So i went through really a very long time of not believing. And not believing that prayers could be answered. And it took me a long time, really, and a lot of growing up to come back to faith. The car wreck shaped her in what way . I think what she has said about it and mentioned to me ooz up when youre young and you expect that the world is going to be a attained that maturity any way, but it came to her quickly. I think that she is an emp thetic person by nature and i think it probably made her less judge mental about other people. In a way that we dont often see in washington. I think she is much more given to thinking people may have interior backgrounds and things that shape them that we dont know. So i think that that has certainly made her the kind of person. I think she worried more about her own daughters. Husband because she had seen at instant, miscalculation, can change everything. Her faith. Wouldo;o you spend a little tim talking about faith and George P Bush . Sure. Let me just mention though, one of the things she said in the interview i did with her, she sort of grew up out of that experience and there are things that happened in your life that you cant change and you have to experience, while very formative for a young girl in midland, texas, waswtj very helpful to h in the days after jke9 11. She had seen the role that faith can that fate can play, and realized that you have to move on. You have to be strong, you have to move on. So i think its very helpful. I think faith plays a great role in both of their lives. Ej it changed his life in a will the of w she is less i think vocal about her religious faith than he is. Shes a little bit more low key about it. But i think its important to both of their lives. From smu and teaching and said she wanted to go on to the university of texas and get a library of science degree and she said her father said, now well never get her a husband. To go on and get her masters degree when many people thought if you went to college at all, it was for an mrs degree. And then she very purposefully moved into a part of east side and taught at an almost entirely spanishspeaking school. And in a very dedicated fashion, deliberately chose this school where she thought she could have impact helping kids learn to read and fell as if they were exposed to other kinds of parts of life they werent getting. And, you know, i think thats a part thats a part thats really important and that she maintains to this day. I want to tell you how you can be involved in the program. There are three ways you can do it. We have a robust conversation going on facebook. If you go to see cspan Facebook Page youll see the picture of laura bush and join the conversation there. You can also tweet us using the twitter handle at first ladies, the address at first ladies and well mix as may tweets as we can. And you can call us. Use the oldfashioned telephone and be part of the conversation. Wed like to hear your voice. There are two phone lines. If you leave in the eastern and central time zone. The number is 2025853880, if you live in the mountain pacific time zones or farther west, 205853881 and well get your calls adjust a little bit. A question from twitter, someone named muppetsfan1968 asked i have a question about laura bush was she always a republican . Well let me just start off by saying im not a fan of the muppets but i will answer the question. They have their movie coming out. Everyone is a fan of the muppets. No, i think she supported eugene mccarthy. I think she was a card carrying democrat for many years. And i think she married into a republican family and loves her husbane pe pe pe pe p in his judgment and i think supported his platform. But, no, she is not a natural republican. Before we leave the midland days one set of relationships that has carried her through her entire life a group girlfriends that she made in midland how important are they to her, what do they provide for her and she for them . I think both she and the president have a very strong set of friends who have been their friends forever. And that has been a really sustaining aspect for them. They come to washington, its best to import your own friends. They have been with you at the beginning and, you know where they stand and, you know that they trust you and you have their loyalty. And she particularly has always treasured going off with them and did that even when she was in the white house once a year, they would go have these trips where they would go rafting in the wild and they would kind of care for each other and you noted they are mostly progressive democrats, this group of girlfriends, what clue should they give us about her own politics . Well, you know, its interesting i think that she as mark said i think that she loves her husband. And shes very loyal to her husband and one of the things that i have come to admire and appreciate about laura bush that she has navigated this bizarre volunteer job in the aftermath, is to find areas of commonality with people with whom she might find differences. So she would campaign for republicans for instance but i saw her once change a speech in, you know, script because the person who she was campaigning for, she was not going to attack a Texas Democrat this person was running against in that specific way. I think that she has things that are very interesting to her with her friends. You know, they care about literature, care about the book festival, shes very much of an avid conservationist and environmentalist. And so she finds those ways. Shes pretty active in womens rights and taking those things on. I think that that set of friends you referenced from midland, texas, really kept them grounded too and i think that theres a people who knew them when. And i think that gave them great comfort when they were in the white house and both of the bushes talk about the story of bringing their friends in. And president bush having his pals in the oval office. And one of his friends looks in and says, gosh, bush can you believe it . Im in the oval office. They looked at george, like and youre in the oval office, you know, and they sort of did bush i think are both very selfdeprecating and that and having that circle of friends around again gave him great comfort during the stresses of the white house. Laura welch and george bush were both Young Persons in midland, texas, did they ever meet as children . They did not actually. They attended the same schools but she says that she doesnt recall him and they didnt, then i think she knew who he was after a time. He was a roustabout, you know, from a good family and a wellknown family certainly in midland and at one point, they lived in the same building at the chateau in houston. But i think she thought he was a bit carousing so hes had other pursuits and then her friends from midland fixed them up and they were both, she was 30 and he i guess was about the same age. Yes. He was ready to settle down and they got engaged and married very quickly, you know in three months. Thats one thing that i wanted to ask you about because this is a portrait you both have painted of a woman, a librarian who is very orderly. A very measured and she did something rather impetuous, marrying after four months of meeting someone. How does she describe that very brief courtship in the decision to marry so quickly after she met george w. Bush . Okay, shes had a lot of suitors in her life but none of them quite clicked in and in texas at the time, she talks about her feeling like kind of an old maid. And, you know, by texas standards she probably was and then here comes this guy george bush who was so different from her in so many respects and yet so complementary. They really clicked, and so it was somewhat uncharacteristic that she would be sort of swept up in this romance. One thing that she talks about is that they went out on the campaign trail right after they got married. George bush campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in congress in west texas. And they got to know each other so well on the campaign trail. Theyd have these endless hours of driving around the plains of west texas talking about their lives and i think that really helped their marriage begin on the right footing. Janice harold wants to know more, what attracted laura to george, she asks on twitter, they seemed so different in their younger years. Well, she always said that he made her laugh, you know, and she said she wanted somebody who would make her laugh. I mean again, she had grown up and in some ways sort of only lonely child. She didnt have a brother or sister. Her mother had had some miscarriages. I think she really longed to have a sibling and she really liked his boisterous kind of cutup nature. And he wanted someone who was steady, you know, laura steady down and i think that i see that in them still and you can never know whats in someone elses marriage. But i was struck when i saw them recently on the tonight show. He said something and she sort of tossed her head back and kind of giggled and laughed and i think they still have that bond that he is funny. One of the great moments i think for her during her first, you know, in her tenure as first lady is when she was at the white house for the Correspondents Dinner, you know, i think it was 2005 and she took the podium in place of her husband and talked about the fact that he goes to bed at 9 00 and she stays up to watch desperate housewives and says i am a desperate housewife. You know, they just have this great rapport and again they can sort of read each other and its very sweet. Jane is watching us in killeen, texas and youre on the air, hi, jane. Caller hi, good evening, well is it true that lauras interest in afghanistan actually began in the sixth grade . Ive never heard that. Can you tell me a little bit more about that . Its in her book i cant give you the page number but she had to write a report on a country and she and her father mr. Welch went to th