Transcripts For CSPAN3 First 20240704

Welcome to this program titled in her own words. This is a program for a few by flair, which stands for the First Ladies Association for research and education. My name is mayra, garden and i am so happy that youve joined us for this very interesting look at four different first ladies and there were topple responses. Before we began this afternoon, i would like to thank the institution lifetime members, american university, wandering university, the White House Historical association, the Massachusetts Historical Society and our newest and our girl lifetime institutional member, the gerald our ford president ial aisle they think the next two minutes to introduce for people who will be part of this afternoons programs. Were gonna be starting with nancy tegan smith. Nancy as former director of the president ial materials division. I think archives record administration. She has written, lectured and published on first ladies. Since the 1980 with Lady Bird Johnson, Michelle Obama and the records modern first ladies, a Founding Member and inaugural lifetime member of flare, she serves as our Vice President and dr. Diana karlyn is professor amaretto of communication at st. Louis university. And a retired professor of communication studies. At the university of kansas. She has a research and talk about first ladies for 30 years, and has written chapters on martha washington, Lady Bird Johnson, barbara bush, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Dana is also a Founding Member and inaugural lifetime member of flare, and she served the organization as our treasurer. Dr. Angela tina it is professor and chair of communications at stone hill college. Her research focuses on american womens activism spanning from the early 19th century to the current day. In addition to the presentation on first ladies, she has published several rhetorical studies of hillary rob him clinton. And it is an inaugural lifetime member of player. Finally, but certainly not least, doctor tammy b. Hill. Tammy is the associate professor of communication and a senior associate dean of the college of communication at western university. The doctors books include the rhetoric of republican motherhood and the spouses of president ial nominees, 1992 through 2016. Along and michelle, first ladies in a new era, and connecting with constituents, identification building and blocking in the contemporary nationalist convention addresses. Tammy is also an inaugural lifetime member of slayer. It is my pleasure this moment to turn the program over two nancy kegan smith. Nancy, you are muted. It is a pleasure to be here today. And to welcome all of our people. And i think we have a very Interesting Program lined up. First ladies and their speeches have often tackled issues as leaders in society. Lady bird johnson said that while john had no assigned to duty, a podium is there. If she chooses to use it. From the very Rich Holdings of the president ial library, of the National Archives and Records Administration and first lady, we will hear 14 segments of speeches by barbara, bush Hillary Clinton, laura, bush and Michelle Obama which had a powerful impact after watching these on will analyze and discuss. We can go to the next slide on bush. Mrs. Bushs humor and annotated towards one is important in life this clearly shown in a speech she made at Wellesley College on june 1st, 19 and 90. She has not been the first choice. And her selection caused controversy on the campus. Lets see and hear some of her speech. Diana . I know your first choice today was alice walker. I guess now i know. Known for the color purple, instead youve got me. Known for the color of my hair. As set off from wellesley, i hope many of you will consider making three very special choices. The first is to believe in something you will than yourself. To get involved in some of the big ideas of our time. I chose a receipt because i honestly believe that if more people could read, write, and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems that plagued our nation. And our society. And early on, i made another choice. Which i hope you will make as well. Whether you are talking about education, career, or service, you are talking about life. And life really must have joy. Its supposed to be fun. One of the reasons i made the most important decisions of my life, to marry george bush, is because he made me laugh. Its, true sometimes we laugh through our tears, but that shared laughter hasnt been one of our strongest bonds. Find the joy in life. Because i was a paris buhler said on his day off, life moves pretty fast. If you dont stop and looking around once in a while, youre gonna miss it. [applause] im not gonna tell george that you clapped more for harris than you clapped for george. The third choice that might not be missed, is to cherish your human connection. Your relationships with family and friends. For several years you have had impressed upon the importance to your career, dedication and hard work, and of course thats true. But as important as your obligations as a doctor, a lawyer, a Business Leader will be, you are a human being first. And those human connections with, spaces with children, with france, are the most important investments he will ever make. From that powerful speech we will go to the mrs. Clinton. She was clearly a first lady with many different public roles. One of which way is to plant a first lady to push strongly to the world for equal rights to women. Lets hear some of her there is one message that echoes forth from this conference. Let it be that human rights at womens rights and womens rights are human rights, once and for all. And among those rights are the rights to speak freely in the right to be heard. Women must enjoy the right to participate fully in the social and political lives of their countries, if we want freedom and democracy to thrive and indoor. It is indefensible that many women in non governmental organizations who wish to participate in this conference have not been able to attend, or have been prohibited from fully taking part. Let me be clear. Freedom means the rights of people to assemble, organize, and debate openly. It means respecting the views of those who may disagree with the views of their governments. It means not taking citizens away from their loved ones and jailing them, mistreating them or denying them their freedom or dignity, because of the peaceful expression of their ideas and opinions. Mrs. Johnson, mrs. Bushs early role is defined by unexpected national tragedy, 9 11, on november 17th, 2001. Laura bush made history at advocating for a worldwide effort to focus on the brutal treatment of afghan womans children, by the taliban regime during the weekly president ial radio address. Mrs. Bush was the first first lady to deliberately address it is entirely. Good morning. Laura bush. Delivering this weeks radio address to kick off the worldwide efforts focusing on the brutality against women and children, against the Paris Network in the regime and support in afghanistan. The taliban. That regime is now risk for across much of the country. And the people of afghan, especially, women are rejoicing. Afghan women know through hard experience that the rest of the worlds the brutal oppression of women is the simple goal of the terrorist. Long before the current war began, the taliban its paris allies were making the lives of children and women in afghanistan miserable. 70 of the Afghan People are malnourished. One in every four children it wont live past the age of five, because health care is not available. In may of 2013, in her Speech University business, challenged this in a way only mrs. Obama could do, to make educational hiring and example. When it comes to getting an education, to many of our young people just cannot be bothered. Today, instead of walking files every day to schools and sitting on couches for hours playing video games and watching movies, the dream of being a teacher a lawyer or Business Leader is fantasizing about being a ball or a rapper. Right now one in three African Americans are dropping out of high school. Only one in five African Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 have gotten a college degree. Its very clear today, getting an education is as important, if not more important, that it was back when this university was founded. As my husband has said often, please stand up and reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. In short, be an example of excellence for the next generation. And do everything you can to help them understand the power and purpose of a good education. We have now heard four segments with first ladies where theyve effectively used their podium on subjects as different us a role of a woman in society. On the taliban. A human life. And on the enslaved education. I would now like to turn over to the, panel to my good friend and colleague, they and their calling. To start this discussion and analysis. Of these and other first ladies. Thank, you. Nancy and and tammy are joining me here. Were gonna run this more or less like a panel. So youll see all of this. As nancy, said were just gonna take the speeches in order. And also probably throw in some examples of some other women, to have that particular speech. I would say please put your question there is an email address and questions, too. You dont have to ask about first ladies and questions with any other also. As nancy said when she started, Barbara Bushs speech was mired in controversy. Alice walker was the choice, and when she turned it down the administration decided on barbara bush. I did a lot of research on this for the library. And among the many papers i fans relates to it, where the scheduling papers were they had originally decided to put this invitation and as if it were any other message. They werent aware of what had happened to get barbara the invitation. At one point they were not even sure they were going to because [inaudible] its going to be in town and had another commitment in boston, today vacate something. So they decided to do it and when they worked on this speech they worked on it and along with [inaudible] so why isnt that much different than other addresses. This speech was one of the top 100 speeches in the 20th century, as was Hillary Clintons regime speech. George h. W. Bush did not have a speech in the top 100, but barbara did. So we kind of kick this off, you know, commencement speeches are not usually very memorable. First ladies give a ton of these and dont capture a whole lot of attention except for the city where they happen. This one got worldwide attention. Not just a controversy but because of the message. To put this into more context, she was the last of the world war ii generation first ladies. Then we got to baby boomers and Hillary Clinton. She was really dealing with some general issues. So tammy and anne, i dont know who wants to start first, but why do you think this captured the attention of people after they were not real excited about having people somebody who they believe got to where she was simply because of who she married. Go ahead if you would like to start. Like to start. Sure, no problem. So i thi no problem, short. I think there are a couple of things about the speech that make it worthwhile. Well, there are a bunch of things that make it worthwhile, but i think one of the reasons why it was so captivating, particularly for that audience, was possibly because it was so unexpected. They have sort of come into, as an audience, come into the speech with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. With those expectations of what she could possibly say to us. The speech is really built around the question of diversity and embracing diversity in different kinds of ways. I think catching the conversation that she did catching the conversation the way she did, barbara bush made it so much more relatable to the women in the audience, as well as the broader audience. So because it was unexpected, because they did not think she was going to deliver much, and because she brought so much of her personality into the speech as well, and demonstrated her ability to be thoughtful, to be engaging, to be really respectful of who they were and also challenging them to be more than what they thought. In ways that they might not have expected. I think that is all white kind of captivated the particular audience. And then the ways in which she used different kinds of metaphors, stories, anecdotes, throughout, and also had lots of wonderful little laugh but lines. Some of them were planned in some of them werent. They were just spontaneous. I think those moments made her so enduring. Also, it reinforced the overall message that she was trying to get across. So i think that is why the message still indoors. Believing in something larger than yourself. Life must have joy. Cherishing human can nations. Its hard to not like that message in the way she delivered it. I was also very interested in the fact that one of the things that she does immediately in this speech is recognize the controversy. We heard a little clip at the beginning about, i know you wanted alice walker, known for the color purple. She makes the joke obviously about the color of her hair, but theres also a line in the beginning as well that we did not see where she kind of gives a shout out to the class president. Her new best friend. That is how she refers to her. So you can only imagine, and nancy you probably know the answer to this, they must have had some of the discussions aguttes amongst prior to them actually arriving on the scene. You know, popping up on the podium to deliver that speech. Clearly, had spoken with the class president earlier about this. So what shes trying to do i think and what she does beautifully in this speeches she gives a very gentle reproach to this class. And it is about women choices in life. And she does it in a way that only barbara bush could do it in terms of her humor and that self deprecating humor, and also a little bit of pop culture in there. I wont tell george [inaudible] that kind of thing, shes very comfortable, and shes very informal i think in a lot of ways. I also think that its very important to point out that she had mrs. Gorbachev with her. I think the two first ladies being on that stage together was also a very powerful visual for us. In terms of historical memory as well. I would also say to you that she speaks to even though they are generationally different, she speaks a lot to things that Hillary Clinton picked up on. Later as first lady. And that is womens choices are womens choices. They should not be dictated by whatever the political win of the days. And we are lucky we have [inaudible] so i find it remarkable for all of those reasons. And for just some background, she ended the class president had actually had a phone call. Okay. She writes about this in her memoir. They had a phone call prior to her actually arriving and began that conversation them, which is why she really talks in the speech also about having a conversation. As i said, when they were planning this speech it was going to be basically the speech she gave at st. Louis university. At a community college, and then when the controversy hit, when the students found out she had been invited, and 125 signed a petition wanting it withdrawn, she also invited mr. Gore mrs. Gorbachev before the controversy started. Its not like she did that as a way to deflect the controversy. She had actually done that ahead of time. So then when all of this hit, they pulled in some of george bushs speech writers, that we have to do something, even though we have the basic message, and she said that she did not want to complain, explain or apologize. In any way for any of this. One other thing she did at the beginning, that you did not see, you should just go watch the whole speech, but she talked about the fact that she had been invited along with her husband when they came back from china. You know, her husband was not an ambassador yet, but they went to china right after nixon opened it. And the two of them jointly spoke and she talked about how open the students were, and how they embraced diversity. To tammys point, she really set this up to say when you accept diverse people, you accept diverse ideas, and she even went on to say, you know, im from a different era and i followed the path of my era. You are following yours so you dont necessarily understand mine. I dont understand yours. And then there was the final incredible line. Tammy, do you want to give it . I was just loving the buildup. Go ahead. I dont want to step on your toes. So she then says, but the conversation does not end here. Anne, i think youre absolutely right, this was a bigger conversation than about her being married to somebody famous. It really was about womens choices and the struggles that women have. And she talked about how the race originally was whoever got married first would be to want to win it. I think youd be Julia Roberts movie [inaudible] then it became who was going to be the ceo. Then she said, so now, its which of you will achieve your personal dream. And she said in one day, in this audience, one day you may be listening to another president ial [inaudible] and i wish him well. That, of course, just got the standing ovation. But it was, you know, [inaudible] fantastic. Go ahead, tammy. I was just going to say, just a couple of quick notes, which administers she says may your future be worthy of your dream. As opposed to reinforce that idea of not societys dream, but your own personal dream. I thought that was a really nice closing. One of the other things i food enjoyed about this speech, and honestly every time i watch it or hear it or read it i find other things that just kind of bubble up out of it. This was an interesting thing to have happened, the speech, in 1990, as a sort of preview for what happened in 1992 when we had barbara bush and hillary rotem clinton as the two potential first ladies in that campaign. So some of the conversation that came up with barbara bush also came up over and over again in the 1992 campaign. So i think as a preview to that, and as a sort of earlier than happened response to it, it was also kind of an interesting historical moment. The other thing i always think about when i hear this speech, i dont know if any of you remember an article that and marie slaughter, was working for secretary of state Hillary Clinton at the time, wrote in the atlantic about, and she left the state department, because she had a child in middle school i think, or in high school and she was commuting from boston. She finally just said we cant have it all. Was a speech that not her working. Health care which didnt go very well, but this was a speech that really set her on the path. For her own independent career her own independent thinking and her own stage on the world scene. So, you know. What are your reactions to this speech start and we start with you . Sure. Well one of the things that i discovered a long time ago about hillary is that she had a much much. More sympathetic, i guess you would say audience internationally then she did domestically she did spend an awful lot of time out of the country after the health care the socalled health care debacle. We can go into that at some other people do a whole panel on that, but after that people, you know, lots of pundits were referring to the fact that she wasnt making herself as publicly available as at the time before the healthcare, you know Health Care Fell apart. But in fact she had started with Madeline Albright something known as vital voices and vital voices one of in fact she had started with Madeleine Albright something known as vital voices. One of the main things that vital voices did was call attention to women speaking on poverty worldwide. Speaking of those ways through education, and also through Small Business loans. Madeleine albright and her made a terrific team. Mrs. Clinton would go into a country and give a speech and get a lot of people very, very excited about this. They set up this program to give microphones to women, even micro loans as small as 100, to perhaps by a cow. If thats what a particular woman in a particular place needed. Or access to a bank account. She did that for several years. I think close to four all told between the two. Between the two terms her husband was in office. And, we saw absolutely minimal coverage on this from the present United States. Nobody was really paying attention to her and what she was doing internationally. Yes, china, her signature speech for womens rights and for human rights and international relations. She set out to accomplish a couple of things on her way there. One was to call attention to chinas miserable record on human rights. Her husband could not do as president , he didnt have that freedom that she had, but she had an audience that was extremely sympathetic. As we say, she delivered one of the top 100 speeches of the 20th century on that occasion. To kind of jump in on that idea. One of the things, i looked up some of the coverage of this particular speech, and i thought it was interesting that there were several reports that had said clinton said what many people said she could not say, because of the rocky relationship that was going on between the u. S. And china at the time. I thought that was really interesting and ironic because it meant she was actually a knack think the rights she was claiming for everyone, for all women. So shes saying, you know, women should be able to speak up. I think the line is that they should have the right to speak freely and the right to be heard. So for her to say that when she was not supposed to be able to say it was even more moving. The way she said it in clear and statements, sort of and direct without, sounding assertive but not aggressive. I think the tone she struck was really just about perfect. I cant imagine how she could have delivered it any better in terms of just reinforcing the notion and what seems should be the common notion of human rights are womens rights, womens rights or human rights, because human because women are human. Its basically saying women are human. To have to say it had to be frustrating. To get to say it when you are not supposed to be able to get to say it has to be so liberating. So i think that is part of why that particular line in this particular speech really resonated way beyond that particular moment. Im sorry, diana. I wondered if you noticed a new review of the coverage of this speech how little there actually was in the United States. How little regular press coverage there was. It just wasnt covered. Its not until later that it becomes such a defining rhetorical moment for her. Yes. It was definitely after the fact. In fact, on the 20th anniversary there were articles. Cnn did various stories about 20 years after beijing. Then 25 years after beijing, there were more. So this one also deserves to be one of those top 100. You touched on i think something really important when she says something that should be obvious. I also studied the 19th of men meant and women suffrage going back to the 17th century and everyone just thought this was about women. It wasnt really a human right, this was just something women wanted. That obvious declaration had never been said in that kind of away with that kind of a worldwide audience. So let me ask a couple of other questions. I think one thing first ladies can do is speak about something in a way that a male president cannot speak about. This was one of them. Can you think of some other historical examples where first ladies use first ladies used their podium to talk about something there has been would not be allowed to talk about . Im not sure if its the same level of credibility, but i certainly know that laura bush, especially towards the end of her husbands second term, really struck out on her own. She spoke about issues that were not traditionally affiliated with her. Such as a womans right to choose. I dont know if she ever came right out and advocated for that, but certainly through her work with afghan women and everything going on there, she definitely pushed the boundaries that george was not able to do. The other thing i think about laura bush also, and having this ability where a lot of her credibility might come into play too was the fact shes the mother of two young women experiencing a lot of things for the first time like a college choices. And then in college, we know that barbara bush junior certainly enjoyed her time in college. Janet was a little more serious, but heres a mom who had that experience as well. She can talk about young women and the choices so that is one example. Yeah. I would add to that that barbara bush actually, when she started, when people started to talk about are finally finding her voice, because she had been so, in many peoples estimations, reserved about sharing her political opinion. Then in the 1992 campaign, she started to do things like, for example, reframing the notion of a family values. When her husband could only really stick to the traditional family values, because that is what the Republican Party was talking about at the time, barbara bush actually started reframing family as whatever kind of family you are a part of. So she expanded the notion of what family could possibly mean, and expanded the idea of what the traditional family values should mean outside of traditional boundaries. I think that is a space where barbara bush actually had more credibility and an ability to actually expand a conversation. While hillary could do some things that her husband could not do, another thing that first ladies do at their podium, and Lady Bird Johnson was an excellent example of that, but what about the relationship and this particular speech and how it might have helped with bill clintons Foreign Policy . I think that hillary was in asset to bill, especially in the second term, in so many ways not the least of which was in his Foreign Policy. He has never been shy about speaking of his admiration for how sharp she is politically, and how intellectually and i think that he definitely, i think a decision was made, and i would obviously have to spend more time researching this, but i think at some point a decision was probably made that, okay, and she might have made it herself, she talked a bit about this in her first book. The decision to, if people at home domestically are not appreciative of our intellect or political will or power and all of that, then she would go elsewhere. As i said, she found a lot more sympathy i think, and more understanding outside of the United States then she did within. Especially in that second term. Again, we know the second term is where president clinton credibility, as it related to monica and the rest of it, and the impeachment, just fell apart. Meanwhile, hillarys of creating this wonderful image for herself. And doing the country a lot of good i think. And setting herself up to be a really effective secretary of state eventually. Right . Right. She was developing those relationships. She was really establishing her image. She was learning more about different cultural and governmental norms. Not that she did not know a lot of it already but she was really cultivating her own future position even though she may not have thought about it as secretary of state. But she was certainly thinking about where she was moving next. So helping him out probably its a pretty good think that she did, but helping herself out was an excellent thing that you did. Absolutely. This speech has gotten attention up until it two years ago, and im sure people have thought about it given what is happening right now in afghanistan. That brings us to laura bush. That speech. First thing i thought when i listened to it is that she could give it today. Why do you think they selected her to give this speech . It was done a week before thanksgiving. Actually, in the latter part of the speech she talks about that. Is very maternal in how she kind of pulls us back to where we are post 9 11, you know, two months after it. So why do you think they selected her to do the president ial radio address . You want to start that one, tammy . Sure. I think laura bush was always about like the first lady. She also was a very relatability person. And some academic jargon we would say she built bridges, but it comes down to being very belatedly. She was one of the keys to her husbands campaign for each election cycle. People like her. People felt more compassion but after 9 11 and also before that. She came across as sincere and genuine. So giving this particular speech she had the credibility of being the sort of maternal figure for the nation. She also has the credibility of already having established herself as sort of a consoler inchief if you will. So i think it was something that was very personal for her. She had a very strong personal interest in it. That sincerity and interest i think comes pouring out of her and the way she talks but in this speech and in other instances about the situation, but i think that was a great decision for them to have her address the nation. I think it was mostly based on who she was and the persona she developed. I agree. I think particularly the fact that it was so close to thanksgiving and we are talking about the first major family holiday that we were facing as americans at that time. And mrs. Bush had pretty much stepped to the background while george bush got us through those first few weeks in particular. After the 9 11 attack. When she stepped forward again, she stepped forward i think as his partner and espouse. As tammy said, it was a persona she had already established, and it was a really good choice on the part of the bush administration, to have her do that particular address at that time. One of the other things about first ladies, just like president s, is that they dont go away after the term is over. And her commitment to afghanistan has continued since they left office. I think in that sense its given her the credibility to speak out. Since weve had the withdrawal, the human rights issues going on there, and that has been true for so many other first ladies have almost done more because they established those connections, that credibility. They had that platform and continue to use it. My person texted me the chat function is not working on youtube for some reason. So he set up an email address. If you have a question or a comment, please send it to flare questions all one word lower case. At gmail. Com. Thats f l a i are easy questions at gmail. Com. Then we will monitor those questions. I want to leave some time. You talked about the maternal that laura bush used that very effectively as consoler inchief. When Michelle Obama came, shes princeton and harvard educated. Was that a major law firm. Had been a hospital administrator. I mean this is a woman like a Hillary Clinton who has had power positions. And she said she was going to be mom in chief. There were a lot of women who said, wait a minute. If you have a chance, especially as the first African American first lady to move some things forward, and what she chose to emphasize were education, military families, and healthy children. So what about this particular speech . What was it only on Michelle Obama that could have given the speech in my pinion . One of you want to comment on that . Where do you disagree with me. Oh, i think it was very powerful speech to a very specific audience. Already recognizing that, obviously, she recognizes that its going to be a speech that is broadcast and that we will be able to look up on youtube later. Certainly a shell did a lot of speaking during her time as first lady and after as you just mentioned. But she was speaking to newly minted black college grads. I think it was really important for her, and it was only a speech that she could give as the first black first lady. So, because again, almost like when i mentioned with barbara bush, i think a stronger and michelle is almost as if she is hiding them somewhat, her audience. Like we cannot equate a black child with a book to acting white. Weve got to throw that out. Weve got to move forward. Frankly, i dont think that a white persist first lady could have deliver those remarks in that way. You know, again, i think that she recognized her audience and adapted to it accordingly. And in a very powerful way. I think its interesting speech in that i understand what anne is saying about chiding the audience, but i think she was chiding the broader audience and not this specific audience. You know, to reject this idea that a black kid with a book is trying to act white, shes not talking about the audience that just graduated from college. Right. Shes giving them a sense of empowerment of, you have a space in this world. You have done something that is important and good. Even though shes saying it in a kind of chiding voice, shes saying dont listen to the critiques. What youve done is you are being an example of excellence for the next generation. Shes actually showing them that they are. I think the speech is really interesting and i was reading through some of the youtube responses to this speech and one of the things that i thought was kind of fun, and speaks to the idea of Michelle Obama being the one who was able to give this speech, was that the part that we saw, the clip we saw that starts around the 11 minute 34 mark on the actual speech itself, people kept commenting on that mark as where it got real. Like it really got real. Like those kinds of comments, like shes getting real at this point. Kind of fast forward to this part because they could feel the authenticity and how genuine she was with what she was saying, as well as the passion behind it. I think that is one of the things that Michelle Obama was very, and, is very good at saying what she feels in a way that lets everybody feel feels watches as well. I think that was being shown in this particular speech, the kind of frustration and hope, the kind of reassurance for this specific audience. Then the chiding of the broader audience. It is all very effectively done and we all know Michelle Obama is quite an effective speaker. Yeah. And im sure members of the audience can relate to when they were reading books, are going to college and getting a degree. You talked about being able to identify. They could definitely identify with what she was saying. One of the other common stories that she told in her commencement addresses, especially to jackson state, or if she went into a high school, that was predominantly African American, was her own story of a counselor telling her that she wasnt good enough. Wasnt good enough to get into princeton. That she could not get into princeton. You know, she really makes a point of that. Dont let anyone do that to you. And thats another one of those prom and messages, you know, she certainly does not mince words and she does not shy away from the controversy and i agree that she did it very effectively. Im looking at time. We dont have any questions yet, but please do send them in. It is questions at gmail. Com. I guess before we bring [inaudible] in general, one of the other things that was interesting about Michelle Obama was that she didnt rely on traditional media to get her story out. She used, you know, nancy reagan started it, showing up on different strokes and cameo. She was doing cameos on multiple, like, joining forces. She was on nashville. She was on sesame street i dont know how many times. Anyway, theres a wonderful video of her sending out first tweet by a first lady. You know, twitter, instagram, she was everywhere. Any kind of reactions, the fact that she really sidestepped and was able to tell her story, create her narrative her way. I have found that its interesting that you bring that up, diana, because in the most recent thing that i published on hillary, it was looking at her relationship with her to press secretaries, our directors of communication, the two different terms, and early on in the first term one of her press secretaries at the time really wanted her to do exactly those kinds of things like nancy reagan. She wanted her, one of the things she wanted hillary to do was to go i think on tool time i want to say, i think that was the name of it, it was a very popular sitcom at the time. There is a whole, its a fascinating document in the clinton library, where you can see this whole media strategy for using Popular Culture at the time. Of course, there wasnt instagram or facebook or twitter at the time when hillary was first lady, but the idea of going around the Mainstream Media to create a more likable image was something that i think both president s and first ladies have done. And other elected officials have done it. We have a question. Danny asks, are living first ladies afforded appropriate coverage by the media . [laughter] i guess that is both incumbent and any of the others. I think it depends on the first lady. I think it really depends on the first lady because some first ladies just want to kind of go back to their private life. Remember, first ladies dont always choose this position. They choose how to enact it, but the women who have been in this position so far have all had it kind of foisted upon them. Some of them actually dont necessarily want to be in the limelight in the same way afterwards. So someone will take some time away in which case you dont want to ever serve on the other hand you also see some first ladies who embrace the attention they are able to garner and use it for a lot of different kinds of activities and events and to draw attention to issues. Michelle obama, for example, actually gained more attention during Melania Trumps time as first lady then Melania Trump did. So she doesnt have any problems gaining attention after leaving the white house. Some people might argue that Melania Trump did not get enough attention, but thats a whole different argument that we can save another conversation. Nancy . I think its interesting that even today that in terms of formal filming coverage of a first lady, its not the same. The White House Communications agency does not cover consistently first lady speeches or public appearances the way they do the president. So a lot of us when we are looking for something scholarly, we are wondering why theres no official record of this and you are picking it up from news media or instead of from the official. I think its interesting in that, overtime, their speeches have had very powerful [inaudible] and the panel has pointed out and it would be nice to have them have a more formal process of what was covered, [inaudible] there is no real easy way of getting that as part of the coverage. Im thinking we have another possible program here. How the first ladies have used media . Start thinking of Florence Harding and these informal events on the lawn. Then she would make some comments and they were not formal speeches or formal news but they were photo ops. She kind of created that. Then we have henry hoover against the first radio address by a first lady. She did several of them. First Lady Roosevelt did. [inaudible] we have about four minutes. Anita did have a comment. This is Anita Mcbride for those of you watching. Anita was laura bushs chief of staff and the second term. Anita said, it was actually george bushs suggestion that laura gave the address on the topic of afghan women. So president bush was the one who saw that this was something that laura should do, and he was absolutely right. We also have something from bonnie. She asks for us to talk a little bit about Michelle Obama s speech in New Hampshire and response to the hollywood access tape. Anyone pulled out from their memory and comment on that one . When they go low we go high, speech . Yes. We i had an Incredible Opportunity to watch that speech at a communication and gender conference. Everyone was talking about it. We didnt watch it live. We watched it later on, a group of us watched it in the Hotel Ballroom later that night. It was great because we had a freeforall on it. And i think that is when people started talking about Michelle Obama running for the presidency. I dont know if you probably remember that, but that speech again was something only i think michele could have given at that time. You know, anne, Michelle Obama during the 2008 campaign, the way that she was used was to talk to she was the main person to talk to African Americans while he covered more white mainstream groups. So they really used her press specific reason in that campaign. We have about two minutes. Anyone have any last thoughts about either these speeches . Oh, time ran a. I just want to make three quick points. I interviewed mrs. Bush, that is barbara bush, for the biography that i wrote of her. And i asked her if she ever considered not going to wellesley because of the controversy . She said, no, absolutely not. It never went from my mind. I was a little nervous, but no, never. And by the way, the same speech was also given at the university of pennsylvania during their commencement. There really wasnt that level of interest at that point. That was first. Second, i had a teaching colleague who was in the audience in beijing when Hillary Clinton gave the speech. She said, and you might remember this, that the location of the speech was moved the day of the speech so that the news media couldnt cover it. And she recalled seeing the media being shunned away from even this secondary location. My third point is, because of my work on betty ford, betty ford also ended up saying some things that her husband could have never said. I think shes a good example also. Ive enjoyed all of your comments. I think they are spot on and i would welcome certainly a panel on the first lady and her press coverage. Her media coverage. I just ask who decided to move hillarys location in beijing . According to my colleague, it was unofficial decision by some level of government bureaucrat. This colleague of mine said there was absolutely no mention of mrs. Clintons speech in the next days coverage of convention in china, nothing. Okay. It was official. [ inaudible ]. So, weve reached the 5 30 points. We promised to let you in an hour. Thank you to everyone who is joined us. This will be on our youtube channel, if you go to youtube and type in First Ladies Association, research and education, you should be able to find, its easier to find by going to our website. That website is blair hyphen net. Org. F l airy hyphen net dot org. In the lower right hand corner we have a youtube icon. If you click on that, itll take you, all of our programs will be on their. You can also find out a lot about what were doing with flair. There is a lot of education on their, a lot of interesting information, we also have so, thank you to chansley, and, nancy, for the speeches, leading us. Hi, everybody. Thank you. Bye, bye everybody. If youre enjoying American History tv, sign up for the newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming programs like lectures of history, the presidency and more. 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