I am here to voice my strong support for the courageous people. Women and men who have suffered for years under the taliban regime will stop each and every one of us have the responsibility to stop the suffering caused by malaria. Every life in every land matters. And all of us can do something to help. After studying the first ladies and knowing some of them very well like my mother in law, one i admire very much. , our country benefits by whatever our first lady champions for. Laura bush became first lady after a controversial election brought her husband to the white house. Nine months later was the 9 11 attacks and she helped cover the nation while pursuing interests important to her including education, literacy, and womens health. Good evening and welcome to first ladies image and influence. Would take the story of the life of our 43rd president , laura bush. Here to do that are two people who know her well. This is a laura bush biographer. Her book the perfect wife, tells the story of laura bush. Welcome to the program. He is a president ial historian and is currently working on a book the relationship between 41 and 43. Ush and your biography, you refer to the role of first lady as the most bizarre volunteer job in the world. We heard laura bush talk about having her mother in law as a role model, whenever thought she may have had about how she would 11d the role after september and we told her recently. She talked about that day. I want you to watch a combat and talk about how she responded and how it redefined what her years would be like. I was on my way to capitol hill to brief the Senate Education committee in Early Childhood education. To brief that committee on Early Childhood education when i was getting into the car and the secret Service Agents leaned over and said an airplane had landed into the world trade center. We went to the capital. We assumed as we started driving it was some strange accident. By the time we got to the capital, we knew the second plane had hit the we knew what it was. The secret service came to get me. At first they were thinking it would take me to the white house. They had to regroup and figure out where it was. Staff was getting word to run. And they were kicking off there have high hills and running from the white house and i know they expected to have glamorous and interesting jobs at the white house. Anyway, the secret service came to get me and senator greg kennedy walked me out to the door and i drove to where i went was the secret Service Building which has been reinforced after in ourrorist attack embassy. Really, after the Oklahoma City bombing. A lot had been reinforced. That is where i went and spent the day. Had you told your husband or girls at that point . I cannot remember. From the day to remember. I talked to george once i got there and my mother. She was the one i really wanted to call. I wonder her to say everything would be all right. I called her and said everything will be all right. How did she respond . How did she redefine her role . Say, i was with her that day because i was covering her for the washington post. There was some confusion anybody was whether going to she and senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press over there. I can remember looking at her she twists her fingers at her sides when she is struggling with something that is very traumatic. She isber thinking getting her mother lost wisdom. Motherinlaws wisdom. What she kept a say over and over again, we have to make sure we tell our children we love them as america is a strong country and will get through. Keeping with her as a library and teacher and she dedicated herself to that. Things were very different. To thewrote a letter children of america a day after 9 11. Some of what it said a personal message. As a nation, we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe since the attack on pearl harbor. What do americans want from the white house, the first lady . There aretunate many moments will have the right people for the right moments. Choose the right first lady. We forget now, but we did not know what to do. We did not know how to react to this. This in the clip region showed. She sat comfortably her children. Rigell to your kids. They want you right now. Reach out to your kids. That helped them get through this trying time. Of a very teacher picture of she served texas straw. It imitates from her. Ed. Benefit that Texas Connection is where we are going now. Bushes assented to know them, you must know midland, texas. Where was she born and tell us about her Early Childhood . Texas, it is west texas. Is the kind of place you can see from miles away. 30 milesrs like oz, away. It is very wide and flat in big sky. Her father was a builder and her mother was a homemaker. Her mother came from texas. Her mother had managed a dairy farm. When her grandfather was away. It was a place of who she was. And gave her a sense of strength about the land and the prairie and doing for yourself. I remember going there the first time, people talking about crying. She says she will for western pennsylvania having been educated. Her husband so we are going to move out there and make our fortune in oil. She said, what is it like . There is a town and called no trees. Bush says she remembers, from the supermarket with tumbleweeds. She had no idea how to get to her house. It is very harsh and for bidding and in that way. You have to have a special appreciation. That made her tough. A loveer book, it is letter to midland, texas. So much a part of her. She talks about the sky. And she usedther to look up at the sky for hours on end how important that it is for that part of the country. What did george w. Bush mentioned what time is that allows you to see people for who they are. There are no trees and sky is the limit. Midland and the 1950s was supportive but also could be insulating for some in what ways was a insulating . She was an only child. As always insulating in a way. It can be a lonely existence. There were not a lot of folks who came from the outside. And when they did a canton oil business, it took him time to get adjusted. Own ways ofheir being. And where you were and the social stratosphere. Odessaed to say about that you raised hell in odessa and raise your kids in midland. Certain ways of acting and propriety. She went to the presbyterian church. People are dependent on each other and have to be because it can be kind of partial stop midland today has a large hispanic population. What was the light and terms of minorities what laura was growing up . As to how itpeak was then. There were three different high schools. When they got together for a reunion, when the bushes were in the white house, nobody remembered to invite kids from the other high school. Not a matter of a word separation overt separation but almost oblivious this obliviousness. I was going across town to do an interview and people and has a going to that part of town . People cap to their own lanes. It had its own shaping. When she sme of went to smu, she said they do not have remembrance of dr. King and the race riots going on. Sodas. Ere sock hops and we want to put the parents names on records. Her father was harold bruce welch. Died in 1995. At her mother was general luis uise andtill jenna lo is still alive. At 17, laura was in a car crash resulted in the death of a close friend of hers and stop she spoke about that and she wrote about in her book at our recent interview. Lets listen. About abush, you write and ault period of 1963 loss of faith. Your faith. Why . I was in a car wreck. I wrote about extensively in my book. The whole time i was in the hospital, not injured really. I had a cut at a broken ankle. That the otherng person in the car would be ok and the other person in the car was one of my best friends. I did not know. Do not really recognize that his father came up. He lived past where the car wreck was. I recognize his father but i did not understand that was my friend who was there. Because i prayed over and over again for him to be ok and if he wasnt, i thought nobody listened. God was not listening. I went through really a very long time of not believing and not believing that prayers could be answered. It took me a long time broadly that it a longtime really and a lot of growing to come back to faith. The car wreck shaped her in what way . Itwhat she has said about and what she mentioned to me uput it was that you do grow when you are young and you expect the world is one to be a certain way. She wouldve attained that majority anyway but it came to her pretty quickly. I think she is an empathetic person by nature and i think it probably made her less so now about other people. In a way that we do not often , she ashington i think that has certainly made her the kind of person. She worries about her daughters and her husband because she saw how a miscalculation can change everything. She talks about her face. Faith. When you talk about faith. She said in an interview i did with her that she grew up out of that experience. You have to find a way to live on. But veryrience formative for a young girl was helpful to her in the days after 9 11. Just seeing the role of that faith can play. As realized you have to move on. You have to be strong. It was very helpful. A great role in both of their lives. Bush became a bornagain christian when he was a midland. It changed his life in a lot of ways. She was vocal about her religious faith that he is. Shes a little bit more lowkey about it but it is important to both of their lives. She is the second first lady to have a postgraduate degree. What is important about her education and job . People frequently overlooked that. They make the mistake of thinking she is a conventional woman which she is not at all. Have uite interior is and has a certain modesty. She did not ever really boast about it at all. She was very selfdirected and and teachingm smu and said she wanted to go to the university of texas and get a degree as her father said, that will never get her a husband. She goes on to get her masters degree. Degree. R and mrs she very purposely moved into a part of austin which is still the barro of the east side and taught at a middle easts at a mainly spanishspeaking school. Can have impact on children helping them learn to read and exposing them to what they were not getting. That is a part that is really important. How yout to tell you could be involved with the program. Three ways. We have a conversation going on facebook. Using the picture of laura bush and you can join the conversation. You can tweet us. Ts as we in as many twee can. Or you can call. There are two phone lines. A question from twitter. I have a question about laura bush. Was she out with a republican . I was a republican . I will say im not a fan of the muppets. No. I think she supported eugene mccarthy. She was a cardcarrying democrat for many years and she married into republican family. She loves her husband and has great faith in him and his judgment. And supporting its platform. No, she is not a natural republican. Set of relationships that his character throughout her lifetime is a group of girlfriends and she made in midland. How important are they and what did they provide . What she and the president have a very strong set of friends that have been their friends forever and has been their sustaining aspect. You come to washington and his best to have your own friends. They have been with you and you know where they stand and they trust you and you have their loyalty. Shes always treasured going off with them. Even when she was in the white house, they will go on trips once a year where they will go rafting and care for each other. They are mostly progressive democrats, the group of girlfriends. It is interesting. As mark said, she loves her husband and his loyal to her husband. One of the things i have, to admire and appreciate about barber about laura and she commonalityeas of of people she might find differences. She would campaign for republicans but i saw her once changed his speech in midscript because the person who she was campaigning for, she is not going to attack a Texas Democrats that were running against. I think she has things that are very interesting. They care about literature. She is an avid environmentalist. She pretty active in womens rights. That set of friends you therence have really kept ground. They knew them well. That gave them great comfort when they were in the white house. Both of them talking about bringing in their friends. Pals in theg his oval office. Hey looked at george you are in the oval office. They are both very self defecating and having that circle of friends. Bushura welch and george were young people in midland. Did they ever meet as children . And they did not. They attended the same schools. She said she does not recall him. Inc. She knew who he was after a time. Came from a good family, a wellknown family. At one point, they lifted the stay building at the chateau vermont. I think she thought he was a bit rascally. Her friends from midland fixed them up. 30 eight he was about the same age. They were ready to settle down. They got married very quickly. I wanted to ask you. Ofs a portrait of a library who is very orderly and very measured. She did something marrying after 4 months. How did she described the courtship and the decision . She had a lot of suitors and her life but none of them quite she talked about feeling like an old maid. By texas standards, she probably was. Her comes this guy who was so different from her and so, mentoring and so comp lemetary. They clicked. She talked about how they went out of the campaign trail right after they got married. George bush campaigned unsuccessfully. They got to know each other so well that in these endless hours of riding around west texas talking about their lives really helped their marriage. What attracted laura to george . They seem so different in their younger years. Herhe always say he made laugh. She said she wanted somebody who would make her laugh. She had grown up as a lonely only child. She did not have a brother or a sister. Her mother had miscarriages. She always wanted a sibling. Boisterous, cut up in nature. He wanted somebody steady. So by to settle him down. I see that in him still. You never know what is in somebody elses marriage. I was struck when i saw the recently. He said something and she tossed her head back and i giggled and laughed. Bond that have that he is funny. Where the great moments for when she was as the white house for the Correspondents Dinner i think in 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 stayed up to watch saiderate housewives, and i am a desperate housewife. They have this great reporter. They can kind of rib each other. A caller for so you are on the air. Injuriestrue that her and afghanistan began in the sixth grade . I have never heard that. Can you tell me a little bit more. , she had toook write a report on a country as she and her father went to the globe and spun the globe at her finger landed on afghanistan. She wrote that in her own book. Talking about how exotic it felt. Inc. That when i travel with her to europe. Paris. Red the museum in there were a lot of the antiquities from that country is she is veryacts, taken that you can have this robust civilization and then it can be blown to bits in a matter of days. It was really quite impelled by that. Compelled by that. It might have been in her roots. Congress after they got married. Did she know she was going to be marrying a politician . Well, not exactly. He promised she would never have to give a speech. He broke that nearly immediately. Knew he was from a very political family. She described herself as not being a very political. That means they find politics this tasteful. They just do not like that. They think it is nasty. Oneupsmanship. She did not have much appetite for that. Was she interested in politics or pushed into it . Very quicklyrust in a world went fashion. They hit the campaign trail. Unsuccessful . Ng he had to figure out what he has to do a wooded to the oil business in midland. Thats where they were for the first 10 years of their marriage. That is where their daughters were born. And the childhood years. A prettyt was middleclass existence for a long time. He decide to do other things. Middle class by choice or necessity . He came from a very wealthy family. Think there is a certain modesty about them that continues. They do not have the hugest, most appointed house in dallas. It is nice. I think he felt a strong need to make it on his own. This bookrking on about the relationship between down. As you find, you do not want to feel as if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. , he was [indiscernible] the other thing is midland is ust town depend on the oil industry. It was really in bust mode. Not very profitable at that time. He struggled in that business before finding great successes as the owner of the texas ranger. And his fathers friends were there to bail him out. They were not uncomfortable by any stretch of the imagination. The twins were born in 1981. You write in her book they had considered adoption before they were born. What was parents and for them . Can you talk about how their children were raised . To havenk she wanted children. She always knew she wanted to have children. She always imagined herself as having a family. She described that as an idyllic time. She had these darling little girls erasing them and being immersed in caring for down. I think your children find a way to challenge the misconceptions of what it would be like. They had a set of twins. One who probably has her daddys press about personality a bit more and the other her mothers and they delighted in that. Together and what was a very close town, alston often austin. Hi, lucy. Thank you. When you were talkg about lauras lack of faith after the accident, was there something that happened that caused her to find that back in her life . Curious whenlittle she said she came back. I was wondering if there was something that brought her back to faith. I do not know do you know of anything that would have been catalytic in her life . I agree with you. I think that the kind of modesty she projects and the kind of privacy she shepherds means that she is not really given anything , whether it is her husband talking and witnessing her faith in a public fashion. She was raised a methodist. Always had a church. It was part of community life. The comfort of that, certainly she has talked about the comfort of scripture in a way that is part of her interest in literature. I remember her aching a bible verse out after september 11. She was looking forwards to give her meaning and strength. It is probably more complicated than that. I would not presume to speak for her in that way of how she found her footing again. Call mentioned billy graham and he had a role to play in george w. Bush embracing faith and stopping drinking alcohol. Bushes met each other, he was a bit of a browser perouser and made the decision to give up alcohol and i wonder if laura bush was a factor in that decision. She realized he was drinking too muc