>> i am here to voice my strong support for the courageous people of afghanistan. women and men who have suffered for years under the taliban regime. each and every one of us has the responsibility to stop the suffering caused by malaria because every life and every land matters. all of us can do something to >> after studying first ladies and knowing some of them very well at my own mother-in-law or one that i married very much, lady bird johnson, is our country benefits by whatever our first ladies interests are. >> she is the wife of one president and the daughter-in-law of another. became firstush 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 and laura bush help comfort the nation while continuing to pursue interests important to her including education, literacy, and women's health. welcome to c-span series first lady influence and image. tonight, we tell you the story of the wife of our 43rd president, laura welch bush. here to do that are two people who know her well to her work. and your heart of the washington post is a biographer. her 2004 book the perfect wife tells the story of laura bush and she has covered the firmer -- former first lady since 2001. welcome to the program. he is currently working on one on the relationship between president bush 41 and 43. nice to see you. and your biography, you referred to the role or the job 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. had abouthought she the role of first lady was upended. we talked to her recently. i would like both of you to watch that and talk about how and how ited to that redefined her years as first lady. >> i was on my way to capitol hill to briefly senate committee on her a childhood education. i hosted a summit on early childhood education at summer. going to brief the committee on early childhood education when i was getting into the car and a secret service agent leaned over to me and said a plane had flown into the world trade center. we just assumed as we started driving that it was some strange accident. thehe time we got to capital we had known that the second plane had hit and we knew what it was. the secret service came to get me. at first, they were thinking they would take me back to the white house. regroup and figure out where i should go because people at the white house -- the staff of the white house were getting the words -- people in my office, two young women who work for me were kicking off their high heels and running from the white house. i know they expected to have glamorous, interesting jobs at the white house. no one ever thought they would have to run from the white house like they did. anyway, the secret service came to get me and senator gregg and senator kennedy walked me out to the door and i drove to where i went, the secret service building which had been reinforced after the terrorist attacks. really, i guess, after the oklahoma city bombing, a lot of them had been reinforced. that one had been. that is where i went and spent the day. >> had to talk to your husband or girls at that point? >> i can't remember. i had logs from the day to remember. i talked to george once i got there. course, my mother was the one i wanted to call. i wanted my mother to say everything is going to be all right. of course, i called her and said, everything is going to be all right. i wanted her to say, certainly. >> you had been first lady about -- >> i was with her that day because i was covering her as first lady for the washington post. there was some confusion initially as to whether anyone was going to speak. she and senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press who were there. i can remember looking at her -- it is always remarkable that she twists her fingers at her sides when she is struggling with something that was clearly very traumatic. i member thinking she is wise enough, her mother-in-law is wise enough, she know her lies -- she knows her life was changed in that moment. she said in a moment when she came to say over and over again was i think we have to make sure we tell them that we love them and that america is a strong country and we will get through this. it was spontaneous and sincere, very much in keeping with her as a librarian and teacher. she dedicated herself to that. things were very different immediately. >>, bush wrote a letter to the children of america the day after 9/11. here is what some of it said. i want you to know how much i care about all of you. be kind to each other, take care of each other, and share your love for each other. as a nation, we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe since the attack on pearl harbor. there wasn't a role model for this. what do americans want from the white house, from the president and first lady in times of extreme national crisis? moments whenmany we have the right person for the right moment. i think she was the right first lady. we didn't know what to do. we didn't know how to react. this in the clip you just showed. she said comfort your children. reach out to your kids. your kids why you are now. they need you right now. i think that helped us get through that trying moment. laura bush is the picture of equanimity. she has served texas strong. there is a strength that animates from her. i think we benefited from having her in the white house during that period. >> that texas connection is where we are going next as we learn more about her life. them, --ok, to know where was laura thoren and tell us about her early childhood. works west texas is boom and bust oil country. it is the kind of place you can see for miles away. it shimmers like oz from 30 miles away on the horizon. it is very wide, flat. her father was a builder. her mother was a homemaker. her mother came from texas strong, her mother had managed a dairy farm when her grandfather was away. i think it was ray much a place of who she was. they gave her a place of strength about the land, the prairie, doing for yourself -- i can her mother when i went to the first time, people were always talking about crying. women were saying they cried. beenra bush said having educated at smith, her husband came that -- back and said we are going to move out there and make a fortune in oil. she said what is it like and he says there is a town nearby called no trees. her friend who ended up introducing her says cheer members coming up from the supermarket with two little kids and a tumbleweed and a volt like an beetle. she had no idea how to get to her house. it was referred for bidding in that way. -- it was harsh and forbidding in that way. it made her tough. >> in her book -- her book is a love letter to midland, texas. she talks about the sky. her mother and she used to look up at the sky for hours on end and how important that is to that part of the country. ,hen george w. bush mentioned that kind of country broadens your horizon. there are no trees. the sky's the limit. the 1950's, was supportive. it also could be insulating. how does that shape her? she is an only child. i think that is probably insulating in a way. there weren't a lot of folks that came in from the outside. when they did and came into the oil business, it took some time to get adjusted. i think that people had their own hidebound ways of being and their own divide as to where you were in the social stratosphere. whether you were a wildcat or, odessa, you raise tell in odessa, you raised your kids in midland. there were a certain way of behaving. we went to a church. people depended on each other. they had to because it can be harsh. larged today has a hispanic population, as much as texas does. what was it like for those minorities? >> i can't speak exactly is how to -- as to how it was then. there were three different high schools. when they got together for a year reunion, when the bushes were in the white house, nobody even remembered about the black high school. ofon't think it was a matter overt separation as much as within a certain class because there was oblivious this. when i went back to reporting, going across town to do an interview, they said why are you going over to that part of town? in many ways people kept to their own as it were. that had its own shaping. i know that when she went off to smu, her friends had said they didn't even have a remembrance of some of the race rights going around the rest of the world. hops, to sodas at the drive-in. at that -- in that way, it was icing. -- isolating. >> her father died in 1995. her mother, jenna luis died in 1999 -- she is still very much alive. right after the age of turning 17, laura was in a car crash in midland and it resulted in the close -- and the death of a close friend of hers. she spoke about that. in our recent interview. let's listen. >> mrs. bush, you write and spoken from the heart about a difficult period, 1963. a loss of faith. why? wreck that i car wrote about extensively in my book. the whole time, i was in the hospital not injured really. i mean, i had a cut on my leg and a broken ankle. i was praying that the other person in the car would be ok and the other person in the car was one of my best friends, which i did not know. i did not really recognize that at the time of the crash. his father came up. they lived just past where the corner where the car wreck was and i recognized his father, but i did not understand that that was mike that was there. because i prayed over and over for him to be ok and he was not, i thought, nobody listened. god was not listening. my prayer was not answered. i went through a very long time of not believing and not believing that prayers could be answered. and it took me a long time and a lot of growing up to come back to faith. >> the car wreck shaped or in what way -- in what way? >> was she has said about it, and what she mentioned to me about it was that you grew up when you are young and you expect that the world is going to be a certain way. she would have attained that maturity anyway, but it came to her quickly. anhink that she is antithetic -- empathetic person by nature and it probably made her less judgmental. about other people. in a way that we don't often see in washington. i think she is much more given to people with backgrounds in things that shape them that we don't know. i think that that has certainly kind of person. she worries about her own daughters, her husband because she has seen at a very early age how a miss cultivation can change everything. >> in that clip, she talks about her faith. would you spend some time talking about faith and george and laura bush? >> let me mention, she said in an interview i did with her, she grew up out of that experience. there are things that happen in your life that you can't change and you have to find a way to move on. experience, that while very formative for young girl in midland, texas, was helpful to her in the days after 9/11. she had seen the role that faith could play in this world. >> that fate could play? >> that fate could play. to realize that you have to move on, you have to the strong. it is very helpful. i think that faith plays a great role in both of their lives. george w. bush became a born-again christian when he was in midland. i think it changed his life in a lot of ways. less -- she is less vocal about her faith than he is. she is more low-key about it. i think it is important to both of their lives. second first lady to have a postgraduate degree. can you tell us what is important to know about her education and early jobs? >> people frequently overlook that. they make the mistake of thinking that she is a conventional woman which she is not at all. interior and has a certain modesty, if that word means much anymore area. it, but't boast about she certainly was very self-directed and came back from smu and teaching and said she wanted to go on to the university of texas to get a library science degree. her father said now we will never get her a husband. go on and get her masters degree when many people thought if you went to college at all it was for an mri's degree. she very purposely moved into a part of austin which is still the barrio on the east side. and almost entirely spanish-speaking school she taught at. in a dedicated fashion, she do it really chose a school where she thought she could have impact helping kids learn to read. i think that is a part that is 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 on facebook. you will see a picture of laura bush. join the conversation there. you can also tweet us using the .witter handle at first lady we will mix up as many tweets as we can. you can call us with the old-fashioned telephone. we would like to hear your voice. there are two phone lines if you live in the eastern and central time zones, the number is 202-748-8000. if you live in the mountains and pacific time zone, 202-748-8001. we will get to your calls and a little bit. twitter, i had a question about laura bush. what she always a republican? >> i will start off by saying i'm not a fan of the muppets but i will answer that. everyone is a fan of the muppets. i think she supported eugene mccarthy. i think she was a card-carrying democrat for many years. i think she married into a republican family and loves her husband, has great faith in him and his judgment. and supported his platform. she is not a natural republican. midlande we leave the days, one set of relationships that has carried her through her entire life is a group of girlfriends she made in midland. how important are they to her? the president, they have a strong set of friends who have been their friends forever. -- has been a sustaining aspect for them. they have been with you since the beginning. they stand, they know they trust them and have their loyalty. she, particularly, has always treasure going off with them. even when she was in the white house, once a year, they would have trips where they go rafting in the wild and care for each other. mostlynoted they are progressive democrats, this group of friends. what clues does that give us about her on politics? >> as mark said, i think she loves her husband, is loyal to her husband. one of the things i have come to admire and appreciate about laura bush is that she has navigated this is our volunteer job and the aftermath to find areas of commonality with people with whom she might find differences. she would campaign for republicans but i saw her once change a speech made script -- criptscript -- mid-s because the person was attacking a texas democrat. i think she has things that are very interesting to her with her friends that they care about, literature, but festivals. she is very much an avid conservationist and and my mentalist. she is active in women's rights and taking those things on. >> that kept them grounded. are people who knew them. i given great comfort when they were in the white house. both bushes talk about a story of bringing their friends in, president bush having his friend in the oval office. says bush, cannd you believe it, i'm in the oval office. bushes are self-deprecating. having a circle of friends around gives them great comfort. >> laura welsh 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. him.ays she doesn't recall i think she knew who he was after a time. he was a roustabout from a good family and a well-known family, certainly, in midland. at one point, they lived in the same building at the shantou -- chateau in houston. she always had other pursuits. her friends in midland pick them up. she was 30 years old. he was about the same age. they got engaged and married quickly. >> that is one thing i wanted to ask you about. this is the portrait you have both painted of a woman, a librarian who was very orderly, very measured. marrying after four months. she described that brief courtship and the decision to marry so quickly? >> she had a lot of suitors in her life, none of them clicked. in texas at the time, you talk about feeling like an old maid. by texas standards, she probably was. here comes this guy, george bush, who was so different from her in so many respects and yet so come from entry. ary.omplement one of the things she talks about is that they went out on the campaign trail right after they got married. george bush campaigned unsuccessfully for his seat in congress. they got to know each other so well on the campaign trail. they had this endless hours of driving around the planes of west texas talking about their lives. i think that helped their marriage begin on the right footing. >> what attracted laura to george, they seem so different? >> she says he made her laugh. she says she wanted somebody who would make her laugh. lonely grown up as a only child. she didn't have a brother, sister, her mother had miscarriages. she longed to have a sibling. she liked this boisterous, cut up nature. he wanted someone who was steady . laura is steady as she goes, would settle him down. i see that in them still. you can never know what is in somebody else's marriage. i was struck when i saw them recently on the tonight show. she said something and tossed her head back and giggled and laughed.they still have a bond. he is funny. >> during her tenure as first lady, she was at a white house correspondent's dinner in 2005, she took the podium in place of her husband and talks about the fact that he goes to bed at 9:00 and she stays up to watch desperate housewives. she said i am a desperate housewife. this great rapport. -- ribn read each other each other. >> good evening. is it true that laura's interest in afghanistan actually began in the sixth grade? >> i have never heard that. can you tell me more about that? >> in her book and i can give you the page number, but she had to write a report on a country. she and her father went to the globe and spun the globe. her finger landed on afghanistan and she wrote that in her own book. about how talking exotic it felt to write about afghanistan at that time. >> i think that when she -- i traveled with her to europe. t the museum in parisoured weren't there are a lot of antiquities from that country and some of the , she is right taken of the idea that you can have a robust civilization and then blown to bits in a matter of days. she was compelled by that. it might have been in her roots from early on to, but, at that was a cause worth being engaged in. >> he ran for congress right after they got married. and they got married did she know she was marrying a politician? >> not exactly. he promised her she would never have to give a speech. he broke that nearly immediately. she knew he was from a political family and she described herself as not being political. when people use that it means that they find politics distasteful. when people say they are not medical it means they don't like it. they think it is nasty and full .f one-upsmanship she didn't have much appetite for that. >> gary robinson wants to know was laura interested in politics or thrust into it because of her relationship with george w? >> thrust. quickly, and in a whirlwind fashion. they married and he hit the campaign trail in west texas. >> with that campaign being unsuccessful, what was left for them? >> he went into the oil business in midland where they were there for the first 10 years of their marriage, where their daughters were born and where they raise them in the childhood years. middle-class existence for a long time until he decided to do other things later in his life. >> was a middle-class by choice or necessity? she came from a wealthy family and he was in the oil business. >> they both had a certain modesty about them that continues today. they don't have the world's hugest house in dallas. it is certainly nice. i think he felt a strong need to make it on his own. i would defer to you because you are working on this book about the relationship between them. he didn't want to feel as if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. the expression is he had a .ingle -- hit a single >> born on third base and hit a triple. midland is a boom and bust town. he was coming up in the oil industry. it was not a very prosperous business to be in at that time. found great success as the owner of the texas rangers. >> he always had his father to bail him out. they were not comfortable-- -- they were not uncomfortable by any stretch of the imagination. >> you writing your book, they had considered adoption's. them,as parenthood for and can you talk about how their children were raised? >> i think that she very much wanted to have children. she always knew she wanted to have children. she always imagined herself having a family. they described that both as being a very idyllic time. she loved reading and raising them and very immersed in caring for them. i think that your children find a way to challenge your preconceptions what it's going to be like. they had a set of twins. one who always had a guided personality more. one who has a mother and i think they delighted in that. the years they spent in austin, where they were all together, a -- in a very close and easy town described ashey being ideally gears, too. >> lucy is watching us in wisconsin. hi. caller: good evening. i'm enjoying this. my question is, when you were talking about laura's lack of faith after the accident. was there something that happened that caused her to find out back in her life? or was it an influence of somebody -- george had billy graham. i was a little curious when she said she later came back. i wonder if there was something that drove her back to god? >> thank you. i don't know. i don't know that there was a catalyst. do you know of anything that that would have been catalytic in her life? >> no. i agree with you. kind of modesty and privacy she projects means that she is not given in the same way her husband is to talking and witnessing her faith in a public fashion. she was raised a methodist. certainly, always attended church. it was a part of community life. i thinkort of that -- she is certainly talked about the comfort of scripture in a way that is part of her interest in literature. i remember her picking a bible verse out after september 11. i don't know if there are words for her strength. i don't know if there is a catalyst. i wouldn't presume to speak for her in that way, as to how she found her footing again. >> that caller mentioned billy graham. he had a role to play in george and to finding faith stopping drinking alcohol. two bushes, hehe was a bit of a crowder. he made that decision to give up alcohol. i'm wondering if we know laura bush had a role in that decision or was that a personal life for , him? she said very famously to him, it is me are jim beam. he realized at a certain point. there was a conversation that george w. bush had with billy graham in kennebunkport. he was against at their compound. think as he talked to billy graham, he began embracing god in a way that he had not. that is the threshold of middle age, when you turn 40, that he gave up drinking and took got into his heart. laura bush was extremely supportive of all the decisions that her husband eight, including his embracing christianity. >> he made the decision that he wanted to make a bid for the governor's mansion in texas. laura bush was concerned because of the twins very young at that point. ultimately, she agreed to support him on this. what was laura's experience like as first lady of texas. seems like she would be embraced easily by the people there. was she? >> she was. it's a low key position. she could talk about how she like ducking out the backdoor and going around the corner to the drugstore. kind of hard to imagine with everything that happened after september 11th that somebody can live like that today. i think she had a rich life. she started the texas book festival. she very quietly, had influence on him with his education initiative. not in the sort of you will do this way. as is the case with lots of married people, he learned about what role early childhood education had, environmental print, and early literacy. he very much enjoyed that. for the girls it was a little , easier for them too. they could be a part of well-connected upper-middle-class kids in austin. they knew each other. no one really looked at them too harshly. >> as the son of a president, he certainly understood what life would be like in the white house. what the rigors campaign would be like. when he decided he would like to throw his hat into the ring for the presidential election, how supportive was laura bush at that point? >> i think she was supportive of his intention. she was confident he'd win. when he had his mindset on the state house in texas, when everyone thought he was going to lose, she knew he was going to win. she knew that he was very tenacious and his drive for things. i think that she had that same faith when he tossed his hat into the ring in 2000. for a woman promised that she would never have to make a speech, in 2000 she was asked to address the republican convention. we'll show you a clip of that. >> i'm so thrilled and i'm honored to be here. i'll have to say i'm a little bit overwhelmed to help open the convention that will nominate my husband for president of the united states. [applause] the president is our most visible symbol of our country. of its heart and its values and its leadership in the world. when americans vote this november, they'll be looking for someone to uphold that honor and that trust. you can see it in the pictures. the pictures are one of the most compelling stories of this campaign. we first saw them on our very first campaign trail. they are the pictures of america's future. moms, and dads, and grandparents bringing them to picnics. they hold out pictures of their children. they say to george, i'm counting on you. i want my son or daughter to respect the president of the united states of america. [applause] >> those comments about respect came on the heels of the clinton impeachment. it would be a very contentious campaign. that is when the recount started, etc.. can you talk about the clintons 's,nsition into the bush and how they establish themselves in the white house after that. >> it is very important advantage. they had been there before in a way, because george bush's father was the president of the united states. he spent plenty of time there. they had some guidance as to what that looked like with the -- with the contours of that are like. running for president is a marathon, if you get there and if you don't, you are in for a surprise either way. i think they had some exposure to that. that transition was somewhat eased for them by that. it was a famously bitter recount. laura bush spent most of that time in austin, as did george bush. she talked about how she tried to keep herself busy. there was time to wait and not too much time to get things started, very much. were sworn in, she spent many months not being in 10. she had two daughters who were going off to college. she wanted to make sure they got them settled. i think that she was only beginning to figure out what she was going to do and how she was going to focus her attention when september 11th came along. >> staying with that theme. historic proportions we have , second impeachment in history, just before the election. we have a supreme court making a decision in the outcome of the election. how difficult is it for a presidency to establish itself in the wake of all of that turmoil? >> i think they transitioned into the white house life relatively easy. it's interesting, right before 9/11 occurred, laura bush started hitting her stride as first lady. she had her first dinner for the president of mexico. she just done the first national book festival, using the texas book festival as a template. she was really starting to get her groove in that role. then 9/11 occurred. it's interesting, she talked about a friend of hers who had called her and said, when you first took on this role, i thought i don't envy her. now i envy you. because of a role to play. a very important role to play as our nation picks itself back up in the wake of it tragedy. she did an admirable job of it. >> michael watching us here in washington d.c. you're on. caller: i have 2 questions. is laura bush as conservative as her politics like, abortion and gay marriage. she recently spoke out about gay marriage. does she still smoke cigarettes? like jack kennedy, she is a closet smoker. she began smoking as a teenager in midland, texas. the she still smoke? >> we don't know. we have seen people -- we have people that say that they have seen her, but she said she gave that up. it wasn't good for her. because her daughters didn't like that. knew that it wasn't he'll. -- it wasn't healthy. i think that see like many, like her mother-in-law, barbara bush, who was married from a congressman from houston who championed funding for planned parenthood 40 years ago. those women, they sometimes will give that sense that they are more liberal than their husbands , and that can work well for the party. there is not necessarily evidence that that's true. i don't know that we can really answer that. in terms of her personal view of the world, i would say that she is not a judgmental and harsh person. i think she also has certainly never felt that it was her role to crusade on behalf of causes. such as reproductive rights, or .enefits for same-sex couples she has tried to have her impact in areas which we might consider safe subjects that everyone can get behind. i would would feel, and argue correctly, can have impact . her foundation gives $1 million away to library's every year, which are woefully inadequately funded. the book festival remains. to it lastple went year. she admired they do for johnson. lady birdired johnson. all of these years later after the initiative to put wild flowers on the nation's highways, they bloom year after year. it brings a sense of beauty. i think see tried to make her back where she could and let her deed speak for herself. >> i think that's rake. -- i think that's right. what she saw with lady bird johnson, the first lady can take on a cause. it can make a real difference without world events coming across and asking her to ring a. 9/11 occurred. instead of getting deeply involved in education or literacy, she had to do other things. >> you both referenced national book festival, which she emulated in texas. we have a clip from september 8, 2001, when first lady laura bush was in the library of congress, talking about the first annual national book festival. laura bush: one thing i like about the national book festival and the texas book festival is that they are in the capital. we are on the steps of the library of congress with united states capitol behind us. i love the symbolism and ideas in books with our national government and democracy. the ideas in books are what is so important in our democracy. >> both of you are authors. the publishing industry has generally thought to be less censored over the years. was there skip this is an on the part of book writers or publishers about a conservative first lady? how did she mitigate it? >> it was successful. as thehered writers first lady of texas that did not necessarily share the politics of her husband. they had a wonderful experience, and that might have helped. gets are in easy cause to behind, whether you are liberal or conservative. that was an easy rallying point. >> she did have an issue in the began,ouse after the war in which she had been having a series of symposiums on the role of libraries and the role that they had played. she was going to do one on poetry. she had invited a number of american poets, some of whom are very left of center and opposed to the war -- quite outspoken on that subject. they spoke out about it, saying that they wouldn't come, and if they did they would protest. she canceled it. it was not without controversy. she was not universally accepted . there are number of liberians that have questioned if she had thrown her might into the fight over educational tax and the idea of whether we teach evolution, or whether we teach emphasizeion, and abstinence. those kinds of intellectual sort ofs have sometimes ensnared her by her efforts to stay away from that. >> on that note, miguel martinez on facebook references that and incident.ces that where mrs. bush invited and disinvited helots to the white house. directlyver commented on that? as she ever spoken out about that? >> not that i'm aware of. >> i think she has a tendency to say that it is unfortunate that people can't come together and have a civilized discussion. that, once again, you might be able to find common ground if you can get beyond that rhetoric. i don't think she has spoken about that directly. >> from alexandria virginia. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is interesting that between laura bush and last week, hillary clinton, they are to limit of my generation. chosen one path, another has chosen another path. both i admire very much. the one success that they have had is that they have both raised strong and successful young women. can you comment on the difference between the two and why? i guess, on the difference between the two and why they both managed to raise strong women? >> very different women, and their children are both strong. say i believeould myself as a strong woman who has raised strong and successful daughters, there should be room in america for all kinds of 19 two have all kinds of ofsonalities -- all kinds women to have all kinds of personalities and paths. duthe -- to devote our to.ntion however we want whether we set our careers aside, put them back together, make it work within our own family, we each have our own ways to pursue that. we can all reach the same levels of what we would feel is satisfaction and success in raising our children. i think they are very different, but they are both women, bots of these first ladies, and tell you that they saw their time in the a as primarily to support to their husband. i think there are people that that rubs the wrong way, the antifeminist position. andshould be able to work pursue euro and interests. maybe you can disagree with your husband. but the particular hothouse of being in the white house and any stresses on a couple in that job, if you don't have a strong partnership, the president will not be as successful as he could be. he would be even less successful than he might have been, to put it another way. i think certainly george bush spoke about that directly. i think it is a ventricle partnership in the house of american democracy. >> in november of 2001, shortly after the attack, laura bush made first lady history by becoming the first first lady to deliver the president's weekly radio address. here are her reflections on the experience. you'll hear a little bit of a address that she gave. >> laura bush, did it surprise you at first when you first he came first lady, the platform and boise were given? >> i knew it, of course, intellectually. i had seen my mother-in-law and the platform that she had to talk about literacy. i had seen lady bird johnson and how she influenced me in texas because of her interest. i didn't really know it until i made the president's radio address in the fall of 2001 after the terrorist attack to talk about the way that women and children were treated by the taliban in afghanistan. >> i am laura bush. i am delivering this week's radio address to kick off a worldwide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the al qaeda terrorist network and its regime and to in afghanistan, the taliban. .hat regime is in retreat the people in afghanistan, especially women, are rejoicing. afghan women know what the rest of the world is discovering -- the brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the .errorists not only because our heart breaks for the women and children in afghanistan, but because we see the world the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us. we have an obligation to speak out. we may come from different backgrounds and faiths, but parents love their children. mothers, sisters, and daughters. fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a culture, it is an expression of our humanity. >> that is the first time i realized people heard me and what i said, people listened. i don't think you ever really know it intellectually until maybe after you leave and see with the platform is. >> that experience helped laura bush find her voice as first lady? her voice.p her find she talks about going to visit her daughter's in austin, texas. and going with jenna to a department store. there were a couple of middle eastern women behind the counter that thanked her for the speech and raising awareness about the brutal treatment of women under the taliban in afghanistan. at that moment, she realized what a profound difference she could make. if you are in a studio making a radio address you don't see the people that could affect. that moment told her she was making a difference. >> how did she use that voice when she found it? >> she is always been torn. she is one of the few in washington that refuses to take credit for what she has accomplished. people are always taking credit for things they had nothing to do with. she was instrumental in a program whereby liz claiborne and the singer sewing machine services anded goods to women in afghanistan so they could become self-sufficient. one of the things she and hillary clinton share, as very different women, is the belief that societies can be successful -- societies cannot be successful if they do not take advantage of half of the population. remember pressing her repeatedly to say, how did the secretary get involved? how did liz claiborne get involved? i think that finding a voice for her confidence results in space. she likes to use it in a way to get results. to raise money. she continues to do that. she travels quite a bit and the excel behalf raising money for things she believes in. connie in michigan. caller: hillary clinton and have aush, they each foundation or project they were gone. i wonder if you could explain about that. i am sorry that we do not hear more about it. both have foundations. can you talk about how this works in the world of pentane giving and finance, and how one can be in public life and accept contributions? they continue to work on the issues that were important to them. the bush center is a conglomeration of a number of including the, bush foundation, a benefactor to all things bush, including the library and institute. it continues to further the causes that they began to take initiative stored in the white house. >> they do that with the help of donors? >> yes. it raises money that goes into the bush institute. the projects relating to the bush library, as well. >> with laura bush, her husband will not be running for president again, and she will not be running for president -- in some way that there might be influenced that the donors could raise if another bush ran for president -- i think that is possible. in some ways i think they are protected, at this point, from that. in the case with mrs. clinton and the clinton global initiative, i think that that remains an area that the public, rightfully, once watchfulness on. track,ists should try to because if she were to run again , those people that have paid her money for speeches, or donated to her causes, have a relationship with her we would want to examine. thiseryone watching program knows the challenges the country faced during the eight years of the bush administration . it was difficult for the country. 9/11, the wars in iraq and afghanistan, and also hurricane katrina, and the 2008 financial crisis. on the domestic policy side, the big initiative was no child left initiative education of the administration. pursueush continued to her own interests, even as the country responded to the various policies. , we haveenging is this seen throughout the series of first ladies standing by their husband as the public opinion of their work changes. how challenging is that to see the increased criticism that the person you are married to is receiving in the public eye? difficult for them to see the scrutiny on their husbands. they know the man, the real person. often we can be caught up in the heat of the moment when we scrutinize our present. they can almost become characters. for laura bush, who is deeply in love with her husband, she stood by him and traveled more in her second term than in the first term. she found a voice on many issues, particularly relating to women, and try to further that cause by hitting the road. trying to better explain his policies to our nation and the world. , laura bush was on the road excessively during the campaign year. he shows one of the challenges of being a first lady trying to pursue your own agenda with the press corps asking questions. laura bush: i'm proud of the way that schools are safe across the country, the way that they are meeting goals. we all have to make sure that every child has a great education. gape is a large achievement between poor school andricts, title i schools, charter schools. that is what we have to address. it is not fair. in the last couple of weeks for you, watching her husband be criticized around the world for the behavior of the military? laura bush: i am sorry about that, but i know the present photos do not reflect the vast majority of our military. they certainly do not reflect i know that. and it's terrible. but, the good news, in our country is those people will be , prosecuted. there will be transparency in what happens. and you know, that's one of the benefits of living in a free country. but i'm sorry about those photographs and i'm sorry about what happened to the iraqi prisoners because it doesn't reflect our country. susan: ann gearhart, what are you seeing there? ann: what i was really thinking about when i watched that is i think one of the things we had never really talked much about with first ladies is their qualities of leadership. you know, we talked about leadership in terms of chief executives. and people who we elected to put in charge, think of leadership as also being really specific and targeted and focused about how much time you have and what you can accomplish with that time you have. and so in the case of laura bush, particularly in that second term when she realizes that it's her last chance to have an impact, there are many, many things that she may be concerned about that she may discuss privately with her husband, she's certainly not going to relate to the rest of us. she may have issues that she disagrees with him on. but the idea of trying to remain focused on the areas where she would like to have impact and knowing that she can fritter her time away if she doesn't remain what we would call on message but which also can be highly specific and focused is something that we see her do there. and i think that with the, you know, 10 years passed, i would leave it to viewers to decide if they think they see sincerity there or not, whether she does in fact, say, i'm very sorry about that or whether she seems as if she is just trying to take a pass on it. what we do know now is that we have had other horrible incidents with our military but for the most part, for all of the people who are in service, it is in fact an anomaly, and you heard her address that there. susan: she was speaking at a school about education initiatives, no child left behind, so we mentioned was a major one of the bush administration, allegheny tableau wants to know what was laura's role in no child left behind. as a teacher did she support the direction that the president's reform policies were taking? mark: well she certainly did publicly, i mean, i think she was making a speech about education there. and supporting this policy, they talked about the, like president bush campaigned talking about the soft bigotry of low expectations. and they really wanted to, to narrow that gap, the achievement gap. so i think that what she said at you know, at night when behind closed doors, we don't know as she said to her reporter once if i have differences with my husband i wouldn't be telling you. so we, we don't know what she thought but she certainly again as we can see there supported his policy by -- by speaking about it publicly. susan: on the international front, she traveled extensively as you mentioned. and she ultimately visited nearly 75 countries during her years in the white house. in addition to afghanistan she became very much involved in the president's african aids relief effort. and malaria eradication efforts and also met with burmese refugees and exiles at the white house, what was, when she chose to be involved internationally, what drove those decisions? ann: i think what drove a lot of those decisions was again the issue of women's rights and their full participation in the societies in which they were. and an extension of that was women, she felt wanted to know that they could raise their children in live to to have lives that were sustaining and successful as best they could. and you know, the human rights flowed out of that. i think that the teachings of the dalai lama have been of interest to her in a way philosophically, there have been a couple members of the family who are engaged in that. the president has a cousin, leslie walker has been very engaged in that. i think through those conversations she once again saw a female leader in a country who had been repressed. and under arrest for many years, sort of moved her to that. what do you think about that? mark: yes it's when you talk to george w. bush about this. and why he got involved in aids relief in africa, where no other president had really given much thought to to that, remarkably. george w. bush did by far more for the country of africa than any of this predecessors. the reason is that to whom much is given, much is required. and he saw that the aids was eradicating much of sub-saharan africa. and that he could do something about it. he could make a measurable difference. and he thought if he didn't do that, if he didn't take a chance and invest money in that cause in the eradication of that insidious disease that we would be judged in years to come. so i think that a lot of it had to do with his religious faith. and again i think laura bush shares that faith. susan: next is cathy in du quoin , illinois. cathy: hello. the reason i was calling is earlier in this program the question was raised about when laura found her faith once more. and i had read her book and she mentioned i lost my faith that november, lost it for many, many years. and if i recall correctly when she was on the book tour program for people who were interviewing her about her books she had written, she was asked when did you find your faith and she said that it came back to her gradually. and she mentioned like when her twin daughters was born that that you know, she said good things started happening. and i found my faith gradually. and i found it interesting on that subject in her book, she also mentioned, she said the one thing, the one wrenching fact is i have faith that one is never alone. and i think that's probably sums up how she felt about her faith. susan: thank you very much for calling and adding to our discussion. turning to her book also on another issue and that is social policy issues like abortion and earlier a caller mentioned gay rights. here's what she writes and spoken for the heart, her memoir. "on the issue of abortions, i've always been struck by the deep divide between the sides. and how rarely the alternative of adoption is raised. we have so many friends and family members who found their children through adoption. george and i were fully expecting to be one of those. today, for women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, infertility is the issue that is most personal to them and is a private struggle that breaks their hearts. we are a nation of different generations and beliefs, seeing issues through different eras and different eyes while cherishing life. i've always believed that abortion is a private decision and there, no one can walk in anyone else's shoes." it is something that she and george w. bush differ on. mark: well i think she said publicly when she was first lady that she would not in favor of of overturning roe vs. wade, and i think she was asked whether you know that invited whether gay people has slept at the white house while she was first lady. and she said probably and the interviewer asked would you object if that were the case and she said certainly not. i think she let her views be known in subtle ways i think. interestingly enough, you mentioned that the she and president bush had trouble conceiving, in fact they had, went to an adoption organization to see if they could adopt twins and then they ended up conceiving their own set of twins, quite unexpectedly, i believe. susan: we've been talking a lot in this program about the amount laura bush did all the time that she spent on the road and certainly throughout the 20th century first ladies that has been a story told again and again. in the interview that we do with laura bush, we asked her about whether or not first ladies should earn a salary for all this work. here's her answer. >> laura bush, should the first lady receive a salary? laura bush: i don't think so. there are plenty of perks, believe me. a chef, that was really great, i miss the chef. i don't think so, no i don't think so. and i think the interesting question really is not, should they receive a salary but should they be able to work for a salary at their job that they might have already had? and i think that's what's we'll have to come to terms with. should, you know, will, i mean, for certainly a first gentleman might continue to work whatever he did if he was a lawyer, or whatever, so i think that's really the question we should ask, is should she have a career during those years that her husband is president in addition to serving as first lady. susan: certainly at the state level, some first spouses have been able to pursue their own careers but could this work on a national level? what about conflict of interest and whatever job that a spouse would hold? it is possible for someone in this day and age to migrate from having a life fully outside the white house as well as being first spouse? ann: well i think we have to give it a try and see how we think it works out. now i think that certainly the ceremonial aspects of the job are ones that you might be able to find some flexibility in, i mean, we have had other presidents who were not married and had hostesses who carried that on for them. so certainly, some of those really old-fashioned ways of being the gracious spouse in the white house we could change. as i said it i think that it's a relational job it's not a political job in many ways being first lady. it is a job about tending to the primary, the principle in its highest form as staff members do -- not suggesting that a first lady is a staff member. but i'm saying that you know, she once said to me, being the wife of george bush is her most important job whether her husband is president or not. and by that i took her to mean that, that is her primary relational core of life. and she has other pursuits and she certainly has hobbies, many of which she doesn't share, that she takes on her own. but i think anyone would be hard pressed to continue but there is always a first time for everything. mark: you know, i don't think there are many first ladies who wouldn't say that the most important role they played was as a sort of pillar of strength to their husbands in times of need, being there for them. ann: no and i would hope that when we have a female president which i am sure we will if she has a spouse, that spouse will feel the same way about supporting her. susan: well speaking of support, we referred to this earlier, but we have a chart which we're going to show the audience about the president's popularity ratings during his eight years in office and as you can see peaked enormously after the 9/11 attacks and then continued downward through the years of his presidency. laura bush however remained popular with the american public and in 2006 gallup poll, she was at a much, much higher rate than the president, 82 percent approval rating in january of 2006. what does that say about the american public and their ability to see separately the roles of people in the white house? ann: well, i think that the american people are pretty wise, and in many ways. and they certainly know that she hasn't been elected to that position, that she somewhat is there by virtue of her relationship to the president. she carries on. she does what she can do. she can't be held responsible entirely for the political decisions he makes. i suppose that probably sounds naive to a lot of people but i was always really struck when i was covering her, people would say, "but she seems so like this", or "she seems so like that", or, you know, she reads dostoyevsky and, you know, she really likes bob marley so what does she think when she talks to him because he's a warmongering man and i'd always say, that's the wrong question. you are speaking as a voter and a citizen and you have concerns about what you've elected this president to do and you feel he's fulfilling that. but, she's his wife. she too is a constituent but that is certainly not her primary role and the way she looks at it and i do think people discern that. susan: dennis is watching us in brooklyn. dennis: hi susan, how are you? thank you for the series, it's great. my question for the panel is was laura bush less political and more compassionate and sympathetic than most other recent first ladies? i remember her being so aware of the victims of september 11, saying that she would daily read "in your times" profiles of the dead that were published at that time and recall her many visits to the walter reed hospital to visit veterans. was this rooted in her being a war time first lady or is this consistent with her personality and demeanor in general? thank you. susan: thanks so much. mark? mark: i think the answer is both. you know, there aren't many first ladies who are overtly political, really. i think she played a more traditional role as first lady than say, hillary clinton or eleanor roosevelt. but frankly, i think the two things the gentleman mentioned were very much consistent with her personality reading the obituaries of the dead, comforting the people in need, that's very much a part of her personality. susan: so, i'm going to interrupt, because our time is actually getting short. you referenced this earlier and that was her trip to the white house correspondents dinner and in fact just as nancy reagan had done two decades earlier, she went to the press corps to have people see her in a different light and perhaps they did, with covering her regularly. let's watch and those of you who saw it originally will remember this time when she spoke up as surprisingly. president bush: and so the city slicker asked the old guy how to get to the nearest town -- laura bush: not that old joke. not again. [laughter] [applause] george always says he's delighted to come to these press dinners. baloney. he's usually in bed by now. i'm not kidding. i said to him the other day, "george, if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later"" [laughter] [applause] i am married to the president of the united states, and here's our typical evening. 9:00, mr. excitement here is sound asleep, and i'm watching housewives," with lynne cheney. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, i am a desperate housewife. [laughter] susan: laura bush at the 2005 white house correspondents dinner, so you can tell and see as an event that was well-received. one of the things we've talked about with each of the first ladies' profiles is their stewardship of the white house. during her time in the white house, laura bush did a restoration of the lincoln bedroom. we're going to watch as she talks about that next. laura bush: we've refurbished the lincoln bedroom; i would say that's the biggest renovation project that we've worked on. that lincoln bedroom was last done by truman, when he set it up to be the lincoln bedroom, to have the lincoln furniture in it. when lincoln lived here the room was his office, and when truman redid the house in the late 40s and early 50s, he set up that room, the room now we call the lincoln bedroom to commemorate the fact that it was lincoln's office and it was the room that he signed the emancipation proclamation in. so the room itself is really a shrine i think to american history. truman redid the room then in that renovation and ot had never been refurbished since and really needed it. the carpet was the over 50 years old and so i have worked with the white house, a historical association, the preservation board who are furniture curators art historians wall paper specialist, they are the real scholars. and the white house curator of course and we've looked back at the wall paper lincoln had in his office, at the carpet, he had in his office and we did reproductions of those. and then we had old photographs of the way mary todd lincoln had draped the lincoln bed with the purple and gold and fringe and lace really high victorian decorating and we did have later photographs not contemporary with lincoln but the bed, still dressed the way she had dressed it and so we did that again. susan: how did the bushes use the white house as a social instrument during their years, and how do they use it to advance policy, what was entertaining like while we had wars going on? ann: well i think that they had only really begun to entertain the dinner for the mexican president was a few days before september 11th and it kind of backfired literally because they had fireworks and they hadn't really warned anybody that it was happening and so this sort of exploded all over the town. everybody was sort of alarmed. and then after september 11th, i think there is a great deal of thought as to what was appropriate and how to do it. i think that certainly laura bush has been instrumental in seeing the white house as a living historical institution and using it as a way to help people understand what the lives have been like for people who lived there at the time and the way that it reflects the period and of the way that it reflects the context of the time, i mean, the meticulous need to recreate what mary lincoln has done is really about also showing the tenor of those times and what was considered the right way to be. and i think that mostly themselves, you know, they would bring friends in and do that but, they favored smaller gatherings certainly and not much, as she was right, he went to bed at 9:00 at night -- she was -rather might stay up late reading or prefer a little dancing, so. susan: and we take a call from (david) in provo, utah, hi (david). david: hi, i was calling to ask about laura bush's influence on the politics or the democratic rights in burma. i know that she was really championing that towards the end of the second bush administration. susan: thanks so much. either of you know? ann: well again, i've always found it really kind of curious and i wish i knew more about that. i haven't really been able to understand exactly what moved her to do that. she really became quite outspoken in a way i would argue that that is her most forceful and surprising role as a first lady to wade into foreign policy in an area where the united states had been kind of, not all that engaged, in speaking out against the generals and all of that. so, she's been persistent and i think that continues to this day along with her interest in women's rights in afghanistan. i mean, she just recently appeared with secretary kerry and former secretary clinton, the three of them the state department to make this plea that as we pull out of afghanistan, we don't leave women behind. so, but the issue about burma is a fascinating one and i don't know very much about where that's come from. susan: in that clip, laura bush mentioned the white house historical association as this series winds down, i want to remind you that we've been watching along the way, the white house historical association has been our partners throughout the series, helping us extensively with research and with photographs along the way. we have also partnered with them and this biography book the special edition of the first ladies of the united states and many thousands of you have had a copy of that so you can learn more about the lives of the first ladies. i'm cognizant of our time here and so as we leave her white house years i want to put on the record, some of a laura bush's accomplishments in office as we mentioned as the first, the first lady to deliver the president's weekly radio address, the founder of the national book festival which continues to this day, visited more than 75 countries during her eight years in the white house and renovated the lincoln bedroom among those that we are highlighting. and in 2009, she became a private citizen again and how has she approached that aspect of her life? mark: i think the bushes went very comfortably back into their private lives. i don't think that they missed the grandeur of the white house, i think they've eased very, you know, very gracefully into private life. they've gone back to their lives in dallas. laura bush continues to be very much involved with the bush center which i referenced earlier that includes the bush institute and the bush library. she was instrumental in the planning of the bush library and i think her touch can particularly be seen in the grounds surrounding it with its native grasses and native plants, something she has a great passion for. so i think she continues to lead a very full life, and as i mentioned earlier susan, continues to pursue some of the causes that were dear to her as first lady through the bush institute. ann: it was the nice things about being first lady in a way too is that, so you think you'll have just the brief period of time but your impact does continue and she actually has more room to continue to be involved in these policy initiatives, then certainly the former president does or would or has suggested he wants to, because he doesn't think it's the right for a president to be criticizing another one, but she and mrs. obama for instance have both been together in africa, have had a summit for first ladies of africa, they've worked together on a number of things, mrs. clinton, and she and the secretary have carried on those things and she i think has been surprisingly and happily engaged in a way she thought she might not be. susan: we have in fact the clip of her trip to africa with the current first lady michelle obama, let's watch that next. laura bush: that's why we're launching the first ladies initiative at the bush institute. we want to support first ladies around the world by convening them annually to highlight the significant role that they can play in addressing pressing issues in their countries. michelle obama: i constantly get asked, especially in the first term, are you more like laura bush or are you more like hillary clinton, and i'm like, is that it? [laughter] laura bush: are you hillary clinton or barbara bush? michelle obama: right. laura bush: and i always just said well i think i'll be laura bush, i knew laura bush pretty well having grown up as her in midland, texas. susan: mark, you've had the opportunity to host some of these panel session with the first ladies talking about the role and what you hear is the desire on the part of the public and the press to typecast and also the desire of the women in the role to be their own self despite all the enormous pressure to be something other than that. would you comment on it? mark: last word, i think they're always going to be compared to their predecessors in particular, are you going to be more a traditional first lady like a mamie eisenhower, an activist first lady like eleanor roosevelt, which one will you be and i think they all put their unique stamp on the role. laura bush was no exception. susan: we have read a couple of times from laura bush's memoir which is spoken from the heart, you've talked along the way about what a guarded individual she was. when you read her memoir, do we learn any more about her, than you had known perhaps from all your reporting in your biography? ann: well, i was interested in hearing from her in her own words, what she wants to reveal about who she is and what she reveals about what's important. i think that one of the keys to understanding laura bush is that she's a reader and that that is a really integral part, and they, you know, that gentleman david i think who called from provo wanted to know about whether she was more empathetic. i think that she finds power in narrative and in story and in human's story and that's what she responds to, that's what touches her, that what is what compels her to act in many ways and i gathered from her a deeper understanding from that book of the meaning of the west texas land, the sound of the wind, the great giants of texas literature who have come before her she returns to again and again, edna ferber, i think that that's really a key to understanding who she is. she's not a crusader, as much as she is a reader and that is what then forms the way she moves through life in many ways. mark: and what transported her from west texas, i mean she talks about the incongruity of being in west texas reading plato, these classic writers and leaving midland through those pages, through those narratives. i think her book is exceptionally well-written. and what i was far more interested in the first part of it which is the story of her growing up in midland which she writes so poetically about than i was about her duties as first lady which will often get into, you know, one ceremony after the next. it's very difficult i think to write compellingly about ones tenure as first lady because again it is so ceremonial in nature. susan: debbie is watching us from louisville. debbie: hi susan. i want to thank you very much for this program. my question is we have many influential first ladies to go back through history. that could be hillary clinton, michelle obama or laura bush, what is the most important thing that you believe that laura bush or fore for america -- women's rights? and susan, of all the first ladies which ones bring more or that had impressed you the most? susan: oh, thanks. i'm going to pass on that answer because i've been in this chair and the role of interviewer along the way. but did she make any advances for women's rights, the caller wants to know. ann: i think that she i think that with all of these first ladies it's really hard to judge them in almost the contemporary times in which we are in now. i would defer to my historian colleague here. i write about the now in many ways. i think it's too soon for us to know exactly what kind of impact laura bush has had in terms of women's rights. so i think that she has been a representative in her own way for rights in a way that is not as expected as someone who has crusaded i guess what i'm trying to say is, with what some people see is her more traditional mein to speak from that position on behalf of women who do not have opportunities. in some ways makes her more effective because it's not quite expected. so almost as if she's championing it in a place that we wouldn't expect to hear it, perhaps. mark: i think both the bushes take the long view of history. and actually laura bush talks about the fact that she admired her husband for taking a long view of history, and making difficult decisions during the course of his presidency that wouldn't necessarily manifest themselves in popularity, you know, and i think you're right, i think his presidency and how it's reflected is very much in the balance we'll see what happens, he knows that. and i think most historians know that. and i think her contributions as first lady will be revealed as we begin to see the forest for the trees in the tenures of both of them in the white house. susan: we have just a couple of minutes left. so people have asked along the way and i have been negligent in , asking it on their behalf. since she is historically the only first lady to have had a mother-in-law who served in the role people are curious about the relationship between the two women. what can you tell them? ann: well i think that they have a good relationship and a strong relationship as best as i can tell. i wouldn't presume to say, you know, it's exactly a marriage that i wouldn't presume to say, you know, exactly what's between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law. you know, she famously stepped to with barbara bush who has a large personality when she first came to kennebunkport. and barbara bush was said to say somewhat tartly, and you do what you do when they were all, the boys were all running around competing against each other and she said, "i read, i smoke, and i admire." that was her way of saying, oh this is who i am. this is what i'm going to be doing and i may not fit some mold. i think that she respects very much her mother-in-law's life. and i think that barbara bush for her part has been very grateful, said she was at the beginning for settling down her boy. and is steady and once said, you know, she's the one with the first lady potential. mark: i think that's right, i know there's great mutual admiration i think between the two. they're very different women. but i think that's right, i think barbara bush saw in laura bush the qualities of a great a political partner or a great spouse for her husband as he embarked on a political career. susan: the two daughters, jenna, is an nbc correspondent. she married, not in the white house even though her parents were still in office in 2008. and they gave george and laura bush their first grandchild. barbara is a ceo of an organization called global health corps. and as we close here tonight, i want to say, thank you to our two guests for helping us understand more about the life and times and the still unfolding legacy of laura bush. thanks to both of you for being here and taking our callers questions throughout the evening. we're going to close with some thoughts about the members of the bush family, the president himself and the two daughters on their mother first lady laura bush. thanks for being with us. laura bush: well i don't want to steal barbara's. i feel like i always steal her -- i'm thirsty, do you want to go first? >> ok. you go first the next time. so, i would say probably her work for women and all over really and we were so lucky because our parent took us on travels to africa and so we got to see pepfar being unrolled and being in clinics and schools, and meeting people whose lives would be forever changed. so i would say, her work for women as, you know, but more broadly probably pepfar and my dad too, i'm very proud of him for that. i think definitely echo that and also this was brought up before by anita-- but i think after 9/11 mom played such a, i'm going to cry. ok. i know. it's okay, all bushes cry. in front of people. the work that she did after 9/11 and just how comforting she was to everyone in the country is an incredibly legacy and what's really critical to the country healing after 9/11. [applause] george w. bush: if i were doing a series on first ladies i would be probing this question, could the first lady handle the pressure? because if the answer is no, then the life of the president could be pretty miserable, you know, laura was unbelievably calming and she was, you know, a pillar of strength in the midst of all the noise and, you know, finger-pointing and yelling and all the stuff that goes on in washington. and she's a great first lady, really great first lady. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> american history tv is featuring c-span's original series, "first ladies: influence nightse" on sunday throughout the year. next weekend, we look at michelle obama. this is american history tv. do, soe is so much to much coming at you that there is no time to think or reflects. .> hi, everyone we are here, digging up soil because we are about to plant a garden. i will not be satisfied nor will my husband until every single veteran and military spouses once the job has one. at the and of the day, my most important title is still mom in chief. [applause] >> in 2008, michelle obama became the first african-american first lady when her husband, barack obama, was elected our 44th president. as first lady, her focus has been on current social issues such as poverty, healthy livin., michelle obama, the sunday night on c-span's original series, "first ladies: influence and image," examining the public and private lives of the first la