.. this is a little under an hour.

>> i wanted to ask a question and before it do that i prefaced it by saying i like to get a show of hands. if you could take a look, and i ÷essed right for the season? [laughter] i'm not sure, maybe in florida. anyone who thinks i am, raise your hand.= welcome to the world of first÷? ladies. generally when we look at first ladies, we talk about them in terms of fashion sense, whether it's shaquille pillbox hats or maybe eisenhower's famous peak and we think about how they've influenced society and we think about that as white house hostesses and pay more attention to how they dress them whether they are appropriately dressed and how much power they have over the events that shape our future country. when i started to write about

first ladies, i decided i was more interested in a different aspect of their job in the white house. i wasn't so much interested in finding out how they entertained, what they did at state dinners. but i want to know how they shaped history, how they work as a political partnership and were they in fact political partners or were first ladies really just social appendages to the presidency? have to tell you the historical record is a bit mixed as he began looking looking at first ladies come you find a tremendous amount of information about what they served, how they decorate the centerpiece on the table and what kind of clothing they wear. when herriot was introduced to queen victoria, her dress had 100 yards away senate. how do you get 100 years of liaison to address, that she did

it. we know what her makeup was like. although this is chronicled in the 19th century and preserved in newspapers published as long back as 1881 when they had the comprehensive ever to appear. what's harder to find in political campaigns, and that because i'm a campaign animal, i started out in politics as pat mentioned quite early and i loved it. i wanted to know, what do these ladies do on campaigns? at the first place i looked. the reason is because they experienced a campaign in 1980 and 90s they are not tacit partners, at least not the one i work for.

nancy reagan, who by the way is one of my favorite first ladies was a strong assertive partner in a political marriage and she stayed that way from the first time ronald reagan ran for governor until his final reelection campaign. in the 1980 campaign she made her influence everywhere. those of us who worked on the staff knew well she had a point of view about his schedule, the activities, where he went, what he said he or she shaped the speeches and had a point of view regarding the press and how they treated her at him. she had favorites and shoot enemies. our job is to know the difference between the two and run a campaign that reflect to the way they have a couple wanted it to be run. i was fairly certain this is not a unique phenomenon. a sailor turned to hand another

interesting things in our history. some of them are. anyone who remembers the 1980s this kind of looking back almost a silly thing that her poll ratings became so negative just over an issue of designer clothing in the white house. i was reading an article about the oscars and it turns out clothes and and personal signers and accessory designers fight to try to get a celebrity to carry their product and there's a whole industry sprung up about creating gift rooms in hotels for the celebrities stay at the oscars and celebrities can accept any freebies they want.

so many things have been given away in the hopes it will simply whereupon in the photograph at the iris is talking about trying to figure what the value it so they can tax them for it. back in 1981 when nancy reagan got in trouble over design the clothes went to her but not returned, it is a political matter. she was not the first. had been a problem for women in the white house. i don't know for having a lincoln scholars in the event tonight. i'm sure some people are familiar with that presidency. there was one. in a single month she brought 300 pairs of gloves. she was an absolute span all the. when she left the white house, she was terribly and that he could shoot in getting this close for merchants all around

washing in b.c. on credit and attend the staff out to be up on the to get them to forgive the debt. it didn't work too well. most of them wanted to be paid and sadly she ended up trying to auction her clothes to pay that off after she left the white house. she was in many ways one of the most fascinating first ladies, simply because the multiple aspects of her personality that were dysfunctional. she is predestination she was going to marry a president. two suitors she shows lincoln because she was the one who could win. when she got to the white house, she considered it her political victory. she want to be mrs. president or not i'm president. she even made julia grant back

away from her in a room as though she were royalty would a breach of protocol to turn your back on royalty. that mary lincoln may have had problems with clothes and may have had problems with money and spending, but they never amounted to a political crisis in her presidency. i called her presidency because it was feared she was absolutely a partner in the undertaking. sat in on cabinet meetings, and make recommendations on when to hire and fire cabinet members. she was very much involved in the day-to-day aspects of his political career and his governance. so i began to wonder if this is true, what about when they get back and going as far back as abigail adams, you find the first ladies play an active role in the white house.

the former has been. she helped advise him on who to the politics of the day, legislation, which meant he couldn't couldn't it's one of the most fascinating and overlooked areas of presidential history. one of the parts i'm drawn to are the aspect of political crisis and how people get through that crisis. i don't know if any of you followed the recent i imagine

you wanted and the johnson impeachment. unless the mcardle johnson it turns out in that impeachment crisis in the same way hillary clinton was to bill clinton during the more recent impeachment. i was in washington during the impeachment in order to produce tv shows. we did a nightly show for msnbc that covered the events of the day in the senate and tremendous detail. when i read about what had been in the johnson presidency, i was struck by the similarities between hillary and allies. she had been a war refugee. i don't know if you know much about the johnson presidency, but her husband was one of the few southern senators who was

loyal to link in and in reward for that, lincoln first gave him a territorial governorship and later made him vice president. unfortunately for eliza johnson, at the time he was first made a territorial governor, she was in confederate occupied territory in tennessee and for a period of two months, she tried to get across the lines. her family was sleeping byington on the roadside and get up to our knees only to be turned back a confederate commanders and find another way through and eventually she managed to reunite with her has been. a tough woman. this is not the woman who would easily give up in impeachment crisis. the impeachment crisis came about if you remember your history, johnson tried to remove secretary of war stanton and stanton refused to vacate the

office. congress passed the audit said the president didn't have the power to terminate cabinet. johnson thought of as an unconstitutional act and to say to have a showdown. posted by trying to get rid of stanton, one of the toughest in the cabinet and how to deal with the south. johnson didn't want to see the south plundered. state wanted to plunder the south. this led to a showdown that lasted several months in which eliza mcardle johnson on a daily basis talk to them about we could rely on who he couldn't come and analyze price, they were it not fitting together all the way through. in her own way, she was like a hillary clinton. she was brilliant in handling

the most recent impeachment crisis. a vast right conspiracy was the absolute perfect thing to blend can start assessors. politically it was brilliantly done. i say that without regard to partisan affiliation. i work for a republican president, but i do not appear to talk about who's right and wrong in terms of democrats and republicans. i'm talking about managing an impeachment crisis and admiring the handiwork. however, when it comes to crisis management, probably by my all-time favorite is florence harding. the harding presidency was one of those that looked great at the time. hardin was a popular president. he had tremendous public support and manage for a good pair to time to fool people.

people couldn't see was how corrupt the administration was transient hangout. the teapot scandal we hear about in the history books, but it's modern day equivalent would be sent to like allowing enron to drill the strategic oil reserve. that's exactly what was happening. the members of the cabinet were taking oil reserves and secretly selling them off to oil companies. florence harding who came from an interesting journalistic background. she was a tough newspaper woman, was probably part of the entire corrupt affair that was the harding white house. at his circle of cronies called the ohio gang operated on k street, lake k street lobbyists like jack gave her mouth piles and they were figuring out the country. the veterans bureau secretary

probably sold about $200 million in money was supposed to go towards world war i veterans. the ohio canceled government licenses intermissions and literally set up shop on k street. even in the door, pay them money and got whatever you wanted. the corruption was unparalleled. we haven't seen anything remotely close to it. even aber mobs $82 million in lobbying fees is small change compared to 200 million. i know jack aber mobs. i worked in the 1980s and i was astonished to find out some of the things he's been up to. historically the harding administration went far beyond that and florence harding managed to set the political crises much better than warren harding did.

they had to figure out how to cover up some of it is the first began to come out. they would do so by telling the ringleaders when they were going to be caught if they had 24 hours to clear out of the country and in more than one case it worked. off he would go and invade interested. it worked until one whistleblower unfortunately committed suicide or was killed and that brought the press into the scandal and began to expose everything. florence harding at this point decided the best thing they could do would be to put distance between themselves and washington so they went as far away as they could to try to keep the troubles behind them. unfortunately this is where hardened fell ill and died, which then brought everything into the open.

she went through the white house records in the personal bank house records that was her excuse. what's your appetite for the question-and-answer session, the first ladies are not simply in the white house to pursue charitable causes for committees. most of them pick a reason. they are there because they are political creatures, just like their husbands. very few marriages withstand politics at that level unless both parties to the marriage want to be in the game.

too much pressure, too intense and it's far too hard to do. by the time a couple make it to the white house they are both fully committed to the game in the business of politics. i think it's time we started taking first ladies seriously am looking harder at their influence than what they do, harder at what role they play. i'd even like to see first ladies debate when we have presidential campaigns. for years we found out with the first ladies recipe for baking cookies is. let's find out what a recipe is for handling some of the real issues. anyway, with that, i welcome any questions. >> what i've noticed and interpreted myself busy taken a person like nancy reagan, who in my mind the following type

relationship was so in tune to protect her husband, to keep them safe, to keep them out of harms way. i think a person like hillary clinton, who i think wasn't tuned to capitalize on the advantages of where her husband was and manipulated to where she could capitalize and progress on her island a judgment. they're two different forms. george bush talked to his wife. there's not a has-been in the world that doesn't sit down and talk to the ways hillary clinton

versus nancy reagan type approach. >> well, it's a good illustration of a new look the differences between the two of a generational phenomenon i think. but the nancy reagan ronald reagan partnership is more like the james pohl, sir polk partnership. sir polk had a very unusual prenuptial agreement with her has been. she told them she'd marry him provide it didn't interfere with the legislature. he became speaker of the house at one point and shoot correctly figured out he was actually the most important politician in the land, more so than president jackson because the speaker is the one who has to translate the agenda into real legislation. his nickname was young hickory and andrew jackson was old hickory. they were as a team and was an

advisor to an, helped write speeches, top politics to figure out what they really mean for her. she would sound them out, helped them get legislation through. nancy reagan is more in that mold. she was out the career in sacramento and washington very attuned to ronald reagan's agenda and how to get that agenda and that day. she was a participant as well intellectually. she has strong reviews with regard to the soviet union, with regard to how to pursue arms control initiatives, strong views on issues like south africa and she made that known, namely in that the close circle. she didn't take her differences of opinion public, but inside the white house itself, she was not already sent of getting

involved in political matters that mattered most to her. she didn't have any separate ambition and the difference with hillary clinton and bill clinton is these were two people who came together in a different era, both of them very competent. one of them more politically astute than the other of the one who is more politically astute and was determined to carry on in her own right afterwards and has made a fascinating transition no other first lady has even attend day. perhaps the closest would be oliver roosevelt and the scent she carried on with an independent political career going into the u.n. as a delegate on the world scene. i think it's a generational thing. i would imagine we're going to see more of the hillary model

the first lady in the future, women who have their own independent object to a newly used the position of first lady to advance. the word bush looks to be the opposite of what i just said happens because she's a much more traditional role now. there's a pendulum effect. every time we have an activist first lady whose controversial, pretend to be followed with a first lady who is a much more traditional role. after bess truman did her best instead of mimi eisenhower after florence harding, grace coolidge did her best to stay out of the limelight. so even though we are evolving towards a more openly political first lady role, it's going to be a slow evolution every so often the pendulum will switch back.

>> is it true you're in the country during her presidency's ability? >> yes, it did. edith wilson was it. they called the regency, lasted from september 1919 until january 1920. he was stricken probably with a stroke. there's some controversy over what caused it, but in this period, initially the fact he'd been secret even from the vice president, his stock your new commish e-mail. people in the cabinet figured out something was wrong because they would come by and demand to see the president and no one would be allowed in to see him. she would listen and then go into the room and relay what she said he told her. [laughter] in some cases, they figured that couldn't be so because they

didn't think they would decide this on what the issue is. historians are uncertain about whether she was trained wedding wishes or whether she was doing what she thought was best. there's some evidence he should've listened more carefully if an issue is running the country because his most important priority was the league of nations ratified and it came down to a close vote in the senate majority came to me within two advising you to compromise but the republican isolationists as he was going to get the treaty ratified. she wanted to compromise and he refused to, so the political judgment was the better in that case. he might've had the crowning accomplishment that he thought. it's a very interesting thing

because before she met him, she claimed not to have voted in the most recent election and was apolitical as far as anyone can tell. after she met him, she became involved in politics. she would attend debates in the house of representatives. she read everything she could. she up on it in mind became vital. should even bother to learn communication codes so she could translate the wartime cables that came into the white house. she would translate cables in and take instructions and put them in code and send them out to the military. so this very unusual woman who claim not to be involved in politics at all when she was better grab hold of it and went with it. yes.

[inaudible] >> i wondered if though it's true. >> i think she got an unfair price in the sense that first ladies who do become involved in politics openly draw a lot of criticism. she would attend some cabinet meetings and i was highly controversial in the 1970s. i remember very well that her mere attendance suggested to some people that she views herself as an equal to members of the cabinet. by the way, i should say a word about that. there's no place in the world more hierarchical than the white house. it's an absolutely rigid hierarchy. would you go and come each member has his or her own chair. they are free to teachers with them when they leave the government, but they have to pay

for the chair. he used to be about $1200. people are very territorial about those chairs and staff members said at the cabinet table. if you look at the pictures, you'll see the president in a cabinet meeting and noticed there are rows of chairs that line the room at south and you'll see people sitting in those chairs. those people are mere staff. because they are staff, they can't be at the cabinet table. when you realize that hierarchical sense is what drives the white house and then you have a wife at the cabinet table, you can see where some people get how close. it's probably a bit silly, but nonetheless, that's the history. the fact she did that occasionally come even though many other first ladies have

done so, howard taft would barge in and she didn't know what was going on and wanted to know, shoots it down and learn. it is not any mutual thing. mrs. carter was seen doing it publicly. it was something that became publicly known. in terms of how she him told the job of being first lady, she was probably one of the most professional. it's been common for first ladies have a professional staff, usually consisting of a press secretary, social secretary, speechwriters. by roslyn carter took it to a new level of professionalism. she designed a policy staffing plan for east wing office that included a domestic policy component. she had experts on domestic policy advising her independently. she was active in some tough

areas. she was active in having to do with mental health, mental disability, education and she took it seriously. so that also drew a lot of scrutiny at that point in time when people were not quite ready for an activist first lady and she got a lot of criticism. i think she did a great job and being a partner in that presidency. when you have a one term presidency that fails, it's hard to say that presidency itself was a success and therefore hard to say the first lady was a success. as a political pro, she was good. [inaudible] >> camp david accords were just a brilliant achievement and i think we probably all wish today that we are enabled to see those courts built on before we got to

the point where today. the carter presidency is under rate and on that nomadic one. he's the only president able to achieve anything like that, getting israel to pull back from sinai and it was fantastic. >> you mentioned the difficulty not the reagan honda and we all know that jackie kennedy has such an incredibly positive run with the press. i'm wondering whether in today's world, where everything is in the moment in the media is the one it and nothing is kept from the american public where it is that critical to build your relationship to media and whether that is not entirely

change success of the first lady. >> you are taking thoughts right out of my head.? that's part of what i did in politics for many years was work with the press i worked on an image in advertising. i'm a big believer that if you're in politics need to build bridges and understand how the press works and that's especially true for first ladies. again, there's a long history of first lady's been active with the press. we tend to think it's only fairly recently, but julie grant was said in interviews with reporters alongside ulysses grant or dissipate and not just talking about what they're going to do at the state dinner and how they were going to pay for the 25 course dinners, you do learn fascinating things about entertaining the presidency takes the cake.

their dinners literally were 25 course dinners. they might have as many as 10 varieties of wine. they cost thousands upon thousands of dollars, far exceeded the annual salary and there was no entertainment budget at the white house at the time. all of that was paid for by cisco gold. julie grandma scott taking $25 in cash in an envelope, which has never been explained where that came from. the first ladies who were good with the press to have some common and that is that some of them work in the press. jackie kennedy was a reporter and a writer for your while. florence harding ran a newspaper. weren't hurting was prone to frequent mental break downs in during one of his breakdowns head-to-head in a sanitarium and florence took over the newspaper for the while. she decided she liked it so much she stayed with it and after she

left she went back to writing for the newspaper. she understood the press and when she went in the white house, she talked with the boys but she called them off the record so she could quote when she wanted to, but not when she didn't want to. she do they needed photographs and so getting herself in the papers is a trick that edith roosevelt also used. she realized the press were trying to get pictures of her kids, the family. so she would hire photographers to release them so that press was fed, they had their required to. meeting the requirements is one of the key things for first lady if you want to get along with them. you'll understand them to give them what they need to get their job done.

i used to do some of this in presidential trip planning. the reagan white house is appropriately famous for the fact that we knew how to handle the press very well. mike deaver was an absolute genius of this and i worked on a number of presidential trips, where we had to figure out how to get our message across. you respect his knees. you're generally going to get good press. celebrities have finally figured this out. they are now stationed pictures for the paparazzi that they don't have to put up with pictures they don't want the unit print. >> you honestly feel that press coverage today is more adversarial than 15, 20 years

ago? we have 24 hour media all the time so they have to create news. and at times, what they do is create news that's more confusing than it really is beneficial. >> i actually think the relationship between the presidency of the press has gotten less adversarial. probably the height was right after watergate in the 70s. when i began working with the press in 1980 presidential level, campaign level, there is almost an attitude among reporters that if you were politics, you had to be covered up some vague and they were going to find whatever it might be. it was clear we were adversaries. but i detect did in the last couple of years was this: it at

a station in the country. had slipped into the press that we oppress openly on one side and press on the other side. i'm thinking of fox news channel, for example, with regard to pro-administration. and then there was the perception that cnn was a similar type news outlet for the clinton industry should become a very pro-administration. those characterizations are not entirely fair. i think the prices a little less adversarial as a result. another factor is salaries in the press corps has gone up tremendously. back in the 1970s, reporters need a living wage. today the celebrities at the media make billions of dollars a year. it's not unusual for reporters to be earning a decent six

figures. their salaries in d.c. around par with top members of government. so as they become more and more part of america's elite, i think it shows in their coverage. i'm astonished occasionally has some of the lack of interest the press seems to show on details of stories that are really big. i still do work producing televisions, so i'm critiquing my own fashion of it. whatever part of the blame is mine, i accepted. the >> such a dear and the hyundai to be anywhere else. >> i like pat nixon ally. she had a really tough life and came from an extraordinary background, very humble background. i don't know if any of you have been to that part of the desert.

i have. i lived in nevada for a while. it's cold and high in the mountains -- cold in the winter in sweltering hot in the summer. she was born there basically with a tent. he had a canvas roof. her mother died early. she basically had to raise her siblings herself. there were sharecroppers who worked the fields. she was extraordinarily lucky ticket to college and find a way to pay for it. from that very humble background, she ended up eating next to the commander-in-chief and the president of the united states and maybe a little bit of the deer in the headlights comes from that. she certainly didn't grow up in those kinds of powerful circles. in terms of the politics, i have

to say she again was very, very active in her husband's campaigns. she helped write his speeches, went door-to-door with literature. she helped devise attack strategies so controversial. people said it was a really dirty campaign and she was right there slinging the mud. towards the end, when the watergate crisis slowly unfolded, i think she probably fell into a bit of a depression. i worked closely with john maclachlan, tv host who was a speechwriter they are and he felt she had fallen into a depression at that point. so strong woman, extraordinary background and i admire her in many respects. >> i had an opportunity in the

299 while at the presidential library to experience part of the relationship between lbj by the archivists listening in on conversations tapes from telephone conversations between lbj and his wife, while he was meeting with cabinet members. she was scolding him on the telephone. what's your take on her and her role as first lady? >> you know, they're all interesting i guess. i keep saying this but i'm fascinated by them. in her case is true. she was extremely bright, grip and his family that had quite a bit of money. got a great education. that lbj would she was down in texas. basically told her that she was

going to be his wife and he was an extremely determined suitor. so was richard nixon. he pulled the same thing. it was basically the first day. we're going to get married one of these days. they're strange things that happened between people driven to become president and their spouses. she threw herself into his work. she was one of the first guys to take a job under senate payroll. she ran his office in the senate. they're a partnership as she rose and politics. she ended up buying interest in media stations, radio television and texas and one of the first ladies who understood how the press works. that helped quite a lot. there are partnership from the beginning i would say.

johnson was in some ways a little bit more of a stubborn president. i'm not sure he always listened to her but in terms of working out politics of the day, they did a lot of talking and he at least hurt her. yes. [inaudible] >> you know, she's absolutely a cultural icon, no question of that. she would go out on the campaign trail. in fact she was pregnant and because her pregnancy was getting advance in our.druce told her she needed to take it more easy.

in that sense, she was a political wife and got out and didn't do much as lady byrd johnson. the deeper johnson was a reluctant campaigner. in fact, the democratic convention was built, staged in such a way to do a feature in mac and should and later but all bj had fallout because of the civil rights act, she did a whistle drop throughout the south to build support and it worked. he was very successful. so in that sense, jacqueline kennedy was not as political a spouse. she helped him with policy related things. she of course spoke french for willfully ended 1959, 1960, 61, china was becoming a problem. the best books on vietnam were

in french because it'd been a french colonies in french intellectuals. she would translate books and articles for you into english so the president could rebound as a candidate. i want to get my days straight. she did this before he was in the white house. she was not as much involved in the day-to-day politics. that became a problem as first lady. she didn't understand why people would put on her schedule she had to have a lunch with the congressional wives. that's pretty traditional. the spouses are invited in the first lady has said. jackie kennedy didn't like that kind of thing. she wanted to be riding horses or go to new york and see the cultural scene. so she became a little bit notorious for bailing out and

calling on lady byrd johnson to stand in her place. lady bird would have to run and fill in whatever jackie decided to do something else. we will never know, but she would have been a rebellious spirit had the kennedy administration, blogger and it might have caused some fallout, some flak. you can only snob others egos and washington so many times before they decided they're going to get back at you. if they expect the first lady to get the vice president's wife, doesn't go over too well. yes. >> do you know whether there's ever been a second baby or a vice president who has inspired to a more influence on all if there were a week first lady?

>> that's a very good question. we've had some weak first ladies who did do much of their duties. but i have not examined whether the vice president's wife at stepping on some of that, other than the one in stints with the candidate mr. edition. i'm thinking jane pearce, who was greatly depressed. i don't know if the vice president's wife stepped up to the plate. it's a good question. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> you know, i was asked that question on a tv show just today. just today we were -- the topic was whether or not we were going to have a woman president in

2008. if you look at other industrial countries in undeveloped countries, women have been heads of state. the percentage of women in the legislatures is much higher it is here. the reason for that is in no way we are not a highly politicized country or society because of that, we have added that lot of women in politics until very recently. it's a new phenomenon and new phenomenon scare people. we've got a lot of in tillage of women now, both of the state legislators in congress and the corporate world of the military. it's going to be interesting in five or 10. josé women who have let terry expressed that is more expensive than some of the men will run

against. i don't know if that answers that fully. [inaudible] >> at the funny thing when i was writing out, i had to make a decision, which first lady should i clued in what should i not? some include only the spouses of president and they are considered to be first ladies. no one else is. rachel jackson died before she got to the white house she never served as first lady again her life. on the other hand, women like harriet lane who of course was not the president's lies and jefferson wife had died by the time he became president. his daughters and friend take over some of the duties of first lady. in terms of the historical

contribution i think harriet lane at the buchanan presidency. how many old have gone to the experience of arranging a wedding where you've got is put in the family or they've been divorces and people unhappy with each other and you got to figure out how to make sure uncle joe doesn't fit next to to and whoever weather is going to be a fight. this is a danger the buchanan presidency was a problem that every white house event because of the rising tensions in the country. if you put two politicians next to each other that come from diametrically opposite sides of the argument of the congress, they might be each other with canes. if they are going to do to the congress, they might do it in the white house. so you have a problem with the

seating charts of keeping rivals separated from one another so you could have a white house event that didn't deteriorate into bloodshed. in a way deserves a lot of credit for the four-year peer to much the country did not actually descend into board, they try to contain the forces pulling it apart while seeking some other solution. it's not a trivial accomplishment. there's plenty of evidence that harriet lane pounded out to find their view and a vice buchanan acted as eyes and ears. that's a useful role. and politics it don't want to ask someone to be on your side unless you're sure will be on your side or if you know what the price will be. in passing tax cuts in 1981, reagan had to do a deal and sugar subsidies that one

senator. we do it advance the subsidies would get the tax cuts through a massively would have been. that's how politics works. it's all horsetrading. if you could have someone go around it by now, what kind of horse you want? how big? what color? somebody has to do that work so the president, he's the closer. harriet lane did that. she wasn't the only first lady who did this. julia tyler did it as well when it came to the annexation of texas. so first ladies who get actively involved in the politics find out where the problems are and who can be brought over in the sand and what's their price. they're part of a political partnership and she was.

[inaudible] >> i think if that happens, it's going to be a fascinating turn of event because first off is a two-term former president. how can you ignore that? one should. if she were president and he was first man, first gentleman -- i don't know what we'll call it. the country did know what to call first ladies for a long time. it is called the ladies of the white house. they were called first lady and for a while they were called

sometimes democratic queens and not often would be leveled as an insult in the early days of the country. they've been erected like those people awake out greater than the resolution. so whatever he might be called, you have a former president who's deeply knowledgeable about policy matters and dealt with all those people. i can't imagine he would have an influence on policy. i can imagine you would consult ever use them politically. he'd be an asset. if i could think of a political truth couple, but the one in which i've got a shadow president that i can use to double the level of activities in a day. one of the worst problems you have at that level the white

house are time limits. there's only so much you can do in a 10 or 12 hour day. if you've got had their you can double up and people will deal with you scott stature in his own right as well, plus they'll deal with that in president because she's got the power. you have the potential to be twice as effect to. as dealing with the man who went on to become prime minister of pakistan and is one complete was a schedule that he could not take control because pakistani society is such that everybody wants to do with the top and at the top and only. this poor guy was overwhelmed. he was drowning. but if you have a bill clinton and hillary clinton, you'd never have that problem. some of the country tolerated? i don't know. i can imagine there would be

some criticism. on the other hand, it's hard to say someone who won the presidency twice isn't entitled to have a strong voice in what happens. [inaudible] >> i would be the heart part. he wouldn't want to go back. thank you very much. [applause] >> i think of as the madonna first lady. she loved publicity.

that could pose as a model at a time when that was frowned upon and she was professionally known as the rows of long island. by all accounts, was bewitching. certainly bewitched 57-year-old john tyler who married her and she loved being first lady. she had the job less than a year, but he was julia tyler who ordered the marine had to play out to the chief. it was julia tyler who greeted her guests sitting on a throne on a raised platform with purple plumes in her hair, almost as if she receded to that were quaintly roll that martha washington had deliberately reject good.

>> coming up next on the tv, military historian, stephen budiansky recounts back medical research in the direction of allied forces in world war ii. this is about 40 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. it's great to be here at a wonderful independent bookstore. i can tell you is both a writer and a reader, stories like this played a role that kim duplicated anywhere else, so thank you. world war ii was of course a first for in which science and science has played a central and vital role. the manhattan project, thousands of physicists and other scientists who developed the atomic bomb was most romantic of the well-known