they're still capable of being used, and there's probably no more important thing that our government does than manage them. because these are the most dangerous machines ever built, and i think the subject has fallen off the radar quite a bit since the end of a cold war. >> word you don't want to hear together. nuclear weapons and accidental debt -- detonation. "command and control "tonight at 9:00 part of booktv this weekend on c-span2. former senator cay -- kay bailey hutchison is next on booktv. she profiles numerous women in the state of texas. this is about 30 minutes. [applause] thank you very much. thank you for coming out early

to start getting the flavor of this wonderful treasurer that the library congress puts on for our country, and especially our children and book lovers. i'm happy. this is my third presentation. as mentioned, i have written two books about american women trail -- trailblazers. i think alexis started out talking about the women of america in his famous trip here in the 1700s. he said, when it gets down to the end -- this is a para phrase -- when it gets down to the end, i would say the most important attribute of this great country is the superiority of their women. he talked about -- [applause] that they had strong opinions, and that men

and that men(.ecl) and that men(.ecl)(.ecl) listened to them. so i thought it was a great beginning. knowing that those earliest women showed a spark that was different, that showed an independence and resilience. my first two books were about the american women who broke barriers in the different field. i was able to do the first woman who made the start at getting in to a field, whether it was journalism or altogether let -- atathletics or aviation or politics or education, and then i was able to interview the women who were still breaking barriers in the same fields. so as an example, in "american hero win." i wrote about margaret smith and running for the senate on her own and winning. i was able to interview madeline

al bright, sandra day 0'connor, and condolezza rice who were braking barriers still in the statesmen and politics. after my first two books with my wonderful publisher, harper colins, they said, you know, would you like to write another book? then i came in to the great state that i represent, texas, and the role of women in history generally has been less on the market than the great men who settled our nation as well as our at a state of texas. i thought i'm going do something on basically 19th century texas women. and it was for a couple of reasons. number one, of course, you know i love my state. number two, though, there is something special about texas, and i believe that spirit of texas was created in the 19th

century, and there has been a lot of talk i know about texas. as i came in to the national scene in the senate, i would see people roll their eyes when we talked about how great texas was or how big we were or how important we were, and so i got used to that as well. and so i thought, you know, there is something different about us. some people like it. some people really don't, but there is a spark. there is a spirit, and i wanted to continue my insistence that women be included in history by writing about the texas spirit, because our history is different. we're the only nation that fought for our independence and became a nation. we fought for our independence from mexico. we were part of mexico in the

early 1800s, and that revolution and the women who were there during the revolution really showed a resilience. there was something else. with the revolution and then later the trail drives and the ranching and the settling of far west texas, harsh land, harsh conditions, there was a spirit of really not only resilience, but a positive attitude. a happiness, a gaiety that had been passed through our generations, thank goodness, to give us a kind of a spark that i think is special. now, i will quote from a couple of people about texas. someone said yet another person has made that very tough decision when learning that their company was moving to

texas the hard decision about whether to move or throw themselves in front of a runway train. then there's molly ivans who was a dear friend of mine, you broke the mold after molly, and she said, i dearly love the state of texas. but i consider this a harmless perversion, i only discuss with consenting adults. [laughter] well, so i know we're controversial, but i wanted to go back and look at that beginning. in the early 1800s, it was part of mexico, and the women who came to texas were basically genteel, southern women. they were educate, they had refinement, they had a quality of life that was pretty good, and they married husbands who were adventurers. now, why would men from the east

coast and the southern states that were already in the united states -- why would they come to america -- , i mean, come to texas when it was so primitive and pretty open, pretty lawless. here is why. back then, so many of the young men were born in to families with a lot of kids, a lot of boys and girls and, you know, there were ten kids. even if they had a good life, there wasn't going to be much to be passed down. so the lure of free land is what really brought the men and the adventurers. if you moved to texas back then, when they were just getting started, and they were trying to encourage people to come from america in to this part of mexico, you got free land, and as long as you would farm it and

use it, you were able to keep that free land. so these southern belles came with their hardy husbands, and what they found was stark reality. there was nothing there. there was harsh land, harsh weather, no houses whatsoever, and certainly no furniture, and so i have a couple of quotes from letters that were written and things that were said back then. now my great, great grandmother was one of these southern belles. her father was the governor of tennessee. she married her young husband who just graduated from medical school. he was setting up his mm practice, and they moved to san august seen, texas. it was pretty primitive back then. but she wrote this letter that

just touched my heart. out in this new country, -- she was writing to her sister. dear lew, out in this new country, i so no one but strangers. they are the kindest people i have ever met. the society is as good as any portion of tennessee. there seems to be as much refinement as you meet with at any place. there is no such thing as fine house or furniture. they have very comfortable houses, but can't get furniture. we're too far from navigation to get such things. by the time we make the money, they will navigate the river. then, we can all get the little notions we fancy we need. if i had been in tennessee, i would have bought the house we occupy would not do at all. we live in a small house with two rooms, and a passage. it doesn't even have a plank

laid over -- overhead. with all the inconveniences, we are getting along finally. i mean, just a positive spirit that shows in a new place where there was really nothing. another book was written by mary austin holy. we are talking 1831 here. her cousin, who is considered "the father of texas" was trying to encourage people to come from the east and settled. he encouraged his cousin to come from north carolina and go back and write a book that would encourage people to think it was a great land of promise. she did. she was actually taken with texas in the time that she spent here. this is what she wrote: "it is not uncommon for ladies to mount their horses and hunt with their

husbands. to ride long distances. to attend a ball with silk dresses in the saddle bags. free spirit and spaint use gaiety are thus induced. and continue a rich legacy to their children who, it is to be hoped, will sufficiently value the blessing not to squander it away. in their eager search for the luxuries and refinements of the polite life. you saw in 1831 that spark that said, you know, things are tough. it's hard, but they're presenting a gaiety in their society that is so exciting and so much fun. you read about -- two of my chapters are about margaret houston and sam houston. sam houston was the commander in chief of the war with mexico for

independence, and he had already been governor of tennessee, but he left tennessee after something happened that has never been really discovered by the historians. that was a disastrous marriage. he married a young, beautiful girl, eliza allen. something terrible happened, and it was so bad that he resigned the governorship of tennessee and left. he went and lived with indians where he lived several times in his life and actually a great help to him when he came to texas and understood when there was trouble with the indians, because, of course, when the settlers moved in, the indians' way of life was being severely disrupted. but he understood the indians

and loved them and considered himself an indian in many ways. but when he came to texas, he became an immediate hero, because he did have a military background. he had fought in a war with the indians, but he had a special character. he is in the lore of texas, he's really the most famous. he became one of the first two senators from texas. when sam houston came to texas, he had a glory pass, and he marid margaret houston, and they had so much correspondents. he was writing the parameter of the new republican of texas after he won the battle. he was part of the leadership of texas, then texas became a republic. we were a re. -- reup. lick

republic for ten years. they were married. there are two chapters on them because they wrote so much which was a god send for historians because it told about life and told about the early struggles of texas. but margaret was very quiet and very shy, really. she didn't even accompany general houston when he became governor, and he was president of the republic at one point. she didn't even go to austin with him very much. she was very, very shy. she had the same grit and determination. she was an alabama girl. she met houston after he won the battle when he was coming through alabama and came to the home of her brother, and after she had her second child, she had a tumor in her breast, it became very, very painful. he was in washington, she didn't

want to trouble him. so she reached out to his best friend, mr. smith, who was a yale-educate physician who was also in the revolution and also a great friend. she said, i have this, i know there's something growing. t very painful, and i feel that we need to to something about it. well, he came to see her and he agreed. he said, we need do something. i'm not the best qualified, but i'm going to come back in a couple of weeks with a surgeon, we will take this out. so she wrote sam houston and said, you know, i'm in pain. i'm going have a little surgery. it's going to be quick. it will take two minutes and not worry. well, she had the operation to take out the breast tumor, and because she had been so strong with her husband sam that he not

drink, she refused to take the alcohol that dr. smith was urging on her to dull the pain, and she refused to take it, and dr. smith wrote to sam houston and said, she took it like a soldier. she bit on a cohen, and endured this and survived and had more children and they had -- she had a long and regular life. but, of course, with no anesthetic. she had the amazing -- resilience just like the girls who came in. thomas rusk, who was the other first senate of texas, who was a very -- he was actually the secretary of war. he and sam houston were best friends, bonded, and they were both elected by the texas legislature to be the first senators from texas after the ten years of the republic, and

texas came in to the union. i'm going to digress for a moment and say that texas did come to the united states first under a treaty. because we were a nation, of course, and the treaty was signed, but they couldn't get the two-thirds vote in the senate to ratify the treaty. so president tyler said, all right, i'm going introduce a resolution. we'll pass a law to let texas in to the united states. well, john quincy adams, who had come back to the house of representatives by then -- after being president, filibustered the entry of texas in to the united states for days on end. every day he filibustered until finally he was worn out, and at the end texas came in to the

united states by one vote in the house and one vote in the senate. so i like to tell my friends in texas when i'm going back and we've had all the wars and -- that we've been fighting in the senate for texas that it's not new that they don't love us in washington. they never have. but thomas rusk was the first senator along with sam houston, and because they were in the revolution, i thought he wrote something in the report to president of the new republic about the battle that, again, told the tale of the greatness of texas women. the member, -- men, he said, the men of texas deserve much credit. but more was due the women. armed men facing a foe could not but be brave. but the women, with their little children around them, without means of defense or power to

resist, face danger and death with unflenging courage. because it was true that they faced the perils of settling texas with so many obstacles. they feared that the mexican army was coming in to the east, and they fled in what was called the runway scrape. many of their children died. my great, great grandmother was in the runways scrape going toward louisiana all four her living children died and were dead by that time. so when she came back, her husband was signing the texas decoration of independence so he wasn't even there. she was struggling by herself. she came back and reunited and nine more children response

these hardy women did their part, and it was a life they embraced and las las -- loved. communing on from the revolution, from the republic, the next biggest challenges was the settlings of the west. that's where there was nothing, literally nothing. now, at least in the eastern part of texas, they had trees, so they could build the log cabins and have a place with a roof over their heads. when they got out to west texas there weren't very many trees. you talk about harsh land. there are places where there is just nothing but grass. there might be hills, we have mountains out in the far west, but to actually settle in a place. these women were going out -- there is where the indian race became more prominent. the indians were being moved out

of their land, especially the char cherokees were very, very harsh. they were not -- but the congressman agrees were. and the congressman -- congressman kyis would brutalize the families basically out there with no means of defense. they would kill women, old people, they would kill children. one woman who was captured and the great historian, ted, wrote that the ones who were killed were the lucky ones. the ones who were captured were really terrorized. one woman wrote and lived to write about her time, and she -- talked about the fact she was 18 when she was captured. she was pregnant. the indians let her have the baby, then they killed the baby in front of her and threw it in

her lap. that was the kind of harshness that was when they started going out west. but here again, we're talking now 1850, '60s, and '70s. the women were so resilient and amazingly so in the face of such harsh conditions. one of the women who was a settler, and started also even going on the trail drives with their husbands. now the trail drives -- once you were out in west texas, you were raising cattle, but you had to get the cattle to market to make your money. so that you could keep building. well, the trail drives would go on these famous old historic trails like the good night loving trails. many of the trails would go on horseback, covered wagons, and

the cattle would be moved on foot from texas -- sometimes south texas, all the way to kansas, missouri, or colorado. it would take months, and the women, some, would dare to go with their husbands. one of those women was eliza bunton johnson. this was lyndon johnson's grandmother. i didn't know about her, although she was in the books, but i have not gelled -- dwelled on that part of the wonderful books about lyndon johnson. but lucy johnson was giving me and my children a tour of the johnson ranch, which is a national park and a national historic preservation area, and so lucy was giving us a tour of the house they had grown up in,

and was part of that ranch. she talked about her great grandmother who had been out there in johnson county -- in johnson city in that area, and how she had survived an indian raid in their home by hiding under the house and putting a rug over the trap door that she had gone under and putting a diaper in her baby's mouth so the baby wouldn't cry, and she heard the indians come in. they were throwing her china at the wall, breaking her wedding presents that were china, and she stayed down there and then she heard them leave and take the horses outside. then she heard footsteps back in, and her husband was crying just out loud thinking that she had been taken or killed, and so

she opened the trap door and came out. well, lucy told me the story and said, now, you know, this was passed down. don't take my word for it. i already finished the book, but i said, oh my gosh! she should be in the book. she's exactly the kind of woman that i want to be in the book. so i went back and did verify all of the things lucy had said. a lot of it was in the book, and there was also a letter that wasn't in the johnson books, we found it in our research that was written by one of the young cowboys that had been put on the payroll to help with the trail drives, and he wrote to his father and this was 1871, now, and he was on a trail drive to kansas, and he wrote to his father. i'm the hero of our camp. riding out with mrs. johnson,

some eight miles in advance of the train, i shot a deer. well, if they were eight miles in front, that means they were the scouts which was the most dangerous part of the trail drive. she had done that, and she was written about in a book about the women of that era, and it said eliza bunton was gently reared. she was another one of those genteel southern women who had come from the east. she took to the frontier life like the hero she was. she often sawhorses dash to the pen near the house with arrows sticking in the flank. so there was another of the great women that came farred. two other women, in this chapter, were women that presided over famous ranches. at one point, the kick ranch was

the largest ranch in the world. it started in texas with a hard drinking ship captain, richard king, who met this lovely southern girl whose father was the preacher who had come to south texas to be a preacher. her parents were horrified that she would consider this uncot -- uncouth man. but they were in love and they got married. her influence on richard king was great because she stopped the harsh drinking, i can't say she stopped it all. but she did stop enough of it to make him the productive person that he was. she refined him in many ways, but she started her life as the greatest ranch in the world. she started her life in a mud hod.

there were no tries out -- trees throughout with which to build log cabin. she was happy in her mud hut and talked about what a wonderful honeymoon they had and the time they were able to ride out together. that mud hut, of which there is a picture in the king ranch archives" didn't even have room for the kitchen utensils so they were hung outside on the hut. that, again, shows that great resilience of the refined women who came in and really much through their own influence helped shape their men to the successes they were. i end the book with the transition to the 20th century with another woman that i revere, who did so much to blaze the trail for women. that is oveta culp hobby. she was born in 19 50s, but she

was the woman who actually started the wac. at the request of general george marshall. when the war was just heating up in the late '30s, early 1941, george marshall said to her, because she had been volunteering in the run-up to the war. he said, i want you to give me the things that women can do that will take the men and put them in combat and we can have the desk jobs done by the women and let them be a part of this effort. she loved that. she drew up the things that she said that the women could, which were 236 functions, and then she gave him a list of the people that she saw she worked with that would be qualified to form

this great wac which is women's auxiliary corp. and women's auxiliary army corp. then. she gave him all of this. george marshall said no, i want you. she said no, i live in houston and have a husband and children in houston. not me. then marshall talked to her husband, who had been the former governor, and he said -- her husband said, of course you're going to serve your country when you are asked! so she did, and she put the wacs together and they were an incredible success. what she said was that with all of the thing -- not she, but douglas once said the wacs are my best soldiers. more industriouses and better

disciplined than the men. they became so successful that in the end, they had hundreds of other responsibilities. because they had done such a great job at the ones that had been started. so that was the transition. now i have about ten minutes left. i was just told, and i would love to take your questions, because this is something that is dear to my heart. i'm so pleased that i have been able to share with you some of the things about the great women that have really helped shape america. that was recognized as early as 1700s by alexis as the specialness that gave america the advantage that we have. thank you. [applause] >> hello.

i have a question. >> okay. >> yes? >> that was wonderful. thank you. >> do you feel as if there are more women in congress we would a little more productivity? [laughter] [applause] i have to say, that my experience in working with my women colleagues has shown that we do find a way to go forward with wins on both side and make progress for our country. i have to say that. i have been chairman and ranking member of the different committees with diane feinstein, barbara mick -- mikulski. we have a way of getting down to business, like douglas macarthur said. we get organized and say this is

where i am, you tell me where we are. it's not we comprise principle, we stand for our principles, but we're able to move forward and do so many important things by allowing the basics of negotiation, which are that both sides can win something and lose an agenda forward. you have the people to decide if you were going in the right direction. because thank heavens we have great elections that give the people the chance to say yes or no. [applause] >> governor hog had a couple of daughters, i was wondering -- excuse me, what their contribution to texas was? >> did you say governor hobby? >> hog. >> governor hull? >> hogg. >> governor hogg, i'm sorry.

he had one, ima hogg who gave a great contribution to our state. he was the governor of texas, and ima had given so much to the history and culture of our state. the home that she had in houston is called "biobend." it is a house for the treasures of beautiful furniture and artwork that she preserved through the years, and then donated to the people of texas, the people of houston, and the people of texas, it's one of the finest furniture collections probably in the world, and it's open for towers. it has beautiful grounds right in the center of houston. it's a park as as well as a beautiful mansion with very refined furniture.

ima hogg. there was rumors he had two daughters. it was kind of a joke there was an ima and ura. it was actually one great daughter ima hogg. >> thank you. to the point about the women congressional members, i actually read nine women -- "nine and counting" to my girl scout troop. >> aye. >> it sounds like in the book you're focused a great deal on women who have a connection to the leaders of the state. do you have any reflections of some of the lesser known, like maybe savannah dickinson? >> yes. she's in the book. absolutely. i have a number of lesser-known women whose stories were not told before. the women who went on the trail drives, the first woman known to have had a baby on trail drive.

issavannah dickinson the woman who was at the alamo who told the most accurate history of what actually happened during the fight at the alamo. she survived, and did tell her stories. jane long, who is called "the mother of texas" who had her tremendous vails. let me say about "nine and count" the first book, not counting my three. the reason i met publisher, "nine and counting" was a book written by the nine women of the senate at the time. it came from a meeting we had with the women of northern ireland. at the time northern ireland was having terrible murders and assassinations. they were fighting, and we had the women who came from both sides of the northern ireland factions, and they came -- they wanted to meet with the women senators.

we did. we met with them and each told our stories to try to encourage them they could be a force for peace. because we all overcame obstacles, and we talked to them about the obstacles we had overcome. we also talked about divergence of our backgrounds. we had conservative republicans like me, we had liberal democrats like the other women of the senate. we had such diversity in our way of being elected, but we all had obstacles. we all knew how to work together. we -- when we came together in the senate, we made a difference. because the men listen to us on women's health care. on the things that we knew we had credibility on, and every time the women of the senate, the violence against women act. not one woman voted against the

violence against women act. republicans and democrats came together. there was some comprises to try to make sure that it was the right law doing the right thing. but when we came together, we passed legislation, and we talked about that to these irish women. the northern irish women, and that was the first book, "nine and counting" we had a sequel after others came to the senate. hillary clinton was elected, and of course, there was so much interest in her. we had a sequel to "nine and counting" we donated the one organization that we could agree was important for us to donate all of the proceeds was the girl scouts. and so they started a leadership group that was from the proceeds of that book, yes. >> first of all, thank you for your wonderful series to books documenting the history of

women. i know, that you're a strong supporter of getting a national women's history museum here in washington near the mall. >> yes. >> my question is, what did do you think the chances of ever getting approval through congress to buy the land? there is no funding required, it's just approval to buy the land. >> i think we will. the women's museum should be a part of the history of this country. that's something i have to say cookie roberts has been another woman who written about the great women of the past. t not that we're denigrating what the men did. they were so brave and hardy and visionary to write our constitution and decoration of independence. it's just that there was an impact of our women, and to make sure that is in the history, and

to show the young people about overcoming obstacles and what the women did to make sure that there was an equal voice. you know, if you look at the world, if you look at the world, the countries that have the lowest economies are the countries that do not include the women in the economy. it's an issue for children and for families that women have the ability to be a part of society. to be the professionals that can teach our children, that can treat our people in medicine, have so much to offer, and because of the input of women, the product is better. it's proven if you look at the gloability economies -- global economies of the countries that have women in equal parts in our society versus those who don't. so, yes, i think we will get it. meryl streep has been one of the

leading lights of that movement to have a women's you seem, -- museum and my colleagues barbara mikulski are supportive of this. it will happen, just like the right to vote. it will be done with a positive effort. we're not mad, we're not down, we're no sad we're going keep going with a positive attitude which has been the mark of women on america. [applause] >> okay. >> is that the end? can i do one more? no? that was my last time. thank you very much -- thank you all so much. it was great to be with you. thank you. [applause] [applause]

this event is part of the national book festival in washington, d.c. for more visit loc.gov/bookfest. you're watching c-span2 with politics. every beaned the latest non-fiction author and books on booktv. you can see past programs and get our schedules at our website. you can join in the conversation on social media sites. here is a look at books being published this week. "david and go -- goliath."

look for these titles in the coming week and watch for the authors in the future on booktv and booktv.org. up next "after words" with lynn davis. this week erick schlbsser. in it the author of "fast food nation" argues the most unlikely of accidents with nuclear weapons can happen easier than we think. the program is about an hour. ..

really since the first nuclear advice was invented in 1945 and i hope to remind the readers that these weapons are out there. that they are still capable of being used and that there is no more