engage in. >> host: where do you see it going next? >> it is hard to predict. they have been clear they are keeping the options on the table. chairman wheeler was at a town hall and he heard from hundreds of individuals who were raising their voice on a number of issues but the open internet was certainly a concern. that is the people that the chairman needs to be concerned with. i think too often in washington, d.c. the folks who have the access and are able to lobby at the federal communication on the hill seems to paint the picture of what is need forked the internet users -- needed for -- i think that is something the fcc needs to consider; making sure their rules are on solid

foot and the only way to do that is to reclassify. there is going to be energy from outside of the beltway where people have a common sense to solve the problem. >> host: thank you for being on the "the communicators" to talk about the impact of net neutrality. >> we will discuss the debate over the raising the debt ceiling and then a california republican will take questions about security at the winter olympics in russia. and we will look at the

president's executive order to raise the federal contractors minimum wage. and we will be looking for your calls, tweets and facebook comments. washington journal live on c-span at 7 a.m. eastern. >> i was car wreck that i wrote about extensively. i was in the hospital and not injured minus a cut and a broken ankle. i was praying the other person in the car would be okay. the other person in the car was one of my best friends and i didn't recognize that at the sight of the crash. and i prayed for him to be okay

and he wasn't. and i thought my prayer wasn't answered. so i went through a long time of 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. >> first lady laura bush tonight at 9 eastern. >> terry donavan talked about the housing authority in washington, d.c. and his remarks are 25 minutes. >> glenda, thank you so much for an incredbly introduction.

i want to say thank you for your tribute to earnie. i am joined by your former and incoming president on their new roles and i want to acknowledge that two great friends are here as well. let's give henry and brian a round of applause. [ applause ] >> all of the board of directors and in particularly gary cost who has given remarkable service over the years. all of us join you in remembering the great life and work of erniae. i was deeply saddened to hear over the weekend of his passing.

i want to send my best wishes to his family. but i also want to make sure that we, not only remember with sadness his life, but the enormous vision he brought, the indelible mark he made on the community and an entire industry. we were talking with my team over the weekend about him and one of his great sayings that i was reminded of was that he said quote ideas are great. but they don't mean a darn thing without some action behind them. in other words, it is one thing to talk about progress, it is another thing to fight for it. throughout this life, ernie fought for progress and to highlight issues too often

overlooked and fought to expand opportunity for those too often denied it. and i am proud to be with you today to say two simple words: thank you. thank you, ernie, for your work. it will be long remembered. [ applause ] >> i pledge, all of us in the administration pledge to continue ernie's fight for fairness and opportunity because our nation is at its best when everyone has a fair shot. president obama once said whether or ancestors arrived on the may flower, signed in at ellis island or crossed the rio grand, their diversity has not

only enriched the country, it helped build the greatest economic engine the world has over known. they embody the spirit and in doing so you strengthened our hispanic community and our entire nation. i want to thank you, ernie, and tell you how much i appreciate being with you. what brings us together is the fundamental values that houses playing. homes are the foundation of lives and where we raise families and are at the center of healthy communities. owning is home is what helps families build wealth, start businesses, put their kids through college and save for a decent retirement. that is why we have to insure the housing market is healthy and provides opportunities to all responsible families.

this work hasn't been easy in times. just a few years ago, as you all remember, your nation endured a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that devastated americans across the nation. when the president took office in 2009, home prices had fallen 20% from the year before. the largest one-year drop every measured. new and existing home sales were near all-time lows. 3 million borrows were behind. all of you saw the pain up close so i don't need to go with statistics. the thing that perhaps more than anything you saw, that the statistics bear out, is that from 2005-2009 the household

wealth of the median hispanic family dropped by 2/3rds. wiped out in just four years before our president stepped into the oval office. and you all know these numbers represent so much more than just figures on a spread sheet. they represent people's dreams turning into nightmares. and so it was clear to the president, and to me, that when we took office we needed to address this crisis head-on. both for the hispanic community and for our nation's future. that is why we have helped 8 million responsible families modify their mortgages. that is why we put $7 billion to work helping rebuild foreclosed and abandoned properties in 50 states and that is why hud

approved housing counters have helped nine and a half million families get help. the market is healing. the number of underwater borrowers fell by half, lifting 5.7 families above water. during that period, homeowners have seen $3.4 trillion dollars in home equity restored. existing home sales were the strongest they have been in seven years. progress is occurring across the country. and you can be proud of the work you have done to help that progress happen. but we also know that all of the us here today that there is so much work to do still. access to credit for responsible families is still too limited.

underwater borrowers are too common. too many families are still struggling. we are commit today eccelerate the housing community. we are looking for empower families with the tools they need to provide home buyers. and build a rock solid cyst for me the future by getting -- system -- the work done. let's talk about the work we are doing to help families strengthen their financial position. we are work with the private sector to create more jobs. we have experienced 46 consecutive months of private-sector growth and that is 8 million new jobs. and the president is determined to build on the progress by

making 2014 a year of action. he put forth proposals to be taken with and without congress to strengthen the middle class and build ladders of opportunities for those trying to get into the middle class. he didn't waste any time. with the stroke of a pen he announced he was raising the wage for federal contractors and enhancing training programs so americans can get the skills they need to succeed and partnering with ceo's to put the long-term unemployed back to work. and working to get people jobs upgrading port and roads. he is taking these and other actions to insure the nation is a place where he said honest work is plentiful and communities are supported. where prosperity and shared and

opportunity for is for all. more families will escape foreclosure or be able to buy. i ask you to support the president's agenda and listen to the efforts we are taking to give families the chance to strengthen their future. just a few thousands makes a difference in helping americans get a house they can afford or to rent a decent, affordable house. that is why the affordable care act is so important to us in the housing community. first, americans who already have insurance, have a chance to reduce their monthly cost, freeing up resources for housing or other important needs. but second, for those who are uninsured, we know a sudden surge in medical cost leads to

families missing payments, loosing homes and going bankrupt. they don't have this anxiety. nine million americans have signed up for private insurance or medical care coverage. i ask you to help those you know that don't have insurance covered by march 31st. it is for them, our housing market, and our entire economy. another effort i want to mention that is good for all of us is immigration reform. [ applause ] >> this is a top priority of the president's. and that is why he is calling for action again during this

state of the union address. i want to say this is personal to me. as the son of an immigrant who grew up in latin america and america, english is his second language, spanish is my first. we all must be committed to this effort. it is the right thing to do and makes good business sense. creating a new pool of millions of homeowners and sales and income and spending into the u.s. economy. let's speak up, and stand up, to get this done. once and for all. [ applause ]

>> all of these efforts on immigration reform, health care and helping to grow jobs go a long way in helping families buy a home and you know that is just one part of the equation. the second part is insuring they have access to the credit they need to get the home. before the crisis, credit was too easy to get. but now it is too hard to get for too many american families. think about this: the federal reserve did a study that showed from 2007-2012 mortgage lending to borrowers are credit scores over 780 fell by a third. loans to those with scores between 620-680 fell by 90%.

action is needed clearly. which is why we have been working in a variety of ways to credit to those who are ready to own. the qualified mortgage rule we finalized in december. is the result of six federal agencies, including hud, coming together to make it equal to the qualified mortgage in order to simplify the mortgage process. this is a direct result of the feedback we got from all of you and so many others since our first proposal in 2011. and by doing this, by aligning these two rules, we are avoiding complexity and overly restricted

downpayments. some of the critics said this was a dilution of the rule. but you know the consumer protection rule is a very strong measure. i am confidant it will help protect families from being victimized in the future. and i am confidant that our actions to align qrm and qm are finding the opportunities that are available. and we want to strengthen the federal housing administration for a long term. during the housing crisis, it helped keep the dream of home ownership alive by providing liquidity to the nation's markets.

a well known economist said if it wasn't for this fha the housing market would have shutdown. they were enormiously important to the hispanic community. 610,000 hispanic community households have purchased a home using this loan since the president took office. 55% of hispanic home buyers used fha since 2012. we want to make sure it is strong for years to come. we strengthen underwriting standards and our portfolio. our mutual insurance fund gained $15 billion in value since last year. and we anticipate the fund will

return to the required 2% capital gain ratio in 2015 and that is two years sooner than projected a year earlier. we will continue to execute policies that reduce lossess, increase recoveries on troubled legacy loans, and continuing to look for innovative ways to get credit to those ready to buy and insure they have the best chance to succeed. our hawk initiative is working to embed housing help throughout the fha. through updated manual underwriting guidance and our back to work initiative, we are making sure lenders look at the whole picture. this helps people that were damaged during the crisis but still solid borrowers to be considered. and we continue to fufill the mission of opening the doors for

homeownership for a wide variety of responsible buyers. it has been critical to the housing market and the overall market. sales are up. starts are up and confidence is up. but i know that none of us is content. after all, just think about what would happen if the housing market collapsed again. it would undermine all of the progress we made, particularly in the hispanic community. that is why we have to insure a crisis of this magnitude never happens again by reforming the housing finance system. that is going to require action from congress and you heard the president last tuesday call on congress to move forward with housing finance reform. but i know what many of you, or maybe all of are probably thinking, with all that is happening in washington, what

makes me crazy enough to think we can get a bill through congress. what i would ask you to remember is that housing has always been an area of common ground in our country. president truman and senator taft worked together on the housing act of 1969. ed brook worked to produce landmark fair housing legislation decades later. and last year, we saw bipartisan work in congress on this issue. it is time to come together and make finance housing reform a reality. last august, the president outlined a series of principles he believes should be in the work. private capital needs it be at

the center of the process. the federal government guarantees 80% of all mortgages and that is not sustainable. the risks have been in the hands of the private sector and they need to be in the future. how do we structure the reform? we should put private capital in the first-loss position so we can insure the taxpayers are not ever again on the hook for bad loans and bailouts. and that is winding down fanny may and freddy mack in their current form. for too long the model was heads they win, tails and taxpayers loose. we can make a smooth transition of their loans and people with the government's new targeted rule.

we have to pay close attention to how we do so we don't disrupt the credit market in the short term so the recovery can continue. second, the government role needs to be explicit, clear and defined. as opposed to before when it was implicit and no one understood what the government would do. this requires enties will pay similar to the pay the way they do for insurance. one benefit of that is it would allow us to expand a housing trust fund and our capital magnet fund so that we support dramatically more affordable houses. and to be specific, we need to all come together to insure that reform yields a fund of more than $5 billion a year that can

help to support down payment assistance, more affordable rentals and a range of other goals. this is good for the hispanic community and the nation as well. a third principle reform is making safe, afford financing like the 30-year mortgage. as we talk about the important role the federal government should take, there are going to be those that say the federal government gets involved and we will have another crisis again. we need to have a purely private market. the president disagrees. he believes that guarantee is a fundamental part of the future. it has to in a safe way in the

principles i outlined, but is tr to make sure those that are often left out with able to apply for the 30-year mortgage. and no family or community will be left behind and ensure community banks and small lenders have the same access to capitals as big banks. all of that is part of shaping a system that is not only for taxpayers and builds opportunities in the way the president is focused on. six years after the financial collapse, it is time to get this critical step done. we must move housing finance reform through our congress this year. we know the senate banking

committee -- [ applause ] -- thank you. >> we know the senate banking committee is working on bipartisan review as we speak. and we need to work with the committee, with the entire senate and with the house as well, to keep the momentum going so we can get legislative action as early as possible. you know it is an election year. the longer we go and the later it gets, the more difficult it is going to be to get this reform done. make no mistake, it isn't going to be easy. but you know nothing about our housing comeback has been easy. but i also know something else, that we don't backdown from a

challenge. in good times and bad times, you fight for progress and opportunity. over the course of this conference, in addition to the proposals i have outlined, you mean hear a lot of ideas about what we need to do to continue the fight. but to use the ernie quote again: ideas are great, but they don't mean a darn thing without action behind them. so let's take action together and work to support the 2014 agenda of the president to create jobs and expand opportunities for all. let's work to get people covered with health care so they can secure their future. and let's act to get immigration reform done once and for all. [ applause ] >> and let's not stop there. let's acting to increase credit

for responsible families. [ applause ] >> that is right! let's act to reform the housing finance system to make sure that we don't have a crisis like we had every again but to make sure the doors of opportunity are open for the future. in short, let's act in partnership to shape a fair and prosperous housing market and nation. we have a great opportunity to do big things this year and let's answer that call for action. thank you. [ applause ] ...

for one that i admired very much, fellow texas lady from jackson. we benefit, our country the

defense by whenever our first lady's denys de. >> the life of one president and the daughter-in-law of another. she became first lady after a controversial election brought her husband to the white house. nine months later came the 9/11 attacks. continuing to pursue interests all-important to her including education, literacy, and women's health. good evening and welcome. tonight we will tell you the story of the life of our 43rd president. and here to do that back to people who know her well through their work. a laura bush biographer. her 2004 book the perfect life tells the story of laura bush as she covered the former first lady since 2001. welcome to our program. presidential story in, throw several books about the presidency and is currently working on one of the relationship between president

bush 41 and 43. nice to see you in your biography you refer to the role of the job of first lady as the most bizarre volunteer job of the world. whenever a fox -- and reheard laura talk about having her mother in law as a role model, what are the top she might have had about how she would perform the role of first lady? and we talked to her recently. she talked about that date. i would like both of you to watch that and come back and talk about how she responded to that and how we would define what her years as first lady would be. let's watch. >> i was on my way to capitol hill to brief the senate education committee and early charlotte education. i hosted a summit of early childhood education that summer, and i was born to brief that community says. cal was getting into the car. my secret service agents endeavor to me and said, a plane

was just thrown into the world trade center. and we went ahead to the capitol, got in the car and just as soon as we started driving that it was just some strange, you know, accident. so -- but by the time we got to the capital into the second plane had hit and we knew what it was. >> out as you leave? >> well, the secret service came to give me and said it is time. at first they were thinking there would take me back to the white house. and so they sort of had to regroup and figure out where should go because obviously people at the white house, the staff at the white house was getting out word to run. and people in my office, young women who work for me were kicking off for high heels and running from the white house. and i know they expected to have a glamorous to really interesting jobs at the white house, but no one ever thought

there would after row from the white house like it did. anyway, the secret service can to give me. senator gregg and senator kennedy walked me out to the door. and i drove to -- where i would really was the secret service building which has been reinforced after the terrorist attacks in our embassies. and really, i guess after the oklahoma city bombing, federal buildings have been reinforced, and that what had been. that is where went and spent the day. >> have you talked to your husband's or grow that support? >> you know, i can remember. i wrote this down in the book because the hemlocks from the day to remember, but i did talk to george once i got their chests. the girls, and then of course my mother was the one i really one of the call. know what a mother to say everything is going to be all right. of course i called her and said

everything is going to be all right. it's certainly is. >> how did she respond? how did she redefine our role after that day? >> i have to say, i was with her that it because i was covering her as first lady to the "washington post". so there was some confusion initially as to whether anyone was going to appear or speak. and then senator kennedy made a brief statement to the press who were there. i can remember looking in her. it is always remarkably composing. she drives offenders underside when she is struggling with something that was clearly very dramatic. i remember thinking, she is wise enough, her mother-in-law lives in this white house. she's said in that moment what really she came to say over and over again which is, you know, i think we just have to us make sure we tell our children that we love them and that america is

a strong country. you will get through this. spontaneous and sincere, very much in keeping. she dedicated herself. things were very different immediately. >> and factual laura bush wrote a letter to the children of america the day after. here is some of what it says. i want you to know how much i care about all of you. a personal message. be kind to each other, take care of each other commercial real love for each other. as a nation we had not experienced anything of this level of catastrophe says the attack on pearl harbor. there wasn't a role model for this. what do americans want from the white house, the president and first lady in times of extreme national crisis? >> we are fortunate. there are many moments we have the right person for the right moment. she was the right first lady for that moment because we forget no , but we did not know what to do after the attack. we did not know how to react. one of the things she said, she mentioned this in the clip you

just showed, she said comfort your children. go out there and reach up to your kids. it what you. in the you. that helped us to get to that very trying moment. laura bush is the picture of equanimity. she served texas' strong. the strength that emanates from her. i think we benefited from having her in the white house during that time. >> that texas connections are we would like to go next as we learn more about her life. to know them, so where was laura born, and tell us a letter rothchild the. >> well, west texas. you know, it is the kind of place where you can see it from miles away. it's kind of like oz. very wide and flat and very much a father was a builder, and your

mother was a homemaker. mother came from texas strong female stock. her mother had managed to dairy farm. i think that it was very much a place of -- a piece of who she was indifference sense of strength and love the land in the prairie and do for yourself so. i remember when i went there the first time, people always talk about crying. when she moved from western pennsylvania having been educated commander asman came back and say we're going to move up and make a fortune in oil. she said what's it like and he said, well, there is town nearby called no trees. and her friend janet kneele who wound up in introducing her to george bush says u.s. during ulfilas supermarket one day and there was a tumbleweed the size of a volkswagen beetle and from a for doreen shed no idea how to get enter else. very harsh and forbidding in

that way. so i think that you have to have a special appreciation. it made her tough. >> in her book, it's really a love letter. it is so much a part. she talks about the sky and how her mother as she used to just look upon this guy for hours on end and how important that is to that part of the country. what george w. bush mentioned to me one time, that kind of country bronzer are rising. you see people for who they are. there are no trees. the sky's the limit. >> well, in the 1950's may lend was supportive, but it also could be insulating. >> well, she was an only child. i think that is insulating in a way. it's a lonely existence. there were about a lot of folks who came in from the outside.

when they did and came into the oil business and took the little time to get adjusted. i think that people have their own hydro ways of doing end their armed divides as to where you were in the social stratus, whether your wildcat -- odessa, you know, you raise tell in the desert, but you raised your kids in maryland. there was a certain way of behaving in a propriety for that you went to methodist church, a paschal church. but i think people also dependent on each other and had to because it could be kind of harsh. >> midland today is a large hispanic population. what was it like with those minorities? >> well, i can't really speak exactly as to how it was then. there were three different high schools. when they all get together for a reunion and the bushes were in

the white house, he never even really remembered about the black high-school and to invite some of the kids. and of think that it was a matter of over separation as much as with it a certain crowd of people there was almost and obliviousness. when i went back there, across town to do an interview. where the going over to that part of town for? so i think that in many ways people kept to their own. that had its own shaping. when she went off to smu, you know, she had -- some of the race riots of her going on. i think in the way it was isolating. >> we want to put her parents'

names on the record. her father was harold cruse welch, died in 95. her mother jellies hawkins welch, born in 99 and is still very much alive. right after the age of turning 17 laura welch was in a car crash in midland, texas. it resulted in the death of a close friend of hers. she spoke about that gore wrote about in her book. she spoke about that in recent interview. let's listen. >> mrs. bush, you write in spoken from the heart about a difficult time, november 1963 in the loss of faith. why? >> well, i was and a car wreck. i wrote about it extensively in my book. the whole time i was and hospital not injured really. i mean, and i cut my leg in a broken ankle. i was playing -- praying that

the other person in the car or be okay in the other person in the car was one of my best friends. which i didn't know. i didn't really recognize that at the side of the crash. his father came up. his father -- they live just past where the coroner when a car wreck was. i recognize his father, but i did not understand that was like that was there. and that it because i prayed over and over and over for him to be okay and then he was, you know, i thought, well, nobody listened. got was not listening. my prayer was answered. i went through a very long term not believing and not believing that price could be answered. in it took a lot of time been growing and to come back to faith. >> the car wreck shaped her in what way?

>> i think what she said about it and what she mentioned to me about it was that you do grow up when you're young and you expect of the world is going to be a certain way. you attain that maturity, but it came to her pretty quickly. i think that she is an independent person by nature. i think it probably made her less judgmental about other people in a way that we don't often see in washington. much more given. so i think that that is certainly part of it. she worried more about her own daughters carouse but because she had seen at an early age how of this calculation can change everything. >> she talks about her faith.

spend a good time talking about faith. >> sure. mention, though, she said an interview, she sort of grew up out of that experience. there are things that happen in your life that you can change and we have to find a way and move on. i think a bad experience, while very formative for young girl was very helpful to her in the days after 9/11. she had seen the role that they can play in this world. >> fate. >> yes, fate. and you have to move on, be strong. and so i think it was very helpful. and plays a great role in both of the lives. george w. bush became a born-again christian when he was in midland's. they did changed his life a lot of ways she is less, i think, vocal about her religious faith and the is. he's a little bit more low key

about it. think it's important to both of their lives. >> the second first lady to have a postgraduate degree. in you tell us what is important to know better education and early job? >> i think that people frequently overlook that because they make the mistake of thinking nicias a conventional woman, which she is not all. she is white interior and as a certain modesty, at that word means much anymore so that she did not ever really boast about a lot. she certainly was very self directed. she came back from smu and teaching and said she wanted to go on to the university of texas . she said her father said, will never get her husband. to go on and get her master's degree but many people thought if you went to college at all was for an demarest agree.

and then she very purposefully moved into a part of boston which is still the boreal of the side and taught at an almost entirely spanish-speaking school. very dedicated fashion, deliberately chose a school where she thought she could have impact helping kids learn to read. exposed and to other kinds that they weren't kidding. you know, i think that's up part of for that is important. she maintains it to the state. >> tell you how you can be involved in the program. there are three ways. we have a robust conversation going on on facebook. you will see the picture of laura bush begin join in the conversation there. you can tweet us using the twitter handle at first lady. in you can call us. the old-fashioned telephone have been part of the conversation. there are two phone lines, eastern and central time zone.

we will get to your calls in just a little bit. a question from twitter. someone named muppet fan. i have a question about laura bush. when she always a republican? >> let me start out by saying i am not a fan of the muppets. [laughter] >> there's a movie coming out. no. she supported eugene mccarthy. i think she was a card-carrying democrat for many years. she married to a republican family and loved her husband, has great faith in him and his judgment. i think she supported his platform, but she is not a natural republican. >> before we leave the midland days, one set of relationships that as carry her through her entire life, rupert roughens, how important are they?

what to they provide for her? >> i think she and the president have a very strong set of friends who have been their friends forever and it has been devastating aspect of them. when you come to washington is best to import your friends. you know where a stand and you know that they trust you if you have the loyalty. she particularly as all these. you when she was in the white house. these trips or they go rafting, in the wild. it would kind of care for each other. >> you know that they are mostly progressive. >> of course. >> it is interesting. think that she, as mark said, loved her husband, very loyal to resident. one of the things and i have come to the admire and appreciate about laura bush as she has navigated this bizarre

volunteer job in the aftermath is to find areas of commonality with people with whom she might find differences. so she campaigned, but i saw her once changes speech mid script because the person her she was campaigning for, she is afraid to attack the democrat the person was running it in a specific weight. i think she has things that are very interesting chair with friends. they care about literature, the book festival. very much an avid conservationist, environmentalist. and so she finds those ways. pretty active in women's rights. >> that set of friends the referenced, captain grounded. i think those are people who knew them when. i think that gave him great come through with their war in the white house. both of the bushes talk about the story of bringing a friend's president bush having this

house. the oval office. one of his friends looks in and says, gosh, can you believe it? and in the oval office. and then look to george. and you're in the oval office. the bill very self-deprecating. having that circle of friends around cabo quite comfort during the stresses of the white house. >> more wells and george bush were both young. did they ever be is children? >> they did not actually. they attended the same schools, but she says that she does not recall him. they didn't -- i think she knew who he was after time. he was a roustabout. from a big family and a well-known family certainly. and at one point they lived in the same building five in houston, but i think she thought he was abyss' rascally. he had of the pursuits.

and her friends for midland fix them up, and they were both -- she was 30. he was about the same age. he was ready to settle them. they got engaged in very very quickly. >> that's what the one to ask you. this is a portrait you both the paid to noblewoman, a librarian who is very orderly, very measured. she did something impetuous, burying after four months of meeting someone. how can you describe the decision to marry so quickly? she talks about feeling like kind of an old maid. and by texas standards you probably was. here comes this guy who is so different for in so many respects and get supplementary. it was somewhat and

characteristic there should be swept up. she talks about going of the campaign trail right after they get married. george bush campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in congress a west texas. they got to know each other so well in the campaign trail, endless hours of driving around the plains of west texas talking about their lives. i think that really helped them marriage began. >> what attracted laura to george. they seem so different in the rears. >> she always says she made her laugh. she said she wanted somebody would make her laugh. again, she and grow up is as lonely only child. she did none of a brother or sister. at issue one of the have a sibling. she really liked this boisterous nature. he once someone who was steady. steady and she goes.

i think that -- i see that and then still. you can never know what is in someone else's marriage. i was struck when i saw them recently on. he said something and she sort of tossed her head back and kind of giggle the left. they still have that bond. chefs. >> one of the greatest moments, her tenure as first lady 2005. she took the podium she in place of residence. he goes to bed. she stayed up to was desperate house lunch. this great report. and again,. >> watching as in killeen kelli texas. year-on-year. >> hi. 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 a little bit more about that? >> in her book. i can't give you the page number, but she had to write a report on the country. she and her father went to the globe and spun the globe. irving relented on afghanistan. and she wrote that and her homework. >> el exotic it fell to write about afghanistan at that time. >> i do think that when she -- i traveled with her to europe. she toward the museum in paris. probably not pronouncing the precisely right. there were a lot of the antiquities from that country. some of the artifacts that have been saved. she's very taken by this idea that you can have this robust civilization and that a qb blown

to bits in a matter of days. really was quite compelled by that. i mean, certainly might have been in your routes early on. caught the was a cause. first when she married him, did she know she would be? >> no. not exactly. i mean, he promised her she would never have to give a speech. put that immediately. so i think she describes herself as one of being very political. he knew, when people use that it means that they find politics distasteful. they just felt like it. it seems like it's nasty and full of -- she really didn't have much appetite for that. i don't think she did. >> was lower interested in politics or thrust into it because of a relationship?

>> i think trust. very quickly. and in the world wind freshened. the center had been married and they end up to the campaign trail. >> with that campaign being unsuccessful coup was life like for them after that? >> yet to figure what you want to do. there were there for the first ten years of their marriage. the daughters were born. so it was -- i think it was a pretty middle-class existence for a long time. >> was a middle-class by choice or by necessity? they came from -- the came from a very wealthy family in the oil business. did they choose? >> get it there was a certain modesty. we don't have the world just pointed out. it's what the winners.

i think he saw a strong need to make it on his own. i would defer to you because you're working on this book. the relationship between them. siemens if you is born with a silver spoon in his mouth. >> exactly. midland is both the boom town and the bust down depending on the low. it was really in bust mode. there was a love a prosperous business at that time. he struggled in that business before finding great success as the owner of the texas rangers. >> there were not and control by any stretch of the imagination. but the trends report of

november 205th 1981. you read in your book they considered adoption. >> well was km for them? can you talk about how the children were raised? >> well, she very much wanted to have children. she always knew she would have children. she imagined herself as having a family. the very idyllic time. she loved reading to these darling little grows in raising the and being very immersed in caring for them. i think that, you know, your children find a way to challenge the preconceptions of what it is killing to be like. they had a set of twins, one who has a dad is personality and one has to mothers. a think they delighted in that. in austin with an altogether. in some ways a very close town

and an easy tend to be in. they describe those as being a idyllic years. >> hello. >> side. good evening. thank you for joining is. my question is, when you're talking about laura, was there something that had happened that caused her to find that back in her life? was it somebody like billy graham? she said that she later came back. i wonder if it was something that drove her back? >> thank you. >> i don't know that there was a catalyst anything that would have been catalytic inner life the way of letter to god? >> i agree with you. think that the kind of modesty that she projects and the privacy issue shepherds means

that she is not really given in the same way the president is talking in witnessing her faith in a public fashion. she was raised a methodist it was part of community life. and the comfort of that, i think , certainly she has talked about the comfort of scripture in a way that is part of the interesting literature to read our member picking a bible verse of after 9/11 were she was looking for work steve kirby and strength. so i don't know it read as berlin more complicated. i would not presume to speak for her in that way. >> the caller mentioned billy graham. he had a role to play in george w. bush embracing facial and stopping drinking a call. he mentioned that when that two bushes, mrs. bush and george bush met each other that he was

a bit of a carouser. he made that decision to give up all. unmooring if we know whether or not she had a role in the position. >> she said to him famously, it's either me your jim beam. chests that think he realized that a certain point. there was a conversation that george w. had with polygram. billy graham was a guest at his father's compound. in that think that he began talking to billy graham, he began embracing got away that the head of before. that was the threshold of middle-aged. he turned 40 and gave up drinking. when he took got into his heart to beat a think laura bush was extremely supportive of all the decisions that era's been made including embracing christianity

>> seem made that decision that he wanted to make a bid for the governor's mansion in taxes. laura bush was concerned because of the twins being very young. ultimately she agreed to support him. what was wars experience like? it seems like she would be embraced easily. >> she was embraced pretty easily. i think in many ways it's a very low key position. she talked about how she likes ducking out the back and going records of the drugstore are going to the post office to buy postage stamps. start to imagine with everything that happened that somebody could live like that today. i think she enjoyed it. she had a rich life. she very quietly once again without calling much attention to yourself at influence on him, education initiatives, not in the you will do this way, but as is the case with mary people. byron about what role roy child

education had, or literacy. she talked about the importance of that. i think that they very much enjoyed that life in those years . for the girls a was a low easier for them. they could be part of -- connected upper-middle-class. a kind of knew each other. nobody really looked at them to partially. >> but as the son of a president, he certainly understood what life would be like in the white house, but the rigors of a campaign would be like. when he decided that he would like to throw his hat into the ring for presidential, house supported was laura bush? >> she was supportive of his intentions. there's no question about that. when he had his mindset of the state house in texas, when everyone thought he was going to lose to ann richards to machinery was going to win. he was tenacious.

and she had the same. he tosses and the ring in 2000. >> for a woman who was promised she would never have to make a speech, in 2000 she was asked to address the national audience at the republican convention. also you a clip from that. many people in the public i hear her voice for the first time. >> i'm so thrilled and honored to be here. a half to say, and just 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 in the world. and when americans vote this november there will 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.

the first site was on our very first campaign trip to be there of the pictures of america's future. moms and dads and grandparents bring them to picnics. they held up pictures of the children, and they say to george, i am counting on you. i want my son or daughter to respecting the president of the united states of america. [applause] >> on the heels of the impeachment, of very contentious campaign in 2000. of course and you talk about their transition into the bushes and all of that politically and know they establish themselves

in the white house but? >> well, they had been there before in a way because fiske george bush's bother was the president of the united states. they spent plenty of time there. they have some guidance sets to what that felt like an look like running for president is a marathon. if you get there you're in for a surprise. that's a very steep learning curve that they had some exposure to. that transition was somewhat easier for them. was a famously better recount. laura bush spent most of that time. she talked about how she tried to keep yourself busy. there was time to wait. could really get too much started very much because he could be sure what was going to happen. once they were sworn in she spent many months not being in

washington. you know, she had two daughters who were going off to college. one to make sure she got to settle abuse of that as our first responsibility. she was only beginning to figure out what she was going to do and how she was going to focus our attention when 9/11 came along. >> the historic portions. the second impeachment history before the election. you have a supreme court making a decision. the outcome of the election. how difficult is it for a presidency to establish himself in the wake of all this turmoil? >> well, but i think they transitioned into the white house live relatively easily. and it's interesting. right before 9/11 occurred laura bush started hitting her stride as first lady. she just had her first big dinner for the president of

mexico. she had just done the first national book festival using the texas book festival as a template. she was really starting to hit her groove in that role. and in 9/11 occurred. it's interesting, she talked about a friend of hers who had called her and said, you know, when he first took on this role about, oh, i don't envy urinal. but no i do. you have a very important role to play commissioned pyxis of backup in the wake of this tragedy. and she did an admirable job of it. >> in washington d.c., pity your on. >> to questions. laura bush as conservative in her politics billion note below like abortion, gay marriage, she recently spoke out. does she still, you know, figure

-- >> thank you very much. she began smoking as a teenager. does she still smoke today? >> we don't really know. i mean, i think that there are some people who have seen that to -- senior debt was a while. she said she gave that of the daughters didn't like it in you that it was unhealthy. politics to leave no, i think that she, like many like her mother in law before her, barbara bush, who was married to a congressman from houston who championed, you know, plan. years ago, like those women, they sometimes would get the sense that they're more liberal than there has been. that didn't work well for the party. not necessarily evidence that is true. so i don't know that we can really answer that.

i think that in terms of her personal view of the world by would say that she is not a judgmental and harsh person. but i think that she also certainly has never felt that it was for role to a crusade on behalf of causes such as a reproductive rights were same-sex couples. she has tried to have for impact in areas which we might consider such subjects that everyone can get behind. she would feel and i would argue correctly can have impact. you know, our foundation gives a million dollars to libraries every year which are woefully inadequate the funded across the country. the book festival remains end is a persistent legacy of first. she admired ladybird johnson

because all these years later after what was considered initiative to put wild flowers on the nation's highways, they bloom year after year. so i think she's tried to maker impact her she could and let her deeds speak for herself rather than political positions. >> an ideologue. think that's absolutely right. what she saw, the first lady could take on a collins. they have their own voice. they can take on a cause and make a real difference without, you know, world events coming across the desk and they're having to react. and instead of getting deeply involved in education or literacy she had to do other things. >> the above referenced the national book festival which she emulated on our model. she was working on it. just days before the 9/11 attacks, september 8th 2001.

first lady nor bush was on the national mall in washington, actually in the library of congress talking about the first annual national book festival. >> the of the day elector of this festival and the national book festival is that they are right here in the capital. we are right now on the steps of the library of congress, the united states capitals by bus. i love the whole idea and the symbolism of books and the ideas with other national government and our democracy. the ideas in books are really what are so important to our democracy. >> both of you are authors. the publishing industry generally has been thought to be a little bit left of center. was there any skepticism on the part of book writers and publishers about a conservative first lady getting involved in a national book festival? >> i think that the texas book festival was enormously

successful. she gathered riders as the first lady of taxes it is not necessarily share the politics. they have a wonderful experience i think that might have helped, but the books are an easy cost to get behind, whether you're liberal or conservative. and so that was an easy rallying point. >> she did have an issue in the white house after the war began it wish she had a series of symposiums. when that she was born to do poetry. and she had invited a number of american poets, some of whom were very much opposed to the war. you know, quite outspoken on the subject. they spoke out about it. she canceled the in the face of

that. so it was not without controversy. she certainly was not universally expected. there have questions about whether she has thrown her might into the fights over educational texts and the idea of whether we teach evolution or whether, you know, we teach sex education and emphasize abstinence. so those kinds of intellectual arguments have sometimes snared her despite her efforts to stay away from that. >> on that node on facebook, invited in disinvite it. as mrs. bush ever, to directly on that debacle? has she ever spoken out about that? >> not that are mora.

>> i don't think -- not that i'm aware of. at that she has a tendency to say that it was unfortunate that people can come together and have a civilized discussion and that once again be able to find some common ground if you can get beyond that rhetoric. huddled in she spoke about it directly. >> watching us in alexandria virginia. you're wrong. >> say. thank you so much particular call. you know, it's interesting that between laura bush and hillary clinton, the two women of my generation will one shows one at the lunch as another. both women i admire very much. the ones success that they have had is that there have both raised strong, successful.

can you comment on the difference between the two? says. >> sent you very much. >> the difference between the two and why they both managed to raise for women -- >> that is what she is implying. >> very different women, yet the children are both strong. >> and guess i believe, i would like to think as a struggling why hope has raised strong and successful daughter's letter should be room in america for all kinds of women to have all kinds of personalities and temperaments and to devote our attention in whatever ways we want to be whether we set aside our own careers for a ton, whether we pick them back up again, whether we stick to our lives together through the decades to make it work with their own families. beach have our own ways we can

pursue that we can all read the same kinds of levels of what we would feel from satisfaction. yes, i think they are very different. they also the above when -- and i was a lot of these first ladies will tell you that they saw their time in office is being primarily to be a support to their husbands. i think there people that rose the wrong way, and anti feminist position. we should be allowed to work, certainly pursue your own interests. maybe even disagree with your husband's being in the white house and the stresses of and in a couple in that job. if you don't have a strong partnership that president is not going to be a success policy can be. to put it another way the less successful than he might have been. i think certainly george bush

has spoken about that correctly. everyone of them has. it's a partnership fix. >> in november of 2001 shortly after the attacks or bush made first in the history of becoming the first firstly to deliver the president's weekly radio address a custom. many of the pro listen to it today. reflections on the experience -- and you will your limpet of the interest issue again. >> laura bush, did it surprise your first 21st became first lady of the platform that you were given and the bourse you have? >> i knew it. i mean, i knew that of course. onion intellectually. the platform that she had to talk about literacy which was a particular interest. i had seen ladybird johnson and out she had influenced me here to get home and texas because of her interest in native plants,

but i didn't really know it until i made the president's radio address, presidential radio address of the fall of 2001 after the terrorist attack to talk about what -- the way women and children more treated by the taliban and afghanistan. >> and morning. i'm 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 in the regina supports in afghanistan, the taliban. the regime is now in retreat across much of the country when the people of afghanistan especially women are rejoicing. afghan women know through our experience with the rest of the world is discovering, the brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists. not only because our hearts break for the women and children in afghanistan, but also because in afghanistan we see the world,

the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of this. all of us have an obligation to speak out. we may come from different backgrounds and fate low but parents the world over the of the children. we respect our mothers, our sisters and daughters. fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture it is the acceptance of our common humanity. >> and that is the first time are really realize that people. what i said people listen to. and so then i knew from then on, although i think you don't ever really know it intellectually until maybe after you leave and see what the platform is. >> that experience, how did she find her voice, the first lady? >> she did find her voice and that issue and talked about going to austin to visit her

daughter's college and was attending college there. going to a department store. there were couple of lease and women behind the counter with venture for making the speech and raising awareness about the brutal treatment of women under the taliban and in afghanistan. and she realized that loma what a profound difference she could make. i guess when you're in a studio making radio address to go see the people that it affects, but it was that moment the told her if she was making a difference. >> and how did she use of force when she found a? >> well, i think she can always been torn because she is one of the few people have ever encountered a washington refuses to take credit for what she has accomplished as opposed to a city where people are always taking credit for things that they had nothing to do anything with. and for instance she was instrumental in starting a program whereby liz claiborne said donated services and goods

to women in afghanistan so that they can become self-sufficient. you know, thinking about our previous caller, one of the things that she and hillary clinton certainly share as very different women is this belief the societies can be successful if they don't take advantage of the population, were pressing poverty. she was very interested in doing that, although are repressing your repeatedly to say, how did secretary child involved? shimbun out, chitin. but i think finding a voice for her, her bully pulpit, she has a way that she thinks would give results. she continues to do it today. she travels quite a bit, i noticed a speaks of the half of a lot of organizations who are

raising money for things she believes in. a couple of times a month. east lansing, michigan. >> our you. >> your question? >> hillary clinton and laura bush, a project or a foundation that they both worked on whether staff spoke worked on. and wondering if you could explain our talk about that a little bit. sorry we don't hear more about it. >> both the first ladies have foundations. can you talk about how this works in the world of campaign giving in finance and no one can be in public life and except contributions like this? >> well, laura bush continues to work and the issues that were of importance terrorist first lady through the bushes to to. the bush center is a conglomeration. the bush foundation which is the been affected all things bush including the first library says. so they continue to further the

cause is that they begin to take initiatives toward the white house. >> they do that with the help of donors. >> says. they raise money that in turn goes into the bush institute. the projects relating to the bush library as well. >> the case of laura bush running for president. in some ways well there could be influenced that those donors might gain if another bush were to run for president alyeska low within that's possible. in some ways i guess i think that they are protected at this point. however, in the case of mrs. clinton in the clinton global initiative, i think that the remains an area that the public rightfully once their watchfulness on. the that the continue to try to

track. if she were to run again and those people who have paid her money for speeches or of donated terry various causes and their relationship with her that we would want to examine. >> everyone watching this program knows about the many challenges this country faced during a use of the bush administration. was a difficult time for the country, not all in the 9/11 attacks, but after that the decision to pursue the wars in iraq in afghanistan. also during that time from there wasser can katrina and ultimately the 2,008 financial crisis. on the domestic policy side the big initiative was no child left behind, the major education says -- the administration's major education initiative. laura bush continued to pursue our own interests, even as the country responded to the various bush administration policies.

how challenging is it? we have seen this throughout the series of first ladies. of challenges that to see the increase, the person that you are married to is receiving? >> very difficult. this treaty. and of the man. they know the real person. very often we in the caught up in the heat of the moment when record does the president. they can almost become caricatures. and so for laura bush to see the way he was treated plushy continue to stand by. she traveled far more in his second term and she didn't first to. but if she had found a voice on the issues particularly related to women in charge differ that caused by an the road in trying to be -- trying to better

explain his policies tarnation into the world. >> in 2004 the reelection bid, war was on the road extensively. is next clip shows you one of the challenges of being a first lady we're trying to pursue your own agenda and that pesky press corps continues to ask questions >> and proud of the way schools all across the country are meeting the goals. we'll have the same goals let's make sure every child kits a great education.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ..

relates to the rest of us. she me has issues that she disagrees with them on but the idea of trying to stay focused on the area where she had an impact and knowing that she can further her time away if she doesn't remain what we would call on message but which also can be in a specific and focused way that we saw her do there.

and i think that with 10 years past, i would leave it to the viewers to decide if they think there's a sincerity they're not whether she does in fact say i am very sorry about that or whether she seems as if she has tried take take a pass on it. what we do know now is we have had other horrible incidents with their military but for the most part for all of the people who are in service. it is in fact an anomaly for her to address that. >> host: speaking of education initiatives "no child left behind" was one of the bush initiatives. allegany 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 foreign policies were taking? >> she certainly did publicly.

i think she was making a speech about education there and supporting this policy. they talked about the president was campaigning to talk about the soft dig a tree of low expectations and they really wanted to narrow that gap, the achievement gap. i think what she said at night behind closed doors we don't know. she said to a reporter once if i had differences with my husband i wouldn't be telling you. so we don't know. she supported his policy by speaking about publicly. >> host: and the international friend she traveled extensively as you mentioned and 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. when she chose to be involved internationally what drove those

>> guest: i think what drove a lot of those decisions was again the issue of women's rights in their full pitches of patient societies in which they work and an extension of that was women she felt wanted to know that they could raise their children to have lives that were sustaining a successful as best they could. and 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 of members of the family who are engaged in that. the president has a cousin who has been very engaged in that in those conversations. she once again saw a female leader in a country that have been repressed and under arrest for many years.

what do you think about that? >> guest: yeah when you talk about the question and why he got involved in aids relief in africa where no other president really gave much thought to it. george w. bush did by far more for the continent of africa than any of his predecessors and the reason is to whom much is given much is required and he saw that aids was eradicating much of sub-saharan africa and 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 the chance and invest money in that cause and the eradication of that that we would jeep be judged in years to come. i think a lot of it had to do with his religious faith. i think laura bush shares their faith. >> host: next is cathy and upon illinois. hi cathy. >> caller: hello. the reason i was calling his

earlier in the program a question was raised about when laura found her faith once more and i had read her book and she mentioned i had lost my faith at november, lost it for many many years and if i call rick correctly when she was on the book tour, the program for people were interviewing her about the book she had written. she would ask when did you find your faith and she said it came back to her gradually and she mentioned when her twin daughters were born, she said good things start happening and i found my faith gradually. i found it interesting on that subject in her book she also mentioned, she said the one thing, the one fact is i have faith that one is never alone and i think that sums up how she felt about her faith. >> host: thank you very much

for calling and adding to our discussion. turning to her book and also another issue which is social policy issues like abortion. an earlier caller mentioned. hitch -- here's what she writes. abortions have been struck by a deep divide between the sides and how rarely the alternative of adoption is raised. we have some the 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 in fertility is an issue that is the most private of them and breaks their hearts. we are a nation of different generations and believe seeing through different eras and different eyes. i have always believed that abortion is a private decision and there no one can walk in anyone else's shoes. something that she and george w. differ on. >> guest: i think she said publicly when she was first lady that she would not be in favor of overturning roe v. wade and she was asked whether people at

slept at the white house will she was first lady and she said probably. the interviewer asked would you object if that were the case? she said certainly not. she let her views be known in several ways a thing. interestingly enough you mentioned that she and president bush had trouble conceiving. in fact they went to an adoption organization to see if they could adopt twins and they ended up conceding their own set of twins. quite inspected lee. >> host: we have been talking a lot on this program about the work that laura bush did and all the time she's been on the road certainly throughout the 20th century. for first ladies that has been a story told again and again. in the interview we did with laura bush we asked her whether not first lady should earn a salary. here was her answer. >> host: mrs. bush did the first lady receive a salary? >> guest: i don't think so. there are plenty of turks, believe me.

a chef. that was really great. you know 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 that their job that they might if already had? i think that is what will have to come to terms with. certainly a first gentleman will for whatever he did if he was a lawyer or whatever so i think that's really the question we should ask, should she have a career during those years that her husband is president? in addition to his service as president. >> host: certainly at the state level some are spouses have been able to pursue their own careers but could this work on a national level? what about conflict of interest in whatever job that a spouse would hold? is it possible for someone in this day in age to having a life

fully outside of the white house as well as being the first spell's? >> guest: well i think we have to give it a try and see how we think it works out. i think it's certainly the ceremonial aspects of the job are the ones that you find flexibility in. we have had other presidents who got married and had hostesses who carried that on for them so certain money some of those really old-fashioned ways of being the gracious spouse in the white house we could change. as i said i think it's a relational job. it's not a political job in many ways being first lady. it's a job about tending to the primary, the principle. i'm not suggesting the 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 a husband as president are not. and by that i took her to mean that that is her primary relational core of life. she certainly has hobbies that she takes him on her own but i think anyone would want to continue but there's always a first time. >> guest: i don't think there are many first ladies the wouldn't say the most important role they played was as a pillar of strength to their husbands in times of need. >> guest: i would hope that we will have a female president which i'm sure we will that she has a spouse and that spouse will feel the same way about supporting her. >> host: speaking of support we have referred to this earlier but we have a chart with we showed our audience about the

president's popularity ratings during his eight years in office in michigan see it 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 a gallup poll, she was at a much higher rate than the president. 82% approval rating in january 2006. what does this say about the american public and their ability to see separately the roles of people in the white house? >> well, i think the american people are pretty wise. in many ways. they certainly know that she hasn't been elected to that position, that she is somewhat fair 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 naïve to a lot of people but i was struck when i was covering her. the bullets say but she seems so like this are she seems to like that or she makes dostoyevsky and she really likes bob marley so what does she think when she talks to him because he is a warmongering man. but i say that's the wrong question. you are speaking as a citizen and you have concerns about what you would like this president to do and you feel he's not full filling that but she is his wife. she too is a constituent that is certainly not her primary role in the way she looks at it. i do think people discern that. >> host: dennis is watching us in brooklyn. you're on. >> caller: how are you? thank you for the series. it's great. my question for the panel is was mrs. bush more compassionate and considerate than other first lady's?

she was aware of the victims of september 11 thing she would be reading the new york times profile of the debt that were published in the times and recall walter reed hospital visiting veterans. was she a wartime first lady or her personality and demeanor in general? >> guest: i think it's both. there aren't many first ladies who are overtly political, really. i think she played a more traditional role as first lady then say hillary clinton or eleanor roosevelt. frankly i don't, i think two things were very much consistent with her put her personality. reading the obituaries of the debt and comforting to people in need was very much a part of her personality. >> host: i have to interrupt because our time is actually getting short.

just as nancy reagan had done two decades earlier she went to the press corps to have people see her in a different light than perhaps they did covering regularly. let's watch and those of you that saw it originally will remember this time when she spoke surprisingly. >> so the city slicker asked the guy how to get to the nearest town. >> not that old joke. not again. [applause] [applause] >> george always says he's delighted to come to these press press -- baloney. [laughter] he is usually in bed by now. i'm not kidding. [laughter] i said to him the other day, george if you really want to end

tyranny in the world you are going to have to stay up later. [laughter] [applause] i am married to the president of the united states and here is our typical evening. 9:00, mr. excitement here is sound asleep. [laughter] and i'm watching "desperate housewives." [laughter] with lynne cheney. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, i am a desperate housewife. >> laura bush at the 2005 white house correspondents' dinner and you can see her in the event

that was roller seat. one of the things we talked about with each of the first ladies profiles as their stewardship of the white house. during her time in the white house laura bush did a restoration of the lincoln bedroom. we are going to watch as she talks about that next. >> we furbish the lincoln bedroom. i would say that's the biggest renovation project that we have worked on. the 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 in at the room was his office but when sherman redid the house in the late 40s and early 50s, he set up that room, the room we now 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. the room itself is really a shrine i think to american history. truman redid the room and that

renovation and it had never been refurbished sense and really needed it. the carpet was over 50 years old so i worked with the white house historical association, the preservation board and the furniture curators art historians, wallpaper specialists. they are the real scholars in the white house curator of course and we looked back at the wallpaper lincoln had in his office and 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 the french in place, really high victorian decorating. we did have later photographs with a bed still dressed the way she dressed it, so we did that again. >> we how did the bushes use the white house as a social instrument during their years? how did they use it to advance policy and what was entertaining

like while we had wars going on? >> guest: well i think they had only barely begun -- the it kind of backfired literally because they had fireworks and they hadn't warned anybody that was happening. everybody was sort of alarms. then after september there was a great deal of thought as to what was appropriate and how to do it. i think certainly laura bush has been instrumeninstrumen tal 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 the people that live there at the time and the way that reflects the period and the way that reflects the context of the times and the meticulous need to re-create what mary lincoln has done is really about author showing the tenor of those times and what was considered the way it would be. i think they would bring friends

to do that but they favored smaller gatherings certainly and she was right. he went to bed at 9:00 at night and she might stay up reading or preferred dancing. >> host: let me take a call from david in provo utah. hi david. >> caller: hi. i was calling to ask about laura bush's influence on politics for democratic rights in burma. i know that she championed that towards the end of the bush administration. >> thanks so much. >> guest: i first found it curious and i wish i knew more about that. i haven't really been able to understand exact weight but moved her to do that. she really became quite outspoken and away i would argue that is her most forceful and surprising role as a first lady to read into foreign policy in an area where the united states had been kind of not all that

engaged with the generals and all that. so she has been persistent and i think that continues to this day along with her interest in women's rights in afghanistan. she just recently appeared with secretary kerry and former secretary of clinton at the state department to make this lead and as we pull out of afghanistan not out of afghanistan into lieberman behind. the issue for burma is a fascinating one. i don't really know much about that. >> host: in that clip laura bush mentioned the white house historical and is the series winds down the white house historical association has helped us with research and with photographs along the way. we have also partnered with them in this biography book the special edition of the first ladies of the united states and many thousands of u.s. had a copy of that so you can learn more about the lives of the first ladies. i'm cognizant of our time so as we leave the white house years i

want to put on the record some of laura bush's accomplishment in office. as we mentioned 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. in 2009 she became a private citizen and how has she approached that aspect of her life? >> guest: the bushes were comfortable in their private lives. i don't think that they missed the grandeur of the white house. i think that they had eased very gracefully into the private life and going back to their lives in dallas. mrs. bush continues to be very much involved with the bush center which i referenced earlier that includes the bush institute and the bush library library. she was instrumental in the planning of the bush library and i think it can particularly be

seen in the ground surrounding with its native grasses and native plants, something she has a great passion for. i think she continues to lead a very full full life and as i mentioned earlier she continues to pursue some of the causes that were dear to her as first first lady through the bush institute. >> guest: one of the nice things about being first lady in a way too is that you think you have just a brief period of time that 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 what her has suggested he wants to. he doesn't think it's right for president to be criticizing another one but she and mrs. obama for instance have both been together in africa. they have 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 would not be.

>> host: we found a clip of her trip to africa with the current first lady michelle obama. let's watch that next. >> that is why we are launching the first lady's initiative at the bush institute. we want to support first ladies around the world. by convening them manually to highlight the significant role that they can play in addressing present issues in their countries. >> i personally get asked especially in the first term, are more you like laura bush or are you more like hillary clinton? and i say that sits? those are the two choices? >> the reporter said are you hillary clinton or barbara bush? i always just that i think i will be laura bush. i do laura bush pretty well having grown up as her. >> host: you have had the opportunity to host some of the sessions 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 role to be their self despite the enormous pressure to be someone else. >> guest: i think they will always be compared. are you going to be a more traditional first lady or activist first lady like eleanor roosevelt? which one will you be and i think they'll put their unique stamp on the role. >> host: we have read a couple of times from laura bush's memoirs spoken from the heart. you have talked along the way that would have guarded individual she was. when you read her memoir did you learn any more about her than you knew from your reporting and biography? >> guest: was interesting hearing from her what she wants to reveal about who she is and what she really feels about what's important. i think she is a reader and that is an integral part. the gentleman david i i think

the called in from provo and want to know whether she was more apathetic. i think she finds power and narrative and in story and inhuman story and that is what she responds to. that is what touches her. that is what compels her to act in many ways. i gathered from her a deeper understanding from that book of the meaning of the west texas land and the sound of the wind, the great giants of texas literature who came before her that she turned to again and again. i think that's really key a key to understanding who she is. she is not a crusader as much as she is a reader and that is what informs her. >> guest: in the way transported her from west texas. it starts with the incongruity of being in west texas. plato these classic writers and leading through those narratives.

the first part of it which is the story of her growing up in midland where she writes so politically about her duties as first lady which often get into one ceremony after the next. it's very difficult to write compellingly about one's tenure as first lady. again it's so ceremonial. >> host: debbie is watching us in louisville. hi debbie. you are on. >> caller: i want to thank very much for this program. my question is we have very many influential first lady stickelback or history. it could be hillary clinton michelle obama or laura bush. what is the most important thing you believe laura bush has done for her women's rights and susan of all the first lady's which one spring -- have impressed you the most? postcodes tanks, and went to pass on that since i have been

the role of interviewer along the way but did she make any advances for women's rights the caller wants to know? >> guest: i think it's really hard to judge them in a 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. 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 what people see as a more traditional mean to speak from that position on behalf of the men who do not have opportunities in some ways makes her more effective because it's not quite as expected. it's almost as if she is championing it it in a place

that we would expect to hear it perhaps. >> guest: i think both of the bushes -- laura bush talks about the fact that she admired her husband and making difficult decisions during the course of his presidency that would necessarily manifest themselves in popularity and i think you are right. his presidency and how it is reflected is very much in the balance. he knows that and i think most historians do. i think her contributions as first lady will be revealed as we began to see the forest for the trees and the 10 years of both of them. host a we have a couple of minutes left and people have asked along the way and i've been neck legends on asking it on their behalf. soon 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.

>> guest: 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 it's exactly a marriage and i would pursue term to know what's it exactly as between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. she famously step two with harper bush and has a lot of personality. when she first came to kennebunkport and barbara bush was said to some way somewhat partly what do you do when they they -- the boys were all running around competing against each other and she said it -- and i admire and this is the way of saying this is who i am. i think that she respects very much her mother-in-law's life and i think barbara bush for her part has been very grateful for

settling down her boy and she is the one with real first lady potential. >> guest: i think that's right and i think there's great mutual admiration between the two. they're both very different women and i think that's right. arbor bush sought in laura bush the great qualities a great spouse for her husband as he embarked on a political career. >> host: the two daughters, jenna is a correspondent and married not in the white house in 2008 and gave george and laura bush their first grandchild. barber is the ceo of an organization called global health core and as we close tonight i want to say thank you to our 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 for our callers questions throughout the evening. we are going to close with some thoughts about the members of