>> are there any other first ladies you look back to for inspiration? >> of course. i often think of my mother-in-law, when she lived here. she's my favorite first lady, and the one that i love the best. i think about the life they had here and we had many chances to visit them, but i also often think about ladybird johnson, because i knew her, since she was from texas, and admired her always. i was at the university of texas in graduate school when president johnson died and i lined up with everyone else to pay my respects when his body lay in state at the lbj library there. but i also had the pleasure of showing mrs. johnson around the white house. she was able to come one time. she was in a wheelchair then and had lost her speech by that point, because of the stroke she had, but lynda robb, her daughter, brought her, and ladybird, even though she couldn't speak anymore, she was

still so expressive in that very attractive way she had. she had see a painting she saw and liked and she would clap her hands together to let me know that she remembered that and liked it. when she met, one of the elevator men, who works here now, who had been maître d' when she was there, she hugged him immediately, and that was great to be able to have that one chance to show her around. >> first lady laura bush, thank you very much. all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most influential first lady? vote and join the conversation with us on facebook, at facebook.com/c-span. you're watching american history tv on c-span3, and we're observing this presidents' day weekend, taking a look at our nation's first ladies. up next is caroline kennedy, she

introduces a discussion about the oral histories recorded by her mother, jacqueline, in 1964. they were released just this last fall. >> good evening. you've read the news stories, bought your copies of the book, watched the abc prime-time special, morning television, and even "the daily show with jon stewart." and now, tonight, live from the kennedy library, with us oral history was so carefully housed from the past half century, we'll hear directly if jacqueline kennedy about her life with our 35th president, and from her daughter who has brought this fresh new history to light. i'm tom putnam, director of the john f. kennedy presidential library in museum. and on behalf of tom mcknot, executive director of the kennedy library foundation, members of our foundation board, many of whom are here with us tonight, and all of my library and foundation colleagues, i thank you for coming, and all of

you watching on c-span, and acknowledge the generous underwriters of the kennedy library forums, the boston foundation, and our media partners, "the boston globe" and wbur. the opening text panel of our new exhibit, "in her voice: jacqueline kennedy, the white house years," which pairs this new oral history with never-before-seen documents and artifacts from our collection reads, jacqueline kennedy had a rare combination of gifts. intelligence, courage, discipline, artistic creativity, and a style all her own. she had an adventurous spirit and was an accomplished horse woman who lived life at full gallup. the oral history provides us with many of mrs. kennedy's personal recollections and insights and i hope you'll allow me to comment on just one. when asked by arthur schlessinger, whose son andrew is here with us this evening, about where the president best relaxed, mrs. kennedy replied, it was while sailing.

he loved the sun and the water and not the phone. and she remembers jfk as blissfully happy with the wind blowing his hair. and adds, it was for him what getting out on a horse is for me. with her thoughtful forward to the book and some of her mother's recollections, we also learn about caroline kennedy, whose presence animates this institution like no other, and whose steady leadership has put this library in the forefront of the presidential library system, in providing worldwide access to archival collections. we learn of the adventure stories her father told caroline as a young girl, stories about two ponies, white star and black star. as he wove these tales, the president would let her pick which horse she would like to ride and ask which of her cousins would race on the other. she would often choose stevie smith as her adversary. with whose father this hall is named for. and when asked by the interviewer if she was always

the heroine in jfk's stories, she quipped, of course. would you want to go to bed thinking stat ste s-- that stev smith triumphed over you? we will open tonight with a brief introduction from the triumphant horse woman in our midst. after caroline's comments, our panel will feature michael beschloss, who wrote the introduction so this new book, as well as its extensive annotations, and richard k. donahue, a member of the kennedy administration, the vice chairman of the kennedy library board of directors, who knew and worked with jacqueline kennedy in the white house here in massachusetts and during the 1960 campaign. we're delighted to have ted widmer, now with brown university. towards the end of the program, we'll take written questions from the audience. there are index cards available and staff will collect them from you. let me note a few other special guests who are here with us tonight, including vicki

kennedy, kathleen kennedy townsend, steven smith himself, and two former kennedy administration officials, who both happen to be my predecessors as director of this library, charles daly and dan finn. also joining us this evening is jim gardner, who among other duties, oversees the presidential library system for the national archives. a nation reveals itself by the men and women its produces, jfk once stated, and in jacqueline kennedy, this nation produced a most remarkable woman. among the many compliments one can bestow on this new book is that it is truly revelatory of her extraordinary life, keen wit, and historical accomplishments. as maureen dowd noted in a recent column, who else could read "war and peace" during the wisconsin primary? persuade the french to lend the mona lisa to the u.s., the only time it has ever left france. and encourage white house chefs to serve french cuisine at state dinners rather than irish stew. in its editorial, "the boston globe" praised caroline for publishing this history and

demonstrating her trust in the public. she is, for many of us, our own gallant knight, still astride white star, galluping through these troubled times on behalf of the causes her parents believed in, not the least of which is an appreciation of history. much is revealed, caroline writes, in the forward to the new book, by her mother's statements, her tone, and even her pauses. and the same can be said of the decision to publish this oral history by the daughter that jacqueline kennedy raised so well. ladies and gentlemen, carolyn kennedy. [ applause ] >> good evening. thank you all for coming. i want to thank the staff of the

library and the foundation for the stewardship and the tremendous care and dedication that they show every day here at the library. and board members who are here and people that i've worked with over the years, and especially the members of my family who are here. it means so much to me and i think it's a wonderful tribute to our parents that we're all here together. so thank you all. most importantly, it means a great deal that 50 years after my father's presidency, so many people still share his vision for america and are interested in learning about his administration. his time is really becoming part of history, rather than living memory. yet president kennedy's words, his spirit, and his example remain as vital as ever. now when young people often feel disconnected from politics, it is up to us as adults to reach across the generations and recommit ourselves and our

country to the ideals he lived by. for my family and the kennedy library, the goals of these anniversary years are to stimulate interest in public service and use the power of history to help us solve the problems of our own time. we've undertaken a number of important projects. we've created the largest presidential digital archive, in which my father's papers are now available online, worldwide, so that people can study his decisions and see history in the making. we've launched the jfk 50th website, which includes downloadable exhibits and curriculum for students, and where kids can upload testimonials about their own public service in the spirit of jfk. we've sponsored conferences on the presidency, civil rights, scientific innovation, and the space program, and the quest for nuclear disarmament, all issues that continue to shape our national destiny.

and as you all know, we've published the seven interviews my mother gave in 1964 as part of an oral history project in which more than 1,000 people were interviewed about my father's life and career. when these interviews were completed, she sealed the audio tapes here at the kennedy library and put the transcripts in a safe deposit vault in new york. though she often spoke of them to me and john, few other people knew of their existence, and she never gave another interview on the subject. the underlying goal of the oral history project, which was the largest of its kind at the time, was to capture recollections while they were fresh, before the stories had been told a million times or become overly mythologized. no one interview was expected to be complete or comprehensive, but together with the underlying documentary record and historical archive housed here

at the kennedy library, it was hoped that they might form a composite picture that would be valuable in later years. to me their most important value is that they make history come alive. they give us a glimpse of the human side of the people in the white house, and remind us that they are just as imperfect as the rest of us. people have been surprised that my mother, who was so famously private, participated in this project and gave it her full commitment. but to me, it makes perfect sense. my parents shared a love of history. as a child, my father was sick a great deal. while his brothers and sisters were out playing football, he spent hours reading in bed. i have his books on british parliamentary history, the federalist papers, the american civil war, and the great orator of ancient times. my mother preferred novels and memoirs.

she read "war and peace" during the winter primaries, two bleak winter landscapes. [ laughter ] she has nice things to say about wisconsin also. [ laughter ] and she always told us that the best preparation for life in the white house was reading the memoirs of the duke who describes how courtiers jockey for the king's attention at the court of louis xiv. my mother brought intellectual curiosity to my father. when she was engaged and first married to my father, she translated countless french books for him, about the struggles for independence in the french colonies of algeria, tunisia, vietnam, and cambodia, all of which gave her a deep understanding of parts of the world that most americans were barely aware of at the time, yet are still shaping our history today. so she brought to the oral history interviews a respect for accuracy and historical scholarship. that's why she chose to be interviewed by arthur

schlessinger, the pulitzer prize-winning historian who had served as a special assistant to my father. it took a good deal of courage to be as honest as she was. but her own readings of the chronicles of the past convinced her that future generations would benefit from her commitment to tell the truth as she saw it. it wasn't easy, but she felt that she was doing this for my father's sake and for history. since this book has come out, some people have been surprised by her statements and opinions. in today's world of cautious political memoir, it's hard to imagine a contemporary public figure writing such a forthright book, but she did knock dick cheney out of the number one spot on the best seller list. [ laughter ] [ applause ] so i think she deserves a lot of credit for her honesty. one of the difficult decisions i faced was whether to edit the

interviews. there are repetitions, issues that haven't stood the test of time, comments that can be taken out of context, and views that she would later change. it didn't seem fair to leave them in, but on the other hand, these were formal interviews, not accidentally recorded conversations, and both participants understood that they were creating a primary source document. so although there are good arguments on both sides of the issue, i felt that i didn't really have the right to alter the historical record. i also wanted people to see what and how my mother thought at a particular moment in time. it's sometimes difficult for me to reconcile that people feel they know her, because they have a sense of her image or her style, but they've never been able to appreciate her intellectual curiosity, her sense of mischief, her deep engagement with the people and events around her, and her

fierce loyalty to my father. for a modern listener, one of the striking things about these interviews is how they evoke a moment in time. in her statements, my mother takes care to come across as an obedient wife of the 1950s, who thinks only of creating a home for her husband and children. in keeping with the purpose of the interviews, but also in keeping with the times, arthur schlessinger asks fewer questions about her own activities or conception of her public role than an interviewer would ask a first lady today. and now that she's become sort of an international icon, it's hard to remember that she was only 31 when my father became president and totally overwhelmed by the prospect. it's interesting to track her evolution into a modern woman, and ironic that despite the hopelessly old-fashioned view she expresses, that transformation began in the

white house. though she played a largely traditional role as first lady, like so many women, she found her identity through work. when she moved into the white house, she had a 3-year-old, and a newborn baby. her pregnancies had been difficult and she would lose another child in 1963, so caring for us and protecting us was her top priority. but it had been a long time since there had been children in the white house, and the obligations of a first lady included a busy official schedule. she fought to carve out the time that she spent with us each day, an early version of the work family balancing act that women are so familiar with. but she was dismayed by the uninspiring, or shall we be honest and say hideously unattractive look of the white house and its surroundings. she shared my father's belief that american civilization had come of age and was determined to project the very best of our

history, art, and culture to the world. she wanted the legacy of washington, jefferson, and lincoln to be visible to american students and families who visited our nation's capital and to foreign heads of state who were entertained there. so she set about to transform the white house into one of the nation's premiere museums of american art, decorative arts, and history. this was more complex than simply redecorating, a word she didn't like. the project involved congressional oversight and interagency debate. she was determined that it be self-financing and self-sustaining, and proud that it elevated academic research and scholarship in the field of american art. and her television tour stimulated new interest and pride in our cultural heritage. she set up the fine arts committee, founded the white house historical association, and reorganized the white house library to showcase works of american literature. she created and mostly wrote the

first guidebook and got arthur schlessinger to help with a book of presidential biographies. of course, people were eager to help her, but this was an ambitious, high-visibility undertaking, and though it's hard to believe today, it was controversial and carried political risk. during my father's senate campaign in 1958 and the 1960 primaries, my mother felt that she was a political liability to my father because her fancy french accent and clothes, and his advisers did too. they lined up against the white house restoration, which they thought was elitist, and they were concerned about the propriety of creating a guide book. i recently came across a few memos on the subject, and i thought you might like to hear some excerpts. the first is from a memorandum to the president read, proposed sale of mementos in the white house, from jack mcnally.

a loyal irishman from worcester, mass, who was put in charge of the white house administration. he attached supporting memos from the white house police and the department of interior, who joined him in opposing the idea of the guidebook. in behavior that could not be called a profile in courage, my father just gave the memo to his secretary to forward to my mother, who was on the cape. [ laughter ] it reads in part, "the large flow of people through the white house was accomplished by the fact that there was no obstructions to slow traffic. the secret service and white house police contend that a moving crowd is a safe crowd. we must take into consideration the possibility of severe criticism from the public. frequent references are made by tourists that commercialism does not and has never existed in any form in the president's home. consideration must also be given to the impressions formed by visiting dignitaries, who would visiting dignitaries who would be exposed to such a commercial

venture in the president's home. also, possible criticism from the press and members of congress. as examples of the criticism that might result, we would like to cite the unfavorable publicity that was given the truman balcony and the effort of the eisenhower administration to keep squirrels off his putting green. this last reference was too much for my mother who wrote in the margin, absurd. how stupid. this is not a concession stand. there is absolutely no connection. like other people who came up against my mother, mcnally didn't stand a chance. not long afterwards, my mother wrote to j.b. west, the white house chief usher, mr. west, the president tells me that jack mcnally, who was against selling guidebooks in the beginning, now says lots more could be sold on the way out. but he says this is your providence and doesn't want to mention it, which is rather sweet of him.

i agree we can use the money. every penny is needed. not long after, her commitment to history led her to support my father to save temples. she wrote a long memo to jfk, which you can see downstairs, laying out the importance of the temples and suggested that this would be a nice gesture to nassar, as he promised not to interfere with them in yemen and south arabia. she demonstrates an understanding of diplomacy writing. the russians are building the dam as strictly an economic enterprise. by saving the temple, the u.s. could show that they care about the spiritual side and realize the importance of saving the cultural patrimony of egypt. ming fath

i think my father rolled over on this one, too. the temple was a gift to the people of the united states to thank them for their support. her commitment to history also led her to convince my father to save the square and restore pennsylvania avenue. this was at a time when neighborhoods across the country were being demolished from modern office buildings and renewal projects. and she didn't give up. in 1970, she was still twisting my uncle teddy's arm. a letter to him reads, dearest teddy -- you can tell where this is going -- i send you pat mo moynihan's letter to me. i went to ask him whether he would help with the pennsylvania avenue project. when he would drive from the white house to the capitol, and sometimes we would walk halfway

there at night, the tawdriness of the a approaching of the white house was awful. this is nothing that came of my trying to restore the white house. it was his own vision. that's why i felt such an urgency about asking president johnson. i knew he would have so many things piling on him, he would not give priority to the community from pennsylvania avenue. you can ask him how surprised they were to be among the first meeting of lyndon johnson. here comes the hard part. i gather from moynihan's letter that he has reason to feel uncomfortable with you. i don't know the reasons but i can guess them. i just want to tell with you all my heart that this is something that really meant something to jack. love, jackie. so teddy had to resolve his differences of moynihan, and as

he usually did, he found a way to make it happen. she defined the role of first lady for the modern age. she straddled two eras, the one she describes in the oral history when women stayed home and had few opinions that differed from their husbands, and the coming age when women broke free to become independent and self-supporting. she lived fully in both. as first lady, she took the traditional woman's focus on the home and transformed it into a full-time job and a source of national pride. in doing so, she created her own identity as an independent woman. she became an international sensation, a new kind of american, speaking the languages of the countries she visited with my father and traveling abroad to india and pakistan on her own. most of all, my mother was a patriot. she believed that her time in the white house was the greatest privilege and worked hard to be worthy of the honor. she loved my father and her

courage held this country together after his death. and when it was over, she resumed the life of a private citizen, a status she cherished. she found the strength to create a new life for herself and embrace new worlds. although john and i would have preferred to stay near the penny candy store in hyannisport, she remarried, took us to greece and expanded our horizon immeasurably. she devoured everything she could about ancient civilizations and renewed her desire to teach us french. then like so many women of her generation, she went back to work after her children were grown. she took tremendous desire from her job as an editor. she loved her colleagues and her authors. she enjoyed the chase for the next big best-seller. she was excited when she landed michael jackson's autobiography,

and she was excited to bring quality literature to a wide audience when she was the first to public the work of the egyptian nobel laureate in english. she published an early book about sally hemmings and was always trying to get us to read "the diary of a napoleonic foot soldier." she led the fight to save grand central station and secure that victory with a landmark supreme court decision. though she rarely talked about herself and gave almost no interviews, her evolution as a public figure and her life as a private citizen inspired millions of women to live life on their own terms and continues to do so today. when i was growing up, she often used to say that she thought american history was boring because there weren't enough women in it. i'm proud that she helped to

change that and make possible the world that we're fortunate to live in today. now i'd like to share a few of my favorite excerpts with you. first, you will hear a description of my father's reading habits, then a section on the cuban missile crisis, and finally a brief description of the white house restoration. i hope you enjoy them. [ applause ] during these times when he was out on his campaign, he kept reading. how did he do that? >> he read in the strangest way. i could never read unless i had a rainy afternoon or a long evening in bed or something. he would read walking, he would

read at the table at meals, he would read in the bathtub, he would prop open a book on his bureau while he was doing his tie. he would just read -- he would open some reading and just devour it. he would read all the time you don't think you have time to read. >> he would read it in short tastes and come back to it and pick up the thread. >> he would see things he would use in his speeches. you would be sitting next to him on some platform and all of a sudden outcomes two sentences about georgetown that he would have read to you at night because it interested him. i think he was looking for something in books. he was looking for something about history or something to quote. oh, he was reading matt st. tone, and he started quoting it

to me. he got terribly funny about it. i think he was looking for something in his reading. he didn't want to waste a single second. did the president comment at all on the question of whether there should be a raid to knock the bases out or blockade or what? i mean, you mentioned jack -- mac bundy. >> there was this one where he took a cruise ship at night. then this crazy one came through and jack would be really upset about that and then deciding they would just answer