>> this is even more significant because what we have seen today, we get a chance to see the rich and famous in washington fairly often. we rarely get to -- the opportunity to see the rich and famous who come to see us and prepare for us p we are so gratefu grateful. s in -- this is from the people of an costa and the people of the anacosta neighborhood. >> thank you. all right

[ applause ] >> all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first ladies, who do you think was our nations most influential first lady. each year, time magazine select ago person who had the most influence on events during the previous 12 months, if the same question were posed in 1862, who would "time" select as the person of the year. this will be covered life on saturday february 25th.

and candidates will be presented for person of the year 1862. the museum of the confederacy and library of virginia host the forum. we will take your calls and tweets so you can question them eastern. four square. follow american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. >> this is american history tv on c-span 3 tv.

as we continue our spotlight on the nation's first ladies, we hear next from barbara and laura bush, who combined lived 12 years in the white house. [ applause ]

>> how sdi -- howdy, it's been a wonderful day. i like to welcome you to tonight's program featuring two of america's greatest first ladies as we conclude today's conference, america's first ladies, an enduring legacy. first ladies barbara bush and laura bush, we are grateful you are participating in tonight's events and president bush, we are grateful you are here with us also. [ applause ] in addition to our audience here, we are being joined by an audience over the internet, this program is being live streamed so howdy to you all. i would like to thank our conference chair, anita mcbride, we could not do this without you, this began when the presidential library directors

attended a conference this past spring at united university which was chaired by anita, we decided we should do it here in texas at the texas presidential libraries. and so, we began here today and we will continue with programming at the george w. bush library in march of 2012 and conclude with the program at the lbj library in november of 2012. programs like this can't be done without support. and therefore i am very grateful to our program sponsors, texas a&m university. whoop! american university of public affairs and american university libraries, the george bush foundation, always generous to the library. thank you to the foundation and i would like to thank the white house historical association and he stephanie sale and jim si

singleton. introducing our panel, our program and panelists tonight is andy card, acting dean of the bush school of government and public service, can we give him a whoop? >> whoop! >> mr. card was appointed in july of 2011. he is formally dean card served as chief of staff to george w. bush from 2000 to 2006, he was assistant to the president, deputy chief of the staff and the 11th secretary of transportation. thank you, sir. >> thank you. [ applause ] i'll give you a boston accented howdy. it's great to see you, and it is

a spectacular program tonight and we appreciate warren finch welcoming us all here, yes i'm the acting dean of the bush school and the bush school at texas a and m, we are proud of our students and the performance of the graduates, because they earned a great reputation for the school. i'm not here to talk about the school, i'm here to pay praise to president bush and i appreciate him bringing his library and museum and creating the school here at texas a&m, but it's special program. on november 11th, 267 years ago, there was a woman born who had a pretty great legacy for this country, and i'm not talking about barbara bush.

her name was abigail smith adams. and she was the first woman to have been married to a president and was the father of a president. i mean the mother of a president. thank you anita. it was actually the secret service that whispered first. on february 12th, interestingly, 11/11 and 2/12 are important days in history, but there was another woman born but she was born in london. and she was the daughter in law to a president. and the wife of a president.

the two women that we will hear from tonight are even more unique than those two individuals. because one is not only the mother of a president, and the wife of a president, she also got to witness both of them taking an oath of office to be president. the other woman is the daughter in law of a president and the wife of a president. and she got to witness both of them taking the oath of office to be president. these two women are pretty remarkable. barbara pierce bush has had a long legacy of caring about people and inviting people to make a difference. she cares deeply about her family, and she has quite a terrific family. with lots of grandchildren and

one great grandchild and she cares so deeply about them, but she also introduced us to "points of light" and the opportunity that comes with literacy and reading. she taught us what it means to be a volunteer in fighting cancer, and helping people. and then you have laura welch bush, a teacher. a librarian. passionate about reading. passionate about making sure that we were all literate enough to read. openi ining doors around the wo for women to make a difference. the afghan women's council. she went to afghanistan. and she helped invite women to being part of that community. a community that celebrated an opportunity to vote, but more

importantly even, they are make ago difference in the economy of afghanistan. she has helped to fight malaria and aids in avenfrica. she inspired women leaders all around the world to make a difference. both of these women are pretty remarkable. but the uniqueness that they have is even more remarkable. they did watch a husband, a father-in-law, a son, and a husband take an oath of office. it comes right from our constitution, it's article ii and it's the shortest oath taken by anyone who serves in government, and it calls for them to preserve, protect and defend. these women also witnessed lots

of young people take an oath. it's a longer oath. in this oath, it calls for them to follow the command of the commander in chief. both the presidents that took that oath had to ask for young men and women to make sacrifices that they would never invite on anybody. and those sacrifices resulted in a lot of pain. but there was another oath that was taken. and this was an oath taken by these women. it's an oath that calls for them to have a special relationship with a special person. calls for them to say that they will be there in sickness and in health, in good times and bad times, for richer, for poorer,

and to love and to cherish. being president is an unbelievably lonely job. it's lonely in part because of the oath that is taken. i can honestly say the two presidents that i served were never completely alone, because they had first ladies who took their oath very, very seriously. so, would you help to welcome barbara pierce bush and lawyura welch bush to share their experiences as first ladies. [ applause ]

to help punishes -- to help us understand the dialog of responsibilities and the awesome news for presidents and their inspiration to all of us, richard smith who is a great author, who understands the w k workings of government, he has b been a friend of mine for a long time. he helped me with a speech for my forgettable campaign. we are thankful to have him for this discussion. thank you. >> thank you, andy. [ applause ]

>> i don't know but, i'm not used to getting a standing ovation for showing up. >> you just got it because laura was here. >> it's hard to know where to begin. we have heard from a number of folks earlier today and we heard from real life practitioners, people that were in the white house at different parts of the history, who were challenged and rose to the challenge. each of you had unique life experience before you came to the white house. andy has described them. was that a particular advantage to you, and is there any way to fully prepare for the job of first lady? >> shall i start? >> sure.

>> yes, i was prepared because i lived in washington with george for years, and he was vice president for eight years. so, i could watch some very good president and his wife and the truth is the white house itself is so well organized. it's pretty hard to make too many mistakes, other than just my mouth. >> well i of course was prepared because i had a mother in law who i watched. and i visit today white house, i had an advantage that no other first lady accept loisa adams had, because i stayed at the white house a lot when bush and bar lived there, i had been to the inauguration when president bush came in and i went to state

dinners. but really, of course, what i learned from bar is that it's a home. that it really is a home. where the family lives and where family times happen. you laugh and watch football on television and have wild dinners and funny people, especially all the bushes that try to be funny the whole time. especially one that i was married to. you know, so i knew that it was really a home. i felt very reassured when i moved in because i knew it could be a home for barbara and jenna, it was the only home they could come home to, because our house was in the ranch and when they came home from holiday they came to stay with us at the white house >> you were governor's wife and you did that perfectly.

>> yes, i was the first lady of texas. i knew how to do everything even as first lady of texas from bar. the things you do not think about. the christmas card for instance, i knew we needed to get the artist for the card early in the year. usually we picked the artist by march and april, and they would start working on the art for the christmas card, i did that at the governor's mansion because i knew that was the way that bar did it in the white house. when we moved out, we left a big notebook on how to do the christmas card for the next person, because we thought she probably would not know, like i did bus i had bar to watch. >> not me, i let the next person do their own thing. >> that raises a question, it has become a habit in recent years for out going presidents

to leave a note in the desk for the the next president. did either of you have a similar legacy? >> i didn't think to leave a note, but we gave tours both of us. >> and visited with them. >> what was that like? >> easy. i mean, we knew we lost. we are a great country, i think, because other countries, when you defeat, like margaret thatcher, she was out of her house the next day. we are a great country. and many of the countries we went to, the leaders were killed after, or put in jail. >> exactly. >> it's not that funny. >> you do not see a connection at all? >> right now in history, you look at zambia, they had praise because they had an election and theincumbent lost and let the

next one come in. we were at the points of light foundation and george and i happen to meet that day with the ethiopian health minister and i said we are going to this tribute and all the former presidents will be there to pay tribute to our father-in-law and to my father-in-law and he said you just don't know what that means to the rest of the world. he said the rest of the world just looks at that and thinks it's so great that all the former presidents no matter the party or politics, they come back with each other and pay tribute to each other. and it did remind me that we are very fortunate? our country because of the peaceful transfer of power that we have. >> you mention of course, the white house as home, but it plays so many other roles s s ae same time. it's a museum, a war room --

>> shouldn't be that. >> not for fundraising anyway. >> no. >> you could have left a note about that. >> now the president reagan left george a wonderful note. because george saw him throwing acorns out for the squirrels and he said to president reagan, gee, sir, better not do that, because our milly chases squirrels and i think she has a record of maybe ten. so the president left a note that said, a thing that squirrels, be ware of dog. >> how aware are you literally 24 hours a day of the history that you were living with that you are making, and are there predecessors or other first

ladies, either people whom you've known or read about who are particular sources of inspiration? >> i was very aware of the history of the house, i was not so aware of making history really. i mean, you are just living there every day and thinking, a million things happen a day when you are at the white house, every problem in the world comes to the desk of the president of the united states. but i was very aware of the history of it because i, because you live with the effects of all the people that lived there before you. with their decorating and their furniture and their choices that they have made and i knew that and so when i moved to the white house, i did not bring any furniture with me, i brought one chest of drawers that belonged to president bush's mother, george's grandmother just for a sentimental reason, to have a piece of furniture that belonged to her there. because i knew there was a,

warehouse full of furniture that was belonged to many, many presidents. it was very fun, and i learned a lot about the history of those families by setting rooms up and decorating rooms and choosing pieces of furniture for different rooms. >> educated daughter-in-law. >> were you part of her education? >> no. no but i was very happy in the white house. very happy. we had grandchildren, it was great, you could hear them swimming and hear them outside and riding bikes and we were lucky because we had laura and george very often there and we had marvin's children and i never forget little walker. practically brand new sleeping in the lincoln bedroom, little thing. it was a wonderful happy time

for me. i'm not half as cerbral as laura is but i'm as nice. >> for us, for barbara and jenna, they also got to be there as children. you know, as the grandchildren of the president, so when they showed sash aa skand, malia, th could show them all the things to do because they were there when their grandfather was president. like the high bed that the usher puts the step out for someone stay engine that room. if known is staying in the room, the step is not there, so barbara and jenna showed them how to make a running dash and jump on to the bed or the ramp that has a wooden floor that every little kid that comes to the white house finally learns to slide down on their seat and barbara and jenna who were not little kids when they shows the

little obama girls around did show them how to do that. >> pretty cute. >> you mention the salarium that every white house family loves about it? >> it's the den up there. it's the most casual of all the rooms. and it's sort of up somewhere. i read about, i think mrs. coolidge who said -- >> her sky parlor she called it. >> she said when i'm in the salarium, don't bother me. >> i just think it was a, more of a family place and the children could order their dinner up -- unless i stopped them. >> that is the day, or the first couple of days that we stayed in the white house, the whole family after president bush was inaugurated, we had a very fancy dinner in the dining room up stairs and everyone was there

except barbara and jenna and we found out from an usher that they called from the bowling alley and asked for dinner to be brought to them in the bowling alley. their grandmother put a stop to it. >> ordering dinner, imagine. >> did you have a favorite room in the white house? >> i loved the west sitting hall with that big window to just sit in. in the late afternoon with the sun coming in in the winter. it's pretty. >> i love the whose white house, and laura brought the lincoln bedroom back to the way it was. she raise today money, so it was not done by the government. >> well the white house historical association, who are one of the sponsors today of this conference are also the private arm that raised money

that can purchase things for the white house. >> was there a moment when it dawned on you really for the first time dramatically, just how much impact you can have, an action of yours or words of yours in the lives of other people? >> i remember when i was the wife of the vice president i could say anything, nobody gave a darn. and i think george had just become president elect when i made some, i thought, normal statement and i read it in every single paper and it was not something that i really wanted to be quoted on. but you learn not to speak quite as frankly. sort of. then you forget it when you get older. >> well, i knew lady bird johnson who also is somebody that i liked about, another texas first lady and of course, i knew her because she was still

alive in austin when george was governor and we lived there. in fact we hosted the lady bird johnson wild flower center at the governor's mansion for the opening of the gala that night. i remember she said that the first lady has a podium and i'm going to use it. somehow, i did not really -- i knew it intellectually, but not until i did the address to talk about the treatment of women by the taliban. and i went to a department store with my girls and the women came up and said, thank you so much for speaking for the women in afghanistan. and then i really realized that people had actually heard me. and that it meant something that they were glad that an american first lady was speaking out for our afghan sisters.

[ applause ] >> a different kind of out spokenness, you were once quoted -- >> are you talking to her? >> in the lady's home journal as saying, there's a myth out there that i do not dress well. >> imagine that. >> you said actually i dress very well, i just don't look so good. >> now, i'll tell you a nice story. we read over and over again, and it was true, all those nice things, when george got elected to president, when he was president elect, he said take yourself to new york and you go buy clothes from designers which i did do. he paid for every single one of them for four solid