relief work and how clara got involved in it and how it developed over time to be the extraordinary service that it is today around the world. social secretaries working for american first ladies helped to set the tone of presidential administrations. bess abell, catherine fenton and laurie firestone served first ladies from lady bird johnson to laura bush. all three worked in a wartime white house. whether it was organizing a barbecue for lady bird johnson or exercising their diplomatic skills at a state dinner, these social secretaries were the right hand of the first lady. in this hour-long conversation at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas, texas, they recalled their

duties and life inside the white house. i'd like to introduce the panel. richard norton smith, who will be chairing this panel, is a nationally renowned author. between 1987 and 2003 he served as director of the herbert hoover presidential library. the dwight d. eisenhower presidential library, the ronald reagan presidential library and the gerald ford presidential library. so he has presidential library experience, and in 2003 he was appointed the founding director of the abraham lincoln presidential library in springfield, illinois. he is the author, a commentator on c-span, pbs, and he's now working on a biography of nelson rockefeller. on our panel today is bess abell. bess as president johnson said a kentucky girl who can walk with kings and prime ministers,

maintained the common touch but could also lecture the president. she was five years white house social secretary. miss abell organized dinners for kings and prescriptions, planned two white house weddings, and advanced presidential trips from manhattan to manila. she designed and carried out to the last detail events as different as an lbj ranch barbecue, state dinners in bangkok, and a white house country fairs and arts festivals. also on our panel this morning is catherine s. fenton. she is the current director of the governor's residence in princeton, new jersey, and serves as special adviser for protocol to the governor's chief of protocol and director of the first lady staff. she is a former special assistant to presidents and social secretary for the first administration of president and mrs. george w. bush where she planned and implemented all white house entertaining within the white house complex.

and then lastly laurie firestone who is a california native. she served as white house social secretary to george h.w. bush and first lady barbara bush for eight years, at the vice president's residence and four years at the white house. her duties included planning and executing state dinners, luncheons, receptions at the white house and abroad. i know you're going to enjoy this conference, or this panel. thank you. [ applause ] >> this is like a sporting event. >> good morning, everyone. you're in for a treat. we have about half a century of white house history represented here. one of the things that defines the white house social secretary, first of all, it's a job that i think is -- is redefined in some ways with

every okccupant and with every first lady, but one thing that persists is that a social secretary has a unique relationship and perspective on their first ladies. i recently had the opportunity, thanks to the goodness of the white house historical association, to do an oral history project, interviewing all 14 surviving white house social secretaries, and i'll never forget talking to lucy winchester who held the job for pat nixon. and who would have known that pat nixon had a delicious sense of humor. the first couple of months of the nixon presidency, the president and his staff had just come back from europe, the first overseas trip, and apparently there were what lucy characterized as a couple of evil individuals in the west wing who thought it was the height of sophistication to return from paris with a large

blowup doll. female doll for purposes we'll leave to their imagination. in anywhere event, word got back to the first lady who for some reason thought it would be appropriate to requisition the doll. she and lucy send it to the white house carpentry shop to be blown up. turned out the daughters of the american revolution were coming to the white house the next day, and president nixon, not knowing what was going on, had run into the secretary general of the der and said oh, listen, why don't you come early. you can come upstairs to the second floor. we'll show you around the private quarters. so cut to the picture of mrs. nixon and her social secretary getting off the elevator on the second floor, walking down the hall striding with the belowup doll between them trying to find the best place to -- to put it.

they finally decided that the queen's room would be ideal, and it was stashed in the bathtub, and they left, and -- and that's the end of the story. we don't know -- we don't know what happened, but needless to say, that's the kind of history you don't read in the textbooks. and every one of these women, i'm not sure they have stories about blowup dolls, but they certainly do have uniquely personal history. bess abell, can you tell us something about lady bird johnson that's surprising or unknown as pat nixon's sense of humor. >> well, i don't want to -- i want to answer a different question. because you heard them talk about how mrs. johnson came into the white house. well, it wasn't like when anybody else came into the white

house. i mean, the president had been shot in the johnson's home state, and mrs. johnson said the world looks at the living and wishes for the dead, so it was an awful time for them to come into the white house, and it was -- it was some weeks before they did move into the white house, and mrs. johnson was continually asked and her press secretary, liz carpenter, was just asked repeatedly when are the johnsons moving into the white house. and finally miss johnson had had that up to here, and she said heaven that i could help mrs. kennedy's comfort, but at least

i can help her convenience, so after that the questions stopped. but -- mrs. johnson was just an adventurous. when you -- when you came in to see her, she always wanted to know what you were doing. what was new with you, what was the latest. and when she traveled she always had these had these little spiral notebooks like this, and she kept them in her purse with a ball point pen, and she would keep notes about where she was going and what she was seeing.p keep notes about where she was going and what she was seeing. and she took shorthand, and fortunately i read short hadn't, not as neatly as she did, so i could read some of the notes that she had. but she -- we had flown -- when

lbj was vice president, we had glo flown from the u.s. to the mediterranean, had flown the length of the mediterranean and landed in beirut and had just walked into the hotel room, which was supposed to be a rest stop before they went to iran and turkey and italy and lebanon, of course. and mrs. johnson's on the phone, so i come into the room. she said can you get a car and let's go to bombeck. i said what's bombeck. i said i thought this was supposed to be a rest stop and she said i may never get here again. it was very short order and we were in the car going up over the lebanon mountains past big stacks, men with big stacks of

this wonderful flat bread on their head going through the olive groves and the orchards into bombeck where you saw civilization, upon civilization, upon civilization, and so i'm so grateful for her for bringing me along for the great adventure but also for taking me to bombeck. >> now you brought up the circumstances surrounding the beginning of the johnson presidency. i'll give you an opportunity to respond. recently i came across a -- an oral history with a member of the marine band. he was a violinist, russian violinist, great artist, who complained that at the first tea of the johnson presidency, actually i think he said it was upstairs, anyway they were performing, and you came up and said what the hell are you

playing? >> i never would have said something -- never, never, never. >> and -- >> i'm just giving you the opportunity. the -- the violinist said mozart, and you allegedly said, well, knock it off. >> he wants show tunes. >> "the yellow rose of texas." oh, no, no, no. i don't know whether mrs. bush was given yellow roses from country to country and state to state, but i think mrs. johnson would -- every time she went some place and somebody would play "the yellow rose of texas" and give her a big bouquet of yellow roses, they thought they were so clever to have thought of it, and -- and -- and she would -- she was -- she was very, very polite, but she said if there's ever an opportunity

for people to give me a bouquet of wildflowers that would be really nice, or to play something else, even "the eyes of texas." >> it's like the story of harry truman at the beginning of the nixon presidency, nixon wanted to let bygones be bygones so he donated the white house piano to the truman library and went out to independence to make the presentation at the truman library. he sat down, grandly began to play "the missouri waltz." but it turns out harry truman hated "the missouri waltz." had always hated "the missouri waltz" and mrs. truman said the only good thing was by then he was so deaf he couldn't hear what the president was playing. laurie firestone, you were there for the entire first bush presidency. those were eventful years, significant years in the history

of the white house and the country. tell us something about barbara bush that maybe we don't know. >> well, you know, i think barbara, everybody knows her because i think she was so open, and, you know, yes, there may be a cute little story or something that hasn't been written, but i think she had a very unique ability to really be a very warm and friendly, and she was everybody's friend. and so i remember back in the days at the vice president's, and, you know, television was becoming more and more important, and, of course, the first ladies aren't on it often, but often vice president bush would be on it, but people would come to the house, and i would always greet them and say good-bye to them. and they were like i just had no

idea. they were so warm and they were so friendly and so humorous, and oh, we love them. i just didn't know this about them at all, and i think sometimes that isn't always shown on television or, you know, you can read it, but you can't -- but there's nothing like actually being there, and -- but back to barbara, i think she was all of that, and she was always interested in everybody. and -- >> how did she communicate her priorities through your work? because, again, i -- my sense is that this is a job that is redefined in some ways, in the only by each person who holds it but above all by each first lady. >> well, i always think that i was very lucky being eight years at the vice president so i certainly knew what she liked,

and so she -- even there, she was never a micromanager. i mean, she trusted her staff, and she believed in them. she said she knew what she wanted. she was consulted all the time, but then she wasn't there every second, did you do it, you know? are you sure it's okay? i mean, she believed in us, and we did it. >> we know that the first president bush was no fan of broccoli. you averted an international incident involving the president of mexico. could you describe the diplomatic function of the social secretary. >> i think this story, not only have i told it, but it -- i think it's actually in mrs. bush's book as well, with you the president of salinas -- president salinas came for a state dinner, and many of you may remember that he was a

harvard graduate. it was a period of time when they were trying to show that mexico was getting very sophistica sophisticated, more well developed, so that evening -- >> roland. >> -- roland, thank you. i've said his name. anyway, roland was the pastry shefrks and he always did a beautiful job, and on the menu he said he was going to do a mexican fantasy, and because we were entertaining so often, we didn't have them do samples of every dessert that he was going to do, and we knew it was going to be beautiful. so that evening the desserts come up from the pastry kitchen into the pantry, and at that time they weren't individually plated. they were on a tray, and so i

went out to the pantry to look at the desserts, as i always did, and cathy was there with me, and, well, it was horrible. it was this disaster. what he had done was he had created a little adobe house out of marzipan, and inside that house was going to be fresh fruit and sorbets. that part was good, and around the adobe house was a little picket fence with flowers and everything. well, just the adobe house was bad, but then what he had done, which was the key, he had put a little sleeping mexican worker taking his siesta with a big sombrero, and so i -- i looked at it. i said you can't -- we can't put this in, and send this in, and he said -- and so roland being a

frenchman. oh, no, you know, that's it. this is my dessert, and he stomped out, and i'm looking at cathy and, you know, there's a lot of agony going on there for a few minutes, and, of course, we had to make a decision rather quickly. so we found a bouquet of flowers, and as each tray went into the kitchen, we plucked off the little sleeping worker with his sombrero and tucked in a flower, and -- and sent it into the dining room which was not perfect, but i thought this is so great, a wonderful story about barbara bush, too, because usually when the desserts came to the table, she would make a big fanfare of saying how beautiful roland's dessert was and look at it, and -- and wanted everybody to see it, and this time i saw her, and the platter came to her, and she

looked at it. and she got it right away, and she picked up the spoon and hacked the adobe how is that split open and hopefully the president never saw it, but it was -- we agreed after that we were not going to do any, you know, foods whether it was a main course or a dessert that were trying to be for the culture of the other country. it was going to be strictly american. >> cathy, you're in a unique position of having worked very closely with three first ladies. i won't put you in the awkward position of talking about your most recent employer. tell us something about mrs. reagan, who as we all know had a kind of rough time at the start of it with the press in terms of the image that -- that they

conjured up. how did she deal with that? >> well, i think -- >> how did you deal with that? >> well, i guess i was blessed i was number two during those days. i

cathy, you were there on 9/11. what do you remember of that day? >> well, i always -- i'm always was big on a saturday and we've had several weeks. beautiful weather, ultimately both in new york and in washington. that helped the relief workers and emergency workers. at least it wasn't horrible weather, but we had had a string of events. we had our first state dinner. president and mrs. bush for the president of mexico was september 5th, vicente fox, and, again, we had beautiful weather. the dinner went flawlessly. i think the bushes were happy. it was a beautiful occasion, and then on 9/11 we had our next big

event for the next administration, as far as entertaining and we had scheduled the annual congressional barbecue. very often it could be in june and september. we picked september for a new administration which gave us more time, and that's a big deal, you know, as bess will say going back to lbj and before to have the u.s. congress to the white house in a casual setting, very often with their families. we would have entertainment, a form of barbecue. the bushes had wanted tom pirini, who was their good friend who had entertained for them in texas and he was there, and a lot of logistics and a lot of elaborate setup. we had over 150 picnic tables on the south lawn. we had all of tom's chuckwagon. all the cooking had been going on. the white house chefs were cooking and supporting tom for days. i came in that morning and said how can we be blessed with this magnificent weather. we have a barbecue. i get into work, and ironically i had had this letter from a man

in new york, and i knew i had to call him. they were inviting the bushes i think to a movie screening, and i think i've got to call him. it's been almost three weeks, and i didn't just want to send a letter, and so i dialed this man in manhattan, and we were on the phone, and we were speaking. i always had my little tv muted, usually on fox or cnn, and -- and we were on the phone, and i'm not sure who said it first. maybe i said it first because i think i glanced at the screen, and i guess it was, what, oh, maybe 8:25 or so, and i said was there an accident? and he said, well, i don't know. i said did a plane hit a building in new york because i -- i had seen these various shots, and he said, you know, i think i have a message from someone on my phone. so i said, all right. well, we ended our conversation. it was good to speak to you, and just as i hung up was when i think my husband called me, and my brother-in-law's a pilot. he said, you know, cathy, have

you heard. unbeknownst to me i guess enough was going on that one of our administrative assistants had already left the office, but my deputy, jeanie figg, was still in her little outer office, and he said, cathy, a plane has hit, you know, the world trade center, and then i think maybe he knew a second plane had hit, so he said stay in touch. i said i will, and i hung up the phone, and then i looked up and there was russ appleyard, this darling uniformed secret service agent, they were the ones in the blue blazers who had conducted tours, and i knew him for over 20 years, and his face is beat red and he's a redhead himself, and he said, cathy, you know, two planes have hit the william welds and a third has he had the pentagon and we're evacuated. i yelled at jeanie, and that's when jeanie and i grabbed our bags, and we ran downstairs, i think, you know, as my mind went through, as i worked out the door. all of a sudden i saw large

weapons coming out, and i thought this is strange. what is this going to do, and i also realized we're evacuating and we're going into lockdown and we're going out of sight. they opened the wrought iron gates and we began walking. there were 206 us at that point in the east wing and we started walking east and jeanie's husband was in an office building up on 14th street and he wanted to come here. that's where we ended up. and then i guess the rest is history, you know. mrs. bush went to an undisclosed location and we went on and the skeleton essential emergency workers at the white house remained, the chief usher and a few others, and i know what they did in the next 48 hours was begin to take all of this food and create almost over 700 plates of food to send over to the pentagon to the relief workers. >> really. >> so sing their praises, yeah,

walter schive. >> you had vietnam to deal with. out on pennsylvania avenue with demonstrators, but he didn't stay outside. it occasionally invaded social events. can you describe what it was like? >> well, first of all, you have to imagine linda and lucy's rooms faced pennsylvania avenue, and there were demonstrators out there through the evening. they would go into their rooms, go to bed at night, and there were chanters out there, hey, hey, lbj, how many kids did you kill today? hey, hey, and on it would go. i think the climate that had invaded the white house, i tried to avoid that because i kept track of these full-page ads that ran in the "new york times"

every sunday, sometimes during the week, they would have people, artists, writers, signing petitions to the president, and i kept track of those because i didn't want to invite those people to the state dinner. i didn't -- i didn't want them to be sending ugly regrets. we didn't need that. we wanted applause, but an intellectual had been added to the white house staff, a man from princeton named eric goldman, and eric had this idea of a white house festival of the arts, which we had already been thinking about in my office, but i was talking to eric about it, and i was going to do "x" part

of it and he was going to do "y" part of it, and the "y" part of it was that he was inviting writers to come and read their works, and i was -- i was really concerned about that because i thought that he ought to compare his list of writers to my list of "new york times" advertisements but he didn't. he said you just want to censor things. and then when i said now, eric, we want to have the writers come in the day before and test the mikes, be sure the sound levels are right and that they have the podium at height that they want and so forth and there are no surprises, and he said, oh, you just want people