any time by visiting our website cspan.org/history and watch "american artifacts" every sunday, at 8:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span3. coming up next, three photographers who were on the other side of the hence from betty ford, barbara bush, and laura bush, they recall their days in the white house and the images that chronicles the lives and work of these first ladies such as this private moment captured as mrs. ford gazed toward her husband's west wing office. this program is about an hour. >> i'm jodie steck, and i'm the archivist at the george w. bush presidential library, if i make a mistake, my boss is in the front row and not to mention my former bosses. anyway, i've been a photojournalist probably longer than many of you have been on this earth.

and the one sure thing i know is that anybody can pick up a digital camera, but it takes a very special person to capture the moment. the three people i'm about to introduce do just that. carol powers, when you look at her images, when you see her images on the screens, you're going to feel the moment when mrs. barbara bush is sitting on the chair with millie watching her husband may tennis. you're going to feel that moment. you're going to feel the moment and feel the emotion when she hugs her arms around an aids child. susan sterner, you're going to feel the tension in the air when mrs. laura bush arrives in afghanistan for the first time. you're going to feel the emotion, the compassion that mrs. bush has when she is in a classroom with kids and the kids are up around her legs giving her just wrapping their arms

around her. david kennerly, we know him in the business as kennerly. he has been around i think he photographed martha washington, i'm not quite sure. and if he didn't photograph martha washington, he'll tell you that he did. so, be very careful. his name is synonymous with excellence. he has photographed more first ladies i think than there really are. and it's a pleasure to welcome them. i have -- i have one rule that i always say to my staff when i'm hiring photographers. i want a photographer who thinks with their hearts, with their heart, not with their heads. so, before i introduce these photographers, who are very special hearts, i also want to say hello to mr. mark updegrove who will be the moderator.

he's the director of the lyndon baines johnson presidential library and museum and he himself is a journalist and an acclaimed author and i hope he asks these guys the toughest questions. so, without any further ado, please welcome our panel. >> how are you? well, thank you. it's a great honor to be here. and a great ansel adams photographer once said a photograph is usually looked at, but rarely looked into. today we have the opportunity to hook into the photographs of three great photographers. and what they say about three extraordinary first ladies, who of whom are in the first row,

betty ford, barbara bush, and laura bush. and i have the easiest job of anybody today, because i get to run this panel like tom sawyer painted his fence. i get my friends to do it. and they're going to share some of their work with you and talk about the extraordinary images that they've taken. and the first one up at this podium will be david kennerly, and i'll tell you a quick story about david kennerly which happens to be true and it involves henry kissinger with whom david worked at the ford white house. and i was hosting a lunch some time back and i mentioned david's name, and dr. kissinger said in the voice, david kennerly is the greatest photojournalist of the 20th century. i said, wow, that's high praise. he said, i know this because david kennerly told me that david kennerly is the greatest -- so, in the words of

david kennerly and henry kissinger, let me welcome to the podium the greatest photojournalist of the 20th century, david kennerly. >> that's good. i don't know how to top that one. i'm going to show some pictures. it's great to be here with the bush women, barbara and laura, who i've photographed many times. i'm not taking away from my colleagues, but i did include one each of you in this presentation. excuse me. i was -- i actually have a first lady picture i just took on friday, not in this country and she's not an american, and if i press this, is this going to start? wow. magic. this is sofia bartelli, the

first lady of haiti. i was in haiti all week. i know president bush has been down there. it's a place that needs help certainly and will for a while. but i thought i would include her in. i was down for a -- there's a group called vital voices that was started by hillary clinton, women from america particularly entrepreneurs teaching women in third world how to start businesses and all that. but i was down for that. skipping back in time. jacqueline onassis, jackie kennedy onassis, taken in new york in 1970. i was a young boy when kennedy was -- when president kennedy was assassinated, but i worked with her son on "george" magazine, john jr. who became a

good friend of mine. and the first first lady i really photographed, though, was pat nixon, this was in 1970 in washington, d.c., going to a -- it was a school in washington. and i never really got to know her, nor did i really get to know her husband that well. but this is a picture of the two of them taken leaving some event. i like the light. but she was always very nice to the photographer. the world is divided into two kinds of people for me, the photographers and then those trying to keep them from taking pictures. and so pat nixon was very good with photographers. her husband not quite so much. but my first first lady was really a true friend was betty ford. mrs. ford and i became really chose friends. i was treated like one of the

family there during their white house. but, of course, we were talking about how lady bird johnson came to the white house, it's not quite as horrible situation. but betty ford became first lady real lly overnight almost. and they hired me as their white house photographer when i was 27 years old. and i was a little bit older. now, these are the kind of pictures -- and i'm sure the -- most first ladies don't want to be photographed like that, nor does anybody. but mrs. ford and president ford had such an incredible sense of humor and a lack of vanity about themselves. this is, by the way, taken in the -- in the kitchen of their home in alexandra, virginia, which is a very modest, split-level place and they lived there almost two weeks after

they became -- or after he became president. and this is lady bird johnson and mrs. ford and the two johnson girls. and they're being shown the white house living room -- or bedroom. and when i did an edit for this book i did on the ford presidency, i looked back, and i wondered -- i forgot that suitcases of the picture, this was right before mrs. ford went out to bethesda naval hospital where she ultimately had a mastectomy, and she never told mrs. johnson that she was going there that day. and this is in the hospital with bob hope. bob hope's name comes up quite a bit. he was the one that said that president ford made golf a contact sport. but mrs. ford recovered nicely from this operation, and probably i know she's best known for the betty ford center and

people with alcohol and drug dependency. but i can't imagine how many women's lives she saved, happy rockefeller was one of them who got a test because of her or she brought that whole problem out into the open. this is -- we had a is close relationship. this is in the white house solarium. mrs. ford is trying to strangle me yet again for a -- she had to put up with a lot from me. and the queen of england. the queen is a recurring theme here among the first ladies and the social secretaries. a very quick story. this is on the second floor of the white house. as queen elizabeth and the prince were going up in the elevator with the fords before the state dinner, the elevator door opened on the family quarters, and jack ford was standing this without his shirt on, one of the -- one of the sons and he was looking for

cufflinks in his dad's drawer. and was very embarrassing, and president ford said to the queen, you know, i really apologize for that. don't worry, we have one at home just like him. and mrs. ford was really the cheerleader of the family, as all the first ladies are. i mean, the guys go out and create all this trouble and win and lose elections, and the first ladies are there to make the kids feel better certainly. but this is right after president ford resigned, or lost the election to jimmy carter, is in the oval office. they would go outside. mrs. ford would actually read the announcement, conceding the election. and mrs. ford always felt like -- she liked this picture because she felt it showed her like kind of a bird in a cage on

one hand kind of looking out of the world looking down toward the west wing. both the fords gave me total access to their life, and so i really spent a lot of time upstairs and downstairs, was able to get all that. but my favorite picture of mrs. ford after she died ran extensively was the day before they left the white house on january 20th, 19 -- or january 19th, 1977, walking around in the west wing. she was saying good-bye to people. walked by the cabinet room, and there's this empty cabinet room table and there are portraits of, you know, long-gone presidents on the wall and a real male domain, and she said, you know, i've always wanted to dance on the cabinet room table. somebody said, did you ask her to do that? it never crossed my mind. not only did i not ask her. so, she took off her shoes and so she -- i'm guessing that the

two of you don't have anything like this, right? i'll ask eric draper about it. this could be one in a lifetime. she was a former martha graham dancer and a great sense of humor and all that. this was really my favorite moment. and shows who she was. i'll go through very quickly through some others. this is mrs. carter the next day. mrs. ford did not tell her that she'd danced on the cabinet room table. the carters '76, during the election process. and ronald reagan i covered with president and mrs. reagan for "time" magazine. this is in the solarium, the same room that mrs. ford tried to kill me in. that relationship was very good. this picture never was published because the editors of "time" thought it was too schmaltzy,

they are are schmaltzy people. they really do this. people don't understand. and this is my favorite mrs. bush photo. now, to barbara bush's credit, she has this saying in her house at kennebunkport, i know that because i've seen it up this, but this at the president ford library rededication, and i don't even know if you remember what you said to your husband, the colorfully attired one in the striped vest, she said, george, won't you ever grow up? thankfully he has not. this is hillary rodham clinton, i'll do a little close-up. hillary rodham in 1974. let's go forward.

and this is 20 years later as first lady. the first picture was taken in the house judiciary committee room where she was a lawyer, and this is the night before the inauguration in 1993. and the couple, '96, on the campaign train. and the next photo, any first lady is going to identify with. i've never shown it. this is the first time. and if secretary clinton sees it, she will summarily execute me, but this is her listening to her husband. so, let me guess, you've heard this one before, right? but hillary clinton is a great person and a -- i think she's terrific and has a fabulous sense of humor. and this picture i took of her,

i asked her to sign if she was still talking to me after she saw it, and she signed on it, dear david, i just want you to know i was thinking about you. and this was really the most dramatic moment. i certainly -- before the presidency and bushes' life, this is election night in the mansion, and mrs. bush and governor bush and jeb whose wife is passing before his eyes in the florida vote count and president bush on the phone in the background, but this is about ten minutes before al gore took back his concession, which i just wish i would have heard that phone call, but i didn't. we've read about it. and the obamas. this is inaugural night. i did the official -- produced the official inaugural book for the committee. i also did the two bush books and two clinton books with my team of photographers.

and some photos of michelle obama. this is after eight presidential balls. this is also the first ladies will appreciate this, two more balls to go. backstage. and in the -- this is a high school prom picture, i think, kind of gallant moment, this is the night of the inaugural. and six first ladies at the reagan library dedication with pat nixon. i think this is the last public appearance that mrs. nixon made before she died. and with lady bird. and then at the george bush library opening. this is hillary as first lady, and they were all watching the presidents up talking. and at the ford funeral, where president bush and those three first ladies. this was in palm desert. but thank you.

>> great job. >> was that all right? >> great job. >> well, this is unfair that i have to follow you, david. clearly one of the most memorable events for mrs. bush was her commencement address at wellesley, aside from all the brouhaha and protests that were stirred up, it was a great success. i'm sure everybody remembers the quote that at the end of your life you'll never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, closing one more deal, but you will regret time not spent with a husband, child, or a parent. and i think this is a code that she lives by. there she is with mrs. gorbachev who came with her to the event and gave her own remarks. in the kremlin with mrs.

yeltsin, the left. mrs. yeltsin took us through an impromptu tour of the imperial apartments in the kremlin which were absolutely incredible. they were covered floor to ceiling with the beautiful religious icons. and i don't think the apartments had ever been opened to the public before, so that was a real treat to see. on our first foreign trip. we went to china here at the tiananmen square. i was still learning my way, and i had a slight scuffle with the chinese security. and i kept telling them that i was with her and it was okay because i was an official photographer. and then figured out later that all photographers in china are probably official and it meant absolutely nothing. our first foreign trip after that we went to seoul, korea, and i love the juxtaposition

there of the east and west and holding hands. and in tokyo in the imperial gardens, we took a you note the u.s. keds. president and mrs. bush met with mr. and mrs. wes lieu when ska. we went to 10 downing street with mrs. trasher. i think she's saying who is that woman with all the cameras

around her neck, and why is she in my living room. i had barged my through as i was learning to do thinking i would end up in a holding room somewhere when i ended up in mrs. thatcher's living. mrs. thatcher came to our territory here at camp david looking out through their cabin with millie on the side there joining in. and the first day of desert storm was announced. this is in the residence, what you would call, i guess, the family room of the white house watching the president announce the beginning of the operation with her daughter, doro, and press secretary anna perez. the bushes had invited the reverend billy graham to join them. here in her cammys.

this was in the saudi desert on thanksgiving day before the start of operation desert storm. i think mrs. bush on her fifth thanksgiving dinner at that time. and then once the campaign started, it was nonstop. here we were at a beauty salon in new hampshire. that is not helen thomas under there. let me clarify that. i know it looks like it. i'm not that cool. greeting well-wishers in pennsylvan pennsylvania. bowling for votes in ohio. and on the campaign plane with marvin bush. he was always fun to have around. it must have been -- yeah. here with marv, and we were also

on a whistle stop tour through georgia. this was several weeks before the election. and after the third debate, after the crowds all come around and everybody shakes hands and takes pictures, mrs. bush beelined for ross perot because he made accusations the campaign had maligned his family and daughters, and mrs. bush wanted to set the record straight at that that just was not true. here she is with her newly adopted son, governor clinton -- soon-to-be adopted son, still governor at the time. it's customary after the election that the first lady gives a tour to the newly elected first lady in the white house, and here she is with mrs. clinton in the queen's bedroom.

going over some notes before a speech in a hotel room somewhere. in america somewhere we get one more hotel. sorting through children's books that were -- she was giving to her grandchildren at the staff hotel in kennebunkport. and on a bus tour through illinois and wisconsin. obviously, a late night trip home. we had been given 3d glasses and just being silly on the plane. i like the guy on the right who obviously missed his pair, but was willing to join in any ways. every christmastime mrs. bush visited children's hospital in washington, d.c. here she is holding a young cancer patient, and i love the look on her face.

she must have gotten great comfort from that little girl who was probably about the same age robin. now, millie at kennebunkport relaxing obviously with mrs. bush was also a successful authoress. she donated all of profits of her book to the barbara bush foundation of literacy. because she's a thoroughly modern millie and wants it all, she had these guys which brought great joy to the white house. now, some are braver than others. [ laughter ] and we traveled to almost every

state in the united states to include hawaii, where we went for the day and back to promote family literacy. mrs. bush as you know is tirelessly promoted reading. i love the exub rance of the little girl on the right-hand side there. and mrs. bush holding an aids baby. you have to remember at that time for a lot of people didn't understand that you could hold a baby, hug a child with aids, and that it wouldn't -- you wouldn't catch it, but there is this stereotype. so mrs. bush in her role went out to grandma's house in washington, d.c., and unfortunately that poor guy only lasted another couple of weeks. now, someone we all know and

love happened to mention that he didn't like broccoli, so the mother of america had to go out there to reassure all the children that broccoli is good and good for you. you'll notice that she did that with the oval office right in the background, which i thought was pretty cheeky. after the election president bush was honored by the armed services at a salute at ft. myers, and it was an incredibly moving event. there wasn't a dry eye anywhere to include miraculously the press that had tears running down their eyes. but then life takes funny turns, and we have governor bush and governor bush and president bush and who knows who the guy in the background, what he's going to add to it.

and life goes on. this is after the election at ken kennebunkpo kennebunkport. the president is going off to work, which brings me back to the wellsley speech that i read over and over again. one of the other things that mrs. bushed in that speech which we don't want to forget paraphrased ferris buehler, that life is fast-paced. you have to top and look around or you'll miss it all. most of all, to remember to find the joy in life. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm susan sterner. thank you for being here. it's a really hard -- i just

really drew the short end of the straw, i think. i thought i'd start with my last day of work with mrs. bush, my last 48 hours was in the spring of 2005 when we went on an unannounced trip to afghanistan. a little bit of background of the i started at the white house right after a two-year fellowship in brazil where i was living and working with families and looking into how government policies affected the lives and status of women. i thought that i had learned everything -- i didn't think i'd learned everything, but what i learned was the great lesson of my life. i turned around and went into the white house and had fundamental things like the v vocabulary we used every day challenged, words like white house, west wing, state visit and peace talks and most importantly the word government. that it stopped to me in the course of my time at the white house, it wasn't this