>> thanks to all of you for sharing examples of your extraordinary body of work. susan, i want to pick up on what you just talked about, the life-changing experience that is being a white house photographer. you were all old hands, all pros at the art of photography. i wonder, did you have to change the way that you approached your job being in the white house? after all, you are recording history, and it is for the public record. so does that change the way you approach the art? >> eventually it does. when i first started, i came in wanting to make the document of the century. and then i realized i needed to take a deep breath and slow down and just watch and be really attentive and do my homework. i think it made me a better and more deliberate photographer. >> carol? >> i think it took me -- it

takes you a while to get up your nerve. my first assignment was to drive with mrs. bush from the national observatory where the vice president lives to the white house and then to photograph them moving into blair house -- not the white house, to blair house. i think i took three photos i was so nervous. it just -- you don't want to intrude on their private time, but you do have to intrude on their private time because it is for all of us. eventually you have to think ten years, 20 years, down the road. this is telling history. >> david, you had won the pulitzer prize at age 25. you were in the white house several years later. did you have to approach the job differently upon landing in the white house? >> i had -- i got to know the fords before the day -- the day i photographed soon-to-be president ford, the day spero agnew resigned.

i can say that in this room and most of you know who i'm talking about. i give a lot of lectures at schools and it's a little dicy. i even have to explain who president ford is sometimes. but i had an ongoing relationship with him starting -- the first "time" cover i ever had was of him when he was designated by nixon to be the replacement for agnew and then "time" had me covering them. i got to know the family really well. i went skiing with them, taking pictures. that was back in the day when the magazine would pay for my skiing lessons, the good old days as we would call them. but i got to know them really well. by the time he became president i had really got along well with everybody, including the kids. mrs. ford was always a big proponent of having me work in the white house. the night president ford was

sworn in, he had been president for about eight hours. my background is, i'm from a little town in oregon, no background in journalism or anything else. my dad was a traveling salesman. how i got to that night sitting with president ford, the only person in the room, and he wanted to talk to me about the job, but he hadn't offered it to me. he said, how do you see the white house photographer's job? i thought, shouldn't he be talking to kissinger? yoichi okamoto, lbj's photographer, was an absolutely role model, total access to the president and all that and ollie atkins, the second civilian white house photographer, really didn't have much access at all. it's not what nixon wanted. it's all about your relationship with the president. i thought about that. i thought what am i going to say if he asks me.

two things i want, one is total access and to work for you directly. not for the white house chief of staff or the press secretary. he was puffing on his pipe and he looked at me and said, you don't want "air force one" on the weekends? it started well. it started well and it never let up. i was so respectful and loved those guys. they gave me a tremendous opportunity and i'm a pro. i worked 16 hours a day, they let me into their life and i respected that to this day. i really am blessed to have been able to do that. >> alita black was talking earlier about the fact that we just get lucky sometimes in american history. i think we were extraordinarily lucky to have the three first ladies that were in the white house while you all were in

your jobs. like lady bird johnson, betty ford took the role of first lady under extraordinary circumstance, david -- >> a good title for a book, actually. wait, it's the title of my book. >> a shameless plug. >> all benefits going to ut austin, center for american history, dolph brisco center for american history. >> you were there at the ford house in alexandria, virginia, the night that president ford took office and really the first night that mrs. ford became first lady. that was an extremely unusual situation. talk about being in their house that evening and what america was feeling and what the fords were feeling at that time. >> i think they were just -- one of the reasons i got along with them, i've never met more normal people. president ford respected i had been in vietnam.

i had been a combat photographer for two and a half years. he was in the pacific as a navy officer. you know what? looking back on that -- he was only like 60 years old when he took that job. but i thought he was like 93. my dad was only 21 years older than me. i always referred to him -- even in private conversations. to this day, either mr. ford when he was in congress or mr. vice president or mr. president. he never said you can call me jerry. i would never have dreamed of doing it. it was formal to the degree i had respect for my elders. 60 years old is nothing now. i think that was it. we hit it off. it was the kind of relationship you can't explain. you couldn't create that kind of relationship. each white house photographer -- by the way, those were terrific photos because you get a sense of who they are, and that's why we're there. you're right.

we're kind of the eyes in the situation where you can't go normally. hopefully we bring a true picture back. that didn't answer your question entirely. but needless to say, i was in the loop the whole time and never was out. >> same with the bushes. for 41 i think he was very cognizant of the fact and he looked down the road and he saw that he knew he would have a library and he knew they would have an archive. they were both incredibly open to us documenting their lives and never once, never once said, for me anyways, stop, that's enough. get out. why are you here? it was always an open situation. >> carol, you talked about the wellesley speech that mrs. bush gave. that really was a defining moment in a lot of ways for mrs. bush's tenure as first lady.

give a little context to that speech and why it was so important. >> i think it's multilayered. every time i go back and read it, it's just so incredible because of the time -- what i called and i think what mrs. bush also referred to as the brouhaha over her speaking and what the -- what the ladies there thought was a successful woman. i would love to go back 20 years later and talk to like a half dozen of them and find out where they're at and what their ideas are now about what a woman's role is and what's more important for your family, for your -- it starts with your family. i think mrs. bush embodied that. i think that's the message that she was trying to get across ' was, yes, we want diversity. yes, you want to go out and live your dreams according to who you are.

but unless you love yourself, your family first, you can't really do for anybody else. >> right. susan, certainly 9/11 was a defining moment in mrs. bush's tenure in the white house. >> uh-huh. >> talk about -- she speaks -- writes very eloquently about how her role changed post 9/11. tell us about your experience on 9/11 and what you returned to when you came back to the white house. >> when i started with the white house i was six months pregnant. my son was born in mid july. when 9/11 happened, i was at home with the television on. i had family in town and i watched everything live. i was as stunned as could be and paralyzed. and i didn't know how to respond. paralyzed. and i didn't know how to respond. i just wanted to hold on to my baby. i just wanted to -- making lots of phone calls, making sure family members were safe that were supposed to have travelled

that day. and that sort of thing. and either the next day or the day after, i called into the photo office. and i spoke with a woman named marilyn. and i said marilyn, tell me what to do, because i wasn't scheduled to come in. do i need to come in? do you need help? what is the work load? i was worried about everybody. and she said no, you need to be home with your baby. so i stayed home. i stayed home. and i was -- it was a real emotional time to both not be there and then to go back. and one of the first thing i got to do going back was to travel to crawford, and i photographed mrs. bush as she was delivering the radio address on afghan women. and i think everything had changed. how can everything not have changed after 9/11? but what was so amazing and wonderful was sort of the power that came from that to recognize that women, discussions about women's rights need to be part

of our discussions about democracy and moving forward. and that had a big shape. and it was all leading towards going to afghanistan, and working with women's health and status. >> one of my favorite quotes is from groucho marx, which might make me a marxist, but the secret to life is sincerity. once you can fake that, you've got it made. but it seems to me that one of the most difficult parts of being a first lady is you have to always be on and in the moment. and you've spoken about the laura bush bubble. talk than a little bit, susan. >> well, i think, for those of you who have had a chance to be with mrs. bush, it's a wonderful thing, because when she is talking to you, she is talking to you. she is listening. everything from the letter that she sent out to families and children, which was so moving. i met so many people who really felt that that letter was written to them. and then in the individual moment, i just have to say the second time i was pregnant -- i

spent a lot of time pregnant in my job. but the second time i had -- sort of a nightmare, other than dogs rushing me from the limo or the chinese security, i was at home trying to get cuff links into a maternity blouse when my is off and my pager just started going off and going off. and i picked it up and it was mrs. bush's aide saying where are you? i said well i'm at home getting dressed. and she says you have a photo op in three minutes in the diplomatic reception room. i threw everything up. my husband had to drop me off. i grabbed my cameras, went running in and tried to act like i meant to be there just like that. but what was so sweet was mrs. bush could tell that i was flustered. we got through the photo op and everything was fine. and that day she took me upstairs just to the kitchen, and just looked at this little catalog of new baby furniture that was out, you know, just kind of 45 seconds calmed me right down.

okay, we took care of the photo op. it's all done. here is what the priority is. how are you, susan? check in, it's okay. let's go forward. and it's great. >> carol, what is -- you've seen the first lady up close, the role of the first lady up close. what do most people not appreciate about the role of first lady? >> oh, gosh. >> what might surprise us about the role, those of us looking at a distance at the first lady and her role. what would we most be surprised by? >> well, one thing is the amount of work, the amount of travel, the number of speeches, the shaking hands, the meeting with people. first of all, sorry, i'm talking about my first lady there is nothing better than a hug from barbara bush. i had to plug that. but it's so hard.

just being a photographer, i was exhausted. it took me a year to recover. mrs. bush never tired, never. 5:30 in the morning, she would be out swimming. but i don't think people realized that -- and for a photographer, people say oh, were you like hanging out in the residence with them. it's a very structured job. these are the events. this is what you have to cover. this is what you have to take care of. so it's a balance between how incredibly intense it is and how hard you work, and then the fun parts. and mrs. bush made it incredibly fun. >> we have about three minutes left. and i want to ask you all an impossible question. but if you had just one photograph that you could take from your days as white house photographers, what would that photograph be? and we don't have the photographs themselves, but maybe you can give us that in a

thousand words or less, because we have a limited time. i'll start with you, david. >> tried to define it to put it in there, but i couldn't. and we were going to indonesia or some place over the timeline. and she was given a king neptune crown. and it was so much her personality. it was on air force one, and she is kind of poking her head out. when i think of mrs. ford, i think of somebody who had a lot of difficulty in her life and so much for people. we know her story. i've always thought her in the cabinet room table pictures, the fun-loving, mischief person that she was who did so much good for

particularly women and equal rights across the board, and having a loving husband who not just put up with her, but was her partner. but when i see her face, i see a smiling, happy person. >> carol, what would your image be? >> i think the final day was day would be for me saying goodbye. it was so hard on everybody. and mrs. bush just made sure everybody understood that life would go on, that we had wonderful times, that she did such a fantastic job, but she just kept us all moving forward. >> it was such a graceful exit. >> it was, yes. >> susan? >> i have a series of pictures that i'm thinking of where we flew out to arizona and we met

with the family of and met with family of lori piestewa, the first woman killed in iraq war. it's actually a really joyful picture. and it's a really joyful picture because it's mrs. bush being mrs. bush with her family and with the kids. and it's a sweet moment that was bittersweet. >> i want to thank all of you, again, for your recollections and you're great work. and i want to thank the two first ladies for not only being here, but their service to this nation. thank you all very much. >> thank you. bravo! good job. >> you did it. each weekend on american history tv on c-span 3, learn more about the presidents, their policies and legacies through historic speeches and discussion with leading historians. this sunday at 8:30 a.m. eastern

and again at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., a look at the presidency and civil rights during the fdr, truman, and eisenhower administrations. and for more about other programing, schedules, and online video, visit c-span.org/history. i seem to have earned a certain place where people will listen to me. and i've always cared about the country. and the greatest generation, writing that book, gave me a kind of a platform that was completely unanticipated. so i thought i ought not to squander that. so i ought to step up as a -- not just as a citizen and as a journalist, but as a father and a husband and a grandfather, and if i see these things, i ought to write about them and try to start this dialogue, which if i'm trying do with this book about where we need to get to next. >> in his latest, "the time of our lives," tom brokaw urges

americans to redefine the american dream. and sunday live in depth, your questions for the former anchor and managing editor of "nbc nightly news." in his half dozen books, he has written about the greatest generation, the 1960s, and today. in-depth, sunday at noon eastern on c-span 2's book tv. the smithsonian's national museum of american history in washington, d.c. has been featuring an exhibit on the contributions of first ladies to the american presidency and white house. the exhibit's curator spoke to us for a few minutes about the gowns and dresses of first ladies. >> interested in what the first lady wears, other than if you're just a fan of fashion. why do we care what the first lady wears? but we look to her clothing for clues about what she is like as a person, about what the administration may be like, both in its style. is it formal? is it informal? is it extravagant? is it simple?

and what they're -- possibly something about her politics or the administration's politics. is it american-made? do you proudly say that you only wear american designers and american-made clothing? carolyn harrison, who is the beautiful burgundy gown, made a point of only wearing american fabrics and american-made clothes. a lot of first ladies have worn american-made clothing. if you look to the back, you'll see a beautiful dress of eleanor roosevelt which is actually her first inaugural gown. eleanor roosevelt had a busy life, and she made a point of saying busy women also like to buy their clothes off the rack. but she also stressed that you shouldn't buy clothes from sweatshops. so her politics also came into her clothing. >> what is the oldest gown? >> the oldest gown in the collection is actually martha washington's. it's not on display right now. it's been on display for a long sustained amount of time. so it's having a rest right knew. in this gallery, when we round the corner, the oldest dress will be dolley madison's.

>> fast forward to today. michelle obama, she donated hers personally? >> actually, mrs. obama came and presented the dress and the jewelry and the shoes. but they were actually donated, and she -- it's interesting. she says this is the first time we had the designers donate. and mrs. obama had them donate these pieces. so jason wu and jimmy choo and lori rodkin actually donated the pieces. and they're donated. when you see the label, it will be donated by jason wu in honor of the first lady michelle obama. and mrs. obama came to present the pieces to the museum. >> so what goes into deciding which dress to wear? and are they thinking about the influence that will have on their husband's administration? >> i think -- i think we would like it to maybe be a little more political than it probably is. when we did -- there is a video playing in this exhibition. and we were lucky enough to interview rosalynn carter and

laura bush about the dresses that they chose, thinking maybe there was a symbolism. and mrs. carter in reality for sentimental reasons wore a dress again that she had worn when her husband was made governor of georgia. and mrs. bush just remembers collaborating with the designer michael faircloth. and you wanted a pretty party dress. and i think what women -- the first lady wants it to be beautiful. she wants it to be comfortable. she wants it to be appropriate. i think appropriate is the word when first ladies are dealing with clothes. they want to be appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for their age, appropriate for the circumstance, and i think appropriate as a symbol of the united states, because we still do look at the first lady as representing women in the united states, even when she is not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states.

>> this is c-span 3 with politics and public affairs programing throughout the week, and every weekend 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs at our websites. and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. former first ladies barbara bush and laura bush sat down for a conversation about their time in the white house. historian and biographer doris concerns goodwin moderated the one-hour discussion. we hear barbara bush's thoughts about the 1992 and 2012 presidential campaigns, and laura bush speaks about her work on behalf of women in afghanistan, and influence first ladies possess.

[ applause ] ♪ >> hello, my name is mark langedale. i'm president of the george w. bush foundation. i want to welcome to you the final panel of a great event we're having today with the national archives and records administration. in my job, i get asked a lot, how do get the chance to work on building something as interesting and significant as the george w. bush presidential center? and i go, well, i have

experience building complex real estate projects. i served in government. i'm interested in presidential history. i even like to watch c-span3. but the -- the big reason and the real reason that i have this really great job is 23 years ago, george and laura bush moved to dallas, texas and bought the house next door to me and we became friends, and if there is one thing i can testify to, it's true then, and true today. is that george and laura bush are true partners in life. and george w. bush truly and deeply loves his wife. so it is an honor for me to introduce a man who truly and deeply loves his wife, the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. [ applause ]

>> thank you all for coming. so it seems fitting to me that for the america's first ladies conference, we actually have first ladies. and it's my honor to introduce them. before i do so, i want to thank mark langdale for his leadership of the george w. bush foundation. i want to thank anita mcbride for conceiving and sharing what has been a fascinating discussion, actually watching some streamed over the internet. i want to thank gerald turner of smu and the smu folks. smu is an awesome university, by the way, and we're honored to be associated with it. and neil kerwin, president of american university and his wife ann have joined us. thank you so much for being here. i want to thank the library directors, alan lowe, of course, of the bush president 43.

warren finch, bush president 41. i'll be the funny guy. [ laughter ] and mark updegrove of the lyndon baines johnson's library right down the road. first i want to say something about doris kerns good win. we're fortunate to have her here. she is an awesome historian, she really is. i read a lot of history when i was president. i can hear people saying, we paid you all that money and all you did was read? sit around reading? it was fascinating. i didn't watch much tv. it was fascinating to read history while i had the honor of making history. and no better historian to help a president understand the past

and future by the way, than for doris kearns goodwin. so we're honored you're here. [ applause ] and so the other thing that impressed me about doris kearns goodwin, she raised a son who became a united states marine. volunteered to be a united states marine after september the 11th. [ applause ] i have the honor of introducing the best first lady ever. [ laughter ] mom, would you take a tie? obviously, i don't mind being surrounded by strong women. i was raised by one, i married one, and i believe we're raising two.

welcome former first ladies, barbara and laura bush. >> thank you very much. >> i thought it was me. [ applause ] >> well, for me, this is such a great honor. you can imagine having spent my life trying to bring presidents and first ladies who were no longer alive to life? i've got live ones here! much more fun. >> we hope. >> i always worry -- i worry that in the -- >> careful. >> i worry that someday -- i worry that someday in the afterlife there will be a panel of presidents that i ever studied and everyone will tell me every single thing i got wrong. the first person who yell out will be lbj. how come that damn book on the kennedys was twice as long as mine. but let me begin, because i love to tell