important than my telling that part of the story. most things are related to you today are things that the president and first lady have mentioned in a casual conversation and i know that that information is out there. it is their history not mine. as i get further away from when i retired and the second bush administration, i have had people ask me, you have to put this down, some of these stories should be told. i had an incredible opportunity to see history and i/o thanks to the presidents who kept me there. >> behind you. >> and wonder what your typical day was like as far as how many hours a day you worked and if you had children, did they get to interact with the family members? >> yes, my typical day was not

very typical. i usually got to work at 6:15 a.m. in in the morning to establish the routine for the day, pick up things that came overnight. and i never knew what time i would go home. it was dependent on the first lady and president's schedule what activities were going on. certainly if there was a situation that occurred, i would spend 5-6 days there at a time. i cannot say that there was a typical day. they were all memorable. can't say that they were all enjoyable, it could be very tiring. the staff was the same. i knew that i could count on them. they had regular hours. they were there from such and such time to such and such time. but if i said, look something happened in the middle east and its president will have a news

conference at night about p.m. i need you people to stay here, you cannot go home readily. you have to prepare for that. they knew that that was their responsibility and there was never any question. that is what we were there for. i hope that answers your question. >> i have a daughter and my wife could tell you many stories about yelling at me for not getting their in time for meals. we do have a wonderful collection of photographs with my daughter with the presidents and first ladies. each christmas, they invited the staff to personal christmas parties and they always took photographs. i have photographs of my daughter from the time she was born until the time that she went to college, in fact when she was in college, she called

and said, dad i will not be invited to the christmas party this year. any other questions? >> i will add one thing. i made some notes. in keeping with the first lady pops -- first ladies'theme, i want to say what they meant to the white house as a related to the years i was there. mrs. nexen -- nixon, she brought original white house antique furniture. mrs. kennedy in 1961 did a tremendous job as we heard earlier, but mrs. nexen about 10 years later -- nixon, about 10 years later, did a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work, gaining those original items and antique furnishings.

mrs. ford, a great promoter of women pass -- women's rights, as well as alcohol awareness. she was very involved in white house source. she loved opening up the white house gardens and making it a formal thing that occurs now every spring and fall. mrs. carter, her efforts to broaden mental health awareness and her expansion of the major american paintings collection at the white house. mrs. reagan, raised private funds for redecorating. again, this is 10 years later. it is a 10 year theme on redecorating the white house. the money that she raised for the redecoration and to the white house china service that she was criticized so terribly for.

we had not had a china service for so many years, that we do not have enough china pieces to serve one state dinner. her first question to the chief usher at that time, was what does the white house need the most and he had told her a white house china service. and that is what she went about doing. and mrs. barbara bush, her promotion of childhood literacy and also literacy for adults, that increased support for the preservation and the redecoration efforts. she established the white house endowment fund, a $25 million fund so that private funds are available to keep the public wings of the white house in the way that you see them when you go to visit. and it certainly mrs. clinton was a supporter of that effort and closed out that effort, the

$25 million endowment, which is handled by the white house historic association. and mrs. clinton expanded on that idea, people who wanted to give money for specific purposes , now there is a major acquisitions trust, for major paintings or pieces of furniture, people can give money for specific efforts. and laura bush, her activities on literacy and the major renovation of the white house once again on a tenure -- 10 year cycle. and a renovation of the lincoln bedroom, that had not been done since truman. she allowed c-span to come in and do a tour of it. i wanted to mention those first ladies that i served. [applause] [applause]

>> thank you mr. walters and thank you all for being here.

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[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> to mark the 70 of anniversary of three in europe today the pioneer institute hosted a forum. qeuros and historians david kennedy and rick atkinson -- keynote speakers and historians david kennedy and rick atkinson discusse how it has changed histor. may offer ideas for improving how the subject is presented -- they offer ideas for improving of the subject is presented. >> good morning. good everybody please take a seat? it really is a good