alabama, cambridge, maryland, and in the northern cities of inglewood, new jersey, chicago, and brooklyn. at 7:00 p.m., a discussion on congress, political parties, and polarization, with historians edward ayers and joann freeman as well as norman or steen, and an author talks about john f. kennedy and the 48 hours that made history about two days, june 10th and 11th, 1963, that defined jfk's response to the nuclear arms race and civil rights. explore the american story. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> former first lady barbara bush passed away in april of 2018. she was 92 years old and had been married to george h.w. bush for 73 years. we talked to her in 2013 about

her life before being married as well as her public and private life after marriage. >> barbara bush, with all the posts that you and the president have held over the years, was there one that best prepared you for the white house, and when you became first lady, did you feel prepared? >> the answer is did i feel prepared? yes, i really did. first of all, i wasn't elected so it didn't make that much difference. i did notice, though, the difference between being the vice president's wife and the president's wife is huge because the vice president's wife can say anything. nobody cares. the minute you say one thing as president's wife, you have made the news. so that was a lesson i had to learn. pretty quickly. but i felt very prepared because we had lived in washington off and on.

our -- my father-in-law had been a u.s. senator. although we lived in texas, i think i was very comfortable. i had a wonderful, loving family, and so did george. and i think we felt comfortable. so i liked being the wife of the vice president best of all. >> why is that? >> because you could say anything you wanted and nobody cared and you could do a lot of good things. when i got to the white house, you could do even more good things. and the great news is that it's continued on. i mean, charities and things i'm interested in, i can really raise money, raise interest that a normal much smarter person can't do. >> going into the white house, what weas some of the best advie you got. >> let's see. going into the white house, best advice i got.

keep your mouth closed, i suspect. but nobody dared say that to me. i don't remember getting too much advice. you know, i had been the president of the senate ladies and had a lot of friends. i had done that for eight years. and i went to the senate wives meetings every tuesday morning. i went some tuesdays when they didn't have meetings and had to be hauled home again. i loved that part of it. i loved all my life. i have been a very lucky person. >> you open your memoir that you wrote in '94 by saying, i have been very privileged in my life. >> i have been. and i wrote that because my husband said, you''re going to e highly criticized because people are going to say you have lived a life of luxury. although i lived in a tiny, small house, which i would be glad to show you any time in new york, and my father and mother

struggled, i think, sort of because i had a very loving, sick younger brother, but i did live a privileged life. they loved me. they loved my sister, my brothers. we just had a great household. and i hope others could do it. we were privileged. maybe not as privileged as some, but more privileged than 95% of the country. >> mrs. bush, when did you first meet george bush? >> i met george at a dance in those days, rye and greenwich exchanged christmas dances. and i met him at a christmas dance. he cut in on me. he didn't. he asked someone to introduce

us, really. and i had on a red and green dress that my mother's great friend had given her and said, i wonder if barbara would like this dress. it had belonged to some friend of hers, and it was pretty, i guess, because george asked to meet me, and i met him there. we went out -- he came the next night to another dance. the first was in greenwich. and cut in on me. and my older brother, he asked him if he would play in a basketball game. prep school boys against the rye high school. and they were murdered, incidentally, by the rye high school, but george said yes, he would play. and asked me if i would meet him and go out afterwards. and every member of my family came to that basketball game to look at this boy that i had

raved over. and when i would come home at night, my mother would say, what did you do, who did you meet, whatever, and my father would say, tell her in the morning. and mother would say they never tell you anything in the morning. and i, evidently, came home and said i met this heavenly boy named poppy bush. and my mother knew the next morning exactly who he was, who his family was. she should have been the head of the cia. she knew everything. and i must say, i feel the same way about him today as i felt then. i can breathe now, but then i couldn't breathe when i was with him, but i can breathe when i'm with him now. but he's just as fabulous as he was then. >> throughout your married life, you moved a lot. >> 27 times. he couldn't hold a job. but it's been fascinating. really lucky, the things we have done. we lived in some pretty horrible

places. and we lived in some pretty wonderful places. and i loved almost every one of them. i liked them all because he was there, but some of them were, as everybody knows, we lived in a house with three ladies. one was a child and the other two were ladies of the night. and we shared the bathroom with them, which seems inconceivable now. i can't imagine my grandchildren doing that. but they missed some great adventures. george and i had lunch yesterday alone, and we talked about the fact, we had a lot of adventures our grandchildren will never have because they really are privileged. they may not know it, but they are. and they won't have these adventures. it's too bad. i never met a texan until i moved here. i thought they were all like

jane withers, who was the bad girl compared to shirley temple, who was the good girl. but anyway, it turned out i love texas. and we chose to live here. >> did you know early in your marriage that you were going to become a co-campaigner for offices? >> no. never dreamt. i don't think george knew, contrary to popular belief. i think sometimes, was i surprised when he announced he was running for president? it didn't just happen like that. it worked up that way. he was the county chairman, and he was a congressman. and he was a very successful businessman. it didn't just happen that he said to me one day, i'm going to run for president. it just was there. but long after we were married, in fact, when he came

back from china to be head of the cia, that meant end of politics, he would never be president, because you couldn't be head of the cia and be president. oh, yeah? you can. >> in your memoir, you write, and this is from your journal in may of 1986, george is obviously the most qualified person for the job of president. do i want him to run? absolutely not. >> well, this goes to show you, i told my boys they could never be elected, and look at them. so i guess i'm the political doubter. i think it's a huge sacrifice to run for office. and i think people are very critical of the congress. they may not be doing a great job, but they can do better at home. they would have one home, they would be home with their

families. many of them can't afford a home in washington and a home -- i just feel like it's asking a lot. i thought he might lose. of course, he did, the senate. but we moved on. >> how do you develop that thick skin, or don't you, for politics, for criticism? >> i'm not good at it. most people don't dare criticize my children in front of me, but the press, i don't pay any attention to. just don't like it, but i don't pay any attention to it. don't dare criticize george h.w. bush. ever. >> during the 1992 campaign, there was a bumper strip that said annoy the media, re-elect bush. >> i didn't write that, but i might have. i don't remember that. i do remember when george was

running for i guess president, on the freeway going from new york to connecticut, i saw someone with a sign that said bush for president. i was so excited. and when i got in the car, i raced my car up to be close to it. turned out to be our cousin. i thought, oh, it was a stranger, but nobody knew who he was. >> mrs. bush, did you enjoy campaigning? >> yes. i really like people. and it was fun. i liked it a lot. funny things happened. and i really enjoyed it. partially because i know he's the best man. and i campaigned for george w. knowing full well he wasn't going to win. and he did. >> you think there's room for another bush in the white house? >> i think this is a great

american country, great country. and if we can't find more than two or three families to run for high office, that's silly, because there are great governors and great eligible people to run. and i think the kennedys, clintons, bushes, there are just more families than that. i'm not arrogant enough to think that we alone are raising, but we're raising public servants, whether they're feeding the poor like lauren is, who has f 68 million children around the world, or barbara, who is bringing global health to the world, or pearce, who is working for big brothers big sisters. but there are a lot of ways to serve, and being president is not the only one. and i would hope that someone

else would run. although no question in my mind that jeb is the best qualified person to run for president. but i hope he won't because i think he'll get all my enemies, all his brother's, and there are other families. i refuse to accept that this great country isn't raising other wonderful people. >> barbara bush, you walk in as first lady. is it in a sense a blank slate where you can create your own agenda? >> yes. i guess. i'm not sure i know quite what that means, but people are overly nice to me, and i feel it truthfully every single day. my friends have to look for parking places. i don't have to look for parking places. my friends very often call me and say would you mind taking me to whatever it is we're going to, because they have to do

those things. they have to wait in line at the airport. yes, you can create your own plot or plan. and it's a great privilege. you ought to take advantage of it because you can help people. >> and how do you pick your causes? >> because i know, truthfully, that every single problem in america would be better if more people could read, write, and comprehend. i just know that. we would be able to compete with the rest of the world. we wouldn't have these children who are committing crimes because their families don't have jobs. they don't have jobs because they can't read. they can't write. they don't understand. so that is such an easy project to pick. i admit, it took me about half a year to pick it because i had always worked, volunteered in hospitals, but just no question

in my mind. and i think every thinking american is coming to that conclusion. we have got to educate our children. and we've got to educate their parents. it's not just a whim. it's a necessitary if we're going to compete in this world. >> was there ever a day in the white house where you just wanted to say no more, i'm done, i quit? >> never. how could you say that? you have, what, 90 people who's only aim in life is to keep you happy, and your husband is doing good things. and he's doing the right thing. he knew when he raised those taxes that he was going to lose the election, although he had been 90% approved. he did the right thing. i'm very proud of my family that do the right thing, and george bush, both have done the right thing. like it or lump it.

>> 20 years since you have been in the presidency. a lot of talk in washington about acrimony between the democrats and republicans. is it different than it was 20 years ago? >> a little bit, yes. probably more polarized. but george says we have lived at times where the democrats are very far liberal, very far to the left, and it swung back to very far to the right, and then we get to where we should be, which is talking to each other and civility. and jeb is right about that. republicans and democrats should be talking about what they're for, not what they're against. and i really believe that. and i believe they will again. >> the white house. the second floor. can it be a home? >> yes. let me put it this way. if you had a home when you went

into it, you have a home when you come out of it. maybe you didn't have a home when you went into it, i don't know about that, but we had a very big, loving family. when we went back to the white house with george w., there was all the same fabulous staff. and president obama, when we went this summer to the points of light luncheon he gave for us, in between the luncheon and the giving of the points, the 5,000 point of light, he had all the former staff come. it was like family. i mean, we were loving seeing all the butlers and all the ushers and the flower people. it was just like family. so yes, they are family. and we were just fortunate enough to have them there for us, for the reagans, and then

george's presidency. and then for george w. >> is there a sorority of a type among former first ladies? >> sort of. i think some are closer than others. lady bird is gone. pat nixon is gone. those i was especially close to those ladies, and of course laura, no question, was the greatest first lady. but we're friends. i am a great respecter of mrs. obama, michelle obama and what she's doing. obesity is a huge problem in our country, and she's working on it. and she's getting criticized for it. government shouldn't tell you what to eat. well, somebody has to tell these people what to eat. these children cannot be obese at a young age. it's just not healthy. it costs the country.

it's a horrible thing. and we have got to make ourselves brighter, smarter, educated, and along with that, we have to educate our people on what to eat. she's growing vegetable gardens and so i have respect for that. >> what about your predecessor and your successor? >> my predecessor, nancy reagan, is a wonderful lady, and she worked very hard on drugs. and my successor, of course, was a great secretary of state. so what did she work on? i guess secretary of state. maybe she worked on my boy bill, who knows. >> your husband and bill clinton have become good friends. >> that's right. my husband, bill clinton, and i have become great friends. bill visits us every summer. we don't agree politically, but we don't talk politics.

and i think you would have to understand, i read someplace before you're critical of someone, you should remember that they did not have the advantages you had as a child. a loving mother and father. bill's father wasn't around. and i think that he thinks of george a little bit like the father he didn't have. and he's very loving to him. and i really appreciate that. when they went on that long tsunami trip, george told me bill insisted he stay in the bed, and bill insisted that he was taken care of. and that was really nice. i love bill clinton. maybe not his politics, but i love bill clinton. >> barbara bush, you brought up your daughter-in-law, laura bush.

when we interviewed her for this series, we talked about a speech she had given where she compared you to don corleone, and -- >> windmills? >> no, from "the godfather." >> that's nice. >> you have been referred to by some family members as the enforcer of the bush family. what do you think about that reputation? >> i'm not sure i'm thrilled at laura saying that. i deserve it, because george is so, you know, anything they do is all right. but someone has to be sure that the standards are kept. and he leads by example. i lead by denying some things. and i am the enforcer, no question about it. do i like that role? no. would i rather he had done it? yes, but it doesn't work that way.

>> 1990, wellesley college. >> mm-hmm. i was there. >> what was the speech you gave? >> wellesley, you say, is not just a place but an idea. >> it was a difficult speech in that they objected to my speaking because i had never done anything in my life, that i just had a free ride, and they were right. and incidentally, it happened that rice and gorbachev were coming, and i couldn't leave her, so i invited her to come speak with me. and i got highly criticized, saying she doesn't dare come by herself, and she's bringing her as a protector. and it was a difficult speech. it turned out that there was one student at wellesley from south america who we were treating to this great education, and a girl

from maine, and a day or two before the speech, the girl from maine called and said i'm so embarrassed, mrs. bush, this is built into a great thing. i was getting calls from president nixon saying you tell those girls to go to the devil and whatever. i mean, i had a lot of people for me. but i didn't want to get into a spitting fight with the girls. but there it was. and rice on the plane going up, which was ridiculous, she didn't speak any english. we had an interpreter, and i said do you mind if i work on my speech a little bit? and she said, oh, you're giving a speech? and i said, well, you are, too. she said, oh, i am? and she went into the lady's room. i said to the interpreter, doesn't she know she's giving a speech? he pulled the speech out of his pocket and said she knows.

but i was very lucky with that speech. we worked very, very hard on it. but i had given it at four or five other colleges that same spring, university of pennsylvania, university in st. louis, a community college. nobody gave a darn. but because of the controversy, same ending, same everything, but it made me, the speech. no question about it, because of the controversy people paid attention. margaret thatcher wrote me and said it was the greatest speech she ever heard. george heard it in the white house. i mean, it was that highly -- because of controversy. isn't that too bad? but anyway, i became a great speaker that day. >> you know, somewhere out in this audience might even be someone who will one day follow

in my footsteps and preside over the white house as the president's spouse, and i wish him well. >> you brought down the house with your closing line about political spouse and you wish him luck. >> i do. >> what would be your advice for a first spouse, a first husband? >> same thing i would give a first wife, just be yourself. and watch your mouth. i had trouble with that. but i would say just be yourself. and take advantage of the opportunity. i mean, i had lunches for foreign children, heart, arthritis, cancer. nobody paid any attention except in the home town where the

doctor came from or the sick child came from or -- and then you get great publicity out in the country. that's where it counts. who cares what -- sorry -- the broadcasts say or something? what you care about is that the people know they're being helped. >> barbara bush, what should, in your view, people know about the first lady and her role that we don't know? >> i don't know what you don't know. seems to me i know everything about the first lady. i think the first thing the first lady ought to know is she was not elected president. nor was i elected president. nor was i elected congressman's wife. i think you ought to know that you're not an elected official, but that you have an opportunity to do a lot of good things.

and you ought to take that opportunity. >> and in fact, in your book, you write that, i am not too sure the american public likes the spouse to be too front and center. >> well, i think that's probably true. we didn't elect her. but i think they like her to do good things. and i'm not too sure they want her to be too front and center. she wasn't elected. contrary to popular belief. >> what do you remember about your first day in the white house and your last day in the white house? >> my first day in the white house, you're walking in from the receiving, you know, the parade. i remember, we had huge family.

and i remember the twins, they're not going to like this, but going with the baby-sitter down to the bowling alley and ordering a meal. we were getting ready to go to the balls, and we had the whole family gathered for a very large sort of buffet meal. and i said, where are the twins? we're all eating. they said they're in the bowling alley. they ordered hamburgs. i said get them up here. the enforcer. we don't order food away. they came right up laughing. but i remember being surrounded and seeing everybody off to the balls and how pretty they looked. and what fun they were having. i mean, they were tailing all over the white house, those children. >> what about your last day? >> last day. our children left town.

local. they did not want to be around for that. but it was very moving. and saying good-bye to the white house staff was difficult. we never dreamt we would be back. and it was hard. but life goes on. we got on a plane with all our friends and family. and flew back home. and the welcome here was unbelievable. we passed a pickup truck on the highway where there were two people standing on the back with a sign that said welcome home, george and barbara. that brought huge tears on my part. but they have been great to us ever since. >> you have been here in this house 20 years now.

>> uh-huh. >> in houston. >> and when we moved in, we lived two doors down in a great friend's house that he was going to tear down and build a house. he built next door, the next property was his old house. and we moved in there. and the neighbors all planted the garden, so we came home to a garden. it was wonderful. it just was very nice. unpacked, the boxes all unpacked. perfect. >> mrs. bush, how important were camp david and kennebunkport, especially in the white house years? >> camp david made such a difference because it's there the president can really meet with people without a lot of fanfare. a lot of people came up. businessmen, cabinet members, i remember a big education group coming up and talking to george.

i just remember every weekend we had meetings. and then the afternoons, he would take a nap and might watch a movie or we would go bowling. they played a game called volleyball when we were up there, which they played against the marines. and it's a game sort of like squash and sort of like volleyball. not quite sure what, but a great competition. that was fun. and then horseshoes. but it was there that george entertained president gorbachev and many other foreign leaders. john major, i remember he had just come into office, and he and norma came up to camp david, and i remember him saying to george, well, i'm with you. and that was very important then. but just a lot of times. we were up there when noriega

was caught finally. made our vacation because it -- we had all the family for christmas up there. easter. george w. did the same thing. and i think maybe i would throw this in, too. i remember hearing that one of the first ladies said it was so costly being the wife of the president. it's not costly at all. you don't pay your telephone bills. you don't -- you do pay, i guess, you pay for your food. we had guests all the time. and it would say, so and so, one egg, 18 cents. i mean, you never could live as cheaply as you lived at the white house. so it cost, i mean, 90-some people taking care of you. you did pay, i think, for your dry cleaning. and we had someone we took to live with us, 91 now, still doing our ironing and washing.

and she lived there. and we did take care of those things, but i mean, it was great to entertain at the white house. and at camp david. and it gave a chance for family. and kennebunkport is just the best. trouble is it keeps getting blown down by bad weather. but if we can live through one halloween the house left us, but i hope it will stay with us. >> if you ever wanted to give advice or talk about policy with your husband, how would you do that? how would you approach that? >> if i wanted to, i would just tell him. but the truth is, i really didn't want to. he had great advisers. i never, ever called his office

to say. if i had something to say, i said it to george bush, but i didn't call jim baker or anyone at his office to say, george, this is what i think should be. because i just don't do that. i have never had an office except in the house. here, at the white house i had an office, but i never went to it. my staff used it. but i worked in the white house. and i worked in the vice president's house, at home. i just did not get into his office affairs. and i don't think anybody would tell you i did, because i really didn't. i had something i wanted him to know, i would tell him, but i really didn't. i mean, think of the advisers he had. he had jim baker, just more good, wonderful people. nick brady. i shouldn't do this because they were in the cabinet. they knew what they were doing. they were friends of ours.

you know, for a long, long time, and george trusted them. and so did i. >> barbara bush, in your memoir, you talk about faith, family, and friends. we have talked about friends. we talked about family. what about your faith? . it's very private. and i'm a huge believer in loving god. i pray. george and i pray every night. out loud. and sometimes we fight over whose turn it is. but we do. and i have no fear of death. which is a huge comfort because we're getting darn close. and i don't have a fear of death for my precious george or for myself. because i know that there is a great god. and i'm not worried about that. i don't like it for young

people, but i know we'll see robin again one way or another. and our families. so i have no fear of death. i have a great faith. that sounds so arrogant. >> why? >> well, i'm a big shot. i have a faith in god. i do have a faith in god. and i don't question it. i'm not as good as my children, but from your children you learn. certainly darla is -- she has a prayer group that gets on the phone for 30 minutes a night and prays for all over the country. i mean, i have learned a lot from her. and from george. and from jeb and neil and

marvin, too. all of them. but i have no fear of death. and i think that's very comforting. >> you write about marvin, that he does not like politics. >> at all. but who was george's comfort the whole time he was in the white house? marvin. who was the one, i mean, to this day, marvin was one of the three people who raised the fund for his library. my oldest boy and my youngest boy are the closest to each other. but yet, jeb certainly is the biggest defender of george, and george is the biggest defender of jeb. and neil is the spark that keeps us all going. and at kennebunkport, when neil leaves, something leaves because he every night says to everybody on the point, and there may be

20 people, i'm taking the boat over for ice cream. who will come? everybody goes. not george and i, but the others all go. and he's the one who gets the ball games going and gets the bonfire going. he's the one who goes down and has coffee downtown with, i don't know, people he's met. he and maria have met. so everybody has their thing. and the one thing they have is loyalty to each other. that's hugely important. and they know that the one request i have is that they stay loving siblings. and so far so good. and i'll be looking down, so behave yourself. >> mrs. bush, what's been your involvement with the george bush library at texas a&m? >> not really very much. now, laura has done tons, not

only the environmental part, but in their library. i really didn't do very much add our library except the apartment, maybe. but i just just wasn't on my plate. my literacy does a lot up there and they have a wonderful literacy component to the library and that part i'm interested and active in, but as far as building or planning or plotting, i have a wonderful rose garden up there that someone else put in, in my name. thanks for that wonderful gift, and i love the library. i love taking the dogs up there, and letting them chase around the pond. and i love meeting the people. i really enjoy the library a lot. >> speaking of dogs, there's two right here in the living room with us. who are these two?

>> this is, this is bibi. george and i used to call each other bibi when we were first married. so we have three bibis in our house. if i yell, bibi, what do you think about so and so, george says, which one of us are you talking to? and this one is mini me and she's feisty and jealous of bibi. and she's my shadow. i can't move without her. and she is known to nip at people. but bibi protects george. so she's very active protecting george, and they are a huge comfort to me. >> you've always had dogs. these aren't springer spaniels, though. >> i know, but this is a leash city and you can't walk your dogs without a leash pap springer spaniel and squirrel goes by, i'm flat on my face on the ground. so these, i can hold, but they're -- they're -- they're

good. i'm not sure they're dockgs though. they may be people. they're very spoiled. we go over to the polo club, we're not members but nobody says you can't come, so i walk them at the polo ground [ barking ] and they bark a bit. >> and you've kept the journal still all your life. >> still. >> still. will those papers go to the library? >> they're all there, and they're not to be opened for 50 years. so i can say what i want. that's -- i -- i'm getting very forgetful, and that really helps to have the, the memoirs to remember things. but it makes it easier to write a book. doesn't it? >> barbara bush, when you think about your legacy as first lady

what would you like it to be, and what do you think it will be? >> never thought about it. i -- i hope it will be that s she -- i hope it will be -- that her children are her legacy, and her grandchildren and now three great-children and forthcoming. i hope family. certainly family is crucial, and i'd like to see the american family come back strong. we had a great family, and my dad said to me once, only three things you can give your children. you can give them the best education. that doesn't mean stamford or yale or princeton it means just the best education that you can find. you're the first teacher. the best education you can find.

and to set a good example. that's very important. and all the love in the world, and i hope we've given that to our children. i know george w., i've heard him say several times that his dad has given him unconditional love. that's true. and all of this baloney about george competing with his father. it's just ridiculous. i mean, they are devoted to each other, and there was never any competition. and -- my george is putty in their hands, i must confess, but i think they feel loved, and i hope, if i have a legacy, other than being the enforcer, that it will be the, i raised along with george a great family. with the help. >> barbara bush. thank you.

>> thank you. that's it. girls -- if you enjoyed watching first ladies pick up a copy of the book "first ladies: influence and image" featuring profiles of the nation's first ladies through interviews with top historians. now traavailable in paperback, d cover or as an ebook. tonight on american history tv beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern a look at the lives of hillary clinton and laura bush. c-span in cooperation with the white house historical association produced a series on the first ladies examining their private lives and the public roles they played. first ladies influence and image features individual biographies of the women who served in the role of first lady over 44 administrations. watch "american history tv" tonight and over the weekend on c-span3.

american history tv on c-span3 exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. coming up this weekend, saturday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on oral histories an interview with civil rights activist cortland cox covering his time at howard university. his involvement in the student non-violent coordinating committee and serving at the general for the sixth pan-african congress. on sunday, at 4:00 p.m. eastern on "real america" the 1963 nbc news report "the american revolution of '63." a program on the status of the civil rights movement with protests from albany, georgia, birmingham, alabama, cambridge, maryland and in the cities of inglewood, new jersey, chicago and brooklyn. at 7:00 p.m., a discussion on congress. political parties and polarization with historians

edward heirs and joann friedman as well as political scientist norman earnstand and 7:30, andrew cone talks about his book and john f. kennedy and the 4 hours that made history an june 10th and 11th, 1963 defining jfk's response to the nuclear arms race and civil rights. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. up next, a look at the life of former president george h.w. bush after he left office. his post-presidency chief of staff jean becker worked for mr. bush up until his death in 2018. the kansas city public library hosted this program. >> good evening. i'm steve plea berg at the library's public affairs staff, and first of all before we