lots more ahead of that, too. we're going to take some time and look at the presidential ceer tour with laura bush coming up momentarily just to let you know our schedule. in 45 minutes we will bring you a look at some of the presidential libraries we have covered over the past six years. we have covered over the past six years or so, in particular, back to our 2007 series, looking at the presidential libraries. now, with the bush center, there are team presidential libraries. and there will be a tour of the reagan library. all of that coming up this evening. earlier today, the bush presidential center opened for official tours. the center sent out a photo. the former president surprise some school kids the dallas area. this is a look inside the mockup of the oval office. the former president, meeting about 43 kids from the dallas area at the bush presidential

center. we have opened our facebook page with a question about presidential libraries. which have you visited? which would you like to visit? a number of responses already. this is from marie knight. she says, i must put in a plug for the fdr library and museum in hyde park, new york. have you been to a presidential library? what did you learn? we will read some of your posts later in the evening. we take you back to dallas, and a tour that was conducted for us by former first lady laura bush. what we really wanted, when we picked our architect, is a modern building that would fit in the collegiate georgian campus of southern methodist

university. they have a very strict code. they want their buildings to look georgian. that is how the campus was designed, 100 years ago. one of the great things about having bob stern as the architect is, i knew he could make a forward-looking building. we wanted it to be modern, since george was president during the first decade of the new century, but also traditional, in the sense that it would fit with the georgian campus. that was embraced, with the sides of the building that come forward, the fountain in front. then, you can go straight into the museum at that point, into the big hall, and stand under the tower, the lantern, freedom hall. saw that design when he did that, with the lighted tower, as a blend of , and a nod to dallas

hall, the first building built on the campus. it is a presidential library, but also very welcoming. there is something stately and dignified about it, which i appreciate. >> there are almost two different views, when you enter the front of the museum, and on the side, you see the institute and adjoining park. >> you can look through the strait -- you can look straight to the front windows, in the center courtyard, all the way through the building, into the center courtyard. the center courtyard defines the museum, and the national archives and storage space. the uniteded over to states government the day before

the dedication of the building. the center courtyard remains with the institute. that is where we are now. we are in the building that will belong to the bush foundation, that the bush institute will be run from. ,e are in the library right now one of the presidential reception rooms, on the top floor of the institute building. these are rooms we can use to entertain speakers before they speak right below us in the auditorium as part of the institute. this is where we can have the egyptian fellows who are here right now in the united states as part of our women's initiative -- we can entertain them here, in future years, when the women's fellowship initiative -- when they are in the united states. we have two buildings, the one that will belong to the united states government as of april 24 -- people may not know it,

but the papers and all the artifacts from every one of our presidents belong to the people of the united states. they are kept and conserved by the national archives. that building will become one of the national archives buildings, staffed by archivists. >> this is a room the public will not visit? >> this is a room that will be used for entertaining. of course, the public will see that we will sense have tours. people will be invited, along with programming. >> in terms of putting this together, explain your role. a librarian. your dad was a builder. how did that come together? >> i am very interested in architecture. have always been. i grew up with house plants. my dad was a builder in

midlands. build houses for all those people who moved out to work in the oil business in the 1950 through 1970's. i also worked as a school librarian, and am aware of the roles archivists play in the preservation of artifacts and papers, and why it is important to preserve that history, to have the papers preserved of all of our presidents. things are pretty finished in the building. most of the furniture has been delivered. the institute staff, the fellows working in the bush institute, are almost into their offices. they have moved everything from the warehouse, where things were stored, in lewisville, texas, to the terrific storage that is part of the library and museum. the museum isd,

being installed. every day that i walk through it, more things are there. more videos are up and running. more of the displays have been installed. that has been thrilling, to be able to see it. we worked month after month and year after year since we started working on this building. we have been working on what the museum would consist of, and what it would look like. >> is there a little bit of lady bird johnson in you, in developing this park? >> lady bird johnson is one of my favorite first lady's. i was always very proud of her, the idea of being able to use our native plants, recognizing beauty in our native plants, to use them in the landscape. she was one of the very first conservationists. and i knew her, because she built the lady bird johnson wildflower center while george was governor.

we had a luncheon for the center opening. and then george and i went to the opening that night. i got to show her the white house one time. she had had a stroke already, but her daughter, linda, brought her to the white house. i got to show her around her old home. lady birdwith the johnson wildflower center. our landscape architects are not from texas. wildflower with the center to develop this landscaping, which is native prairie and native wildflowers. we worked with the lady bird johnson wildflower center even to develop the grass we are growing everywhere, which is a mixture of four texas native grasses. it will be a turfgrass. it should stand up to a crowd standing on it. and it needs less irrigation and neck -- and the less mowing

because it is a mixture of native grasses. so i was highly influenced by the other texas first lady, besides my mother-in-law, barbara bush. that is lady bird johnson. , first different roles lady lady and librarian/designer. what is challenging? >> it is always challenging, i think. there is an emotional challenge to serving the country that is difficult. that is both seeing your husband criticized in a lot of ways, but also just -- i think great first ladies do this. really understanding the pressures that are on the people of the united states. but at the same time, realizing what it privilege it is to have a chance to serve our country like that. and to serve the people of our country in that way. >> let me conclude with a process question. you touched on this already.

what has this process been like? what have you learned about you, your husband, putting this together, and how do you make this project live on in perpetuity? >> this has been interesting and fun. i loved every minute of it. great landscape architect. great architect. they are both very established firms, with a lot of people. they are very good at what they do. neither have done a presidential library before, but bob stearns has done other libraries and university buildings. and there was another campus. that was one of the reasons i wanted to pick him. he had done native landscaping on the wellesley campus that i knew about. i had also worked with him on the redesign of pennsylvania avenue after september 11, when we knew pennsylvania avenue was going to stay closed. both of them are funny.

they are smart. they are fun to work with. it was intellectually interesting to work with them. also willing to try to figure out and forecast what it is we would want. what did we want for the museum that would be interesting to people, but that would also be -- really be able to transmit what it was like to live in the white house during those first eight years of the new century? give peopleway to an understanding of the presidency itself, which is what i think presidential libraries should do. what the job of the president is. ourthe very idea in country that the president comes from all the people, is chosen from all the people in our country, that we are not a ,ountry that had -- even though in our case, we did have a father and son. thosek trying to figure

things out, and make those sort of forecasts, was also an intellectual part of it. how successful we are at being able to do that, we will see when the library and museum open. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

we are here at the very opening of the library. we just walked through this entry hall, the biographical part about george and me.

it includes huge, wall-sized photos of our ranch, taken by a very famous texas world skate -- landscape photographer. the campaign,p to and the recount. even some hanging chads are in their in a jar for people to see. 36 days, obviously, before we knew whether or not george had been elected. finally, we see these videos that show that he won. >> as you look back during that time, was there ever a doubt in your mind that he was going to be elected president? >> at every recount, he won again. each recount in florida, george stayed ahead. but we did not know. we went to our ranch. it was very odd for us. we had been on the road, traveling around the united states for months, campaigning. we went to the ranch and waited to hear.

we got a slow start. have the day's other presidents had to get ready, to think about actually living there and getting your administration set up. >> but the display behind you recounts everything that happened, including that night. take us back to the evening where al gore was about to concede. he did not concede. >> he conceded, and then he called and took it back. we were there with jeb bush, governor of florida. the stations had called the race before the panhandle had voted. florida is in two time zones. i know the stations did not realize, or the networks would not have called the race that early. we were with our whole family. we just went into limbo, i guess, sort of a zen mode, especially when we went back to the ranch and waited for those

dirty six days before we knew. days before we knew. >> that picture became a theme of the library. " is a himge to keep some at the first prayer service. at the firstsung prayer service. someone called and said, i have a painting, which was a wedding gift, a turner painting, called "a charge to keep." it is a painting of a cowboy, writing very hard. you can tell there are people falling behind. he loaned it to the governor's office. and we took it to the white house as well.

it was in the oval office. now, joey has it again. >> there is a statue of president bush and his father. what was the genesis behind that, and who designed the statue? >> one of our very good friends commissioned it. he wanted a statue of george and his dad, which we really wanted, because his dad is such a huge influence on our life, on all of the children's lives, but especially ours, because of this bond from being president. the artist is a portrait painter, and he painted the portrait of my mother-in-law, barbara bush, that is in the white house collection. you would see it if you toward the white house and walked by all of the first lady paintings. >> as you walk over here, no child behind. >> this part of the museum is what we thought we would be working on all eight years we were there. is on thebig display

way to get out of the recession we were in when george was elected. no child left behind was really what george had campaigned on, both when he ran for governor and when he ran for president. that is education reform to make sure that children do not just get shuffled through school, but that they do get a good education, and that we know it, because schools are held accountable, schools, teachers, and administrators, who do what they can to make sure they are using the right strategy and curriculum, to make sure every single child learns. t-ball in the white house started that first summer, 2001. it was the perfect place to talk about that. but also to include the big race ball collection. these are only a few of his baseballs. the national book festival, which i founded, was on

september 8, 2001. we have a reading book with all the posters. george established the community and faith-based initiative as soon as he was elected. that is over here in the display. our first state dinner was for mexico, onset timber 6, 2001. we really thought that we would be spending most of our time with international neighbors with our southern neighbors, mexico, central and south america. that is what we knew best. having been the governor of a state with such a long border with mexico. >> let me ask about the cost of the museum and the endowment you have to give the national archive. >> we raised the money for the museum. we will sign it over to the national government, the national archives and records

administration. the people of the united states on the presidential papers and all of the artifacts, including all of the gifts that were given to us by heads of state from other countries. to thee seen as gifts people of the united states. those are all held here, in a huge warehouse that is below us. of course, there are no windows or any way that light might affect the documents and the archives. the united states government will own this part of our presidential center -- the museum, the library, the warehouse. it will be administered by the national archive. raised the money privately to build the building, before we give it to the u.s. government. then, we give a certain percentage of the money raised to the u.s. government as an endowment for this part of the building. the bush institute, which is the policy arm of the bush

center, where george and i will spend the rest of our lives working on the policies that were most important to us, is separated from this building by a courtyard. the bush foundation owns that building, and will obviously do all of the uptake on that building, for the rest of time. >> was raising the money difficult? >> amazingly, it was not difficult. we ended up raising about $500 million. half of that will be an endowment for the bush foundation, and then to give to the national archives, as part of the endowment. amazingly enough, because the economy was in such bad shape when we moved here, at the end of the administration, we worried about being able to raise the money. but we have many supporters from around the country who were very generous. we had more than 350,000 donors , from every state in the united states, and obviously from other

countries as well. george and i are very, very grateful. the building was paid for, and we are proud of that. it is on time, below budget, and paid for. we turned the corner from the issues i talked about, and this is what happened. the things we thought we would be working on the whole time, which we did continue to work on -- this changed everything for us. behind us is the large piece from the world trade center, where the2nd floor, plane hit, at the point of impact. a sculptural memorial to the people who died on september 11. their names are in the wall we are looking at. i think people will be very, just seeing, this, in person, what it looks like, what the building -- the impact

of the flight, how horrific it was. the videos around that side our minute by minute, from the first light to shanksville. by day, september 11 through september 20, when george spoke to the joint session of congress. each of those days. i know, because every time september 11 comes up, friends or acquaintances, or even strangers that i am talking to, one to tell me where they were on september 11, and how they heard about september 11. we have installed a booth where people can type or talk into the microphone to record where they were on september 11, to leave their memories here, so they become part of the broader archive of everything about september 11 that is here at the bush center. >> you were in washington that morning.

you greeted the president as he landed on the south lawn. do you remember the conversation? >> i do not remember what we talked about. he came downstairs and spent the day with senator kennedy and senator gregg. i was at the capitol to brief the senate committee on early childhood education. obviously, after a wild, i was taken to a secure location, and then came back to the white house right before he landed. i was down in the bunker with lynn and dick cheney. i remember that we hugged each other. what was there to say, really? we were safe, and our girls were safe. all we could think about were the thousands of americans who could not say the same about their own load once. hadabout how our lives changed, and the duty that had fallen on george to lead our country now through the dark shadow that had fallen over it.

in this of interest exhibit as part of the museum. what do you want people to walk away from? >> i want people to remember it. i want this to be a memorial to the people who died, and after that, the military who served for us, and many who lost their lives. and all the ways the united states came together. i think it is a very important lesson for us to remember. and as we get away from it -- it has been 12 years since september 11. fewer and fewer people will remember. george wrought a group through recently, and the children were not alive on september 11. they did not have a personal memory of it, like people our age do. i think it is important for all of us to remember the ways that we can come together, and the reasons we should come together. >> one iconic moment -- the bullhorn from manhattan. >> that is right.

a lot of the artifacts are here that came from september 11. a lot of letters george received. the program from the memorial service at the national monument. the national cathedral, rather. that arlene howard gave george, to remember her son. , andnow, when i see these when i see this video -- here is the pentagon in flames in the video. i am reminded again of what it was like. the crushing anxiety that came with it. .he fear that many of us had how vulnerable we felt as americans, really, for the first time. other than pearl harbor, we had an act in our homeland. the unexpectedness of it, and the shock of attacking people who were going about their daily life.

>> did the events in boston serve as another reminder? >> they did. it is crushing, really, the idea of harming innocent people for some sort of theology, or some sort of ideology. hard for us to imagine in the united states. >> let us head to the oval office. this is it. >> this is the oval office. it is full-scale, exactly like it was when george lived here. of course, these are reproductions. the real rug and the real furniture stay in the white house collection. they are all still in washington, in the facility isre presidents' furniture kept. several of the presidential libraries have oval office replicas for people to see,

because most people will never have a chance to really go to the oval office. but this has the same aspect as the real oval office, with the south sun pouring in the big window, and even a rose garden we can step into. this is a replica of the desk that george used. and this is a gift from an american who called us, a supporter from ohio, who said he had the resolute reproduced, and used it in his own office for a while. he wondered if we wanted it. this is a gift, which is really great to have. he even has the little door with hinges, with the famous photograph of little john kennedy, looking out the door while his dad worked at the desk. >> what is the story behind this desk? pre-k's the resolute was a gift from queen victoria to the united states, named for a ship that had gone adrift.

an american navy ship had towed it in, kept it, and returned it to great britain. when the ship was decommissioned, queen victoria used the timbers of the ship to the presidentor of the united states. many presidents have used it. i it. i think president obama continues to use it. george's dad used another desk, but george wanted to use this one. there is a little glass arm. it is raised a couple of inches. ronald reagan raised it because the hole was too short for his long legs. it is a beautiful piece. and it speaks of the friendship between the united states and great britain. >> do you remember the very first time you went to the oval office, i assume during president bush's years?

>> i think we went over there once or twice, when we would come visit them for christmas holiday, or another holiday. that georgest day moved into the office, after the inauguration, his dad was upstairs. they were staying with us for the inauguration. he called his dad over. there is a great picture of george and his dad together on the first day. this is the picture "a charge to eep." this is a reproduction of the painting was in george's office when he was governor and then president. it shows a horseman leading a group behind him. it is named for the wesley hymn , "a charge to keep," which we sang at the inaugural prayer service when he became governor.

>> the lighting is typical of the oval office. or is a different feel in this rooms of theer white house. >> i think it is because of the big bay window. the other thing i like is that it is really human in scale. it is a lovely space. i think the oval shape makes it graceful. it is not like throne rooms in european countries we visited, or other very magnificent offices that other heads of state have. i like that, because we are a country who elect our president from the people. i like it that our president's office is human in scale. >> as we look outside, there is an exact replica of the rose garden. you are calling it a texas rose garden. >> this is something i think none of the other presidential libraries have. we planted a texas rose garden. it is part of the museum tour.

people can come in here. you can get your picture made, standing at the desk. not be roped off, like it might be in other libraries. and you can go outside. i think, after you have been through the part about september 11, and then the war in iraq and afghanistan, that being able to step outside and sit on the benches will give people a chance to refresh and think about what they have just seen, and the loss that we incurred on september 11, the many, many people who died. >> was it your idea to have the break in the middle of the museum? >> it is a good idea. people get museum fatigue. you seems our dark to protect the papers -- museums are dark to protect the documents. there is not a lot of light.

and there is a lot of information. halfway through, if you have a chance to walk outside, you have a chance to be refreshed. we are fortunate that we had the sort of space where we could put the oval office here and have a rose garden. >> president bush required everyone to have a jacket when they came to the oval office. >> george respected the oval office, and he respects the presidency. he thinks it is very important that all of us should do that. that is one of the reasons he is not into politics now, and not talking about our current any political issue he might agree or disagree on, because he thinks that just the respect for the president also means a respect for the office itself. tot is why he wanted people wear a coat in here. while they had a chance to serve the people, by working for

the president or working in the administration, to show that kind of respect. >> what does the president of this replica? >> i think he -- i think he likes it. it we were able to have a full- scale replica, exactly like the real oval office, with the same fabrics, and reproductions of all the furniture and paintings we had -- the portrait of lincoln, the portrait of washington. we borrowed the rest of these paintings from texas museums. as they leave the texas rose garden, they enter -- living in the white house. his is what many people want to see. they want to see what it is like to live in the white house, what the rooms are like, and what the family personal life is like. we have pictures of our dogs. spot died in the white house. she was born in the white house.

we have a huge map of the white house, as you can see behind me , so people can see what the rooms set up is. , read did the lincoln bedroom restore the lincoln bedroom, while i was at the white house. there is a section on the lincoln bedroom, including what the wallpaper was like. we have other great parts that i think people will be interested in. the whole setup for the state dinner for queen elizabeth, including my down, and george's white tie, which he is hoping to never wear again, i am sure. that was our only white tie dinner, and condi and i had to persuade him that was perfect for a queen. he said ok and did it. we have a section on air force one and marine one. people are always really interested in that. a big sports section includes the baseballs and footballs,

from all the championship teams that come to visit the president. we chose to put at the back of it the girls basketball team from baylor university, when they won the ncaa basketball and came to the white house. without people from around here would love to see them. they are still a great basketball team. year, butot win this they almost did. >> the south longview -- you of course have the truman balcony. how much time did you spend on the balcony? did you have a favorite part in the white house? >> one of our upstairs rooms opens directly on the balcony. every year, i hosted george's birthday party on july 4. his birthday is july 6. our friends from around the country came. we would stand on the balcony to watch the fireworks over the washington monument, all eight years. in fact, now i get e-mails from all of our friends on george's

birthday. they think they will never have as much fun at a birthday party again, because we will not be there, watching the fireworks from the truman balcony. >> did it seem like home to you? >> it did. and i knew it would. we had been there with her in- laws. i knew my mother-in-law had made it into a home. a home. you live with the furniture and decorating of presidents before you, but it is a home, and a wonderful place to live. our girls came up, and our friends stayed with them. --rge's brother and sister one brother and sister lives in the washington area. they came over for family dinners with their children. of course, his parents stayed with us when they were in washington. it really is a home. >> as people come here and view the exhibits, what will they learn? what is their takeaway?

>> they will see that it is a home. as magnificent as it is, and as historical, you really do live with the other presidents. you think about the challenges they face. certainly, lincoln is the one you think about the most. his son died while he was there. our country went into civil war. there is something very comforting about living with that history. you know that we can overcome challenges. in those days after september 11. you know it was comforting to be there, and to think about other families when they live there, and how our country was able to move through each of those times, through world war ii, and the civil war, and president lincoln, and the sadness he had when he lived there. i think there is something great about living in a house with such history, our presidents getting to live with the history of our country like that. >> finally, a look at the humor

in the white house. >> we have a little video back here, and a little screening room, set up like the red velvet screening room at the white house. some of the funny things from all the dinners that i know you have been to, the white house correspondents, all the rest of them. >> this is our final stop for the tour. the policy and politics of the presidency -- where are we? >> we are here with my travels, i did.ings certainly, women's rights in afghanistan, and other parts in the world, in burma and others. i traveled to 76 different countries. i was there when george found it founded the emergency

plan for aids relief. people in the united states for helping people in africa leave -- lead full and productive lives by providing antiretrovirals to all the people who had been dying with aids. it shows right behind me a decision points theater. this reminds me to say that the museum is very interactive. there are lots of videos for people to watch at every part of the museum. there are also tables of games for children to look at. there is a lot about iraq and afghanistan on one table, where boys and girls can learn about both of the countries behind us. the curved wall is the decision points theater. that is a place where a class or a group of friends who come together can go in and study decisions that george made, on

the financial crisis, on the surge in iraq, hurricane getina, afghanistan, and the information he was given at the time, and he prodded by the press. what are you going to decide? they can make their decisions on what they would have done if they had been president with any of those issues. a lie and that the president of tanzania gave to george from me got there, in thanks for all the ways the people of tanzania benefited from the aids relief and aids initiative. >> let me go back to the decision points. does that reinforce the decisions the president had to make and the choices he was confronted with? like that is what it does. it does not reinforce his decision,, but it shows people what he was faced with.

the information he had at the time, why he chose what he did, and to see if that is what they would have done. it also gives people an idea of what it was like to be president, and to have those serious decisions to make. come todecisions that the desk of the president of the united states. , nearly every big problem does come to the desk of the president of the united states. >> bleeding on the issues. -- leading on the issues. >> this is a national archives site map, all of the documents from the bush presidency. this is just a chance for you to see different documents. some are just speeches. others are bills he signed with the pen he used to sign them. scholars and researchers will be

able to come here. there is a beautiful reading room, and part of the national archives space, where people can call up different documents or papers from years that george was president, to do the research that people will do. >> in the lobby, as people depart or arrive, a rotation of displays. >> this was our architect's idea, to build these big vitrine's on the walls as you walk in, so that if you have to stand in line to get your ticket, you can start to look at things already. those cases are filled with gifts from foreign heads of they all have to be things that cannot be damaged with light, because of course the whole does have a lot of windows. they are things like the diamond and sapphire necklace that king

of bela saudi arabia gave me. -- king abdullah from saudi arabia gave me. >> as you know, your husband had a lot of critics. will this change the way people view his presidency? >> i do not know that it will change the way. it is not meant to do that. it is meant to explain what happened during those eight years of history, to talk about the different things we faced as a country, and his choices and decisions he made to respond to whatever the challenges were. i think people will learn a lot. i think there are things people did not know, for instance, about the aids relief from graham, about the generosity the american people funded. i think there are a lot of things people will learn about. i think it will also give people an idea of what it is like to be president, the

successes and failures. it is just like in any life. we all have that. our presidents are human. we will have the same sort of records. >> has it met your expectations? >> i think people will find it very interesting. we have tried to include everything. you cannot include every single thing. you and i have not even talk about our support for dissidents and the freedom movement, as part of this wall i am looking at behind you. thank you so much for being here. george w. bush presidential center includes the library, museum, and the bush institute. the library houses material including 43,000 artifacts, 200 million e-mails, 4 million digital photographs, and 70 million pages of paper records. the facility is 226,000 square

feet, on 23 acres of land. it is part of the southern methodist university campus. it is the 13th presidential library to be administered by the national archives and records administration, and the third presidential library in texas. the total cost -- $500 million, raised from more than 325,000 individual and corporate donors. in a recent interview, president bush discussed what researchers will have access to inside the library and museum. >> i think historians will see that i had a very deliberative process on making tough decisions. sadly, i was a wartime president. took on the duties of commander in chief, -- i was loath to commit them to contact.

when i did, i supported them to the max. one of the things i am , forrtable about saying is any administration to be properly analyzed -- in other words, history has a long reach to it erie it -- reach to it. writing aboutill washington, we are not going to have to worry about what they are writing about me for a long time. historians will be able to take a look at my administration. they will have a lot of material at his or her disposal, on which to make an analysis. >> for more information on the bush presidential center, long on to the website.

i and tom putnam, director of the john f. kennedy presidential library and museum. i appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf of my fellow library directors. we are pleased and honored to appear before you, along with fellow historians, and with eleanor roosevelt. we are indebted to her grandfather's vision, which led to the creation of the first presidential library. franken roosevelt encouraged the country not to be careful as as he launched his presidency. during that time, he became leader of the free world. he valued transparency as an essential element of democratic government. citizens must understand how their government works, and have access to the documents that define their past. with the recent addition of the nixon and george w. bush libraries, our presidential

library system is made whole and has become a model for the world. residential libraries are unique repositories that allow visitors an opportunity to relive the events that have shaped us as people. educational programs create a more active and informed citizenry. i believe the current model works well and provides immeasurable benefits to our nation. we rest on the private funds used to construct the buildings, the federal funds that administrate them, the private support from our library foundations, and the revenue streams from our museums and related enterprises. one of the strengths of the present system is, it strikes the right balance between centralization and decentralization. each library is built in a location determined by the president and his family. are locations in which our presidents lived and matured politically. we are also guided by standards set by the national archive,

that ensure our holdings are protect it, our museums objective, and/or access universal. >> that is presidential library director thomas putnam testifying on maintaining the presidential library system. we thought we would spend the next 40 minutes looking at presidential libraries, with a look at the george w. bush presidential center last week. we will look back at 12 other libraries we have covered over the years, going back to our 2007 series, looking at presidential libraries. the first presidential library was the fdr library. he donated in 1939 his presidential papers, presidential and personal papers as well. congress passed its first law regarding libraries in 1955, the presidential libraries act of 1955. that was to establish privately built and federally maintained

libraries. it encouraged other presidents to donate historical material to the government. but such generations were voluntary. in 1978, it made official documents and other materials federal property by law. it gave custody of those records to the national archives. presidential libraries act required that foundations associated with the libraries keep habit endowments linked to the size of the facility. the archive uses these endowments to offset maintenance costs for the library. what are some of those costs? with the george w. bush library, there are 14 presidential libraries, from herbert hoover to george w. bush. --ir average federal federal annual federal spending is $75 million, the bush library now being the largest presidential library. looking at video, we are going to give you a chance to participate online.

we posted a question earlier today about presidential libraries. have you been to one? what did you learn? which presidential library would you like to see? here is a viewer that has been to all 12, and looking forward to the 13th. susan says, my husband and i have toward all 12 presidential libraries, and they are very unique erie it we plan on visiting the george w. bush presidential library in a few weeks, and are very excited to see our 13th presidential library. there was a discussion not just on the library, but on the politics behind the president. ons is from "usa today." editorial about presidential libraries. they write that the fantastic sums required to build a library mean a lot of groveling, beginning when the president is still in office.

we will talk little bit more about that later in the program. let us get started with some of the video, going back to fdr. we'll show you some video, looking at a a letter written by fdr to hitler. and also to the lbj presidential library, some of the many home movies made by lady bird johnson. from our 2007 series, presidential libraries, here on c-span. lex i have wonderful documents that cover the entire span from before the outbreak of the war in september of 1939. first, i want to show you an extraordinary letter to hitler in point when he was feeling impotent to what he could do because of the isolationism in the country as well as the neutrality laws that were preventing him from helping him the beleaguered nations over seas. you can see that he is writing to adolf hitler.

the tied of events seem to have reverted to the threat of arms. if such threats continue, it seems inevitable that much of the world must become involve in common ruin. all the world, victor nations, vanquished nation, and neutral nations will suffer. i refuse to believe that the world is, of necessity, such a prisoner of destiny. what he then did was propose to adolf hitler that he allow f.d.r. to facilitate discussions with over 30 threatened nations. and he asked hitler to promise not to invade those 30 nations. and of course, hitler in a famous speech then ridiculed roosevelt for such a proposal. what other documents do you want to show us? >> another document that's important is the extraordinary letter that albert einstein sent to f.d.r. in august of 1939. because of the outbreak of the war, though, the letter wasn't

delivered until october. but what the letter did was warn franklin roosevelt of the danger of uranium-based weapons. it reads some recent work by enry question leads me to expect that the uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. certain aspects of the situation, seem to call for watchfulness and if necessary quick action on the part of the administration. einstein then goes on to describe the possibilities of a massive weapons of destructive power. it was this letter that he handed to an aid and he said see that this gets done. >> the next one will really catch people's attention, i think. >> this is just an incredible moment in history. this is what east referred to as a bedside note he received word of the invasion by hitler

in 1939. he was awakened by one of his ambassadors. thinking of posterity, the president pulled a sheet of paper from his bedside table and wrote this note. it reads, the president received word at 2:50 a.m. by telephone from ambassadored byle through ambassador bullitt and that four cities were being shopped. in the the bottom corner he's written in bed 3:05 a.m. f.d.r. a real snapshot in time. >> in his letter to hitler himself, how do such leters get passed between leaders. >> those would have passed through diplomatic channels. there was the issue of ambassadors at the time and who was sharing what ambassadors. but that would have passed through diplomatic channels >> and how long would it take to deliver it?

>> that would have been delivered fairly shortly. >> last item was a photo from churchhill and f.d.r. >> that's a still that perhaps you guys have. >> all right >> the next thing that i want to show relates to his relationship with churchhill. churchhill wrote a very lengthy letter to roosevelt in 1940 talking about how britain will soon be out of cash in order to purchase weapon which was the requirement. and so f.d.r. went after a fishing crew. boared over this letter, and came up with a lend-lease. if your neighbors house is on fire, you lend him a fire hose with the expectation that it will save your own house. that's how he relayed that to the american people. the next document is a document in russian written by joseph stallen because after --

stallen. f.d.r. reached out to stall -- stalin. he sent his aid to meet with joseph stalin. this is the shopping list that he wrote to f.d.r. like anti-aircraft guns. aluminum for " presidential libraries -- history uncovered." >> this is the weekend of memorial day. my brother tony and his wife are back with lyndon b. johnson. mendon at the wheel. bless him. lyndon. we never could get it in sports clothes. that is my sister-in-law. tony was in the back seat without a shirt on. that is the house on the cliff. he is an air of sugar whose

father was kidnapped in a very dramatic fashion. there was a delightful cable car that goes up to that house. there is beaver. he always likes to be there whenever linden is. many of our weekends were spent on lake and lyndon b. johnson. there is jake. there is abe, jacqueline de -- jack valenti. and there is bill. >> that is, movie footage from 1965 the oil shock and later merited by of our program. businesses gritty comedy is from the johnson library in austin texas. the president to historian --

what is this next hour like? >> we are going to see the lyndon johnson that, frankly, the public did not see very much, and in many ways, i think almost to his detriment, partly through the eyes of his wife and others as well. and of course, lady bird johnson's role in this story is absolutely pivotal. not only is a historical chronicle in her home movie, she is almost as important as the tapes. >> when did she narrates these. >> well, most of them were inherited when she was in the white house. i guess that is where she got that great background music, even though many of them or much earlier than that, so you can see them commenting on that. she >> that is a sample from our presidential library here on c-span. the opening of the george w.

last ibrary that opened week. a reminder, that video is available online. you can see it in our video library at c-span.org. one more tip too on line, the hole series is available, it's presidential library programs at c-span.org/videolibrary. it is build with private funds but they are owned and maintained and operated by the national archives and records administration simply called the archives most times. as we mentioned, the federal cost per library is $75 million a member of congress for the third time introduced a bill calling for more transparency in

those donations in the foundations that create presidential libraries is john duncan, a republican of tennessee. last month he introduced his legislation calling for transparency for all of the donors to be listed. we caught up with him yesterday while congress was on break and asked him about the legislation. representative john duncan of tennessee has been pursuing transparency for many years. what would you like to see happen? >> i would like to see the contributions to presidential libraries to be reported. my bill does not limit contributions in any way but it ust calls for more disclosure, more transparency about the process about the process. i became interested in this several years ago when i read

president clinton had hired a man named mark rich who fled the country to avoid $40 million in income taxes then he got a full pardon on president clinton's last day of office. a short time later it was disclosed that he was still close at giving, i think it was a $400,000 contribution to the president clinton's library. there was a sizable contribution from saudi arabia and others. so i thought it was something that was very much open to abuse. i thought something should be done about it. actually, we passed that bill in the house three times now. >> the bill that you've introduced recently in the house, what is the level that you have to report a contribution. you mentioned foreign counts,

would you bill prohibit foreign countries from contributing? >> no, it would just require disclosure so people could see where contributions were coming from because these committees are formed while the presidents are still in office to raise funds while -- or before the president leaves office. there is a real potential for abuse there and i just think it is something that needs to be more openness about it and there needs to be this reporting to require all contribution butions of $200 or above reported. >> what is the law now? >> there is no federal law on it. there is no law on it at all so the committees are just are

unlimited, unrestricted in any way. they can get huge contributions and it seems to me and even who has looked into this that, you know, people could make big contributions to these libraries while a president is still in in hopes , obviously, to get treatment from the president's administration while that president is still has the power be a significant help. this is something i'm very pleased to say. as we see total bipartisan support. i started the bill but it's been passed with very you descending votes in the house. in fact, i sponsored the original version when the

democrats took control of the congress that was -- the original sponsor became chairman waxman, the democratic chairman of the oversight and government reform committee at the time. nd now with the most reseent action we -- recent action we passed the bill unanimously and it was co sponsored by the ranking democrat on the economy representative from maryland. >> do you think it will have traction this time around? do you think you will see a floor date for this bill? >> yes. the date is not set yet but it will be set soon. we're getting more interest in this bill than ever before. there was an article about it in "u.s.a. today" just two or three weeks ago.

it was brought up by someone at a presidential press conference with the president's press secretary who also didn't know the details but mentioned it in a favorable way. and williams wrote a favorable article about it on his blog, which i have not seen that article yet. i was told about it by my staff member who is handling this. >> you mentioned the clinton library. you also got to get around the creation of the bush library and ran into headwinds in the senate. what happened with that effort? >> as i understand it the representative from alaska had some opposition to it. the way we got the bill now, you know, it's -- i can assure you this is not aimed at any particular president. this is a bill that would apply

to both republican and democratic presidents. >> john duncan represents the second district of tennessee. thanks for the update on your bill. >> thank you very much. i'm a big fan of c-span and it's a privilege to be on. >> our conversation with congressman duncan from earlier this week. he mention abarticle from ron williams at fox news.com. clinton built his library from several foreign donations and some arrived while he was still in office. his last day in office he issued a pardon. they right that any donation should be disclosed.

also from the sunlight foundation they came out in favor of john duncan's legislation. bush is not the only one to raise money of what they call "dark money" and he won't be the last. as long as presidential library donations remain secret unethical actors will use them to exude influence and they write in support of john duncan's legislation. we're taking a a look at presidential libraries we discovered. with the george w. bush center in dallas, texas there are 13. gorge h.w. at the

bush. we also look at the berlin with all at the museum that came down during the term of the first president bush. here's a look. very large section of the berlin wall. you're looking at it now in a live picture from college station, texas. we talked to the former president about his library and about his career and specifically asked the question about his response to the wall coming down. let's listen to what he had to say. >> why didn't you go to berlin immediately after the wall was down? >> because it would have been a stupid thing to do. a lot of the press got around my desk there and said, "how come, mr. president, you can't express the emotion of the american people and do what gephardt and mitchell say, go dance on the wall?" look. this is going very well with the russians. and for me to stick my finger bloating and -- gloating and

making an ass out of myself and sticking my hand in the wall, sticking my cross in gorbachev's eyes would have been a terrible thing to do. it would have been terrible. i'm glad we showed restraint. we didn't know how the russian allegiance would react. they had troops in the hungary area and in poland. we didn't know whether the military was going to say enough is enough. we'll show these gloating americans. and maybe depose gorbachev, in any event stand up and use force. the cold war ended without a shot being fired and some of that is because we showed restraint. and that was -- that wasn't even a close call for me, but in this emotional climate, i could just hear the voices -- i'll spare you who they were -- were saying this stuff to me through the media, part of the media, through the media. "why don't you go do this?" i mean, you know, sometimes you have to do what you think is right. and it was right not to go put my finger in mikhail gorbachev's

eyes. >> and there, once again, you see a big section of the berlin wall which is on display in the library. by the way, these pictures from inside the library are being taken by our colleague, bill, with the help of steve keho, part of the >> when you were president, was this your spot? >> see the secretary of defense bob gates.

that was a secured telephone. was this your chair when you go to the situation room? >> yes, this looks more like the situation room. there is more room at that end of it because it is more crowded. but yes, very much like it. >> did you come down here a lot? >> not an lot but we would have security national council meetings here. i would come down here for special briefings, during the war. i would come down to ask what the latest is or call them up on the phone, what is going on over there? they had a wonderful group of people from the military, state department and they would have the latest news for the president. >> one of the interesting things gang --t out the famous

seven members of the famous gang of eight. >> once they scroll down the oval office if they could not work out their differences they said, mr. president, you have to make a decision. i would make a decision. whoever was in there would go forth and support the decision. they were very lucky to have a team that did not call behind the scenes to "the washington post" or getting their side out, kind of leaking it. it was easier in making decisions when you have top confidence in your top national decision people. weenas the honest broker bet strong secretary, secretary of

state, secretary of defense, the chairman of joint chiefs. he would make the decision -- he would ask of or he would try to get them to make a decision. when they could not make a decision they would walk down to my office and said here's the problem. here's what the state thinks now you must make a decision. i would. these people were disciplined and mature and stayed the course with what the president decided, which is. way it ought to work. look at the george bush presidential library. george w. bush opened last week. more coming up in just a bit. the presidential library system

-- the most expensive library admission is in california, the reagan library the ticket to that is $21. the least expensive is herbert hoover library $6. the herbert hoover presidential library and museum nearly 45,000 visitors in 2012. we're taking a look at comments on facebook, facebook.com. c-span is asking you have you been to the presidential library? >> this is mary lou who says she's been to nine. i've been saving the texas ones until the new ones are over. after that, i will have the four libraries -- these libraries have been on my bucket list. i doubt i will get to the ford library because it is a long way

from where i live. we'll read more comments from you when we have time. what we did our 2007 series not long after the presidential library bill clinton opened up in little rock. we're going to show you video from that in just a moment. look at the way president clinton crafted his speech. 's, from the carter center in atlanta. the look at the camp david accords. take a look. his adversaries conceded that bill clinton had extraordinary political talents. among them were his skills as a communicator. ronald reagan was known as a great communicator with a text. bill clinton was a great communicator and imple visor. you will see that here in memphis. follow, if you will, it's to deconstruct what you hear because it is a window on how

clinton tried to move beyond the conventional stereo types and labels. he takes cultural conservative themes which might appeal to this group of ministers and wraps it in the mantle of martin luther king. it's a very, very skillful and -- take a look for yourself. you be the judge. >> martin luther king who said, like moses, i am on the mountain top and i can see the promise land, but i'm not going to be able to get there with you. but we will get there. if he were to reappear by my side today and give us a report card on the last 25 years, what would he say? he would say, you did a good job, he would say. voting, electing people who formerly were not electable because of the color of their skin. you have more political power, and that is good.

you did a good job, he would say. letting people who have the ability to do so live wherever they want to go, in this great country. you did a good job, he would say, elevating people of color into the ranks of the united states armed forces to the very top or into the top of our government. you did a very good job, he would say. he would say you did a good job creating a black middle class. people who really are doing well and the middle class is growing more among african americans than among nonafrican americans. you did a good job. you did a good job in opening opportunities. but he would say, i did not live and die to see the american family destroyed.

[applause] . .no carrier > i did not live and die for downkids to destroy their lives and lives of others. that is not what i came here to do. i fought for freedom, he would say. not for the freedom of people to kill each other with reckless abandment. not for the freedom of children s of the e the father children to walk away from them as if they don't amount to anything. but not to have whole

communities of people to abandon. this is not what i lived and died for. my fellow americans, he would say, i fought to stop white people from being so filled with hate that they would wreak violence on black people, i did not fight for the right of black people to murder other black people with reckless abandon. [applause] >> rob siver is with the bill clinton presidential library and he's got something to show us. >> thank you, brian. yes, i do. and you just saw the video of that speech and we're actually opening up the notecards that president clinton used for that speech. this is the first notecard that he used. and what is interesting about this speech is that the white house speech writer did not provide president clinton text for this speech and so there wasn't a teleprompter here, this was done by notecards and the

speech writer gave president clinton talking points and this is a great example of president clinton speaking very much off-the-cuff and taking the speech into, as richard said, in a totally different direction. and this next notecard, again, it shows the example of president clinton making major edits in this and even in the talking points here. the final notecard is part from the clip we just saw, again, president clinton spoke a quote from martin luther king and then he talked if martin luther king were alive today what he would be proud of and what he would not be proud of. and it's hard to decipher president clinton's handwriting and it's difficult for us to make out here but we can make out the word proud. martin luther king would be proud of the progress african american his made and the black middle class, and opened opportunities but what he would not be proud of is the disintegration of the family,

and teen pregnancy and abandonment by fathers and the rise in drug use and the lack ta wonderful and joyous occasion. >> richard norton smith, what do you think anwar sadat or monopoly begum would think if they were still alive today with what has happened since 1979? --g began. >> the tigger lake, begin. he found in the more difficult to negotiate with, -- particularly, begin. what began so promisingly seems to have gone a different way. >> the director of the library in atlanta, the carter library,

he has been joining us all evening long. you have a carter-camp david briefing book. can we see it? >> yes, this is one of my favorite documents. it is a very detailed briefing book that was prepared for president carter before they went to camp david. as you can see from the markings here, it was classified, and only in the last few years has it been declassified, and i think my favorite part of it is here. and the state department, it says in the type to section, best from our viewpoint would be both sides ready to sign a document, like the joint statement at tab 3, but that seems an unlikely outcome, and as is typical from the court documents, he writes his own view in the margin, and he says "this will be our farm goairm goal," so he was pushing for an

agreement. this is president carter's handwriting on the sinai agreement, and i think it is important that we have maybe 100 pages of yellow pads of carter's personal journals and writings from the time at camp david. he kept a very detailed notes, because he wanted to hold all the parties accountable if they agreed to something and later tried to renege on something he did say, here in my notes, it says such and such. the framework for the sinai agreement, which shows carter is very detailed knowledge of the area, and basically what it was was swapping land for peace. the israelis returned the sinai peninsula to the egyptians, and the egyptians agreed to ecognize >> some of our series from 2007 here on c-span with the opening of the george w. bush presidential library, dallas,

texas. we're looking back to those series and the other 12 libraries we've covered to date. ooking ahead to barack obama's library. we mentioned earlier the sunlight foundation's support of the transparency bill. as president obama is choosing between hawaii and chicago today the house committee green lighted a bill that would make donations public. the bill would require future presidential library to report donors on a quarterly basis. the car chives will post them on-- archives will post them online. they are trying to prevent for favors and the obama library could cost

upwards in $500 million. a number of gifts that presidents have received. this is a 20-page document that the state department put out in 2012 of gifts received by barack obama from just from foreign dignitaryries alone. the gifts reeached by the president on behalf of the people of the united states. a look at one of those i tulls and this one is from the -- of those items and this one is a 14 cuff link bird-shaped with a value of $705,000. it was presented again by the president of the republic of panama. on the far right the reason they accepted the gift, they say this with almost every gift, nonacceptance would cause embarrassment to the donor and

the u.s. government. it becames property of the government and would end up in a center, perhaps of the archives but it is under control of the national archives as all of the now 13 presidential libraries. one last look at facebook. we've been ask if you have been to presidential libraries, would you like to go? here's one that says i have been to the f.d.r., truman, and kennedy libraries and i plan to go to all of them. fred stevens says the president william mckinly -- i think that is in ohio. it gave me a great retrospective -- i don't believe the mckinly library is not part of the presidential library. it's not, it's not under the general jurisdiction of the archives. we're going to go the l. b.j. library.

a letter from a well-known tv news anchor will follow that of the eisenhower center from video of the first presidential news conference with dwight d. eisenhower. me in these boxes are boxes containing correspondence that was received in the white house during the johnson years, and many contain letters from the general public. what i have here to share a year is, i think, an amusing example of them. what i have is a letter from the very, very young brian what, who of course is now the anchor of the nbc nightly news -- young brian williams. it is written in hand on lined notebook paper. it is pretty typical of some of the letters we have from school children in our files. i would just read it to you. "dear mr. president -- i hope that the men in vietnam are doing well.

do they do at this each day? " "i have not been anyone else before, but i will some time. i live in new york state in elmira. i went to visit you. one of your young democrats, brian williams." you can see decorated it with an exuberant note -- "look at this ." >> how old was he? >> he said he was 7 at years old. -- seven-and-a-half-years-old. it is very similar to the one that was used in the white house. we do not know what happened to the machines in the white house.

this is -- this contains the conversation that we saw earlier. it is flexible material, the needle created grooves. the machine the secretaries finished, and the golden gate's to start recording. it held about 15 minutes of sound. if the conversation lasted more than that, it would be picked up on the second. after it was recorded, the secretary would prepare a slip to go along with the recording. it would list the conversations on that belt. sometimes it included three or four conversations.

the conversation is the second conversation on this belt. the secretary would file -- they came with a restriction, at their word to be restricted for 50 years. director consulted with mrs. johnson and she agreed that we should process the conversations and make them available to the public. under 43 about six hours of conversation. we have processed about -- everis is from the first press conference. i was a former "the new york times reporter. regarded as the finest press secretary in the history

of the job. was not the political innocent that he portrayed himself to be. he is trying to walk him through this to make sure he does not make any slips. eisenhower was very self assured. what he did.ly each -- howing, much of it was scrambled syntax. if they can find a copy to read, they cannot understand it. they cannot find how the money

is to be spent. [indiscernible] is there anything you can do to tell these people where the money is to be spent? >>-understanding is that is what the committees of congress are for. the national defence officials willthe secretary on down beef -- will appear before them and they will explain every single item. forget the number of pages. [indiscernible] > would you comment --

[indiscernible] will commenthink i on it. commenting would make it appear it is onenvictions -- of the possibilities. verysides to it might be reluctant to have that proposal seriously considered. >> the rise of the television age in america. if you visit the eisenhower library, you will see an exhibit about television. >> with the opening of the george w. bush presidential center last week, we have been bringing you a small sample of some of the presidential programs we did back in 2007, our series presidential libraries. you can see all of them, 24

hours of presidential libraries, on our website in the video library. evening, laura bush showed us around the george w. bush presidential center. a number of years ago, nancy reagan did the same thing for us. this is about 40 minutes. >> for somebody who has not been to this library, how do you get here? it sets a high on 100 acres. it is not too far from los angeles. we can leave our house and the year in 45 minutes. it is beautiful. everybody should come to see it. >> one of the things that struck me after being at the ranch was

the winding roads, the hills. did you think about that? >> ronnie always liked to be high. the hill.ty on our house in bellaire is high. the ranch is high. this is high. that always appealed to him. >> when you thought about this library, what was your objective? >> our objective was to have his legacy here. he wanted very much to have everything here so that people could see and read all of his papers and see the history of him and me, but mostly him.

it is here for everybody. >> when you see the early years, what comes to mind? ronnie waswhere born. he was born above the store. a small little room. , there wererother very close in age, two years apart. and his mother and father. have you been there? >> yes. >> and over here? the eureka sweater.

, hiss mother and father brother. that is at school. >> grade school? >> yes. there is ronnie putting his hand up to his chin. there, hele girl down mayo had a crush on that little girl. i hadcurled do you think a crush on? -- which the girl do you think i had a crush on? he could not remember her name. >> when he was growing up in illinois, you grew up how far from the dictionary of? >> i grew up in chicago. up how far from the dixon area? >> i grew up in chicago.

he loved those summers when he life guarded. he always said that he did not have to worry about money because he could not spend the money. he would go into the early- morning and work until late at night. he never had a chance to spend the money. >> did you know his parents? >> i knew his mother. his father died very young, 58. it was before i knew ronnie. >> anything you see your from these early years, just holler. we're going over to the hollywood years. >> there has been so much talk about this movie. i thought the movie was funny. i thought it was cute. bedtimr