administration. this is about half an hour. what are your earliest memories of coming to the united states? >> they are really vivid memories. i came when i was eight years old, a young immigrant. i didn't speak english, my father had come three years earlier, he left us behind in asia. he didn't have the money nor the documentation to bring us. my mother, my sisters and i stayed behind. my mother was seven months pregnant when he left for america. child not see his third until she was three years old. in america. we came aboard a ship, it was a 37 day ocean journey. i remember going through the panama canal, it was great fun for an eight-year-old. i can't imagine the trepidation

and anxiety that must have plagued my mother, who was the only woman on board the ship with three young girls. surrounded by love, and very secure parents, who really look out for us. so we never felt any want. >> do you remember when you were thinking, or what you thought when you landed in america? i thought american roads would be paved with gold. typical immigrant folklore. america is the land of opportunity, the land of hope. it is a land where everything is good, a land where the roads are paved with gold. as a child, i thought i am

coming to america, reunited with our father. that was exciting, but we were coming to a new country, there is a great deal of excitement. >> were was home first? americans parents are of chinese dissent. they left during the height of the civil war. they were located to taiwan. lateles southeast of the ninth. the youngestame sea captain at the age of 29, which is quite a feat. he was in charge of a ship full of men, away at sea most of the time. being responsible for multimillion dollar cargo purred he was only 29 years old. when you are at sea in those days, you had to be self-reliant. there was no other way to seek

help if anything happened. my father is incredibly inspirational. a can-do, self-reliant, independent, very forward thinking and creative person. >> turning that into a successful business. >> he became one of the youngest ship captains at the age of 29, he wanted more for his family. because he was away for such a long time. so he decided to continue his studies. he took a national examination in taiwan. this is a long-standing chinese tradition where you take a national examination, it is given one day a year. it is actually over four days, but it is given once a year. you are given one chance to excel or not. and he studied very hard. he was an excellent student, as well as an outstanding athlete. he scored number one in the whole country.

and he broke all the records. and china has a long history. so to break all the records was quite phenomenal. he was written up in the newspapers. and benefactors came forward to offer him scholarship funds. and with that, he was able to come to america. but i want to say that he was allowed to go abroad, but which country do you think he and my mother chose? they chose america, because america, once again, is the land of opportunity and hope. and that is where they wanted to go. so for young couples that had never really been outside their country very much, they knew about america. it says volumes about america's influence and how strongly held it is in the minds of so many outside the country. host: how did you learn english?

elaine: it was dubbed the total immersion method, meaning i entered third-grade not speaking a word of english. and i just sat in the classroom. i copied whatever was on the blackboard into my notebook and at the end of every day my father, who would be working three jobs, would come back home very late at night. and he would sit with me and we would pour over my notebook, into which i had scrawled and copied the lesson. but i was very young and i do not know english, so i would transpose the letters. it was really hard for him to go through the notebook with me and decipher what the lesson was. but we prevailed and, you know, we went through my notebook and that is how i learned english and within one year, when you are that young, i was proficient. host: where did you grow up?

elaine: i grew up in new york city, queens. host: what was that like? elaine: we lived in a one bedroom apartment. looking back, it was not a great environment. but again, because we were so secure in our home and surrounded by parents who took such care of us and loved us, we did not really feel like we were needing anything. we were quite happy. we were reunited as a family and life was good. and as our economic situation improved, we moved to long island. and then we moved to westchester, where we are today. so it is a wonderful story about what america is all about. that is the important thing. host: and your dad is still alive. how old? elaine: he is 89 years old. in chinese terms, he is 90. he is in great health. he still goes to the office every day. and he swims 30 minutes every

day without stopping. i am very fortunate to have him, that he is able to be here and and to be able to see the accomplishments of his daughters. so they had three daughters born in taiwan. after we arrived, three more sisters were born. they are all in the northeast area. host: are you more like your mom or your dad? elaine: i like to think i am a combination. my father is very energetic and very forward thinking, very progressive. you know, he loves technology, even today you can text him, email him, he has his ipad and iphone. he is terrific with technology. i really admire that. my mother was a very compassionate, kind person. they came from very different backgrounds. and i think that is a lesson in life.

out of turmoil and hardship, can come opportunity and good things. so for example, my father came from a small farming village of ten families outside of shanghai. 10 families. it was a small village. and my mother came from prosperous, distinguished, well-to-do family. it was the turmoil of the times, the country was in domestic turmoil, there was civil war going on. so my mother's family left their home, they went to nanjing, and there were problems over there, obviously when the japanese invaded. and they went to shanghai. under ordinary circumstances, in the social order of old china , these two young people would have never had the chance to meet, because they were from such different social economic backgrounds.

but in the turmoil of the times , my father and my mother went to a high school and she was able to meet different kinds of people. so they were introduced through mutual friends. host: have you been back there? elaine: i have been back to asia. regularly when i am out of office, not so often when i'm in office. so i did go back. host: do you remember the first time you walked through the gates of the white house? elaine: i do. it was, it was actually a feeling of awe. but also of loneliness. i always wished that there were more people who are like me who are able to enter the white house. i come from a big family so i'm used to sharing.

and at that time, 1983, it was not a very diverse population at the white house. i think the only asians that were there were the filipino stewards. and i thought, how wonderful it would be if my immigrant community could come with me in to see what is in the white house. and people of different backgrounds to come and see how the government functioned. so when, you know, when i was secretary of labor i actually had appointed a number of different young people to be liaisons to underserved communities. and to communities of color, so that we can reach out to make sure that they feel comfortable entering into the federal government. that this is their government.

i remember how i met my first cabinet officer at the age of 39. i was so intimidated. i came to the labor department at that time, and i saw these huge doors. they are beautiful wooden doors. brown, iiful color of still remember them. i was on the outside and i thought, gosh, she must be inside. thinking she was right inside the front door. and then of course, when i got to the department of labor, i realized that was only the front door. there was a whole lot of offices back there. so i did not want people who are not part of mainstream america to feel intimidated. and i felt a responsibility to develop leaders for our country for the future that were of

diverse backgrounds. host: let's talk about the 4 presidents you worked with, beginning with ronald reagan. in a sentence or so, describe your interactions with them and what they were like as a boss, beginning with president reagan. elaine: president reagan, i was a white house fellow, i was so young at the time that if i caught a glimpse of the president that would have made my day. so i really did not have much interaction, but i will say that i think president ronald reagan's presidency was successful for many reasons. two i will cite that pertain to me. one is i was actually independent. i was not very much involved in politics at all. but president reagan's inaugural message, and his goals of smaller government, stable monetary policy, less

regulations, really resounded with me. that kind of, kind of like touched a chord that made me realize i am actually conservative. so president ronald reagan was actually able to reach out to parts of the population that did not view themselves as republicans, who nevertheless connected with his message. secondly, because he had such simple but clear principles, it was actually relatively easy to be in his administration, because you knew what he stood for. what the administration stood for. and every day when he went to work, you knew the principle that you are supposed to follow to carry out daily tasks. host: george h bush, you had a number of appointments, including peace corps director.

elaine: i was the deputy secretary in george h.w. bush's administration, as well as being the peace corps director. let me talk about the peace corps director first, because that was really interesting and it speaks to one of the great strengths of president george h bush, that is he had an insightful international view. in the summer of 1991, he already knew and sensed that the former soviet empire was going to collapse. and he knew that peoples of the different republics of the former soviet union were going to need a different kind of assimilation into the rest of the world. so that is what he wanted the peace corps to do, is to help develop, send in volunteers with

a different kind of skill set. volunteers who were older, who had more experience, and you would be able to help the peoples of the former soviet into adjust and assimilate a new post soviet union world. host: eight years as the labor secretary, both terms of george w. bush, what was he like to work with? elaine: he was very, he was a very good boss. he expected his people to do their jobs. and, um, he gave you the ability to do your job. so i thought he was a very good boss. and his white house was experienced, because he was with his father when president george h.w. bush was president. and i think president george w. bush learned a great deal from those four years. even though his administration

transition period was cut short by 37 days due to a dispute about who had won the election, on january 20, they were ready. host: how do you prepare to manage an agency or department like labor, or now, transportation? elaine: i think first of all it is important to understand the contribution of the career ranks. for example, when i came in and -- came in as secretary of labor and as secretary of transportation, the first thing i did on the very first day was gather the career acting heads, the career leadership, and thank them for carrying on the mission of the government in the transition period. it can be very chaotic, the transition can be anxiety ridden, and we really need to thank the career folks for providing stability and carrying

on the mission of the government. host: why transportation? why did you decide to take the position and was it something you wanted? elaine: i was hoping to get transportation in 2001, because my background is in trade and transportation. i was a transportation banker for a number of years for both citicorp and bank of america. i had worked for transportation companies, so my whole background was actually in transportation. so it is nice to return to a field now in which i had worked previously and it is nice to be able to be back in a department i am familiar with. host: so the fourth republican president you are working with, the current president. elaine: president trump is very social, very sociable and social. he is very quick. he learns very quickly. and he drills down and he is interested and curious about

everything. so he is great fun to be with. he has good instincts. he picks good people, present company excluded. so he has good instincts. and he is also able to connect with the american people, he speaks in a plainspoken way and obviously seen from the results of the election, he connects with people on a very real and authentic level. host: if you were to write an opening paragraph describing elaine chao, what would you write? elaine: i would write, she hopes she made a contribution to her country and society. that she kept her humanity and compassion and humility. and that she helped a lot of people along the way. and that she was a good

daughter, a good wife, good sister. host: you are also misses mitch mcconnell. how did the two of you meet? elaine: we met through mutual friends in the best chinese way, we were introduced through mutual friends. we were introduced by the first asian-american u.s. ambassador in our country. she was the ambassador to nepal. her father and our family knew each other. so through family relations, she introduced mitch and me. host: did you know right away? elaine: i always liked him because he was not your usual politician. he was not backslapping. i actually, i did not like -- i am going to cut back on that

one. no, but i liked him in this sense, i was going to say i did not really like politicians very much, because i thought they talked too much and in asian culture we emphasize more humility. so, that is why i liked mitch. i thought he was always very thoughtful. he was deliberate. and he was always listening and learning. and i thought that he was a very real person. he was very grounded, very humble, and i like that. host: is he a master of the senate, and does he love the senate? elaine: he is very humble. you will have to ask him. that term has a lot of connotations. mitch is a very serious student of american history. you ask him about any aspect about american history, you ask him about any election, house or senate, he will know the answer

probably. he reads all the time. and he values the lessons that history offers. host: so if the two of you have a day with nothing on your schedule, what do you do? elaine: we talk about really mundane things, kind of boring. you know, we actually have a private life so we deal with the things every other couple deals with, like who will take out the garbage, how are we going to get our schedules to mesh on saturday, what are you doing this saturday -- i am going to the gym and where you going? just like every other couple. host: you made news in a podcast, you said "i prepare somewhat more than some of my male colleagues." elaine: i did not repair too much today because it has been a

busy day. well, i want to do well. your listeners are so kind to tune in and i want to do a good job for the listeners. i want them to feel like it was worth their time to listen. i feel that way about everything i do. people are giving me their time and attention and i have a responsibility to do a good job to justify their trust in me. every job i have had i have been so grateful to people who have trusted me, even though they may not have known me, they have given me a job in a want to do my best. host: how do you prepare your own learning curve, whether it is head of united way, or peace corps, now transportation? elaine: i think it is a matter of being thoughtful and considerate. and i do not like it when people come and they are unprepared. because the time you spend is so precious, if you come to see the secretary, you want her full attention, you want her to know what you are talking about

rather than having to explain this is a, this is b, this is c. hopefully if the principle is well prepared, the discussion can be richer, more meaningful, productive and it will be of good use of the visitor's time as well. that is what i always think. i remember when i was on the outside and i would be so disappointed if the person i was seeing did not know who i was, what my background was. so as an example, when i go anyplace, you know there are some the people who want to see me and they have been waiting maybe 15 minutes, half an hour, or 45 minutes -- i always make a point to know who they are, what their names are, and what they are doing their. -- there. i think they deserve that. i think it is the respect i can show them when i visit them. so i tried to be prepared out of respect for the person i am

meeting with. host: let's talk about one issue that the president talked a lot about over the campaign, infrastructure. specifically high-speed rail. you have traveled around the world, you see what japan has, what europe has, what would it take for america to get that? elaine: we currently do not have high speed rail expertise. that brings into question a number of issues which we can discuss. we have high-speed rail projects in the united states. it is a very promising one, between houston and dallas. there is a very promising one in soon to be opened later this year in florida. of course, there is one, there are a couple in california. there are some in the chicago area. we of course have amtrak, we can reach 135 miles per hour, but basically the high-speed rail,

for it to exist there needs to be a straightaway. when the road curves, or the track curves, that is when the rail car must the bank and slow -- the rail car has to bank and slow down, so first and foremost we need the land. so that is restrictive. secondly, as i mentioned, we do not really have the high-speed rail expertise. the high-speed rail expertise can be found in spain, italy, france, japan, china, and then the question is, you know, as we consider the infrastructure proposal, we need to be careful how these transactions are structured. because i think there would be concerned if foreigners were to know about parts of our infrastructure. we are looking at that very carefully. but the president is an enthusiast for high-speed rail.

he is very interested in how we can achieve a more comfortable experience for passengers, get them from point a to point b in a faster and more comfortable way that contributes to improving the quality of life. and that is not spoil the environment. host: do you think we will get there at some point? elaine: i think we will. i do not know when, but as i mentioned there are a number of projects in the country right now. so let's see how they develop. some of them are funded totally with private funding. they probably need some help with waivers from regulatory aspects. and so as we talk about infrastructure, we are concerned about the regulatory overreach that may have occurred in the past, and have hampered some of

the projects from coming to fruition at a faster rate. we are also looking at regulations on employers that could hamper the rate of job creation, which is this president is concerned about. host: speaking of regulation, is there a role for federal government when it comes to airline overbooking? do you have a view on that? elaine: we are very concerned about that and we are keeping close tabs on the airlines on the issue, and of course with united we have been, we have been talking to them, asking them what is going on. we have looked into it and we have posted on our website a passenger's bill of rights. we want every passenger to know what their rights are and be able to protect themselves when necessary. so the people that are interested in knowing their rights, i urge them to go on www.dot.gov and there they will see what their rights are.

more importantly, we need to prevent these things from happening in the first place. i believe airlines have a responsibility to address this themselves. they need -- and i believe they want to. because having unhappy passengers is not good for them either. the recent incidents have hit them where it hurts, the bottom line. united stock has dropped for example, losing so much money in their market value. so, even aside from that, it is the right thing to do and they are aware of that because we have discussed it with them. they need to do the right thing and take care of passengers. and they are the first line of action and i believe that is how it should be. so we want to arm passengers with the knowledge of what their rights are. host: we will conclude with a

couple of questions about you. you have five sisters. what do they think about you and what you have been doing? a very public life. elaine: they are all private citizens and very successful. i am the least impressive. i have five very impressive sisters. they are doing well, have advanced degrees, all very smart. they are all very good people. they are philanthropists, making very big contributions in their communities and in their lives and careers. i am very, very proud of them. i have one sister who passed away, janette. i want to remember her. i have my sisters may, kristine, grace, and angela. they are doing very well. i am lucky to be there sister. host: have you considered elected office? elaine: no.

my husband is an elected official. one in the family is enough. he is doing a great job. i am very proud of him. host: what is next for you after this, any thoughts? elaine: i never really thought about what the next step would be because i am so consumed with doing a good job right now. i think the challenges facing our country are great. we need to fix the infrastructure. we need to think about the future. let me just backtrack a bit. i have three things -- one is, safety. we need to make sure the traveling public is safe, that is the first priority. second, i need to help the president, along with my other cabinet colleagues, implemented the infrastructure initiatives so that our infrastructure can be improved and productivity increases. thirdly, let's not forget the future. the department of transportation is involved with regulating emerging technologies, autonomous vehicles, drones.

the challenge for the department is that we need to address these emerging technologies and deal with them in a way that is acceptable to the public, that will preserve the innovation and creativity of our country. but address some of the public's concerns about these emerging technologies, as well. host: secretary elaine chao, thank you for your time. elaine: thank you. announcer: tonight, the leading figure of the movement in the 1970's, reviews his life and career. during the event coming he talks about his time being in prison by the kgb. here is a look. >> by far, the easiest -- years ago in prison. have physical

hardships. isterms of a moral life, it is so simple, pure, -- it easy to keep your integrity because all of what you have to do is to keep saying no to kgb. we jews, we have a very demanding religion. a lot of commandments. to fueleally want yourself, you have to fulfill those obligations. prison, everything comes to one thing. to say no to the kgb, and that is it. you fulfilled everything. all your obligations, to your wife, your family, to your country, to your people, to your -- toy, to mend kind

mankind, you did already. there was some discomfort they -- that theypunish put you in, to punish, it is all physical. [indiscernible] speaking your mind freely. understand the only thing that truly belongs to and thatinner freedom was all the thing that i had -- those world the things i had to keep. i am not responsible for my body, they can do whatever they want. announcer: that was part of an event held in new york city. see it in its entirety starting at 8:00 eastern right after that, more about russia with remarks from russia ambassador to the u.s.

he spoke about election interference, north korea, and relations between russia and the united states. inspoke at an event hosted california. it gets underway at 9:00 eastern, also on c-span. the second session of the 115th congress gets underway this week with the senate returning on wednesday. the day will see the swearing-in of two new democratic lawmakers. tinajones of alabama and smith of minnesota. the house returns the following week on monday. in the new year, congress faces a government deadline with temporary spending set to expire on january 19. also, this year's state of the union address from president trump. you can watch the house live on c-span and see the senate on our companion network, c-span two. employeesteam of 262

bringing the c-span networks to you. thanks for watching.

announcer: thanks for watching. hi, i'm debbie lamb, the

coordinating producer on our cities to her team. we visited 24 cities is here exploring their unique history and literary life. we are going to show you several stops in san jose, california. a city that sits in the heart of silicon valley and the helm of many large tech companies. in november of 1777, a group of 66 settlers moved down from the city of san francisco and came here to san jose to establish the san jose city. the pueblo was moved from its original location to this location in proper downtown san jose. the a day -- the adobe behind us is the last remaining structure of that pueblo that was built in 1797. in the mid-1770's,if