helen robinson was very involved with that, involved with children's rights, equal pay and minimum wage, with all of these good progressive issues. and she even got molly brown to donate $1,000, which in those days was a whole lot of money to help the lud low families that have been affected by this terrible event that went on. and after her four years in the senate, she said enough and gotten too crazy up there. i said to people when i was reading, senator pasco's book that we ought to send that book around to a lot of people who are currently in office because it was really pretty rugged back then too. it gives you a little context. she did live through it. in 1916, montana sent wonderful janet ran kin and she immediately went there and voted against the war. she got defeated and went back again right before world war ii, went back and voted against that war too. she was consistent. but there is a marvelous picture in the national archives of her being sworn on on the house floor. there is not another male other than the ones that had to perform the ceremony on the floor. but the enti

i don't know if she's here, but she wrote a wonderful book about helen ring robinson who was the firstoman elected to the colorado senate. and she was the second woman elected in the united states to a state senate. a very distinguished woman and part of a huge progressive movement that was sweeping colorado at that time. unfortunately, there was a little backlash that happened that maybe some of you have heard about. ludlow and all the little labor violence up there and the governor would refuse to send out the national guard and finally president wilson had to call out the troops and all of this. and helen ring robinson was very involved in that because she was involved with children's rights, you know, equal pay with minimum wage, with all these good progressive issues. and she even got molly brown to donate $1,000, which in those days was a whole lot of money to help the ludlow families that had been affected by this terrible event that went on. and after her four years in the senate, she said enough. it's gotten too crazy up there. i said to people when i was reading senator pasco

president of kosovo, president mary robinson former president of -- currently a global leader in so many regards and prime minister helen clark former prime minister of new zealand and currently the head of the u.n. development program. those are just again the next panel so this is going to be an amazing few days and if we all take the approach that we are here to listen and we are here to learn from experts from so many different walks of life and we are here to celebrate the ideas they have to share with us, ideas that we know or hear from talented leaders. i want to take just a moment to thank steve ratliff. steve is there usaid chief economists in a weiland has helped us instill a culture of discipline around a more quantitative and economic growth oriented rich to development and his responsible really for pulling this together. when steve came to me about a year ago with the basic idea, it

of the mary robinson foundation for climate justice. [ applause ] and on my far left and on your far right, the administrator of the united nations development program, administrator helen clark, the former prime minister of new zealand. [ applause ] so it is an extraordinary group. i want to begin with an unconventional question before we get into the very important topic that we're discussing this morning. i want to ask each one of these leaders to just give us the heads of state to give us a fact or two about your country, the people of your country, that maybe many of us don't know because we haven't been there. president ellen johnson surleaf,

president mary robinson former president of ireland and currently global leader in so many regards. and prime minister helen clark, former prime minister of new zealand and currently the head of the u.n. development program. those are just the guests on the next panel. this is going to be an amazing few days if we all take the approach that we're here to listen. we're here to learn from experts. from so many different walks of life and we're here to celebrate the ideas they have to share with us. ideas that we know we'll hear from talented leaders like the admiral. i want to take just a moment to thank steve. u.s. aid's first chief economist in a while and has helped us instill a culture of discipline around a more quantitative and economic growth oriented approach to development. and is responsible really for pulling this together. when steve came to me about a year ago with the basic idea it was rooted in a very simple concept. the concept is that never before have we had the opportunity to achieve so much together in global development and global health and protecting the world's most vulnerable and cont

jahjaga, the former president of ireland, mary robinson, the former prime minister of new zealand now the administrator of the u.n. development program, helen clark. let's thank them all. [ applause ] >> that was very good. >>> good afternoon, everybody. i'd like to remind everybody in your folders you have these crowd hall cards. and we welcome people goingline to browse the panels, submit the questions and voting for your favorites. so look for the cards in your folders. great to see everybody here this morning and it is my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker. the first time that i met the admiral at a dinner, the first question he asked me was whether i had read "prust" or not. he has decades experience leading both direct combat missions in theaters across the globe, haiti, bosnia, some of the places we heard about in the earlier panel and also in guiding our military strategy at the highest levels. he now has what is probably the coolest title on the planet, which is the nato supreme allied commander of europe, as well as the commander of our european command. each has been a leading force in the government and military and a

cost voe, the former president of ireland, mary robinson, the former prime minister of new zealand now the administrator of the u.n. development program, helen clark. let's thank them all. [ applause ] >> that was very good. >> up next, part three of this forum hosted by usaid. nato's supreme allied commander to europe is joined by a special assistant to president obama to discuss development and relief work in afghanistan, haiti, somalia and yemen. the moderator is ray swar yez. this is just over an hour. [ applause ] >> good afternoon, everybody. i'd like to first start by reminding everybody that in your folders you have these crowd hall cards. and we welcome people going online to browse the panels, submit your questions and voting for your favorites. so look for the cards in your folders. and great to see everybody here this morning. and it is my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker. the first time that i met admiral james at a dinner, the first question he asked me is whether i read proous or not. which is how i knew that he truly embodied the idea of a soldier scholar and statesman. he has decades of experience leading both di

jahjaga, the former president of ireland mary robinson, the former prime minister of new zealand, now the administrator of the u.n. development program helen clark. let's thank them all. [ applause ] >> that was very good. ♪ >>> on "washington journal "tomorrow morning, our guests include national review" senior editor. he'll look at politics, the economy and next week's house committee vote on whether to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. "our divided political heart: the battle for the american idea in an age of discontent." gary gensler will take your questions about the role of his agency. "washington journal" live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >>> nato's supreme allied commander for europe and special assistant to president obama also spoke at the u.s. aid conference. they discussed nato challenges in libya, somalia, and afghanistan such as the balance of military power and development work, famine, and the rise of social networks and activism. this is a little over an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'd like to first start by reminding everybody that in your folders you have those crowd hall ca

robinson foundation for climate justice. and on my far left and on your far right, the administrator of the united nations development program, administrator helen clark the former prime minister of new zealand. so it is an extraordinary group. i want to begin with the kind of an unconventional question before we get into the very important topic that we're discussing this morning. i want to ask each one of these leaders to just give us the heads of state, to give us a fact or two about your country, the people of your country that maybe many of us don't know because we haven't been there. president ellen johnson surly, i'm going to start with you. >> liberia is a country that experienced two decades of civil conflict ruling in dysfunctional institutions, destroyed infrastructure. young people bypassed by education and training. a lot of despair. six years we've tried to fix it. we've brought back hope. we've got the young people back in school. repairing the infrastructure, ensuring that the institutions function again. and we solved the debt problem. the country was full of despair, lack of confidence, lack of hope. but one today that now sees

robinson foundation for climate justice. [applause] and on my far left, your far right, the administrator of the united nations development program, administrator helen clark, the former prime minister of new zealand. [applause] so it is an extraordinary group. i want to begin with an unconventional question before we get into the very important topics that we are discussing this morning. i want to ask each one of these leaders to give us a fact or two jiabao your country -- a fact or two about people of your country that may be many of us to not know. president johnson-sirleaf, i will start with you. >> liberia is a country that has experienced two decades of civil conflicts. this resulted in dysfunctional institutions and destroyed infrastructure. young people were bypassed by education and training. for six years we have tried to fix it. we have got the young people back in schools repairing infrastructure and insuring that institutions function. we solved that problem. a country that has dealt with lack of confidence and lack of hope that now sees a future in which each one has a stake. a future in which they can participate. i might say, one tha