taking over and he still is our. image pushing the kennedys out of the way. lyndon johnson was very lucky to help them with that. and when to to say say. >> what did she do during those first weeks? >> she said she was on skates. in fact, it would be hard to find a first lady that is repaired and she was. she merely started taking notes. notes while she was

still in planning to hear it president kennedy had died. started making plans me for putting her radio station line draw to some kind of line trust so they would not be used in marketing. she really took over fast. a quick study. theest she could play off idea of and for taking notes. this was an history with document itself defensively as you. there was a daily dialer -- diary. there were also lyndon johnson phone things. this hates. there was also a television crew that followed and documented. is this new to the administration? had this been going on for a allowing collects the of documentation was new. she did not report everything. some were just too full. she would have a remote machine and on days that were too busy,

she would stuff brown envelopes with menus. then she would sit down and read and her white house diary and we will be, that is only will you are -- we are waiting for the rest to come out. a you are as i -- she said she gathered herself.

>> we will see some of the video all the crew and --

you are >> she's a very astute observer. wonderful. one writer. him -- you writes intentionally. are

-- --trying to give on the show he is trying to tell you what was happening, but not in some way so sensationalize. in mrs.er following kennedy's footsteps, roberts referred to the delicate dance of being respectful but needing to take control. what was the two women's relationship like e >> lady bird johnson, many people said this is a daunting act to follow. she made a special effort to not to imitate some of the projects example,dered -- for beauty and beautifying the mall. was an amazing absence.

she seemed to consider the kennedys a different generation. i find her amazing in that regard that he knew jacqueline kennedy was extremely popular. and yet, she knew he she had a lot of offer -- a lot to offer as well. quest that is something you have to keep in mind. there were a lot of times mrs. kennedy was pregnant, she lost the baby, she was not well a lot of the time. a lot of things she did not want to do. mrs. johnson filled in. she knew the role well. she was a quintessential washington political life. she was then on the scene since the 1930's. she knew it well and had other who were wives extraordinary women and they all gathered around her.

that made the transition somewhat easier. >> we should say at the outset, among the women who gathered around, it was your own mother. can you talk about the parentsip between your and the johnsons? >> my father was elected in 1940. he was 26 and my mother was 24. that was before world war ii. the rules were still there of calling. you had to go calling. it was the supreme court on monday. i am making up the days. there was my mother, this 24- year-old girl, except people are oh -- were older than than they are now. her first day of having to go and the horn hocks outside and she goes running down. it is lady bird johnson and al gore's mother. and they took their calling and the friendship -- ever since. all through their husbands clinical lives, and then when

they both became widows, they traveled together and had a wonderful time. >> we will step back in time and learn more about the biography of the woman who became first lady on november 22, 1963. these programs are interesting because of your questions. can join in.u you can tweet us at c-span's website. we are also already taking questions from people on their facebook page. if you live in the eastern half of the united states, 202 -- >> she was born in a house outside the town, not much of a town either. texas.

december, 1912. in a big house. one of the things i found is how -- below therees is economically and socially. sometimes even education. it made a big impression on me to drive past the house where lady bird johnson is born. the 17 room house with six fireplaces and big white columns. then go 300 miles. it is right near the louisiana border. west lyndon00 miles johnson was born. >> i think of the death of her mother and she was only five in what i consider mysterious circumstances. she was a very lonely child, although she said she was not. were -- she had

two older brothers but they were sent away to boarding school. they were a good bit older. they were sent away from boarding school or -- school. said,dest brother, she she really never knew him when he died in 1959 of pancreatic cried, she said she harder than she ever had in her life. it was a lonely childhood. even her name, lady bird, the typical story is that it came from a nurse, but she says him it was two little african- american playmates. the children of -- who decided to call her that because they did not like claudia. it was not considered somehow acceptable to say she had african-american playmates, so the nurse was brought in and it was attributed to the nurse. >> and, and and. aunt.

-- to get out of that part of

texas. >> a lot of women could write. they learn to write. that was something they thought they could do. my mother wanted to be a journalist. they both ended up as politicians. >> the interesting thing about her approach, she was from a wealthy family. she not only got a college degree but also got a teaching certificate and learned stenography. >> that is what a girl did to prepare for all possibilities. isn't it interesting she felt the name -- the need to prepare for all possibilities with how much money she had. >> she had a good income. she was inheriting about $7,500 a year in the 1930's, which was about what five schoolteachers could make. get out i think, was to of there. some faraway place like hawaii or alaska. she went to the same journalism school as walter cronkite. the same professor. this in about the same professor as a favorite. paul bolton. she hired him to have the news

professor,he same when she thought the radio station. we forget how very well-trained he was as a journalist. class how did she meet lyndon ,ohnson? class by chance supposedly. certainly true a woman they both knew and must've heard something about each other before. it was a seven -- september afternoon when lady bird had dropped into the woman's office. her name was jean, a woman lady bird had grown up with. lyndon johnson by the same office on the same day. it was, as lady bird says in one of the interviews, it was electric going from the first minute. love letters, which are just the courtship letters, released by the library last valentine's day, everyone should read them online. lbj courtship letters, and you can read the transcript where they were conducting a hot and heavy courtship.

>> and fast. he was not going to waste any time. she was either going to marry him or not. >> he was, at the time, a congressional aide. >> you could be an aid and not run, but he clearly had ambitions. she was for those ambitions. --

>> thought it was too fast. the and certainly thought it was too fast. really all of the family council, she went ahead. what she said when she got in the car, that sat morning and married,e down to get she really did not make up her mind until about 6:00 when she went down to the church. >> and was very young. 22 and he was 26 question was not quite 22. -- 26. >> she was not quite 22. to 23 was normal to get married.

>> i have two questions. did lady or johnson have contact with kennedy after she was first lady and did she ever have doubts about the vietnam war? >> yes. the tax bill, he gave her four pens, one for her and one for each of the kids in the library. during the white house years, the contactless rather formal. johnson certainly invited mrs. candy back but she never came back while they were there. they give gifts to the children. i know the christmas for example, they gave john junior a fire engine. they reached out to her after .he white house though

in the 1980's, after she was we would not say they renewed a friendship but established a friendship on martha's vineyard in the summer. >> she supported her husband publicly. in her private materials, did you ever find any doubts about the vietnam war? >> she said if you will start a war comment has to be about a big event like pearl harbor. to me, that meant she thought they did not have in vietnam. >> it was so hard with the protests. they were so personal. positiond put you in a where you just want to support him no matter what. >> michael is in washington dc. hi. plus i want to let you know this program is fabulous. thank you so much paired iwatch and away from the beginning. my first question is, did lady

bird johnson have any of the former first ladies living at the time dr. jack kennedy did not come back obviously. did she have any of the former first ladies back at the white house and what she's the oldest, longest living former first lady? >> the longest living was that truman. a very close by. 95 anduman made it to they were both 94. very close. the other question -- >> other first ladies comeback? >> i do not remember who else was around to come back here and maybe eisenhower and s truman -- and truman. i know the johnsons went to the trumans in independence because that is where they signed the medicare at. -- act.

they conferred with the eisenhower's about how to give the ranch to the nation, which eisenhower had done with the gettysburg farm. luncheonsemember any with former first ladies. qwest lyndon johnson gave lady bird the movie camera. there are many hours of family home of the best movies now recorded and accessible to historians and other researchers at the lyndon johnson library. we will see one of those next from the 1941 special election. >> that suit went all over texas. in night really. some of the gestures have persisted through the years.

weight was not his problem then. sometimes, he would sweat down three or four said today. all i did in those days was wait and look. this is in competition with a carnival. never try to do it. fun to watch with commentary. qwest those are accessible to anyone online. just put johnson, lbj, home movies, 35 of them come up and you can watch them all. she said that was for their favorite campaign and was the only one they lost. qwest would you talk about his regression from congressional when sheongress? >> married him, she was a congressional aide and that is when she started out.

she got the new year's eve, 1934, she had been married six or five weeks. he served about a year before they went back to texas so he could be head of the national youth administration. she then goes back in 1937, when he is elected to congress, and she is therefore about a dozen years as a congressional life. she is very good at making -- networking with other women. a very loyal member of the congressional wives club. and she is a very loyal member of the senate wives. 1941, house years, in linden enlisted. he enlisted and went off on active duty. i do not think we have another first lady who ran her husband's office. best truman work in her husband'senate office and lady bird johnson was always careful to say in all the letter she sent out that she was

volunteering for services. qwest it was remarkable. he left her in charge. off he went. then various friends of his reported to him she was running the office a whole lot better than he had. coming back to networking with political women, it was an extraordinary group of women to begin with. what they were doing was not something that's sitting around drinking tea and tanning desk tending to -- they were politically active both in their husbands campaigns and the larger campaigns, voting registrations and all of that. they were very active in the district of columbia. no matter where they were from, at a time when it was not -- it would not have been popular were it known where they were from,

they worked with the african- american women here in washington on all kinds of social service issues. they created a social safety net. qwest one thing that was interesting in the home building that home video we saw, she said, my job at the time was to sit and watch. at what point did it become ok and acceptable for spouses of congressional candidates to become seen as being actively >> some had been active from the beginning. about the vocation. they had been much more active than anybody gives them credit for. all through history. eleanor roosevelt was out there doing campaigning. it was considered bad form if you did not do a certain amount of campaigning.

qwest it was behind the scenes come most of it. i think lady bird johnson deserves credit for being the first life of a presidential candidate to go out on a speaking tour of her own. that was really knew. eleanor roosevelt campaigned for other candidates but i do not think she campaigned for her husband until she ran for that third term in 1940 because it was not considered ladylike to be open about your support for your husband. you are behind-the-scenes organizing women to put up posters were sending out letters. your thanking people. what did lady bird johnson say, the life of a candidate, her job is to walk behind him and say thank you. it was behind-the-scenes until the 60's. >> next is a question in georgia.

>> type. -- hi. question, i have two. first is, what were lady bird johnson's hotties. -- hobbies. with the the relations kids. i am nine years old. >> how did you become interested in lady bird johnson? >> my mom has been telling me about these programs. i really like history for a while. i wanted to be able to call in and watch one, and i am able to now. >> for participating. that is great. were, did she have hobbies? >> are number one was nature, the outdoors. she said it was hurricane ivan world. people told me if she was doing some he she did not particularly like, like sorting through

pictures or doing work that was boring, she would just start humming or whistling and taker of self to a place where birds sang and flowers bloomed. -- a wonderful defense to have, i think. wast the second question about her children. qwest she was a mom. there was no question she was a present mom. lyndon johnson is two or three months younger than i am. was he, of course, a few years younger. she was always around and so were they. old, they were very wonderful caretakers for her. qwest we need to talk about -- we said at the outset she was a successful businesswoman in her own right. she was the first self-made millionaire among first ladies. how did she become that? >> she inherited money from relatives and bought a radio station in 1943.

i think the figure generally given as $70,500. she was then very active in seeing it was turned around from a money-losing operation to a moneymaking operation. she went down and lived in austin for six months or so. floors and windows. qwest i could not get over this when i read it in her oral history. she takes over a radio station and starts running it. how do you do that. she did. she went in and changed the building and change the staff. cbs came in as an affiliate. it became a highly successful station she was running. her, go run said to that station and off she went and did it. -- drove the distance. qwest back and forth constantly. i did that as a kid, too. it was no fun.

no interstate highways and no air conditioning in the cars. it took a long time. those trips. to say she was a successful businessperson but it did not hurt to have a politician that eventually became the majority leader of the senate as your spouse. >> yes. many people have charged her when it came time to apply for a tv station, the fact that her husband was a senator. other people just did not apply for the license. eye ont a really careful the reports she demanded when she was in washington. she demanded weekly reports. people said she went over them with a fine tooth comb, suggesting different sales pitches to use to sell air time. she was active in who got hired. she was managing a good station. >> it was just the beginning. it became a communications empire. qwest with tv. qwest also, the johnsons, with lady bird, really her

investment, they bought the acres and the texas hill country known as the johnson ranch. qwest we will are more about that in this next video. qwest the living room was the oldest in the house, and she referred to this as her hearts home. we have a few things that speak to her connection to the room. one of the things she wanted to highlight was the native american heritage here in the hill country. we have a small collection of arrowheads over there. mrs. johnson had her daughters look for arrowheads. she would pay them, each one dollar for every arrowhead and she found linda was doing quite a bit better collecting them. it turned out linda was paying her schoolmates $.50 and collecting a dollar from her mother. she had an eye for copper and collected various items through the years and had gifts from various friends. one of the objects that was gathers attention is the three television sets. the president loved to watch the

news. abc, nbc, cbs would all show the news at the same time. the president would turn down on the televisions he did not want to watch. mrs. johnson's favorite program was gunsmoke and she continued to alter her schedule to capture an episode of her favorite western. -- ranch was dubbed the texas white house and life revolved around the home. to show you the importance of the ranch and the home, the johnsons return home 74 times during johnson's five years as president. mrs. johnson loved to show off the texas hill country and her home. the guest to the ranch would also -- often informally gather in the den and various heads of state came to visit. a president of mexico, israeli prime minister, to name a few. they would visit with the johnsons rate here in the den. a special room was place for lady bird, where she

entertained guests and picked out the wallpaper depicting a country seen very similar to the country. similar to this scene, she would have seen out her window that she had installed -- installed at her request. mrs. johnson gave a tour of the house in 1968 that was found where she featured the china you see here purchased in mexico, very colorful. the president would sit down at this end of the table, where you see the cow hide chair, with typically mrs. johnson at the other end of the table and one feature you will notice next to the president, a handy telephone, resident johnson loved working the telephones and in the middle of the meal could make a call or answer one or it mrs. johnson was not necessarily happy about it but she got used to it because lyndon johnson was such a workaholic. mrs. johnson spent a lot of time here at the ranch and it was very important because it from thesuch a respite turmoil of washington, particularly later, where the johnsons could come home and

recharge batteries and make the connection back to the land and displays they valued so much. qwest how important was the ranch to them? .> she did not like it at all she said the house looked like charles addams house. she was very annoyed when he bought it. she got to love it. pratt -- as you heard, she called it her hearts home. the first ladies series, which we have referred to a lot, the biography of her is written by lou gould, the dean of the series. he makes a point in here about the difference between the kennedys, a people of the east coast, and people of the sea, and the johnsons, people of the their love spurred of conservation. does the connection make sense? >> it does make a lot of sense. being a part of texas, and there was a whole homeless country of its own, it is very different from the boston early

part of the country, all of that. this is where the country spread to and grew up. every --e exciting and on your own, out there. being at a ranch like that, it emphasizes it. but mrs. johnson was very interesting talking to the phone club about bringing the chancellor there. oft was a great success bringing him to the ranch and serving him texas food instead of it being a white house state dinner. has people ofexas german descent. they were also around. that was a wonderful moment for the people of texas. >> many statements have been made about lyndon johnson's's career and what a powerful

person he was and how happy he was. what were the vice presidential years like for lady bird? >> great for her but terrible for him. she loved it. she traveled a lot. she talked about arriving in feeling like she had been put down in the middle of national geographic or the travel was good. she really thrived on being second lady. lot for mrs. a johnson. qwest if he was unhappy and her , -- was really to keep him keep the domestic life going, how did she help him through that? >> he was always trying to get him to go to the gym because he put on a lot of weight. she tried to get him to watch his diet. she invited a lot of people he would like to see.

they were not good years. everybody will agree he did not do well. the vice president, that job is a little difficult for strong people. >> she started these women lunches. she had them in places like seneca. this iseople think something new under the sun, that just recent first ladies had been interested in women and women's issues and promoting the role of women around the world. mrs. johnson was doing that back when she was second lady. campaign, this was the one where she really came into her own and campaigned and understood what it was like to be on the national stage in ways she had not in the past. qwest i do not think anyone until theyit is like are on it. that is always a shock to how experienced you are as a candidate.

to ride as president and vice president as a whole other thing. qwest the 19 60 -- the 1960 ticket with the roman catholic on the ticket, a big selling job to do. also, the south was changing at that time. can you talk about how the johnsons approach, the people who lived in the south during the campaign? >> mainly by identifying with them. johnson was very key in that. she emphasized her alabama roots where her mother was from. she had spent time there with her cousins as a child. insisted on spending time in the south. but she also, when they went home to texas, they had a awful incident where they were rudelyd and she was very and somewhat dangerously treated. analysts thinkal that actually through texas to them because people were so ,hocked to see a lady

particularly a ladylike mrs. johnson, treated in such a fashion. the main thing is texas did go for the ticket and had it not, kennedy would not have been elected as it whenever we are talking about the pick for vice president all of that, the only time we can ever actually prove the vice presidential pick made a difference is the johnson bid. qwest she held -- hell does all across texas and insisted on shaking hands with all the 500 women who showed up. after texas did go for kennedy johnson, didn't robert kennedy say, mrs. johnson one texas for us. qwest) when approached during campaigning about the catholic issue, how did mrs. johnson replied to people? >> i am not sure i ever heard -- her-- her applied reply to the question.

qwest -- >> the next call from kyle. you're on. qwest good evening. i appreciate c-span having the first ladies series good one question i had, how is ms. johnson treated on the lady bird express? i know she came to charleston in 1964. -- aieve the congressman big powerful congressman in the state. allent out on a limb to do he could for her, but i think she was treated pretty bad here in charleston. overall, how was she treated in the rest of the south and what was their relationship with the johnsons? class a little bit later on, we will have a clip. it fits nicely with the campaign style and the approach in the south we are talking about. were in a964, we different place because the president had signed the 1964

civil rights bill in the summertime. the south was up in arms. insistedson absolutely on taking what was the lady bird special through the south, saying this is the part of the country i am from, i will not write off the south. all got organized and i found just recently in my basement, since i live in the house i grew up in, all of the advance work for the lady bird special in my mother's handwriting. , she has various places we cannot find a local politician to show up. wise ofn, who were them, myere they with father, as the caller said, served as something as an mc on the train. my mother told the story they would have to go ahead because there were bombs along the way

and threats all along the way. johnson on thes. train, but so were the johnson daughters. that was a lot of coverage. qwest we would come back as i mentioned a little bit later on and have reflections from linda, thedaughter who was part of campaign. i wanted to just ask this question when we are talking about her approach to politics and campaigning from a facebook viewer. he asked, essentially asking whether or not she could have had a political career in her own right if she had been board later. -- born later. >> i somehow do not see her as running for office but she developed the traits. speech he --aking speaking lessons, public speaking lessons, in 1959. that was a far cry from where she started out where the only thing she did was working in the back room with the letters and getting other women to do the

speaking. lyndon's mother and his sister were the ones she turned to in the 40's. she did developed. maybe another time she would've been. qwest also, what happened with my mother, contemporary, was that my father was killed in a plane crash and my mother ran for her seat. that could have easily happened with mrs. johnson. what she said to my mother, when she called lady bird to say was running, mrs. johnson said, that is wonderful, but how will you do it without a wife? [laughter] >> to demonstrate how essential johnson's ofndon the approach, we have a clip, a well-known one. lady bird's critique of an lbj speech, one right after a press conference and you can hear how very direct she is with the president in his approach and

presentation. class you want to listen for about one minute or would you tonight? >> yes ma'am, now. class i thought you looked strong and firm and a reliable guide. you look spend it. close-ups were much better than the distance once. class you cannot get them to -- they were destined or more close of an distance once. during the statement, you are breathless. there was too much looking down. i think it was a little too fast. not enough change of pace. dropping voice at the end of sentence. there were a considerable pickup and drama and interest when the questioning began. betterice was noticeably and your facial inspections noticeably better. i thought your answer was good

area i thought your answer on vietnam was good. i really did not like the answer on the dog because i think i've heard you say, and i believe you actually have said out loud that you do not believe you ought out of the country this year. i do not think you can very well say you need it any time is convenient for both people. qwest what are we here and , educateda very firm evaluation of a speech. i think it is wonderful. >> he clearly wanted her analysis. he relied on it. as you listen to the tape although a clue -- all the way through, he starts backing away from the phone and starts getting somewhat defenses. -- defensive. "well they told me to do that." no one likes to hear that direct a criticism but he relied on her to tell him the truth. qwest they were obviously very clinical valued

partners. the flipside is there were challenges in their marriage because of lyndon johnson's infidelity, something he would occasionally brag about. did this affect their partnership if it did at all. >> is important to realize that that german mists changed how they cover the presidents. she lived in washington all those years and watched as franklin roosevelt's relationship with lucy, john f. kennedy's relationship with did notmen, reporters write about that. in the johnson years, perhaps encouraged by the president himself, they did start writing about the women who were around him. i think time magazine in april 1964, lyndon johnson had been president only three or four months, had this article about

lyndon johnson driving around the roads of texas with a glass of beer on the dashboard and a beautiful young reporter on his side cooing into his ear, mr. president, you are fun, i think is bad line. i do not think you will find any articles on previous presidents. it is important to her member she came into the spotlight at a time the spotlight had changed. qwest here is one critique of president johnson about this aspect of his life in his biography. -- would you talk about how they're reporting relationship has changed, you said nothing is new under the sun. we have prior examples of prior first ladies who doubt with this but times are changing. >> i was not aware of this in

terms of his views. no one would talk about it, certainly not the moms. what has happened in terms of reporting is -- part of that has to -- it increases the numbers of women in the ranks of reporters because there is a sense that the personal is political and i think that where you saw them -- the huge shift was in 1984 with gary hart. before that there was a sense of what happened on the trail. and that did change with the increased number of women on the bus.

>> back to phone calls. caller: how are you? one question has occurred to me about labored and all the first ladies, how big of a staff do they tend to have in the east wing, do they have their own speechwriters, the social secretary, how big of a staff is there generally that the first lady has at her disposal? >> thank you for asking that. in many ways labor johnson created the framework. guest: she went into office, she hired liz carpenter as a secretary and chief of staff. and beth able as social secretary. they really took over the east wing and hired others obviously to help. that was the first time they had -- there had been a press secretary chief of staff. i tried to find out the number and i was told by her office that it very has not only did

she hire a large, competent staff herself, but she also brought in on loan people from other departments. for example for the beautification campaign she brought in people from the secretary of interior's office so it was not on her budget. truly hard to come up with a number. i was somewhere in the 20's. and she had this cadre of clinical women who worked with her on many of these things especially on head start, for instance when she got very engaged in creating head start. my mother was very engaged with her as were several of the other political wives so she had a lot of on tears, very -- very highly trained, smart volunteers as well. >> how long was it before the office of first lady was established in how was that done? >> that is different mark -- that is difficult to answer. back at the beginning it was mostly relatives or friends.

the sister-in-law did volunteer work so it is hard to document. the roseville women always had their social secretary's and pack those on. -- secretaries and packed those on. liz carpenter had been a reporter since 1942, when lady bird met her. their friendship went back so she chose people and they stayed with her the entire time in the white house. and after. >> as mrs. johnson became in demand on these issues, what they called beautification, people wanted her everywhere.

she had to create essentially an office of surrogate. which was such a funny notion because we think of the first lady as the surrogate for the president. we have office -- surrogates for the surrogate. host: you are on. caller: i am pleased you are doing this series. the first ladies are getting their due. i wanted to mention earlier you asked if mrs. johnson ever had former first ladies at the white house. i know she had to at the ranch, mrs. carter and mrs. ford. i believe it was probably in the late 1980's. and also i wanted to mention that mrs. johnson's centennial her earth day was last december 22, 2012. and in honor of that the post office issued a commemorative

stamp. mrs. johnson was the fifth first lady to have a stamp. the others were martha washington and dolly madison and abigail adams and mrs. roosevelt. host: the producer tells me you have a connection with her. wht is -- what is it you would like people watching this program to know about mrs. johnson? caller: oh, my. cokie and betty are doing a terrific job, thank you. she was very warm. she was unflappable. she had a delicious laugh, it was a hearty belly laugh.

she was such a good role model for all of us who knew her and loved her. when you work for mrs. johnson for the president, too, all -- although i did not know the president. you became part of the family. she was my friend and i loved her. she loved me, too. it was a privilege working for her and knowing her and her family. they have certainly followed in her footsteps and they are terrific. it has been an honor. guest: at mrs. johnson's funeral, all the staff no matter how old they were and how far away they were came, including some secret service men who had retired long before but who loved her so much that they made the huge effort to get there. host: is there anything in the diary that would shock us today? guest: she would not put in. host: let's go to marvin, watching us on the air.

caller: i was at the texas delegation at the democratic convention. jfk said -- you were such a great senate majority leader you should stay there. good lady bird johnson want lbj to -- did lady bird johnson want lbj to accept the nomination and would have lbj have been as successful in his various jobs without the support of lady bird johnson?

host: we can start with the second one first. gues: she would say that. an enormous heart of her -- his success -- part of his success. guest: she and others did not want him to take the second spot on the ticket. they considered john kennedy junior member of the senate -- a junior member of the senate and he should wait his turn. no one could have campaigned harder than she did. guest: sam rayburn had to be convinced. my father went to him and said do you want richard nixon to win? there you are. host: how did she choose her cause, beautification? guest: it was a heartfelt thing. she did not choose the project. she did not change the curtains that needed changing because she

said the next family might not like it and she acted as though that would be the last year in the white house. after lyndon johnson won so big in 1964, she sent out requests for advice on what she should do and the word came back she, like other first ladies, should do something about washington. the beautiful -- beautification of washington came out of that but it became clear that her committee, the beautification people had split and some wanted to go national and that is the emphasis on national parks, highway beautification, mary lasker who was part of that move, said these highways are terrible. she was thinking of the new jersey turn pike. although signs -- although signs, it could be better. that was highway beautification, getting the junkyards removed or covered up with fences and the

washington park. even the washington part split into two. one group wanted to plant tulips, the dog would set. people wanted to polish the statues and make it more beautiful for tourists and others who wanted to go into the poor neighborhoods where sports fields, recreation facilities were not there and do something for those in regards. the important about her is she incorporated the mall. -- them all. >> she beat the united states congress and there was no hiding behind, you know, the man, and she did not attend that she was not doing it. -- pretend that she was not doing it. she was up their lobbying and it was very tough. it sounds nicey-nicey, the beautification. the billboard lobby was against any of this.

they were people as there are ways are in these situations, people pushing harder saying she was not doing enough. rexam people saying the you are going way too far. she hung in there and she kept it up, even as the congress is -- she was a very powerful force. that was the first time -- first ladies had always lobbied from martha washington on. but that was the first time there'd such public lobbying. it demonstrates her political skills that she put to her environmental issues. let's watch that now. the whole nation at this election are to cross roads between past and future. we face many problems together.

peace is one and economic prosperity is another. we have reached good and workable solutions in the past. in washington who care about the people of the south and it takes citizens here at home with a vision of the future. today, any parts of the south present one of the nations proudest picture progress. century needs to face a future together with imagination and feel. back.not plan to turn [applause] >> mother did month the south think that we didn't want to vote. just because we knew there were a lot of people who didn't like

the civil rights bill, for instance. she hoped that she could appeal to them to recognize that that was a time that was coming and that change had to be made and .e were moving forth there are a lot of african american citizens who were there and we wanted to reassure them. into some people that didn't like us. they were very vocal. there were threats that they were going to blow the train up and so they ran a car through if it hours just in case was on the tracks would blow up the sidecar and not get us. and then there were threats all along the way, but it was a wonderful success and mother would stand on the back of the

train like she had seen harry truman do and she would tell them how proud and how happy she was to be here and she hoped that they would vote for her husband. >> and cokie roberts right hind lady bird johnson -- right behind lady bird johnson. ho cokie mentioned how controversial this was. was it really a tough job selling this of the congress and was it a difficult job at the lobbying group? >> the billboard lobby was for a strong. i think we forget how strong it was. i think maybe now the judgment is she tried to do too much on that. it was very hard. but she did. in washington, people don't realize this beautiful city we live in is much more beautiful because of her and mary lasker

wonderfulend was a philanthropist. this profusion of flowers and trees and the fact that you just come into the city and are greeted by total beauty is a result of her having been here. >> this was a complement to lyndon johnson's great society programs or was it an independent campaign? >> it was a little of both. i think it was required of every first lady since her, what would be her project. michelle obama was asked that even before the nomination. it was a complement to society and also uniquely hers. >> but the first ladies who have succeeded her, did you see both michelle obama and laura bush i thinkh quoted her. that's what betty was saying.

she took a while and she had that big landslide. she was no longer the air to the to the job. she said i have a pulpit and i have to use it to do good. they took those words and follow them very consciously, quoting her. >> and remember that she continued that work after the beautification, if we want to use a terrible term which she hated also. she continued it after she left the white house. i think until 1990, which is 22 years after leaving the white house, she continued to give that highway beautification award out of her own pocket to highway workers in texas who had done most to beautify the highways of texas. i'm always interested in which first ladies continue their projects afterwards and which ones forget that they ever did

that. >> your some of the key accomplishments and challenges. of medicarehment and medicaid, the signing of the civil rights act which had an kennedy administration legislation, the worn commission thert with the findings on kennedy assassination, the establishment of the outer space treaty which people say today still is the framework for the international -- how the international immunity trees outerspace. and of course vietnam war. >> and the voting rights administration of 1965 which is one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation which made it possible for people to get the vote and to get themselves in a better situation. bill startedhts

under president kennedy but i don't think there would have been anywhere on earth kennedy could've gotten that bill through congress. i think it took lyndon johnson and his great skills as a former majority leader and an incredible arm twister to get that bill through. this tape certainly shows that. >> each of these programs has talked about how the first lady and the first couple have used forwhite house as a base their lobbying, as it were, their relationships in washington. how'd did the washingtons use the white house? >> is used for different than the kennedys. they had a month of mourning after the assassination, of course. but by early january of 1964 they were having their two or three evenings a week getting congressman and their spouses in small groups. they could've done it in one big reception and cotton some footage, but they did it because

not a time and got much closer to the congressman. i was struck by the fact that -- many the white house of the congressman's wives had never been upstairs and certainly the kennedys didn't open the second floor. andshe had the women reporters up stairs. i think she only lived in the white house only a month and she had women reporters going to the family bathrooms and looking at the living quarters. it was completely different from jacqueline kennedy's attitude that the upstairs was off- limits. power't underestimate the of that, because people when they feel that they are in the inner sanctum and have gotten something special, they are likely to be nicer to you. >> women reporters were coming into their own during this. and mrs. johnson, by having lots of news to cover, help them with their careers. >> yes, i'm sure they

appreciated her being so open. i was struck by the fact that she -- when she had the women reporters to the upstairs quarters she said i felt good about it because i've always been open about my life and i think that is why i am pleased to share most aspects of that with the reporters. but she said one thing she would do next time is put away the books she was reading, because a week later an article appeared, which may been coincidence, but listing the books that mrs. johnson liked. would have i guess put the bible out there. [laughter] the kennedysfired chef, but she insisted that all the acquisitions be american- made, which would've been different to jacqueline kennedy's approach. ten kennedy told

her to get china made in france. but she did not she got china made in the u.s. pitcher was her own woman. >> they had the first white house wedding in 53 years. theyt lucy's wedding and had both the daughters married while they were in the white house. it was a very joyous thing to have peered by this time they were getting into the vietnam war and into some of the real nastiness. to have the weddings was a of sitting moment back and saying this is a family. >> who did the daughters mary? ,> lucy married in august of 66 she married pat nugent in a catholic ceremony, not in the white house. so linda's is the first white house wedding of a president's daughter, i believe, since the wilson daughter in 1914.

and she married -- he had been a e. >> was she very much involved in the planning of the things? >> oh yes. everything became political, whether or not there is a union label in lucy's gown, her diary has a lot about what an ordeal that was for her. had to make> she two dresses, is that right? >> adapter lucy's wedding i know she fled to the virginia farmer she sometimes went when she didn't want to see anybody. of course after linda's wedding the president flat, so i think they both found it stressful. let's barbara is watching us in san francisco. i want to say love your program. the question i have is what linda and lucy are doing now and, children they have each. in the virginia

suburbs of washington. her husband was governor of virginia and senator of and linda has been very active in all kinds of causes where she has been very effective. she was the first lady of virginia and has been a political wife or self in those robes. patrick nugent and they divorced. i think she had four children at now is married to another man. cards just have a million kids. linda now has three grandchildren. lee turpen has a connection with the johnson family? >> yes he has a business in texas.

bird's mostlady challenging time in the white house? was at the vietnam years? >> yes. they were hard and whole country but we were also going through -- havinggenerational people outside white house screaming hey hey, lbj, how many kids did you kill today? can you imagine? that you hadhing to put up with despite buying the best for the country. >> she said i don't want to shut myself off, which would've been easy to do. >> in 1999, lady bird johnson give an interview to c-span and she spoke about vietnam. >> where is your number to fit in? wretched obstacle along the ,ay which you couldn't escape

couldn't shake off. >> when did you see him at his lowest? >> during those days. i think when the backs begin to come home. by that i mean they would come in at night on freight trains and i don't know if this is good planning. but oftentimes i would be in my way back from a trip from somewhere and at the station as i would get off there were these and the specs are onto other noaa kind of vehicle. doing and what he was

i knew i couldn't help them. >> did you try to help in anyway? >> yes, of course. >> will what did you do? i would say to the best you can. i think a lot of people and. what can you do in a situation like that? >> as for public sentiment against the war mounted, can you walk us through the president's ultimate decision not to seek reelection and what ladybirds: that was? >> well, she says, and i think there's other evidence to support this, that she wrote in her diary in 1964, i know when the time to leave will be. and it is exactly when she picked, march of 1968. she was such an authentic person that i don't think she dreamed that up later. certainly, as 1967 wound on

there is a big meeting i think in september of 67 at the ranch. she talks about being called in with the top advisers and she says i don't want another campaign, i don't want to ask you: time to help out. hard for lyndon johnson to walk away from the presidency, i think. i believe there was a sentence written that he would include in his state of the union and then he said he forgot it couldn't find it in his pocket or something. i think she very much wanted him not to run in march of 68. he of course found it difficult third >> so finally she was worried about his health. we haven't touched on that. was really a massive heart attack and he was quite affected by it and the whole family was affected by it. so i think that was something that they always had hovering over them and she had been very protective of his health and of his diet as best she could be.

and so it was something that was always on her mind and in fact he did die in january of 1972. >> that was four years after the white house. >> 1973. daysthink he lived for after what would've been another term. >> he had a heart condition. tenet national tumult can in 1968 after the announcement was made with the martin luther king assassination and the robert kennedy assassination. how did the johnsons hold us all together, knowing that they would be leaving? .> it was a terrible time herewas just a year that, we are in the week of the 50th anniversary of the 19 63 assassination that was the beginning of america's loss of innocence in a way. -- we hade no notion

no notion of what was going to happen after that. trying to keep the country together and keep it in some sense of not falling into despair was something that all the political leaders had to do. the president tried, but it was regard for him because he was seen as the symbol of the problem by so many of the people. >> lyndon johnson was just four years after he left office in 1969, lady bird living 30 more years and many of those active ones. we return to the lbj library to return a little bit more about how they worked there and prepared a library for the recording of the johnson administration's history. >> we are in the private office of mrs. lyndon johnson at the lbj library. i was her social secretary from 1976 to 1990. a typical day would be spent with her coming in in the morning am probably around 9:00 and she would come in toting a

straw bag in each hand filled with some of the things that you see on her desk that she had taken home for signing or speechwriting or event planning, whatever she was working on. she would always say when she came in to the office that she felt like a little girl as she had a straw satchel in each hand , like several bags. she would amend a work and her desk was always very orderly. she had a calendar that she worked in, daybook, and she kept files on your desk, file she was working on, trip she was taking. she was on the board of the banks, national geographic, smithsonian. she would keep large envelopes on her sofa with either the title are the dates on them so that she could pick them up, work on them and close everything back in them. withe worked on her desk letters she was processing, when she was processing, which he completed things should put them on the floor. but she stayed at the office most of the day, making phone

calls are working on projects that she loved so much. she loved this office because she could look out at her alma then a quarter through to the capital. in the city she looked so much. she would stay here all day and that was pretty much monday through friday. when we were having guests at the ranch she would sometimes go out a few days early and stay in the different guestrooms to check on the water and the lights to be sure everything was working like the tv in the different rooms. we would also make a stop on the way out to the ranch to the that to pick up magazines were just specific for whoever was coming to the ranch for the weekend. very thoughtful, very meticulous and gracious about that. we had three of the staff of the time. we are the personnel and -- who handled her calendar. we had a person came from the

white house and a press secretary who helped work on speeches and then i was in the office. so that chair was usually occupied by one of us a good part of the day as we rotated during projects that she was working on. but friday afternoon she was ready to leave and go to the ranch which she really called home. at about 330 in the afternoon she would say, to have anything else to do? if the answer is no, she would say tell the secret service am ready to go. she would get up and we would pack those little saddlebags up and she would take off and head out to the ranch for the weekend. she would be back here on monday morning normally. i was so fortunate to be here and learn some much from her in the way she did things in a way she entertained. i like the way she entertained. i think that is one reason we did so well together. i really loved her sense of making people feel at home. she was so good at it. the business of being just

specific, she was so awful about things for you. were inot married, they the white house when i got married and she sent out to the beautiful, a beautiful print of the capital seen from the white house in the 19th century. it was just so perfect. the capital is the billing i grew up in and their view of it now. and it was signed by them. >> so we have learned from you that she continued to be a very active first lady, post first lady into her very late years. >> into the 1990s. i think the macular degeneration the 90s, she had to stop reading and that is when she really stopped giving speeches i was told because she couldn't see the notes well enough. but certainly into the 90s she was very active and then we were talking earlier about how even

after the stroke she continued to see people, just valiantly going out to restaurants, even though she couldn't voice her reaction, she laughed and made people feel that she really appreciated them. >> was very active at the library and very interested in the work. art of the work of the library, i was there at least three times in this century, the 20. she was always there. important ins so the building of the library. she looked into the smallest detail how they were going to attach certain aims to the wall. she had herself raised in a crane so she could see with a view would be from her office which was on the top floor. she was very important in the building of the library. located, it would be because she had traveled to the fdr library and thought that the hometown might not be the best place. in cleveland. hi, karen.

caller: i had two questions. one was about how she felt about her daughter lucy getting married at such a young age and the second question about her involvement in the johnson school of education after his death. >> the work in texas was all of the peace. she was very interested in that work. that is a great place. it is a wonderful school. she was private about her views about her daughter getting married young, but obviously it was something worrisome. but then once lucy had made up her mind her parents embraced it and embraced her husband. >> in her post-white house years , her work for conservation and beautification was recognized with the presidential medal of freedom in 1977 and a congressional gold medal in 1980. wildflowerational

-- >> it wasnter on her 70th birthday and it has since moved, but it is still in austin and it is really quite an operation. answering questions from all over the world about what species will grow where and showing people model gardens. she continued to visit that right up until she was in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank. she knew the people who work there. she really continued to be as a timethat area >> with lady bird johnson comes to an end, we will return to the ranch in texas one last time. >> this is mrs. johnson's private bedroom. it was part of the 1967 remodeling. she specified to the designers that she wanted this to be her forever room. she specified certain elements she wanted. if i are placed, east facing todows and a large bookcase displace the many mementos and

keepsakes she gathered through the years. the birds, the china. and also cameras. mr. johnson gave mrs. johnson a camera as a wedding gift and she became quite the photojournalist. she had an 8mm camera to capture home movies, we have hours and hours of her home movies. as well as the recorder here are mrs. johnson every night at the white house would record her daily observations. this became the basis for the dirty,"t white house which is a very insightful diary of those tumultuous years of the 1960s. now mrs. johnson wrote for 34 years after the president's death. in her later years mrs. johnson love to sit here at this desk to keep up with the correspondence and all of her activities as a very active former first lady. also in the space we have mrs. johnson's closet with all of the , her formalwear, the ranch clothing with the boots and the hats, a lot of for

colorful outfits and your shoes. one of my favorites is the straw hat with the bluebonnets painted on top. and then her private bathroom that is again very reflective of the importance of family with all the photographs of those who mattered so much to her and to her grandchildren and great- grandchildren she was known as nini, a very special person in their lives. lady bird johnson had a great sense of history and infecting her years in washington she would often be a true guide for texans who went to the nation's capital. i had the fortune to meet lady bird johnson while working at harry s truman national historic site and i was very impressed that she wanted to see how the truman story was being interpreted, knowing that one day her story would be told here at the lbj ranch. mrs. johnson's death in 2007, the ranch was then ceded to the national park service. it is available free to visit if you happen to be in that part of

texas in the texas hill country. you really get a sense of the johnson's life and you're there. so she died at the age of 94. sharon cooper wants to know how the country respond to her death. >> there was an outpouring of love. >> everybody showed up. former presidents and first say, members of congress and artificial people you would expect to be there, but also this wonderful response of her staff and the secret service. seeing them coming was really quite something. we justalso the point heard that the park service channel and make about her sense of history. it is something we can enjoy some much and that he has made a point several times, all of this is available to us. all we have to do is go to our computers and mrs. johnson has made it possible for us to see their home movies, read their

love letters and most important from my perspective, hitters johnson tapes. she allowed those tapes to be open to the public without knowing what was on them, which is very gutsy. we have learned enormous amount about american politics and american history from listening to those tapes. where are she and the president buried. >> just on the road from the ranch house in the family cemetery. not the library, but they chose to be out in the countryside, the country that they loved. >> their burden of family cemetery were some of his siblings come i think his mother and father are buried there. you can walk from the ranch to the cemetery to the birthplace , ithe schools in 10 minutes don't know, a very short time. >> what should her legacy be seen as among first ladies? >> i think she was an outstanding first lady who really wrote the book for modern

first ladies, what they needed to do to be noncontroversial and yet contribute to a spouses legacy. it would work for a man, too, you know. [laughter] >> she understood that she had a megaphone and that she could use andor good and she did that expected that all or its to the same. >> extra collects at the white house is your call association for their assistance. thank you for being is once again -- for being with us once again tonight.

next monday on first ladies, pat nixon. the watergate scandal, her role as first lady was carefully crafted. public, butpoke in

would communicate with her husband about official matters via public manner memos and presidential aides. she increased the profile of the white house with the acquisition of furniture and antiques and increased access to the home for the general public. join c-span next monday for the life and times of pat nixon, 9 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span3 and on c-span radio. >> in 1968, lady bird johnson teamed up with the white house photographic unit to produce a film showing some of the private rooms of the residence. next, the 25 minute film "the presidents house."

[indiscernible] [footsteps] [traffic sounds] and i was the wife of a brand-new texas congressman, i never imagined that one day i would live on the other side of that fence. tourists, i had the

distinct feeling that this house belonged in part to me. i think that is a feeling that everyone who visits here shares. just like the thousands or come here every year, i was impressed pride of the stream of history that ran through each of the rooms. what the passerby doesn't always realize is that there are two sides to the white house. the official site that remains in the public eye and the private side that the public rarely sees. living quarters for the .resident and his family as is our living room. actually it is the west and of the long haul. the nerve center and

crossroads of all family activities. an intimate place and get busy. and it belongs to all the family. psychologically, when you cross that threshold, you feel that you are at home, that you are inside your own house. you can put on a robe and slippers and curl up with a good book. we gather here on all the climactic occasions, such as the immediate moments following the state of the union message or another major address to the nation. we usually invite those who worked on the speech were who had contributed to the event. on those nights, this room has been filled. it has the same electric quality of a broadway opening after the performance you're anxious to hear the reviews. although we have had some thrilling successes and high moments of pride, there were some chilly moments, too.

painful, this is where the initial public reaction is seen by the president and this is where the family shares his experience. this room is also a listening .ost for the tone of the day when we have no engagements in the evening, i coming here with some of my work that is so demanding and wait for linda to come home from his work. you can see his office from here. the lights may be on until 8:00 and maybe 9:00 or 10:00. sometimes he doesn't come home till dinner until after midnight. it is not for a far for a man to commute, but in terms of his responsibilities, there is a great distance from here to there. i recall being up here as lyndon broaden the latest acquisition for our old book collection and lucy emerged from the kitchen with a pan of brownies she had

made and at the same time the room that lyndon was down there only a few yards away. perhaps it was a crisis of the gulf of tonkin, of the middle east in june 1967. but sooner or later, the lights would go out and then in a few moments i would hear a little voice down the hall call out, >> wears bird." and then i would know he was home, really home. like in any american home, this room -- this place has personal touches. bookshelves that reflect individual interests of the family. , onend treasured friends of the things that i'm proud to leave as a reminder of our time is an addition to the white

house permanent collection of paintings. this is our most recent acquisition for the permanent collection. gypsy girl. the first painting acquired during our stay at the white house was winslow homer's perhaps first. you can almost feel the love mother and her children. look at that little girl. what the smallg child is going to mean to her life. ? is such a dear painting it seems to set the tone of the room. family shared to many personal and intimate moments. where we felt we were in the heart of the house, really at

home. each of the rooms in the family quarters of the white house has a special personality, a distinctive mood. , it has a dark green velvety look good its ornate deck or reflects the opulence of the victorian. but after the civil war this became the cabinet room for president andrew johnson, but it was president grant to introduce this table which so many succeeding presidents used to conduct the nation's business that was when the country out through the second- floor.

roosevelt who had six children does not tradition bound to the west wing presidential offices. separating once and for all the family quarters from the day-to- day work of the chief executive. many objects bring to mind earlier presidents. the torches of andrew jackson, this lamp presented to g grover cleveland. and this wastebasket of thedent grant. chandelier has an interesting story behind it. it was designed for the east german president grants time. but it soon passed from room to room until it finally wound up gracing president the adore roosevelts new office. every time the door opens it tinkled, striking him greatly. he ordered it to be sent to the capital and he was supposed to have said, put in the vice

president's office and it will keep him awake. and there it remained until my husband came vice president in 1961. during mrs. kennedy's renovation, we were instrumental in returning it to the white house where it hangs today. this room has seen many treaty signings. in our time i've witnessed to treaties here involving the geographic extremes of our country. whichrst was the k treaty made the summer home of franklin delano roosevelt and international park between canada and the united states. behind this table, prime minister pearson of canada and the has been receded, flanked by their delegations. i remember james roosevelt and ms. grace tully, the president's personal secretary, it was a thrilling look back into the past. and then from the northernmost part of the country to the

southernmost. returning to 1967, mexico is tossed it -- a small strip of land that was long a dispute between our countries. what a feeling of goodwill there was that day. the texas congressman from the border districts were here and a delegation from mexico, everyone i felt was saying to himself it is done at last. i can recall some other writing performed at this table. i was showing my guest the rooms on the second floor. we entered the treaty room and as i began my recital, i saw on the table some rather tattered , aebooks and chewed pencils high school algebra and latin book. it was evident at linda and lucy had discovered what i too would soon learn, that this room is

not as conducive to getting work done. almost from the beginning, i have used this room to launch the project closest to my heart. it is a good place to gather your committee or your group, talk into being a program and get it moving. most of our beautification planning was done right here. we took our notes on president and our connection with the outside world with this french telephone made in 1890. and then, i know that one day when i walk through the finished library in. johnson texas, vivid memories of this room will come to mind. for all most three years, our various library committees have met here. many of the chancellors, regions , historians and architects and

all manners of historians. here we have watched library grow from just the germ of an idea to a real, living repository of history. and so, a room that started out as a working environment by a succession of presidents still provides that very important function for 20th-century first ladies with a variety of projects. it is a working room, but like any room in the white house is also a collection of memories. having the entire family together for lunch is also -- is a joy but also a rarity. the girls are unpredictable. but when everyone's activities

coincide in together in the dining room. -- everyone's activities coincide and we gather together in the dining room. >> he looks so much like his daddy. [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] >> still i think whatever

parting gifts to the white house might be our in resident highchair. [indiscernible] i found exactly how much the other one was and how much the playpen was. to grandmother highchairs and one grandmother play chair. i knew that lyndon would be in the highchair.

[indiscernible] >> he would not be in one of my highchairs. --?ou trying to tell me [laughter] >> he does, he knows he loves him. >> 00. oh. >> to me, the yellow

oval room is the loveliest room and all the white house. while our living room is homey and cozy, this room is formal and elegant. yet, there is life here. inviting. it is a one room in the white that formal ceremony is mingled with family life. it symbolizes in a way the role it presidents family plays well living here. where the personal life and the official duties are always closely related. president franklin roosevelt's bedroom is next door. we use this room is a sitting room and office. for us, it is the main drawing the. on winter evenings fire is a magnet for good conversation. traditionally, the yellow oval room has been used for entertaining and four receptions.

is where the first official reception ever held at the white house to lace. ine on a chilly january 1 john and abigail adams -- that recognize this new nation. the visiting chiefs of state. this is where we invite the prime minister's are kings and their wives for that half hour or so before a state dinner. the earlier part of the day is with honors and formal ceremonies on the south lawn. sometimes a parade. this has always been an impressive experience, a responsibility. i go to the third floor before the occasion and look at the down nap case and pulled

-- the great map case. i also try to go over the guest list a good many times before , because hopefully you can say something more than just how do you do to our guests who come from all over the united states to meet the visiting head of state. and then, is a high moment when the color guard enters. president is brought to the wife of the visiting chief and i in turn to our guest. year, the marine captain who led the groove was chuck laub. he's terribly military and impressive. many months it passed before i realize i might be looking at our future son-in-law. we've had so many wonderful

personal happy times in this room. , lyndon and i celebrated just last year our 33rd wedding anniversary. the cake that linda planned hailed our time together one third of a century. what a day was her grandson's first birthday. on our birthdays, the climax was it is when provided us with a household crisis. in the end, the furniture didn't suffer one bit, but my nerves did. and then there was the christmas of 67. taken into trip around the world. aspects were bleak for the prospects for christmas for the whole family together. i followed his headlines from

australia to thailand to rome. and then, gloriously, he came home on christmas eve. we were seven. two sons-in-law and a new baby. it was a fragile happiness like some lovely bubble. i think the room must have sensed it, for it was never prettier. it was our first christmas in the white house, a moment to .atch and hold served to underscore my feeling that this house is only on loan to its tenants. we are temporary occupants linked to a continuity of presidents who have come before .s and who will succeed us for only a brief time we serve

as the extension of 200 million people holding that trust, working to fulfill it. >> the man who sits in his chair sits in the chair that has been by less than 40 men. it long history of this great republic. by the votes of the majority of the citizens of this republic. execute the philosophy and the policies of the people of this nation. regardless of his own personal feelings from time to

time. he is the executor of the will of the people of this nation antiterrorism upon his shoulders day and night a burden that always seems at least to him too but only for him to carry. shortly,e leaving here after having spent almost 40 years in the federal service. we came to washington with some .ery deep set convictions we felt that we could contribute to making this a better country for all of our people. and some feel we have made great progress, education, health,

housing. in some respects we have had .any disappointments but in the last few years in this house, in this office, we have had a chance to impress upon the people of this nation those simple convictions that brought us to this town. that kept me here for almost four decades. to reflect and look back and see what has been done because there is no better way to judge a future than by the past. but the important thing that faces our country now is for a new president to look at the new challenges and find new answers, find a means of communicating with our young and providing leadership and inspiration for them so that they will realize that we do care. find a way to help better

racestanding come to our so that we can live together in peace and harmony and equality with justice to all. ever came to this office on a platform of doing what was wrong. most of us have made some , andions definitely wrong most of theoffice people seemed to feel that most of the things we have done have been wrong. man who is ever occupied this office or set at this desk or reclined in his toir has been dedicated doing what he believes was for the best interests of the people of this country.

convinced that when any man takes the oath of office he is determined to as god givesght him the wisdom to know the right. most people come into the office with great dreams and believe it with many satisfactions and some , and always some of their dreams have not come true. and i am no exception. proudm so grateful and so .hat i have had my chance as to how successful have been the greatest good for

the greatest number, the people themselves and their posterity must ultimately decide. i have the satisfaction and my family has a satisfaction that we gave it all we had. we think we provided some of the answers to the needs of our time. >> next monday on first ladies

, pat nixon, the wife of 37th president. even to the watergate scandal, her role as first lady was carefully crafted. she rarely spoke in public, but was known to communicate with her husband about official matters via public memos and presidential aides. during her tenure, she increased a profile of the white house with the acquisition of furniture and antiques and increased access to the home for the general public. join c-span next monday for the life and times of pat nixon, 9 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span3 and on c-span radio. >> c-span is offering a special edition of the book "first ladies of the united states of america does quote featuring thoughts of historians and first lady michelle obama on the role

of first lady's drug history. it is available for the discounted price of $12 95 cents plus shipping at c- span.org/products. our website has more about the first ladies, including the special section, welcome to the white house, produced by her partner, the white house historical association, which chronicles life in the executive mansion ring the >> there are some serious scholars and women's studies, most departments include their fair share of non-ideological academics who offer straightforward courses, sometimes wonderful courses in the men's, women in literature. ,ut ideologically fervent statistically challenged hard- liners set the tone in most women's studies departments. if there is a department that defies the stereotype emma i would love to visit them. conservative women