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Home , Laura Bush

What’s Next for Laura ?

An Interview with former Laura Lane Welch Bush

You are known as a very private person. passes and the tragedy of it and the wounds of Was it diffi cult to write your memoir and it heal to some extent but it’s not really some- did you enjoy the process? thing you get over. i enjoyed the process, especially in the fi rst In the book, you talk about 9/11 and the year we were back home from the . days after and use the quote that “the world it was a great time to refl ect on those eight years as I knew it irrevocably changed.” Not be- we lived in the white house, but also to refl ect ing in the White House, it’s hard to imagine on an earlier part of my life. and it gave me the what it was like. Was it really a completely chance to fi ll in the gaps on the stories in my life different feeling from that day on? that reporters have never asked about and i’ve there was a completely different feeling never shared with the general public. it was fun for george, for me, and for our country. we all that george was writing his at the same time – grieved in those days and months afterwards, we worked with two different researchers, but just with the idea that we could have that kind they would help each other. of attack on our homeland, and there had re- Did the process go as you expected, ally never been anything like it. pearl harbor and were you surprised at how it turned was similar, but seemed more remote and was out? on military installations only, and this was on i called it the dreaded book project at fi rst private citizens who were just going about their because if i wasn’t working on it, i felt guilty. daily lives. in addition, both george and i, on but it did end up being easier than i thought. i that day and all the days afterwards, realized Laura Lane Welch Bush told the stories into a microphone and had them the gravity of what it means to be the president, transcribed, and then i edited and moved the what it means to be responsible for the safety of EDITORS’ NOTE is the wife of the stories around. i also had a lot of scrapbooks, the country. we knew that already, but that was 43rd President of the United States, George schedules, and photographs from years back when we really knew it in an emotional way. W. Bush, and was the First Lady of the United that i could use to jog my memory. When you’re President, people lose States from January 20, 2001 to January Was there anything going in that you sight of the fact that you’re still a human be- 20, 2009. She earned a bachelor’s degree felt was off limits? ing with emotions. Was it sometimes hard in Early in 1968 from Southern the whole point of writing a memoir is to to know how to be of help with the weight Methodist University in . She taught in be as candid as possible. i talked about the car he had on his shoulders, and does the rela- public schools in Texas for a few years before accident i was in as a 17-year-old. everyone tionship change during those times? earning her master’s degree in library sci- knew about it – it had come out in the press. we were already close but we became ence from the University of Texas at Austin. but i had never talked about it in a way that closer. both of us know that is really important In 1973, she became a librarian for the local people could understand what it was like for when you live in the white house, but also for public school system in Austin. As the state’s me and the impact it had on my life and what i anybody who is facing serious challenges and first lady in Texas, she took up and learned from it. is responsible for trying to help face those chal- as her causes, rais- In the book, you write about the car acci- lenges. we have always had the comfort of each ing nearly a million dollars for the state’s dent as being something that has stayed with other’s presence, wanting to be together. on the public libraries. While campaigning for her you for life. How were you able to deal with afternoons and evenings when he would come husband, she delivered her first major speech it at such an early age and how critical was back from the oval offi ce, he just wanted to be at the Republican National Convention in support from the community in handling it? with me and wanted my support. it wasn’t that Philadelphia in July 2000. After 9/11, she pro- the community really supported me. my we wanted to go over every single issue again – vided comfort for the country as it mourned family and friends did too, and all of my friends we didn’t need to do that. he had talked about the victims and worked to rebuild after the at- were friends with mike and the grief and the those problems, challenges, and issues all day. tacks. Laura Bush has been honored by The loss for them was just like it was for me. but the this was a way for us to relax and be together. Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in rec- support of everyone was very important. There are issues you have strong opin- ognition of her efforts on behalf of educa- i think i dealt with it by not talking about ions on, some with which you agree with tion and the American Library Association it and not thinking about it, except in private, your husband and some which you don’t. for her years of support to America’s librar- but it took a long time. i don’t think you ever During those eight years, was it important ies and librarians. She also accepted The get over something like that. i got letters at the for you not to express your opinions as Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal on behalf of di- white house, and now since the book has come candidly? saster relief workers around the world in May out, from young people who were involved in not necessarily. i just always knew i was 2006 from , as well as an accident or from their relatives or not the elected offi cial; that my role was to sup- the 2008 Christian Freedom International who want me to write a letter of encouragement port the president as his wife and to represent Freedom Award. to them. i write those letters, and i say, time the people of the united states, which i did 22 leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2010 leaders magazine, inc. volume 33, number 3 a lot. i visited 76 countries while george was but we also benefi t from all of the dif- opportunity, compassion, and global health. president and had the honor and the privilege ferent women who have been married to our this fall, we’ll be hosting a global health con- to represent the people of the u.s. in each one presidents, because of the expertise they al- ference on ways to deliver a broad spectrum of of those countries that i visited, i saw the ben- ready had or what they were particularly inter- health care to women at the time of the deliv- efi ts that those countries had accrued because ested in. many times, because they can focus ery of their babies which, in many developing of help from the united states. in , for in- on just a few issues rather than the broad spec- countries, is the only time women might seek stance, the president’s emergency plan for aids trum that the president has to focus on, we can any kind of health care. relief allowed people to experience what some see a lot of success from our First ladies. lady After eight years in the White House, it call the lazarus effect – they came back almost bird Johnson’s interest in native plants was the would seem like a good time to relax, but from death because they were able to start on start of the environmental movement. she was a you’re on a book tour, and working with antiretrovirals to treat their aids. leader in that and her impact continues with the the Bush Institute. Is it just not in your na- wildfl ower center. ture to slow down? Did it frustrate you early on when the there is still a lot i want to do. george media would talk about you in a way that and i will relax some this summer, but i’m still might not have been accurate? interested in a lot of the things that i worked on i wrote in the book about reporters and a when i was at the white house. george and i The press should question that i got so often from them, which will continue working with the institute on the was, “who are you going to be: hilary clinton policy issues that are important to us for the rest play a role in or ?” that was a silly question, but of our lives. in many ways, it was also demeaning to hilary Throughout those eight years, you were clinton and barbara bush – they saw barbara able to protect the privacy of your daugh- portraying our First as a nice grandmotherly woman and hilary as ters, Jenna and Barbara, who are thriving an activist, and denied what they really were, today. How proud does that make you as a which is interesting and complex women who mother, and how critical is it, with all the Ladies as the complex were interested in a lot of different things. so things you have going on, to still carve out it was frustrating and it is something we need family time? and interesting to think about. the press should play a role in Family time is still very important to us. portraying our First ladies as the complex and i loved having little babies, but i have loved interesting individuals they are as opposed to having my relationship with my girls now that individuals they are as trying to defi ne them by an either/or question. they’re grown and i am very proud of them. Well before your time in the White House, literacy was a key focus for you. Are opposed to trying to you concerned about the education system in the U.S. today, particularly in K through 12, and do you foresee continuing the dia- defi ne them by an logue to make sure we’re adequately train- George and I will ing the next generation of leaders? either/or question. yes, george and i are going to continue working on education issues through the bush continue working with institute, where we have an education forum focused on how to develop the leadership skills the institute on the and principles of superintendents. i recently visited a school in miami to an- so i didn’t see my role so much as speak- nounce the next round of grants for school policy issues that are ing out on issues that george and i disagreed libraries from the laura bush Foundation for on but, instead, supporting him in all the ways america’s libraries, so 144 more schools will get that i could. their grants to increase the book collections in important to us for You also took a lead role in advocating their libraries. it’s something i will work on for the rights for Afghan women. Did you real- the rest of my life. it has always been my life- the rest of our lives. ize the type of impact you would have? long interest to read, and i know how important i didn’t. when i gave the presidential radio it is for children to get a really good education address about the treatment of women and chil- and to become literate adults. dren in , which was about a month You grew up at a time when reading or so after september 11th, i was stunned by and books were a larger part of a young how many women, especially around the united person’s life. With technology today, is Many things have been written, good states, thanked me for speaking for the women that focus being lost and does there need and bad, about your husband and his of afghanistan. i think american women were to be more of a focus placed on the value Presidency. Through it all, you seem to shocked by the contrast between our lives in the of books? maintain a composure and evenness about united states and the lives of afghan women. actually, the fact that people can down- you. Is that hard to do and is it much differ- many american women wanted to help. when i load books now on electronic devices will in- ent on the inside than what we see on the saw that, i understood that i did have a podium crease reading for people everywhere. outside? and that people did want to hear what i had to do i think people read the classics enough? this really is my personality. i also know say, and that they wanted to help in any way no, probably not, and i wish they did because it’s george, so as much as i don’t like a lot of the they could. also an important way to transmit our values from things i’ve read or heard people say about him, Is the role of First Lady clearly defi ned one generation to the next. if we read the great i know that they’re not right. he is being char- or does it take on its own character based works of previous generations, then we know a acterized in a way that is not him. i have that on the person? little bit more about ourselves and our country. kind of confi dence both in him and in myself. both. there are certain things the american You touch on the Bush Institute and the diffi cult part of serving in politics is the big people expect: they expect someone to be a the focus on education. Are there are other course of criticism that you get no matter what good steward and hostess at the white house, priorities for the institute? side of the aisle you’re on. right now, people and they know the First lady is making a home yes. the four areas of focus for the bush on the other side of the aisle are surprised that it for the president and for her children. institute are education, the economy and isn’t just george who is going to be criticized.• volume 33, number 3 posted with permission. copyright © 2010 leaders magazine, inc. leaders 23