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CNN Live Today

Interview With Carl Sferrazza Anthony

Aired May 13, 2002 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First lady Laura Bush is off on a nine- day European tour, her first without the president. And the pressure might be on. Joining us from L.A. now with some perspective, presidential historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony. He's the author of "America's First Families" and "The Kennedy White House: Family Life and Pictures." Carl, good afternoon to you.

CARL SFERRAZZA ANTHONY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Good afternoon, Bill.

HEMMER: Our lead-in mentioned the word pressure. Is there pressure on a trip like this?

ANTHONY: Well, really only in terms of expectations that are set by the White House. There is pressure on a first lady only in terms of her wanting to deliver what the administration and the White House expects her to deliver.

HEMMER: Before we go back in time, the significance of this trip is what?

ANTHONY: Well, I think it's an important symbol. The first lady is in many ways a more potent symbol of the American presidency, the American -- the current administration after the president even more so I think than the vice president in many ways, in terms of at least popular appeal, and in terms of garnishing, you know, quite a bit of public relations. So, the potential is always great for a first lady to either create a great gaff or to make a great stride.

HEMMER: Let's go back in time. I know Laura Bush will spend some time in Paris, France. If you go back about 40 years, Jacquelyn Kennedy, we mentioned you wrote the book on the Kennedys, she was also in Paris, France. Reflect back on that visit for us, Carl.

ANTHONY: Well, that trip, which by the way was with President Kennedy and not a solo trip, was important in that she really served as a conduit and discussions between her husband and French President Charles de Galle. She translated for the two presidents, thereby doing away with the presence of a stranger, of a translator. And she really helped to cement a closer working relationship. De Galle had a lot more respect for the young American president after the way had been paved by Jackie.

HEMMER: In more recent times, Hillary Clinton certainly made certain forays over an eight-year period in different parts of the world. Some videotape of her in Beijing and also some videotape also in the Middle East that we shall look at. And, Carl, when you reflect on her, her visits overseas, what comes to mind?

ANTHONY: Well, you really see a kind of a full arc with, you know, Eleanor Roosevelt starting with the solo trips as a rep of the Red Cross to Hillary Clinton some 50 years later, where she is speaking out on policy issues that are often controversial policy issues, some of which her own husband's state department are not particularly encouraging of her to bring out.

But she was very much a brave voice for civil society, pro- democracy. She went to a lot of small areas of villages in former Soviet republics and Africa and the Middle East, and brought small business loans. And as we know, when she went to Palestine, was one of the first American political figures to call for a Palestinian state.

HEMMER: You know, with that answer, I'm curious to get your perspective on how you see first ladies evolving in either a political sense or a diplomatic sense.

ANTHONY: Well, I think the most important factor in the role of a first lady in any respect, either domestically or internationally, is her own comfort level with being a public figure and her own particular area of expertise or interest. I think a lot of people downplayed Laura Bush coming in. That is very natural after a very activist first lady. As you had with Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman really seemed, and it was in fact pale by comparison in terms of being a public figure.

Laura Bush is not the traditionalist that I think a lot of people thought she was going to be. She has a graduate degree and a very serious life-long interest in early childhood development. And she is now speaking out on civil society and a lot of the issues of the Afghani women, a sense of equality, some of these very issues that Hillary Clinton spoke out about. So even though they are entirely different women with different motivations and levels of public experience, they carry a lot of the same messages.

HEMMER: Interesting discussion. Carl Sferrazza Anthony, thank you sir.

ANTHONY: Thank you.

HEMMER: We'll talk again.

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