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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Kati Marton
Aired November 17, 2001 - 11:56 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: As we reported earlier this hour, first lady Laura Bush made a bit of history today. For the first time, a first lady has given the entire presidential radio address, a Saturday tradition for many years.
Joining us from New York to consider the historical significance of this is Kati Marton. She is the author of "Hidden Power," a look at how presidential marriages have shaped American history. Good morning to you.
KATI MARTON, AUTHOR, "HIDDEN POWER": Good morning Martin.
SAVIDGE: Do you think this is a new role for Laura Bush? She has been somewhat in the background; now do you think she's coming to the forefront here?
MARTON: Well, it's a very smart use of the first lady in the war effort. The administration was looking for a way to deepen Laura Bush's role in the war effort, and this is about the most brilliant plan they could have come up with.
She's a very private first lady, a very traditional woman; by no means a, quote, "radical feminist." Thus when she speaks out and says, you cannot treat women like this, the way that the Taliban has treated Afghan women, it really resonates and has tremendous credibility; credibility that a more controversial or threatening first lady wouldn't have.
And this radio address will have a global reach. And, plus, it humanizes America's war effort. And believe me, it will be heard around the world.
SAVIDGE: Let me ask you this: Is it possible for a first lady, or those that communicate with the first lady, to pick the wrong subject matter to come out with? Are there cases in history of -- where they picked up a wrong cause perhaps?
MARTON: Well, absolutely. Let me start with the positive -- those presidents that have used their first ladies as humanizing influences in their administration. For example, Franklin Roosevelt whose first lady Eleanor became the nation's moral voice during the second World War.
Or Jackie Kennedy who I write about in "Hidden Power," refusing to leave the White House during the days of nuclear terror in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Or Lady Bird Johnson shoring up her man when the news from Vietnam was terrible, and soothing the nation.
These are wonderful role models for Laura Bush. And clearly, she's drawing on them. As I said, she's very private. But a radio speech is a very controlled environment. And, of course, the question now is: Will this be a one-shot affair, or will she continue to play this role of sort of national soother and healer and really acknowledging that the crisis that we're in is not a national crisis but is a global one?
She couldn't just continue reading to American school children. She has to acknowledge that we are now in an international struggle, and...
SAVIDGE: What about -- I don't mean to interrupt you, but time is short -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, a first lady there, but she grated on some people, maybe because of the topics or the way she pursued them.
MARTON: Absolutely right, Martin. At the outset, Hillary Clinton overreached when she undertook an operational role in the Clinton administration as health care reform. And the American people don't want the first lady to play that sort of role. They want the first lady to be more of a moral and, if you like, a charismatic leader.
And Hillary Clinton learned from her initial mistake and repositioned and became much more traditional and much more effective. Laura Bush didn't have to go through that learning curve, because she is -- she is even, if anything, more traditional than the women of her generation. She is, frankly, a stay-at-home mom and wife, and enjoys that; has no particular career ambitions.
And in a way, that's just the right sort of presence in the White House as we are in this global crisis. She so humanizes the administration's war effort. So I hope that they will continue to use her in this very effective forum.
SAVIDGE: Well, we will see. Kati Marton, thank you very much for joining us. She is the author of the book "Hidden Power," a look at how presidential marriages have shaped history.
Thanks again for being with us this Saturday morning.
MARTON: Thanks, Martin.
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