Liz Carpenter: I'm happy to be online with you. I'm 81 years old now. I've lived a long and mostly happy life, so maybe I have something to say worth hearing.

Liz Carpenter: It was very easy to be interested in politics. I grew up in the Depression, when the men were standing in bread lines, waiting to get a job. Franklin Roosevelt, who ended up serving twelve years in the White House, came on stage and created a lot of national programs that lifted people out of poverty and into work and jobs. You couldn't help but be interested in politics because those were the people you had to depend on to lift the country out of its unemployment, and I've made a lifetime out of it.

Liz Carpenter: Yes, I have. And being a reporter by my college degree, you learn to ask questions, and if you know how to ask questions, you never meet a stranger. I'm interested in people and their lives, and I don't mind asking them about the kind of things they do. So I have a large bank of experience that has been exciting and interesting. As long as you remain interested, I think that is life-enhancing.

Liz Carpenter: It was wonderful. Mrs. Johnson is the only First Lady who ever got a journalism degree (from the University of Texas) and the only one who knew what the five W's and H mean (why, where, what, when, who, and how). She liked to help people get the story and as a result, we traveled throughout the U.S. with reporters often to see the environment. We rode down the Snake River and down the Rio Grande in rubber rafts; she was trying to show the rest of the country those beautiful parks. We went to visit Head Start projects and Job Corps projects, which were part of President Johnson's programs. She liked to be the translator - the person who was the eyes and ears for the country - to tell what was happening.

Liz Carpenter: The criticism (and I didn't feel any) certainly didn't come from my family - even the reporters were mostly pulling for me to be a success because I was the first trained reporter to hold the job as Press Secretary to the First Lady. So, all reporters that I knew wanted me to succeed. That doesn't mean they couldn't ask tough questions, but I would either say, "I'll get you the answer later," or try to give a full answer.

Liz Carpenter: (Laughing) That is almost a LAUGH line! I love to take vacations away from the Texas heat. Last summer I went to Oregon for a month - the land of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I reread the book and traveled up and down the Pacific coast, where they had been led there by the Indian guide Sacagawea. It was exciting! Aside from those vacations, free time that I enjoy is having the people I respect - particularly writers - in my living room, where we talk about the news or what we are writing. Writers like to be around each other, and I like to be around writers. I always learn something.

Liz Carpenter: The most difficult thing was trying to get the last three states that did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. We still want to get it into our Constitution. We aren't there yet. We are close, but not there. I believe we will get it, sometime, when some of the ugly voices against it move out of the Senate. Then it can come easily. Meanwhile, however, we have been gaining rights through law by law in state legislatures, and in the federal government. It has just taken more time, because we are not fortified by having the Constitution state "Equality of rights should not be denied because of sex."

Liz Carpenter: If you are trained as a reporter, you want to share experiences, so it led me to books. I wrote "Ruffles and Flourishes," my first book, right after I had worked in the White House. It was about what it was like to have to answer questions instead of asking them. It was a funny book - I write humor, I have a sense of humor. I think we have to learn to see things through understanding eyes, and the Presidents who have fared the best are those that have a sense of humor. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who was the first person to use humor and once he was criticized for it. He was reading from a book of humor at the beginning of a cabinet meeting. He flung his book down on the table and, with tears streaming, said, "Were it not for my little jokes, I could not bear the burden of this great office!" Probably John F. Kennedy was the best at humorous quips, but nearly all Presidents like to lighten their load with some humor now and then. It has taught me a lot about making speeches, too, and my formula when making speeches is to start with a laugh, put the meat in the middle, and wave the flag at the end. That's a basic formula, but it helps the listeners to have laughter relief.

Liz Carpenter: I'm sure I would change some decisions, though I was not making decisions about Vietnam or any other major policy. I was trying to help Mrs. Johnson help the President, and with that, I loved every minute of it. The only thing I'd change is doing the little things I would love to do if I could have stayed awake to do them. I would do all the things I didn't have time to do. But I loved all the things I learned from that job - you were learning all the time and it was an exciting place to be. I never stopped getting a thrill out of walking up to the White House under the giant spreading trees. If you don't get a thrill from it, then you don't belong there.

Liz Carpenter: No - I would like to have been President myself! Or a First Lady. Or Director of the National Park Service. I think our National Parks are great treasures, and we are very blessed to have so many, where anyone can go and see beauty and nature, ride the river, or hike. They are a blessing.

Liz Carpenter: Well, when the war in Vietnam continued and became such a nightmare for everyone, it was very hard to get positive stories aboutHead Start projects or virtually anything. Many good programs were happening, like the Civil Rights legislation, which President Johnson got through Congress at last, and the creation of help for needy people. But when the Vietnam protesters were there where we were saluting a project like Head Start, generally the media gave the protestors the main story and often ignored what we were trying to point out - that Head Start was an important program.

Liz Carpenter: Well, I'm 81 years old. I'm going to try to keep on living and keep on writing. I am working on another book about letters because with email we don't have the same respect for letter writing we once did. I have fifty years' worth of letters that are funny, letters that are beautifully written, letters that tell about events that I was witnessing, and I think it would be a book worth reading. I always loved reading other people's mail, and I believe people would like to read some of these letters that are from a lot of newsmakers; funny letters from people that have a sense of humor, and some poignant letters. So, that's what I'm doing. I hope to spend more time with my two children, who are grown up now and live on the West Coast. I'll try to be out there this summer and get to know them better as adults. I keep remembering that my mother always said, "Just when you got interesting, you left home." I think that's true of lots of parents, who miss the kids' "Now that you've grown up" conversations.

Liz Carpenter: Be yourself. Don't just try to copy men. Actually, many men are afraid to ever ask questions - but they would be happy to hear you ask them. I was on a bank board once. I didn't understand as much as some of the old timers, but by asking questions I found that the other bank board members learned, too, and would thank me afterwards.

Liz Carpenter: Many! (Laughing) I guess I collect stories, and I love the story of why you should not talk too long. Senator Hubert Humphrey liked to talk, and once, when he couldn't stop, someone in the back of the room stood up and shouted, "Senator, if your watch has stopped, there's a calendar behind you!" That's a good lesson for all of us. There are many such stories. John F. Kennedy's humor was mostly with tongue in cheek. He was very criticized because he named his brother, Bobby Kennedy, to be his Attorney General. Someone at a press conference asked, "Why did you do that?" And he said, with a wry smile, "Because Bobby wants to be a lawyer and we thought this was very good training." The criticism stopped. President Ford was another good person at humor, by necessity. He came into office in the wake of the Watergate scandals and pardoned President Nixon. People were criticizing him in the newspapers, so he hired a gag writer, whose name was Bob Orben - the first gag writer in the White House. When the radio and television clubs asked him to speak, President Ford had been criticized because he stumbled down the steps of Air Force One. He seemed rattled - he'd knock his head into the microphone - but this occasion allowed him to do a take-off on himself. And he did. When he got up to speak at the dinner, he pulled the tablecloth along with him, spilling glasses and dishes onto the floor. He got to the microphone and hit his head on it, he let his feet fall to the floor, and finally made the audience realize that he was doing a take-off about himself, like Chevy Chase. And they loved him! The criticism stopped, and since then President Ford has had a number of humor panels at his library in Michigan.

Liz Carpenter: I'm sure that the reporters who were covering the White House did not like for me to say, "I don't know", but I tried to compensate for it by telling them that when I found out, I would let them know - they would have the answer first. This usually worked. We had two White House weddings when I was at the White House, and more than 600 reporters all wanted a front row seat. We had to have a press pool of half a dozen reporters, so the rest were not all that happy, but it was the best we could do. I think the fact that I had been a reporter gave me an edge not to be criticized. Then I also got 'warnings'. I was married to a newspaperman, and if we made some kind of goof he would call me and say what it was, and I would be better aware of what we needed to do. But it was a great life, and I really think if you are a reporter or a writer, you've got a lifetime job. Age doesn't count against you. As long as you can write something interesting and sell it, you can earn your living. And I'm still earning my living at age 81. I don't know what people who retire do with their time, because when I die, I want to be really used up, all of my brain cells and talents having been tested.

Liz Carpenter: I enjoyed being in that role. You are better off if you work at the White House - your phone calls get answered quicker if someone says, "White House calling." But I think that education was expanded very much by creating a Department of Education. Before that time, education was just lumped into Health, Education, and Welfare. So the Cabinet member at meetings with the President had to weigh what was most important, and often it was Welfare or Health. But the separate department made it possible for the Secretary of Education to just devote all of their attention on ways to make education easier, for all people to have a chance. The Republicans had always opposed a department devoted solely to education, but it must have worked with President Carter's decision to create it, because they haven't been able to get rid of it, and we are really bent on education. Now, no President could possibly abolish the Department of Education.

Liz Carpenter: Well, as Lady Bird would say, "Y'all come!" It's a big, big state. It has a big variety of land, from the piney east Texas woods to the plains of west Texas. The people are very friendly, there's lots of space, and I think it has made us willing to take risks. We are willing to try to drive cattle herds - cattle, oil, timber are all high-risk occupations - but there is a sense of neighborliness. You know you may need somebody. If the oil rig falls down, you may need a neighbor. I grew up in a house that had a 'stranger's bedroom' on the front of it. It was a house built in 1852. There were no hotels then, and people riding through could unsaddle their horse and spend the night in a stranger's bedroom, then leave without bothering the family. That wouldn't exist today, but I'm glad it did then! Big cities here are beginning to grow, and there are a lot of complaints about that, but the plus side is that the newcomers - the high-tech companies - provide jobs. In Austin, Texas, we pride ourselves on being the capital of country music, as well as a university town and a state capital. We want people to be able to say what they think, and we don't want to lose our souls and our creativity to high-tech. These companies have very smartly given gifts to the very kind of creative arts that we like, and they are deeply appreciated. Last night I was at a Texas Writers Month "People Who Write" program. It was started by former Governor Ann Richards to encourage people to write, because we live very close to our history and lots of our potential stories are coming down from trunks and attics, because we are with the memory of vivid history. The number of writers has grown, not only with Texas Writers Month, but also Laura Bush started something called the Texas Book Festival which invites writers from all over the state and asks them to discuss their writings. They could have discussions about books, how to write them, and how to get them published, so writers are really on a roll here in Texas. And we've now had the fun of seeing our literary side made as important as oil and cattle.

Liz Carpenter: There was no way to stop growth, unless you just boarded up the highways. Traffic is a terrible hazard; it's the main complaint. In fact, our mayor went to Japan, and when someone welcomed him back at a public gathering,they said the mayor didn't mean to go to Japan, he just got in the wrong line of traffic on I-35. We have to joke about it, but we have to fight to hold on to our treasures, like Barton Springs, and the many parks that have been provided in this city, or we'll find that they've been taken over by developers. So far, Austin is the most environmentally sensitive city in Texas.

Liz Carpenter: I think you need to take something that you love and translate it into a cause. Teddy Roosevelt said, "The White House is a bully pulpit." Eleanor Roosevelt used it as a sounding board for social programs to help a depressed country. Lady Bird Johnson used it as a voice for the environment, and was so effective that today the environment is on the political agenda of everybody from mayor to President. They have to answer if they had misdeeds. Betty Ford gave voice to the Equal Rights Amendment, and Laura Bush has put literacy, education, and books first. All of this is translated into action and attention by Congress and the state legislatures. It is so much better than to just be a ribbon cutter, a ceremonial figure. They can be very effective if they choose what makes their heart sing.

Liz Carpenter: Well, I think you just have to do what you want to do, be sensitive to the opinions of others, but be part of our melting pot of race and gender. I find that today's young people have three wonderful assets - they don't discriminate because of race, they don't discriminate because of gender, and they also want to do something meaningful. I applaud all of that. The only race we should serve is the human race. I'm very interested in having the country learn how to wage peace as well as war. We should by now know how to push for peace. A diplomat once told me that the best way is to keep the conversation going. That means using brains and tongues, not guns, and I hope we are headed that way.

Liz Carpenter: The most important trait is to care about the community and the country you live in and to be a part of making it better in the way your talents can lead you. Women have been a strong voice for wiping out child abuse and for creating centers for battered wives, but I think they also have been nurturing of each other's goals. One of the great assets of the women's movement is learning to network. We all stand on each other's shoulders, and we can certainly find pleasure, as I do, in helping open doors that have been shut to women in all kinds of offices. I think the fathers of young women have been one of the best helpers, as they want their daughters treated the same as their sons would be. That's happening and needs to keep happening. I don't think we'll find peace until we find more women at the peace tables. All those Brooks Brothers suits don't do it. We need the people who know how to keep peace at home to serve on the summits because they are not afraid of cutting back on the military and using their talents to negotiate.

Liz Carpenter: Well, there are probably many women who could do it - but not enough. I think the late Barbara Jordan would have been fully capable of being a President. I like Hillary Clinton and her courage. I think women who have been trained in the Senate, like Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland are qualified. We now have three states where both Senators are women, California, Washington, and Maine. So the trend is happening, and it will happen one day in the not-too-distant future.

Liz Carpenter: No, but I think maybe with John and Abigail Adams. Incidentally, the book about the Adams family is worth reading. It's a love story about the country and a love story about Abigail and John. I think reading history is important because you learn how much we have grown as a nation and how much farther we could go if we apply ourselves. Don't wait until you get old to get interested in history. I'm very proud of having lived long enough to have known 12 Presidents of the United States - some of them personally, but all of them as a professional reporter. It's a tough job, getting tougher all the time, but we need to push for making public life less expensive and more creative. I hope many of those in the classroom will consider a public career because there is no satisfaction so great as trying to make our own country better. And it's fun - it has lots of laughs along the way. It also has huge disappointments and heavy victories. And I think you will find life is fuller if you are part of the process of this wonderful democracy where we are so lucky to live.

Liz Carpenter: Well, I wish I could say me! (Laughing) I believe Bill Moyers would qualify. I think Walter Cronkite is so authentic and validated. I am proud of the fact that the three top most credible people all went to the University of Texas Journalism School. And we all had the same professor, Dr. DeWitt Reddick. Bill Moyers, Walter Cronkite, and Lady Bird Johnson are three trusted people, all interested and full of eloquence. Words have been our ally, and if you can use creative words and not settle for slang or dirty words, you prove that you are a real cut above everyone else. I'm a Seinfeld fan, but he does not use dirty words. I heard him for an hour the other night when he was in Austin, and there was no relaxation into the trite and unworthy four-letter words.

Liz Carpenter: Well, staying alive...trying to use my electric cart...and trying to lead a normal life and still not be handicapped for what I really like to do, which is to enjoy good conversation and good company. I like interesting people at dinner. There is a difference between just eating and really dining. And I hope that all of you will feel the obligation to make dinnertime more interesting by having time to talk about the news, about possible ways to create peace, and just about the joy of living.

Liz Carpenter: Dream big dreams. Some of them will be realized. Give love. Stop hate.