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Janet Donovan & Brendan Kownacki
Former Representative Tom McMillen is not on the Board of The National Archives, but as a former member of Congress he works along side of them on different programs and exhibits. “We have a lot of different symposiums on a whole host of subjects on elections and all that kind of stuff and we work pretty closely together,” he told Hollywood on the Potomac at The National Archives Foundation Gala that honored former First Lady Laura Bush as the 2018 recipient of its Records of Achievement Award in recognition of her commitment to building a literate and civically engaged global community.
Tom McMillen
Charles Thomas McMillen is a retired professional basketball player, Rhodes Scholar, and Democratic U.S. Congressman, who represented the 4th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1987 to January 3, 1993. McMillen was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team that lost a controversial gold medal game to the Soviet Union.
We asked him if there were some Olympics memorabilia at the Archives. “Yes, as a matter of fact they do. They asked me for some of my sports memorabilia. I don’t know, I’d have to really check into that because it’s been a while since they asked. They were also curious about memorabilia from former members of congress who had a sports career, so more relational to working as a member of congress in the government service as opposed to the Olympics.”
Stuart Holliday
Ambassador Stuart Holliday is President and CEO of Meridian International Center, a leading non-partisan institution that seeks to advance global security and prosperity through effective leadership and diplomacy.
Stuart worked for President Bush 41 and for Governor George W. Bush and Laura in Austin, Texas. “They are a great family, wonderful team and kind of an example for us. I look at Laura Bush as somebody who embodies a lot of what we’re trying to promote in America today, whether it’s civility or decency or basically looking at good values.”
First Lady Laura Bush
“Mrs. Bush has done so much for literacy for children, for women’s rights, and now her husband has now really taken on veterans when they come back from the war and things like that,” Holliday added. “Now that he’s left office, both of them have really embraced vets and want to make sure that everybody is taken care of. They come from a long line of service. I mean, President Bush was the grandson of a Senator, the son of a President, his brother was Governor. This doesn’t end when you leave office. I think public service is one of those things they truly believe in and I think perhaps Mrs. Bush was brought into that by her own accord through the marriage, but she’s embraced it. She’s done a terrific job.”
Laura Bush
Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States, is an advocate for literacy, education, and women’s rights. As First Lady, Mrs. Bush advocated the importance of literacy and education to advance opportunity for America’s young people and to foster healthy families and communities.
Prior to the dinner, Laura Bush sat down with NPR’s Cokie Roberts where they bantered about her daughter’s recent marriage, Barbara Bush’s Sunday tacos in Kennebunkport: “As soon as she died we started having hamburger and hot dog Sundays. President Bush said he never had liked those tacos. All those years he put up with ’em.”
On being First Lady: “It is such an interesting role and an important role, and one that the American people are always nervous about. You’ve got a lot of power, you can’t be fired, they don’t know what you’re up to, accept when you choose to tell them, right? And therefore, we create our own kind of stories about the First Lady. And you said it and I’m quoting you here, ‘Our first ladies are much more complicated than they ever get treated in the media.’ And I think what happens is the story goes out about them, a myth that people stick to for all coverage of them forever out.”
Cokie Roberts and Laura Bush
“There’s no doubt about it that all of our first ladies have been a lot more complicated and have been very constructive for our country,” Mrs. Bush responded and followed up with a recent Bush Library event. “We talked about the contributions that each First Lady had made. It was a show that we did ourselves and the Bush Library curators came up with. This does give me the chance to thank the National Archives, because, of course, the National Archives administer the president’s papers. The president’s papers are seen as belonging to the people of the United States and the archives administer those papers. So, the National Archives is a very important part of the Bush Library. The museum part and then, of course, the storage vaults of papers that are there at the Bush Library. So, I wanna thank the National Archives in the art of this and everyone here for your work. And, of course, those employees at the Bush Library. They’re arduous, they’re employees of the government.”
And her favorite story about First Lady Barbara Bush: “When she was in the hospital when George went to see her, she said to the doctor, ‘You know why George turned out the way he did?’ And the doctor said, ‘No, why?’ And she said, ‘Because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant.'”
One on One with Anita McBride:
