Democratic First Ladies Debate with Biden, Dukakis, and Gephardt

Esther's degree this time in English at Villanova University. Joe and her husband Senator Joe Biden have three children. Joseph the third 18 Hunter 17 and a little girl Ashley 6. The Bidens live with their children in Wilmington Delaware. Please welcome Joe. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that warm welcome. I like to talk to you today about the role of the first lady. It's a role which I think is very personal and depends on the views of the individual women. There is no one specific right role but there is one objective and that is to make Americans feel proud of their first lady and to feel that in some way she is a

reflection of their lives. And their values. My own personal view is that the first lady should respond to the concerns and interests of today's American women. Women who are mothers who are spouses and who are wage earners are women who are struggling to balance all three roles. And I think that they would identify with the first lady who is also trying to balance those three roles. As a mother my children are my first priority. Our son Beau our oldest will be a freshman in college this year. Our son Hunter my football player will be a senior in high school and our youngest Ashley will be entering first grade. They know that they are my first priority

and as first lady America's children will be my first concern and I am very concerned about the quality of their education for I believe that there is much more than we can do and should do. And there are this is one area where I believe I can make a genuine contribution. My 12 years teaching English in remedial reading in the public schools have provided me with the insight into some of the problems and possibilities in today's education. I am committed to making the case for better education in America. I want a school system that does not require teachers like me to teach remedial reading to high school seniors. I want an America that is 100 percent literate as a working mother. I realize the need for safe and affordable daycare

for parents who must work and do not have the luxury of having their families nearby to help them to take care of their children. As a teacher I've seen what a difference headstart makes for those children who are born into poverty. It gives them a fighting chance. I presently teach at a psychiatric hospital in a state funded program. Most of the children I teach are there because they have tried to commit suicide and I know firsthand that it is not just physical deprivation that is hurting our children. The challenges they face in this confusing time require psychological and social nurturing as well. I enjoy my work very much largely because I feel that I can make a genuine contribution into the lives of desperate young adults and as

first lady I would hope that I would be able to continue my work teaching on a part time basis. My experience in each of these three roles as mother as teacher. As wife of a United States senator and potential president has convinced me of the urgency and of the importance of this challenge. We must do more for our children in this country. We need to equip them with the skills to compete in an ever more complicated world. And I would hope that American women would feel proud of a first lady who like them is like many of them is a mother who considers the health and well-being of her own children her first priority. And I would hope and I hope that Americans will feel proud of a first lady who will reach out and speak out for America's children as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Kitty Dukakis was born and raised in the state of Massachusetts. She received a bachelor's degree in education in college and a master's degree in broadcast in film from Boston University School of Communication. She is married to Michael Dukakis the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They have three children born in 1958. Andrea born in 65. Born in 68. Concern for women's rights human rights and the arts in her community career and family is reflected in the numerous

organizations and activities that have characterized both her private and her public life. She is on the board of trustees of various arts organizations are extremely active in human rights serving on the commission. The refugee resettlement and the taskforce on Cambodian children as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the new of the fund for the homeless and co-chair of the governor's Advisory Commission on the homeless. She has served as a planner and as an accountant sales executive. Thank you Ruth. It's good to be back in Iowa. I've been here seven times in the past three months and like some of the other spouses for

first mate says some of the gubernatorial spouses are called. I almost always have a separate campaign schedule from that of my husband. I will never forget my first day on the campaign trail in Iowa. The day after my husband declared his candidacy for the presidency right here at Drake University. I was on the way to a town hall. With staff and my 18 year old daughter Kara. Who by the way is campaigning for her father in Iowa this weekend. I'm pleased to say that today the Dukakis family has some friends and supporters in a tema. But on the morning after the announcement. The only person I knew from a was Radar O'Reilly from the TV show MASH. As we drove down the road that day I wondered whether anyone in the Tomah would know who I was. Well we turned the corner on Main Street looking for the para

que Plaza Hotel and there down the street on the marquee of the hotel in big red letters were the words welcome Kitty Dukakis. That was a very special day for me. And as I stand here today after three months of campaigning in Iowa. With innumerable breakfasts lunches drop and drop buys receptions county fairs photo opportunities press availabilities dinners and cups of coffee under my belt. I still feel that same sense of warm welcome. Each time I go in this great state. What role would I play as first lady. It's hard for me to think that far ahead right now but I know I would be an activist just as I have been for nine years as the first lady of Massachusetts. Active in advocating for people in need for the homeless. For people who are not literate.

In 1983 I was appointed co-chair of the governor's advisory committee on the homeless. And since that time the committee has helped thirty five hundred homeless people move from hotels and motels and shelters into permanent housing. In 1983 there were only two state supported shelters in Massachusetts. Today there are 62. In 1983 there was only one family oriented sheller shelter and my stay. Today there are 45. Sadly we have had to work complex this with very little federal assistance that is not surprising not from a president who or a few days ago signed a billion dollar homeless bill. At night. Because as a press spokesman said there wasn't any enthusiasm for the bill. Not from a government that tells schoolchildren that ketchup is a

vegetable and people go to soup kitchens and stand in bread lines out of greed. An issue on which I have spent a great deal of time over the past decade is the reunification and resettlement of refugee families Vietnamese families lawand mung and especially Cambodian families who were separated during the terrible Cambodian genocide. This problem has a special personal meaning for me. My ancestors and Michel's were also refugees from persecution and were not for people helping people. My family and Michael's would never have been able to come to this country. The story of Cambodian refugees is tragic. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians often children who barely managed to survive are now in refugee camps separated for so many

years from loved ones. They are not statistics or mirror images on the nightly news. They are families and they need our help. I serve on the governor's advisory committee on refugees and I have been on two fact finding missions to the Thai Cambodian border. I have learned and seen a great deal. And fortunately have had some successes in finding and reuniting refugee families. Michael and I have been strong and vocal advocates for equal rights for women and I'm proud of his record as governor. Where my husband has acted on his belief increasing the representation of women in his administration to the point where they now occupy 52 percent of the professional positions in state government. We have also been working. With her.

Yes we have also been working on the problem of adult literacy. It is a sad truth that as we celebrate the 200 anniversary of our Constitution 21 million plus Americans cannot even read its preamble. Michael and I believe deeply in opportunity for all of our citizens. He people who can't read cannot tell who they're voting for cannot read the want ads in the daily newspaper cannot even fill out a job application. These are barriers to opportunity that must be brought down. And finally I have been a long time active member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council but recently President Reagan chose not to reappoint me when the press called the White House to ask why they were told it was because I was a Democrat. Nothing would please me more than to be reappointed to the Holocaust Memorial Council by President Michael asked Dukakis

dogs wherever I go outside of Iowa in the campaign. I talk about this beautiful state your pride your caring your compassion. Your sense of community your work ethic your fine schools and of course because you are the first to vote. Thank you very much. Thank you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. As a native of Columbus Nebraska where she attended the public and schools before going on to receive her bachelor's degree at Northwestern University and it was at Northwestern University in her freshman year that she met Dick Gephardt welcome. Thank you. I am honored to be here today with this extraordinary group of

young women. And I want to say that I am very confident that in this room today is the next first lady of the United States. Thank you. I also have a small confession to make. When the first thing that I want to do is sit down put my feet up and rest for a couple of weeks. And after that I want to make a trip back to Iowa to thank the people here who helped make it all possible. Thank you. Sands the first lady has one power that a president does not a president has to deal with all of the issues. But a first lady can focus her attention and the nation's on a single

issue and that focus can make a profound difference. So it was with Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights with Jacqueline Kennedy in the arts with Lady Bird Johnson in her beautification programs with Rosalynn Carter and mental health. And now today with Nancy Reagan in drug abuse. If a president has a bully pulpit as Theodore Roosevelt said then surely a first lady has a national and international forum. If she has the wit and the wisdom to use it right. I want to use that forum to focus on family issues on the pressures that strain families and on the ways that we can strengthen them. This interest reflects my own experience both Dick and I came from wonderful families filled with support and love and care. But I don't

think such families come in only one shape and one size. And I reject the right wing dogmatic that the only good family is the one where a wife and mother plays only one role. The ex mother had a job when Dick was growing up as a legal secretary and I don't know anybody who turned out better than he did. But in the world that we live in today many families can't do it alone. Changes in culture economics and communications as well as the temptations of drugs and alcohol all press in on the family structure as never before. Today too many people too many young people are adrift dropping out leaving school or losing hope and ambition and sometimes tragically dropping out of life itself. I believe that a first lady can mobilize Americans can rouse our

consciousness and move our conscience to do something more for this next generation. And one thing that I think a first lady can do is to bring maximum awareness to private and local programs like the city's and school program which I have visited a number of times. This program helps kids who are in trouble because of school attendance because of grades or because of family problems or disruptive behavior. The program operates inside of the schools across a broad range of concerns from homework to health care. And the program does work in the inner city where the family is in crisis and in the few rural areas where it exists where the crisis is less obvious but no less real. We need efforts like this everywhere in America to help families help themselves to help children find a new sense of success of

self-esteem and self-worth. As important as it is it's not enough to tell youngsters to say no to drugs. We must also give them a reason to say yes to life to all of you thank you thank you. Thanks. To all of its possibilities and to the opportunities for their own futures. And there's something else that I want to do. I want to focus not only the public attention but the president's attention on family issues. I think that's the lands through which the president should look at every piece of legislation and policy. There are plenty of people out there to speak for the established interests to speak for business or the street or the powerful lobby. I would like to be there to speak for families. I want to be able to ask the

question what impact will this decision have on them. I know how receptive Dick is to questions like that. Because he tends to see issues in human terms. That's why he feels strongly about trade because a failure to help America there means factories closed and farms foreclosed. Jobs lost in dreams dying and families on the edge of despair. Dick and I have been pretty lucky in our lives because we had wonderful families and because of the kind of family that we have been able to build. And now as first lady I'd like to give something back in return for all that has been given to us. Thank you. Thank you.