My guest tonight
is a best-selling author
and vice chair of the Clinton Foundation,
whose latest book is called
She Persisted Around the World:
13 Women Who Changed History.
Please welcome Chelsea Clinton.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
Thank you for having me. Hi! Thank you so much!
Hi! Thank you!
-Thank you, Trevor. -Welcome.
-Thank you. From raw water to me. -Welcome, welcome, welcome.
-From raw water to you. Have you ever drank raw water? -No.
-You shouldn't. You really... you rea... -No, I shoul...
-No one should, Trevor. -Yeah, as a health... as...
You have a-a master's in health, don't you?
-Yes. Public health. Yes. -A doctorate? In public health.
-Yes. -You don't... you wouldn't drink it?
-No. No. -Okay.
-Not even, like, a little bit? -No.
And I also vaccinate my children.
-Oh, wow. Oh, wow. -(cheering and applause)
So, you just... you just fell for all of it,
-hook, line, and sinker. -You know... It's called science.
-It's-it's addictive. -Well, it's raw water in here. Enjoy.
Oh! Well, you can... you can have mine, too.
-No. Welc-Welcome to the show. -Thank you.
-I'm thrilled to be here. -Um, be-before we get into the book,
uh, which is really fun and inspiring, um,
I just want to take a moment to ask you about the relationship
you had with former first lady, uh, Barbara Bush.
Um, we've seen many people speak about her
in such beautiful terms,
but your family had a direct relationship with the Bushes.
Are there any memories or ideas that you have of Barbara Bush
that, like, specifically make you remember her fondly?
Well, thank you, Trevor. Uh, Mrs. Bush
was always incredibly kind to me,
uh, even when we were moving into the White House.
You know, even though my father had defeated her husband
in the '92 election, she could not have been more warm to me.
And when we saw them then eight years later,
after her son had won,
uh, the election, um,
she was similarly so, so warm
and not in any way,
um, kind of gloating.
-Right. -Just... She was so dignified
and not in a... in a cold or austere way.
Um, and she was as funny
-as everyone is saying she is. -Really?
What I remember the most is how fondly everyone
in the White House spoke about her.
The butlers, the ushers,
the housekeepers, the florists,
-the historians. -Right.
Just how, in the four years that she had lived there,
she left everyone who worked with her
the real impression that they all had mattered to her.
And that wouldn't have been their impression
-if it hadn't been true. -Right.
It's-it's an interesting dynamic,
the-the relationship between a new first family and the old.
And that's-that's a dynamic that, in many ways,
feels frayed under this presidency right now.
What is interesting though is I've noticed
that, repeatedly, online, you've come to the aid
or the defense of either, uh, President Obama's daughters
or President Trump's son Baron, when people have gone after him.
Why do you think that's so important for people to try
and observe, is keeping the kids out of the fray?
Uh, for a few reasons.
One, I think it's just common decency
-to respect a child's privacy. -Right.
And I would hope that any of us in any situation
would stand up against bullying of children.
I mean, hopefully, bullying of everyone.
But I think bullying of children is particularly reprehensible,
-uh, and it's never okay. -Right.
Um, I also think, uh, because, you know,
the children of, uh, the people who run, uh, for public office
and certainly those who win the presidency,
-we didn't make that choice. -Right.
And I don't think it's fair to, um,
reflect whatever our opinions are of President Trump--
and, um, probably, uh, you know my opinions
-of President Trump-- onto his... -We-we can guess.
-onto his son Baron. -We can guess.
-Right. -Um, I think that is
unfair and inappropriate, um, in the same way
that I feel that's true for, uh, Sasha and Malia Obama,
-Mm-hmm. -and true for... for anyone
who is a child, um, anywhere, including in The White House.
You have a passion for children
that, um, exudes through a lot of your work.
This book is no different.
Um, She Persisted Around the World.
The, uh, subsequent book following She Persisted--
it's a story of 13 women who changed history,
and it's really illustrated beautifully.
It's stories about women who've changed the world.
It seem like a story that everyone should know
about every woman, and yet, it feels like
it's important story that we need to keep telling.
Oh, I completely, uh, agree.
Clearly I agree. I wrote the book. Um...
(laughter)
...that, you know, we need, uh,
-to celebrate and amplify the stories... -Right.
...of women who have made our world healthier,
more equitable, more just,
have brought kind of more beauty into the world.
And I don't think we know enough of those stories.
And, um, I quote Sally Ride
in She Persisted, the first book, um,
when she said, you know,
"It's hard to imagine what you can't see."
And I want every young reader who reads my books
to be able to-to see themselves in these stories,
-uh, particularly the girls. -Right.
And I want the books to look around at their girl classmates,
their sisters, and think, "Wow.
They can and should do whatever they want to do."
And when you see some of the women in the book,
some of these women who changed history,
why did you pick them in particular?
Like, you have, uh, Marie Curie, for instance.
You-you-you... Somebody who's changed history.
But, like, just on her story, why... why did you feel
that she inspired you to tell her story?
Well, I have always loved science,
and I remember learning about her story as a little girl,
as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and then,
as I got older, learning, um, all that she had to do.
She had to leave her home country of Poland
to be able to get the education she wanted.
She even had a, you know, 100 years ago spoke
about how she had to work twice as hard
-as the men in her classes... -Right.
...to be recognized even half as much.
Um, and so I just... I wanted to celebrate and share her story
to inspire all the little, you know,
would-be scientists out there.
Do you think there's a part of you that wrote the book
for yourself and your daughter at the same time?
Well, I haven't thought about that.
Um, I-I know, Trevor, you've written a book.
I think once kind of we have these ideas
in our heads, in our hearts, you know,
sometimes we just feel called to put them onto the page.
-Right. -And that was certainly true for me.
I think being a parent of a daughter and a son,
though, made this particularly important to me.
It's a fun book. It's, uh, beautiful illustrations
that, uh, I think, in a light way,
touch on a topic that's really full of gravity.
So thank you very much for being on the show.
Thank you, Trevor. Thanks so much for having me.
-Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. -Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
She Persisted Around the World is available now.
Chelsea Clinton, everybody.