Nancy Pelosi - Know Your Power: A Message to Americas Daughters

CONTENTS

PART ONE
ROOTS AND WINGS

PART TWO
KITCHEN TO CONGRESS

PART THREE
KNOW YOUR POWER

To Paul a/k/a Daddy a/k/a Pop
a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Notes, Notes, Take Notes! That was the advice that Norman Brokaw, the Chairman of William Morris Agency, had been giving me for yearsever since I met him at lunch with my friend Roz Wyman. When I became House Democratic Whip and then Leader he became even more insistent. I never took the time to take notes, but when I became Speaker, Norman saidNotes or not, its time to write the book. And so my first acknowledgment is to Norman for our long friendship and his cheerful guidance.

I am deeply in Normans debt for his introduction to his associate, Mel Berger, who held my feet to the fire, my pen to the pad, and my message on point. I am grateful to Mel for his constant attention, his wordsmithing, and his candor. Mel became my taskmaster, my editor, and my friend.

I appreciated hearing the perspective of Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, a William Morris Agency executive. As a successful dynamic working mother of young children, Jennifers views were especially important to me.

How proud I am to have Know Your Power published by Doubleday under the masterful direction of Phyllis Grann. I am grateful to Phyllis and her associates at Doubleday for their expert advice, counsel, and editing.

Thanks also to James Kaplan, who patiently got us off to a good start with his interviews of my family, including my brothers Thomas and Nicholas; my political and personal friends John Burton and Willie Brown about San Francisco politics; Chairman George Miller and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo about the U.S. Congress; Rita Murray Meyer about Trinity College, and Judy Lemons about the Presidio.

Heeding Phylliss sage admonition that the book should not be a thousand pages long, Amy Hill Hearth helped make the book more succinct. I loved working with her and hearing her wisdom about what to cut and what to keep. And what we kept was greatly enhanced by Amys craftsmanship.

Personally, I am most grateful to the DAlesandro familymy parents and brothers and especially my motherfor loving me so much. And to my own family, for making my life so fulfilled, and for making my roles as wife, mother, and grandmother my proudest credentials to become the first woman Speaker of the House.

That is the message I want Americas daughters to take note offor themselves and their daughters.

Preface

O n the fourth of January, 2007, I was sworn in as the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives in U.S. history, the highest elected office any woman had achieved.

Becoming the Speaker is a significant accomplishment, but I have never felt it was a personal victory. Rather, I see it as a pivotal moment for all women.

When I became Speaker, it was American women who made history that day.

I didnt set out to be Speaker of the House. But throughout my life, there were openings, opportunities, and choices that brought me to this time and place.

With this book, I hope to share my story and the lessons I have learned along the way, the ones that other women generously shared with me, enabling my path to power. Others are lessons taught to me by my parents, or learned as a wife to a remarkable man, as a mother of five, and now as a grandmother of seven. In this book, the personal and the professional overlap as they so often do in life.

I find it humbling and deeply moving when women and girls approach me looking for insight and advice. It is my intention, in the pages of this book, to answer their questions in a way that I hope is both inspiring and practical, as if I were speaking to all of Americas daughters, simply telling them about myself, what I believe, and what others have taught me along the way.

Raising a family is challenging. I want women to know that the skills I acquired as a mother and homemaker have been invaluable to me. These same skillsso often undervaluedare transferable to many other arenas in life, including the United States Congress.

If women can learn from me, in the same way I learned from the women who came before me, it will make the honor of being Speaker of the House even greater. May the examples I share from my life help others to know their power.

Nancy Pelosi
Washington, D.C.

PART ONE

ROOTS AND WINGS

Never Lose Faith

I t was a cold day in January 1987 when I said goodbye to Sala. I didnt know it at the timeor perhaps I simply wasnt ready to accept itbut my friend was dying.

Sala Burton was a Congresswoman from California whom I had known, along with her late husband, Phillip, for many years. She was one of the women I admired most, as well as a close friend.

Everyone respected Sala and knew not to underestimate her. She looked like Mother Earth; she spoke with a Polish accent; she didnt drive a car. She gave off an intense warmthif she liked you. She was passionate about what she believed in, but very dispassionate about her politics.

Sala was like family to me. She loved my children and was especially close to my two oldest daughters, Nancy Corinne and Christine. Nancy Corinne started at Mount Vernon College in Washington shortly after Sala went to Congress, and called us one day to say that she needed a car.

Why do you think you should have a car in college? my husband, Paul, and I asked. With five children, providing each one with a car in college was not in the budget. I need a car for Sala, Nancy Corinne said. I have to drive Sala around.

So we sent our old Jeep Wrangler from San Francisco. It was quite a sight to see Nancy Corinne driving the dignified Sala Burton around Washington in a car with removable windows.