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Anita McBride | LeMieux Center
March 26 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Anita McBride is Executive-in-Residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in the School of Public Affairs at American University where she directs The First Ladies Initiative including programming and national conferences on the legacies of America’s first ladies and their influence on American public policy, politics, and diplomacy. She also is a founding member of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education (FLARE) and together with American University and the White House Historical Association, she was instrumental in launching the first college-level course on White House History.
Her public service spans more than 30 years in the White House and State Department, including in the Administrations of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush; and as assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush. Through her service and appointments to organizations including the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the US-Afghan Women’s Council, the International Republican Institute’s Women’s Democracy Network and the Laura W. Bush Women’s Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute, the influence and impact of her work to support human rights, women’s empowerment, global health and education, and human freedom is recognized in Washington and around the world.
McBride also serves as an officer on the board of the White House Historical Association, the Advisory Council of the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University, as Vice Chair of the National Italian American Foundation, and on the board of FLARE. She was one of the longest-tenured board members of the Fulbright Scholarship Board and was a founding advisor of RightNow Women PAC to support women running for federal office. She served as a consultant to HBO’s Emmy-award-winning series, Veep, and is a frequent speaker, print source contributor and news commentator on White House history, its occupants, and presidential transitions.
McBride co-authored two recent books on the evolution of the role of American First Lady–Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America’s History Making Women; and the first ever college textbook, U.S. First Ladies: Making History and Leaving Legacies both released in Fall 2023.