America's Book Club: Linda Chavez on Failed Nomination to be Secretary of Labor

[00:00:00] Let's talk about your second book. Your [00:00:02] second book was uh on a different [00:00:04] subject and why don't you go through [00:00:05] what that was? [00:00:06] >> My second book was uh an unlikely [00:00:09] conservative, the transformation of an [00:00:12] ex- liberal or how I became the most [00:00:14] hated Hispanic in America. The subtitle [00:00:16] was not my choice. Uh my publishers [00:00:19] picked that. Uh and it really it it stem [00:00:22] from uh my having failed to become [00:00:26] Secretary of Labor. I was nominated by [00:00:29] George W. Bush uh and my nomination [00:00:32] lasted all of about a week I think uh [00:00:35] before uh it was discovered that 10 [00:00:38] years earlier I had taken into my home a [00:00:41] woman who was an illegal immigrant and I [00:00:44] knew she was an illegal immigrant. Uh I [00:00:47] was asked by a friend if I could give [00:00:48] her a place to live. A friend who knew [00:00:51] that I had taken in Vietnamese and other [00:00:53] people who um I helped you know try to [00:00:56] uh to give a helping hand to. And uh [00:01:00] unfortunately back in those that period [00:01:03] uh that was enough to derail my [00:01:05] nomination. [00:01:06] >> So you nomination you were the first um [00:01:10] Latina to be nominated to be a cabinet [00:01:12] secretary. [00:01:13] >> Correct. but didn't go through because [00:01:15] of that. And that's uh somewhat similar [00:01:17] to what happened to Zoe Barrett, I [00:01:19] guess, to some extent, [00:01:20] >> right? She actually employed a couple [00:01:22] and uh didn't pay taxes on them. I [00:01:25] didn't employ this woman uh but uh and [00:01:28] she eventually went back to Guatemala [00:01:30] and came again as a permanent resident. [00:01:33] >> So, why are you seen as an unpopular [00:01:36] Hispanic? [00:01:38] >> Well, I think it all stems from the [00:01:40] controversy around uh my job at US [00:01:42] English. the idea of promoting English [00:01:44] and I think there were people who [00:01:46] misunderstood and thought that I was [00:01:48] promoting English only. Uh no, I was [00:01:51] promoting uh promoting English as uh a [00:01:54] way to advance yourself to be able to [00:01:56] move into the middle class. And uh I [00:01:59] also was a Republican and that was [00:02:01] thought to be unusual. Turns out it's [00:02:04] not all that unusual. A third of [00:02:06] Mexican-Americans actually voted for [00:02:08] Richard M. Nixon uh in 1972, but there [00:02:12] wasn't a lot written about that. [00:02:13] >> Well, he was the first uh Republican [00:02:15] candidate, I think, to really appeal to [00:02:18] the Latino or Hispanic uh market. [00:02:20] >> Absolutely. He had something called the [00:02:22] Cabinet Committee for uh opportunity for [00:02:25] Spanish-sp speakaking people. [00:02:27] >> Okay. So, u your second book comes out [00:02:29] and it's uh let's say a lot of people [00:02:32] criticize it because they think you're [00:02:34] saying we should only learn English if [00:02:35] you're Hispanic and not learn both [00:02:37] languages. Is that right? That's right. [00:02:39] And um you know, I think there were a [00:02:42] lot of people who didn't think that I [00:02:43] celebrated my Hispanic heritage, which [00:02:45] is not accurate. I was very aware of my [00:02:47] Hispanic uh heritage my entire life and [00:02:51] very proud of it.