Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/339692
t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 4 26 Q | How important has the Texas Medical Center been in the historical fabric of what makes Houston what it is today? A | I think the medical center is one of the biggest assets to Houston today. Not just to the city but to the region. When you think about everything that goes on…number one, it's a job center. I was down there this morning, got out of the dentist chair alright. There are thousands of jobs and think about all of the families that are supported there. Think about the research, what's gone on at MD Anderson and the Texas Heart Institute. I mean, heart transplants, things that 70 years ago, when the center was founded, were just dreams. They are reality today. So the Texas Medical Center is critical to the performance of the city of Houston and it's one of the ways that Houston touches the rest of the country and the rest of the world. We do it there. We do it in energy. We do it in transportation. Those are the quiet impacts that Houston has, but the medical center to me is phenomenal. Whenever I come back on a flight from Europe, and see all of the people that are traveling in, specifically to come to Houston's medical center, it's very gratifying. Q | Looking back, what have you found to be the most enjoyable or memorable experiences of your own past? A | I would say preserving civil war battlefields. In my previous role as chairman of the Civil War Trust, we have saved over 30,000 acres all over the country. It is great to watch enthusiasts and students come together. That's one. Two, I was fortunate to be the chairman of the Texas Historical Commission. We were able to bring business ideas to the heritage of Texas, and we created 11 different heritage trails. As soon as those Heritage Trail Maps went out, businesses in the sites that we identified went up 18 to 22 percent. I began to tell people, you don't preserve it just because it's old. There needs to be a purpose. So we brought economic development to the heritage of Texas. I was fortunate enough to be appointed by President George W. Bush as chairman of the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. This gave me the opportunity to reconnect with Native American tribes. They sat at the table with us. I was able to formulate a treaty, and this was a memorable day. If you were representing the president, you did it in a coat and a tie. Everybody else was in traditional Native American regalia, and we signed a treaty. And I found myself smoking a peace pipe that was Sitting Bull's personal peace pipe, with 19 other chiefs of tribes from all over the upper Missouri River system. So those are the kinds of memorable experiences…trying to advance the idea of heritage as an economic, cultural and social benefit. Q | How do you talk to children about how exciting history is, when they have traditionally seen it as nothing more than pages in a history book? A | Good teachers don't just talk dates and places, they engage students in a dynamic way and make history come alive. Last summer, I took my oldest grandson, Reese, and his brother and sister to the Vicksburg Battlefield, over along the Mississippi River. I watched him become not just excited but focused. It wasn't just the cannon, it was the story-telling, and the fact that he was on the ground. I didn't notice, but he went over with his parents and bought a Union uniform. As I came out of the hotel the next morning, he was standing there, eight years old, in this uniform. He really connected. He wants to know when we are going to go to another battlefield. So I would say that you need to make history come alive. You either do it in an entertainment format, or literally put their boots on the ground. Take them to a place like the Alamo, or here in Houston, San Jacinto. Or go to the old court- house and talk about what it means. There is a value component that you will never just absorb out of a textbook. And that's what American history is about. It's about values and what people did to make those values continue from the 1700s to today. A hand-painted drum used by the 117th New York Volunteer Infantry (ca. 1862) is among John Nau's collection of historical artifacts. (Photography by Michael Stravato) By this time in high school, I was reading about Civil War battles and leaders and really beginning to understand how critical that period of time was to the creation of America as we know it today.