Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Dana Perino shared insights on free speech and civility during her visit to USU emphasizing the importance of dialogue in diplomatic settings.
- She recounted an experience at the U.N. where diplomats walked out before a speech, highlighting the need for respectful communication among leaders.
- Perino, reflecting on her Mountain West roots, stressed values like humility and courage, and advised students to embrace their individuality.
LOGAN — Dana Perino was at the United Nations in New York City in September to cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech. Before he even started to speak, diplomats from countries around the world stood up and left the room.
This was before news had spread about Israel's targeting of Hezbollah leaders by blowing up their pagers and walkie-talkies.
Perino, a Fox News anchor and former White House spokeswoman under President George W. Bush, was at Utah State University in Logan on Friday to speak about free speech and civility on college campuses, at the invitation of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation.
"And what really bothered me," she said, recalling that day at the U.N., "was how many of these diplomats — whose whole point is to talk about things, to communicate, to use their words and to listen and to be civil to one another, to avoid war — walk out of the room before his speech."
"So how are we as adults going to do that and then expect college students to be any better? We have to do better," she said.
Dana Perino's Mountain West roots
Perino's visit to USU was a homecoming of sorts. She was born in Evanston, Wyoming, and her dad took some classes at Utah State. She got her undergraduate degree at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo.
"Part of coming here for me is not just about coming home to a physical place, but to one in which I feel like my character is rooted in this place, and it gets me back to my roots," she said, listing the values she associates with the Mountain West — honesty, modesty, humility, strength, courage, character, bravery and individualism.
"The best compliment that you can get is that you went to Washington or New York and you didn't change," she said.
That isn't to say she did not get frustrated at times during her time in the White House. When journalists would get under her skin during White House press briefings, Perino said she had a specific way she'd blow off steam.
"There were times when I would be at the podium, and a lot of reporters can be jerks, and they can ... peacock around and they want to be on television, so they're going to just try to grill me, and I would never let them see me sweat, right? ... And sometimes, under the podium, if they were really, really giving me a hard time, I would just take a deep breath and underneath the podium, flip them off," she said, to audience laughter.
Perino told students her plan wasn't to end up in the White House, she initially wanted to be a TV news reporter.
"I had all these plans, and none of those plans worked out," she said. "But the ... good news is I didn't have to have a plan, because God had the plan, and everything worked out."
Perino said she got to know the late Sen. Orrin Hatch well while she was in Washington. She recounted advice he gave her, to not be afraid to stand out.
She was working in the White House press office at the time and had to fill in for then-press secretary Tony Snow at an event. She felt like an "imposter," she said, and only gave a half-wave from the dais when her name was called.
After the event, Hatch made a beeline for her.
"Orrin Hatch, the senator‚ is coming right for me, and I thought maybe he needed me to pass on something to President Bush, or something," she said. "He said, 'Dana, Dana, I want to tell you something. You're here for a reason. You earned this spot. They want to cheer for you. So when your name is called, stand up and wave.'"
Perino said she's going to take that to heart in her latest endeavor — learning to ballroom dance. She said she'd rather give an extemporaneous speech about the Middle East for two hours than "raise my arm in this gesture," but said after recalling Hatch's advice to her, she was going to try to embrace her new hobby.
At the end of her White House tenure, Perino recalled being at a luncheon held for newly elected President Barack Obama, hosted by her boss. Bush had invited all the living former presidents to the luncheon — his father, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Despite all the unpleasant things the men had said about each other, "there we were showing the world that every single time — and it might be arduous, it might be ugly at times — but we get it right in the end."
Read more at Deseret News.
