Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA director, Washington

I was brought up in politics. I went to my first [political] convention in 1956 [in San Francisco]. We went to Disneyland, and I got a pair of Mickey Mouse ears that I wore to a press conference that my mother held -- she was on the program committee for the convention. I also had a big dagger that went through my head, with the Mickey Mouse ears on top. There was a panel of George Murphy, who was senator, my mother and a couple of other people, who all looked the same, and they were going through who was going to speak, so it was fairly dry. Then there was this kid, sort of a homely looking child, sitting there in the front row perfectly happy with the Mickey Mouse ears and the dagger through her head. The press loved it. So they asked me to go up, and I stood behind the group on the podium, and they took lots of pictures. Murphy thought it was funny, but I don't think several of the ladies did.

After President Eisenhower gave his acceptance speech at the convention, Mom positioned me at the bottom of the stairs of the podium. When he came down from the stage, I was able to hand him the golf tee holder that I had made at camp. It was a little thing you attach to your belt and where the holes are pre-done and all you do is sew two pieces of leather together. So he took it. And, when he left the next day, and the reporters asked him what he was going to do next, he actually held up my golf tee holder to show them that he was going to play golf.

I knew I wanted to be in or around politics and government. I was hooked.

-- Interview by Cathy Areu