European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                When Barbara Bush pushed Kitty s work but of smithsonian by Kitty Kelley special to Washington Post Arbara Bush is hot a Book Burner but she s not above a Little Book bashing and As it turns out getting me bounced from the smithsonian. Which is Why her new Book Burns me. Or Why at least one item in its scorches. First a Little background in March 1992, an associated press reporter called to Tell me that my biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Nancy Reagan had been included in the just opened first ladies exhibit at the smithsonian institution your books Are being used to show that first la Dies of the 20th Century frequently become celebrities who Are subjected to controversial treatment by writers the reporter said. What s your re action a a i said i was delighted that the smithsonian had not bowed to political pressure which i would have expected to exclude my books from such an exhibit. The reporter also called Edith Mayo the exhibit s curator. Museum officials Mayo told the a reporter were very Good about not having any kind of pressure coming in from outside. We certainly did t submit it to anyone for  within six months my tiny part of the exhibit had vanished. I know because my father flew to washing ton,d,�., from Spokane and spent three hours looking for it in the National museum of american history he Carne away saying that i was history. No Trace of you anywhere he said maybe it was the Long Arm of mrs. Reagan exacting her re venge.". My father 90, looked disappointed. So i quickly produced a photograph of the exhibit taken by my godchild in june 1992 when i took her to the smithsonian  Sec i said pointing to the Large plexiglass Frame featuring an enlarged paragraph titled capitalizing on the first lady s image in the Lute 19th Century the use of the first lady s image to sell a variety of products while blatant was relatively benign. Today publishers and manufacturers take an even broader advantage of the Universal recognition of the president and first lady. Tabloids and boots furnishing endless gossip and speculation about first ladies have grown both More intrusive and More sophisticated. First ladies likenesses on plates glasses and mugs remain very popular. The pervasiveness of the consumer culture and mass marketing in american life and the merger of Politi Cal campaigning and advertising techniques have dramatically increased efforts to capitalize on the first lady s image for profit or votes. The author and one of her subjects in 1991. Look right there i said to my father pointing to the smaller framed plexiglass Box that contained a paperback copy of Jackie of alongside the hard Back copy of Nancy Reagan the unauthorized biography. My father wondered aloud Why it was t still there. My husband called the curator s office. A Secretary told him that Mayo was on indefinite leave but that the Kitty Kelley books were never part of the exhibit As far As i  he Hung up and looked at me quizzically. My father also looked at me with concern. I re examined the photograph but began to feel As if i had just re ported a ufos. -. V the flip i a few Days later my husband still puzzled filed under the Freedom of information act for any and All documents pertaining to the removal of the books from the exhibit. Amazingly after Only a few Days he received a response from the general counsel of the smithsonian with a copy of a memo from Roger Kennedy then director of the National museum of american history to Edith Mayo. The memo dated july 30, 1992, read .-i.-,. " ". I d be very grateful if we could get Kitty Killcy out of the first ladies Hall. I have the feeling we have Given her More notice than she deserves and while the intellectual Point is very Clear that the. First ladies Are subject to Large amount of inquiry of one sort or another the net effect of the presence of those books is to sell them and that offends me. So i would be most grateful if they could get out of there As soon As that can be conveniently  the foia also produced a copy of a letter written by the speaker of the House of representatives Thomas Foley the congressman from Spokane and a Friend of our family to the Secretary of the smithsonian inquiring about the matter. That letter prompted an internal inquiry to Mayo who responded in writing that she had removed the two books be cause of the. Specific directive. From Roger Ken nedy.". I thought then that the mystery was solved Al though i was indignant that my  been re moved. And by a Man who is an author himself Al though one who has had the Good sense in books like hidden cities the discovery and loss of ancient Northi America go a Zap on not to write critically about powerful people still alive. Because the books featured in the exhibit had essentially exhausted their sales potential my opportunities to financially profit from the display were negligible at Best. So i Felt Kennedy s being offended was Unwar ranted. Besides the text accompanying the display clearly stated that the books were examples of com Mercial exposed. I also Felt that a museum is sup posed to be a repository of history at times stimulating provocative or controversial even if someone is offended by what is presented. Jush. I never understood1 the bureaucratic Foobar a until september when Barbara Bush s Book a memo a was published. Having admitted she was really pro Choice and in favor of gun control All those years Why did t she Call it sleeping with the enemy to me the most interesting item came from her diary entry on Page 458 March 27,1992 1 Cut the ribbon on the smithsonian exhibit of first ladies they Are no longer show ing just the gowns and furnishings of the time. This new exhibit will also show the lady herself her Politi Cal involvement her writings her interests Etc. I thought it was Well done until i came across mrs. Kennedy s and Nancy s. There prominently Dis played were Kitty Kelley s books about both ladies. These were both ugly books written by someone who _ did not know either woman and both books were largely discredited. Somehow or other thought the smithsonian was better than that and mentioned it at a later Date to Roger Kennedy the director of the National museum of american history. He agreed and i Hope they were gone rage handout Roger Kennedy is now the director of the nation " Al Park service. A few weeks ago when i called to ask whether his conversation with mrs Bush had influenced his decision i got a Call from Anita Cle Vinger Public affairs specialist for the Park service who told me director Kennedy is declining to answer any questions about the first ladies exhibit at the  the same response came from Joan Anzelmo Public affairs director of the Park service.   any Case the books Are gone and i guess bar Bara Bush showed How political muscle is flexed in Washington. She May be an admirable woman in Many ways. But i take Comfort in the knowledge that she s a former first lady and not librarian of con Gross. " " Kitty Kelley s next Book project is a study of the House of Windsor. Review the riot zone by Richard Preston random mouse. Trust me on this the hot zone is going to sweep the population like fresh gossip in an office with email. And the whole Story is True. The passage that once caused me to burst out comes a few chapters into Preston s nonfiction tour tie Force. Maj. Nancy Jaax a veterinarian in the army s Little known medical research Institute of infectious diseases has just taped herself into a sealed Che turion biological spacesuit and stepped through an air lock into a dangerous and obsessively controlled level 4 Bio containment area known As the hot  soon Jaax is ripping apart a diseased Monkey s. Skull. Wrist deep in blood and tissue she thinks no blood. I Don t like blood. Every time i Sec a drop of blood i see a billion  Jaax is investigating a Filo virus called ebola a level 4 hot agent which by definition is lethal and contagious and has no vaccine or cure. It is be Are told a perfect parasite because it transforms virtually every part of the body into a digested slime of virus  now that his a Mere level 2 agent has Cut its Trade Swath it s hard to dismiss such observations As melodrama. And remember ebola does in 10 Days what it takes aids 10 years to  Given such startling facts hot zone left me craving More biology. But it s Clear Why Preston pruned As he did. He uses the Power of simple Narra Tive to drive deep this Story s urgent truths. Throughout the Book horror lurks on the Edge of banality. The hot zone s Central crisis is a 1989 Filo virus outbreak that decimated a population of sever Al Hundred research monkeys at a corporate Laboratory in suburban Virginia. Not knowing whether this Strain of virus is deadly to human primates suspecting that it May transmit through the air Jaax joins a Bio containment assault. Bob Sipchen los Angeles times Page 24 sunday october 16, 199-