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'Know Your Power' Charts Pelosi's Path To Congress

NPR
Published July 28, 2008 at 6:00 AM EDT
When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House she said, "We have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters now the sky is the limit."
Brendan Smialowski
/
Getty Images
When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House she said, "We have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters now the sky is the limit."

On Jan. 4, 2007, Nancy Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House. She talks with Deborah Amos about her new book, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters. Pelosi comes from a devoutly Democratic family, and she charts her journey from stay-at-home mom to politician.

"I'll never forget the first time I saw the Capitol," Pelosi writes. "It was on a cold January day in 1947, when I was 6 years old.... I saw a stunning building with a magnificent white dome. I still think it's the most beautiful building in the world because of what it represents: the voice of the people."

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