First Ladies - A Family View

we're ready to get started with this afternoon second panel first ladies a family view hello I'm Warren Finch I'm the director of the George Bush Library in College Station it's a great pleasure to be here at the LBJ library I'd like to take the credit for starting these first lady's conferences in Texas but it wasn't my idea was actually my colleagues idea mark Updegrove here at the Johnson library so I'd like to thank him I'd also like to thank Anita McBride she was we all saw her conference at American University and decided that it would be a great idea to continue her idea here in Texas I also like to thank American University for their support the White House Historical Association and now this afternoon's second panel the moderator this afternoon will be Jeanne Beker gene has been chief of staff to former President George Bush since 1994 supervising his office operations in both Houston and in Kennebunkport Maine she took a leave of absence in 1999 to edit and research all the best George Bush my life and letters and other writings she served as deputy press secretary to first lady barbara Bush from 1989 to 1992 after the election in 1992 she moved to Houston to help mrs. Bush with the editing and researcher of her autobiography Barbara Bush and memoir and later assisted with mrs. Bush's follow-up book reflections Jean was a newspaper reporter for 10 years for with USA Today she grew up in a family farm in Martinsburg Missouri and was a valedictorian of her high school class and graduated from the University of Missouri please welcome my old friend came back and the first of our panelists Barbara Bush is a passionate and compelling voice in a global fight to confront some of the most prevalent health equity issues of our time as a co-founder and president of the global health corporation she organizes the connections without standing young leaders on the frontlines to promote health global health equity under her leadership the global health corporation has won wide praise for its innovative work and has been named one of the 14 most innovative startups she is the daughter of former President George W Bush and former first lady Laura Bush secondly Jenna Bush Hager Gina Bush Jenna sorry Jenna Jenna has seen firsthand how small changes can make large differences in a single life currently the chair of UNICEF's next generation an initiative dedicated to reducing the number of preventable preventable childhood deaths around the world her experience traveling throughout the world with UNICEF where she saw firsthand the plight faced by underprivileged inspired her to write and a story a journey of hope about a 17 year old single mother living with HIV she is a contributor to The Today Show where she stores where she shares stories about regular people doing extraordinary things she also co-wrote read all about it with her mother former first lady Laura Bush she is the daughter of the former president george w bush Jenna Bush the third of our panelists Steve Ford Steve enjoyed a successful acting career for over 25 years appearing in over 30 films and many guest leads in television his credits include the film's Transformers Black Hawk Down contact and one of my favorites when Harry Met Sally he also hosted the primetime series Secret Service for NBC and starred for six years as a lead character on the Emmy award-winning daytime show The Young and the Restless prior to his film career Steve worked on a professional rodeo circuit and served three years on the board of directors of the National cowboy Hall of Fame and currently serves as chairman of the President Gerald R Ford Foundation he is the son of former president and mrs. Gerald R Ford and our fourth panelist Linda rob Jett Linda Johnson Rob she Rob's passionate interest and children's literature led to more than 40 years I began more than 40 years ago when she volunteered to read children books and hospitals where she discovered that many children wanted in needed books so badly that hospital staff let them take home the books she read this experience prompted her involvement in forming an anaphora member of the board of reading as fundamental in 1968 and she has been active ever since she was board chair of RIF from 1996 to 2001 and has traveled nationwide to rally the support for this program she attended George Washington University and as an honor graduate of the University of Texas Rob is the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson's and Claudia Taylor ladybird Johnson she is married to former Virginia Governor and US Senator Charles Robb and as the mother of three daughters and three grandchildren thank you all for joining us okay first of all in the interest of full disclosure I I'm sort of embarrassed that Warren told Joe's valedictorian of my high school class I could hear my sister who's in the audience giggling there were 57 of us so I only had to be smarter than 56 other people okay first of all I was told to keep on time and to look at the clock on the left it is stuck on court 20 to 5 it is says Fort stobe mark I'm going to leave it up to you I have the easiest job here today because I just need to stay out of the way of these four people so I'm going to jump right in we're going to start with Linda which seems appropriate since we're dad's library since we just survived another election and since all four of these have survived elections with their parents I would like for each of them just to share an election day memory election night the morning after just something about that day that you remember first in terms of full disclosure I would like to say we are so bipartisan that I'm the only Democrat here have you noticed I asked I asked mark I said mark how is it that we I'm the only Democrat and mark says well you have to understand there are two Bush administration's I'll get you mark just you wait and second I would like to say that my daughter Katherine is here to hear me now now I'm sure Laura Bush is going to be much more forgiving I have my daughter here to watch me and they're not going to stay to hear you so but that's the way it is nowadays Cathy after all lives here now I would like to tell about probably what I think was one of the most interesting election memories that I have and it didn't happen on Election Day it happened on the 200th anniversary of the White House and President Clinton invited all of the former presidents and first ladies and I've volunteered my husband to be my mother's date for the evening now we had just lost our election to the Senate this was 2000 we had just lost our election and you know there was still a feeling of a little tension we were very kindly invited up and I say we I was invited to come up with mother and Chuck and the Fords and the the Carters and of course the Clintons and the bushes the senior bushes and we're all waiting because as you know there was this time between the election and when we found out who is going to be our next president they were counting ballots or not counting ballots whatever they did in Florida so it so there we all were up standing in the hall of the second floor remembering all of us least I was when we were there when it was our house and everybody there had lost an election I looked around I thought there Bill Clinton he's outgoing president he had lost an election and there was Gerald Ford he had lost an election and there was was Barbara Bush and President Bush they had lost an election we had lost an election we all had something in common and I thought that's really the way it is when your former president and and a former White House child is we do have so much in common and I think what your you've heard today and I think you will hear is that we all are a large sorority fraternity whatever because no matter how you might differ on any issue we've all been there and so to me that was probably the most interesting election night and as it was of course a Barbara and George Bush were there kind of waiting to see and the funny thing to me is just showing how easygoing your your grandfather was he said well I'm leaving Barbara here too to worry about you know the voting said I'm going off hunting and I think he was going with with the maybe secretary Baker but they were going halfway around the world here we are on tender hooks waiting to see if if what's going to happen in the presidential election you know what in his election he was going off but I know it was something that that was an election feeling that that that changed my life and made me understand that everybody's been there Steve I'm going to spin it a little bit I'm going to go to the front end of dad's presidency because of everybody up here at the panel we sort of got there a different way in that it was never expected dad had been a congressman for 26 years and state of Michigan and and because Agnew had to step down he got appointed vice president and then ten months later in August in 1974 when Nixon stepped down here you had a man there just going to walk into the East Room of the White House put his hand on a Bible that Richard described beautifully mom held the Bible and dad took the oath of office the kids we all sat there that had not been elected by the American people he you know been appointed vice president assumed the presidency so our first experience was to come in a different way than every other family up here probably will never happen again in history and it's interesting because after dad was sworn in we went and took a picture photo of the family behind the Oval Office desk and that night we didn't get to movement in the White House because Nixon had left so quickly so unexpectedly they left their daughter and son-in-law David Eisenhower to to pack all their clothes and belongings it took literally took seven or eight days we had to go back to our little house in Alexandria Virginia and the suburbia you know the neighborhood was surrounded by Secret Service we had been living there as dead it was vice president and I'll never forget that night mom is cooking dinner I mean literally we were sitting around the dinner table and moms cooking dinner and and she she looks over at my dad and she goes Jerry something's wrong here you just became president United States and I'm still cooking and look that was our first seven days were spent there and literally dad would commute to the office every day which was the Oval Office so we got there a little different way than the rest of the panel did Jenna well we got there a different way to is you've already brought up our election night lasted for 36 days I think that's right mom so it was a pretty stressful time I think although probably more stressful for my mom because I was a freshman at the University of Texas and Barbara was a freshman at Yale and so we were you know we had our structured lives and we kind of you know as college students are slightly selfish and worrying about you know our second semester of college it was also at the University of Texas and I stayed here and came back and finished the first semester and didn't go to the White House yeah we never lived in the White House but anyway beyond that you know I think we one thing that people don't realize during elections and I talked about this a little bit at work is that you know all of these people are our parents they're not politicians and you know and sadly and modern politics it seems like campaigns have become more and more negative so you've just witnessed a year or a year and a half of your the people you love the most being criticized and and then you know you have this one night and for the rest of America it's so polarized you know you want your candidate you want your party but for kids you know you want the best for your parents because for for 18 years they wanted the best for us and then you know again four years later they'd at the and I think that's difficult and I wish that Americans saw politicians and all people as people I wish things were more three-dimensional because that's you know that's all politicians that put themselves out there spending time away from their families and and making that sacrifice so you know but my mom there is that famous picture and I wish we had it of hard doing dishes on election night and I think that was just to keep a normal scene and also because she has slight OCD well my stories are obviously very similar to Jenna's but also um we also had another election night which was when our grandfather was elected to be President and we were six and I just remember thinking it was so fun because our whole family got together and all of our cousins were there and we got to play and I don't think we realized how big of a deal it was and I actually remember and this actually speaks so much to his personality and his humility that I thought everyone's grandfather became president I had no idea that it was just our grandfather and I assumed all my friends had an election night at some point with their grandfather and it just happened to be our grandfathers turn that night but I think regardless we've been really lucky in that we have a very close family obviously both our father and grandfather were president but our family always came together on every election night we had all of our ensign Emma khals and all of our cousins because it can be very stressful and we just wanted to be with each other okay the twins are going to kill me but this was in your grandmother's book I swear that the day after the election in 1988 fine from Houston to Washington on Air Force two Barbara Bush wrote in her diary I'm the next First Lady of the United States that the twins have stuffed up the toilet on the plane and I'm stuffing the toilet I mean how can they know that it was that we stuffed up the toilet and Grisi investigated okay did she investigate maybe we should talk about this later but she is extremely I know well maybe not then and before I asked by next night and confront her I don't yeah though have you ever confronted my grandmother good you can confront her on our behalf okay before I ask my next question I just have to say this is very impressive mark and Linda they have fixed the clock during that the broken clock is now fixed so okay I was going to ask each of you to tell us something about your moms that we would find maybe shocking but since one of the moms is here I'm going to change it to merely surprising but tell us tell us something about your mothers that we don't think we know and we'll let you to collect your thoughts and start with Steve well you know I think as far as mom and dad went they I don't know that this will shock anybody because they just had such a love affair they there it was interesting to hear the panel before and how the wives were such a intricate part of each presidency in a different way and how they supported different things and a couple of the issues or the main issue that mom went through which was breast cancer had such an impact on her life you know wasn't she didn't just find a issue that she wanted to put her so it was thrust upon her and if she were here today she would tell you that she was just a just an ordinary woman during a very extraordinary time in three weeks four weeks in a dad's presidency she's diagnosed with breast cancer at a time when you couldn't say the word breast let alone be transparent about having mastectomy surgery and I think for me that their relationship when Dad stepped in and that decided to be so transparent showed their love affair for each other and their support and I can remember them holding hands and standing in front of the press and saying we're going to take the shame off of this disease which was a closeted disease for women back in 1974 and and Richard I think was Richard who mentioned earlier the letters and cards that came in for Mom there were there were some for dad too that came in and said thank you mr. president for showing me how to stand next to my wife as she goes through breast cancer so but their lives are so intermingled in the presidency there there was more support for mother during the campaign that they were buttons that said Betty's husband for president so that that tells you how important she was to dad's dad's presidency Jenna well where do I begin no no cuz she's sitting here I mean we'll be honest but I think one thing we'll be honest but we won't shock anybody I mean I think one thing that Anita kind of alluded to but didn't really get to is that you know I think people did think our mom was kind of this cookie cutter mother and those who know her and plenty of people in Austin do know that I mean she is a great mother but but again you know it goes to the whole thing where it's much easier to see people as one-dimensional and she was she's a very strong lady she just happens to not shout you know and I think I think that's why people saw her as as you know maybe more conservative than she was or is and I think also one thing about both of my parents that I feel like is a great trait to have in parents is that they wanted us to be to become our own people and so they're both very open and I don't know if people would get that from from their public stereotype and she's a secret Rastafarian I hope I didn't feel that for me if you did okay she was a secret rastafari and also and our mom loves music and she loves Bob Marley and when we used actually when we lived in Austin and my dad with the governor I heard at in high school a rumor that um toots and the Maytals was playing at Antone's so mom and I snuck out of the house and walked down there to wait and see if they were coming they didn't come mom loves music and so when we were 7 she took us to our first concert which was Paul Simon and then since we lived in Austin there's always such great music so she took us to see Paul Simon again when we were in high school and Bob Dylan and we've seen a lot of great concerts with our mom which most people may not guess Linda well one thing my mother loved Gunsmoke and you have to remember this was in the really dark ages and sometimes state dinners and her feared with watching Gunsmoke so somehow you know daddy just he was very fond of mother but somehow he got waka that's the White House communications agency to find a way to tape Gunsmoke for mother now this is the 60s they hadn't invented that yet but they would somehow tape Gunsmoke from others so that she could watch it I probably shouldn't be telling this because it was probably legal but anyway and wouldn't she know it that mr. Arness was a Republican again how bipartisan we are now I just like to make a short commercial while we're here and to say that one of the wonderful things is that the former presidents and the sitting presidents and first ladies have been so wonderful to my family I'd like to start with with Papa George and my father was president when he came into the Congress and because he had known his father he had served with your your grant your great-grandfather he then invited George Bush to come to the White House and they got to be friends now when we left in 68 now you know Nixon then was inaugurated well those nice bushes came all the way out to to Andrews to wish us good bye don't you wish we had that bipartisanship now on the day that Steve's mother was going to have this operation President Ford came to the inauguration the opening the dedication of the LBJ Grove in Washington and we have pictures of Cathy who was very young three or four years old holding President Ford's hand he was helping her down the steps of a wonderful picture and he did that and then the Fords invited us to come back to the White House and we have a picture which you will see later of of us standing in in Betty Ford's bedroom and there's the suitcase all packed we didn't know she didn't tell us so that night when we heard it on the radio a television we just couldn't believe it well Laura Bush told me when I came to the White House as a Senate spouse she said well if your mother ever comes up here I'd love to have her come over love her to come over and see the White House and I'll give her a tour and we built an elevator so mother could come and stay with us and when she came Laura Bush had her over to the White House and it was so wonderful so we are very lucky with the presidents and that we've had because they all understand what it's like and they've all been so good to the other people who have been there thank you this might be sort of hard but since this conference is about the legacy of the first lady's well it's not it not be as personal with this question and answer but more about your mother's legacy the panel before us talked about I mean all your mothers accomplished so many great things but if you could just talk about one thing that when you think about your mom it's what you're the most proud of her and what she did what would it be and we'll start with Jenna I don't want to steal Barbara's I feel like I always steal her interest do you want to go first okay go first the next if I go first and thank you okay so I would say um probably her work for women and all over really and and we were so lucky because our parents took us on travels to Africa and so we got to see PEPFAR being unrolled and and being in clinics and schools and meeting people whose lives would be forever change so I would say her work for women as a you know but more broadly probably PEPFAR and my dad - I'm very proud of him for that okay I'll let you talk about your dad's for we're done I think definitely echo that and also as was brought up before by Anita but I think after 9/11 mom played such a I'm gonna cry I know in front of people in front of a lot of people I think her the work that she did after 9/11 and just how comforting she was to everyone in the country was is an incredible legacy and was really critical to the country healing after 9/11 Renda Linda well every spring I am blessed because people come up to me and say oh I just love to see the beautiful daffodils and oh the planting on the highways I mean they think mother is out there planting every flower still and I say oh yes absolutely she is now if you happen to read the garden section of the Washington Post recently there were in the garden section there was an article about mother and planting now for those of you who have a little extra money and care about what Washington looks like they are now trying to raise money to put more plants back in because believe it or not in 40 years some things die and so they're trying to redo it of course the first one they asked us and money was me but it is I think mother hated the word beautification but she certainly was the Johnny Appleseed of of of least natural beauty well I again it would be two things and one of them happened after the president the first one was breast cancer for what mom went through the second one was addiction alcoholism and drug addiction that again she was faced with and in her own way in her own special way and again mom and dad together because they were such a team the moment she raised her hand and said my name is Betty I'm an alcoholic and again was transparent like she could be it changed the dynamics and the stereotype of another disease alcoholism so it would be those two things for breast cancer and alcoholism and coverage okay let's talk about your your dad's um I didn't warn you I was going to ask this question but we want to be equal opportunity here because I know you're all obviously proud of your father's so we're going to start with you this time just talk about your dad a little bit something that this sort of a twofer question something that we might not know about him and something that you're just really proud of something he did well I think Jenna kind of got to this before but our dad is an incredible dad obviously and but he's an extremely open-minded person and I feel like the perception of him in the media is often not that and he's sort of characterized as someone that isn't and I think we're so thrilled that he was our dad because he raised us to be very open-minded and accepting and and to pursue whatever we're passionate about and then that gets me to what I'm very proud of him for and which is all the work that he did for PEPFAR and the president's malaria initiative and I work every day on global health issues because I got to see the work firsthand that the American people were doing on health issues when they launched PEPFAR and made sure that everyone that was HIV positive in the Melting country had access to the medicine that they needed to make sure that they had a life that they had a future and when I was 21 years old PEPFAR was being launched I was in college and my parents traveled throughout Africa to launch and I went with them which was incredible that they allowed me to go with them but I do remember on the first trip that we took we went to Uganda and people literally thousands of people were lining the streets just because they wanted a drug that they could take every day to live and I go back to Uganda now multiple times a year and it is a totally different place because of it and to me that's an incredible incredible thing to have been done and it's been a game-changer around the world and on that note today actually the mark Duvall who worked for my father and implement in PEPFAR was elected to be the executive director of the Global Fund for HIV TB and malaria that happened today which is really exciting well I think um you know it's hard because those are obviously the things that that I I think I agree with you know I mean we got to go to Africa and we've been able to go back our parents took us back last year for our 30th birthday anyway and and it was really incredible to see the way that that these countries have changed but I guess one thing that people probably don't realize about all presidents is that it's not just a four or an eight year job and our parents I think especially right now you know they're really loving continuing the work that they did I think it's maybe easier I don't you would have to ask my mother um but I feel like it might be even easier to do this policy work that they so love now because there's not the bureaucratic politics to stand in the way and so they're still working and they're they went to Africa one thing you may not know is that they spent two weeks two weeks around two weeks this summer living in Africa my mom and my dad together and my dad actually built a clinic from the ground up and my mom was putting together a library what you can tell about what exactly what you did but the point is is that the work isn't done and I don't think it will I told my parents the other day like aren't you going to retire I could use you retiring so we could have some more time to talk I mean they still travel all the time but also just how much they put family first after September 11th we were turning 19 and we they had planned a birthday party for us at Camp David because you know we lived here and Barbara lived in New Haven so we didn't get to see them the way that we had wanted and so they'd planned to have some of our friends come up to Camp David and have a week in there and I we called I remember calling you know in October and I said we should cancel the birthday party and they said no we want to keep it you know we want to make sure to keep it going keep coming and I think that shows really what their priorities were gotcha a million things flashed through my head here when I think about both dad and mom but Dad was spinning around as toward back towards mom he was so supportive of her and there's a wonderful story that came out mom was out there promoting the Equal Rights Amendment for women back in the 70s and and it really wasn't something that was on the Republican platform at that time and it wasn't be honest it wasn't on the Democratic platform either but mom was out there promoting that and working very hard for that and there was a meeting that happened over in the White House the West Wing and it was kind of the political types we're talking to dad and and they delicately tried to encourage my father to say mr. president you know if you could just maybe gosh get your wife to you know just until the elections over just calm down and and and and dad in his wonderful ways smiled and he pointed over the East Wing of the White House and he says you know that's where Betty's office is and I know she's in the office today and if any of you all would like to go over there today and speak to her you can go ahead Andy and he said no one got up to go over there so I I would say that it he had a wonderful way of supporting her causes in letting her have a voice and and it it kind of reminded when she came out of the hospital after the breast cancer and the wonderful welcome by the staff at the White House and and she was very strong and and trying to keep a stiff upper lip but she had fears and and they talked about this kind of this intimate moment that where mom expressed some of those fears to dad about gosh Jerri I'm scared to death I got to be first lady and I'm afraid I can't wear my evening gowns anymore for state dinners and you know she's thinking about that instead of herself and my dad and a wonderful way said you know Betty come on don't be silly if you can't wear it cut low in the front where it cut low in the back and he just he just they had this wonderful relationship of supporting each other so that was yeah that's that's a little insight you may not know well my father was a teacher all of his life and I don't I mean I guess I'm supposed to say civil rights was the most important thing and it was but all of that together was with which was Danny because he had grown up poor people all around him and he knew how much education could change their lives and he had grown up but teaching Hispanic children so he knew about discrimination and the needs for changes in in civil rights and he had seen what happened with with the health of the older people in his neighborhood and and the sacrifices families had to make because their grandmother or aunt or somebody needed medical help and they so all of these things I don't think I could divide one but I just wish he could see that I have produced a teacher my my Catherine my Catherine is sitting right here but my Jennifer the baby she is a high school math teacher in Washington and well in Virginia and I know how proud he would be because he was always trying to give us teaching moments he was trying to explain everything he was doing to us teaching us about the effects of some of the laws that were passed and one of the things generally about first ladies I'd like to say is that I think as a feminist I was chair of the president's Advisory Committee for women just want you to know that and yeah and I think a lot of women gave a lot of these men a pass on some of the women's issues because we thought he's married to that wonderful Laura Bush he's bound to really be on our side you know he's just being quiet because you know and we know you're where your mother was and so we for sure and we're all going to vote for Betty period and I think that is true and I remember being in Houston for this big women's meeting and there we were up I was there because I had this position I was a Clark or Carter appointee and there we were with mrs. Carter and my mother and mrs. forward all up there for a ra and it was it was a telling moment and it really was a wonderful moment from my standpoint I now would like for each of you to talk a little bit about yourself and this may be sort of hard since this is your life and it's hard to imagine what your life would be like if your father's had not been president but looking back at what you've done and how you grew up and what transpired how do you think living the White House experience whether you live there or not changed you either as a person or maybe changed your life had what effect do you think it's had on how you're living your life and we'll start with our token man who were so happy he's here Steve why don't you start and tell us how you think it affected you well I'd you know again I'm we're a little bit different our family's a little bit different up here if you know if you were the daughter of a Bush family member or Reagan or some you almost might have expected that your father was going to run for president someday or you be involved and in somewhat you know in our case dad had just been a congressman was literally getting ready to retire from Congress and all of a sudden he gets nominated for vice president by Nixon and mom was waiting to get out of politics she couldn't wait and I remember dad put in his arm around her and saying you know you know Betty don't worry vice president's don't do anything and and which didn't really work out but none of us thought we would ever be in the White House so to get catapulted there it certainly changed my life I'm glad I had two older siblings two brothers and a younger sister to talk to and made it easier today I'm able to do things in the public arena that I'd never be able to do you know I go I'm going at 19 years of recovery and alcoholism just like my mother I can go talk to school kids now because I have that platform because I'm the son of a former president they listen to you a little bit so you you you try to give something back and you watch your parents do the same thing so I speak to school kids I go to prisons I go to juvenile detention talk about my sobriety and grace of God in my life and what mom went through and so it certainly has changed my life in for the better because you're able to give back and you have a platform to do it so Linda well I want to do the other side there are many many wonderful things about being a white ass child I wouldn't get to be here today but the other side of it is and I thought about this a lot when I was heading up this women's Commission is that women are often seen and in reference to somebody else I want all of you to go back and look at the obituaries and the papers and the first line is usually wife of in my case the first line I expect in my obituary will be daughter of and then the second piece will be wife of because I've gotten you daughter of President and mrs. Johnson life of governor and mrs. Robb and I think we all yearn to to have our own place no matter how big it our small it may be in the world we want to be identified so I've told my children if they get to write my obituary and pay to put it in the paper I want it the way I want it and I want the first line to be professional volunteer now I'm in that that's I'm being a professional volunteer because that's what my parents taught me to do when I got a job after college and got my first paycheck my mother said well who are you going to give it to huh and her her belief was that she should give your first paycheck away and so of course being a smart girl that I am I had some trees put in Johnson City in memory of my grandparents but that was that was just a given we have been very blessed we aren't financially stressed you can afford to give that away and the most valuable thing I have really is my time I only have 24 hours a day and so whereas I can vary amounts of money my time is the most valuable thing really that I can give away and so that's what I've tried to do that's why I'm professional volunteer and don't have as many of those paid jobs by my name and that's what I learned from my parents and I feel very very blessed at all the experiences that they gave me and so remember Catherine firstline professional volunteer and then and be sure and put RIF way up at the top and I might add Barbara Bush was right in there working for us and when I was chair of RIF I asked Laura Bush to be on our committee I'm not a dumb woman you know and I asked her to be on and I got her to be on our Advisory Committee because we want people who care about literacy to be up there supporting us also as Jenna mentioned earlier we obviously never lived in the White House because we were already in college when her father was elected president we were freshmen but that being said my parents made it really clear that we were we were allowed you know we could tag along for anything that they were doing and so I think my sister and I both what we benefited from was the exposure that our parents offered to us and you know we traveled to Africa Asia Latin America South America with them and we got to see all the initiatives that they were implementing firsthand and meet the people that were implementing these initiatives on the ground every day firsthand and I think that completely shaped my career I had wanted to be an architect and now I run a non-profit focused on global health issues very linear obviously but the reason that I got interested in global health was because my parents allowed me to be exposed to what they were working on and what they cared about and also the people that they worked with every day and then the one other thing is that everyone that that works in government is serving and they're excited about service to other people and every day I work with young people that want to serve in global health and I think that's just my way of trying to encourage more people to do what I saw others that worked with my parents do every day and love every day and make a huge impact every day through service I mean that's all she said everything I was going to say except that - two quick things is one is that we got to meet so many incredible people as well and they really encouraged us to come and meet like Mark dye balls become a really great friend he wrote us an email this morning to tell us that he got this job before because he wanted us to know before it was released and we've gotten to travel with him and I've gotten to go to Ethiopia with him you know and he and we fought over who he loved more me or Barbara but after our five days in Ethiopia with the Keira Foundation he chose me and so I think you know being able to be exposed to somebody like Mark dye ball who's really changed the landscape of our world I mean that's so incredible and Wendy Kopp I'm a teacher and and to be able to meet this woman as I'm teaching in inner-city DC and you know it doesn't even really kick in until now and I and to be able now with with journalism to interview people like Mary Fisher who told me that Betty Ford was the most inspirational person in her life and I just interviewed her last week and so I think - for my parents first of all their friends are so important but people they want to surround themselves with interesting people and have taught us that and and so I think we tried to know all of these people as much as we possibly could and still stay in contact with them now I would like for each of you and we're going to start with Linda to tell us just one of your favorite stories about something that happened at the White House it can be funny it can be about you can be about your parents just some behind-the-scenes thing that the press never found out about and now they are because this is going to be on c-span but it out it is something that everybody out here yes it expires it's something everybody out here will say wow I never heard that before gosh I've been doing this for so long I think I've told everything that I ever did but anyway one of the wonderful things about being in the White House is the people you meet and you know people in the theater people in art so all sorts of fancy folks and for instance like Gregory Peck and when when chuck was when chuck was governor we invited the pecks to come and spend the night in the governor's mansion because they were doing something in Virginia and I wouldn't have dared do that if I hadn't met him back in the 60s and so when I called and told him who I was they would remember you know so anyway I one day this was President's Day Carl Sandburg came to the White House for a tea on Lincoln's birthday and so we had this tea party in the Lincoln Bedroom and my mother was very very excited and very impressed and I was studying American history so I immediately went and got my textbook and brought it in and asked him if he would sign yeah Fogg won some some poem of his and take it back to school of course and hopefully get an A in the course but anyway mother in in the Lincoln Bedroom at least in our day and I hope that y'all didn't change it you know that's one thing about being there we all I can't speak for anybody else but at least we thought it was our house and any changes that were made where did they put that portrait that we put over there that kind of thing so anyway we went in there and on the desk is a copy of the Gettysburg Address and this was written out by Abraham Lincoln to benefit and be sold him even then they were doing those things where they sell autographs and this was going to be sold to benefit the Baltimore sanitary fair which was an early Red Cross type of project and so mother brought it over and said to to mr. Sandberg and here is one of the five copies of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's own handwriting to which mr. Sandberg said everybody knew he could write Steve God there's there's a lot of stories I could tell some of them I shouldn't tell but well quickly I'll give you two quick ones first one it was seven eight days four we got to move in the White House so when we finally moved in the first night I was there I called my best friend from high school grade school elementary school Kevin Kennedy and I said Kevin you got to come over here this is you know unbelievable good government housing and all those kind of things and we took again you couldn't do this today because it's much different because of terrorism and what goes on in the world but at that time we carried my two 18 year old kids carried my stereo up to the roof of the White House up through the solarium today they've got guys up there dressed in black and anti-aircraft guns you couldn't do this today but we took my stereo up there sat on the roof of the White House I think we were playing like Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven it literally was like Dumb and Dumber I'm married for the White House and so that was my first night there the first dinner and I'll be quick here the first dinner we had as a family and there's this tension I don't know if you guys noticed when you first go there you don't know the staff they don't you know they've been there for years and you kind of rotate through and so you're trying to get to know each other and everybody is a little formal and so we're submitted family dinner table it's myself dad mom my sister Susan and everybody's a little you know trying to figure it out and and my dad trying to sort of take the edge off of it he looks and sees there's a wonderful fireplace in that that room and he says oh gosh when we used to go to Vail Colorado for Christmas we always loved to have a fire and one of the people that worked there that must be the president telling us the light to fire so they were they went over and they lit the fire it hadn't been used in 10 years now smoke is billowing out this is your first dinner with the staff and everything that the smoke is coming back into that dining room and Susan and I are coffee and and we're trying to get up and I'll never forget my dad looked at me said sit back down and he goes Betty don't we just love a fire he had such a good heart to try to make him feel good it was Stephen yeah it was just that those are my memories of those first days yeah well there's a thing one thing I was to say the same thing happened on Lucy's first night in the White House she had a friend over and started the fire in her bedroom okay and smoke whenever you know another little friend said oh yes I know all about how to work to to open everything that this will be just great no and the added part was she was in her nightgown no and she was sixteen years old and all of a sudden the smoke is everywhere and so she goes and climbs up on her desk to stand up and try to open that window that faces Pennsylvania Avenue and this guard looks up sees the smoke coming out and then Lucy's trying to cover up they ought to put a sign up do not use you know danger to a house fire no I don't mean I'm glad because you know that would be the last thing that the Bush twins could have done but like like the White House on fire that would have really helped with our college reputation yeah I think well one thing is you can still get up on that roof because I had my first kiss with my husband up there which my mom doesn't this kind of embarrassing luckily I'm married to him um Barbara embarrassed don't feel very she's humiliated um I thought you said I thought we were telling all of our secrets but you know what we're jelly ignore these people out okay where's Colleen you're just talking to me Jenna okay yeah one thing you know we actually grew up because cuz of going when my grandfather was president just for holidays we knew all the staff really really well which yeah I've known that's right which was so extra special you know because then going back however many years later a lot of years later and they were and many of them were still there Moses run that's right and so leaving I think that was the hardest part is that they had become like family to us after eight you know after 12 years and we still stay in contact with them and I'm going back to the White House to interview mrs. Obama on Monday and I'm really excited because I get to you know mainly because I get to see my old my mom I mean aunt interview mrs. Obama to of course but but my mom said I heard you're going to do that because the florist had called somebody who'd called somebody and it had gotten back to them so you know they had become like family and and they actually helped us out when we saw a ghost once I thought you were gonna bring it up I'm gonna let you tell it okay before Bartels okay right I do have another twins story from your grandmother but I was over in her book will you jealous apparently that apparently they're the 41 first I in the White House I don't know if it was the night of the inaugural balls or the next I I'm not sure but the whole it was to be a family dinner and Barbara Fisher note is that a lot of the grand we're missing but is the ledge by the twins that she swears this is true and so she said to the White House staff where are the twins and the grandchildren and one of the butler says Oh ma'am they have ordered dinner in the bowling alley to be served at the bowl II doubt not true it was a snack did you present of all dinner was just some good they do and I did believe there was ever dinner served in the bowling alley ever ago no oh okay it was just easier to blame us for more things because there were two of us and we took it so I don't should I tell this yes ok the Dory this sounds crazy except it happens Jana and I well Jenna when our rooms were next door to each other and since which ones we actually usually sleep in the same room even though we were adults and but Jenna came running into my room one night terrified because she had heard someone singing opera out of my fireplace out of her it actually was Led Zeppelin and I didn't believe her I ignored her but then the next night we were sleeping in the same room and it happened again except this time we heard like olden times like really creepy piano music coming out of the fireplace and then and so we went we were able to go to sleep because we both were working in DC so we had jobs in the morning and we were able to go to sleep to say oh that's just willard or cat-cow we thought our cat might have played perfectly piano yeah but we had to sleep so we just make pacify it ourselves and then the next morning I was getting up to go to work and I saw buddy buddy who worked at the White House and I said buddy and well first of all the piano top was down which really scared me a little bit and I said buddy you're not going to believe the last two nights I heard this piano music coming under the fireplace in my room and was a piano top down last night he's like oh it's always down and he said you wouldn't believe the things I've seen or heard and we never slept alone ever so we really I mean we believed in ghosts I mean we wouldn't believe in ghosts except this happened to us except for we believe in goes we had a and dad mom and dad had a golden retriever they lived at the White House with him a dog named Liberty and one night the dog got up in the middle of night and woke dad up nudged him and and dad got out of bed left mom sitting there and he put his bath robe on and slippers and he took Liberty down the family elevator down to go out the diplomatic entrance to take the dog it was like 2:00 in the morning and he goes out the door the dog runs around does his business on the yard and and and dad goes to walk back in the White House in the door's locked and then the Secret Service don't know he's out there at 2:00 in the morning in his pajamas with the dog and so to let you know that our life is just like yours here is dad knocking on the door in his pajamas with the dog trying to get back in the White House at 2:00 in the morning he got in yeah same thing happened to my mother a little different you know the grand staircase that you come down well mother was always trying to make sure that we didn't spend any more money than we needed to in the White House so one night after a state dinner she had gone back upstairs put on her nightgown and she noticed that the light was on right outside the door to go down the grand their case and Sochi being very careful you know put one foot on to hold the door upstairs and then tried to lean out and turn the light out well she didn't make it the door closed behind her and there she was in her own and she just put her face up she describes this so I'm not telling too much but she just marched downstairs like she was supposed to be walking around in a robe and they were all finishing the party up and she just walked right through when the elevator went back upstairs again now unfortunately I'm getting the evil eye from mark Updegrove I know we could listen to your old stories forever thank you all so much for telling us it's so always you're fabulous

Channel: TheLBJLibrary

Views: 132,796

Rating: 4.541573 out of 5

Keywords: LBJ Library, First Ladies, Barbara Pierce Bush, Steve Ford, Jenna Bush Hager, Lynda Johnson Robb, Jenna Hager (Author), Talk, Family

Id: nEMdbYLT_og

Length: 63min 6sec (3786 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 20 2012