[laughter] because she is here, we will be honest. But we wont shock anybody. One thing i alluded to, people did think that our mom was this cookiecutter mother. Those who know her and 20 people in austan do, she is a great mother. It goes to the whole thing where it is much easier to see people as onedimensional. She is a very strong lady who just happens to not shout. That is why people saw her as more conservative than she was or is. One thing about both of my parents that i feel like is a great trait to have is that they wanted us to become our own people. They are both very open and i dont know if people would get that from their public stereotype. She is a secret rust safari and rastafarian. I hope i didnt still that from you. I was going to stay that say that also. Our mother loves music and she loves bob marley. When we lived in austin and my dad was governor i heard a rumor in high school that there was a concert and my mom and i snuck out to see if they were coming. Mom loves music. When she was when we were seven she took us to our first concert. She took us to see paul simon. There were a lot of great concerts with our mom that most people may not get. My mother loved gunsmoke. [laughter] this was in the really dark ages. Sometimes, state dinners interfered with watching gunsmoke. Somehow daddy, he was very fond of mother, but somehow he got the White House Communications agency to find a way to tape gunsmoke for mother. This was the 60s and they had not invented that yet. They would somehow tape gunsmoke for mother so that she could watch it. I probably shouldnt say this because it was probably illegal but anyway. Wouldnt you know it that mr. Arnez was republican. How bipartisan we are. I would like to make a short commercial and say that one of the wonderful things is that the former president and the sitting president have been so wonderful to my family. I would like to start with papa george. My father was president when he came into the congress. Because he had known his father, he had served with your greatgrandfather. He then invited george bush to come to the white house and they got to be friends. When we left in 68, nixon was inaugurated. Those nice bushes came out to which us goodbye. Dont you wish we had that bipartisanship now . [applause] on the day that steves mother was going to have this operation , president ford came to the inauguration of the lbj grove in washington. We have pictures of kathy, who was very Young Holding president fords hand, he was helping her down the steps. Then they invited us to come back to the white house. And the picture of us standing and betty fords bedroom and there is the suitcase all packed. We didnt know and she didnt tell us. That night when we heard it on the radio, we could not believe it. Laura bush told me when i came to the white house as a senate spouse, she said if your mother comes up. , i would love to have her come over and see the white house. I will give her to her. We built an elevator so that mother could come and stay with us. When she came, laura bush had her to the white house and it was so wonderful. We are very lucky with the president s that we have had because they all understand what it is like and they have all been so good to the other people who have been there. Thank you. [applause] this might be sort of hard, but since this Congress Conference is about the legacy of the 1st ladies not be as personal with this question and answer, but more about your mothers legacy, talked about all you mothers accomplish so many great things, but if you could talk about one thing that when you think about your mom the most proud of her and what she did what would it be . And we will start with jenna. I dont want to steal barbaras. Barbaras. I feel like i always steel answers. Do you want to go 1st . Okay so i would say probably her work for women and all over really. We we were so lucky because our parents took us on travels to africa. We got to see being unrolled and being in clinics and schools and meeting people whose lives would be forever changed. I would say her work for women. More broadly and publicly and my dad. I am proud of him for that. I will let you talk about your dad. I think definitely echo that. But i think after september 11 mom played such im going to cry. I know. A lot of people. I think the work that she did after september 11 and how comforting she was to everyone in the country is an incredible legacy and was critical to the country healing. [applause] well, every spring i am blessed because people come up to me and say, zero i just love to see the beautiful daffodils. Zero the planting on the highway. I mean, they think mother is out there planting every flower. [laughter] and i say zero yes, absolutely. Now, if you happen to read the garden section of the Washington Post recently, in the garden section there was an article about mother and planting. For those of you have a little extra money and care about what washington looks at they are now trying to raise money to put more plants back in. Believe it or not, and 40 years some things die. They are trying to redo it. Hated the word beautification but she certainly was the Johnny Appleseed of natural beauty. [applause] well, again, it would be to things and one of them happened after the president. The 1st was breastcancer. She was placed in her own special way, and mom and dad together the moment she raised her hand transparent like she could be, it changed the dynamics and stereotype of another disease, alcoholism. It will be those two things for Breast Cancer and alcoholism. [applause] lets talk about your dad i did not warn you i would ask this question. But we will be equal opportunity. All part of the fathers talk about your dad a twofer question, something we might not know about him and something you are just really proud of something you did an incredible that obviously. But hes externally openminded person characterized as someone that is not. We are so thrilled. So pursue whatever we are passionate about. That gives about. That gives me to what i am proud of him for which is all the work that he did. The president s initiative. I have a couple of health issues. I got to see the work firsthand of the American People were doing make sure that they had a life in the future. Being launched. I was in college. My parents travel throughout africa. And i went with them which was incredible that they allow me to go by remember literally thousands of people were lining the streets because they wanted drug ticket take every a live. I go back multiple times year. Its a different place because of it. And on that note today or chew my father the executive director of the global fund. Really exciting. Those are obviously the things that i agree with. We would have to go to africa and have been able to go back. [laughter] and it was incredible to see the way that these countries have changed. One thing people dont realize about all president s is it is not just a four or eight year job. All parents especially right now they are loving, continuing the work that they did. I think it gets maybe easier. We will have to ask my mother but easier to do this policy worked this alone now. They spent two weeks this summer living in africa. My mom and my dad together. My dad built the clinic from the ground up. I dont think i told my parents the other day argue going to retire to my kid use you retiring so we can have more time to talk. They had planned a birthday party. We lived here and barbara lived in new haven. We did not get to see them the way that they wanted. We plan to have some of our friends come up to camp david and have a weekend. I remember calling in october. We should cancel the birthday party. No, we want to make sure to keep it going, keep coming. That was what their priorities were. [applause] a million things. That was i will spin it around back toward mom. So supportive of her. There is a wonderful story that came out mom was out there promoting the equal rights amendment for women back in the 70s. And it 70s. And it really was not something that was on the republican platform at that time. Be honest it was not on the democratic platform either. Mom is out there promoting that and working very hard for that command there was a meeting that happened over in the white house the west wing, it was the political types talking to dad. They delicately tried to encourage my father and say, mr. President , if you could just maybe gosh get your wife to [laughter] just until the election is over, down. And dad in his wonderful way smiled and pointed over to the east wing of the white house and said, that is where babies offices. I no she is in the office. If any of you would like to go over there and speak to her you can go ahead. No one got up to go over there. I would say that he had a wonderful way of supporting her causes and letting her take her voice. It kind of reminded me when she came out of the hospital wonderful welcome by the staff at the white house. Very strong and trying to keep a stiff upper lip but she had fears. They talked about this intimate moment where mom expressed some of those fears to dad about gosh, i am scared to death. I am going to be 1st lady. I am i am afraid i cannot wear my evening gowns anymore for state dinners. She is thinking about that instead of herself. My dad in a wonderful way said betty, dont be silly. If you if you cant wear cut low in the front, where it low in the back. [laughter] and they had this wonderful relationship supporting each other. Yes. A little insight you may not have known. [laughter] linda. My father was a teacher all of his life. I mean, i guess i am supposed to say civil rights is the most important thing and it was but all of that together he had grown up poor people all around him and knew how much education could change their lives. And he had grown up teaching hispanic children, so he knew about discrimination and the need for changes in civil rights. And he had seen what happened with the help of the older people in his neighborhood and the sacrifices the family set to make because their grandmother or and or somebody needed medical help all of these things, i do not think that i can divide one, but i wish that you could see i have produced a teacher. My Catherine Catherine is sitting right here, but my jennifer, the baby High School Math teacher and washington well, virginia i no how proud he would be because he was always trying to give us teaching moments trying to explain everything he was doing teaching us about the effects of some of the laws that were passed. And one of the things generally about 1st ladies i like to say is that i think as a feminist i was chair of the president S Advisory Committee for women i just want you to know. [applause] and i think a lot of women give a lot of these men whose marriage to that wonderful laura bush. Down to be on our side. In army member being in houston for this big womens meeting and there we were. I was there because i had this position and there we were with misses carter and my mother and mrs. Forward. A telling moment. [applause] i would love for you to talk a little bit about yourself. This is your life. Hard to imagine what your life would be like if your fathers an up and president looking back at what you have done and how you grew up change you either as a person is a person or change your life what effect do you think it has had on how you are living your life. We will start with our token man. So happy here. Start and tell us how you think it affected you. A little bit different. Our family is a little bit different. You know if you were the daughter of the bush Family Member or reagan you almost might have expected that your father would run for president sunday or you would be involved. In our case that had just been a congressman literally getting ready to retire from congress. All of a sudden he gets nominated for Vice President by nixon and mom was waiting to get out of politics. She could not wait. I remember dad putting his arm around her and saying, dont worry, Vice President s dont do anything. [laughter] which did not really work out. None of us thought we would ever be in the white house. To get catapulted their certainly changed my life. I i am glad i had two older siblings, two brothers in the younger sister to talk to. It made it easier. Today i am able to do things in the public arena that i would never have been able to do 19 years and recovery in alcoholism just like my mother. I can go talk to school kids now because i have that platform because i am the son of a former president. They listen to your little bit. You try to give Something Back and watch her parents do the same. I i speak took school speak to school kids go to prisons, talk about my support surprise sobriety, the grace of god in my life and what mom went through. It certainly has changed my life for the better because you are able to give back and have a platform to do it linda [applause] well, im going to do the other side. There are many, many wonderful things about being a white house child. I would not get to be here today. But the other side of it is and i come back to this a lot when i was heading up this womens commission, women are often seen in reference to someone else. I want all i want all of you to go back and look at the obituaries in the paper. The 1st line is usually wife of. In my case the 1st line i expect, in my obituary we will be daughter of. In the 2nd piece will be wife of because i have gotten daughter of president and mrs. Johnson, wife of governor and mrs. Rob. And i think that we all your to have our own place no matter how big or small it may be in the world we want to be identified. So i tell my children, if they get to read my obituary i wanted the way i wanted. [laughter] i want the 1st line to be professional volunteer. Now, i am in being a professional volunteer because that is what my parents taught me to do. When i got a job after college and get my 1st paycheck my mother said well, now, who are you going to give it to . I thought, how. And and her belief was that you should give your 1st paycheck away. Of course being a smart girl that i am, i had trees put in johnson city in memory of my grandparents. But that was just a given. We have been very blessed. We are not financially stressed. You cant afford to give that away. In the most valuable thing i have is my time. Twentyfour hours a day. So whereas i can with varying amounts of money, my time is the most valuable thing really that i can give away. That is what i have tried to do professional volunteer and do not have as many paid jobs by my name. And that is what i learned from my parents. I feel very very blessed, all of the experiences that they gave me. Remember, catherine, 1st line [laughter] professional volunteer. I might add that barbara bush was right in their. When i was chair i asked laura bush to be on our committee. I am not a dumb woman. I asked her to be on and got her to be on our Advisory Committee because we want people who care about literacy to be up there supporting is. [applause] we obviously never lived in the white house. We were freshman. My parents made it clear that we could tag along for anything that they were doing. My sister and i both what we benefited from was the exposure our parents offered we travel to africa, Asia Latin America and got to see all the initiatives that they were implementing firsthand and i think that completely shaped my career. I run a nonprofit focused on Global Health issues. Linear obviously. My parents allowed me to be exposed to what they were working on, cared about the people he worked with everyday. The other thing is everyone who works in government is serving and are excited about service to other people. Everyday i work with young people who want to serve in Global Health, health and that is my way of trying to encourage more people to do what i saw my parents do everyday. [applause] she said everything i was going to say except that two quick things. We got to meet so many incredible people commanded encouraged us to come and meet a really great friend. He wrote as an email to tell us he job he got this job because he wanted us to know before it was released. I got i got to go to ethiopia with him. We fought over who he loved more. After our five days in ethiopia he chose me. [laughter] i think being able to be exposed to someone like that who has changed the landscape of our world that is so incredible. I am a teacher as to be able to meet this woman as i am teaching in innercity dc, it does not even really sink in until now and to be able now with journalism to interview people like mary fisher who told me that betty ford was the most inspirational person in her life command i just interviewed her last week. My parents 1st of all their friends are important, but people. They want to surround themselves with interesting people. I think that we tried to know all of these people as much as we possibly could and still stay in contact with them. [applause] well, i would like for each of you and we will start with linda to tell as one of your favorite stories about something that happened at the white house. It can be funny, about you, your parents just some behindthescenes thing that the press never found out about and now they are because it will be on cspan something that everyone here [inaudible conversations] gosh, i have been doing this for so long i think i have told everything i ever did but one of the wonderful things about being in the white house is the people you meet. You know, people in the theater people in the arts. All sorts of fancy folks. For instance, gregory peck. [laughter] when chuck was governor we invited back to come and spend the night in the Governors Mansion because they were doing something in virginia. I would not have dared to do that. When i called and told him who i was they would remember. So anyway, one day president s day Carl Sandburg came to the white house for tea on lincolns birthday. We had this tea party in the lincoln bedroom. And my mother was very, very excited and impressed. I was studying American History, so i immediately went and got my textbook and brought it in and asked him if he would sign [laughter] some paul of his. I took it back to school and hopefully get in a. Anyway, mother in the lincoln bedroom, at bedroom at least in our day and i hope you did not change it. [laughter] that is one thing about being there. I cannot speak for anyone else, we thought that it was our house. Any changes that were made where do they put that portrait that we put over theyre . Any