From first kisses on the roof of White House to Led Zeppelin parties: The children of past Presidents reveal what it was REALLY like growing up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

By Associated Press

PUBLISHED: 23:17 EST, 15 November 2012 | UPDATED: 09:05 EST, 16 November 2012

Whether it was to steal a first kiss or listen to Led Zeppelin, climbing onto the roof of the White House was apparently a common sneak-out practice among presidents' children.

Steve Ford garnered laughs during a panel discussion Thursday with fellow children of former presidents as he recalled dragging a stereo onto the roof with a friend his first night there in 1974.

A teenager at the time his father took office, he said, 'I think we were playing like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." Literally, it was like "Dumb and Dumber."'

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Growing up in the White House: Steve Ford, second from right, talks about life in the White House as he is joined by (from left to right) Barbara Pierce Bush, Jenna Bush Hager, and Lynda Johnson Robb

Growing up in the White House: Steve Ford, second from right, talks about life in the White House as he is joined by (from left to right) Barbara Pierce Bush, Jenna Bush Hager, and Lynda Johnson Robb

Jenna Bush Hager later told Ford, 'you can still get up on that roof, because I had my first kiss with my husband up there.'

Her twin sister, Barbara Pierce Bush, and Lynda Johnson Robb also spoke during the conference, which is part of a series focusing on the nation's first ladies. But Thursday's event was the first in which their children have participated, offering a different perspective about life in the White House.

The conference, 'The Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies,' was held at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin and hosted by American University and the White House Historical Association.

Young romance: Jenna Bush Hager, left, said she had her first kiss with her husband on the roof of the White House

Young romance: Jenna Bush Hager, left, said she had her first kiss with her husband on the roof of the White House

Ford noted that his family got to the White House in a 'different way.' His father was appointed vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, and then became president after the resignation of Richard Nixon.

He noted that Nixon's presidency ended so abruptly that the Nixon family's possessions were still being packed after Ford was sworn in, so the Ford family returned to their suburban Washington home for several days.

After his father was sworn in, his mother, Betty Ford, fixed the family dinner.

Back at the White House: President George W. Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara have returned to the White House in May of last year to see their father's official portrait unveiling

Back at the White House: President George W. Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara have returned to the White House in May of last year to see their father's official portrait unveiling

The Bush sisters: Jenna, left, and Barbara, right, await their father's inauguration 20 January 2001 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC

The Bush sisters: Jenna, left, and Barbara, right, await their father's inauguration 20 January 2001 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC

'She looks over at my dad and says, `Gerry, something's wrong here. You just became president of the United States and I'm still cooking,' he said.

But he also talked of his parents' deep devotion to each other, noting their decision to frankly talk about Betty Ford's breast cancer diagnosis just weeks after he became president.

 

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'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 closet disease for women back in 1974,' Ford said.

When his mother expressed concern after her diagnosis about wearing evening gowns, Ford said, his father told her: 'Betty come on, don't be silly. If you can't wear cut low in the front, wear cut low in the back.'

Ford family: Members of the Ford family pose on the White House grounds. Steve, son of the president, is pictured far left

Ford family: Members of the Ford family pose on the White House grounds. Steve, son of the president, is pictured far left

Betty Ford's candidness about her breast cancer diagnosis was also noted in an earlier panel discussion Thursday with historians and former White House staffers as they talked about first ladies throughout history.

Richard Norton Smith, a historian and author, said first ladies' causes have at times been dictated by circumstance, noting the impact Betty Ford had when she took on breast cancer awareness after her diagnosis.

Lynda Bird Johnson is photographed at the White House garden in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 1964

Lynda Bird Johnson is photographed at the White House garden in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 1964

Her fight against breast cancer also had a significant impact on men across the nation, added Allida Black, historian and director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. 'You should read the letters that men wrote to her,' Black said.

Other conferences have been hosted in Texas by the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station. The next conference will be held in the spring at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Watch a sneak peek of C-SPAN's original series 'First Ladies: Influence and Image'

 
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The Bush sisters are great, especially Jenna! She is a teacher and worked with UNICEF. I love her on Today!

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No doubt the Bush daughters are sufficiently clever to avoid the incorrect use of an apostrophe, MikeStone.

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Are the Bush Daughter's as clever as their dad?

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The photo of the Ford familly provides further evidence that clothing styles of the 1970s were awful.

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The Bush sisters are hot, always have been!

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Umm, Yas? jealous much? The Bush sisters do not even stay in the public, they have lives and careers. So if they annoy you, that would indicate you stalk news for information regarding them. They are incredibly raised southern women who showed nothing but respect and decorum as first daughters. As for the biggest embarssment ithe White House has ever seen? that would be the current embarassment of having all the inlaws just move on in at taxpayer expense. That would be Nancy (though I loved RR) with her crazy costs of redecorating and HIllary with her theivery at the end of their term. You must have a very small life Yas..

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Supposedly LBJ had a huge 1 and whipped it out to those who doubted him

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thanks

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How dare Barbara and Jenna Bush choose George W. Bush as their father. They should have demanded that he give up the presidency! And how dare they be typical teenagers while at the White House, and how dare they be prettier than Amy Carter or Chelsea Clinton! All you who be hatin'...the rest of us don't live to please you.

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No sane person would attend that event. Just thinking about sitting in that empty auditorium listening to those fools is making me ill.

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