You know you are a First Daughter when John Travolta is the guest of honor at your 11th birthday dinner. When Amy announced that she was a “double-digit pre-teenager,” her father, Jimmy Carter, retorted, “We don’t let people use double-digits around the White House anymore until we get inflation under control.” When Amy wasn’t playing the violin, writing poetry, roller-skating, or diving, she had sleepovers with her friends in the Lincoln bedroom—where they waited up for Lincoln’s ghost—and in a tree house that the Secret Service would guard at night. She also attended dinners with dignitaries—reading books under the table most of the time—and advised her Dad on foreign policy; the President once took flak for saying that Amy said nuclear proliferation was the most pressing matter of the day.
Happy Birthday to America—and her First Daughters
President Obama isn't just celebrating the birth of the nation on July 4, he's celebrating the birth of his daughter Malia, who is turning 14. In honor of both milestones, TIME looks back through the years at other First Daughters, whose youthful exuberance reflects the best of America on her 236th birthday