Barbara Bush
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| Barbara Pierce Bush | |
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| In office January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Nancy Reagan |
| Succeeded by | Hillary Rodham Clinton |
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| In office January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 |
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| Preceded by | Joan Mondale |
| Succeeded by | Marilyn Quayle |
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| Born | June 8, 1925 Flushing, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | George H. W. Bush |
| Relations | Marvin Pierce and Pauline Robinson |
| Children | George W. Bush, Robin Bush, Jeb Bush, Neil Bush, Marvin Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch |
| Occupation | First Lady of the United States |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Barbara Pierce Bush (born June 8, 1925) is the wife of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, making her First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Preceding that, she was the 33rd Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989 while her husband was Vice President to Ronald Reagan. She is the mother of U.S. President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
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[edit] Early life
Barbara Pierce was the third child of the former Pauline Robinson (1896–1949) and her husband, Marvin Pierce (1893–1969), who later became president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines Redbook and McCall's. Her ancestor Thomas Pierce, an early New England colonist, was also an ancestor of Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States. She is a direct descendant, great-great-granddaughter, of James Pierce, Jr. who was a fourth cousin of President Pierce.[1] Barbara was born at Booth Memorial Hospital in Flushing, Queens in New York City, and raised in the suburban town of Rye, New York. Her mother was killed in a car accident in September 1949.[2]
Barbara attended Rye Country Day School from 1931 to 1937 and later boarding school at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina (from 1940 to 1943).[2] She was athletic as a youth and enjoyed swimming, tennis, and bike-riding.[2] Her interest in reading began early in her life; she recalls gathering with her family during the evenings and reading together.[2]
[edit] Marriage and family
She met George Herbert Walker "Poppy" Bush, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, at age sixteen during a dance over Christmas vacation.[3] One and a half years later, the two engaged, just before he went off to World War II as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot. He named three of his planes after her: Barbara, Barbara II, and Barbara III. When he returned on leave, she had dropped out of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Two weeks later, on January 6, 1945, they married. He graduated from Yale University following the end of the war; they soon moved to Midland, Texas. She gave birth to six children:
- George W. Bush (born July 6, 1946), 43rd President of the United States and 46th Governor of Texas
- Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush (December 20, 1949 – October 11, 1953, died of leukemia)
- John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953), 43rd Governor of Florida
- Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955)
- Marvin Pierce Bush (born October 22, 1956)
- Dorothy Bush Koch (born August 18, 1959)
Meanwhile, George H. W. Bush built a business in the oil industry, where he founded Zapata Corporation. The Bush family moved 30 times over the years. Barbara raised her children while her husband, who served in a variety of government jobs, was usually away.
[edit] First Lady of the United States
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Barbara Bush was active with the White House Historical Association and worked to revitalize the White House Preservation Fund, which she renamed the White House Endowment Trust. The trust raises funds for the ongoing refurbishment and restoration of the White House. Mrs. Bush set a goal of raising $25 million towards the endowment, and met it.
Bush was known for her affection for her pet English Springer Spaniel Millie. Mrs. Bush wrote a child's book about Millie's new litter of puppies. Barbara Bush became the first U.S. First Lady to become a recipient of the Henry G. Freeman Jr. Pin Money Fund, receiving $36,000, most of which she gave to favorite charities.
[edit] Later life
Currently, she lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, and at the Bush Compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Three primary schools in Texas are named after her. One is a Houston ISD school in Houston. One Conroe ISD school in the The Woodlands in Montgomery County is named for her. A Grand Prairie ISD school in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie is also named after her. An elementary school in Mesa, Arizona's Mesa Public Schools is also named after her.
Two middle schools are named after her. One is in San Antonio in the North East ISD. One is in Irving in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.
A Harris County Public Library branch in Cypress Creek, Harris County, Texas called the Barbara Bush Library is named after her.[4]
The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine is named after Bush. Also named for her is one of George W. Bush's twin daughters. They are frequent honored guests at the White House. She serves on the Boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic, and heads the Barbara Bush Foundation.
Mrs. Bush was initiated into Beta Sigma Phi women's fraternity as an alumna honor initiate. Mrs. Bush also was initiated into the Texas Eta chapter (Texas A&M University) of Pi Beta Phi women's fraternity in 2002 as an alumna honor initiate.[5] Even before her initiation, she served as honorary chairperson of the fraternity's literacy philanthropy,[citation needed] continuing a cause she championed as the wife of the Vice President and later as First Lady.[6]
[edit] Controversies
In 1984, Bush told the press that she could not say on television what she thought of then Vice-Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, but "it rhymes with rich".[7]
In September 1990, Bush said in an interview for People Magazine that the then-brand new TV show The Simpsons was the dumbest thing she had ever seen. Six years later, she and her husband were parodied heavily in an episode of the show, titled "Two Bad Neighbors" in which they were satirized in a Dennis the Menace style context. Bush was portrayed as being like Martha Wilson, even using the "Oh George" catchprase made famous by the latter.
On March 18, 2003, two days before the beginning of the war on Iraq, ABC's Good Morning America asked her about her family's television viewing habits; she replied:
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- I watch none. He [former President Bush] sits and listens and I read books, because I know perfectly well that, don't take offense, that 90 percent of what I hear on television is supposition, when we're talking about the news. And he's not, not as understanding of my pettiness about that. But why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or that or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that, and watch him suffer.[8]
While visiting a Houston relief center for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Bush told the radio program "Marketplace,
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- "Almost everyone I've talked to says, 'We're gonna move to Houston.' What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas... Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality, and so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is working very well for them".[9][10]
In 2006, it was revealed that Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund on the condition the charity do business with an educational software company owned by her son Neil Bush.[11]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Correction Barbara Pierce Bush Genealogy
- ^ a b c d First Lady Biography: Barbara Bush. National First Ladies Library. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ Bush, Barbara (1994), p. 16
- ^ Harris County Public Library - Branch Information - Barbara Bush @ Cypress Creek
- ^ Famous Pi Phis, Texas Eta web site
- ^ White House biography of Barbara Bush
- ^ 595. Barbara Bush. Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations. 1988
- ^ Urban Legends Reference Pages: Barbara Bush 'Beautiful Mind' Quote
- ^ "Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans", Editor and Publisher, September 5, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ "Marketplace", American Public Media, September 5, 2005. Audio clip.
- ^ Katrina funds earmarked to pay for Neil Bush's software program | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
[edit] References
- Bush, Barbara (1994). Barbara Bush: A Memoir. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0025196359.
[edit] External links
- White House biography
- Paper defining the role of the first lady, including a comparison between Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton
| Honorary titles | ||
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| Preceded by Joan Mondale |
Second Lady of the United States 1981-1989 |
Succeeded by Marilyn Quayle |
| Preceded by Nancy Reagan |
First Lady of the United States 1989-1993 |
Succeeded by Hillary Clinton |
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