- This article concerns the wife of the 41st U.S. President, George H.W. Bush. For the daughter of George W. Bush, see Barbara and Jenna Bush.
Barbara Pierce Bush (born June 8, 1925) is the wife of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, and was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of current U.S. President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and the sister of Scott Pierce.
Early life
Barbara Pierce was born to Pauline and Marvin Pierce, who later became president of McCall Corporation. She grew up in the suburban town of Rye, New York, near New York City and went to boarding school at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina.
Her ancestor, an early New England colonist named Thomas Pierce, was also the ancestor to Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.
Marriage and family
It was at a dance during Christmas vacation when she was 16 that she met George H. W. Bush, a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. One and a half years later, the two became engaged, just before George went off to war during World War II as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot.
When he returned on leave, Barbara had dropped out of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Two weeks later, on January 6, 1945, they married.
After the war, George graduated from Yale University, and they moved to Midland, Texas. Six children were born to them:
- 1) George Walker Bush (6 July 1946- ) 43rd President of the United States and 46th Governor of Texas
- 2) Pauline Robinson Bush "Robin" (20 December 1949 - October 11, 1953, died of leukemia);
- 3) Jeb Bush (11 February 1953- ); 43rd Governor of Florida
- 4) Neil Bush (22 January 1955- );
- 5) Marvin Bush (22 October, 1956- ) and
- 6) Dorothy Bush Koch (August 18, 1959 - ).
Meanwhile, George H. W. Bush built a business in the oil industry.
Career
Barbara's family moved twenty-nine times during the years that she and George H. W. Bush were married. She managed her family while her husband was away, as her husband served in a variety of government jobs.
Today Barbara Bush lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, and at their sprawling estate, the Bush Compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. They are frequent honored guests at the White House.
Barbara Bush serves on the Boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic, and heads her Barbara Bush Foundation.
Bush has written two books, Millie's Book, 1990, and an autobiography, Barbara Bush: A Memoir, 1994.
Two primary schools in Texas, a Houston Independent School District school, and a school in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, are named after her. 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.
Controversies
On March 18, 2003, Barbara Bush stated on ABC's Good Morning America, "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"[1], [2]. Opponents of the former first lady claimed that this statement showed how callous and cold she is, while supporters countered that Mrs. Bush was merely dismissing speculation of deaths before the Iraq War began.
On September 5, 2005, while visiting Hurricane Katrina relief centers in Houston, TX, Mrs. Bush stated on the NPR program "Marketplace, "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." Audio clip from Marketplace. Opponents of the former first lady claimed that this statement showed her elitist and racist nature (the 15,000 evacuees in the Astrodome were mostly poor and black) [3] [4], while supporters countered that Mrs. Bush was expressing the gratefulness she had heard from the evacuees for the help and welcome they had received in Houston. [5]