Historical Figure
Barbara Bush
1925–2018
First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993
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"Wellesley Commencement Address" — June 1, 1990
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Biography
Barbara Bush was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. She was previously second lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, when her husband was vice president under President Ronald Reagan, and founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Among her children are George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, and Jeb Bush, the 43rd governor of Florida. Bush and Abigail Adams are the only two women to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another. At the time she became first lady, she was the second oldest woman to hold the position, behind only Anna Harrison, who never lived in the capital. Bush was generally popular as first lady, recognized for her apolitical grandmotherly image.
Timeline
The story of Barbara Bush, told in moments.
Born Barbara Pierce in Manhattan, New York. Her father was president of McCall Corporation, the magazine publisher. She grew up in the wealthy suburb of Rye.
Married George H. W. Bush in Rye, New York. She'd dropped out of Smith College to do it. They were 19 and 20. The marriage lasted 73 years.
Their daughter Robin died of leukemia at age three. Barbara said her hair turned white in the weeks after. She was 28.
Became First Lady. Chose literacy as her cause. Founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which raised over $110 million. She read aloud to children in schools across the country.
Watched her son George W. Bush inaugurated as the 43rd president. Only the second woman in American history to be both wife and mother of a president. Abigail Adams was the first.
In Their Own Words (6)
What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they [the Hurricane Katrina refugees in the Houston Astrodome] all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.
Marketplace (6 March 2005), 2005
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 (her husband, former president George H. W. Bush) suffer?
Addressing the question of how much television news she'd recently been watching, in light of the enormous media attention given to likely outcomes in a U.S. war with Iraq. The interview took place two days prior to the start of the Iraq War, Good Morning America (18 March 2003), 2003
For heaven's sake enjoy life. Don't cry over things that were or things that aren't. Enjoy what you have now to the fullest. In all honesty you really only have two choices; you can like what you do OR you can dislike it. I choose to like it and what fun I have had. The other choice is no fun and people do not want to be around a whiner. We can always find people who are worse off and we don't have to look far! Help them and forget self! I would certainly say, above all, seek God. He will come to you if you look. There is absolutely NO down side.
p. 531, 1994
Avoid this crowd like the plague. And if they quote you, make damn sure they heard you.
Advice about news reporters, to incoming first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a tour of the White House, as quoted in Newsweek magazine (30 November 1992), 1992
The personal things should be left out of platforms at conventions.... You can argue yourself blue in the face, and you’re not going to change each other’s minds. It’s a waste of your time and my time.
On the abortion debate, in which her stance was the opposite of her husband's, as quoted in Time magazine (24 August 1992), 1992
Artifacts (15)
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