Barbara 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 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. She was born and raised in the suburban town of Rye, New York, near New York City and went to Rye Country Day School, followed by boarding school at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina.

Her ancestor Thomas Pierce, an early New England colonist, was also an ancestor of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.

Her mother — whom W magazine once described as "beautiful, fabulous, critical, and meddling" and "a former beauty from Ohio with extravagant tastes" — was killed in a car accident. The accident was caused when her husband, who was driving, lost control when he reached over to stop a cup of hot coffee from sliding across the seat onto his wife. The car crashed into a stone wall, killing her instantly.

Marriage and family

It was at a dance during Christmas vacation when she was 17 that she met George H. W. Bush, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. 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. After the war, he graduated from Yale University, and they moved to Midland, Texas. Six children were born to them:

George W. Bush (6 July 1946- ) 43rd President of the United States and 46th Governor of Texas
Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush (20 December 1949 - October 11, 1953, died of leukemia);
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (11 February 1953- ); 43rd Governor of Florida
Neil Mallon Bush (22 January 1955- );
Marvin Pierce Bush (22 October, 1956- )
Dorothy Bush Koch (August 18, 1959 - ).

Meanwhile, George H. W. Bush built a business in the oil industry, where he founded Zapata Corporation. One of the boats used in the Bay of Pigs invasion was named the Barbara J. The Bush family moved 29 times over the years. She raised her children while her husband, who served in a variety of government jobs, was away.

First Lady of the United States

Later life

Today, she lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, and at their sprawling estate, 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 after 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.

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.

Controversies

Barbara Bush is well-known for delivering tart comments and sometimes controversial opinions:

In September 1990, Barbara 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 (possibly as a response from the show's writers), she and her husband were parodied heavily in an episode of the show, titled "Two Bad Neighbors".

Speaking about the then-tentative war on Iraq, on March 18, 2003 she told ABC's Good Morning America [http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp:

"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?"

Critics said that this statement showed how callous and cold she is, while supporters countered that she was merely dismissing speculation of deaths before the Iraq War began.

On September 5, 2005, while visiting Hurricane Katrina relief centers in Houston, TX, she stated on the NPR program "Marketplace (Audio clip)::

"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."

Critics called these comments elitist and racist (the 15,000 evacuees in the Astrodome were mostly poor and black) ^*" target="_blank" >[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050907-2.html#d

In 2006 it was revealed that Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil Bush. ^*

Succession of the First Ladies of the United States

External links

White House biography

http://www.dadashopping.net/work.php?code=behind_every_great_man_stands_a_great_woman

Paper defining the role of the first lady, comparing Barbara Bush with Hillary Clinton