Barbara Bush

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}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }} Barbara Bush (Template:Née; June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush. Previously, she had been Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, 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. She 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.

Barbara Pierce was born in New York City and grew up in Rye, New York. She met George H. W. Bush at the age of sixteen, and the two married in 1945. They moved to Texas in 1948, where George was successful in the oil industry and later began his political career. Bush had six children between 1946 and 1959, and she had to endure the loss of her three-year-old daughter Robin to leukemia in 1953. She lived in Washington, D.C., New York, and China while accompanying her husband in his various political roles in the 1960s and 1970s. She became an active campaigner for her husband whenever he stood for election. Bush became Second Lady after her husband became vice president in 1981. She took on the role of a social hostess as Second Lady, holding frequent events at the vice president's residence, and she traveled to many countries with her husband on his diplomatic missions.

Bush became First Lady in 1989 after her husband was inaugurated as president. She enjoyed the role and life in the White House, though her experience as First Lady was complicated by her protectiveness over her family and her diagnosis of Graves' disease in 1989. She frequently carried out charity work, including her projects to promote literacy and her support for people with AIDS. Among the most prominent of her actions as First Lady was the commencement speech she gave at Wellesley College; it saw considerable publicity and her selection was controversial, but it was widely regarded as a success. She remained active in political campaigning after leaving the White House, as two of her sons ran for office in both gubernatorial and presidential campaigns.

Early life

Childhood

Barbara Pierce was born at Booth Memorial Hospital in Flushing, Queens in New York City on June 8, 1925, to Pauline Pierce (Template:Nee) and Marvin Pierce.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her father was a businessman who worked at the McCall Corporation; he descended from the Pierce family that included U.S. president Franklin Pierce.Template:Sfn She had a close relationship with her father,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and she considered him a mentor in many aspects of her life.Template:Sfn Pierce's mother, the daughter of a Supreme Court of Ohio justice,Template:Sfn was a housewife who was involved in the gardening community.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Pierce's father descended from Robert Coe, an early Puritan colonist who founded several towns in the New England Colonies and served as a magistrate of colonial government.<ref name=":52">Template:Cite book</ref> Barbara was the third of her parents' four children, and she often felt overshadowed as a middle child: her older sister Martha was well liked and modeled for Vogue, her older brother Jimmy was a delinquent, and her younger brother Scott had a bone cyst that led to several surgeries throughout his childhood. Barbara felt especially neglected by her mother, with whom she often argued.Template:Sfn Noticing her mother's poor financial habits and general pessimism about her life, Barbara came to see her mother as an example to avoid, instead believing that she had to choose to be happy with what she had.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn She later came to understand the ordeals faced by her mother, particularly after Barbara had a sick child of her own.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Pierce grew up in Rye, New York, where she lived in relative comfort with servants assisting the family. She later described herself as a "very happy fat child".Template:Sfn While the family lost some of their comforts during the Great Depression, her father's successful career kept them from poverty.Template:Sfn In her youth, Pierce was athletic and enjoyed swimming, tennis, and cycling.<ref name="FL bio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For the first years of her schooling, Pierce was a public school student, attending Milton School.Template:Sfn Insecure about her appearance as a child, she adopted a self-deprecating sense of humor and harshly judged her schoolmates. She also took on more traditionally masculine interests, such as playing football.Template:Sfn In her teenage years, she became more popular and was often sought after as a partner in her dance classes.Template:Sfn Pierce attended the Rye Country Day School from seventh to tenth grade. She then attended Ashley Hall, a boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina, for eleventh and twelfth grade.Template:Sfn

Courtship and marriage

When Pierce was 16 and on Christmas vacation, she met George H. W. Bush.Template:Sfn They met at a Christmas dance at the Greenwich Country Club, when he saw her across the room and asked a friend to introduce them.Template:Sfn After a dance together, they instead sat and talked because Bush did not know how to waltz.Template:Sfn They were immediately infatuated with one another,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and they met again, first at a dance the following night, and then when Bush agreed to play a basketball game with her brother—a game that was attended by the entire Pierce family, who all wished to see the object of her affections.Template:Sfn They kept a correspondence after Pierce returned to Ashley Hall, and they went on a date during their spring break. He then asked Pierce to accompany him to his senior prom.Template:Sfn Bush enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 after he graduated, and they saw each other on visits until the following year, when they were secretly engaged. Despite their original intention of secrecy, their families soon knew of it.Template:Sfn Pierce graduated from Ashley Hall in 1943.Template:Sfn

Pierce briefly attended Smith College while Bush was fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II, but she dropped out at the beginning of her second year in anticipation of their wedding.Template:Sfn While in college, she focused on the social and athletic aspects rather than her studies, as she already had the promise of a stable life after her wedding.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn To support the war effort, she worked at a nuts-and-bolts factory as a gofer. While Bush was on leave, Pierce accompanied him to his family home. She took quickly to the family, and they gave her the nickname Bar, which was derived from teasingly calling her the name of the family horse, Barsil, rather than from her own name. She retained the nickname for life. In June 1944, she feared him dead after learning that his plane was shot down, but he was soon found and rescued.Template:Sfn

Pierce married Bush at the Rye First Presbyterian Church on January 6, 1945, when she was 19 years old.Template:Sfn The reception was held at The Apawamis Club, where they had gone on their first date,Template:Sfn and they had their honeymoon in Sea Island, Georgia.Template:Sfn For the first eight months of their marriage, George and Barbara Bush moved around the Eastern United States, to places including Michigan, Maryland, and Virginia, where George Bush's Navy squadron training required his presence.<ref name="FL bio"/> After George was discharged, they moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and they lived in shared housing while George was attending Yale University.Template:Sfn Barbara decided not to return to college, instead working a part-time job on the Yale campus before focusing on having and raising children. Their first child, George, was born on July 6, 1946.Template:Sfn

Early married years

The Bushes moved to Texas in 1948 when George graduated from Yale,Template:Sfn as he had accepted a job in the oil industry from a family friend.Template:Sfn He did not consult Barbara before deciding on the move, and she did not raise any protest. The Bushes first lived in Odessa, Texas, where Barbara sought to set up a life in which she was not subjected to her mother's criticisms or compared to her siblings.Template:Sfn She credited this sudden lifestyle shift for prompting her to become more mature, as the distance from their families forced Barbara and George to become self-sufficient.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The following year, the Bushes moved to California, where they lived in several different towns over the course of a year for George's work.Template:Sfn While in California, Bush learned that her mother had died in a traffic collision. To her later regret, she decided not to attend the funeral or visit her injured father in the hospital, fearing the toll that cross-country travel would take on her pregnancy. Two months later, she gave birth to her second child, Robin.Template:Sfn The Bushes then returned to Texas so George could start his own oil business, and they established a home in Midland, Texas.Template:Sfn Bush was often left alone with the children while George was away for work, sometimes for days at a time.Template:Sfn She had her third child, Jeb, in 1953.Template:Sfn While living in Texas, Bush decided to convert from Presbyterianism to her husband's denomination of Episcopalianism. However, upon taking the necessary classes, the rector congratulated her for achieving "first-class" by becoming an Episcopalian. She was so insulted by the suggestion that members of one denomination are superior to another that she left without joining, and she thereafter attended the church without anyone noticing that she was not a member.Template:Sfn

The family life established by the Bushes was interrupted in 1953 when Robin was diagnosed with leukemia. Against the advice of their physician, they took her to New York to get treatment.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Barbara forced herself to maintain her composure throughout the ordeal, and she made a point to never cry in front of her daughter. George was unable to do so and required her support. Robin died six months later, and George then had to provide support to Barbara.Template:Sfn She fell into a deep depression, in which she struggled to raise her two surviving children.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn One legend held that her hair began to whiten in her grief, though she later denied this.Template:Sfn Her relationship with her husband and her oldest son helped her recover, as Bush felt she had to maintain herself for her family. She began to process her grief after overhearing George W. decline to play with the neighbors because his mother needed him.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bush decided that she would continue having children until giving birth to another daughter.Template:Sfn She had three more children over the following years: Neil in 1955, Marvin in 1956, and Dorothy in 1959.Template:Sfn

The Bushes drove across the country in 1957, and they found themselves interrupted or barred entry wherever they went, as they were accompanied by their Black housekeeper and their Black babysitter.Template:Sfn These incidents instilled in Bush an interest in the civil rights movement.Template:Sfn The family moved to Houston in 1959, where Barbara, still pregnant with Dorothy, oversaw the construction of their new home.Template:Sfn When her son Neil was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade, she developed a life-long interest in literacy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Entering political life

1960s

File:George and Barbara Bush in Houston, Texas on the night which George Bush was elected to Congress - NARA - 186373.tif

The Bushes celebrate George's election to Congress in 1966.

In 1962, Bush learned to campaign when her husband ran for the chairmanship of the Harris County Republican Party. She initially believed that he had been appointed to the position, only later realizing that he would need to seek election. Bush accompanied her husband as he traveled to each precinct in the county.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn She grew to like campaigning, as it provided her a change of pace and gave her an opportunity to spend more time with him, though found the downtime boring and took up needlepoint to occupy herself.Template:Sfn Bush campaigned with her husband again when he ran to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate in 1964.Template:Sfn This campaign demonstrated to her a less pleasant aspect of political life, as false information was spread during her husband's primary election, alleging that her father was a communist.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn While campaigning, she would sometimes hide her last name to solicit more honest feedback about her husband.Template:Sfn Bush won the primary, but he lost the general election to incumbent Ralph Yarborough. Because of her involvement with the campaign, she took his loss personally.Template:Sfn

Bush returned to the campaign trail for her husband in 1966 when he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives,Template:Sfn and the family moved to Washington, D.C. after his victory.Template:Sfn In Washington, her primary focus was to raise her younger children and manage her household, but she also involved herself in the activities of the capital. She attended political briefings and social events,Template:Sfn and her attendance at regular events at the White House endeared her to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.Template:Sfn She also started a newspaper column, "Washington Scene", that was published in Houston.Template:Sfn Bush was active in the neighborhood where she lived, befriending prominent neighbors such as Shirley Neil Pettis, Potter Stewart, and Franklin D Roosevelt Jr.Template:Sfn The Bushes became known in Washington for the barbecues that they hosted each Sunday, a practice that they carried over from their time in Houston. Andrew Card, a member of the Bush administration, cited Barbara's hosting during this time as a significant factor in George's good relations with members of Congress during his presidency.Template:Sfn

1970s

George ran for the U.S. Senate again in 1970, and was again unsuccessful.Template:Sfn As with the previous Senate race, Barbara took an emotional toll from her husband's electoral defeat.Template:Sfn She also decided to stop dyeing her hair after her dye ran during a campaign trip, instead maintaining the white hair that would become a recognizable part of her public image.Template:Sfn After George lost his campaign, President Richard Nixon appointed him the United States ambassador to the United Nations.<ref name="FL bio"/> A large apartment was provided as a residence for the UN ambassador, providing them a home in New York City.Template:Sfn She particularly enjoyed sharing this period of her husband's career, as it provided the couple with extensive social opportunities.Template:Sfn This also allowed her to form relationships with prominent diplomats.<ref name="FL bio"/> While in New York, she volunteered each week at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where her daughter had been treated for leukemia years before.Template:Sfn

Bush was against the idea of her husband becoming the chair of the Republican National Committee in 1973, but he accepted the position.Template:Sfn Instead of the opportunities of the ambassadorship, she spent her days away from her husband as he managed the fallout of the Watergate scandal. While in Washington, she reconnected with her friends from the city and attended World Affairs Council meetings.Template:Sfn When Gerald Ford became president in 1974 and asked George where he wanted to go, George asked to be appointed United States ambassador to China.Template:Sfn He was given the position, and Barbara moved with him to China.Template:Sfn She enjoyed the time that she spent in the country and often rode bicycles with her husband to explore cities and regions that few Americans had visited.<ref name="FL bio"/> As she had while a Congressman's wife in Washington, she wrote a newspaper column which was published in Texas.Template:Sfn She considered the experience to be a transformative one, allowing her to evaluate her life and sort her priorities.Template:Sfn

The Bushes returned to the United States in 1975 when George accepted a job as the U.S. director of central intelligence.Template:Sfn Given the job's highly secretive nature, Barbara was completely excluded from her husband's work. With this, and the fact that her children had all moved away, she was overcome by a feeling of isolation.Template:Sfn Bush suffered from depression, which became severe enough that George suggested she seek out a mental health professional.Template:Sfn She did not take his advice, though she later regretted this.Template:Sfn Bush later cited menopause as a factor that amplified her depression, and some who knew her speculated that George's close relationship with his assistant, Jennifer Fitzgerald, was another cause.Template:Sfn Her doubts were amplified by the women's liberation movement, which made her question whether her life as a housewife was the one she wanted.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn To distract herself, she began regular work at a hospice facility.Template:Sfn Barbara eventually reacquainted herself with Washington social life, and built connections for her husband's political career while she gave slideshow demonstrations to practice public speaking, giving talks about China.Template:Sfn The Bushes returned to Houston after George left the CIA in 1977.Template:Sfn

The Bushes never had a direct conversation about George running in the 1980 presidential election, but the decision was obvious to both of them, and George started his campaign in 1978.Template:Sfn Early in the campaign, there were worries that Barbara would be a liability, in part because she looked significantly older than George in a primary election where age was an issue.Template:Sfn When Barbara was asked what cause she would champion if she became First Lady, she decided on literacy, believing that it would be a non-controversial choice and that it affected all other major issues.Template:Sfn Bush was a strong advocate for her husband during the campaign, though she caused a stir with the party's conservative wing when she said that she supported ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and supported legalized abortion.<ref name="FL bio"/> For two years, she traveled the country with her aide Becky Brady to campaign for her husband.Template:Sfn He did not win the Republican nomination for the presidency, but the eventual winner, Ronald Reagan, chose him as vice president. Barbara accordingly became the second lady.Template:Sfn Upon the selection of her husband as Reagan's vice presidential nominee, she promised Reagan that they were "going to work our tails off for you".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989)

File:Thatchers and Bushes at Chequers.jpg

The Bushes with UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Denis Thatcher at Chequers, 1984

Upon becoming vice president and Second Lady, the Bushes moved into the vice presidential residence. They lived there for the full eight years of George's tenure as vice president, longer than in any of their previous homes.Template:Sfn They renovated the house, and Barbara hosted more than one thousand social events there in her time as Second Lady.Template:Sfn She often ignored order of precedence so that individuals would not be regularly seated among the same group, and she would sometimes have important guests sit next to her husband instead of by her.Template:Sfn First Lady Nancy Reagan grew to dislike the Bushes. During the 1980 primary election, Nancy and Barbara developed an animosity that lasted for the rest of their lives.Template:Sfn Nancy, responsible for organizing social events as First Lady, reduced the social role of the vice president and the second lady. Because of this, Barbara did not take an active role in White House social events.Template:Sfn

Bush joined several associations and programs to promote literacy, her preferred social cause, though she rejected more public positions so as not to overshadow Nancy Reagan.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bush and her initiatives in this area saw public approval.Template:Sfn She received many letters from the public, of which her white hair become such a common subject that she began using a stock reply: "Please forget about my hair. Think about my wonderful mind."Template:Sfn She also traveled extensively in the United States and abroad, both with her husband and alone while representing him. By the end of her eight years as Second Lady, Barbara counted 65 different nations that she had visited.Template:Sfn

Bush campaigned for her husband's reelection as vice president in the 1984 presidential campaign.Template:Sfn By the mid-1980s, Bush was comfortable speaking in front of groups, and she routinely spoke to promote issues in which she believed. She became famous for a self-deprecating sense of humor.<ref name="FL bio"/> During the campaign, she made headlines when she declined to give her thoughts on vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, but that "it rhymes with rich".Template:Sfn Bush panicked when it leaked that she may have referred to Ferraro as a bitch.Template:Sfn She later apologized and clarified that she meant "witch". Barbara otherwise avoided drawing attention to herself, and this was the only significant criticism of her during her tenure as Second Lady.Template:Sfn Throughout her tenure, she always kept George's political career in mind; after noticing that he had not appeared in any recent issues of the Republican National Committee's First Monday magazine, she orchestrated a meeting between herself and the Republican National Committee chair, and George appeared on the front cover of the following issue.Template:Sfn

Bush became a full time campaigner once again when her husband entered the 1988 presidential election to succeed Reagan.Template:Sfn Her image as a loyal wife and mother proved valuable for the campaign, especially after rumors emerged that George had engaged in an affair with his assistant Jennifer Fitzgerald.Template:Sfn The campaign at times focused on the large Bush family, and contrasted her with the incumbent First Lady, Nancy Reagan, by highlighting her interest in domestic staples such as church, gardening, and time spent with family while placing less emphasis on style sense and fashion; she drew attention to both her famous white hair and disinterest in wearing designer clothes.<ref name="FL bio"/> When speaking to the campaign's media advisor, she said that she would do anything for the campaign except "dye my hair, change my wardrobe, or lose weight".Template:Sfn After George became the presidential nominee, Barbara was more visible than she had previously been.Template:Sfn By this time, she felt confident enough in the world of politics to provide her own input on campaign strategy.Template:Sfn She sat in on campaign meetings, and she gave George feedback on his debate answers when they were alone.Template:Sfn It was her support for attack ads that convinced George to use them.Template:Sfn She spoke at the national party convention, becoming the third candidate's spouse to do so after Eleanor Roosevelt in 1940 and Pat Nixon in 1972.<ref name="FL bio"/>

First Lady of the United States (1989–1993)

White House life and ceremonial activity

File:Mrs. Bush and Raisa Gorbachev deliver Commencement Addresses at Wellesley College - NARA - 186412.tif

Bush with Raisa Gorbacheva at Wellesley College in 1990

The Bushes moved into the White House on January 20, 1989, and Barbara became the first lady of the United States.Template:Sfn She was the oldest First Lady to live in the White House to that date, taking the position at age 63. The only First Lady older than her to that point, Anna Harrison, did not live in Washington during her husband's term.Template:Sfn She did begin purchasing designer gowns, but this went unnoticed by the press.Template:Sfn Bush described the position of First Lady as "the best job in America"Template:Sfn and "the most spoiled woman in the world".Template:Sfn She was also the last Second Lady to become First Lady until Jill Biden in 2021.Template:Sfn<ref name="Biden-Bush">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wishing to avoid the example of Nancy Reagan, Bush ensured that Vice President Dan Quayle and Second Lady Marilyn Quayle were involved in social affairs.Template:Sfn Shortly after becoming First Lady, Bush was diagnosed with Graves' disease, which gave her double vision and caused her to lose weight.Template:Sfn Both the condition and the treatment (which included methimazole, prednisone, and radiation therapy) brought her discomfort. The public was aware of her diagnosis, though she publicly denied it was seriously affecting her. Her husband was diagnosed with the same autoimmune disease in 1991.Template:Sfn

Bush loved the White House, admiring the historical significance of each room.Template:Sfn She also liked that her husband worked in the same building that they lived in, given the problems of previous years when he was often away for long periods of time.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Her day-to-day activities often included charity work, meetings, or interviews until 6pm, at which point the Bushes would host company and Barbara would give tours of the White House.Template:Sfn She also exercised in the White House pool, swimming 72 laps to complete a mile each day.Template:Sfn She sought to engage in normal activities while living in the White House, patronizing local businesses and walking her dog along Pennsylvania Avenue.Template:Sfn She believed it was important for her to leave the White House grounds during the day to avoid feeling trapped or isolated. She theorized that if she went in public enough, people in the area would grow used to her presence.Template:Sfn

File:Stowers MOH ceremony - Palmer and Bush.JPEG

Bush presents a posthumous Medal of Honor to the sister of a World War I veteran in 1991.

Bush was generally skeptical of reporters and the press,Template:Sfn feeling that she was entitled to have a private life separately from her public life.Template:Sfn Though she did not hold regular press conferences, she worked to develop relationships with several individual reporters. When dealing with the press, she imposed her policy of "if I said it, I said it", in which her staff was not allowed to explain or justify her statements to the press.Template:Sfn Bush's press secretary, Anna Perez, was the first Black woman to hold a high ranking position in the East Wing of the White House.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

On June 1, 1990, Bush gave a commencement speech to the graduating class of Wellesley College. Her selection as speaker was controversial among students, many of whom felt that Bush was not representative of a successful woman and was only selected because of her husband's accomplishments. The controversy became a national debate.Template:Sfn Publicly, she dismissed it as "much ado about nothing" by twenty-year-olds,Template:Sfn but privately she was angered by the protest. The media attention leading up the speech was such that when the day came, it was the first speech by a first lady ever to be nationally broadcast live.Template:Sfn Bush chose to invite First Lady of the Soviet Union Raisa Gorbacheva, who had a visit scheduled to the United States with her husband, to join her at the commencement.Template:Sfn Upon giving the speech, Bush was well received by the students and the public, who responded positively to her message of prioritizing personal fulfillment and relationships.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Advocacy

File:First Lady Barbara Bush and Princess Diana.jpg

Bush with Princess Diana reading a copy of Millie's Book in 1990

While she was First Lady, Bush continued her work in promoting literacy that she had begun as Second Lady.Template:Sfn In March 1989, she established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to promote further literacy programs.Template:Sfn In 1990, she hosted the Mrs. Bush's Storytime radio program for ABC, in which she read to children.Template:Sfn Bush was known for the affection she had for her pet English Springer Spaniel, Millie, and she wrote the children's book Millie's Book about Millie's new litter of puppies in 1990.Template:Sfn The book was a best-seller, producing earnings of nearly $800,000 (Template:Inflation). This was more money than any first lady had ever made while serving in the role. She donated the profits to her literacy foundation.Template:Sfn Bush emphasized the issue of adult illiteracy in particular, including work to increase literacy among the homeless and the incarcerated. During her time as First Lady, she raised millions of dollars to fund literacy programs, including from large companies such as GM and Motorola.Template:Sfn Her interest in the subject broadly affected the administration's education policy: her advocacy contributed to the 1989 education summit, and she convinced her husband to end his opposition to the National Literacy Act of 1991, allowing it to be passed into law.Template:Sfn

Bush was an advocate for AIDS patients while First Lady.Template:Sfn The issue was controversial at the time due to its association with the gay community. For this reason, her work on this issue was not as widely publicized.Template:Sfn To prevent discrimination against AIDS patients and to challenge misconceptions about its contagiousness, a photograph was published of her hugging a child with AIDS.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In private, she urged her husband to take a stronger stand on the rights of those with AIDS. She compared the discrimination faced by AIDS patients to the discomfort that people expressed when her daughter Robin had leukemia.Template:Sfn

Political involvement

File:First Lady Barbara Bush at the White House.jpg

Bush reads to children in the White House library, 1990.

File:First Lady Barbara Bush at the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas P34627-27 a.jpg

Bush speaking at the 1992 Republican National Convention

Bush was a frequent advisor to her husband, and her suggestions played a role in several of the administration's decisions, including multiple cabinet appointments.Template:Sfn A White House aide later described her as "the only voice that he 100 percent trusted".Template:Sfn She was occasionally assigned more formal responsibilities, such as a diplomatic mission in 1990 when she represented the United States at the inauguration of Costa Rican president Rafael Calderón.Template:Sfn

In her role as First Lady, Bush built a rapport with the first lady of the Soviet Union, Raisa Gorbacheva. This was credited by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as other world leaders such as Helmut Kohl of Germany and Brian Mulroney of Canada, with improving Western–Soviet relations. In one discussion, Kohl assured Mikhail Gorbachev that talks between the United States and the Soviet Union would continue in part because of Barbara's influence. Bush had several relationships with global figures that were beneficial to her husband's administration, as she regularly made efforts to develop these social connections with visiting world leaders. These became especially prominent following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, where her relationship with Gorbacheva and with French president François Mitterrand eased the process of building the coalition response.Template:Sfn During the subsequent Gulf War, Bush endeavored to make the president's job easier. She curated guest lists to avoid those who she felt would "hammer him about his conduct of the war", and she limited the messages that she passed on to him so as not to disturb him.Template:Sfn

Bush's attention shifted to her husband's reelection campaign during the 1992 presidential election, and she was invited to give a speech at the Republican National Convention.Template:Sfn She was reluctant to engage in another campaign, dreading the political attacks against her husband and her children.Template:Sfn Despite this, Bush took a major role in campaigning, more actively endorsing her husband's policy accomplishments than she previously had.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The campaign efforts were complicated by the early 1990s recession and the president's subsequent drop in approval ratings.Template:Sfn

Due to her strong approval ratings compared to her husband, Barbara was made a more prominent face of the campaign. This also allowed the campaign to contrast her with Hillary Clinton, the wife of opposing candidate Bill Clinton.Template:Sfn Bush had conflicting feelings about leaving the White House after her husband lost reelection. She was sorry to see her husband lose but relieved to return to Houston and be free from the frequent criticism of her family.Template:Sfn Bush invited Hillary Clinton to tour the White House two weeks after the election, wishing to avoid repeating the example set by Nancy Reagan, who had delayed the tour. On this tour, she gave Clinton advice to avoid the press: "They're not your friends. They're not trying to help you."Template:Sfn

Post–White House years

Retirement

Bush described January 20, 1993, the day of Bill Clinton's inauguration, as a "tough day" for her and her husband.Template:Sfn The Bushes felt that George had earned a second term as president, and Barbara blamed the press—which she accused of being pro-Clinton—for his loss.Template:Sfn She believed that they showed preference for Clinton due to his relative youth.Template:Sfn The Bushes moved back to Houston, where they lived in a rental home for nine months as they had a new house constructed.Template:Sfn This new house featured a six-foot-tall brick wall to ensure the family's privacy.Template:Sfn

The day after returning to Houston, the Bushes learned that Nancy Reagan had called into ABC News to criticize them, saying that Barbara had lied about not receiving a tour of the White House in 1988 and falsely stating that the Bushes never invited the Reagans to a state dinner. When Nancy later called Barbara to discuss the impromptu interview, Barbara decided that she "didn't feel like playing her game any more." Barbara corrected the falsehoods, and to make Nancy feel guilty, she lied by saying that reporters were harassing her because of the interview. She hung up after saying "don't you ever call me again." The two never spoke again, except for exchanging brief formalities at state events.Template:Sfn

After spending eight years as Second Lady and then another four as First Lady, Bush had gone some time without cooking or driving a car, two skills that she was forced to reacquire after leaving the White House.Template:Sfn Though she was able to find more opportunities for relaxation, she remained busy with her various charitable causes, public appearances, and family commitments.Template:Sfn For the first weeks of retirement, the Bushes—while still wealthy—did not have access to the funds that they once did and were surprised by the cost of living that they suddenly faced.Template:Sfn Later on, between speaking fees and a book deal, Barbara made a considerable amount of money.Template:Sfn Her book, Barbara Bush: A Memoir, was published in 1994 and stayed at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn That year, two of Bush's sons sought political office: George W. ran to be the governor of Texas, and Jeb ran to be the governor of Florida. Though she helped the two of them campaign, she found that political attacks against her sons caused her even more stress than those against her husband, and she was unable to watch their respective gubernatorial debates. Jeb lost his election, and George W. was elected governor of Texas.Template:Sfn Both sons ran for the same offices again in 1998, and both won.Template:Sfn

George W. went to Barbara for advice when he was considering a presidential campaign in the 2000 presidential election. Rather than giving him an answer, she told him to make up his mind. Later, during a church sermon about accepting the call to do the right thing, she turned to her son and said "he is talking to you", and he was convinced in that moment to run for president.Template:Sfn When George W. announced his candidacy, his parents did not take a prominent role in the campaign, so as to avoid overshadowing him or making the election about the Bush political dynasty. Barbara's primary role was traveling with other women associated with the campaign in the "W Stands for Women" tour in an attempt to increase his share of the women's vote.Template:Sfn After a long legal battle over the results, her son's opponent Al Gore conceded the election,Template:Sfn and Barbara became the second woman after Abigail Adams to be both the wife and the mother of a U.S. president.Template:Sfn

President's mother

File:President George W. Bush Visits with Former First Lady Barbara Bush in the Oval Office.jpg

Barbara Bush with her son in the Oval Office, 2003

Barbara and George were on a flight when the September 11 attacks occurred, so their plane was grounded and they were taken by the Secret Service to a motel.Template:Sfn The next day, they were given special authorization by their son to fly back to Kennebunkport, Maine.Template:Sfn They participated at a prayer service with other former presidents and first ladies on September 14. Bush later expressed that she felt great pride in her son's handling of the crisis.Template:Sfn The attack also convinced her to reinstate her own personal Secret Service protection, which she had dismissed after leaving the White House.Template:Sfn

In 2002 she became an alumna initiate of the Texas Eta chapter of Pi Beta Phi at Texas A&M University. Bush chose this university as it was the location of her husband's Presidential Library.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was also a member of the Junior League of Houston.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2003, Bush published another memoir, Reflections: Life after the White House.Template:Sfn

Tensions between Iraq and the United States grew during her son's presidency, and by 2003 it seemed likely that her son would launch an invasion of Iraq. Barbara and George worried about the possibility of a war.Template:Sfn Two days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, she spoke dismissively of television news reports about the impending conflict. Her supporters argued that she was rejecting conjecture and speculation by reporters, while her critics argued that she was being insensitive about the situation's severity.Template:Sfn After the invasion, she felt that her son was being unduly influenced by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Chief of Staff Andy Card; she repeatedly urged him to reconsider his decisions on Iraq until he sternly rebuked her.Template:Sfn

File:George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush laugh during George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) christening.jpg

George and Barbara Bush attend the christening ceremony for the eponymous aircraft carrier Template:USS, 2006.

Bush returned to campaigning during the 2004 presidential election, giving speeches on her son's behalf when he sought a second term as president. He went on to win reelection.Template:Sfn She was involved in promoting some of his policy goals in his second term, including a 2005 tour of Florida to promote his Social Security reform plan. She generated a controversy during her work supporting victims of Hurricane Katrina when she made a comment to a radio station about the situation that was deemed insensitive, saying that those affected could stay in Texas because they "were underprivileged anyway".Template:Sfn The comment reinforced an impression that the Bushes were out of touch.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Her involvement in the hurricane relief efforts was further criticized in 2006, when it was revealed that she donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush–Clinton Katrina Fund on the condition that the charity do business with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As George worked with Bill Clinton on various charity projects, the Bushes' views of their former rival softened, and he eventually came to be seen as a member of the family, though Barbara took longer to forgive Clinton's victory in the 1992 election than George did.Template:Sfn

On October 3, 2008, Bush and her husband opened the "George and Barbara Bush Center" on the University of New England waterfront Biddeford Campus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The center lays the foundation for the heritage of Barbara Bush in New England and houses "The Bush Legacy Collection", material securing the Bush legacy in Maine, including memorabilia on loan from the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University. Particular attention is given to the family's New England heritage and to Barbara's love for Maine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Later life and death

File:Barbara Bush at LBJ Presidential Library.jpg

Former First Lady Barbara Bush at the LBJ Presidential Library in November 2012

In their later years, Barbara and George spent each summer in Kennebunkport, spending the remainder of the year in Houston.Template:Sfn Bush was hospitalized for abdominal pains and underwent small intestine surgery in November 2008. In 2009, she underwent aortic valve replacement surgery.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2010, Bush was the subject of controversy when George W. recounted an anecdote that following her miscarriage she had held the fetus in a jar, causing a misconception that she had kept or displayed the remains.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2015, after several decades of attending Episcopalian services, she was confirmed as a member of the church so she could accept the Dean's Cross award without misrepresenting her faith.Template:Sfn

Bush was initially opposed to her son Jeb making a potential bid for the presidency, worrying that he would be weighed down by criticisms of the previous Bush presidencies and saying in 2013 that "we've had enough Bushes".Template:Sfn She recanted this statement in 2015, after Jeb began preparing his presidential campaign in the 2016 presidential election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> She campaigned for Jeb during the Republican Party primary elections, describing her son as an honest candidate while criticizing front-runner Donald Trump.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was hospitalized in June 2016 after an incident involving her heart, later blaming the incident on the stress that the Trump campaign caused her. On election day, she wrote in Jeb's name. Trump was elected president, and Bush remained critical of him during his presidency.Template:Sfn

She was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On March 16, 2018, she fell and fractured her vertebrae and was hospitalized.Template:Sfn On April 15, her family released a statement regarding her failing health, stating that she had chosen to be at home with family, desiring comfort care rather than further medical treatment.<ref name="NPR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bush died in her Houston home at the age of 92 on April 17, 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> President Donald Trump ordered flags to half-staff in her memory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bush's casket was visited by thousands of admirers, and large crowds greeted the hearse as it passed.Template:Sfn Her funeral was held at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston on April 21, 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She is buried at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, beside the grave of her daughter Robin. By her request, the funeral was only 90 minutes long: a decision she made after attending the two hour funeral of Lady Bird Johnson.Template:Sfn Following Bush's death, a cartoon by Marshall Ramsey, of The Clarion-Ledger, was widely circulated, showing Barbara being greeted by Robin upon her entry to heaven.<ref name="Ramsey 2018">Template:Cite news</ref> Her husband died seven months later on November 30, 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Political beliefs

File:President George W. Bush and Former First Lady Barbara Bush Participate in a Discussion on Strengthening Social Security in Orlando, Florida.jpg

Bush and her son speaking about Social Security in 2005

Bush regularly spoke with her husband about political topics, including issues that he faced in the White House.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Though it was generally understood that she disagreed with him on several major political issues, she refused to speak about policy to the press.Template:Sfn Unlike her husband, she favored an assault weapons ban, though she was resistant to broader gun control as she believed that it would only restrict law-abiding citizens while criminals would subvert the law.Template:Sfn

Bush described her positions on social policy, and those of the Republican Party, as liberal, defining liberalism in this context as "caring enormously about people".Template:Sfn She increasingly disagreed with the Republican Party as its social positions became more conservative.Template:Sfn She supported causes that would support the poor and the sick, though she limited herself to those that were not politically charged.Template:Sfn She emphasized literacy because of its apolitical nature and because of her belief that illiteracy caused other societal issues.Template:Sfn Bush's friends and relatives cited the death of her daughter for informing her social beliefs, saying that she became highly empathetic for the unfortunate after Robin died.Template:Sfn She was opposed to the idea of political parties taking stances on issues such as abortion or homosexuality.Template:Sfn

Barbara's opinion on abortion was a problem for George during his political career.Template:Sfn Though early on she said that it should be limited to the first trimester, she generally refused to comment on the issue.Template:Sfn She privately reconciled her beliefs surrounding abortion during the 1980 presidential campaign, when she wrote several pages of notes referencing philosophical questions and her own personal experience with the death of a child. She concluded with the belief that the soul enters the body at birth, and that this made abortion morally permissible. She further believed that abortion should be federally funded so it was accessible to the poor and that government action to prevent unwanted births should take the form of education.Template:Sfn Only later in life did she openly state that she believed abortion was permissible.Template:Sfn

Though Bush was not an advocate for gay rights, she was not hostile to the idea as many were during her time as First Lady. Her work in AIDS relief made her sympathetic to the discrimination faced by the LGBT community, and she said in response to the issue that "we cannot tolerate discrimination against any individuals or groups in our country". This was the first time that someone from the White House made a public statement in support of gay rights. While speaking in 1994, she expressed her opinion that a family caring for its children is more important than whether or not the parents were a same-sex couple. She was skeptical of the Obama administration's publicized hiring of a transgender person in 2015 until her mind was changed following a conversation with historian Timothy Naftali.Template:Sfn

Bush was skeptical of the feminist movement, in part because of the criticism that she received about her lifestyle as a housewife.Template:Sfn She supported the Equal Rights Amendment through the 1980s, though she stopped expressing public support for it while the first lady.Template:Sfn She was ambivalent about women in the military during the United States invasion of Panama, believing that women were emotionally capable of handling war but less so physically. She decided that the issue was unimportant so long as Manual Noriega was captured.Template:Sfn She more explicitly supported American action in the Gulf War,Template:Sfn and she received little pushback when she suggested that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should be charged with war crimes and hanged.Template:Sfn

Bush opposed the rightward shift of the Republican Party following her husband's presidency.Template:Sfn When Pat Buchanan challenged her husband in the 1992 primary elections on a nationalist anti-immigration platform, she accused him of using "racist code words".Template:Sfn Bush was also highly critical of Donald Trump, dating back to 1990 before his political career. She opposed his 2016 presidential campaign and his subsequent presidency. She described her reaction to his victory as "horror", and she was confused as to how any woman could support him. After Trump's election, she was given a digital clock that counted down the days until the end of his term, which she kept in her bedroom. By early 2018, shortly before her death, Bush decided that she did not identify with the Republican Party as it existed at the time.Template:Sfn Despite not voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Bush wrote a letter to incoming First Lady Melania Trump in November 2016 saying she was "glad" to be welcoming her to the "First Ladies' very exclusive club" and that she would be entering the White House instead of Bill Clinton.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Legacy

File:Five U.S. first ladies in 2013 crop.jpg

Barbara Bush (second from right) joins Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Rosalynn Carter at the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, April 2013.

Bush was generally popular as First Lady.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn On average, she received about 100,000 letters each year during her tenure, far more than she expected.Template:Sfn Her image as an easy going woman and a good mother was widely accepted by the American people, as was her determination to remain apolitical on policy issues.Template:Sfn This generally affable image of Bush prompted biographer Susan Page to describe her as "the most underestimated First Lady of modern times".Template:Sfn Where Bush did have critics, they argued that her image as a domestic housewife conflicted with advances made in women's rights.Template:Sfn She did not meaningfully alter the role of First Lady,Template:Sfn and she did not exert significant influence over the White House's social events, instead continuing the practices established by Nancy Reagan.Template:Sfn At the time of her death, two of her sons and one of her grandsons had held political office. Because of this, Bush has been described as the "matriarch" of a political dynasty. She rejected the idea of a Bush dynasty, believing that it encouraged a sense of entitlement.Template:Sfn

Bush has been contrasted with her predecessor, Nancy Reagan, in the context of image and style. Reagan was known for her fashion sense and her small figure, while Bush was recognized for her white hair and her simpler fashion.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bush was especially known for her three-strand fake pearl necklace, which became popular among American women.Template:Sfn She described the positive reception that she received from elderly women who saw themselves in her, and she described herself as a "role model for fat ladies".Template:Sfn When contrasted with her successor, Hillary Clinton, Bush has been differentiated by her lifestyle. Clinton was criticized for the level of independence she maintained from her husband throughout her life, while Bush was criticized for a lack of independence from hers.Template:Sfn When comparing herself to previous first ladies, Bush likened herself to Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman.Template:Sfn Bush was the last First Lady to be raised prior to the onset of second-wave feminism, which allowed subsequent first ladies more freedom to seek an education and a career.Template:Sfn

Bush's social projects and initiatives were taken up by her children. Jeb and George both emphasized education in their political careers, while Jeb and Dorothy took control of the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation in 2014.Template:Sfn George also cited his mother's influence when he enacted the PEPFAR initiative while president, which supported millions of AIDS patients in Africa.Template:Sfn Her granddaughter Barbara Pierce Bush co-founded Global Health Corps, which prioritizes AIDS relief as one of its primary goals.Template:Sfn Bush's personal papers, including her diaries and letters, are not scheduled to be publicly released until 35 years after her death, in 2053.Template:Sfn In 2021, while speaking at the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's National Summit, First Lady Jill Biden said she considers Bush to be one of her role models and a First Lady she hoped to emulate in her own role.<ref name="Biden-Bush" />

Awards and honors

File:BarbaraBushESHouston.jpg

Barbara Bush Elementary School in Parkway Villages, Houston

In 1995, Bush received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards Foundation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1997, she was the recipient of The Miss America Woman of Achievement Award for her work with literacy programs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The same year, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2016, she received honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Houston chapter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2025 a U.S. postage stamp honoring her, with an image of her official White House portrait, was unveiled.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:AnchorMultiple schools are named after Barbara Bush. Schools have been named Barbara Bush Elementary School in Houston; Grand Prairie, Texas; and Mesa, Arizona. Schools have been named Barbara Bush Middle School in San Antonio and Irving, Texas.<ref name="FL bio"/> The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, was also named in her honor. Of the places that were given her name, she said that she was most proud of the "Literacy Plaza" that was under construction in Houston at the time of her death that would connect city hall with the neighboring library.Template:Sfn

Honorary degrees

Barbara Bush received honorary degrees from many institutions. These include:

Date	School	State	Degree
Template:Dts	Arcadia University	PA	Doctor of Laws (LLD)<ref name="RLAWH">Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Dts	Mount Vernon Seminary and College	DC	Doctor of Public Service<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Cardinal Stritch College	WI	Doctor of Laws (LLD)<ref name="RLAWH"/><ref name="Stritch2011">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Howard University	DC	Doctor of Humanities (DH)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NYT19870510">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Judson College	AL	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Bennett College	NC	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Dts	Boston University	MA	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Morehouse School of Medicine	GA	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/><ref name="WP19891010">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Smith College	MA	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ChiTrib1989">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Dts	University of Pennsylvania	PA	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Dts	University of South Carolina	SC	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Dts	Saint Louis University	MO	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Dts	South Carolina State College	SC	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
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Template:Dts	Northeastern University	MA	Doctor of Public Service<ref name="CNN20170120">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Marquette University	WI	Doctor of Laws (LLD)<ref name="UPI19920517">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Central State University	OH	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Louisiana State University	LA	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Pepperdine University	CA	Doctor of Laws (LLD)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Hood College	MD	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
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Template:Dts	Austin College	TX	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	University of Miami	FL	Doctor of Humanities (DH)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Washington College	MD	Doctor of Public Service<ref name="RLAWH"/>
Template:Dts	Centenary College	LA	Doctor of Laws (LLD)<ref name="RLAWH"/>
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Template:Dts	University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine	ME	Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD)<ref name="PDH20030607">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Dts	Texas A&M University	TX	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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Template:Dts	Sewanee: The University of the South	TN	Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Historical assessments

Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has conducted occasional surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president.<ref name="Siena2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In terms of cumulative assessment, Bush has been ranked:

• 7th-best of 37 in 1993<ref name="2008Siena">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 15th-best of 38 in 2003<ref name="2008Siena"/>
• 12th-best of 38 in 2008<ref name="2008Siena"/>
• 11th-best of 39 in 2014<ref name="2014Sienna1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 2003 survey, Bush was ranked the 5th-highest in the criteria of public image.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Bush was ranked the 9th-best of the twenty 20th and 21st century First Ladies.<ref name="2008Siena"/> In the 2014 survey, Bush and her husband were ranked the 21st-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 2014 survey, historians ranked Bush 5th among 20th and 21st century American first ladies that they felt "could have done more".<ref name="Siena2014"/>

Published works

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References

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Further reading

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External links

• Official White House biography of Barbara Bush
• Bush, George H. W. and Barbara Bush with Jim McGrath. George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush Oral History, Houston Oral History Project, July 2009.
• Commencement Address at Wellesley
• Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
• Past Winners of Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education
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• Barbara Bush at C-SPAN's First Ladies: Influence & Image
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• About Barbara Bush at the Main Medical Center

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