Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the forty-first American President George W. Bush, the mother of George W. Bush, who became head of the country four years after his father, as well as Jeb Bush, who served as governor of the state of Florida.
Years of youth
Barbara Bush was born in the New York maternity hospital on June 8, 1925. Her mother was Pauline Robinson (1896-1949), and her father was Marvin Pierce (1893-1969). Mother died in a car accident when Barbara was still very young. Barbara's ancestor's father, Thomas Pierce, was one of the first colonists in New England, as well as the ancestor of Franklin Pierce, who became the 14th president of the United States. Thus, Barbara is the niece of Franklin Pierce through four generations.
Barbara Bush spent her early childhood in a community called Paradise, New York. There she went to elementary school. Later, the girl continued her studies at Ashley Hall Closed Private School in Charleston, South Carolina.
A family
Barbara Bush was a very attractive girl in her youth. She met her future husband, George, at a Christmas ball. At that time, she was only sixteen years old, and the future president studied at the Phillips Military Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Shortly before Bush left to fight in World War II, they became engaged. George Herbert Walker Bush was a pilot of a torpedo bomber of the American naval aviation. To all his planes, he gave a name in honor of the bride: Barbara, Barbara-2 and Barbara-3. In December 1944, George came home on vacation. Already after a fortnight, on January 6, 1945, they got married. After the war, Bush graduated from Yale, then the couple moved to Texas Midland. In 1953, their daughter Robin died of leukemia. This loss seriously affected Mrs. Bush’s health, causing her to turn gray very early. On April 13, 2013, Barbara Bush, whose children grew up long ago, became a great-grandmother - her granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager gave birth to a daughter.
Children
The married couple of Bush gave life to six:
- George W. Bush, who was born July 6, 1946 and later became the 43rd President of the United States, as well as the Governor of Texas.
- Pauline Robinson Bush, commonly called Robin, was born on December 20, 1949 and died of leukemia on October 11, 1953.
- John Ellis Bush, better known as Jeb, was born February 11, 1953, is the 43rd governor of Florida.
- Neil Mallon Bush, saw the light of January 22, 1955; businessman.
- Marvin Pierce Bush, born October 22, 1956, also runs his own business.
- Dorothy Bush Koch, the youngest daughter, was born on August 18, 1959, engaged in social and charitable activities.
Personal life
Over the years of living together, the Bush family moved 29 times from place to place. George W. Bush was successful in business and became the founder of Zapata Corporation. He has held many different posts in government. In 1989, Bush Sr. became 41 American Presidents and held this position until 1993.
First lady
Barbara Bush was an American first lady from 1989 to 1993, when her husband served as US president. She flawlessly coped with this role. She called her main task the fight against illiteracy among adult immigrants and representatives of other sectors of American society. Barbara Bush actively participated in the work of various charitable organizations and foundations. White House staff say she was the most welcoming and well-meaning first lady of all with whom they had to work. Thanks to her kindness and non-conflict, she was also more popular with Americans than her predecessor, Nancy Reagan, and her successor, Hillary Clinton.
After the white house
After the termination of the presidency of George W. Bush, the couple moved to a permanent residence in Houston, Texas.
On March 18, 2003, two days before the start of the US invasion of Iraq by President George W. Bush, journalists from the Good Morning America program on ABC asked Barbara to talk about what TV shows her family was watching. She answered:
“I don’t watch TV at all. He [former president George Herbert Walker Bush] sits and listens, and I read books, because I know perfectly well that 90 percent of what we hear on the news on television is just speculation. And he doesn’t understand my scrupulousness in this matter, but why should we listen about coffins and corpses, about when it happened, and about the number of dead, as well as about all the details of the incident and your assumptions about this? the information is superfluous, so why should I bother myself with the likes of eschami and suffer for it? "
In 2006, it turned out that Barbara Bush donated a certain amount of money to the Katrina Foundation, provided that this charity event was recorded on the account of the educational software company owned by Neil Bush.
In November 2008, Barbara was hospitalized due to abdominal pain. On November 25, surgeons discovered a ulcer the size of a 1 cent coin in Mrs. Bush’s gut . She underwent a course of treatment and was discharged on December 2, 2008, the forecasts of the doctors were rather optimistic.
A few months later, on March 4, 2009, Barbara successfully completed an aortic valve replacement surgery.
On December 31, 2013, Mrs. Bush was admitted to the Methodist Hospital in Houston due to breathing difficulties. Doctors identified Barbara as stable and allowed family members to visit her. The former first lady of the United States was admitted to the same hospital in 2008 for the treatment of ulcers, and in 2010 returned there for a routine examination. She was discharged from the hospital on January 4, 2014, and reporters were told that the cause of hospitalization was pneumonia. They write that Barbara said: "I do not have enough words to express my gratitude to the doctors and nurses of the Methodist Hospital for receiving the best treatment and very quickly returned to George and our dogs."
The name Barbara Bush is given to several schools in the United States.