Barbara Bush

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barbara Bush (1992)

Barbara Pierce Bush (born June 8, 1925 in Flushing , Queens , New York City , † April 17, 2018 in Houston , Texas ) was the wife of the 41st US President George Bush (1924-2018) and the mother of 43. US President, George W. Bush , and the 43rd Governor of Florida , Jeb Bush . She was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993 during her husband's tenure as President .

Origin and education

Barbara Pierce was born in New York in 1925 and grew up in Rye, a suburb of New York. She was the third child of Pauline Robinson (1896–1949) and her husband Marvin Pierce (1893–1969), later president of the McCall Corporation and the publisher of the popular women's magazines Redbook and McCall’s . Her siblings were Martha Pierce Rafferty (1920-1999), James Pierce (1921-1993) and Scott Pierce (* 1930). One of her ancestors was Thomas Pierce, an early New England colonist ; he was also an ancestor of Franklin Pierce , the 14th President of the United States.

Barbara Pierce attended Rye Country Day School from 1931 to 1937 and Ashley Hall Boarding School in Charleston , South Carolina from 1940 to 1943 . As a teenager she was already active in sports and liked swimming, tennis and cycling. Her interest in literature has accompanied her since childhood.

Barbara Pierce dropped out of college in 1943 to marry her then fiancé, the fighter pilot George Bush after he was shot down and hospitalized in 1945.

Starting a family

Barbara Bush with her husband George, their daughter-in-law Laura and their son George W. (from left).

Barbara Bush faithfully followed her husband in his duties, which first led him to Texas and California as an employee of an oil company. The family gradually had six children: George Walker Bush , daughter Robin Bush (who died of leukemia at the age of three ), John Ellis ("Jeb") Bush , Neil Mallon Bush, Marvin Pierce Bush and Dorothy ("Doro" ) Bush. In order to guarantee her husband's freedom of action at all times, she led a strict regime at home. According to Jeb, she was “like a breeding sergeant to us children”.

Own commitment

Barbara Bush served on the boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic . In 1989 she founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and directed it. Her particular concern was that more people in families should learn to read and write properly.

At the side of George Bush

After serving in the oil company, George Bush moved to Washington, DC , in order to be able to fulfill Richard Nixon's task as representative of the United States at the United Nations . Soon after, Bush was appointed ambassador to China , and Barbara Bush followed him with all family members to the Chinese capital, Beijing .

When George Bush senior was elected President of the United States, she moved with him into the White House ; meanwhile it was the 26th move. Now Barbara Bush took on all the duties of a first lady and first lady foreseen by the protocol with joy. In the background, Barbara directed and was feared as Silver Fox by White House staff . However, their conservative stance on family issues also led to problems, as revealed at a planned speech at Wellesley College , Boston. The students at the women's elite university turned down Baraba Bush as a speaker because "with her old-fashioned views she embodies the opposite of a role model for graduates planning a career in a male-dominated world". Bill Clinton, who prevented her husband from being re-elected, was on friendly terms with Barbara Bush and her family.

Support and opinions on George W. Bush's political career

After Bill Clinton , the son George W. Bush ran for election as the 43rd US President and won this election. Barbara now also had her son's back free from family problems. Her work was not hidden from the American public and she became very popular during these years.

Barbara Bush made clear and controversial statements about some decisive events in the USA, for example when she described the fallen US soldiers in the Iraq war as "insignificant" in 2003 or when she made disparaging remarks in 2005 about victims of Hurricane Katrina . Both statements discredited the work of her son George Bush as President of the United States.

And another Bush

When the second son, Jeb Bush, ran against his mother's advice on primary elections for the US presidency, she soon supported him and again behaved very loyally . On the one hand, she commented on Jeb: “He is by far the most qualified man,” but added: “There are also other people who are very qualified. [...] We already had enough Bushes ”. On the other hand, she did not hold back with her opinion on the candidate Donald Trump because she did not understand how “someone could vote for a person who is so misogynistic and admires dictators like Vladimir Putin”.

In the meantime, Barbara suffered from a heart problem and the lung disease COPD hit her. Nevertheless, now dependent on the walker , she campaigned in the New Hampshire constituency for her son, who, however, lost the election.

End of life and obituary

Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 on April 17, 2018 with her family in Houston, Texas. In January 2018, she and her husband George celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. They have been married longer than any other US presidential couple. Barbara Bush had decided three days before her death to end medical treatment for her heart and lung ailment. On the last day she indulged in a bourbon whiskey and held her husband's hand until her last breath.

On April 21, 2018, Barbara Bush was buried at the Bush Library of Texas A&M University , a good 160 kilometers northwest of Houston , where the funeral service with around 1500 mourners had taken place the day before in St. Martin's Episcopal Church , including four former US presidents and the current first lady Melania Trump . President Trump, on the other hand, was absent, preferring to go to a golf game.

Her granddaughter, one of the twin daughters of George W. Bush and Laura Bush , is named after Barbara Bush .

One of Barbara Bush's granddaughters summed up the meaning of the first and second lady: "She was the glue that held our family together." And husband George Bush was said to have "a broken heart over the loss of his beloved Barbara". (After the early death of their daughter Robin, Barbara had gray hair in a short time, which is why George had since lovingly called her "my little silver fox".)

The official obituary of the incumbent president Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump praised Barbara Bush very cool as "an advocate of American families."

A few months later, at the end of November 2018, her husband George died.

Publications

Fonts

  • C. Fred's Story: A Dog's Life (1984)
  • Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush (1990)
  • Barbara Bush: A Memoir 1994
  • Reflections: Life After the White House 2004

literature

  • Diana B. Carlin: Barbara Pierce Bush: Choosing a Complete Life. In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 604-634.

Web links

Commons : Barbara Bush  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bill Hutchinson and ML Nestel: Former first lady Barbara Bush dies at age 92. In: ABC News . American Broadcasting Company , April 17, 2018, accessed April 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.firstladies.org
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Thomas Spang: Die Matriarchin , detailed article in Berliner Zeitung , April 19, 2018, p. 3.
  4. ↑ Barbara Bush Foundation website , accessed November 28, 2018.
  5. ↑ Ross Ramsey: The quotable Barbara Bush: Read some of the first lady's most memorable quips. In: The Texas Tribune , April 17, 2018.
  6. ↑ Barbara Bush's 'Beautiful Mind' quote. In: Snopes , August 16, 2005, updated April 15, 2018; Did Barbara Bush Say Living in the Astrodome Was 'Working Very Well' for Hurricane Refugees? In: Snopes , September 8, 2005.
  7. ↑ Enid Nemy: Barbara Bush, Wife of 41st President and Mother of 43rd, Dies at 92. In: The New York Times , April 17, 2018.
  8. ^ Farewell to Barbara Bush. Do you notice anything about this picture? on www.stern.de.
  9. ^ Farewell to Barbara Bush on youtube.com; accessed on November 28, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Bush, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bush, Barbara Pierce
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American First Lady of the United States (1989–1993)
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Flushing , New York
DATE OF DEATH 17th April 2018
Place of death Houston , Texas