FLOTUS: Barbara Bush Part I

 

Barbara Pierce Bush (née Pierce; June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) 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 the Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 198 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 the 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 four-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 in New York City on June 8, 1925, to Pauline Pierce (née Robinson) and Marvin Pierce. Her father was a businessman who worked at the McCall Corporation; he descended from the Pierce family including U.S. President Franklin Pierce. She had a close relationship with her father, and she considered him a mentor in many aspects of her life. Pierce's mother, the daughter of a Supreme Court of Ohio justice, was a housewife who was involved in the gardening community. 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. 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. She later came to understand the ordeals faced by her mother, particularly after Barbara had a sick child of her own.

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". While the family lost some of their comforts during the Great Depression, her father's successful career kept them from poverty. In her youth, Pierce was athletic and enjoyed swimming, tennis, and cycling. For the first years of her schooling, Pierce was a public school student, attending Milton School. 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. In her teenage years, she became more popular and was often sought after as a partner in her dance classes. 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.

Courtship and marriage

When Pierce was 16 and on Christmas vacation, she met George H. W. Bush. 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. After a dance together, they instead sat and talked because Bush did not know how to waltz. They were immediately infatuated with one another, 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. 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. Bush enlisted in the 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. Pierce graduated from Ashley Hall in 1943.

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. 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. 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.

Pierce married Bush at the Rye First Presbyterian Church on January 6, 1945, when she was 19 years old. The reception was held at The Apawamis Club, where they had gone on their first date, and they had their honeymoon in Sea Island, Georgia. 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. After George was discharged, they moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and they lived in shared housing while George was attending Yale University. 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.

Early married years

The Bushes moved to Texas in 1948 when George graduated from Yale, as he had accepted a job in the oil industry from a family friend. 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. 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.

The following year, the Bushes moved to California, where they lived in several different towns for over a year for George's work. 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. The Bushes then returned to Texas so George could start his own oil business, and they established a home in Midland, Texas. Bush was often left alone with the children while George was away for work, sometimes for days at a time. She had her third child, Jeb, in 1953. 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 were superior to another that she left without joining, and she thereafter attended the church without anyone noticing that she was not a member.

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. 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. She fell into a deep depression, in which she struggled to raise her two surviving children. One legend held that her hair began to whiten in her grief, though she later denied this. Her relationship with her husband and her oldest son helped her recover, as she 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. Bush decided that she would continue having children until she gave birth to another daughter. She had three more children over the following years: Neil in 1955, Marvin in 1956, and Dorothy in 1959.

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. These incidents instilled in Bush an interest in the civil rights movement. The family moved to Houston in 1959, where Barbara, still pregnant with Dorothy, oversaw the construction of their new home. When her son Neil was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade, she developed a life-long interest in literacy.

Entering political life

1960s

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. She accompanied her husband as he traveled to each precinct in the county. She grew to like campaigning, as it provided her a change of pace and allowed her to spend more time with her husband, though she found the downtime boring and took up needlepoint to occupy herself. She campaigned with her husband again when he ran to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate in 1964. This campaign demonstrated to Barbara 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. While campaigning, she would sometimes hide her last name to solicit more honest feedback about her husband. 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.

Bush returned to the campaign trail for her husband in 1966 when he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the family moved to Washington, D.C. after his victory. 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, and her attendance at regular events at the White House endeared her to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. She also started a newspaper column, "Washington Scene” that was published in Houston. Bush was active in the neighborhood where she lived, befriending prominent neighbors such as Shirley Neil Pettis, Potter Stewart, and Franklin D Roosevelt Jr. 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.

1970s

George ran for the U.S. Senate again in 1970 and was again unsuccessful. As with the previous Senate race, Barbara took an emotional toll from her husband's electoral defeat. She also decided to stop dying 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. After George lost his campaign, President Richard Nixon appointed him the United States ambassador to the United Nations. A large apartment was provided as a residence for the UN ambassador, providing them a home in New York City. She particularly enjoyed sharing this period of her husband's career, as it provided the couple with extensive social opportunities. This also allowed her to form relationships with prominent diplomats. While in New York, she volunteered each week at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where her daughter had been treated for leukemia years before.

Bush was against the idea of her husband becoming the chair of the Republican National Committee in 1973, but he accepted the position. Instead of the opportunities of 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. 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. He was given the position, and Barbara moved with him to China. 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. As she had while a Congressman's wife in Washington, she wrote a newspaper column that was published in Texas. She considered the experience to be a transformative one, allowing her to evaluate her life and sort her priorities.

The Bushes returned to the United States in 1975 when George accepted a job as the U.S. Director of Central Intelligence. 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. Bush suffered from depression, which became severe enough that George suggested she seek out a mental health professional. She did not take his advice, though she later regretted this. 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. 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. To distract herself, she began regular work at a hospice facility. Barbara eventually reacquainted herself with Washington's social life and built connections for her husband's political career while she gave slideshow demonstrations to practice public speaking, giving talks about China. The Bushes returned to Houston after George left the CIA in 1977.

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. 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. 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. 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. For two years, she traveled the country with her aide Becky Brady to campaign for her husband. 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. 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".

Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989)

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. They renovated the house, and Barbara hosted more than one thousand social events there in her time as second lady. She often ignored the 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. 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. 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.

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. Bush and her initiatives in this area saw public approval. She received many letters from the public, of which her white hair became such a common subject that she began using a stock reply: "Please forget about my hair. Think about my wonderful mind." 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.

Bush campaigned for her husband's reelection as vice president in the 1984 presidential campaign. 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 her self-deprecating sense of humor. 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". Bush panicked when it leaked that she may have referred to Ferraro as a bitch. 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. 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.

Bush became a full-time campaigner once again when her husband entered the 1988 presidential election to succeed Reagan. 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. 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. 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". After George became the presidential nominee, Barbara was more visible than she had previously been. By this time, she felt confident enough in the world of politics to provide her own input on campaign strategy. She sat in on campaign meetings, and she gave George feedback on his debate answers when they were alone. It was her support for attack ads that convinced George to use them. 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.

First Lady of the United States (1989–1993)

White House life and ceremonial activity

The Bushes moved into the White House on January 20, 1989, and Barbara became the First Lady of the United States. 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. She did begin purchasing designer gowns, but this went unnoticed by the press. Bush described the position of First Lady as "the best job in America" and "the most spoiled woman in the world". 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. Shortly after becoming First Lady, Bush was diagnosed with Graves' disease, which gave her double vision and caused her to lose weight. 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.

Bush loved the White House, admiring the historical significance of each room. 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. Her day-to-day activities often included charity work, meetings, or interviews until 6 p.m., at which point the Bushes would host company and Barbara would give tours of the White House. She also exercised in the White House pool, swimming 72 laps to complete a mile each day. She sought to engage in normal activities while living in the White House, patronizing local businesses and walking her dog along Pennsylvania Avenue. 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.

Bush was generally skeptical of reporters and the press, feeling that she was entitled to have a private life separate from her public life. 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. 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.

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. Publicly, she dismissed it as "much ado about nothing" by twenty-year-olds, but privately she was angered by the protest. The media attention leading up to the speech was such that when the day came, it was the first speech by a First Lady to ever be nationally broadcast live. 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. 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.