FLOTUS: Barbara Bush Part II

 Advocacy

While she was First Lady, Bush continued her work in promoting literacy that she had begun as Second Lady. In March 1989, she established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to promote further literacy programs. In 1990, she hosted Mrs. Bush's Storytime radio program for ABC, in which she read to children. 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. The book was a best-seller, producing earnings of nearly $800,000 (equivalent to $1,791,951 in 2022). This was more money than any First Lady had ever made while serving in the role. She donated the profits to her literacy foundation. 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. 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.

Bush was an advocate for AIDS patients while First Lady. 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. To prevent discrimination against AIDS patients and to challenge misconceptions about its contagiousness, a photograph was published of her hugging a child with AIDS. 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.

Political involvement

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. A White House aide later described her as "the only voice that he 100 percent trusted". She was occasionally tasked with a more formal responsibility, such as a diplomatic mission in 1990 when she represented the United States at the inauguration of Costa Rican President Rafael Calderón.

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. During the subsequent Gulf War, Bush tasked herself with making 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.

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. She was reluctant to engage in another campaign, dreading the political attacks against her husband and her children. Despite this, Bush took a major role in campaigning, more actively endorsing her husband's policy accomplishments than she previously had. The campaign efforts were complicated by the early 1990s recession and the president's subsequent drop in approval ratings.

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. 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. 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."

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. 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. She believed that they showed a preference for Clinton due to his relative youth. The Bushes moved back to Houston, where they lived in a rental home for nine months as they had a new house constructed. This new house featured a six-foot-tall brick wall to ensure the family's privacy.

The day after returning to Houston, the Bushes learned that Nancy Reagan had called 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 anymore". 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 brief formalities at state events.

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. Though she was able to find more opportunities for relaxation, she remained busy with her various charitable causes, public appearances, and family commitments 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. Later on, between speaking fees and a book deal, Barbara made a considerable amount of money. 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. 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. Both sons ran for the same offices again in 1998, and both won.

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 at that moment to run for president. When George W. announced his candidacy, his parents did not take a prominent role in the campaign, 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. After a long legal battle over the results, her son's opponent Al Gore conceded the election, and Barbara became the second woman after Abigail Adams to be both the wife and the mother of a U.S. president.

President's mother

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. The next day, they were given special authorization by their son to fly back to Kennebunkport, Maine. They participated in 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. The attack also convinced her to reinstate her own personal Secret Service protection, which she had dismissed after leaving the White House.

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. She was also a member of the Junior League of Houston. In 2003, Bush published another memoir, Reflections: Life after the White House.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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 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". The comment was deemed insensitive and reinforced the impression that the Bushes were out of touch.

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. As George worked with Bill Clinton on various charity projects, the Bushs' 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.

On October 3, 2008, Bush and her husband opened the "George and Barbara Bush Center" on the University of New England waterfront Biddeford Campus. 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.

Later life and death

In their later years, Barbara and George spent each summer in Kennebunkport, spending the remainder of the year in Houston. Bush was hospitalized for abdominal pains and underwent small intestine surgery in November 2008. In 2009, she underwent aortic valve replacement surgery. 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. 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.

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". She recanted this statement in 2015 after Jeb began preparing his presidential campaign in the 2016 presidential election. She campaigned for Jeb during the Republican Party primary elections, describing her son as an honest candidate while criticizing front-runner Donald Trump. 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.

Bush fell and fractured her vertebrae on March 16, 2018, and was hospitalized. 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. Bush died in her Houston home at the age of 92 on April 17, 2018. President Donald Trump ordered flags to half-staff in her memory.

Bush's casket was visited by thousands of admirers, and large crowds greeted the hearse as it passed. Her funeral was held at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston on April 21, 2018. She was 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. 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. Her husband died seven months later on November 30, 2018.

Political beliefs

Bush regularly spoke with her husband about political topics, including issues that he faced in the White House. Though it was generally understood that she disagreed with him on several major political issues, she refused to speak about policy to the press. 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.

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

Barbara's opinion on abortion was a problem for George during his political career. Though early on she said that it should be limited to the first trimester, she generally refused to comment on the issue. 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. Only later in life did she openly state that she believed abortion was permissible.

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.

Bush was skeptical of the feminist movement, in part because of the criticism that she received about her lifestyle as a housewife. She supported the Equal Rights Amendment through the 1980s, though she stopped expressing public support for it while the First Lady. 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. She more explicitly supported American action in the Gulf War, and she received little pushback when she suggested that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should be charged with war crimes and hanged.

Bush opposed the rightward shift of the Republican Party following her husband's presidency. 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". 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 gifted 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.

Legacy

Bush was generally popular as First Lady. On average, she received about 100,000 letters each year during her tenure, far more than she expected. Her image as an easygoing woman and a good mother was widely accepted by the American people, as was her determination to remain apolitical on policy issues. This generally affable image of Bush prompted biographer Susan Page to describe her as "the most underestimated First Lady of modern times". Where Bush did have critics, they argued that her image as a domestic housewife conflicted with advances made in women's rights. She did not meaningfully alter the role of First Lady, and she did not exert significant influence over the White House's social events, instead continuing the practices established by Nancy Reagan. 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.

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. Bush was especially known for her three-strand fake pearl necklace, which became popular among American women. 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". 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. When comparing herself to previous first ladies, Bush likened herself to Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman. Bush was the last First Lady to be raised before the onset of second-wave feminism, which allowed subsequent First Ladies more freedom to seek an education and a career.

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. George also cited his mother's influence when he enacted the PEPFAR initiative while president, which supported millions of AIDS patients in Africa. Her granddaughter Barbara Pierce Bush co-founded Global Health Corps, which prioritizes AIDS relief as one of its primary goals. Bush's personal papers, including her diaries and letters, are not scheduled to be publicly released until 35 years after her death, in 2053. In 2021, while speaking at the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's National Summit, First Lady Jill Biden said that she considers Bush to be one of her role models and a First Lady she hopes to emulate in her own role.

Awards and honors

In 1995, Bush received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards Foundation. In 1997, she was the recipient of The Miss America Woman of Achievement Award for her work with literacy programs. The same year, she received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement. In 2016, she received honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Houston chapter.

Multiple 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. 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.

Honorary degrees

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

1972       Arcadia University           PA          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

1981       Mount Vernon Seminary and College     DC          Doctor of Public Service

May 1981             Cardinal Stritch College  WI          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

May 10, 1987      Howard University          DC          Doctor of Humanities (DH)

1988       Judson College  AL           Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

May 14, 1989      Bennett College               NC          Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

May 21, 1989      Boston University            MA         Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

October 6, 1989, Morehouse School of Medicine                GA          Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

September 6, 1989          Smith College    MA         Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1990       University of Pennsylvania          PA          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

May 1990             University of South Carolina        SC           Doctor of Education

May 19, 1990      Saint Louis University     MO        Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1991       South Carolina State College       SC           Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1991       University of Michigan   MI          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

June 15, 1991, Northeastern University               MA         Doctor of Public Service

May 17, 1992, Marquette University    WI          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

1992       Central State University                OH          Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1992       Louisiana State University            LA           Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1992       Pepperdine University  CA          Doctor of Laws (LLD)

1997       Hood College     MD         Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

April 18, 1997, Hofstra University           NY          Doctor of Humane Letters

1998       Austin College   TX           Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)

1998       University of Miami        FL            Doctor of Humanities (DH)

1999       Washington College        MD         Doctor of Public Service

2000       Centenary College           LA           Doctor of Laws (LLD)

May 21, 2001, Wake Forest University NC          Doctor of Humanities

March 11, 2002, Baylor University              TX           Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL

June 7, 2003, University of New England

College of Osteopathic Medicine              ME         Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD)

December 16, 2005, Texas A&M University   TX           Doctor of Humane Letters

May 21, 2006, George Washington University  DC          Doctor of Public Service

May 15, 2010, Sewanee: The University of the South   TN          Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)

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. In terms of cumulative assessment, Bush has been ranked:

 

7th-best of 37 in 1993

15th-best of 38 in 2003

12th-best of 38 in 2008

11th-best of 39 in 2014

In the 2003 survey, Bush was ranked the 5th-highest in the criteria of public image. In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Bush was ranked the 9th-best of the twenty 20th and 21st century First Ladies. 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". In the 2014 survey, historians ranked Bush 5th among 20th and 21st-century American First Ladies that they felt "could have done more".

Published works

C. Fred's Story. Doubleday. 1984. ISBN 978-0-385-18971-2.

Millie's Book. William Morrow & Co. 1990. ISBN 978-0-688-04033-8.

Barbara Bush: A Memoir. New York: Scribner. 1994. ISBN 978-0-02-519635-3.

Reflections: Life after the White House. Scribner. 2004. ISBN 978-0-7432-5582-0.