Barbara Bush

First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993 (1925–2018)

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Lived 1925–2018, aged 93United States

United States PoliticiansPolitician

Wikipedia
70 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1925–2018
Aged 93
Known for
Fahrenheit 9/11
2004

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

She's one of only two American women to be both wife and mother to a president — a distinction shared with Abigail Adams that puts her at the center of two separate administrations and bookends to a political dynasty.

Biography

About

Barbara Pierce met George H. W. Bush at 16, married him in 1945, and followed him to Texas in 1948 as he built an oil fortune and then a political career. They raised six children and lost their daughter Robin to leukemia at age three in 1953. Through the 1960s and '70s she moved with him from Washington to New York to China, becoming an active campaigner whenever he ran. As second lady from 1981 to 1989 she hosted events and traveled on diplomatic missions; as first lady from 1989 to 1993 she promoted literacy, supported AIDS patients, and navigated Graves' disease while fiercely protecting h…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Barbara Bush

Barbara Bush

said6 Mar 2005

What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they [the Hurricane Katrina refugees in the Houston Astrodome] all want to stay in Texas.

— Marketplace (6 March 2005)

Barbara Bush

said1994

For heaven's sake enjoy life. Don't cry over things that were or things that aren't. Enjoy what you have now to the fullest.

— p. 531

Barbara Bush

said24 Aug 1992

The personal things should be left out of platforms at conventions.... You can argue yourself blue in the face, and you’re not going to change each other’s minds.

— On the abortion debate, in which her stance was the opposite of her husband's, as quoted in Time magazine (24 August 1992)

Barbara Bush

saidundated