Barbara Pierce Bush (born June 8, 1925) is the wife of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, and was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the current U.S. President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Barbara Pierce was the third child of the former Pauline Robinson (1896-1949) and her husband, Marvin Pierce (1893-1969), who later became president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines Redbook and McCall's. She was born at Booth Memorial Hospital in Flushing, Queens in New York City, and raised in the suburban town of Rye, New York, and went to Rye Country Day School, followed by boarding school at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina.

Her ancestor Thomas Pierce, an early New England colonist, was also an ancestor of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States. She is a direct descendant, great-great-granddaughter, of James Pierce, Jr. who was a fourth cousin of Franklin Pierce .

Her mother — whom W magazine once described as "beautiful, fabulous, critical, and meddling" and "a former beauty from Ohio with extravagant tastes" — was killed in a car accident. The accident was caused when her husband, who was driving, lost control when he reached over to stop a cup of hot coffee from sliding across the seat onto his wife. The car crashed into a stone wall, killing her instantly.

Marriage and family

It was at a dance during Christmas vacation when she was 16 that she met George H. W. Bush, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. One and a half years later, the two engaged, just before he went off to World War II as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot. He named three of his planes after her: Barbara, Barbara II, and Barbara III. When he returned on leave, she had dropped out of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Two weeks later, on January 6, 1945, they married. After the war, he graduated from Yale University, and they moved to Midland, Texas. She gave birth to six children:

• George W. Bush (6 July 1946– ) 43rd President of the United States and 46th Governor of Texas

• Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush (20 December 1949 – October 11, 1953, died of leukemia);

• John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (11 February 1953– ) 43rd Governor of Florida

• Neil Mallon Bush (22 January 1955– )

• Marvin Pierce Bush (22 October 1956– )

• Dorothy Bush Koch (August 18, 1959– )

Meanwhile, George H. W. Bush built a business in the oil industry, where he founded Zapata Corporation. The Bush family moved 30 times over the years. She raised her children while her husband, who served in a variety of government jobs, was away.

First Lady of the United States

Currently, she lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, and at the Bush Compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Three primary schools in Texas are named after her. One is a Houston ISD school in Houston. One Conroe ISD school in the The Woodlands in Montgomery County is named after her. A Grand Prairie ISD school in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie is also named after her. An elementary school in Mesa, Arizona's Mesa Public Schools is also named after her.

Two middle schools are named after her. One is in San Antonio in the North East ISD. One is in Irving in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.

A Harris County Public Library branch in Cypress Creek, Harris County, Texas called the Barbara Bush Library is named after her.

The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine is named after Bush. Also named for her is one of George W. Bush's twin daughters. They are frequent honored guests at the White House. She serves on the Boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic, and heads the Barbara Bush Foundation.

Mrs. Bush was initiated into Beta Sigma Phi women's fraternity as an alumna honor initiate. Mrs. Bush also was initiated into the Texas Eta chapter (Texas A&M University) of Pi Beta Phi women's fraternity in 2002 as an alumna honor initiate. Even before her initiation, she served as honorary chairperson of the fraternity's literacy philanthropy, continuing a cause she championed as the wife of the Vice President and later as First Lady.

Controversies

Barbara Bush is well-known for delivering tart comments and sometimes controversial opinions:

• In 1984, Mrs. Bush told the press that she could not say on television what she thought of then Vice-Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, but "it rhymes with rich."

• In September 1990, Mrs. Bush said in an interview for People Magazine that the then-brand new TV show The Simpsons was the dumbest thing she had ever seen. Six years later, she and her husband were parodied heavily in an episode of the show, titled "Two Bad Neighbors" in which they were satirized in a Dennis the Menace style context. Bush was portrayed as being like Martha Wilson, even using the "Oh George" catchprase made famous by the latter.

• Speaking on March 18, 2003, two days before the beginning of the war on Iraq, she told ABC's Good Morning America :

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Critics said that this statement showed how callous and cold she is, while supporters countered that she was merely dismissing speculation of deaths before the Iraq War began.

• While visiting a Houston relief center for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Bush told the radio program "Marketplace,

"Almost everyone I've talked to says, 'We're gonna move to Houston.' What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas... Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality, and so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is working very well for them."

John Nichols of The Nation wrote, "Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever." The White House, when asked for comment, stated that she was expressing the gratitude she had heard from the evacuees for the help and welcome they had received in Houston.

• In 2006 it was revealed that Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund on the condition the charity do business with an educational software company owned by her son Neil Bush.

"More Moon Money Flows to Bush Family - Washington Times Foundation ... a $100,000 contribution ... to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy"