Barbara Bush
![Official portrait, 1992](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Barbara_Bush_portrait_1992_%28cropped%29.jpg)
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 three-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. Provided by Wikipedia
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2by Scott McWilliams, Barbara Pierce, Andrea Wittenzellner, Lillie Langlois, Sophia Engel, John R Speakman, Olivia Fatica, Kristen DeMoranville, Wolfgang Goymann, Lisa Trost, Amadeusz Bryla, Maciej Dzialo, Edyta Sadowska, Ulf BauchingerGet full text
Published 2020-12-01
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