Martha Washington
Abigail Adams
Martha Jefferson
Dolley Madison
Elizabeth Monroe
Louisa Adams
Rachel Jackson
Hannah Van Buren
Anna Harrison
Letitia Tyler
Julia Tyler
Sarah Polk
Margaret Taylor
Abigail Fillmore
Jane Pierce
Harriet Lane Johnson
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Eliza Johnson
Julia Grant
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Ellen Arthur
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Helen Taft
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Edith Wilson
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Lou Hoover
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Jacqueline Kennedy
Lady Bird Johnson
Pat Nixon
Betty Ford
Rosalynn Carter
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Barbara Bush
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Laura Bush
Michelle Obama
Melania Trump
Barbara Pierce Bush
Barbara Pierce was born on June 8,1925 in New York City.
She attended Rye Country Day School and then was sent to Ashley Hall in Charleston to study.
She met George Bush during the Christmas holiday of 1941.
They became engaged just before Barbara entered Smith College in Massachusetts in 1943.
George was serving in the Navy at that time. She dropped out of college in her second year and married George on January 6, 1945. She was 19.
After the war, George finished his education at Yale and he and Barbara moved to Texas.
They had six children including George W. who later became President.
Their daughter, Robin, was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 3 years old. She died in the fall of 1953. The loss of their daughter was tragic for both George and Barbara. They had a hard time talking to each other and Barbara was very depressed.
Barbara did have a sense of humor. When George H. Bush was running against Bill Clinton, Barbara joked that she and Bill Clinton had something in common. Neither of them had served in the military.
During her time as First Lady, Barbara became involved in many literacy projects. It may have been because her son Neil had dyslexia.
She has written two books on literacy and an autobiography.
Her autobiography was published in 1993 and became a best seller.
She did speaking tours around the country.
Barbara tossed the coin for the opening of the 2017 Super bowl in Houston, Texas.
She was the second First Lady to have both a husband and a son serve as President.
Barbara Bush died on April 17, 2018. She was at her home in Houston Texas.
Sources of Information:
Books:
Barden, Cindy,Meet the First Ladies, Lorenz Corp.
Gormley, Beatrice,First Ladies: Women Who Called The White House Home (First Ladies) , Scholastic Paperbacks, 1997
Smith, Carter, Editor,Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies DK Publishing, New York, 2002
Web Sites:
The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/