Laura Bush with husband Governor George W. (right) and father-in-law George H. W. (left) at the dedication of the George Bush Presidential Library, 1997
Bush is awarded the Living Legend Medallion from Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, for her work in support of the National Book Festival, September 2008
Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush and a First Lady from 2001 to 2009. Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular First Ladies, Laura Bush was involved in both national and global concerns during her tenure.
Background
Ethnicity:
Laura Bush's most recent immigrant ancestor is her maternal great-grandfather Louis Le Maire, born in 1840 in France. Nine generations back, her paternal ancestor Christopher De Graffenried, born in Bern Switzerland in 1691 immigrated to North Carolina where he settled and founded the town of New Bern. Otherwise all of her ancestors were English in origin and their migration proceeds westward from the colonial era in Tidewater, Virginia through North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas.
Laura Lane Welch was born on November 4, 1946, in Midland, Texas, the only child of Harold Welch and Jenna Louise Hawkins Welch. She is of English ancestry. Her father was a home builder and later successful real estate developer while her mother worked as the bookkeeper for her father's business. Early on, her parents encouraged her to read, leading to what would become her love of reading.
Education
She received her undergraduate degree in education from Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1968, then taught in Dallas and Houston elementary schools. In 1973 she completed a Master’s degree in library science from the University of Texas at Austin
On the night of November 6, 1963, Laura Welch ran a stop sign, causing a fatal car accident that killed her friend in another car. The driver of the other car was her close friend and classmate Michael Dutton Douglas. By some accounts, he had been Welch's boyfriend at one time. Welch and her passenger, both 17, were treated for minor injuries. According to the accident report released by the city of Midland in 2000, in response to an open-records request, she was not charged in the incident. In her book Spoken from the Heart, she says that the accident caused her to lose her faith "for many, many years".
Career
She reflected on her employment experiences to a group of children in 2003, saying, "I worked as a teacher and librarian and I learned how important reading is in school and in life."
Considered one of the most popular first ladies, Laura Bush was involved in both national and global concerns during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing the semi-annual National Book Festival in 2001 and encouraged education on a worldwide scale. She also advanced women's causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She represented the United States during her foreign trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness. In May 2010, Bush released her memoir, Spoken from the Heart, in conjunction with a national tour.
In honor of Laura Bush's career as a librarian and her lifelong dedication to early learning, early reading and literacy, Congress named a librarian program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services after her.
Achievements
In 1973 and then was employed by the Houston public library system. From 1974 to 1977 she was an elementary school librarian in Austin .
On the international front, Mrs. Bush serves as Honorary Ambassador for the Decade of Literacy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Mrs. Bush has also supported education to all peoples and especially women and girls. Expressing a particular interest in this area came when she became the only first lady to deliver a weekly presidential radio address during the American invasion of Afghanistan when she described the condition of women and girls living under the Taliban rulers of that country. Then in May, 2002 she addressed the Afghan people with a radio address on Radio Liberty.
Another of Mrs. Bush’s area of interest is women’s health, something she approaches with a personal interest since her mother is a breast cancer survivor.
While other First Ladies or candidates’ wives have taken more of a major role in the public eye, Mrs. Bush has chosen to represent her causes and support her husband in a more low-key way, and always with skill and grace.
Co-author (with Jenna Bush): (children's books) Read All About It!, 2008. Author: (memoirs) Spoken from the Heart, 2010 (#1 New York Times bestseller).
Views
Following her education and life-path, Mrs. Bush has made education, women’s health and particularly reading as her special causes. She launched the first National Book Festival in association with the Library of Congress in September, 2001, to follow with the 2003 event that attracted 60,000 attendees. She has also hosted the “White House Salute to America’s Authors” featuring the works of Mark Twain, Women Writers of the West, Harlem Renaissance authors and other classic American writers.
To emphasize and encourage education, Mrs. Bush has assisted various programs that recruit and assist teachers, as well as playing host to a White House Conference on Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers.
Interests
decoration, reading
Writers
Khaled Hosseini, Ray Bradbury, Carol Ryrie Brink, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Connections
year of 1977 she met George W. Bush at the home of mutual friends and they were married in November, 1977. Their twin daughters Barbara and Jenna (named after their grandmothers) were born in 1981. Mrs. Bush got her original “first lady” experience (of Texas) as George W. Bush was elected governor in 1995 and then she entered the White House when her husband was elected president in 2000.
Named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women, Forbes magazine, 2004-2008. Recipient President's Crystal Apple award, American Association School Librarians, 2006.
Named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women, Forbes magazine, 2004-2008. Recipient President's Crystal Apple award, American Association School Librarians, 2006.
