Barbara Pierce Bush

Name at birth: Barbara Pierce

Barbara Bush was the wife of former president George Bush and the mother of former president George W. Bush and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. As Barbara Pierce, she met the elder Bush as a teenager, and dropped out of Smith College to marry him on January 6, 1945 while he was on leave from his service as a World War II Navy pilot. The Bushes had six children: George W., Robin, John (also known as Jeb, later the governor of Florida), Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Robin died of leukemia in 1953. Her husband rose through a variety of positions in federal government -- including CIA director, U.S. Representative, and vice-president under Ronald Reagan from 1981-89 -- before becoming president himself from 1989-93. As First Lady, Mrs. Bush was particularly interested in promoting literacy, and she later created her own private foundation devoted to the cause. George Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992. Then in 2000, George W. Bush was elected president, making Barbara Bush both the wife and mother of presidents. Barbara Bush wrote the best-selling Millie's Book (1990), a story of life in the White House as told by the family dog, and the autobiographical Barbara Bush: A Memoir (1994).