ATB: All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings, by George Bush
BB: Barbara Bush: A Memoir, by Barbara Bush
DP: Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, by Jon Meacham
LF: Looking Forward, by George Bush with Victor Gold
MFMP: My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush, by Doro Bush Koch
“It was unbelievable”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“The Secret Service is saying”—Author interview with David Rubenstein. Safari also discussed in Reflections, by Barbara Bush, pp. 321–22.
“Never ask anyone over seventy”—Barbara Bush interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, November 22, 2010.
She was “a person with a strong sense of right and wrong”—Author interview with Bill Clinton.
“She’s about the only voice”—Author interview with former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater.
“There is no George H. W. Bush”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“I talked to Susan Page”—Barbara Bush diary entry, December 19, 2017.
“I like her”—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 6, 2018.
Her distant cousin—Franklin Pierce was the fourth cousin, four times removed, of Barbara Pierce Bush.
“She is a strong woman”—What I Saw at the Revolution, by Peggy Noonan, p. 303.
“In a different time and a different era”—Author interview with Jeb Bush in 1990 for “Why America Loves Barbara Bush,” by Susan Page, Newsday.
“She lived a full and exemplary life”—Author interview with Hillary Clinton.
Jeb Bush… described a common phenomenon—Author interview with Jeb Bush in 2018.
“At the end of your life”—Barbara Bush commencement address, Wellesley College, June 1, 1990.
“Mother was pretty good about dealing”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“The Fat Lady Sings Again”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I don’t know what to do”—BB, p. 39.
“You don’t have a choice”—DP, p. 87.
When their teetotaling minister—BB, p. 40.
“I remember realizing”—Ibid., p. 45.
Patients were “diagnosed”—Medical World News, November 11, 1966, quoted in The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee, p. 12.
“Our big hope”—DP, p. 98.
highest white blood cell count—LF, p. 69.
“How we hated”—BB, p. 43.
“panicked, crying”—DP, p. 98.
“We used to laugh”—BB, p. 44.
“Someone had to look”—ATB, p. 102.
He often would arrive disheveled—MFMP, p. 53.
“What does your husband do”—BB, p. 42.
“Her eyes didn’t sparkle”—MFMP, p. 52.
She found Ashley, huddled outside—BB, p. 42.
Sloan Kettering didn’t charge—Hope and Suffering, by Gretchen Krueger, p. 102.
“Do you remember in the Bible where it says?”—The King James version of the Bible verse Matthew 19:14 reads, “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
“He raised our hopes”—BB, p. 42–43.
he was putty—Ibid., p. 43.
Many in Midland shied away—Ibid.
“I said, ‘No, we’ve done enough to her’”—Interview with George Bush by Jon Meacham for DP, p. 99.
“One minute she was there”—BB, p. 44.
“Like an oak in the wind”—What It Takes, by Richard Ben Cramer, p. 244.
“I knew old so-and-so”—BB, p. 44.
It would be the first vivid memory of his life—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“We should have told him”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
he had such terrifying nightmares—First Son, by Bill Minutaglio, pp. 46–47.
“I just needed somebody to blame”—BB, p. 46.
“I wouldn’t let them cry in front of her”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Time after time during the next six months”—BB, p. 45.
A study in the 1970s—The Bereaved Parent, by Harriet Sarnoff Schiff, p. 180.
another study concluded—“Research on the Effect of Parental Bereavement,” by Lynn Videka-Sherman, Social Service Review, p. 102.
“I wanted to get back”—BB, p. 46.
“There is a sad part”—MFMP, p. 55.
“That, I think, was maybe one of the things”—Author interview with Susan Baker.
he wished he were Robin—BB, p. 46.
“He taught me something”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I feel very close to George”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“We had a very, very close relationship”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
In the days before her own death—Author interview with Jean Becker.
“Mother’s reaction”—“Don’t Call Him Junior,” by Patricia Kilday Hart, Texas Monthly, April 1989.
“That started my cure”—BB, p. 47.
“For a while after”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 7.
“I think kids who lose a sibling”—First Son, by Bill Minutaglio, p. 46.
“He felt he had to be the caretaker”—Author interview with Betsy Heminway.
“I always thought that was so sweet”—Author interview with granddaughter Barbara Pierce Bush.
“She was a constant memory”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“It’s a strange thing”—MFMP, p. 56.
She once told her mother—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“There is about our house a need”—ATB, pp. 81–82.
“He just said, ‘I’ve got to do something that’s bigger’”—Author interview with Bessie Liedtke.
“Maybe all those things add up”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“It taught me that no matter”—DP, p. 101.
On December 20, 2017, she wrote—Barbara Bush diaries, December 2017.
“Marked by seasickness”—Coming Over, by David Cressy, p. 159.
Notably for the time—One of the passengers on this voyage would have a bizarre intersection with another of Barbara Bush’s ancestors. Nicholas Jennings, then twenty-two, arrived aboard the Francis with Coe in 1634. In 1661, in Lyme, Connecticut, Jennings and his wife, Margaret, were indicted for killing by witchcraft Marie Marvin, the wife of Reinhold Marvin, who was Barbara Bush’s eighth-great-grandfather. Jennings and his wife were found not guilty, although most of the jury voted to convict them. Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut, by R. G. Tomlinson, pp. 24–25.
By the time Coe came ashore—The Mayflower and Her Passengers, by Caleb H. Johnson, p. 204.
As for Robert Coe—A fresco memorializing Hawkwood—holding a commander’s baton and sitting astride a gray steed—is displayed in the Duomo in Florence, where he is buried. When John Coe returned to England, he established endowments at several churches in Essex for priests to celebrate Masses for Hawkwood’s soul. John Hawkwood, by William Caferro, p. 40.
Puritans like Coe—Among them were Thomas and Elizabeth Pierce, who emigrated from England in 1633 or 1634. Their son, Thomas, would be the common ancestor of President Franklin Pierce and Barbara Bush. Pierce Genealogy, by Frederick C. Pierce, pp. 17–19.
After arriving in America—Another direct ancestor of Barbara Pierce Bush, Ezekiel Richardson, who emigrated from England in 1630, became a follower of two prominent dissenters in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Anne Hutchinson and the Reverend John Wheelwright, in what was known as the Antinomian Controversy.
Five years later, in the wake of a disagreement—History of the Colony of New Haven, by Edward R. Lambert, p. 176.
Robert Coe was “a fine example”—Robert Coe, Puritan, by Joseph G. Bartlett, p. 76.
After yet another battle over church governance—Ibid., p. 74. The influential Puritan minister Cotton Mather described the diminutive Denton this way: “Though he were a little man, yet he had a great soul; his well-accomplished mind, in his lesser body, was as an Iliad in a nutshell.” Magnalia Christi Americana, by Cotton Mather, p. 360.
There are indications—The Skillmans of New York, by Francis Skillman, p. 38.
His son Benjamin was among those who signed a letter—Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, by Berthold Fernow, p. 492.
It was through this family line—Franklin Pierce was the fourth cousin, four times removed, of Barbara Bush.
The town was established in 1820 by James Sharp—Golden Anniversary: 1874–1924; Borough of Sharpsville. Sharp was rumored to be a bigamist; his older wife was said to have lived downstairs, the younger one upstairs. He reportedly fled with his younger wife.
“a wiry, well-spoken man”—“Great Mansion Is Fading Reminder of General Pierce,” by Malry J. Wage, Sharon Herald, July 16, 1952
“indomitable energy”—“General James Pierce,” Record-Argus (Greenville, PA), December 5, 1874.
By the time he died, he was worth $1.5 million—Ibid.
A local newspaper reported the jaw-dropping cost—Ibid.
The three-story mansion boasted thirty rooms—History of Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, pp. 7–8.
Soon after construction—Record-Argus (Greenville, PA), November 28, 1874; “Giant Mansion Is Fading Reminder of General Pierce,” by Malry J. Wage, Sharon Herald, July 16, 1952.
All of them would be locally prominent—In 1884 Wallace Pierce presented a $5,000 promissory note to the McKeesport (PA) city council, saying he got it from a lawyer that the city owed money to. Neither the council nor the city had any record of the note ever existing, and it is strongly implied in the newspaper accounts of the time that Wallace forged the note (Pittsburgh Daily Post, December 15, 1884). In 1915, both Frank and James B. Pierce were accused of extorting $20,000 from a local businessman and his wife, though both Pierces were found not guilty by a jury (Pittsburgh Press, May 17, 1915; Record-Argus [Greenville, PA], December 4, 1915).
Weirdly, all except Frank—History of Sharpsville, Sharpsville Historical Society.
That would be the source of fascination—Author interviews with Barbara Bush and Scott Pierce.
He “withstood the war fever”—A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, by John G. White, p. 930.
“the roughest and wickedest place”—Bound to Be a Soldier, by James Todd Miller, p. 7.
The hardtack biscuits—Ibid., p. 22.
After little more—Adjutant General’s Office (1861–1862). Combined Military Service Report, 111th Pennsylvania Infantry, Jonas Pierce, RG 94, National Archives; Pennsylvania 111th Volunteer Infantry Regiment Orders Book (1861–1865), RG 94, National Archives.
Of the 1,549 men—Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861–1865, by William F. Fox, p. 122.
Son Jonas Pierce had been a Democrat—Pittsburgh Press, October 16, 1884.
After he died, his widow and sons agreed—Pierce v. Pierce, 1885, 55 Mich. 629.
Efforts to dominate—“A Lively Contest in Western Pennsylvania,” New York Times, January 12, 1883; The Railroad That Never Was, by Herbert H. Harwood Jr.
His four brothers and his mother—Sharpsville Railroad minute book, Box 406C-2, location 15.1.3, CSX Collection, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, Hays T. Watkins Research Library.
“Sharpsville will go down in history”—Golden Anniversary: 1874–1924; Borough of Sharpsville.
A lawsuit filed by Jonas Pierce—“Game Theory and Cumulative Voting for Corporate Directors,” by Gerald J. Glasser, Management Science.
A second lawsuit, over 414 critical shares—Jonas J. Pierce vs. First National Bank of West Greenville, the Sharpsville Railroad Company, and Walter Pierce, Jonas J. Pierce Court Documents, Location 16.3.5., CSX Collection, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, Hays T. Watkins Research Library.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headlined its story “The Fighting Pierces”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 1884, p. 2.
Local law enforcement was less effective—Sharpsville Historical Society, III #3, September 9, 2014.
Jonas’s brothers—Pierce v. Pierce 1885, 55 Mich. 629; Pierce et al. v. Pierce, 1892, The Northwestern Reporter, p. 851.
he left behind—“Trouble Following a Suicide,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, February 29, 1892.
At a meeting—“Going out of Blast,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, March 14, 1892.
Their unpaid debts were a factor—“The Iron Failures of the Week,” Iron Trade Review, July 27, 1893, p. 7.
The city of Sharpsville filed—Record-Argus (Greenville, PA), October 3, 1905.
a bankrupt Jonas—Pension file, Jonas J. Pierce, pension application no. 1112261, Civil War Pension Index 1861–1934, Series T288; Roll 372. National Archives, Washington, DC. His pension would go up to $12 a month in April 1907, $15 a month in October 1909, and $19 a month in October 1912. The increase of pension from $8 to $12 in 1907 was due to a change in law, which allowed soldiers to get pension based on old age, without having to demonstrate they were an invalid. Jonas’s congressman, N. P. Wheeler, helped push the pension office to grant the increase to Jonas.
Gone was the comfortable life—A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, by John G. White, pp. 931, 1909. Scott Pierce was the oldest of five children of Jonas Pierce and Kate Pritzl Pierce, an emigrant from Bavaria. Kate Pritzl’s father was a civil engineer who had designed the pleasure ground of King Ludwig of Bavaria in Munich. Ludwig’s son was the famous “Mad King.” Scott may have been named after William Lawrence Scott, the railroad magnate who formed a partnership with his father in his legal battles against the rest of the family over control of the company.
He… worked for his father’s company—Index to “A Portrait and Biographical Record of Portage and Summit Counties,” by James F. Caccamo, Jack Kauffmann Bowers, and Gwendolyn E. Mayer, p. 431.
the local newspapers published items—Akron Beacon Journal, October 26, 1895.
Another story chronicled a whist club—“A Whist Club,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 21, 1897.
For a half dozen years—“Pierce Heard by the Salesmanship Class Last Night,” Hamilton Evening Journal, March 19, 1915.
“Daddy’s father, Scott Pierce, was not a success”—Letter written by Barbara Bush to her niece Gail Rafferty, but never sent; included in her diaries and dated January 30, 2017.
She remembered her grandfather—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Handsome, graceful, and six feet tall—“Oxford Colonials to Meet Reserves,” Xenia Daily Gazette, July 3, 1914.
None of the industrial titans in Dayton “loomed as large”—You Have to Pay the Price, by Earl H. Blaik, p. 13.
Athletic scholarships didn’t exist—“A History of Recruiting: How Coaches Have Stayed a Step Ahead,” by Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated, June 23, 2008.
A handwritten letter from George R. Eastman—Letter from George R. Eastman to A. E. Young, dated, March 27, 1912. Marvin Pierce File. Alumni/Alumni Affairs/Development, Individuals, Mo-Ste, Box 16. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
Marvin would support his parents financially—BB, p. 7.
On his father’s sixtieth birthday—Letter from Raymond Hughes to Marvin Pierce, February 19, 1926. Raymond Mollyneaux Hughes Collection, Office Files, O-Z, 1925–26, Box 8. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
His father warned—Letter from George R. Eastman to Prof. A. E. Young, dated March 27, 1912. Marvin Pierce File. Alumni/Alumni Affairs/Development, Individuals, Mo-Ste, Box 16. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
Professor A. E. Young forwarded the letter—Letter from A. E. Young to Raymond Hughes, dated March 29, 1912. Marvin Pierce File. Alumni/Alumni Affairs/Development, Individuals, Mo-Ste, Box 16. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
“I appreciate, however, the value”—Letter from Raymond Hughes to A.E. Young, dated March 30, 1912. Marvin Pierce File. Alumni/Alumni Affairs/Development, Individuals, Mo-Ste, Box 16. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
Blaik described him—You Have to Pay the Price, by Earl H. Blaik, p. 19.
a nine-letter man—BB, p. 8.
Marvin began playing—“Pierce Pitching Fine Ball,” Lima News, July 6, 1914.
Then he was notified—“Pierce May Be Black Listed,” Xenia Daily Gazette, June 26, 1915.
But Marvin was allowed to continue to play—Hamilton Evening Journal, June 25, 1915.
The other two players didn’t return—College records show one of the students, junior Arthur Crist, did not return for his senior year, and later joined the Army in World War I. “Arthur J. Crist War Record” (Student 1912–14), Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH. The other, junior Charles Landrey, also did not return to Miami the following year; no explanation was given. “Chances of State Championship Coming to Miami Are Great,” Miami Student 40, no. 1 (September 23, 1915).
“a fine specimen”—“Marvin Pierce, the Star Player on Miami U Football Eleven Well Known to Many in Hamilton,” Hamilton Evening Journal, October 30, 1913.
When Pierce was a senior—Graduation speech at Miami University of Ohio in 1951, by Marvin Pierce. Marvin Pierce File. Alumni/Alumni Affairs/Development, Individuals, Mo-Ste, Box 16. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
“March 8th—Pauline Robinson wears her hair back”—Miami University yearbook Recensio, 1915, p. 283.
Another entry seemed to make a juvenile joke—Miami University yearbook Recensio, 1916, p. 290.
As a freshman, Pauline accompanied Red Blaik—Scrapbook kept by Kenneth “Chief” Crawford, a football player and fraternity brother; he later played in the early National Football League. Miami University Libraries. Miami University Archives, Oxford, OH.
She played first violin—Miami University yearbook Recensio, 1916, pp. 110, 151.
When Marvin Pierce came courting—“Week-End Here,” Union County Journal, June 12, 1917; “Week-End Guest,” Union County Journal, July 3, 1917; “Guest in Marysville,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, April 20, 1918.
A month after Congress—“United States, World War One Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918.” Marvin Pierce. Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org: 11 July 2018. Citing NARA microfilm publication M1509. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
Marvin and his unit boarded the transport ship—Company Number One History, Washington Barracks, S.A.R.D of Engineers, American Expeditionary Force, p. 3.
A few months after the Armistice—Daily Report of Casualties and Changes, April 6–12, 1919. Camp Hospital 40, American Expeditionary Force, World War I. National Archives at St. Louis, MO.
Robinson was born—“James E. Robinson,” Richwood Gazette, June 22, 1899.
began running ads in local newspapers—“Professional Cards,” Richwood Gazette, January 28, 1897.
“Always eloquent”—“Arguments Made in the Larkin Case,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, January 23, 1914.
Her husband threatened—“About the Court House,” Weekly Marysville Tribune, January 9, 1895.
Another said her husband—“J. J. Parish: A School Teacher, Wrote Spicy Love Letters,” Union County Journal, March 27, 1902.
There was a woman—“Two Wives Ask the Court to Give Them Freedom from Erring Husbands,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, October 22, 1901.
“Mr. Robinson’s hustling qualities”—Richwood Gazette, June 22, 1899.
In one case—“Prosecutor Robinson Scared,” Richwood Gazette, September 16, 1902.
Robinson took the case—“Wants to Be Separated from Joseph,” Richwood Gazette, October 23, 1902.
A few months later—“Election Results in County,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, November 5, 1902.
After the election, Robinson—“Nile Bland Purposely Casts an Illegal Vote in Milford Center,” Union County Journal, November 13, 1902.
In that election, Robinson—“Election Results in County,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, November 5, 1902.
His judicial philosophy—Rulings, Concurrences, and Dissents of Justice, James E. Robinson, Supreme Court of Ohio Law Library.
In at least two cases—“Judge Robinson,” Marysville Journal-Tribune, January 27, 1932.
The whole notion—“Mexico Lures Four Widowed Grandmothers,” United Press, November 30, 1939.
“She was very adventurous”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“For a week, I wore”—Barbara Bush, American University Distinguished Lecture Series, May 1, 1985. “Sadat and Barbara Bush Lecture,” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, American University Library.
“He was the fairest man I knew”—BB, p. 29.
In a letter to a friend—Marvin Pierce letter to J. G. Kiefaber, March 22, 1948. George Bush Collection, World War II Correspondence, Box 2, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
a nice club, to be sure, but not the most elite—The Apawamis Club “was decidedly more upper-middle class than upper class.” There was a $500 initiation fee and annual dues of $250 as of 1934. In Pursuit of Privilege, by Clifton Hood, pp. 312–14.
“Mrs. Pierce, she was tough”—Author interview with William “Bucky” Bush.
She told me she felt her father favored her—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
she was “probably the child least close to my mother”—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 84.
Even Miss Covington’s Dancing School—BB, pp. 12–13.
“I remember my mother saying”—BB, pp. 6–7.
Her mother joked that Barbara had weighed a hundred pounds at birth—First Ladies, by Margaret Truman, p. 314.
“The best food in the world”—BB, p. 6.
In a youthful episode—BB, pp. 27–28.
June Biedler, a childhood pal—“Barbara’s Backlash,” by Marjorie Williams, Vanity Fair, August 1992.
“The meanest article I have ever read about me”—Barbara Bush diary entry, July 16, 1992.
In an interview a quarter century later—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“She begged and borrowed”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“You have two choices in life”—BB, p. 31.
As a girl, Barbara was shocked—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Marvin Pierce had been trained as an engineer—Technology Review 24, no. 1 (January 1922): 352.
He landed one at the McCall Corporation—Betas of Achievement, by William Raimond Baird; Beta Lore: Sentiment, Song and Story in Beta Theta Pi, by Francis W. Shepardson, p. 416; Miami University Bulletin 19, no. 6 (February 1921): p. 27; McCall 1922 Annual Report.
Pierce was hired—Technology Review 24, no. 1 (January 1922): 352.
Pierce didn’t know much about recipes—In Quiet Ways, by Herrymon Maurer, p. 118.
He played a major role—Inside the Founding of Newsweek, by Thomas J. C. Martyn.
The week before Barbara Bush was married—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Part of my job after the operations”—Author interview with Scott Pierce.
Once, driving Scott to the hospital—Author interview and subsequent email exchange with Scott Pierce.
“In retrospect, I realize”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
The treatment Scott received was considered appropriate—“Solitary Bone Cyst,” by Bradley L. Coley and Norman L. Higinbotham, Annals of Surgery.
But under today’s protocols—Dr. Michael S. Hughes, pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
“He was charming”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
then was honorably discharged eighteen months later—James Robinson Pierce Army Air Corps Discharge Papers, July 14, 1943. War Department Adjutant General’s Office, Form No. 55. National Archives at St. Louis, MO.
He worked for a time as a trainee—Russell, Burdsall and Ward, in Port Chester, N.Y. James Robinson Pierce Enlistment Papers, U.S. Navy, DSS Form No. 221, July 1944. National Archives at St. Louis, MO.
then enlisted in the Navy Reserves—James Robinson Pierce U.S. Navy Combined Service Record. National Archives at St. Louis, MO; Barbara Bush told me that Jimmy Pierce originally enlisted in the Canadian Air Force, a commitment her father helped extricate him from, but I was unable to find official records corroborating this.
A sanctioned history—Ashley Hall, by Ileana Strauch, p. 124.
Letters home written by Kathryn Noble—Kathryn Noble letter dated February 22, 1940. Taylor family. Taylor family papers, 1856–1981. (0574.00) South Carolina Historical Society.
Barbara started smoking—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
chronic lung disease—She was diagnosed with COPD, chronic inflammatory lung disease.
There were no African American students—Charleston in Black and White, by Steve Estes, p. 95.
Jewish girls were allowed to attend—Shera Lee Ellison Berlin, audio interview with Dale Rosengarten and Michael Samuel Grossman, 16 April 1997, Mss. 1035-144, Special Collections, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
Martha was a campus star—Ashley Hall Cerberus, June 1937. Ashley Hall Collection, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC.
Still, Martha was always “somewhat of a loner”—BB, p. 10.
In a short story—Ashley Hall Cerberus, December 1936, pp. 25–27. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.
As a senior—Ashley Hall Cerberus, June 1937, p. 149. Ashley Hall Collection, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC.
The group coordinated campaign volunteers—John Alsop was the younger brother of Washington political columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop.
“Everybody liked her”—Author interview with Jane Lucas Thornhill.
But her grades were mediocre—Barbara Pierce Ashley Hall Cumulative Record. Ashley Hall Collection, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC.
“Although I fear she will be unimpressed”—Barbara Bush letter to College of Charleston, January 26, 2018.
“B. Pierce likes flowers”—Ashley Hall Cerberus, June 1942, p. 42. Ashley Hall Collection, College of Charleston Libraries, Charleston, SC.
When Barbara Bush was ninety-two years old—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Everytime I say beautiful”—Letter from George Bush to Barbara Pierce, December 12, 1943, ATB, p. 39.
George Bush was so young—“Consent-to-Wed Law for Males Is Upheld,” by C. Gerald Fraser, New York Times, March 13, 1973.
“In wartime, the rules change”—BB, p. 22.
George Bush said they were living—LF, p. 31.
His reaction “was the same”—Flight of the Avenger, by Joe Hyams, p. 47.
“Although fighting had been going on”—BB, p. 15.
Decades later, George Bush could recall—LF, p. 31.
“She was so beautiful”—Author interview with George Bush.
By the time Barbara had gotten up—BB, p. 16.
“He was so afraid”—BB, p. 17.
“I think it was perfectly swell”—Barbara Bush scrapbooks, Book 12. George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
After the prom—BB, p. 17.
During baseball practice—MFMP, p. 45.
“I couldn’t breathe”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
A year would pass before the Navy would confirm—The Navy confirmed it on May 1, 1943.
“She looked too cute for words”—ATB, p. 25.
“He looked like a baby”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“If she ‘fluffed me off’”—Letter, George Bush to Nancy Bush, August 1942. George H. W. Bush personal papers, World War II Correspondence, Folder #2. George H. W. Bush Presidential Library; ATB, p. 33.
Bush biographies often say—“Chuck Downey, Youngest WWII Naval Pilot and Poplar Grove Resident, Dies,” by Adam Poulisse, Rockford Register Star, February 21, 2016.
“I knew, of course, they would hate me”—BB, p. 19.
“He could kid her”—DP, p. 72.
His sister, Nancy, never got over thinking—BB, p. 91.
Because gasoline and tires were rationed—BB, p. 19.
Seventy-five years later, in 2018, George Bush—Conversation between George Bush and Jean Becker, July 27, 2018.
“We were secretly engaged”—LF, p. 31.
“When she came home”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“My dad knew he was going to be” president—Barbara Bush interview on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, November 18, 1994.
While traditional gender boundaries—“The Formation of Gay and Lesbian Identity,” by Vincent F. Bonfitto, Journal of Homosexuality.
the announcement of their engagement—“Barbara Pierce Engaged to Wed,” New York Times, December 12, 1943, p. 66.
“Bar, you have made my life”—ATB, p. 38.
“What do you both think”—ATB, letter dated January 11, 1944; p. 39.
“Incidentally if you see any shiny rocks”—ATB, p. 38.
In the shipyard, George gave Barbara—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
She would wear it until the day she died—Author interview with Jean Becker.
During the June 1944 campaign—The Presidency of George H. W. Bush, by John R. Greene, p. 13.
“We listened for every piece of news”—BB, p. 21.
“The minute we pushed over to dive”—“George Bush: A Sense of Duty,” for Arts and Entertainment Network’s Biography series, first broadcast November 1996. Quoted in The Presidency of George H. W. Bush, by John R. Greene, p. 13.
“The cockpit filled with smoke”—Letter from George Bush to his parents, dated September 3, 1944, quoted in ATB, p. 50.
“We were frantic”—BB, p. 22.
In the prisons there—Sorties into Hell, by Chester G. Hearn, pp. 112–22; Hidden Horrors, by Toshiyuki Tanaka, pp. 114–21.
Bush was allowed to return statewide—DP, pp. 66–67.
“This is the letter”—ATB, p. 57.
“Don’t do what I did”—“Ex–First Lady Urges Women to Graduate,” Associated Press, October 30, 1997.
She was one of six students—“Undergraduate Withdrawals During the Past Five Years,” Office of the Registrar, Smith College, January 14, 1949, Office of the President Herbert John Davis Files, Box 7, Smith College Archives.
She hadn’t declared a major yet—Email from Smith College Archives; Smith College Catalogue 1943, Smith College Archives.
As she ruefully told an interviewer decades later—“She Loves Being Mrs. George Bush,” by Debra Scherban, Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA), April 22, 1981.
The wedding date was set—BB, p. 22.
“There were tears”—LF, p. 41.
They had set a new wedding date—George Bush, by Herbert S. Parmet, p. 49.
The sensible Dorothy Walker Bush—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Suddenly, a young man—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 99.
Barbara wore what the New York Times described—“Miss Pierce Is Wed to Lieut. G. H. Bush,” New York Times, January 7, 1945, p. 36.
“When I fell in love with George Bush”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Well, I never, never wondered”—Author interview with George H. W. Bush.
For the record, he never exactly asked—See chapter 5: “Love and War”; and chapter 9: “ ‘What Are We Going to Do About Bar?’”
There, she sat in the special double-wide grandstand seat—“Big Man on Campus,” by Mark A. Branch, Yale Alumni Magazine, March/April 2013.
“Doing well merely”—Letter from George H. W. Bush to FitzGerald Bemiss in June 1948, ATB, pp. 61–63.
“It was very important”—BB, p. 30.
Bush’s father, Prescott, had been on the Dresser board—Prescott S. Bush Oral History, 1966, Columbia University Oral History Research Project, Eisenhower Administration Project.
“I’ve always wanted”—“How Bush Made It,” by Richard Ben Cramer, Esquire, June 1991.
“Texas would be new”—Letter from George Bush to FitzGerald Bemiss in June 1948, ATB, pp. 61–63.
during what she called her “dormant” years—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 111.
“She jumped in”—Author interview with Susan Porter Rose.
“We were both”—“Barbara Bush,” by Marty Primeau, Dallas Morning News, August 19, 1984.
One observer said—Author interview with Steve Clemons.
“When you are a couple”—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 105.
“I was glad to get away”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“We stepped off the plane”—BB, p. 54.
“We had the only bathroom”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I thought we were being gassed”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Still considered on the wrong side”—BB, p. 35.
“Dearest Mommy + Daddy”—Barbara Bush diaries, “Barbara Pierce Bush’s letters to Family, 1948–1952.”
“We lived in a duplex”—American University Distinguished Lecture Series, May 1, 1985. “Sadat and Barbara Bush Lecture,” Courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, American University Library.
Barbara’s mother, Pauline Pierce, had been shipping—BB, p. 32.
“We lived in a motel”—BB, p. 35.
“Auto left road”—Pauline Robinson Pierce death certificate, Town of Harrison, New York, October 4, 1949.
The letter “is so loving”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I think I have myself well enough in hand”—Letter from Marvin Pierce to Barbara Bush and his other children, October 1949. Letter provided to the author by Barbara Bush.
They had an almost visceral reaction—BB, p. 523.
“What a lonely, miserable time”—BB, p. 58.
But the other grandmother—BB, pp. 36–37.
“We had four kids”—Author interview with Bessie Liedtke.
“In our time it was different”—What I Saw at the Revolution, by Peggy Noonan, pp. 302–3.
“Bar is still not quite up to par”—George H. W. Bush letter to his mother, October 20, 1948, ATB, p. 65.
“Life seemed almost too good”—BB, p. 38.
“They kept having boys”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“I would have liked one more”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
She described it as a time—Barbara Bush, American University Distinguished Lecture Series, May 1, 1985. “Sadat and Barbara Bush Lecture,” courtesy of University Archives and Special Collections, American University Library.
Sometimes she had the “feeling”—Ibid.
She once made an observation—“How Bush Made It,” by Richard Ben Cramer, Esquire, June 1991.
“I remember Mother”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“I can still picture us”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 7.
Neil Bush recalled the elaborate gift bags—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“George was away, so my friends held my hand”—“The Best Time of My Life Is Now,” by Jean L. Block, Good Housekeeping, November 1989, p. 255.
Jeb told me his mother—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“Even when we were growing up”—“Barbara Bush: Supportive, Not a Maker of Political Waves,” by Joyce Purnick, New York Times, July 18, 1980, p. 10.
“Somebody has to take care of the nest”—Ibid.
“Georgie has grown up to be”—Letter from George H. W. Bush to FitzGerald Bemiss, January 1, 1951. FitzGerald Bemiss Papers, 1943–1997. Mss1 B4252 c 1-50, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
“She could get hot”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 7.
when he was a teenager—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I remember thinking”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 8.
“Don’t worry, honey”—Ibid.
He told her they needed to talk—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Dad gets his energy”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“Mom was the street cop”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“In February 1962, just before Doro and I left”—BB, p. 57.
“I never even thought about it”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Her only complaint—BB, p. 56.
“I’d like to be President”—Barbara Bush diary and letters, January 7, 1966, quoted in DP, p. 129.
“exciting, overwhelming, intimidating”—BB, p. 65.
“I mean, that’s me”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
When Nixon aide Patrick Buchanan moved into the neighborhood—Author interview with Patrick Buchanan.
“He had some great friends in the House”—Author interview with Andy Card.
“Since George was unopposed”—BB, p. 73.
“Now the big question for us was”—BB, p. 80.
“I was born to the job”—BB, p. 87.
“When George was at the United Nations”—“Barbara Bush: The Plans in Her Life,” by Barbara Gamarekian, New York Times, February 22, 1981.
She also began to volunteer—BB, p. 89.
In a letter to Nixon the next day—Letter from George H. W. Bush to President Nixon, November 11, 1972, quoted in ATB, pp. 162–64.
“but he was not lovable”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I was very nervous!”—Author email exchange with Columba Bush.
“Their daughter, Robin”—“Return of the First Family,” by Betty Cuniberti, Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1988.
A New York Times story a few months later—“A Down-to-Earth Tenant for an Exclusive Address,” by Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, January 15, 1989.
“That’s baloney”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Well, as the day got hotter”—BB, p.78.
“What you see is what you get”—“Barbara Bush Tends His Image Her Way,” by Gerald M. Boyd, New York Times, May 5, 1988.
At the height of the scandal—President Nixon Phone Call with George H. W. Bush, April 30, 1973, White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
“I remember Camp David”—LF, p. 154.
“You have given him a post”—Memorandum of conversation, December 4, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, quoted in DP, p. 191.
“I felt terrible”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I swore to myself”—BB, p. 135.
“I couldn’t share”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I thought that was a fourth ingredient”—Barbara Bush interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, September 13, 1994.
However, a woman who shared a friend’s beach house—Author interview with a reliable firsthand source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I am looking forward”—The China Diary of George H. W. Bush, edited by Jeffrey A. Engel, p. 7.
But there were signs at the time—BB, p. 117.
“I asked if there was extra room”—Diary entry by George H. W. Bush on November 28, 1974, The China Diary of George H. W. Bush, edited by Jeffrey A. Engel, pp. 103–4. Note: C’est la guerre is a French phrase of resignation that translates as “It’s war.”
“I miss you more than tongue can tell”—Letter from George H. W. Bush to Barbara Bush, December 22, 1974; found in Barbara Bush diary.
“You didn’t say anything”—Barbara Bush interview with Kenneth T. Walsh for U.S. News & World Report, May 28, 1990.
“Maybe I should have picked up”—MFMP, pp. 154–55.
“I remember Mom saying”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“My ‘code’ told me”—BB, p. 135.
She began to volunteer again—“The Hidden Life of Barbara Bush,” by Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S. News & World Report, May 28, 1990.
The only news coverage it attracted—“Stars Send the Blues Far Away,” by Annie Gowen, Washington Times, March 1, 1991, p. E2. “Mrs. Bush recalled her own eight-month bout with depression in 1975. ‘If I had known then what I know now…’ she said.”
“These are troubled times”—Text of Barbara Bush remarks to the National Foundation for Depressive Illness gala, February 27, 1991, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. OA/ID 08382. George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. The text says her depression occurred in 1975, but in her memoirs and interviews she identifies the year as 1976, when George Bush headed the CIA.
“I used to think that you could”—BB, p. 135.
“Would George Bush have run”—Author interview with Mary Kate Cary.
“Strategy and timing were debated”—BB, p. 141.
By the time he formally announced—“The Long Journey of George Bush,” by Paul Hendrickson, Washington Post, May 24, 1979.
She was outspoken and blunt—Author interview with Sheila Tate. “The problem is a strong wife makes her husband look weak,” he told her. Tate replied, “There are those of us who think a strong wife is actually a sign of a strong husband.”
“Mrs. Bush, people say”—BB, p. 148.
“They discussed how to make me snappier”—BB, p. 151.
“I tell you the truth”—“Barbara Bush Tends His Image Her Way,” by Gerald M. Boyd, New York Times, May 5, 1988.
A profile in the Cincinnati Enquirer—“Barbara Bush: Traditionalist, Unspoiled,” by Marian Christy, Cincinnati Enquirer, March 23, 1980.
tracking her itinerary—Appointment book found in a box of Barbara Bush’s diaries, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
“I look at Bar’s schedule”—DP, p. 239.
“She worked like hell”—Author interview with Pete Teeley.
When one of the CIA officers—DP, p. 205.
George Bush signed off—Ibid., p. 222.
He was suffering from “withdrawal symptoms”—DP, p. 226.
“I wonder if George”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 22, 1976.
“The peripatetic Bushes”—Class Notes, February 1977, Class of 1947 Records, Box 2159, Smith College Archives.
“Look, George Bush never even exactly”—“Bushes Seem to Thrive in Hot Political Climate,” by Loye Miller, Press and Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY), August 5, 1979, p. 39.
He resisted even when—Author interview with a senior campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“In all our years of campaigning”—BB, p. 152.
“Thoughts on abortion”—Four-page handwritten memo tucked into Barbara Bush’s 1980 diaries.
“We heard footsteps”—Author interview with Walter Robinson. He later led the paper’s Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
“I loved every minute”—41: A Portrait of My Father, by George W. Bush, p. 124.
An introvert by nature—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“Our suite/room was a mad house”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 22, 1980.
“George looked like the heavy”—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 26, 1980.
She told a friend—Letter from Barbara Bush to Elsie Hillman, February 25, 1980. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“Take Sherman and cube it”—The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, by Jules Witcover, p. 449.
Jeb Bush, for one, argued—LF, p. 213.
“It was like a hundred degrees”—Author interview with Pete Teeley.
“It was brutal and you’re melting”—Author interview with Karen Parfitt Hughes.
“The whole press corps is in the swimming pool”—Author interview with Pete Teeley.
“It was a tough decision”—Barbara Bush diary entry, summer 1980.
“I may have been mad”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I feel we are very near”—Barbara Bush diary entry, March 10–11, 1980.
“She looked like a little girl”—“After Bush Had Gone to Bed, His Secret Dream Came True,” by Bill Peterson, Washington Post, July 18, 1980.
“At the time, I didn’t like George Bush”—My Turn, by Nancy Reagan, p. 212.
Barbara had arrived sporting—Author interview with Charlie Black.
“The bitter campaigns”—My Turn, by Nancy Reagan, p. 212.
“She really hated us”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I found them both very attractive”—BB, p. 72.
He delivered his prepared remarks—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“It was like a funeral”—BB, p. 154.
he and Barbara stepped into—“Bush Survived Frantic Night of Rumors,” by Susan Page and Anthony Marro, Newsday (New York), July 18, 1980.
“Nancy Reagan was truly”—Foreword written by George Bush, dated April 20, 2017, published in Lady in Red: An Intimate Portrait of Nancy Reagan, by Sheila Tate.
the young couple bought the Washington house—George Bush: An Intimate Portrait, by Fitzhugh Green, p. 97.
His father welcomed his son and daughter-in-law—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 17 and 29, 1967.
Even after he had won the presidency—“For the Democrats, Pam’s Is the Place for the Elite to Meet,” by James M. Perry, Wall Street Journal, October 8, 1981.
“I think she was just insecure”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“George Bush is going to be a great, pleasant surprise”—“Mrs. Bush Happy to Settle for Second,” by Bella Stumbo, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1980.
“Nancy was so formal”—Author interview with Charlie Black.
“People say there is a big difference”—“Mrs. Bush Happy to Settle for Second,” by Bella Stumbo, Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1980.
“Jack Steel got the Bayou Club to make lunch”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Nancy seemed more nonplussed—First Father, First Daughter, by Maureen Reagan, p. 260.
They “whisked through the Inner Harbor”—Daily Times (Salisbury, MD), September 16, 1980, p. 7.
“In May, we had bowed out”—BB, p. 158.
“George told me to go to New York”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Thank heavens Nancy Reagan slipped the word to me”—BB, p. 160.
Not even Reagan’s White House chief of staff Jim Baker—Author interview with James A. Baker III.
Barbara never saw the letter—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“That wasn’t very nice”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“It burned me up”—Interview with George Bush by Jon Meacham, DP, p. 266.
On that day—BB, p. 165.
“Nancy does not like Barbara”—George Bush diary entry on June 12, 1988, after a conversation with Tom Arnold. He was a friend who had spoken with Lee and Walter Annenberg, who were close to both the Bushes and the Reagans. Quoted in DP, p. 324.
“I think it was a class thing”—Author interview with George Will.
In his 2003 satirical book—“Chapter 40: I Meet Former First Lady Barbara Bush and It Doesn’t Go Well,” in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, by Al Franken, pp. 336–41. Franken was elected to the US Senate from Minnesota in 2008 and 2014, then resigned in 2018 after facing allegations of sexual misbehavior.
“She did some imitations”—Author interview with Lou Cannon.
When Kitty Kelley’s tell-all biography—“Barbara Bush: The Steel Behind the Smile,” by Ann McDaniel, Newsweek, June 21, 1992. Kitty Kelley’s book was titled Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography.
When Kelley’s tell-all book about the Bushes—The Family, by Kitty Kelley, pp. 375–76.
“A lot of Reagan people”—Author interview with Mark Weinberg, author of Movie Nights with the Reagans.
That was “one big difference”—Author interview with Sheila Tate.
“I think Mrs. Reagan felt”—Author interview with Mark Weinberg.
“Barbara Bush was just as devoted”—Author interview with George Will.
Nancy Reagan never disparaged—Author interview with Sheila Tate.
“Friend after friend”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“I had gotten the word”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
The first draft of the invitation list—Guest List and Seating Chart, Prince and Princess of Wales Dinner, October/November 1985, Box OA 18719, White House Office of Social Affairs Records 1981–1989, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
When deputy White House chief of staff Michael Deaver—Interview with Deaver by Kati Marton, quoted in Hidden Power, by Kati Marton, p. 264.
The invitation list he presented—Adventures of a Boy on the Bus by Carl P. Leubsdorf, p. 199. (Note: Leubsdorf is author’s spouse.)
his only concern that evening—Author phone conversation with Lee Verstandig.
“This was irritating”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“We later learned”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“We were campaigning”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“I don’t know”—Author interview with George H. W. Bush.
“Rich, when are you going”—Author conversations with Rich Bond in the 1990s.
“One very good thing”—BB, p. 147.
“She had the prematurely white hair”—Author interview with Fred Malek.
“This was my first suspicion”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“I think I’m half Eleanor, half Bess”—“Barbara Bush: The President’s Biggest Asset in a Time of Political Trouble,” by Glenn F. Bunting, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1992.
“Barbara is the memory bank”—Interview with Lud Ashley, Hidden Power, by Kati Marton, pp. 279–81.
“People were nervous”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“There seemed to be a double standard”—BB, pp. 194–95.
The next morning, on their way—Author interviews with Ira Allen and Terence Hunt.
When the story about her comment moved on the wires—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“What am I going to do?”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“For several years”—BB, p. 220.
“There were campaign flyers”—Author interview with James A. Baker III.
Within days, the nascent Bush campaign raised its head—“GOP Clock Ticks Toward ’88 in Michigan,” by Paul Taylor, Washington Post, September 23, 1985.
“George is obviously the most qualified”—Barbara Bush diaries, May 1986.
“I said to myself”—Author interview with Frank Fahrenkopf.
Now the rules about what news was fit to print—“Miami Woman Linked to Hart Candidate Denies Any Impropriety,” by Jim McGee and Tom Fiedler, Miami Herald, May 3, 1987.
In 1981, when he was vice president, a bizarre allegation—Washington Post, March 22, 1981.
“The Power Behind Bush”—“The Power Behind Bush,” by Ann Devroy, Journal News (White Plains, NY), January 24, 1982, p. AA4.
Time magazine published a similar—“Bush Does It His Way,” by Douglas Brew, Time, February 22, 1982.
He gave a copy—When Things Went Right, by Chase Untermeyer, p. 157.
“My own opinion is that Jennifer”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January/February 1982.
In 1983, a trusted senior adviser—Author interview with a senior Bush adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They haven’t got shit”—DP, p. 309; Jon Meacham interview with Roger Ailes.
But in his diary, Bush worried—George Bush diary, June 18, 1987; quoted in DP, p. 310.
Two Newsweek staffers—Author interview with Howard Fineman.
Newsweek ran a brief item—“Bush and the ‘Big A Question,’” Newsweek, June 29, 1987.
the stories were “agony”—DP, pp. 310–11. From Bush’s diary.
When a reporter for the Houston Post—Houston Post interview by Kathy Lewis published on October 11, 1987.
“There was nobody who worked”—Senior aide to President Bush, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The cover photo of Bush—“Bush Battles the ‘Wimp Factor,’” by Margaret Warner, Newsweek, October 19, 1987.
“It was a cheap shot”—“Men Like Husband Needed, Barbara Bush Says,” by Claudia Luther, Los Angeles Times, October 18, 1987.
“Bar looks beautiful”—George Bush diary entry, October 12, 1987, ATB, p. 368.
This campaign was different—BB, p. 221.
Gorbachev had a face “like Daddy’s”—Barbara Bush diary entry, December 1987.
(Roger Ailes had suggested)—DP, p. 319; Jon Meacham interview with Roger Ailes.
“It was just plain ugly”—BB, p. 221.
“It’s my hope”—George Bush diary, February 8, 1988, quoted in ATB, p. 377.
He received thirteen thousand fewer votes—Caucus History, Des Moines Register.
“What a difference eight years make”—BB, pp. 223–24.
Ailes screened it for the Bush team—Author interview with John Sununu.
“I don’t think he wanted”—Author interview with John Sununu.
“She had rough edges”—Author interview with Andy Card.
“It was so unlike him”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Two weeks before Election Day—“On the Hustings with Barbara, Kitty,” by Donnie Radcliffe, Washington Post, October 30, 1988.
Bush worried it would make them look desperate—DP, p. 332.
He dictated to his diary—George Bush diary entry, May 28, 1988, quoted in George Bush, by Herbert S. Parmet, p. 335.
“We were 17 points down”—Author interview with Charlie Black.
Bush was furious—Author interview with a source who witnessed the exchange and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“I finally just said”—Author interview with Charlie Black.
That month, Bush began using Willie Horton’s name—“Bush Hammers Dukakis on Crime,” by David Hoffman, Washington Post, June 23, 1988, in a speech to the National Sheriffs’ Association in Louisville.
“Now you keep reading”—DP, p. 346, Bush diary.
“George used this heinous incident”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 31, 1988.
“How do you defend against that”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 19, 1988.
“I wasn’t on the stock market”—“Dukakis Aide Quits; Remarks Are Disavowed,” Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1988.
On Live with Regis and Kathie Lee—“Barbara Bush Blasts Rumors of Her Husband’s Infidelity,” by Ronnie Ramos, Miami Herald, October 22, 1988.
“Jim Baker was right”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 20, 1988.
“We went to bed”—Barbara Bush diary entry, November 7, 1988.
Two days before the election—Author interview with Sheila Tate.
“A Down-to-Earth Tenant”—“A Down-to-Earth Tenant for an Exclusive Address,” by Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, January 15, 1989, p. 1.
only Jacqueline Kennedy—YouGov.com poll, April 22–24, 2018.
“My mail tells me”—“Barbara Bush Being Herself,” by Donnie Radcliffe, Washington Post, January 15, 1993.
in the first one hundred days—BB, p. 278.
“As a woman of a certain age”—“My Kind of First Lady,” by Doris Willens, New York Times, December 11, 1988, p. 220.
“I will not treat her as Nancy Reagan has treated me”—Barbara Bush diary entry, December 6, 1988.
“It is something you are never prepared for”—“On Being First Lady,” by Philip Shabecoff and Charles Mohr, New York Times, December 15, 1988, p. B20.
She acknowledged having “mixed feelings”—“For Reagans, a Season of Many Last Times,” by Barbara Gamarekian, New York Times, December 13, 1988, p. B13.
A Saturday Night Live sketch—NBC’s Saturday Night Live, January 21, 1989.
The Bushes held twenty-eight of the official black-tie dinners—White House Historical Association records.
“I am willing to turn it over”—“White House Gala a la Barbara Bush,” by Marian Burros, New York Times, June 28, 1989.
“She said, ‘You people know’”—“Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had the exact same reaction to one White House Chef’s meal,” by Linette Lopez, Business Insider, November 2, 2016.
“What does it matter?”—“White House Gala a la Barbara Bush,” by Marian Burros, New York Times, June 28, 1989.
There was the time the kitchen was marinating duck—BB, p. 285.
She was seated to his left—Barbara Bush diary entry, quoted in BB, pp. 465–66.
A more serious faux pas loomed—BB, p. 287.
Lady Bird Johnson, a fellow Texan—Author interviews with Jean Becker and Julie Cooke.
One possibility was her volunteer work—The Washington Home for Incurables is now known as the Washington Home & Community Hospices.
“I’ve got to have a cause”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
In what she called “one of my very few”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“It helped to have a First Lady whose passion”—Author interview with Lamar Alexander.
“It was a hidden secret”—Author interview with Sharon Darling.
“It wasn’t cutesy little kids”—Author interview with Benita Somerfield.
Barbara Bush visited scores of literacy programs—Barbara Bush: Presidential Matriarch, by Myra G. Gutin, p. 75.
“There were a lot of other splashy things”—Author interview with Sharon Darling.
When the president signed the bill—Associated Press, July 25, 1991.
Sometimes she did more than praise—Author interview with Peggy Swift White.
Millie purportedly decided to do that—“Mrs Bush’s Talking Points for Millie’s Book Event, Houston, Texas,” September 27, 1990, First Lady’s Press Office, Barbara Bush Speeches, September–December 1990, IA/OA 07478, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
“They’re naming a Literacy Plaza”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
The last national literacy study—That reflected a shift in priority to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) topics. In 2011–2012, another large-scale assessment of adult skills, the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, was done, which looked at adult skills in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments, rather than literacy in a standalone assessment.
A doctoral dissertation—”Literacy as Value: Cultural Capital in Barbara Bush’s Foundation for Family Literacy,” by Brandi Davis Westmoreland, PhD diss., Texas A&M University, p. 119.
“No matter how efficient you are”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“She never lost interest”—Author interview with Jean Becker.
“I have always tried”—Gerald Ford at the Everett McKinley Dirksen Forum in Peoria, Illinois, March 5, 1976.
In her memoir—The Times of My Life, by Betty Ford, p. 223.
But he also refused—Out for Good, by Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, pp. 272, 276.
as president he said—Associated Press, June 20, 1977.
During his reelection campaign—Gay and Lesbian Americans and Political Participation, by Raymond A. Smith and Donald P. Haider-Markel, pp.149–50.
he won a straw poll—Conduct Unbecoming, by Randy Shilts, p. 368.
“My criticism is that”—Ibid.
His administration resisted calls—And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts, p. 214.
At White House briefings—When AIDS Was Funny, a documentary by Scott Calonico, posted on VF.com in December 2015.
“Kiski? 1988?”—Letter from George Bush to Elsie Hillman, dated May 12, 1987. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
He supported Reagan’s veto in 1987—“Big Defeat—Reagan’s Veto of Rights Bill Is Overturned,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 23, 1988. p. A1.
“I go home and tell George”—“Barbara Bush Chooses to Take a Back Seat,” by Alan Sverdlik, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 16, 1987.
at her urging, George Bush—“Bush Endorses Premarital AIDS Testing,” by Cragg Hines, Houston Chronicle, April 9, 1987, p. 2.
In June 1988—“Mrs. Bush Commits Early to Aids Benefit,” by John Hawkins, Dallas Morning News, June 23, 1988.
His operatives reassured conservative columnists—“A Platform with Four Right Legs,” by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Washington Post, August 12, 1988.
“She never championed”—Author interview with Kristan King Nevins.
“I work with a ton of AIDS activists”—Author interview with Barbara Pierce Bush, granddaughter.
“She didn’t need to yell”—Author interview with Edward E. McNally. He would later serve in senior roles at the Department of Justice and as a US Attorney and, following the September 11 attacks in 2001, as general counsel for Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism in the White House under President George W. Bush.
Indeed, she and George had hurriedly announced—See chapter 5: “Love and War.”
When she was Second Lady—Author interview with Cragg Hines, then Washington Bureau chief of the Houston Chronicle, who attended a small luncheon where she made the remark.
As First Lady, when she walked offstage—Author interview with former White House aide to Barbara Bush, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I would have been so sad”—Barbara Bush diaries, May 1990.
“When Robin got sick”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Then, during the first one hundred days of the new administration—Author interview with Julie Cooke.
During the transition from the Reagan administration—Email exchange with Jeffrey Vogt by author.
Debbie Tate, president of the group—Letter from Debbie Tate to David Demarest, director, Office of Public Affairs, Office of the President-Elect, dated February 1, 1989.
David Demarest, who had been director—Memo from David Demarest to Susan Porter Rose, dated February 12, 1989.
“She didn’t come like she had a script”—interview on WUSA9 by correspondent Bruce Johnson, April 18, 2018.
Donovan would die not long afterward—“Barbara Bush Visited Our Facility for Children with HIV/AIDS. It Was Unforgettable,” by Debbie Tate and Joan McCarley, Washington Post, April 21, 2018.
“Burt Lee told me”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Tate and McCarley—Interview on WUSA9 by correspondent Bruce Johnson, April 18, 2018.
“What joy it must have given”—“Thank You, Mrs. Bush,” by Tom Rosshirt, June 20, 2012, Creators Syndicate; and a subsequent email exchange between the author and Rosshirt.
“Mrs. Bush, it is a fantastic thing”—Ibid.
“She had lost a little girl”—“The Unusual, Unforgettable Way Indy Buried Ryan White,” by Will Higgins, Indianapolis Star, April 9, 2015.
The initiative, one of the most affirmative aspects of his legacy—That said, in his reelection campaign in 2004, George W. also stoked fears of same-sex marriage and endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban it.
“She was an activist”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
A few days later, he received—Author interview with Edward E. McNally. No other mentions of Robin were found in a search of the collected public papers of Bush’s presidency.
A week later, Richard Land—“Bush and the Gay Lobby,” by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Washington Post, May 25, 1990.
House Republican whip Newt Gingrich—Ibid.
“Quite frankly, the president’s staff”—First Son, by Bill Minutaglio, p. 248.
“When I saw that”—Author interview with Paulette Goodman.
“I appreciate so much”—Letter from Barbara Bush to Paulette Goodman, dated May 10, 1990. Accessed University of North Texas Digital Library, special collections.
The lead to the AP story—Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times, May 16, 1990, p. 6.
The letter was just two paragraphs long—“Barbara Bush Remembered as Gay Ally who Fought AIDS Stigma,” by Chris Johnson, Washington Blade, April 18, 2018.
By the end of that summer, Wead was ordered—“Shadow and Substance,” Washington Times, August 13, 1990.
“Doug was wearing his welcome out”—Author interview with Andy Card.
In his speech to the GOP convention—“Barbara Bush Remembered as Gay Ally Who Fought AIDS Stigma,” by Chris Johnson, Washington Blade, April 18, 2018.
“How do we know?”—Author interview with Kristan King Nevins.
She told NPR’s Fresh Air—Fresh Air with Terry Gross, September 13, 1994.
“I am not sure how Tim got here”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 2, 2015.
Southwest Community College—Now known as Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College.
Her chief of staff—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 1990.
There had been a hint of controversy—“Visit Sparks Discussion over First Lady,” by Brenda Elias, Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA), September 7, 1989.
“I’m willing to say”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“It was sort of humiliating”—Author interview with Julie Cooke.
“Each year the Senior Class”—Letter from Nannerl O. Keohane to Barbara Bush, December 22, 1989.
“We were all wondering”—Author interview with Susana Rosario Cardenas.
“We are outraged”—“Gentility, Gender, and Political Protest: The Barbara Bush Controversy at Wellesley College,” by Rosanna Hertz and Susan M. Reverby, Gender and Society 9, no. 5 (1995): 594–611.
A stringer for the Associated Press—“Wellesley Students Oppose Barbara Bush Scheduled Commencement Speech,” Associated Press, April 15, 1990.
“It seems to me that a truly educated person”—“A Defense of Mrs. Bush,” by John Robinson, Boston Globe, April 17, 1990, p. 1.
More than seven thousand articles—“Gentility, Gender, and Political Protest at Wellesley College,” by Rosanna Hertz and Susan M. Reverby, Gender and Society (1995): 594–611.
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland—“Mrs. Bush’s School Battle; The First-Lady Calm, in the Wellesley Storm,” by Donnie Radcliffe, Washington Post, May 3, 1990.
“You tell those girls”—Barbara Bush interview on C-SPAN’s First Ladies: Influence and Image, October 29, 2013.
“Some alumnae thought”—Author interview with Nannerl O. Keohane.
Bush was blunter in his diary—George Bush diary, April 16, 1990, quoted in DP, p. 405.
In public, Barbara Bush—“At Wellesley, a Furor over Barbara Bush,” by Fox Butterfield, New York Times, May 4, 1990, p. 1.
“I have to remind myself”—Barbara Bush diaries, May 1990.
“I did not want to complain, explain, or apologize”—BB, p. 337.
She was irked—Author interview with Peggy Dooley, who was called on the carpet by Susan Porter Rose, Barbara Bush’s chief of staff. Dooley, a researcher from the West Wing speechwriting shop who was a recent graduate of Wellesley and had been working on the speech, told her the story was mistaken; she hadn’t asked the dean that question.
McNally raised his hand—Author interview with Edward E. McNally.
He noted the opening that day of their high-stakes summit—George Bush, toast at the State Dinner for Mikhail Gorbachev, May 31, 1990.
In a speech that lasted just eleven minutes—Text of remarks of Mrs. Bush at Wellesley College Commencement, June 1, 1990, BB, Appendix C, pp. 538–40.
An earlier draft had a different word—Author interview with Edward E. McNally.
The response was so great—I Hope, by Raisa Gorbachev, p. 60.
The East Wing staff, aware of how nervous—Author interview with Julie Cooke.
In a blistering Boston Globe column, Mike Barnicle—“Of Wellesley and Harvard,” by Mike Barnicle, Boston Globe, April 26, 1990, p. 41.
“As we get older”—Author interview with Peggy Reid.
“All my married grandchildren”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Jenna Bush Hager told me—Author conversation with Jenna Bush Hager.
When TV host Charlie Rose noted—Charlie Rose, PBS, September 13, 1994.
She told me she had never read The Feminine Mystique—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
ABC White House correspondent Ann Compton once introduced her—Author interview with Ann Compton.
She complained that George Bush faced a double standard—Barbara Bush on PBS’s Talking with David Frost, September 30, 1994.
“Do I believe”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Oh, that’s okay”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“All of this to tell you”—Barbara Bush diary entry, Memorial Day, 2006.
the mutual antagonism—BB, p. 210.
“I don’t know how old”—Barbara Bush diary entry, recorded on December 11, 1987.
“We couldn’t understand”—BB, pp. 213–14.
“They just never clicked”—Lady in Red, by Sheila Tate, p. 128.
“Who does that dame think she is?”—For the Record, by Donald Regan, p. 314.
Mikhail Gorbachev took umbrage—Memoirs, by Mikhail Gorbachev, p. 447.
“It was made clear”—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 16.
“I was supposed to take her”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“She understood where the president was”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“She had been well briefed”—Barbara Bush diary entry, December 9, 1987.
Barbara Bush noted—Ibid.
George Bush’s background in foreign affairs—George Bush, by Herbert S. Parmet, p. 148. Lud Ashley was “flabbergasted,” asking his old friend, “George, what the fuck do you know about foreign affairs?” Bush replied, “You ask me that in ten days.”
The national security archives—Gesprach des Bundeskandzlers Kohl mit Generalsekretar Gorbatschow, Bonn, 12 Juni 1989, in Hanns Jurgen Kusters and Daniel Hofmann, eds., Deutsche Einheit: Sonderedition aus den Akten des Bundeskanzleramtes 1989/1990, Documente zur Deutschlandpolitik (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1998), p. 281.
Later, in a separate phone conversation—Ibid.
“Helmut was the best retail politician”—Author interview with Brian Mulroney.
“If you understand there was no person”—Author interview with Brian Mulroney.
“If the First Ladies are on pretty good terms”—Author interview with James A. Baker III.
“Friends?”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“One thing I can promise you”—Barbara Bush letter to Scott Pierce, dated May 30, 1990, quoted in BB, pp. 338–39.
“I have the warmest feelings”—I Hope, by Raisa Gorbachev, p. 60.
When Barbara Bush died—Written statement released by Mikhail Gorbachev.
When they asked Raisa—BB, p. 341.
Barbara and Raisa changed into casual clothes—BB, p. 343.
During that day—Barbara Bush diary entry, June 3, 1990.
Raisa told Barbara—Barbara Bush diary entry, June 9, 1990.
“She once asked me why”—BB, p. 213.
“I had a couple different lipsticks”—Author interview with Peggy Swift White.
“I think she had been hurt”—BB, pp. 343–44.
When they met for dinner in Houston—Barbara Bush diary entry, May 15, 1992, quoted in BB, p. 460.
“I think they were empathetically close”—Author interview with Andy Card.
After Bush got the first CIA reports—Author interviews with Brian Mulroney.
“They wanted to stay on her good side”—Author interview with Brent Scowcroft.
“George wasn’t very pleased”—Author interview with Brian Mulroney.
Two weeks after the invasion—BB, p. 355.
Those frantic days—BB, pp. 355–56.
“He said, ‘No, never mind about that’”—Author interview with Derek Burney.
“It was as if the whole world”—BB, p. 384.
When he confided—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 16, 1991.
She reveled in the praise—Barbara Bush diary entry, March 2, 1991.
“I miss the tourists”—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 8, 1991.
Then, at a dinner at the Kremlin—The Last Empire, by Serhii Plokhy, p. 26.
In his memoirs, Mikhail Gorbachev said—Memoirs, by Mikhail Gorbachev, p. 624. He said Barbara Bush “was waiting for invitation from the Soviet President, the reception’s host.”
“During all this”—The Last Empire, by Serhii Plokhy, p. 26.
“Bigger than life”—Barbara Bush diary entry, July 1991.
During the uncertain days—Barbara Bush diary entry, August 19, 1991.
“Raisa never seemed exactly the same”—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, p. 63.
“For the last few months”—Barbara Bush diary entry, May 1991.
“I did wonder sometimes”—BB, p. 454.
“I convinced myself”—BB, p. 283.
Mohr immediately suspected—Author interview with Lawrence Mohr.
Barbara Bush joked—BB, p. 283.
“She’s just fine”—“First Lady Undergoes Radiation Treatment for Thyroid Illness,” by Lawrence K. Altman, New York Times, April 13, 1989.
“She wasn’t feeling great”—Author interview with Lawrence Mohr.
More than a year after—BB, p. 353.
“She was in such agony”—Author interview with Sharon Darling.
“Mine affected my eyes”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
In her memoirs, Barbara Bush expressed—BB, p. 353.
“As I sat there”—BB, p. 410.
The fact that both were under stress—Book review by Dr. Ivor Jackson, New England Journal of Medicine, June 3, 1993, p. 1648. “Although conjugal thyrotoxicosis (perhaps now dignified with the eponym ‘Bush disease’) has no clear cause—though shared stress in genetically predisposed persons is as likely a candidate as any—and is quite uncommon.”
Barbara Bush told me she was inclined—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
she reported that George W. Bush jokingly had called to say—BB, p. 412.
“They didn’t want people”—Author interview with John Sununu.
“The campaign people”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“If they hadn’t had Graves’ disease”—Author interview with Fred Malek.
He told Colin Powell—My American Journey, by Colin Powell and Joseph E. Persico, p. 560.
“He was sick”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
On the stump, she was—“In the News: Barbara Bush,” by R. J. Reinhart, Gallup, April 18, 2018.
“Without counting the days”—BB, p. 366.
“I used to watch her at dinners”—Clayton Yeutter, oral history interview at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
In a story that may be apocryphal—Author conversation with Andy Card.
“I wish that John would realize”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 26, 1991.
When Governor Gregg introduced Barbara Bush—C-SPAN, December 22, 1991.
“Barbara Bush Fighting Mad”—“Barbara Bush Fighting Mad in New Hampshire,” Associated Press, December 19, 1991.
his approval rating soared—“Bush Job Approval Highest in Gallup History,” by David W. Moore, September 24, 2001.
Barbara Bush would accuse Buchanan—Charlie Rose, PBS, September 13, 1994.
she would later admit—BB, p. 457.
a month after the election—“NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee Determines That Recession Ended in March 1991,” National Bureau of Economic Research, December 22, 1992.
Elsie Hillman, chairwoman—Letter from Elsie Hillman to Rich Bond, February 19, 1992. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“I’ve never been through a trial like this one”—Letter from George Bush to FitzGerald Bemiss, March 3, 1992. FitzGerald Bemiss Papers, 1943–1997. Mss1 B4252 c 1-50, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.
Jim Baker had a bold idea—Author interview with James A. Baker III. The idea of tapping Barbara Bush to deliver a message to Vice President Quayle was reported in Quest for the Presidency 1992, by Peter Goldman, Thomas M. DeFrank, Mark Miller, Andrew Murr, and Tom Mathews.
A just-published biography of a Washington lobbyist—The Power House, by Susan B. Trento.
“Why does the press shy away”—Hillary’s Choice, by Gail Sheehy, pp. 204–5.
“There was no unfaithfulness”—Author interview with Scott Pierce.
One of Bush’s old friends from Texas—Author interview with Dan Gillcrist.
A member of the Bushes’ inner circle—Author interview with a member of the Bush inner circle, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I used to think she was terrible”—Barbara Bush, quoted in Inside Reagan’s Navy, by Chase Untermeyer, p. 138.
Only when Bush had won the White House—Author interview with a member of the Bush inner circle, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I was very close to her for a while”—DP, p. 310. Note: Jennifer Fitzgerald didn’t respond to requests for an interview by the author.
“I am flabbergasted”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 28, 1992.
“Clinton’s out there”—Author interview with Charlie Black.
“This morning I am absolutely convinced”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 3, 1992.
“23 MORE DAYS TO GO!”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 11, 1992.
“The spouses and families are brought in”—Author interview with Frank Fahrenkopf.
The Richmond debate “was the toughest”—BB, p. 491.
Campaign strategist Mary Matalin described him—“Convention Pulls Bush Clan into Limelight,” by Ruth Rendon, Houston Chronicle, August 18, 1992.
“I tried to stay upbeat”—41: A Portrait of My Father, by George W. Bush, pp. 227–28.
“It really shook him”—Author interview with James A. Baker III.
“He was 90 percent popular a short time before”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“We all gathered in Dad and Mom’s suite”—MFMP, p. 438.
“Well, this is the day”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 20, 1993.
The day before—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 20, 1993.
Then, she had tripped and cut her leg—BB, p. 185.
“The awful moment”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 22, 1993.
“What did it feel like”—Interview of George W. Bush by Mark K. Updegrove, The Last Republicans, p. 247.
“He was right”—BB, p. 23.
“It’s over”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
Since he was no longer commander in chief—For the flight to Houston, the Boeing 747 was now designed SAM 28000, for Special Air Mission.
“I honestly believe”—BB, p. 498.
“The press complained”—BB, p. 25.
“Everybody was so nice”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I remember sensing a sadness”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
Early in their marriage—BB, p. 539.
“It was the political equivalent”—Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich, New York Times, January 21, 1993, p. A11.
“It was ugly”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 1993.
“I told her the press”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 1993.
“And we did have your wonderful husband”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I was dreading”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 25, 1994.
“It just wasn’t us”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
In 2017, the house would be assessed—Harris County, Texas, tax assessor’s office.
“Barbara is bustling”—Letter from George Bush to Patty Presock, January 22, 1993, quoted in MFMP, p. 461.
“Look out, world”—“No More Mr. President, Just a Texas Nice Guy,” by Sam Howe Verhovek, New York Times, January 5, 1994, p. A10.
Only years later—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“It’s hurt, hurt, hurt”—George Bush diary, November 4, 1992, quoted in MFMP, p. 572.
Bush got “fidgety”—Letter from Jack Fitch to Doro Bush Koch, quoted in MFMP, p. 460.
“Well, that’s nice”—George Bush diary, January 20, 1993, quoted in DP, p. 533.
“Dear Vic”—Letter from George to Victor Gold, copied to Sheila Tate, May 18, 1998.
“I am truly back”—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 19, 1993.
George Bush made his first foray—The Late Show with David Letterman, September 13, 1994.
“They made a ton of money”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“We did not have a million dollars”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
the value of his investments—Financial details based on “Running in the Green,” by Jack Sirica, Gannett News Service, February 3, 1980. “Bush Bares Net Worth,” UPI, August 18, 1984. “Bush Easily a Millionaire, but the Growth Was Slow,” by David E. Rosenbaum, New York Times, June 6, 1988. “Bucks for Bush,” Associated Press, May 5, 1992.
“I felt like crying”—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, p. 8.
A White House usher overheard—White House Usher, by Christopher Emery.
Steven Clemons had no ties to Bush—Author interview with Steven Clemons. He later became Washington editor-at-large for the Atlantic magazine. Note: The Nixon Center is now called the Center for the National Interest.
In 1994, he gave a total of 111 speeches—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, p. 65.
Barbara Bush was amazed—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
She signed a contract—Source with firsthand knowledge who spoke on condition of anonymity.
she had tea with best-selling mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, p. 52.
Spoiler alert—Author interview with Jean Becker.
But Nancy sent word—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
When Jean Becker relayed Nancy Reagan’s query—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 11, 1994.
“First ladies have different styles”—My Turn, by Nancy Reagan, p. 31.
“On January 11… she showed me everything”—BB, p. 258.
“Pat Nixon had made it”—BB, p. 277.
“Poor Nancy”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
None of the Pierce children ever warmed to her—Author interview with Scott Pierce.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd—Author interview with Jill Abramson.
“Had Dad won in 1992”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 51.
“If it weren’t a boost”—“Speak Softly, and Pack Quite a Punch,” by Margo Hammond, St. Petersburg Times, October 10, 1994.
In his suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin—Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p. 97.
“The day after the election”—Barbara Bush interview with Jay Leno, NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, November 18, 1994.
“The most competitive living human”—Simply Barbara Bush, by Donnie Radcliffe, p. 132.
“I used to say”—“Bush’s ‘Love Letter’ to Dad and Message to Jeb: Run,” by Susan Page, USA TODAY, November 9, 2014.
“We have the same sense of humor”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 7.
“They’re like the same person”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“Unfortunately, that’s true”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
During the 2000 campaign—“Spectators at a Son’s Rise,” by David Von Drehle, Washington Post, August 2, 2000.
“I was always impressed”—Author interview with Dick Cheney.
“Ugly words were being said”—Author interview with Andy Card.
“I happen to agree with what George says”—“The Gospel According to George W. Bush,” Weekly Standard, March 22, 1999.
“For about six weeks”—BB, p. 92.
George Bush warned her—BB, p. 92.
“I thought, ‘Nobody’s ever going to come back here’”—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“That is a strange thing to say”—“Bush’s Eldest Son Relishes Role as a Texas Delegate,” Houston Chronicle, August 16, 1988.
“I’m rather hoping he won’t”—“Mrs. Bush Advises Son Against Governor’s Race,” by Carl P. Leubsdorf, Dallas Morning News, April 28, 1989.
“For 42 years”—Ibid.
“That didn’t discourage me”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“George is confident”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 27, 1994.
“You can say”—Barbara Bush, NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, November 18, 1994.
“Mother, I’m really struggling”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“I guess it is a normal instinct”—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, p. 308.
“I am sick of it”—Ibid., pp. 291–92.
“I advise them a lot”—ABC’s Good Morning America, with Diane Sawyer, June 10, 1999.
When Jeb Bush was—Jeb Bush, “2003 Inaugural Address,” January 7, 2003.
He wrote them a letter—George Bush letter footnote.
“He sort of intimated”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 22, 2000.
Rove realized it was a difficult conversation—Author interview with Karl Rove.
The year before the 2000 election—USA TODAY, December 13, 1999.
After one primary debate in 1999—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 15, 1999.
He had questioned Bush’s pitch—“ ‘Compassionate Conservative’ Says No Retreat on White House Bid,” by Ron Fournier, Associated Press, June 12, 1999.
Baker and Barbara Bush knew each other—They served together on the Mayo Clinic board of directors from 1993 to 1997.
“She didn’t like it one bit”—Author interview with Lamar Alexander.
“silver-haired, pearl-draped howitzer”—“Barbara Bush Joins G.O.P. Women on Stump to Try to Bridge Gender Gap,” by Frank Bruni, New York Times, October 19, 2000.
A CBS News poll in 1999—“Popular and Full of Pride, Barbara Bush Campaigns,” New York Times, January 21, 2000.
Her final swing—Letter to Elsie Hillman, November 4, 2000. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“Miss Pessimistic (me)”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 17, 2000.
The campaign and the recount had been “hard fought”—Author interview and subsequent email exchange with Bill Clinton.
On the night of September 10, 2001—Reflections, by Barbara Bush, pp. 386–89.
“I suddenly felt as though I had lost my son”—Letter from Barbara Bush to Elsie Hillman, September 27, 2001. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“For the most part”—Decision Points, by George W. Bush, p. 243.
When George W. Bush called his parents—Author interview with Marlin Fitzwater.
“I almost hate to admit this”—Author interview with Andy Card.
Barbara Bush was incensed—Author interview with Steven Clemons.
“Barbara Bush is allegedly TICKED off”—Washington Note, by Steve Clemons, December 1, 2005.
“She’d say things like, ‘Dick Cheney’s changed’”—Author interview with George W. Bush. The exchange was first reported in The Last Republicans, by Mark Updegrove, pp. 343–44.
“He told me that”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
He would appoint more women to the cabinet—“Diversity and Presidential Cabinet Appointments,” by James D. King and James W. Riddlesperger Jr., Social Science Quarterly, 2014
“They were like mirror images”—Author interview with Karl Rove.
“I’m not getting involved”—Author interview with Sharon Darling.
When Barbara Bush would call—Author interview with Andy Card.
She could make a cutting remark—Author interview with senior White House aide to George W. Bush.
“He sits and listens”—ABC’s Good Morning America, with Diane Sawyer, aired March 18, 2003.
“Almost everyone I’ve talked to”—NPR’s Marketplace, September 5, 2005.
“I got taken out of context”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 29, 2005.
While she had chosen to become a teacher—“Laura Bush: A Twist on Traditional,” by Lois Romano, Washington Post, May 14, 2000.
In the 1970s, she joined a women’s consciousness-raising group—Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush, p. 92.
“There are a lot of myths”—“America’s First Ladies: An Enduring Legacy,” conference on November 15, 2011, at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University.
“They are perfect for each other!!!”—Barbara Bush diary entry, October 8, 1977.
“Mother was thrilled”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
Laura Welch thought it helped—Author interview with Laura Bush.
“There was no time”—Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush, p. 95.
“When I married George”—Ibid, pp. 123–24.
“And what do you do?”—“The Good Wife,” by Mimi Swartz, Texas Monthly, November 2004.
Laura’s new brother-in-law Marvin joked—MFMP, p. 165.
“She is a darling even natured person”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 11, 1983.
“Bar wanted me”—Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush, p. 124.
“It was really a bonding experience”—MFMP, p. 245.
Away from the chaos of Kennebunkport—Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush, p. 125.
“Bush didn’t have to marry his mother”—“The Good Wife,” by Mimi Swartz, Texas Monthly, November 2004.
“You have said”—ABC’s This Week, December 19, 1999.
“You have Prescott, Forty-One, and Forty-Three”—Author interview with Karl Rove.
Barbara Bush sent word—Based on interviews with three contemporaneous sources, all speaking on condition of anonymity.
At the beginning of George W. Bush’s first term—Author interview with an authoritative source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“If you know her at all”—“Laura Bush: A Twist on Traditional,” by Lois Romano, Washington Post, May 14, 2000.
“She saw it for years”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
When asked during the 2000 campaign—“Laura Bush: A Twist on Traditional,” by Lois Romano, Washington Post, May 14, 2000.
her poll ratings were never as high—“Laura Bush Approval Ratings Among Best for First Ladies,” by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup News Service, February 9, 2006.
“She was very, very strong”—Author interview with Laura Bush.
She wrote that her mother-in-law—Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush, p. 124.
“Oh, only one friend”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“She ended with her own zinger”—Sisters First, by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, p. 202.
“Were there some moments of tension?”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“When I did something that she didn’t approve of”—Author email exchange with Columba Bush.
“She felt it was her responsibility”—Author interview with Laura Bush.
“The thing that really bothered me”—Barbara Bush diary entry, June 16, 2001.
For the record, they may have been unhappy—Sisters First, by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, p. 206.
When she was traveling to—Abigail Adams, by Woody Holton, p. 337.
Afterward, she wrote pointedly—A Traveled First Lady, by Louisa Catherine Adams, p. 112.
Her mother-in-law had warned her son—Abigail Adams, by Woody Holton, p. 337.
She was pretty—Louisa, by Louisa Thomas, p. 63.
“Had I steped”—A Traveled First Lady, by Louisa Catherine Adams, p. 93.
“Louisa quickly discovered”—Foreword by Laura Bush in ibid., p. xii.
“We did not understand one-another”—Ibid., p. 341.
“I admired that she was so natural”—Author interview with Laura Bush.
“Don’t ride on a name”—Author interview with George P. Bush.
“Hey, Pops, George P. is going to tell you”—Author interview with George P. Bush.
“One woman recently came up to me”—Sisters First, by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, p. 202.
“She was the boss”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“It was on the back”—Author interview with Marshall Bush.
“When they were young”—Author interview by email with Columba Bush.
“My grandmother had just had double knee surgery”—Panel, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, October 21, 2017.
“I was so damn mad”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“They were kind of dissipating”—Panel, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, October 21, 2017.
she would tear up recalling the bigotry—“The Lonely Trials of Barbara Bush,” by John Robinson, Boston Globe, September 17, 1994.
When he was nineteen or twenty years old—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
Doro went shopping for a new dress—Author interview with Jim Pierce.
“I mean, she’s just always been”—Author interview with Marshall Bush.
“the rock of our family”—Author interview with Ellie LeBlond Sosa. She and Kelly Anne Chase coauthored George and Barbara Bush: A Great American Love Story, published in 2018.
In 2000, at age twenty-four—“America’s Most Wanted,” People magazine, July 10, 2000.
“What is the definition”—George P. Bush, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library panel, October 21, 2017.
“We heard footsteps”—Author interview with the younger Barbara Pierce Bush.
“From the very beginning”—Lizzie Andrews, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library panel, October 21, 2017.
“I have some relationship advice”—Sam LeBlond, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library panel, October 21, 2017.
“Such a big name for a little girl”—Author interview with the younger Barbara Pierce Bush.
“I mean seeing literally”—“Barbara Bush’s Balancing Act,” by Carl Swanson, Elle, September 24, 2013.
Her grandmother had provided a role model—Author interview with the younger Barbara Pierce Bush.
their joint memoir—Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life, by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, published by Grand Central Publishing, October 2017.
That same month, the younger Barbara was set up on a blind date—“George W. Bush’s Daughter Barbara Ties the Knot in Secret, Sentimental Wedding Ceremony,” by Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, Diane Herbst, and Tierney McAfee, People, October 8, 2018.
When it comes to politics—America’s Political Dynasties, by Stephen Hess.
On the list, in order—“America’s Top Dynasty?” by Stephen Hess, Washington Post, September 13, 2009. The less familiar dynasties include the Frelinghuysens of New Jersey, who held elective office through six generations; the Breckinridges of Kentucky, whose members divided over the Civil War; and the Bayards of Delaware, who for decades had a family member in the US Senate.
(Stapleton’s mother, Debbie Stapleton, is George Bush’s first cousin.)—Walker Stapleton has political roots on his father’s side of the family as well. His great-grandfather Benjamin F. Stapleton, a Democrat, was the five-term mayor of Denver.
When I asked Barbara Bush if she thought—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“There are a lot of ways to serve”—Interview on C-SPAN’s First Ladies: Influence and Image, October 29, 2013.
“I wouldn’t call it a dynasty”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“I think this generation is fabulous”—Parade, July 15, 2012. She presumably was referring to “Race for the Cure,” sponsored by the Susan G. Komen foundation, which funds breast cancer research.
Service was a lesson he learned—Panel, George Bush Library, October 21, 2017.
“I was born in 1986”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“The children, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Angst,” she told me—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“There’s just a lot of angst”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“Jeb said, ‘Mom, don’t worry about things’”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I pray for 44 a lot, too!!”—Letter from Elsie Hillman to Barbara Bush, October 7, 2002; letter from Bush to Hillman, October 15, 2002. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS 2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“There are other people out there”—Barbara Bush interview on NBC’s Today show, April 25, 2013.
“I never think ahead—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Thanks, Mom”—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“It’s a point of view”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“I think this is a great American country”—C-SPAN’s First Ladies: Influence and Image, October 29, 2013.
“I said that before the Today show interview”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“This country, which is such a great country”—Fox and Friends, March 7, 2014.
“I just want to let you know”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“The real symbol of greed”—Barbara Bush diary entry, January 20, 1990.
“The Trumps are a new word”—Barbara Bush diary entry, February 25, 1990.
Trump had made a weird overture—George Bush diary entry, April 13–15, 1988, quoted in DP, p. 326.
“I don’t understand”—Interview on CNN, February 5, 2016.
she expressed astonishment—Interview on CBS’s This Morning, February 4, 2016. Trump and Kelly had tangled at the first Republican primary debate; he then criticized her, saying “there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
“I could not vote”—Barbara Bush diary entry, November 1, 2016.
“I thought that my values”—Author interview with George P. Bush.
“I think people didn’t want anybody”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
Trump “was very nice”—Barbara Bush diary entry, November 9, 2016
“I really wanted to write you earlier”—Author interview with Karen Pence. The full note: “Dear Karen, I really wanted to write you earlier to tell you how much fun I had as the wife of the VP. It is a lovely house. As the wife of the Vice President, nobody cared what I said or did. Every day, I tried to do something for somebody, like Grandma’s House or the Salvation Army or different charities. It rarely got reported, but that’s not why I did it. The day George got to be president, every word I said was news. Yikes. My mouth has gotten me in trouble ever since. God bless you and your husband. Have fun. Warmly, Barbara Bush.”
“It said, ‘Welcome to the First Ladies Club’”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“I think George respects the presidency so”—ABC’s Good Morning America, August 2, 2000.
“My-oh-my it was a tense evening”—Barbara Bush diary entry, November 12, 2000.
George Bush offered some advice—The Presidents Club, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, p. 492.
“Aren’t we a funny country?”—Barbara Bush diary entry, November 15, 2004.
“He leaves on Thursday”—Letters between Barbara Bush and Elsie Hillman, dated January 2005 and February 15, 2005. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS 2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
Clinton sat in the main cabin—Author interview with Jean Becker.
When talk show host Larry King asked her—Interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, May 31, 2005.
“Bill Clinton came by in the afternoon”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 2014.
George W. Bush and Neil Bush urged him—Author interview with Jean Becker.
“Dad has this amazing relationship”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“He’s very hard not to warm up to”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“She felt, I think, for a long time”—Author interview with Bill Clinton.
“She was such a hostess”—Author interview with Hillary Clinton.
“I am not too sure”—BB, pp. 213–14.
Her staff calculated—First Lady’s Office, Press Office, and Lissa Muscatine, “FLOTUS Statements and Speeches 5/1/96–1/22/97 [Binder]: [Los Angeles Times Conference 9/26/1996],” Clinton Digital Library.
“She thinks press complete hypocrites”—Diane Blair recollection of phone call with Hillary Clinton, Thanksgiving Day, 1996. Diane Blair Papers, series 3, subseries, 3, box 1, folder 21. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.
When Bill Clinton called George Bush—The Presidents Club, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, p. 499.
“There was no choice”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“You wanna know my favorite book?”—“George H. W. Bush Groped Me, Too,” by Christina Baker Kline, Slate, October 26, 2017.
Actresses Heather Lind and Jordana Grolnick—“Former President George H. W. Bush Accused by Heather Lind of Touching Her,” Associated Press/NBC News; October 25, 2017.
Another woman, Roslyn Corrigan—“Woman Says George H. W. Bush Groped Her When She Was 16,” by Aric Jenkins, Time, November 13, 2017.
“Ada is as deaf as a doornail”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
There were advantages—“10 Questions with Barbara Bush,” Time, June 4, 2015.
She and Levenson already had been discussing—Author interview with the Reverend Dr. Russell J. Levenson Jr.
George Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury—Two years later, in 2017, Carey resigned from his last formal role with the church after a finding that he had covered up sexual abuse allegations against Bishop Peter Ball.
“I came home”—Barbara Bush diary entry, July 14, 2007.
“I am racked with ARTHRITIS”—Barbara Bush diary entry, March 28, 2002.
“Everything has gone left or right”—Barbara Bush diary entry, March 28, 2002.
She had been five feet eight inches tall—Barbara Bush’s elusive height was the subject of a funny essay, “I Have Reason to Believe Barbara Bush Is Four Feet Tall,” by Laura Beck on the website Jezebel, November 1, 2016.
the night before we were scheduled—Interview by email with Evan Sisley, aide to George Bush.
The only time Pierce Bush—Author interview with Pierce Bush.
“I have warned all the children”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“George is sort of gently slipping away”—Letter from Barbara Bush to Elsie Hillman, May 19, 2012. Elsie H. Hillman Papers, 1920–2015, AIS.2013.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“She’s gone through three or four different kinds”—Author interview with Neil Bush.
“She called me six months or nine months ahead”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
George Bush declared that he wanted to live—Author interview with Andy Card.
“I’ve been in the hospital for forever”—Barbara Bush diary entry, April 5, 2018.
A few days later—Author interview with George W. Bush.
Her brother Scott Pierce called—Author email exchange with Scott Pierce.
Two days before she died—Author interviews with two sources who were present.
“The whole thing was like”—Author interview with Bill Clinton.
“I’m like in total denial”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
In a subsequent interview, Jeb Bush told me—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
When everyone else had gone—Author interview with Jean Becker.
“I had one recurring thought all day”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 11, 1994.
“Yes, he would have”—Author interview with Barbara Bush.
“Yeah, I think so”—Author interview with George Bush.
“I don’t think she is the only reason he succeeded”—Author interview with William “Bucky” Bush.
“She was pretty much like a part of the ticket”—Author interview with George P. Bush.
He expressed enormous regard—Author interview with Andy Card.
“She was indispensable”—Author interview with C. Boyden Gray.
“He couldn’t have done it without her”—Author interview with James A. Baker III.
“I bet he took some risks”—Author interview with Josh Bolten.
“Nobody can be certain”—Author interview with Brian Mulroney.
“I can’t imagine”—Author interview with granddaughter Barbara Pierce Bush.
“I think that was a marriage made in heaven”—Author interview with Jim Pierce.
“I think it’s just an extraordinary team”—Author interview with Jeb Bush.
“It’s unanswerable, but my guess is no”—Author interview with George W. Bush.
“Not a shot”—Author interview with Bill Clinton.
“What is lacking”—Memo to Patricia Burchfield, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, June 21, 2002.
“She didn’t in any way resent”—Author interview with Laura Bush.
“Amazing life”—Barbara Bush diary entry, September 11, 1994.