Laura Bush

Laura Welch Bush (born Laura Lane Welch on November 4, 1946) is the wife of President George W. Bush and serves as First Lady of the United States.

Early Life

Laura Lane Welch was born in Midland, Texas, the only child of Harold Bruce Welch (1912–1995) and Jenna Louise Hawkins (1919-). [1] Laura grew up in Midland, and she attended the same high school as Tommy Franks, where she was a popular student.

Perhaps the most significant event in her early life occured in the early 1960s, and involved the tragic death of her then boyfriend in a car crash. On November 6, 1963, Ms. Welch failed to stop the automobile she was driving at a stop sign and struck and killed her former boyfriend Michael Douglas. She and her passenger, Judy Dykes, were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital. Ms. Welch was not charged. [2]

In recent press interviews she has said that: "All I can say about that (is) it was a very, very, tragic accident I was involved in when I was 17 years old, almost 40-something years ago. It was a terrible accident. It was terrible for everyone involved," ... "I know this as an adult, and even more as a parent, it was crushing... for the family involved and for me as well," she said. [3]

College Years and Marriage

Ms. Welch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1968 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. After graduating, she became a schoolteacher at Longfellow Elementary School in Dallas Independent School District until 1969. She then taught at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, a Houston Independent School District school in Houston, until 1972. Bush also earned a Master of Science degree in Library Science in 1973 from the University Texas in Austin. After that, she worked at the Kashmere Gardens Branch at the Houston Public Library until 1974, when she moved back to Austin. She was a librarian at an Austin Independent School District school, Dawson Elementary School, until 1977.

She met George W. Bush in 1977 and after a three month courtship married him on November 5 of that year. In 1981, she gave birth to twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who have now graduated from college.

First Lady of Texas & the United States

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, which defined her husband's presidency during his first term, Mrs. Bush took an interest in mitigating the emotional effects of the attacks on children, which were disturbing particularly as the images were repeatedly replayed on TV. Many schools closed early, especially those with children whose parents worked in Washington, D.C. or New York City. The following day, after consulting with many experts, Bush commented to parents that it was not good for children to be exposed to the numerous replays of the incidents, [4] and that parents should consider turning off the television, especially understanding how children reacted when watching television coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. She also composed open letters which were distributed by state education officials. A "Dear Students" letter went to middle and high school students [5], while elementary school students got one saying, "Dear Children." [6]

In November 2001, she became the first person other than a president to deliver the weekly presidential radio address. She used the opportunity to discuss the plight of women in Afghanistan during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. In May 2002, she made a speech to the people of Afghanistan through Radio Liberty, a radio station in Prague, Czech Republic.

Her Secret Service codename was reported to be "Tempo" (the Secret Service changes codenames as soon as they become public knowledge).

In April 2005, Mrs. Bush joked about her husband at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. She called Bush "Mr. Excitement" and said she told him that if he wanted to "end tyranny in the world" he would have to stay up later. She even used the old joke that he "tried to milk a horse ... and it was a male horse."

External links

• Homepage of the First Lady