Thank you. [cheering] SAM DONALDSON:
Barbara Bush had guts. She had a sense of humor. She had a sense of
public presence. You sense the
loyalty that she felt for her husband and her family. I do think my mom is fiercely
protective of her family, of all of us. And I think it's one of her more
admirable traits, I really do. I think it's the sign of someone
who's got tremendous affection for the people she lives with. Ms. Frank, we call
her, and literally. And that is, I think, why
people really love her, because what you
see is what you get. JON MEACHAM: I would
never cross Barbara Bush. I don't think that would be
well-advised for anyone to do. She's very tough. But you have to remember,
she spent decades in the public arena. SCOTT PIERCE: She is resilient. She is very resilient. But she is breakable. She's been broken many times. But she comes back every time. NARRATOR: Barbara Bush
has the rare distinction of being both a former first
lady and mother of a president. Good morning, everybody. NARRATOR: Polls show
that she remains one of the most popular and
admired women in the country. Barbara's family roots
were in the Midwest. She was the daughter
of Marvin Pierce, who'd been an outstanding athlete
and scholar at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. There, he fell in love
with a beautiful coed, Pauline Robinson, the daughter
of an Ohio Supreme Court justice. They married in 1918. The Pierce family grew to
include a daughter, Martha, and son, James. Barbara, the third child,
was born on June 8, 1925. By then, her father was making
a good living in the publishing business. And Barbara would be raised
in comfort and privilege. She grew up in the
Indian Village section of Rye, a well-to-do
suburb of New York. It was a very nice community. It was a small town. It was very
snobbish, very close. NARRATOR: As a child,
Barbara had lots of friends, but often had to compete for
attention in her own family. Another brother, Scott, had
come along when she was five. He had a bone disease and his
treatment kept their mother away from home for long periods. This put a particular
strain on young Barbara. PAMELA KILIAN: She was just
not that much older than Scott. And he was getting
all this attention. And Barbara wished that there
was more attention for her. And Barbara was always-- also a
very strong-willed little girl. So you can see that there
might have been friction there. NARRATOR: Barbara's mother,
Pauline, ran the Pierce home with rigid formality. Everything had to be just
so, even her children. She could be especially tough
on Barbara, who had a tendency to gain weight, unlike
her older sister, Martha, who was reed thin. And at the family table,
the mother would say eat up, Martha. Not you, Barbara. So that would make
her-- any little girl feel self-conscious and bad. NARRATOR: Barbara
got the affection she craved from her father. And she adored him. They shared the same
teasing sense of humor. Marvin Pierce worked
at "McCall's Magazine," and eventually became president
of the McCall's Publishing empire. The magazine
extolled the virtues of the traditional
family and seemed to mirror the comfortable
lifestyle that Pierce has enjoyed. But when the Depression hit in
1929, there were some changes. The Pierce children were taken
out of private Rye Country Day School and sent to the
nearby public school. And that was very nice,
because after all, at Rye Country Day, they divided
girls into classes and boys into classes. And that wasn't much fun. Whereas in the public
school, you're always mixed up together. And you got to know
boys a little better. It was much more fun. NARRATOR: Barbara may
have been happy at school, but she could also be bossy with
classmates and liked to tease. She got her friends to
join in some of her pranks, calling them before
the school bus came. PAMELA KILIAN: And she'd say,
well, this morning, we're not going to be speaking to Posey. And so poor Posey
gets on the bus and all her friends
are shunning her. And Posey feels terrible. And she was able to do that. And this didn't make
enemies for her. It made people want to be her
friend so that they wouldn't be the one who was shunned. NARRATOR: Although Barbara
was someone to be reckoned with among neighborhood
children, at home, her mother was in control. Pauline had a consuming passion
for gardening and needlepoint. She was also something
of a spendthrift, filling the house with
delicate and pricey antiques. PAMELA KILIAN: I think Barbara
felt that her mother was too self-centered. The house was full of don't
touch this, don't touch that, you can't swirl around
here because you might knock something over. NARRATOR: Pauline
Pierce made sure that her children were schooled
in all the social graces. They took dance classes
and also learned to swim and play tennis and
golf at the local country club. Barbara was sent back to
the Rye Country Day School in her early teens. There, she became
interested in acting. Her ability to mimic people
she knew in some of her roles could be brutally accurate. Barbara did have a
great capacity to imitate. Every once in a while, she
did get over-- a little bit into the sarcastic,
caustic mode, because she was a big tease. And now I think in
order to be a big tease, you have to be intelligent,
perceptive, and sort of catch the essence of other people. And Barbara could do that. NARRATOR: Barbara's quick and
cutting wit also allowed her to hold her own with
her older sister. In her teens, the tall,
willowy Martha Pierce appeared as the ideal
American college girl on the cover of
"Vogue" magazine. Comparisons with her sister
had sometimes been painful for Barbara. All of that was about to change. In 1941, at the age of
16, she was sent away to Ashley Hall, a boarding
school in Charleston, South Carolina. Here, Barbara began to blossom
into a lovely young woman. She also had the chance to
display her natural talents as an actress,
appearing in such plays as "Much Ado About Nothing." But the carefree world
that Barbara had known was about to change
dramatically. December brought
Pearl Harbor and war. And for Barbara, it brought
her first true love. That Christmas, Barbara came
home to visit her family. She went to a formal dance at
the Round Hill Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, and
was introduced to a tall, lanky young man from Andover,
the exclusive prep school. His name was George Bush. But his friends
called him Poppy. He never forgot his first
meeting with Barbara. She was from Rye. And she had on a red--
a green and red dress. And I thought she
was very beautiful. And she was very popular. Everyone wanted
to dance with her. And so I got somebody
to introduce me to her. And that was it. But it was love at first sight. I'm not sure it
was totally that, but it's about as
close as you get. NARRATOR: For Barbara,
there was no question that she had met the
man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When she met George Bush, she
fell head over heels in love. She said when he was in the
room, I could hardly breathe. He was the most
handsome man, bar none, that I have ever seen. NARRATOR: George Bush had been
born into wealth and position. His father, Prescott Bush, was
a partner in a powerful Wall Street firm. His mother, Dorothy,
was the daughter of a successful stockbroker. George was socially desirable. But Barbara wanted her family
to like him as much as she did. They all came to see him play
in one local basketball game. SCOTT PIERCE: And she kept
nudging me and pointing out this one fella. And he was a very
good looking guy. And he was having fun. I mean, so yeah, I liked him. I liked him right away. And my father loved
him right away. NARRATOR: When George
graduated from Andover in 1942, he joined the navy at 18 and
became its youngest fighter pilot. He kept a photograph of Barbara
holding her mother's terrier over his bunk at his North
Carolina training camp. In the summer of '43, George
took Barbara to his family's vacation house in
Kennebunkport, Maine, where the two became
secretly engaged. The Bushes took to Barbara and
immediately nicknamed her Bar. She, in turn, began to develop
a warm, close relationship with George's mother, Dorothy-- in fact, the kind
of relationship she'd never had
with her own mother. SCOTT PIERCE: Mrs. Bush
was a spectacular person. She had very high energy. She took extraordinary care of
her husband and her children. She was extraordinarily loyal. And Barbara took a
lot of her attributes and made them her own. NARRATOR: 18-year-old
Barbara went off to Smith College, where she was
captain of the freshman soccer team, but had little
interest in her studies. She was completely focused on
her future with George Bush. He was now stationed
in the South Pacific, flying a plane he named Barbara. Then in September of
1944, he was shot down near the Japanese-held
island of Chichijima. Barbara later found out that he
was the only member of his crew to survive. George refused to take leave and
returned to his squadron, where his letters from
Barbara kept him going. I remember the great
joy, the great lift in my heart of getting letters
my her or from my parents. And again, this probably sounds
a little romantic or a little old fashioned. But it meant a huge amount. NARRATOR: George finally
came home on leave in 1945. He and Barbara tied
the knot on January 6 in the First Presbyterian
Church in Rye, New York. Like many wartime
marriages, the couple was young and in a hurry. The world was an
uncertain place. Still, 19-year-old Barbara
and 20-year-old George had the blessing
of their families. GEORGE H. W. BUSH: They
were more than acquiescent. I think they-- I think they got
enthusiastic about it, as did my parents. They thought we're very
young, but what the heck? It-- marriages lasted. NARRATOR: In August of 1945,
the war ended and George was accepted at Yale University. He and Barbara
moved to New Haven. George became a
big man on campus, Phi Beta Kappa, president
of his fraternity, and captain of
the baseball team. Barbara worked at the
Yale co-op and was known for her homemade
split pea soup. On July 6, 1946, Barbara gave
birth to her first child, George Walker Bush. And the adoring parents
quickly made him the center of their universe. Having a child presented
new responsibilities. But when George graduated
from Yale in 1948, he didn't want to
be a stockbroker, like so many of his family. He chose instead to take a risky
leap into something completely different-- the highly
speculative oil business in Texas. JON MEACHAM: They really did
leave a cocoon of privilege in the East to really
strike out on their own in Texas in the '40s and '50s. And I think she always had
a great sense of adventure. And she loved the person
she refers to as George Bush so much. He's never George. He's George Bush. NARRATOR: Barbara and George
Bush and their young son left for the hot, dry,
working class town of Odessa, Texas in 1948, and a new life,
unlike anything they had ever known before. Barbara and George, Bush
still not much more than kids themselves, left family
and old friends behind to set out on their first
great adventure together. In 1948, they took off for
the oil fields of Texas, where George hoped
to make his fortune. PAMELA KILIAN: It's
hard to imagine today what a large leap it must have
been for George and Barbara Bush to settle down
in Odessa, Texas, where they shared digs with a
prostitute and her daughter, and were kind of glad
for it because they had their own bathroom that way. It's just amazing to think of
the courage that that took. NARRATOR: But there
were limits to the risk. Barbara and George could always
fall back on family money. But they were determined
to make it on their own. Barbara's mother was sure
her daughter had ventured into uncivilized territory
and stepped in with some help. When Barbara was
first married and moved to the wild, wild, West,
as her mother saw it, she would send
Barbara ivory soap. So Pauline reached out from the
long distance to say I'm here. I'm still your mom,
still in control. NARRATOR: Barbara was grateful
for her mother's assistance, but sometimes felt that
Pauline was still treating her like a child and not
like a married woman. SCOTT PIERCE:
Barbara got married at 19, which was very young. I think that my mother
thought Barbara was still 19 years old and living in
the house and not a wife. So that might have been
a conflict of sorts. But the truth of the matter
is, my mother died so soon thereafter that there was
no resolution of that. NARRATOR: In October of
1949, Barbara's parents were driving from their home
in Rye to the train station. Their car went out of
control and struck a tree. Pauline Pierce was
killed instantly. Marvin Pierce suffered internal
injuries, but survived. Barbara was expecting
her second child at the time of
her mother's death and was advised not
to attend the funeral. It was something she
would always regret. She named her new baby Pauline
Robinson Bush after her mother. George and Barbara doted
on the cherubic little girl they called Robin. In 1950, the Bush
family moved to a house in the colorful Easter egg row
community of Midland, Texas. We had a blue house. And great friends, the Richies,
had sort of a purple house. And someone else
had a yellow house. And we paid $8,000
for that house. And we thought it
was the cat's meow. NARRATOR: The Bushes
were happy in Midland. George pulled together
enough investment money to form his own company. And in 1953, he and Barbara
welcomed their third child, Jeb. The Bushes were a
picture-perfect image of post-war optimism. As Barbara put it, life
seemed too good to be true. It was. Their daughter, Robin, was
usually active and bright. Then Barbara noticed
a disturbing change in her behavior. PAMELA KILIAN: One day, Robin
comes to her and she says Mom, I think I'll just sit and
look at the sky today. Or maybe I'll go to bed. NARRATOR: Barbara took Robin to
their pediatrician for tests. Later, Barbara and George were
told to come to the office. There was terrible news. The doctor said this
child has leukemia. We didn't know what the hell the
doctor was talking about back in those days. And I said what does that mean? And he said-- she said, well, it
means that it's not likely she can live many weeks longer. So we took her up
and treated her. NARRATOR: George and Barbara
made hasty arrangements to take Robin to Memorial
Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York for its advanced
methods of cancer treatment. Barbara was not ready to accept
the fact that her child was dying. GEORGE H. W. BUSH: For some
reason, the loss of a child is even more painful than
the loss of a parent. But she was-- she was very
strong about all this. NARRATOR: Barbara spent every
day at her daughter's side through the treatment. She never broke down in
front of Robin or George. At one point, the
three-year-old seemed to rally enough to make
a visit home to Midland. But in spite of
all their efforts, Robin bush Died at Sloan
Kettering in October of 1953. Barbara was inconsolable. She took refuge from her sadness
by showering love and attention on her son, George. GEORGE W. BUSH: She said
she had to remind herself not to keep smothering
me with love. She had to free me from her
compulsion to want to just hang on to the-- to the-- one of the remaining
two children. NARRATOR: Then Barbara realized
that young George was giving up his own play time
to comfort her. I heard a boy out the
window say one day, well, come on out and play, George. And he said, well, I can't. I've got to play with my mother. So that's when I sort
of let loose of him. NARRATOR: George Sr. now
became Barbara's rock. He encouraged her to do
charity work that would get her into the world again. The death of a child
really can wreck a family, but it certainly
didn't in our case. It made Mother and Dad
stronger as a couple. And I think one of the
reasons their relationship is so good and so powerful and
so beautiful in many ways is because of being able
to rise to the occasion during an incredibly
difficult period for them. NARRATOR: George had buried
much of his grief in his work. And as his company grew,
so did the Bush family. There were two more
boys, Neil born in 1955, and Marvin in 1956. But George and Barbara still
hoped to have another girl. In 1959, Barbara
was pregnant again. And that August, she gave
birth to a second daughter, Doro, named for
George's mother Dorothy. The Bushes moved to Houston,
where Barbara continued her charity work and the life
of a hands-on mom, car pooling and going to all the
little league games. The Bush home became a
clubhouse for the children and their friends. MARVIN BUSH: Her theory
in life was look, we've got a great place. We love to have all
your friends come over. And so there was a kind of a
controlled chaos at our house at all times. NARRATOR: George and Barbara
were deeply religious. And church attendance
was mandatory. The children were also expected
to be well-behaved in public. George was often traveling
and working long hours, so Barbara became the
family disciplinarian. She had something that we-- I think we referred
to it as the claw. She had an amazing ability. She had a rubber arm-- nobody knew this-- but she could
reach back in the back seat. And it didn't matter
if you were in the-- two rows back, she
had the ability to grab you with those red-- those red fingernails of hers
and dig right into your arm. And she got your attention. NARRATOR: As the
children got older, they had to observe curfews
if they went out at night. And if the rules were broken,
they had Barbara to answer to. I've been reprimanded by
Barbara Bush as a child. And I've been reprimanded as
an adult. In both a case-- both-- in both circumstances,
it's not very much fun. NARRATOR: But Barbara's
days as a stay-at-home mom were numbered. In 1962, George Bush was elected
Chairman of the Republican Party in Harris County, Texas. And only two years later, he ran
for the US Senate, a Republican in a heavily Democratic state. He was seen by some
as a carpetbagger. People painted the
Bushes as wealthy, out-of-touch aristocrats
from Yankee land, from the Northeast, who
really had no knowledge and familiarity with real
heartland issues in Texas. NARRATOR: Barbara
made every effort to project a down-home image
voters could identify with. She spoke to and shook hands
with hundreds of people across the state, and
even made needlepoint bags to support the campaign. When George lost his
bid for the Senate, it was a bitter pill
for Barbara to swallow. Barbara Bush took it as really
almost a personal shortcoming. I hadn't done a good
enough job selling myself and my husband as
ordinary Americans. NARRATOR: In 1966,
George decided to try for a seat in Congress. Barbara again seemed the
perfect mate for a candidate. But she also had a particularly
low tolerance for anyone who criticized those she loved. I think it's one of her more
admirable traits, I really do. I think it's the sign of someone
who's got tremendous affection for the people she lives with. NARRATOR: Still, her sensitivity
to negative remarks meant that Barbara Bush
could never experience unqualified happiness
in politics. George did come out a winner
in the congressional campaign. In 1967, the Bush family
moved to Washington, where George took his
seat in the House. And from then on, Barbara's
life would never be the same. Bush moved her familya to Washington DC in 1967 after
George won his first seat in Congress. Like any mother, Barbara
was excited about showing her children around
the nation's capital. MARVIN BUSH: The first
two weekends we were here, my mom got Neil
and my sister Doro and myself, took us to
the Washington Monument, took us to the Lincoln Memorial,
the Jefferson Memorial. I finally told her, I said
Mom, it's a two-year term. Relax. NARRATOR: Barbara went
about setting up house in a quiet residential area. And she and George soon
became famous for their Sunday Texas-style cookouts. She also began writing
a column on what was happening in the nation's
capital for a newspaper back in Texas. Barbara had what it took to
be the perfect political wife. You have to be interested in
what's going on in the country. Some people are and
some people aren't. And she was always
very conversant with everything that was
going on and interested in it. NARRATOR: But the contentment
of Barbara's life in Washington would be short lived. In 1970, President
Richard Nixon asked George to give up his
safe seat in Congress and run again for the Senate
in Texas, where he lost to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. Now out of a job,
George lobbied Nixon for an appointment as
US ambassador to the UN and got it. It meant another move,
this time to New York, where Barbara's new home was
in the fabled Waldorf Astoria Towers. She was now an important figure
in an international community, though she had never traveled
outside the United States. Barbara's social ease
and skill at entertaining made her popular with
foreign dignitaries. JON MEACHAM: Mrs. Bush was born
and raised in a world where manners mattered. And we're not just talking
about which fork to use and which spoon to use,
but really being interested in other people and
what they have to say and what they think. And that's the essence
of personal diplomacy. NARRATOR: But the
pleasure Barbara took in her successful tour of
duty in New York was cut short. In 1973, George was
recalled from his UN post by Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal
was gripping the country and Nixon asked George to take
over the Republican National Committee. Barbara now had
cause for concern that defending
the administration could damage her
husband's career. BILL MINUTAGLIO: There's a
lot of national skepticism about where the Republican
Party was headed under Richard Nixon, who was a close ally
of her husband and the family. The Bushes were, in essence,
front-and-center Republicans. And a lot of these moments
in time really affected them. NARRATOR: In August
of 1974, Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace and Gerald
Ford took over as President. He offered George
several diplomatic posts. And Bush took the most
demanding assignment-- head of the US Liaison Office
in Beijing, China. At the age of 49, Barbara
Bush traveled abroad for the first time in her life. The Bushes took
lessons in Chinese and immersed themselves in all
aspects of Chinese culture. Their time in China would also
be like a second honeymoon. MARVIN BUSH: My mom loved
China for a variety of reasons. One is that it was
a great time for she and my dad to
really get together. They explored on the
weekends on their bikes. I think it was a pretty
romantic period for them. They had a great time together. And I just think
it was wonderful. NARRATOR: But their idyllic
stay in China was over too soon. In 1975, President
Gerald Ford asked George to come home and take
over as director of the CIA. George Bush shares
my commitment-- NARRATOR: The agency had
been under fire because of its involvement in
Watergate and Vietnam. Barbara feared that the position
could hurt any future plans George had for high office. There were riots on
campuses against the CIA. So it was another really
hard job for him to take on, and one that I'm sure
she did not enjoy a bit. Among other things, your husband
can't even come home and talk about it. NARRATOR: George was
sworn to secrecy. And for the first time, Barbara
was not part of his work. The Bush children were
all away at school. At the age of 51, Barbara
had an empty nest. Sitting at home
day after day, she began to feel that
she'd wasted her life and had thoughts of suicide. She managed to conceal her
condition from her children and friends and chose
not to seek medical help. The depression
lasted six months. And when Barbara
emerged from it, she'd learned a hard lesson. I think it was a
good thing to happen, because now when I hear about
depression, instead of saying oh, pull yourself together,
which is what I used to think, I now think, well, that's tough. And you got to get help. NARRATOR: Barbara slowly
returned to her old self. And when George Bush decided to
make a run for the White House in 1979, she was
back on the job. She had not lost her
touch with the public. JON MEACHAM: Barbara Bush is
a terrific retail politician-- you know, hand to
hand, smiled to smile. She has a remarkable capacity to
make you feel as though you're the only person in the room. NARRATOR: But there was another,
tougher side to Barbara Bush that campaigners
became familiar with. Barbara Bush can
also intimidate people. If you're not in her circle,
if she doesn't consider you a friend, she can really be
a very frosty kind of a person. NARRATOR: But no matter
how loyal and driven the Bush camp was in the
race for the White House, it could not overcome the
momentum of Ronald Reagan's forces. George accepted the vice
presidential slot on the ticket that went on to victory. In January of 1981, Barbara
Bush became the second lady of the land. She was now in a
national spotlight. And her matronly style
was in sharp contrast to that of the chic and
diminutive Nancy Reagan. Even family members suggested
that she change her look. GEORGE H. W. BUSH: Once we had
an uncle who said to her when I became vice
president, she outghta dye her hair brown or red
or do something like that. And she went this is ridiculous. This is stupid. I am what I am. NARRATOR: Barbara's
looks, in fact, gave her a unique advantage
over the fashion-conscious Nancy Reagan. PAMELA KILIAN: Nancy
Reagan, I think, was not somebody that the
average American would feel comfortable talking with. And whether it's true
or not, average people thought that they
would be comfortable talking with Barbara Bush. NARRATOR: The Bushes and Reagans
may never have been very close. But Barbara and George
forged lasting friendships with foreign heads of state. As the wife of the
vice president, Barbara logged
hundreds of thousands of miles representing
US interests abroad. Being a political
wife might look easy, but it's incredibly hard
work, because so much of the diplomatic work in
politics, at home or abroad, is done socially in personal
and intimate settings where the stakes are very high. She's always
represented the country, I think, with great distinction. NARRATOR: Back home,
Barbara took on a cause that became a personal crusade-- literacy. She believed very early on
that if more people could read and write and comprehend,
this country would be a whole lot closer to solving
so many of its social problems. NARRATOR: Barbara made her own
splash in the literary world with her first book,
"C. Fred's Story." Her dog's view of the world
earned an impressive $100,000 for literacy programs. If he weren't the
vice president's dog, he might not have found a
publisher quite so easily. I understand that. And we wouldn't have let him do
that if he hadn't been giving the money to charity. NARRATOR: Barbara proved an
extremely popular second lady and was seen as an asset for
the 1984 re-election campaign. But her fabled forthright manner
could sometimes go too far. When Geraldine Ferraro,
the Democratic vice presidential candidate, made the
charge that George's wealth put him out of touch with
the American people, the feisty Barbara shot back. In fact, Barbara
said Geraldine Ferraro was worth $4 million. She said she is the $4 million-- well, I can't say it,
but it rhymes with rich. NARRATOR: Barbara
immediately called Ferraro to apologize when the
quote appeared in the press. I would never have called
her a witch for anything. And I didn't mean it. I don't feel it. And I would never say it. She couldn't have been nicer. NARRATOR: The Reagan-Bush
ticket went on to win by a landslide in
the November election. But by the late 1980s, Barbra
was facing some trying times. In 1986, her son
Marvin was found to be suffering from ulcerative
colitis and almost died. Then George had to defend
himself and the Reagan administration in
the Iran-Contra Arms for Hostages affair. Once again, Barbara had
grave concern about any hopes George had to be president. JON MEACHAM: It was
not at all clear that he was one day going to
end up in the White House. Mrs. Bush and President Bush
were both very, very tough political operators as
they worked their way through the wilds of
Washington in those years. NARRATOR: George came out of
the Iran-Contra investigation with his prospects sufficiently
intact for a move up. He and Barbara had changed
residences more than 30 times in their marriage,
and now looked forward to one more move-- this time to 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue. many times over. Yet at the age of 63, she was
back on the campaign trail, helping George Bush in his
quest to become president of the United States. By now, she was the
consummate political pro. She also demanded
nothing less than 100% loyalty from those
around her husband. And when anyone failed
to carry their weight, they were reprimanded
by Barbara. It was an incredibly
intimidating experience. It was like being a small child
being taken to the intimidating principal's office. We want Mike. We want Mike. NARRATOR: Michael Dukakis
mounted a fierce battle against George for the
nation's top office. We've seen a
campaign of distortion and misrepresentation
and of outright lies now for many, many months. NARRATOR: Barbara's
years of experience in the political arena
had not made attacks on George any easier to take. In fact, she was still fuming
over an earlier "Newsweek" cover story that characterized
George as a wimp. SAM DONALDSON: There must
be an irresistible urge to strike out at the
person who did it and to say to the
public I live with him. I see him every day. Take it from me, he's no wimp. NARRATOR: But when
it was all over, George Bush was elected and
became the 41st president of the United States
by a wide margin. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you. NARRATOR: Barbara quickly
defined her own image as first lady. Please notice the hair, the
makeup, the designer clothes. And remember, you may
never see it again. NARRATOR: Barbara had no
intention of being a fashion plate like other first
ladies, but she did turn to noted fashion
designer Arnold Scassi for much of her
official wardrobe. He understood her
practical style. Her style is an
American classic, because she doesn't try to
be something that she isn't. And so we believe it. And we see it. It becomes Barbara Bush. NARRATOR: Barbara won raves for
the inaugural ball gown Scassi made for her in Barbara blue. But as soon as the
celebrations were over, it was back to sensible
suits and hard work. She set up the Barbara Bush
Foundation for Family Literacy in the first days of
the administration. And her second book, a
portrait of the White House as seen from her dog
Millie's point of view, brought a windfall for
Barbara's literacy projects. Leo, the late bloomer-- NARRATOR: But the joy Barbara
took in this work would soon be tempered by personal trials. In 1989, she was diagnosed with
Graves' disease, a malfunction of the thyroid gland that
made her eyes red and puffy. She went through
radiation treatment to lessen the effects
of the condition. Then, Barbara suffered
another harsh blow. Her third son, Neil, came under
fire for conflict of interest in a failed savings
and loan institution. The investigation
into the scandal took a toll on his career. Barbara saw it as a conspiracy
to besmirch the family's reputation. BILL MINUTAGLIO: She felt
that her son, Neil, was being crucified in a way to project
some negativity on her husband and the family in general. And she, in fact, felt that
there was vendetta, not only the part of investigators,
but really probably the media. ANNOUNCER: Live from
the White House-- NARRATOR: But Barbara also
knew how to use the media. In 1989, she showed off the
White House on live television to ABC's Sam Donaldson. They were joined by
Barbara's dog, Millie. And Millie began
licking her private parts on national television. Well, Barbara Bush,
the lady was horrified. You could tell that. And she kicked Millie
just ever so gently to try to get her to stop that. - Millie--
- Millie, stop that. She is pretty ugly right now. To think we're on
national television, Millie. Come on, Mill. The switchboards lit up
at ABC, people complaining that I had kicked Millie. That Donaldson, we
never liked him. And now he's kicking a dog. Can you imagine that? NARRATOR: In the
spring of 1990, Barbara was the brunt of
criticism when she was invited to speak at the
Wellesley College Commencement. Some members of the
graduating class signed a petition charging that
Barbara had gained prominence only because of her
husband's achievements. She was, therefore, not
an appropriate choice to speak to women about
to enter the workforce. Barbara did not back
down and showed up at Wellesley with
Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the Russian prime minister. Her parting words brought
a roar of approval. Who know, somewhere
out in this audience may even be someone who will
one day follow in my footsteps and preside over the White
House as the president's spouse. And I wish him well. [cheering] PAMELA KILIAN: I think that
put her on the national stage in a way that perhaps she
hadn't been there before, as a very competent
person in her own right, not just as a sidekick
to George Bush. NARRATOR: The Bush
years in the White House would see triumphant
change in the world with the end of the Cold War. But there was still
international turmoil-- in 1989, the US
invasion of Panama and the arrest of
dictator Manuel Noriega, then the Gulf War. In November of 1990,
Barbara and George spent Thanksgiving
in Saudi Arabia. They visited some of the
thousands of American troops who'd been sent to drive
the Iraqis from Kuwait. PAMELA KILIAN: They knew about
the families left behind. They talked to all the troops. They had dinner with them. And it was a big morale
boost at the time. NARRATOR: The Gulf
War was hailed as a victory for allied forces
and the Bush administration. The troops came home
to a warm welcome. Barbara was now thoroughly
enjoying her role as first lady and had come to think of the
White House as a real home. The good feeling would not last. A recession was eroding
confidence in George Bush. But the President and Barbara
never saw the end coming. with victory in the Gulf War. George Bush looked like a
shoo-in for a second term. But in 1992, the
economy was in a slump. And support for the Bush
administration was plummeting. Meanwhile, a young
Bill Clinton seemed to have captured the imagination
of voters and the momentum in the polls. More and more, Barbara saw
the press as the culprit. PAMELA KILIAN: And she said when
you attack him, you attack me. And it just made her furious. And she was very bitter against
a lot of individual reporters, and the press as a whole. NARRATOR: That November, Barbara
watched as her George went down to defeat. She was deeply disappointed,
but she rallied the family to move on. SAM DONALDSON: Barbara
Bush is supposed to have said get over it. Just get over it. Now, what she meant, I think,
was not let's forget it. We had our turn. But it was one variation
of the Washington rule-- don't get mad, get even. And I think from
that moment, both of her sons, the senior
sons, said we'll do it. NARRATOR: In January of
1993, George and Barbara said goodbye to Washington
and headed back to Texas. She now wanted as normal
a life as possible. Real privacy, though, was
hard to come by after years in the spotlight. She'd go out to
the grocery store. People would come up to her. They'd say are you Barbara Bush? And finally she figured out what
she could do to deflect that. She'd say no, I'm
not Barbara Bush. She's much older. NARRATOR: Barbara
continued her commitment to literacy projects,
raising millions of dollars for the cause. But she was also able to spend
more time with her family. GEORGE H. W. BUSH: She
was a great mother. And the result is the
kids still do come home. That's where their heart is. That's where-- there was this
love and caring when we were much, much younger that now
keeps our family as strong as it can be. NARRATOR: When George Bush
retired from public office, Barbara could be more candid
in expressing her opinions, even if they differed
from her husband's. In 1994, she wrote
a personal memoir and spoke to
Barbara Walters, who pointed to the former first
lady's position on abortion. In your book for the first
time, you do give your opinion. BARBARA BUSH: Well-- And you are-- you are pro-choice. I think that's right. And that comes as no
surprise to George Bush. NARRATOR: By 1998,
the Bush family had made a major
political comeback-- Barbara's two older sons had run
successfully for public office. George W. won his second
term as governor of Texas. And Jeb was now
governor of Florida. MARVIN BUSH: It's when
Jeb and George decided to run for governor, I
think my mom was really-- kind of had mixed emotions. It was like oh, no, not again. I'm serious. I go through this place. Do you realize what it's like? And then on the other side,
there's just enormous pride. NARRATOR: And when Barbara's
firstborn son George W. became the Republican standard bearer
in the 2000 presidential race, she was on the front lines. BILL MINUTAGLIO: If
you're running for office, you want Barbara Bush. You want her out there
showing up at your rally. And you want her
working the room. You want her name
on your leaflet that you're mailing out
to potential fundraisers. When people saw that it
was a correspondence, it was a phone call, a bit
of inquiry from Barbara Bush, you were going to be proud
to take this guy seriously. NARRATOR: Still, for Barbara,
any criticism of her son was almost unbearable. So she came up with a solution--
she instituted news blackouts. For her, there was no watching
TV, listening to the radio, or reading the newspapers. And so, in fact, the
Bush staff had to give the president-- the former
president a set of earphones so that he could watch
the news while Mrs. Bush read a book in
the same room with him. NARRATOR: The race
against Al Gore turned out to be one of the closest
in American history. But in the end, George W.
Bush was declared the winner. On January 20, 2001, he was
sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. MAN: So help me God. So help me God. MAN: Congratulations. [trumpeting] [cheering] This was just overwhelming
for both of our-- just totally overwhelming. And again, the
emotional moment was when he hugged us after
taking the oath of office. NARRATOR: That day, Barbara
Bush became the first woman in almost 200 years to have
been a president's wife and also the mother
of a president. But whether the election
of George W. Bush was political redemption
for the Bush family, or as some saw it, the
restoration of a dynasty, Barbara now has what
she always wanted-- more time to be with her George. MARVIN BUSH: As time
goes along, they seem to find more and more
things they have in common. They love doing things together. In Kennebunkport in
Maine, we have a sundial. And on that sundial, it
says grow old along with me. The best is yet to be. Now they just seem to be
going along at the same pace. And I think it's
wonderful, I really do.
