(43) Laura Lane Welch Bush

Laura Lane Welch Bush

Websites

National Women's History Museum Biography of Laura Bush

Papers/letters collections

Laura Bush Documents in the American Presidency Project

Historical sites

National Museum of American History Laura Bush Exhibit

Fascinating details

Laura Bush was formerly an elementary school teacher and librarian.
Served on the boards of the University of Texas Graduate School of Library and Information Science Advisory Council and the Reading Is Fundamental Advisory Council.
When George W. Bush was governor of Texas in 1994, Laura worked with her mother-in-law Barbara to raise statewide literacy.
Admitted in a pre-inaugural interview that she opposed overturning Roe v. Wade despite her husband’s support.
Launched the national initiative “Ready to Read, Ready to Learn” and formed the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.
Praised by the New York Post for being “the First Mom, comforting and reassuring the entire nation” post 9/11.
Stood in for President Bush during a weekly radio address in November 2001, the first time a first lady has done this, to speak out against the Taliban’s oppression of women and children in Afghanistan.
Laura gave multiple public speeches on Afghanistan, visiting seventy-five countries in eight years speaking out about women’s rights and promoting substantive health improvement.
She also traveled to the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border to bring awareness to the repressive conditions and call on the international community to act.
Laura Bush left the White House with a $1.6 contract for her memoir.