Bush Presidency Puts First Librarian
in White House
The inauguration of George W. Bush January 20 as the 43rd U.S. president will make his wife, Laura Welch Bush, the first librarian who has ever been the nation’s First Lady. Although she has not officially said so, friends and colleagues are predicting that the First Librarian is likely to champion literacy, early childhood education, the arts, and women’s health during the Bush administration.
As First Lady of Texas since her husband’s election as governor in 1994, Mrs. Bush has been active in the Texas Library Association. She helped establish a statewide family literacy initiative and the Texas Book Festival, which has become an annual fundraiser for the state’s public libraries. She also helped inaugurate the new San Antonio Public Library in 1995 and starred in a public service announcement for TLA in 1999.
A native Texan, Laura Welch earned a degree in education from Southern Methodist University and a library science degree from the University of Texas/Austin. She worked as an elementary school teacher and a librarian in Dallas and Houston from 1968 until her marriage in 1977.
Posted December 25, 2000.
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