Barbara Bush Gives Commencement Speech at Wellesley College

Barbara Bush

Pol Light Moment #158 occurred on June 1, 1990, when Barbara Bush gave the Commencement Speech at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Barbara Bush served as First Lady from 1989-1993, when her husband George H.W. Bush was President of the United States. Prior to that she was the Second Lady of the United States from 1981-1989. She is also the mother of former President George W. Bush.

The following is a video of Barbara Bush giving the Commencement Speech at Wellesley College on June 1, 1990. Bush's Commencement speech was placed by American Rhetoric in their collection of Top 100 Speeches and you can read the entire text of the speech on the American Rhetoric website.



In this ten minute speech Barbara Bush gave an inspirational message on embracing the diversity of life and putting family first. Her words included this poignant priority:

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent (Barbara Bush, American Rhetoric Top 100 Speeches).

Barbara Bush has appeared on other moments on Pol Light. If you would like to see other posts by Barbara Bush on Pol Light search with the label Barbara Bush.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

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The photo of Barbara Bush is in the Public Domain.

Barbara Bush Forms Family Literacy Foundation

Barbara Bush

Pol Light Moment #150 occurred in 1989, when Barbara Bush formed the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Barbara Bush served as First Lady from 1989-1993, when her husband George H.W. Bush was President of the United States. Prior to that she was the Second Lady of the United States from 1981-1989. She is also the mother of former President George W. Bush.

The focus of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is together to provide early childhood education for preschoolers and to help their parents to read through adult literacy programs. The Fact Sheet of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy says, "Our founder and former First Lady Barbara Bush believes that family literacy is key to solving today's most critical challenges: social and economic mobility, quality of life, and global competitiveness (BBF Fact Sheet)."

The following is a video showing some of the many accomplishments over the years of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy led by Barbara Bush's dedication to this great cause.

Barbara Bush has appeared on other moments on Pol Light. If you would like to see other posts by Barbara Bush on Pol Light search with the label Barbara Bush.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

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The photo of Barbara Bush is in the Public Domain. 

Lady Bird Johnson Establishes the National Wildflower Research Center

Lady Bird Johnson/1987

Pol Light Moment #131 occurred on December 22, 1982, when Lady Bird Johnson co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center on her 70th birthday. Claudia Alta Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson (1912-2007) was the First Lady of the United States while her husband Lyndon B. Johnson served as the President of the United States from 1963-1969. She was the second lady when Lyndon B. Johnson was the Vice-President from 1961-1963.

Lady Bird Johnson co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center along with actress Helen Hayes in 1982.  The National First Ladies Library states on their website that, "She made a personal donation of sixty acres of land near Austin, and $125,000; matching gifts flooded in, establishing a $700,000 endowment and the center opened the following year (National First Ladies Library: Biography of Lady Bird Johnson)."

The center was renamed it's present name of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in December 1997 in honor of Johnson's 85th birthday. The center became a part of the research program of the University of Texas at Austin in 2006 (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center).

More information about Lady Bird Johnson and her appreciation of wildflowers can be found at these websites.

• LBJ Library: Lady Bird Johnson
• National First Lady Library: Biography of Lady Bird Johnson
• Austin Woman Magazine, Lady Bird's Blooming Legacy, April 2003

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

The photo of Lady Bird Johnson is in the Public Domain.

Barbara Bush' Post-Mortem on 2012 Election

Barbara Bush

Pol Light Moment #32 occurred on November 15, 2012, when Barbara Bush graciously encouraged people to move on, even if like her they didn't vote for President Barack Obama to have a second term. Barbara Bush served as First Lady from 1989-1993, when her husband George H.W. Bush was President of the United States. Prior to that she was the Second Lady of the United States from 1981-1989. She is also the mother of former President George W. Bush.

Barbara Bush, who had endorsed Barack Obama's opponent in the 2012 Presidential election, made her Pol Light post-mortem on the election while serving on a panel for the Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies conference at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. While at the conference Barbara Bush said, "People spoke. Move on, get on with it. I want to do other things and not to be ugly (Reuters, November 15, 2012)." Wise words from a former First Lady.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

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The photo of Barbara Bush is in the Public Domain.

Jill Biden's Children's Book on Son's Deployment

Pol Light Moment #13 is Dr. Jill Biden writing a children's book on her son's deployment in the military. Dr. Jill Biden is the wife of the Vice-President of the United States, Joe Biden. Joe Biden was featured on the Pol Light Moment #11 post of this blog.

In June, 2012 Dr. Jill Biden released a children's book called Don't Forget God Bless Our Troops. The title came from a statement made by her granddaughter Natalie Biden. Susan Page writes that Dr. Jill Biden "has produced a deliberately nonpolitical book, a low-key account of Natalie's first year while her father, a major in the Army National Guard and Delaware's attorney general, was in Iraq (Source)."  One of the goals of the book is to help other families and children of military personnel understand that they are not alone in facing the difficulty of having a loved one in the armed service.

Here is an interview on the book that Jill Biden provided to USA Today.



For more information on this book visit this news article.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo in this post of Dr. Jill Biden is in the Public Domain.