by Laura Bush
UNESCO, 257, 270, 293, 320, 375
UNICEF, 234, 377
United Arab Emirates, 395-97
United Nations, 230, 234, 252, 257, 269-70, 278, 283-84, 293, 320, 373, 374-75, 377, 380-81, 393
Universal CIT Credit Corp., 15, 23, 24, 25, 42
Unsafe at Any Speed (Nader), 61
U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, 311-18, 413
USA Today, 306
U.S.-European Union Summit, 188, 415
U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, 395
VandeHei, Jim, 325
Verveer, Melanne, 251, 288
Victoria, Queen of England, 11, 246-47, 296
Vietnam War, 78, 80, 85, 287, 372, 384, 386
Vital Voices, 251, 254
Voitier, Doris, 346, 364, 422
Walker, Doak, 75, 82
Walker, Elsie, 392
Wallace, Chris, 186, 353
Wall Street Journal, 248, 376, 394
Walmart, 145, 254, 340
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 207, 208, 218, 224, 286, 305
Walters, Barbara, 275, 286
Walters, Gary, 191, 220, 308
Wang, Wenyi, 372-73
Warner, Wayne, 346
War of 1812, 220-21
Warren, Kay and Rick, 333
Washington, George, 123, 170-71, 174, 220, 243, 246, 275, 283, 298, 400, 401
Washington, Martha, 168, 401
Washington Post, 325, 351-52
Waynick, Lloyd, 27
Weiss, Mike, 112, 216-17, 282
Weiss, Nancy, 145, 216-17, 282
Weiss, Peggy, 53-54, 61, 62, 89, 155, 161, 299
Weiss, Ronnie, 89, 161, 299
Welch, Harold, ii, 3, 4-5, 9-18, 21-30, 33, 36, 38, 40-46, 51, 54, 55, 59-67, 79, 85, 86, 88, 93-97, 100-109, 111, 117, 119, 123, 126, 130-38, 155, 158, 182, 187, 232, 259, 310, 395, 404-5
Welch, Jenna Hawkins, ii, 4, 5, 10, 12-18, 21-24, 25, 28-30, 36, 37-43, 45-47, 51, 54, 55, 59, 61-65, 73-77, 86, 88, 93-97, 100-109, 111, 117, 119, 130-38, 158, 161, 182, 231, 232, 250, 301, 309-10, 365-66, 395, 424, 431, 432
Welch, John Edward, 3, 5-6
Welch, Lula Lane, 3, 5, 11-12, 20-21, 38
Welch, Mark (LWB's grandfather), 11
Welch, Mark (LWB's uncle), 4, 11, 12, 23, 28, 75, 81, 106
Welch, Mary Mark, 12, 81, 108
Welch, Sarah Elizabeth, 6
Wharton, Edith, 423
White, Charlie, 16, 25, 61, 62
White, Linda, 25
White, Mary, 16, 25, 62, 77
White House: Blue Room of, 166, 194, 220, 222, 243, 265, 387, 403; Bush restoration of, 140, 175-77, 220-25, 245-46, 347-49, 422; China Room of, 402; Cross Hall of, 175, 176, 220; Diplomatic Reception Room of, 251, 264, 298; East Entrance of, 386; East Room of, 220, 224-25, 244, 250, 282, 406; East Wing of, 167, 174, 193, 206, 280, 352; Family Dining Room of, 222, 235; Green Room of, 166, 220, 221, 222, 224, 265, 348, 387; Indian Treaty Room of, 207; Lincoln Bedroom of, 164, 222, 387; Map Room of, 221; Oval Office of, 166, 174, 181, 183, 191, 205, 216, 223, 245-47, 249, 265, 347, 349, 381, 424-25, 426; Palm Room of, 165-66, 403; Queen's Bedroom of, 174, 348; Red Room of, 166, 222, 299, 387; Rose Garden of, 166, 190, 220, 426; Sitting Room of, 387; South Portico of, 165, 265; staff of, 172, 194, 221-22, 288-91, 347, 360, 369-72, 424-26; State Dining Room of, 103, 108, 220, 221, 265, 266, 366, 389, 405, 423; State Floor of, 166, 274, 290, 348-49, 386-87, 403, 409-10; Statuary Hall of, 171; Treaty Room of, 176-77, 217, 221; Truman Balcony of, 264; Vermeil Room of, 348, 372, 402; West Sitting Hall of, 223; West Wing of, 165, 166, 175, 176, 221, 243, 245, 247, 367, 422; Yellow Oval Room of, 220, 380
White House Conference on Global Literacy, 375
White House Correspondents' Association, 186, 325-27
White House Social Office, 194, 289-91, 347, 360, 369-71, 425-26
Whitman, Christine Todd, 167
Whittington, Harry, 367
Wilder, Laura Ingalls, 77, 281, 423
Will, George and Mari, 271
Willeford, Pam, 345
Williams, Anthony, 215
Williams, Bob, 202
Williams, Brian, 366
Williams, Diane, 215
Williams, Mark, 227
Williams, Robert, 218
Williams, Wayne, 260, 285
Wilson, Ellen, 224
Wilson, Rita, 357
Wilson, Woodrow, 221, 222, 224-25, 243, 365
Wind, The (Scarborough), 20
Winesburg, Ohio (Anderson), 266
Winfrey, Oprah, 211, 231
Winik, Jay, 350
Wintour, Anna, 183
Wolf, Carolyn and Frank, 394
women's issues, 77, 92, 178, 233-38, 250-54, 258-59, 274, 294-95, 300-301, 311-20, 324-25, 332, 360-63, 379-80, 395-400, 412, 414-15, 422, 431-32
Women's Teacher Training Institute, 314
World Bicycle Relief, 392
World Economic Forum, 319-20, 325
World Health Organization (WHO), 356
World Relief, 332
World War II, 4-5, 9-17, 80, 189, 199, 204, 221, 223, 251, 256, 287, 291, 387, 389-90, 393, 404-5
Wyeth, Jamie, 360
Wyvell, Dorothy, 76, 110
Yad Vashem, 323, 412
Yale University, 75, 101, 106, 146, 157, 158, 160, 200, 229, 262, 282, 283, 301-2, 328, 354
Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, The (Houston), 381
Younger, Charlie, 112, 172-73
Zambia, 377-78, 391-92
Zamora, Ignacio, 260
Zantzinger, Amy, 389, 390, 425-26
Zanzibar, 331, 377, 378
Ziemer, Tim, 377
Zonne, Bill, 78
Zonne, Bob, 78
Zuckerman, Barry, 375
Zuschlag, Richard, 341
Me, about age three, in front of one of the houses that Daddy built on Estes Avenue.
My mother, Jenna Louise Hawkins, age ten, in Canutillo, Texas, near El Paso.
My father's first photo, taken in 1913, when he was nearly one. With him are his brother, Mark; father, Mark Anthony Welch; and mother, Mary Lula Lane Welch.
My mother and her mother, Jessie Laura Sherrard, dressed up to visit El Paso.
My mother with her future husband, Harold Welch, and her father, Hal Hawkins.
The photo of my mother that my father carried across Europe during World War II.
My father's photos from the Nazi death camp at Nordhausen, which his unit helped liberate in 1945. American GIs found five thousand bodies; survivors often lay beside the dead. For years we kept these photos in a cigar box. My father never wanted to speak about Nordhausen.
My parents' wedding photo. Daddy said the war caused him to lose his hair.
Mother holding me.
Me on Grandma Welch's lap. She was a sturdy woman with heavy, lace-up shoes.
Reading with mother.
Our house on Princeton Avenue.
Me, about age twelve.
My high school graduation photo, age seventeen. Born in November, I was always the youngest in my class.
With my father and Marty the dog by the Christmas tree when I was a teacher in Houston.
George and me with his parents on our wedding day. We had a small Saturday-morning wedding. (Frank Miller)
Having Jenna and Barbara was the answer to our prayers.
My father with the girls.
Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in 1985.
Bar Bush casts a wary eye on Jenna during a 1984 Reagan-Bush rally in Midland. (White House photo)
The 1988 White House Easter Egg Roll. (White House photo)
Trick-or-treating on Gampy's 1988 campaign plane. George and I made Jenna's costume. (White House photo)
Reading with the girls in Dallas. When they were born, George and I loved that we each had a baby to hold. (Photo (c) Barbara Laing)
George H. W. Bush tears up as George W. Bush becomes Governor of Texas in 1995.
Election night 2000. Loading the dishwasher in our kitchen as we wait.
Walking in the 2001 inaugural parade. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Dressed for the inaugural balls. George, who wakes at 5:00 A.M., HAD US HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT. (PAUL MORSE/WHITE HOUSE PHOTO)
Lighting the candles for our first state dinner with President Vicente Fox of Mexico, September 5, 2001. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Welcoming book lovers to the first National Book Festival on September 8, 2001. I launched the festival with Jim Billington, the Librarian of Congress. (Moreen Ishikawa/White House photo)
With senators Ted Kennedy and Judd Gregg on September 11, 2001, in Senator Kennedy's office. I was on Capitol Hill to brief the Senate Education Committee. (Moreen Ishikawa/ White House photo)
Speaking to the press on 9-11. (White House photo)
In the Presidential Emergency Operations Center below the White House, listening to George after his return from Florida on 9-11. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Laying flowers with New York's first lady Libby Pataki in tribute to fallen New York City firefighters outside of Engine Company 54 and Ladder Company 4 in lower Manhattan. (Moreen Ishikawa/White House photo)
Guest teaching in Newark, New Jersey, October 2001. The girl on my lap whispered to me, "Did you hear about the buildings?" (Moreen Ishikawa/White House photo)
Breakfast at our dining room table with Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Putina during their November 2001 visit to our ranch in Texas. (Eric Draper/ White House photo)
Lighting the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Al Roker and Ann Curry of NBC News. (Susan Sterner/ White House photo)
Representing the United States at the United Nations for International Women's Day in March 2002, alongside UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
Flying with Jenna from Paris to Prague. I love traveling with my daughters and seeing destinations through their eyes. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
A service of remembrance at St. John's Church to mark the first anniversary of 9-11. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Leaving the Diplomatic Reception Room after saying good night to the Czech president Vaclav Havel and his wife, Dagmar, in 2002. (Paul Morse/White House photo)
Greeting female teachers from Afghanistan. I admired their bravery after years of oppression, and I longed to make my own visit to their nation. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
Laying a rose at Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi death camp in 2003. (White House photo)
Standing in the Door of No Return on Goree Island, Senegal, a monument to remember the hideous Atlantic slave trade. (Tina Hager/White House photo)
Visiting the wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. George and I often went together to visit the wounded or those who had lost loved ones. I always knew when he had gone alone. A special grief shone in his eyes. Here, with Staff Sergeant Chester Duncan. (White House photo)
With Specialist Aaron Bugg in November of 2004. (White House photo)
Sharing a laugh at the 2005 Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
George taking the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
The official 2005 inaugural family portrait, which my mother missed. Everyone pictured is part of the extended Bush family. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace. (Susan Sterner/ White House photo)
Holding up a kaleidoscope for an Afghan child on the streets of Kabul in March of 2005. (Susan Sterner/ White House photo)
On board a U.S. military helicopter in the skies over Kabul, Afghanistan. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
Dinner with U.S. troops and commanders at the Dragon Chow Dining Hall at Bagram Air Base. (Susan Sterner/White House photo)
A visit to Homeboy Industries, which works with twelve thousand young people from L.A. gangs each year. (Krisanne Johnson/ White House photo)
At a Rwanda church, Jenna and I hold feverish HIV-infected children on our laps. (Krisanne Johnson/ White House photo)
With Jenna, Cherie Blair, and Jeannette Kagame at a memorial for the victims of Rwanda's genocide. (Krisanne Johnson/ White House photo)
Serving meals to victims of Hurricane Katrina in Lafayette, Louisiana. (Krisanne Johnson/White House photo)
Listening to the stories of families who had escaped the storm. (Krisanne Johnson/White House photo)
Building a new home in Louisiana. By August 2008, the New Orleans metro area had reached 87 percent of its original population. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Hugging a child in Mississippi. In many towns, there were only piles of debris. (Krisanne Johnson/White House photo)
The reopening of Delisle Elementary School in Pass Christian, Mississippi, October 2005. (Eric Draper/ White House photo)
Thanking our troops at Bagram Air Base in Kabul in March of 2006. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
HIV-positive mothers from South Africa's Mothers2Mothers program visit me in the White House. (Kimberlee Hewitt/ White House photo)
The wonderful pomp and circumstance of a state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, April 2007. (Joyce Boghosian/White House photo)
Our annual National Park hike in New England, with Jane Ann, Marge, Peggy, me, and Regan. Those unhurried days of friendship renewed me, body and soul. (Peggy Weiss)
With the Dalai Lama in the White House residence. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Meeting with breast cancer survivors in the Pink Majlis, the Pink Tent, in Abu Dhabi, October 2007. (Shealah Craighead/White House photo)
Riding a camel through the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. (Shealah Craighead/White House photo)
Pope Benedict XVI came to visit us at the White House on his birthday, and we surprised him with a cake, April 2008. (David Bohrer/White House photo)
A bird's-eye view of the annual Congressional Picnic. (Grant Miller/White House photo)
Jenna married Henry Hager, whom she met during George's 2004 campaign, at dusk by the little lake on our ranch. (Paul Morse)
En route to the Mae La Burmese refugee camp with Barbara in an Air Force cargo transport plane in August of 2008. (Shealah Craighead/ White House photo)
Showing a Burmese family their first digital photo. (Shealah Craighead/ White House photo)
A Burmese boy writes a message to me on a blackboard in his classroom: "My life in refugee is better than Burma, but I don't have opportunity to out outside." (Shealah Craighead/White House photo)
Cheering on our athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
A private moment with George. We are anchored to each other. (Paul Morse/White House photo)
Home to Texas, January 2009. (Eric Draper/White House photo)
Table of Contents
Through the Nursery Glass
Dreams and Dust
Traveling Light
One Hundred and Thirty-two Rooms
Goodness in the Land of the Living
"Grand Mama Laura"
"I Told You I Would Come"
Prairie Chapel Mornings
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
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256
319
320
399
412
302
396
300
324
340
170
220
243
272
142
231
207
212
217
219
225
241
245
250
255
259
263
273
275
276
294
298
304
311
&nbs
p; 339
367
376