Women doubly lucky to be near seat of power

Former US First Lady Barbara Bush. PHOTO | FILE | AFP 

In Summary

• Barbara Bush was the wife of George HW Bush, the 41st US President, and mother of President George Walker Bush, the 43rd President.
• She was also the mother of two former governors – Walker (Texas) and Jebb Bush (Florida), who once sought the Republican presidential ticket.
• Mama Ngina Kenyatta remains among the few women who have been both wives and mothers of presidents.
• She is the widow of Kenya's first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and the mother of Uhuru Kenyatta, the country's fourth President.

By AFP
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After the death of Barbara Bush on April 17, Mama Ngina Kenyatta remains among the few women who have been both wives and mothers of presidents.

The widow of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and mother of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s fourth president, is among the distinguished global mothers who have had a family member occupy State Houses twice.

However, Barbara’s case was truly unique. Besides being the wife of George HW Bush, the 41st US President, and mother of President George Walker Bush, the 43rd President, she was also the mother of two former governors – Walker (Texas) and Jebb Bush (Florida), who once sought the Republican presidential ticket.

She was lucky to live through her husband’s presidency, her son’s, and her two sons’ governorships, and preceded them all in death.

Abigail Adams, the wife of the second US president, John Adams, was the mother of John Quincy Adams, who became America’s sixth president. Although the senior Adams lived to see his son elected, he did not live long enough to see him rule like Bush Sr did.

Adams Jr was sworn in on March 4, 1825, and his father died exactly four months later, coincidentally the same day as his successor, President Thomas Jefferson, and the 50th anniversary of America’s independence.

BARBARA BUSH

In the US, the late Barbara Bush, was nicknamed a “political wife” for her role in her husband’s political career, plus the distinction of being the mother of a president and two governors.

Born in New York to Marvin and Pauline Pierce on June 8, 1925, her mother was the daughter of an Ohio Supreme Court judge while her father was a distant descendant of 14th US president, Franklin Pierce.

FUTURE FIRST LADY

She met her future husband, George, at the age of 16 at a dance while on Christmas holiday.

But George, then a 17-year-old senior studying at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, was to join the US Navy as a combat pilot in World War II. After his plane narrowly escaped bombing in the Pacific, George lived to marry Barbara in January 1945.

They had their first child, future president George Walker Bush, in 1946. Barbara lost her mother in an accident when she was six months pregnant and after three months, had their second born, a daughter named Pauline Robinson Bush, in honour of her mother.

Unfortunately, the child died of leukaemia in October 1953.

The third child, John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, the future Florida governor, had been born just prior to Pauline’s diagnosis. The couple went on to have two more sons, Neil Mallon Bush in 1955, and Marvin Pierce Bush in 1956.

Their last child, a daughter, Dorothy “Doro” Bush, named after George’s mother, was born in August 1959.

For the next two decades, Barbara concentrated on her family while also doing volunteer work with the Young Men’s Christian Association. They settled in Midland, Texas, where George found success in the petroleum industry.

Former US President George H.W Bush, his wife Barbara Bush, their son then-President George Bush and his wife Laura on January 26, 2002. PHOTO | FILE | AFP

CAMPAIGNS

It was here that Barbara played her first political role – helping her husband establish his career in Republican politics by participating in his campaigns. George was elected to Congress in 1966.

The second time was when George successfully lobbied President Richard Nixon in 1970 to appoint him US envoy to the United Nations, after which they moved into New York’s famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Barbara’s social skills came in handy with the receptions she organised, making her popular with foreign dignitaries.

But she became worried when Nixon moved her husband from the UN to take over the Republican National Committee as the Watergate scandal raged.

She felt defending the Nixon administration could damage her husband’s career. Indeed, the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign in August 1974. His successor, VP Gerald Ford, appointed George as chief of US Liaison Office in China.

While in China, Barbara practised Chinese culture and studied the language, but their tour of office was short.

President Ford recalled her husband in 1975 and appointed him director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which had been tainted for its involvement in Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War.

For the second time Barbara worried that her husband’s job could harm his future chances in politics.

The CIA job was less visible, and with her children away in school, Barbara sank into depression but kept it secret.

ROAD TO PRESIDENCY

The third time she returned to the campaign trail was when George decided to run for the White House in 1979, but lost to Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless, Reagan made George his running mate and won by landslide in 1980.

It was as the wife of the vice-president that Barbara made her mark on US and global politics. She crisscrossed the US and travelled abroad, where she forged long-lasting friendships with Heads of State.

After Reagan’s two terms, George ran a tough campaign and defeated his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, to become the US’s 41st president in January 1989.

Unlike her predecessor, Nancy Reagan, Barbara put less emphasis on fashion, even buying a $29 (about KSh2,900) pair of shoes to wear to her husband’s inauguration. She restored the traditional role of first ladies by staying out of White House policy matters.

“I don’t fool around with his office,” she once said, “and he doesn’t fool around with my household.”

She founded the Barbara Bush for Family Literacy, which supports organisations across US to teach parents and children to read.

As first lady, she saw the Iraq war and the arrest of Nicaragua dictator Manuel Noriega, as her husband’s popularity plummeted due to an economic slump.

The younger Bill Clinton took advantage of this and won. In January 1993, George and Barbara moved back to Texas.

HIGHLIGHTS OF BARBARA BUSH’S LIFE

June 8 1925: She was born in New York

1945: She married George HW Bush

1966: Participated in the campaigns that saw her husband elected to Congress

1970: Helps her husband to lobby President Richard Nixon to appoint him US envoy to the United Nations.

1979: She once again returned to the campaign trail when her husband ran for president but lost to Ronald Reagan.

1989: She becomes First Lady after her husband beats Michael Dukakis to become the US’s 41st president.

2018: She dies in Houston, Texas

ABIGAIL ADAMS, THE MRS PRESIDENT

“If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.”

This quote is a quote by Abigail Adam’s, who is regarded as one of the earliest campaigners for women’s rights.

Abigail, the wife of the second US president, John Adams, served as his unofficial adviser, earning her the nickname Mrs President.

At least their letters reveal this role, with John seeking counsel, including his presidential ambitions. Their eldest son, John Quincy, went on to become the US’s sixth president in 1825, seven years after Abigail’s death.

Born on November 11, 1744, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, she and the future president were third cousins, and knew each other as children.

She liked literature and studied William Shakespeare’s and John Milton’s works, among others. But she did not attend school, since it was not common for girls to do so.

SHY GIRL

The two met at a social gathering in 1762. John saw a shy 17-year-old girl and fell in love.

They would marry three years later and soon had their first child, a daughter named Abigail, in 1765. In quick succession, they had John Quincy (1767), Susanna (1768), Charles (1770), and Thomas Boylston in 1772.

Unfortunately, Susanna died as a toddler and later, the family was devastated when Abigail had a stillborn daughter in 1777.

Since John was a lawyer in a busy legal firm and active in the fight for independence, Abigail was alone at home most of the time looking after children.

They resorted to correspondence and it is believed that they exchanged more than 1,100 letters.

In one letter, after Adams became President, she requested that he “Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”

POLICY MATTERS

After independence, Abigail joined her husband in France and later in England, where he served from 1785 to 1788 as the first American ambassador to the Court of St James.

And when John became vice-president the following year, Abigail shuttled between Philadelphia, then the capital, and their rural Massachusetts farm.

In New York, she would help First Lady Martha Washington entertain dignitaries and other officials.

It is documented that Abigail and her husband did not always see eye to eye on matters of policy. For instance, during Adams’ presidency, the US had a problem with France, once a great ally. The French revolution was underway when Adams became president.

The country was being run by a five-man executive called the Directory, and a legislative body.

The Directory had stopped trade with the US and refused to meet with any of its envoys. In 1798, French officials agreed to talks, but wanted substantial bribes. The President told Congress about the extortion, dubbed the XYZ Affair since he had used only letters instead of names to identify the French officials.

Abigail hit the roof, demanding that war be declared while John sought a peaceful, less costly solution.

LAWS

But they agreed on three crucial alien Acts allowing the government to: increase immigrants’ waiting period for naturalisation; detain foreign subjects; deport any alien deemed dangerous.

Another, the Sedition Act, federalised a ban on malicious anti-government writing and inciting opposition to Congress or the president. Penalties included fines and jail terms.

Abigail felt that those who published lies about John should be punished. Historians have rebuked Adams for signing this anti-immigrant, anti-free speech legislation into law.

When Adams was defeated by Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 election, the couple learnt of the alcoholism-related death of their second son, Charles.

Devastated by the loss, they moved to Washington DC, the new capital, where they became the first residents of the White House. Abigail wrote many letters to family, shedding light on the early days of the new capital and complaining about the unfinished state of their new home.

A few months later, after John left office in 1801, they returned to their family farm, where they spent more time together.

Abigail concentrated on the farm and caring for the family, especially the eldest child, Abigail, who eventually died of cancer in 1814.

After struggling with her own health for decades, Abigail suffered a stroke in October 1818 and died the same month at home with her family.

Mama Ngina Kenyatta at a past function. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

MAMA NGINA KENYATTA

As the wife of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Mama Ngina was the country’s first first lady. Throughout her life, the mother of President Uhuru Kenyatta has avoided publicity.

A staunch Catholic, she is only likely to be spotted at Consolata Church in Westlands, Nairobi, at funerals, and the occasional wedding.

She is generally known to be a woman of few words, who rarely makes public statements.

And when she appeared in public, often it was by her husband at national celebrations or the New Year’s Ball. A mother and grandmother, she remains a headstrong parent, and is highly respected by all her children,

And unlike many first ladies in other parts of the world, few places are named after her – only a street in Nairobi and Mombasa, Mama Ngina Children’s Home in Nairobi and a garden in Mombasa.

SET EXAMPLE

Mama Ngina is known by her trademark long dresses and wrap headgear. It is said that it was Mzee’s desire to see the first lady lead by example and show Kenyan mothers how to dress – not to wear trousers.

Indeed, older Kenyans will recall that trousers became fashionable for women after Mzee’s death in 1978.

Mama Ngina was born in Ngenda, Gatundu, Kiambu County, to Chief Muhoho wa Gathecha and Anne Nyokabi Muhoho in 1939. The fourth wife, she married Kenyatta in 1957 at the age of 18 and they had four children – Kristina Wambui, Uhuru, Anne Nyokabi and Muhoho.

Though a quiet person, she defied the colonial government when Mzee was in detention, which landed her in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.

She is known to be an astute businesswoman and is the power behind the Kenyatta family business empire managed by Muhoho, who shuns politics.

Mama Ngina will be remembered as the founding first lady who set standards for the State House role.

OTHER FIRST LADIES/MOTHERS

Botswana’s Ruth Williams of England, who married Sir Seretse Khama, the country’s founding president. She was the mother of Ian Khama, who retired early this month as Botswana’s third president.

Sifa Mahanya, the widow of President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the mother of President Joseph Kabila, who took power after his father’s assassination.

Sena Sabine Mensah, Togo’s first lady for 38 years until her husband, President Gnassigbé Eyadema, died in 2005, is the mother of current president Faure Essozimna Gnassigbé.

In Gabon, Patience Dabany, first lady for 42 years, is the widow of the long-reigning Omar Bongo, who died in 2009, and was succeeded by his son, Ali Bongo.

And current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, is the wife of the country’s longest serving former premier, Pierre Trudeau.