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Jenna Welch Hager, née Bush, (born November 25, 1981
in Dallas, Texas), the daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush and
First Lady Laura Bush and the fraternal twin of Barbara Pierce Bush,
is an author and school teacher.
Early life and education
Jenna Bush and Barbara Bush with their parents George W. Bush and
Laura BushBush was named after her maternal grandmother, Jenna
Hawkins Welch.
Bush was educated at several primary and secondary schools. In
Dallas, Texas, she and her sister attended Preston Hollow Elementary
School and then The Hockaday School. In 1994, after her father was
elected Governor of Texas and the family moved to Austin, Texas,
Bush was a student at St. Andrew's Episcopal School. She attended
Austin High School from 1996 until her graduation in 2000. She
attended the University of Texas at Austin where she was a legacy
member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority (her mother, First Lady Laura
Bush, is also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta). On April 29, 2001,
Bush was charged with a Class C misdemeanor for being in the
possession of alcohol under the age 21 in Austin. On May 29, 2001,
Bush was charged with another misdemeanor — attempting to use a fake
ID (with the name Barbara Pierce, her paternal grandmother's maiden
name) to purchase alcohol. She pleaded no contest to both
misdemeanors. Bush graduated from the University of Texas with a
degree in English in 2004.
2004 U.S. Presidential election
Inauguration DayBush had asked her father not to run for president in
2000: "Oh, I just wish you wouldn't run. It's going to change our
life." Her father told her that he and her mother needed to live
their lives. However, in the winter of 2003, she decided to become
involved in the 2004 campaign. In response to this decision, Jenna
made media appearances during the summer of 2004 prior to the 2004
U.S. Presidential election. She and her sister made several joint
public appearances, including giving a speech to the Republican
Convention on August 31, 2004. She made headlines when she was found
sticking her tongue out to media photographers at a campaign stop in
St. Louis. Jenna and Barbara took turns traveling to swing states
with their father and also gave a seven-page interview and photo
shoot in Vogue. The media also extensively covered the campaigning
of John Kerry's daughters Vanessa and Alexandra, making the "battle
of the daughters" a human interest element of the campaign.
Career
Teaching career
Before leaving Washington, D.C. in Summer 2006, Bush taught at Elsie
Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School for a year
and a half. She took a leave of absence from the Charter School
teaching position to work at a shelter several days a week as part
of an internship for UNICEF's Educational Policy Department in Latin
America, specifically in Panama. After her internship for UNICEF,
she returned to her teaching position at the charter school in
Washington, D.C., where she is again currently teaching.
Writing
In 2007, Bush began marketing a book proposal with the assistance of
Robert B. Barnett, a Washington attorney. The title of the book is
Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope and it chronicles her experiences
working with UNICEF sponsored charities in Latin America, including
visits to drought stricken Paraguay in 2006, while working as an
intern for United Nations Children's Fund. HarperCollins announced
in March 2007 it would publish the book and it was released
September 28, 2007, with an initial printing of 500,000 copies. Her
share of the profits will go to UNICEF; the remainder will go to the
woman whose life is the basis of the book, assisting in the young
woman's continuing education. During the book tour, to promote the
book, Bush appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and called her
father and mother, as DeGeneres interviewed her. Bush wrote a second
book, in conjunction with her mother, which is designed to encourage
children to read. The book, entitled Read All About It!, was
published on April 22, 2008, also by HarperCollins.
Personal life
Engagement and marriage
Barbara Bush (left), Laura Bush, newlyweds Henry and Jenna Hager,
and George W. Bush shortly after the wedding ceremony on May 10,
2008 at the Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, TexasOn August 15,
2007, Henry Chase Hager proposed to Jenna Bush on Cadillac Mountain
in Acadia National Park in Maine. Jenna met Henry during her
father's 2004 presidential campaign. Their relationship became
public when the two appeared together at a White House dinner for
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in November 2005.
Henry Hager is currently a graduate student in business
administration at the Darden Graduate School of Business
Administration at the University of Virginia. He worked as a U.S.
Department of Commerce aide for Carlos Gutierrez and as a White
House aide for Karl Rove. He is the son of Virginia Republican Party
former Chairman John H. Hager, who previously served as lieutenant
governor of Virginia and as the U.S. Department of Education
Assistant Secretary under George W. Bush. The marriage occurred
during a private ceremony on May 10, 2008 at her parents' Prairie
Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas. On June 21, 2008, President Bush
hosted a wedding reception for Jenna and Henry at the White House.
The crowd included many Republicans, such as Colin Powell and
Condoleezza Rice, who were serenaded by the United States Marine
Band.
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