Texas Governor George W. Bush:

An Inventory of Governor George W. Bush Press Office Speech and Press Files for First Lady Laura Bush Located at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, 1980-2000, undated, bulk 1995-2000

Agency History

The governor of Texas is the chief executive officer of the state, elected by the citizens every four years. The duties and responsibilities of the governor include serving as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces; convening special sessions of the legislature for specific purposes; delivering to the legislature at the beginning of each regular session a report on the condition of the state, an accounting of all public money under the governor's control, a recommended biennial budget, an estimate of the amounts of money required to be raised by taxation, and any recommendations he deems necessary; signing or vetoing bills passed by the legislature; and executing the laws of the state. The governor can grant reprieves and commutations of punishment and pardons, upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and revoke conditional pardons. He appoints numerous state officials (with the consent of the Senate), fills vacancies in state and district offices (except vacancies in the legislature), calls special elections to fill vacancies in the legislature, fills vacancies in the United States Senate until an election can be held, and serves as ex officio member of several state boards.

The office of governor was first established by the Constitution of 1845 and superseded the office of president of the Republic of Texas. The position now exists under authority of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of 1876 and Texas Government Code, Chapter 401. To be elected governor, a person must be at least thirty years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of Texas for at least five years preceding the election. In 1972, the term of office was extended from two to four years, effective in 1975. Since 1856 the governor has had the use of the Governor's Mansion.

In 1999 there were 198 full time equivalent employees in the Office of the Governor. Thirteen divisions outside of the Executive Office assist the governor in carrying out his functions: Administration, Appointments, Budget & Planning, Communications, General Counsel, Legislative, Policy, Scheduling, Criminal Justice Division, Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, Office of Film, Music, Television and Multimedia Industries, Women's Commission, and Texas Council on Workforce and Economic Competitiveness.

Major responsibilities of the Press Office (also known as Communications) under Governor George W. Bush included issuing press releases and media advisories on the activities and actions of the Governor, as well as First Lady Laura Bush; writing speeches for the Governor and the First Lady; collecting, copying, and distributing copies of newspaper clippings about the Governor, First Lady, and issues of concern to Texans; handling requests for interviews with the Governor; and creating and maintaining the Internet website for the Governor's Office. Karen P. Hughes served as Director of Communications until June 1999, when she became Governor Bush's presidential campaign spokesperson.

(Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 9th and 10th eds., (1996 and 1999); the contents of the records; and versions of the Governor's Office web site during Governor Bush's term available on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.governor.state.tx.us, accessed on March 3, 2009.)

Laura Bush Biographical Sketch

Laura Bush acted as First Lady of Texas from January 17, 1995 when her husband George W. Bush was sworn in as Texas Governor to December 21, 2000 when Bush resigned as Texas Governor. She became First Lady of the United States when her husband, George W. Bush, was inaugurated as president of the United States in January 2001.

During her tenure as Texas First Lady, Mrs. Bush supported many causes related to women's and children's health, education, and literacy. Her four major initiatives were Take Time for Kids (a public awareness and educational campaign that gives caregivers information about parenting topics), Family Literacy (urging Texas communities to establish family literacy programs through local collaboration with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy), Reach Out and Read (a pediatric-based literacy program), and Ready to Read (focusing on early childhood education programs).

In addition, Mrs. Bush established the Texas Book Festival, which raises grant money for public libraries, and opened Rainbow Rooms in several locations throughout the state to provide emergency resources for abused and neglected children. In conjunction with these Rainbow Rooms, she promoted the Adopt-a-Caseworker program to provide a support system for Child Protective Services caseworkers through private sponsorship. Finally, Mrs. Bush was an advocate of breast cancer and Alzheimer's awareness and research throughout her tenure.

Laura Bush (neé Welch), only daughter of Harold Bruce Welch and Jenna Louise Hawkins, was born on November 4, 1946 in Midland, Texas. In 1968, Mrs. Bush earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southern Methodist University. Upon graduating, she worked as a schoolteacher first at Longfellow Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District before moving on to John F. Kennedy Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District in 1969, where she remained until 1972. Mrs. Bush then received a Master of Science degree in Library Science in 1973 from the University of Texas at Austin. Thereafter, she worked at the Kashmere Gardens Branch of the Houston Public Library until 1974, when she returned to Austin to work at Dawson Elementary School in the Austin Independent School District until 1977.

George W. Bush and Laura Bush were married on November 5, 1977. They have two daughters, Jenna and Barbara (both born in 1981). Since that time, she has volunteered for several charitable organizations, including the Dallas County Community Partners, which launched the first Rainbow Room. She has also served on the national board of Reading is Fundamental, Southern Methodist University's 21st Century Council, and the advisory boards of the University of Texas Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the American Library Association's office of intellectual freedom.

(Sources include: First Lady Laura Bush's official White House biography: http://www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady/flbio.html)

Scope and Contents of the Records

Major responsibilities of the Press Office for Texas Governor George W. Bush included issuing press releases and media advisories on the activities and actions of the Governor, as well as First Lady; writing speeches for the Governor and the First Lady; and collecting, copying, and distributing copies of newspaper clippings about the Governor, First Lady, and issues of concern to Texans. Laura Bush acted as First Lady of Texas from January 17, 1995 to December 21, 2000. These speech and press files covering First Lady Laura Bush's activities were maintained by the Governor's Press Office. Files contain newspaper clippings, press releases and media advisories, speeches given by the First Lady (both drafts and finished copy), scripts for PSAs, event forms, correspondence, staff memoranda, reports (e.g. the First Lady's Early Childhood Development Initiative), media lists, publications, conference materials, audiotapes and videotapes. The records date from 1980 to 2000 and undated, with the bulk of the records being from 1995 to 2000. In general, these files reflect the wide variety of issues of interest to First Lady Laura Bush. Especially well represented are her concerns with literacy, early childhood development, libraries, and art.

The series Event files, 1995-2000, undated, bulk 1995-1999, provides information on events in which Texas First Lady Laura Bush participated. The folders in this series usually have a title specifying the event and/or topic the event is connected to and contain material on the event. Most but not all folders contain event forms, which supply the following information: name of event, date, time, location, contact information, other participants, attire, audience (size, description), length of speech if applicable, whether there will be a question-and-answer session, moderator, topic, speaker introducing Mrs. Bush, and other relevant information as added by the primary event contact person. Some of these files also contain speeches, press releases, newspaper clippings, and other documentation associated with the event in question.

Correspondence and subject files, 1980-2000, undated, bulk 1995-2000, contains both correspondence and subject files with background information on topics Laura Bush took an interest in as Texas First Lady. The correspondence files of this series include drafts and templates, as well as copies of final signed letters, often with the incoming letter attached. Correspondents include private citizens, members of organizations, and public officials/employees. Arrangement is somewhat topical, often including a mixture of speeches, news clippings, and other relevant information in the same folder. Lists of media contacts contain addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone and fax numbers for various newspaper, magazine, radio, and television staff. This series also contains some staff memoranda, mostly from Lynn Denton (a staff member of the Policy Office of Governor Bush), either to the First Lady, to other staff, or to both. There are also some files from Charlene Fern of the Governor's Press Office. The subject files provide background information on topics, initiatives, events, and individuals of interest to Laura Bush as First Lady. There are also conference materials and related publications and two First Lady speech indices.

A few folders were empty and have been removed, but the folder titles are listed below in the container listing; notations indicate which were empty.

[Note: The majority of the files contain working papers, possibly excepted from disclosure (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.111). Because these items are present in the majority of folders, they are not individually marked as confidential in the folder inventory.]

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including, but not limited to, home addresses and phone numbers of government employees or officials and personal family and medial information (V.T.C.A., Government Code Sections 552.117 and 552.1175); e-mail addresses (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.137); and agency memoranda (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.111), an archivist must review these records before they can be accessed for research. The records may be requested for research under the provisions of the Public Information Act (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Chapter 552). The researcher may request an interview with an archivist or submit a request by mail (Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P. O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711), fax (512-463-5436), email (Dir_Lib@tsl.state.tx.us), or see our web page (https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/requestgovernorbushrecords.html). Include enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information requested. (Note: The Governor's Office has requested that the State Archives contact the Public Information Coordinator for the Governor's Office when we receive a Public Information Act request for these records.) If our review reveals information that may be excepted by the Public Information Act, we are obligated to seek an open records decision from the Attorney General on whether the records can be released. The Public Information Act allows the Archives ten working days after receiving a request to make this determination. The Attorney General has 45 working days to render a decision. Alternately, the Archives can inform you of the nature of the potentially excepted information and if you agree, that information can be redacted or removed and you can access the remainder of the records.

Records series in this finding aid have access restrictions specific to each of them. The terms of access are found following the series description.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

To obtain equipment to view the CD-rom or videocassettes or listen to the audiocassettes, please contact Archives staff.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas Governor George W. Bush Press Office speech and press files for First Lady Laura Bush. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 2002/151

In December 2000, Governor George W. Bush designated the George Bush Presidential Library as the repository for the records from his tenure as Governor of Texas, under authority of Texas Government Code, Section 441.201. Shortly after he left office, the records were shipped to the Bush Library in College Station, Texas. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn ruled that the records are state records subject to the Texas Public Information Act and the management of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission even after transfer to a federal facility (Opinion No. JC-0498, May 3, 2002). In July 2002 the records were transferred from the Bush Library to the Texas State Archives in Austin for preparation for research use. In June 2003, a memorandum of understanding signed by representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and George W. Bush replaced a January 2002 interim memorandum of understanding. The records were moved to the George W. Bush Presidential Library in February 2013.

Processing Information

Jessica Tucker, March 2008, June 2008

Finding aid updated and made DACS compliant by Jessica Tucker and Tonia J. Wood, April 2013

Detailed Description of the Records