The Bush family is one of the most prominent political dynasties in modern American history, spanning four generations of national and state office. Its modern line begins with Prescott Bush, a banker who represented Connecticut in the United States Senate from 1952 to 1963, and runs through his son George H. W. Bush, the 41st president, and grandson George W. Bush, the 43rd.
Power in the family passed from father to son across multiple offices. George H. W. Bush served as a congressman, ambassador, CIA director, and vice president before winning the presidency in 1988. Two of his sons then entered elected politics in the same era: George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas and later president, while Jeb Bush served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. The next generation continued the pattern, with Jeb's son George P. Bush winning statewide office in Texas.
Read as a genogram, the Bush structure shows a dynasty organized around marriage and mentorship as much as name. Barbara Bush, wife of the 41st president and mother of the 43rd, is one of only two women in American history to be both wife and mother of a president. The family's roots in Connecticut and Texas gave successive Bushes distinct regional bases from which to build national careers.
The Bushes are the second father-and-son pair ever to each become president of the United States, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush — a feat previously achieved only by John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
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