Transcript of Laura Bush's Speech

July 31 -- In her first national address, Laura Bush, wife of George W. Bush, spoke about reading and education. Read the full transcript of her remarks to the Republican National Convention.

Laura Bush: I am honored — and a little overwhelmed — to help open the convention that will nominate my husband for President of the United States. You know I am completely objective when I say … you have made a GREAT choice.

George and I have been blessed throughout our 23 years of marriage with many interesting opportunities. Our lives have changed enormously in the last six years. He was elected Governor, we moved to Austin with our then 13-year-old twin teenagers, and since then, we’ve been through dating, drivers licenses, prom night and just a few weeks ago, high school graduation.

Now we’re helping our daughters pack for college and we’re preparing for our next life crisis … empty nest syndrome. They say parents often have to get out of the house when their kids go off to college because it seems so lonely. Everyone deals with it in different ways. But I told George I thought running for President was a little extreme.

I’m grateful to my family for being here tonight. My mother, Jenna Welch, our daughters Barbara and Jenna, and a couple of people you may know … my mother and father-in-law. I love them all dearly.

I thank Michael and all his students for helping introduce me. I have never had this many people watch me give a speech before, but I feel very at home here in this classroom setting. Education is the living room of my life.

George’s opponent has been visiting schools lately and sometimes when he does, he spends the night before at the home of a teacher … well, George spends EVERY night with a teacher.

I first decided to become a teacher when I was in the second grade. Neither of my parents graduated from college, but I knew at an early age they had that high hope and high expectation for me. My Dad bought an education policy, and I remember him telling me, “Don’t worry, your college education will be taken care of.”

Growing up I practiced teaching on my dolls. I would line them up in rows for the day’s lessons. Years later our daughters did the same thing. We used to joke that the Bush family had the best-educated dolls in America.