Born in New Haven, Connecticut on July 6, 1946, Bush was the first child of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush (born Pierce). He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with his four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953.  Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and his father served as U.S. President from 1989 to 1993.

During his 2000 presidential campaign, Vanity Fair magazine and The New York Times reported that Bush, as a child, was not accepted for admission by St. John’s School in Houston, Texas, a prestigious private school.[18] In the two years following, Bush attended The Kinkaid School, the private school from which St. John’s had broken away.  Ironically, Bush, then the Governor of Texas, served as the commencement speaker at St. John’s Academy in 1995.

Bush attended the all-boys school Phillips Academy in Andover,

Massachusetts, where he played baseball and during his senior year was the head cheerleader. Following in his father’s footsteps, Bush attended

Yale University, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in history in 1968.  As a college senior, Bush became a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society. By his own characterization, he was an average student.