First Lady Gives Guests a History Lesson

Barbara Bush gave other spouses at the economic summit a historic taste of the Long Star State on Tuesday with a whirlwind tour that included a visit to the Alamo, the shrine to Texas independence.

“I wanted to show off a different part of Texas,” Mrs. Bush said. “I wanted them to see a side of Texas that you might not see any place else . . . a wonderful, exciting, thrilling city.”

Mrs. Bush led Sachiyo Kaifu of Japan, Danielle Mitterrand of France, Mila Mulroney of Canada and Livia Andreotti of Italy on tightly scheduled visits to some of her favorite spots in the city nestled in Texas’ famed Hill Country.

Denis Thatcher opted against the San Antonio tour and was believed to have gone instead to Dallas to visit his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Hannelore Kohl did not attend the summit.

Meanwhile, President Bush and the other leaders of the world’s seven major industrialized countries were all business in Houston, where they met in daylong working sessions.

San Antonio Mayor Lila Cockrell bestowed honorary mayoral status upon the group, and Mrs. Bush joked about how the number of the state’s women mayors had grown tremendously. In fact, Texas’ three largest cities have women mayors.

The first stop after flying to San Antonio for the daylong tour was the Mission San Jose, established in 1720. The women posed for a group picture outside “Rosa’s Window,” a clear window considered to be one of the finest pieces of Spanish colonial ornamentation in the United States.

“No matter what you may have learned at the movies, the first Texas cowboys were Indians,” said tour guide Henry Guerra, a San Antonio broadcast personality who served as tour guide at the mission.

The women attended a 20-minute variety show at the newly restored Majestic Theater. About 900 children from the city parks summer program clapped and sang along with the guests.

The last stop in what Mrs. Bush called “the flip side of the coin of Texas from Houston” was the Alamo, where a handful of defenders were annihilated by Mexican troops in 1836.

Before several hundred cheering onlookers, Mrs. Bush said, “Nobody can come to Texas without seeing the Alamo, so this is very special.”