The Sweet Meaning Behind Why Jenna Bush Hager Called Her Grandmother “The Enforcer”
The TODAY co-anchor has shared how Barbara Bush taught her "humility and grace."
Jenna Bush Hager shared a sweet and close relationship with her beloved "Ganny." Before the TODAY co-anchor's grandmother, Barbara Bush, passed away in 2018, the former first lady taught her grandchildren many valuable life lessons that ultimately earned her the nickname of "The Enforcer."
Jenna has honored her late grandmother in many ways through the years. In January 2025, for instance, she shared on TODAY that her Ganny's love of reading is what inspired her to be so passionate about books. Jenna and her twin sister Barbara Pierce Bush spent many of their young childhood years growing up in the White House, where their grandmother taught them to follow rules that have stuck with them to this day.
Those moments and more ultimately led to Jenna and the Bush family to remember her as "The Enforcer." Read on to find out what the TODAY host has shared about the nickname's origins.
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Why Jenna Bush Hager called her grandmother Barbara Bush "The Enforcer"
Barbara Bush earned the nickname of "The Enforcer" because, as Jenna has shared, she was a "force" who held the Bush family together and led by example.
"We called you 'The Enforcer.' It was because, of course, you were a force and you wrote the rules and your rules were simple. Treat everyone equally, don't look down on anyone, use your voices for good, read all the great books," Jenna wrote in a letter to her grandmother following her death at 92 in April 2018.
"I will never forget when Barbara and I as 7-year-olds snuck to the bowling alley and ordered presidential peanut butter sandwiches," Jenna's letter continued. "We couldn't wait for someone to deliver what was sure to be the fanciest sandwich of our lives when you opened the door, scolding us, telling us under no circumstances could we order food in the White House again, this was not a hotel. You taught us humility and grace."
In an April 2018 Instagram post, Jenna elaborated on the legendary nickname and her last memory, sharing that her grandmother was a "FORCE of a woman" who "held our family together."
"She taught me to use my voice but also to value the opinions of others. She adored her friends and family; her loyalty was unwavering. Humor helps, she often said and it does, Gans, but I will miss your laugh terribly," Jenna wrote. "She adored my Gampy, the first man she ever kissed; their love story is so engrained in the history of our family."
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In a 2017 interview with Southern Living, Jenna's sister Barbara explained that their grandmother simply wanted her grandchildren to be polite. “We’ve always called her ‘The Enforcer.' She just likes her grandchildren to be well-behaved,’” she said. Jenna added that while their grandmother was a fan of manners, "she likes humor more.”
Jenna Bush Hager's children have adorable nicknames for their Bush grandparents
Jenna has welcomed three children — Mila, Poppy, and Hal — with her husband Henry Hager, and they've grown up calling their former presidential grandparents, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, "Jefe" and "Grammy," respectively.
Jenna also had loving nicknames for her late grandfather, George H.W. Bush: "Gampy" and "Poppy." The former president's nickname, of course, also inspired one of Jenna's daughter's names.
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"Poppy, my wild 3-year-old, was named after her great-grandpa, my grandfather," Jenna shared on TODAY in 2019. She also wrote in a 2017 Instagram post that her daughter is "one lucky girl who is named for our greatest love."
