Laura Bush Kills Friend in Auto Accident

November 6, 1963

Laura Welch, the 17-year-old future first lady Laura Bush (wife of U.S. President George W. Bush), runs a stop sign striking a car and killing its sole occupant, 17-year-old Michael Douglass. Douglass was her close friend and classmate. Bush and her 17-year-old passenger were treated for minor injuries. She was not charged in the incident. In her book Spoken from the Heart, she says that the crash caused her to lose her faith “for many, many years.”