Meet Jenna Bush’s husband, Henry Hager, who had amusing run-ins with the Secret Service while dating the first daughter – from politics to corporate life, and why he said no to her marriage proposal
From a chance meeting during a presidential campaign to a White House escape attempt and crashing into a Secret Service car: how the couple navigated their sometimes comic dating years
Henry Hager’s father was a politician
Henry C. Hager, 46, was born in 1978 in Richmond, Virginia. His father, John H. Hager, was a tobacco company executive; his mother Margaret “Maggie” Chase held various administrative positions.
Raised alongside his brother Jack in Virginia, Henry was pursuing a business administration degree at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, when his father was elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor in 1998.
After graduating from the private university, Henry began his career as an assistant to Karl Rove, senior advisor to president George W. Bush. He later took on the role of deputy operations manager for the Bush-Dick Cheney presidential campaign of 2004.
How did Jenna Bush meet her husband, Henry Hager?
The couple met while working on Bush’s re-election. It was during this period that he met Jenna Bush, 43, now a TV host, who had just graduated from the University of Texas before beginning a career as a teacher. In the meantime she was working at her father’s re-election headquarters.
“A friend of mine from college was like, his intern at work, and we were going to watch the Texas [football] game, and they were like, ‘Can we bring Henry?’” Bush shared on Today with Hoda & Jenna in 2019.
Despite his having a girlfriend, according to People, Hager and Bush hit it off and shared a kiss that evening.
Their relationship quickly blossomed.
“On Election Day, they were friends. By the [Inauguration], they were an item,” a friend of Hager told People in 2008.