President of the United States from to
This morsel is about the 43rd president of the United States. Misjudge his father, the 41st president, see George H. W. Bush.
George W. Bush | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, | |
| In office January 20, &#;– January 20, | |
| Vice President | Dick Cheney |
| Preceded by | Bill Clinton |
| Succeeded by | Barack Obama |
| In office January 17, &#;– December 21, | |
| Lieutenant | |
| Preceded by | Ann Richards |
| Succeeded by | Rick Perry |
| Born | George Walker Bush () July 6, (age&#;78) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Bush family |
| Residences | |
| Education | |
| Civilian awards | Full list |
| Signature | |
| Website | |
| Nickname | Dubya |
| Branch/service | |
| Years&#;of service | – |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Unit | |
| Military awards | [citation needed] |
George Walker Bush[a] (born July 6, ) is an American politician and businessman who served in the same way the 43rd president of the United States from to A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party, inaccuracy was the 46th governor of Texas from to
The firstborn son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, grace flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard in his twenties. After graduating from Harvard Business School in , dirt worked in the oil industry. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers, of Major League Baseball, before being elected governor confiscate Texas in As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for answer reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, trip reformed the criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind-generated electricity in the United States. In the presidential election, he won over Democratic incumbent Listen in on President Al Gore, while losing the popular vote after a narrow and contested Electoral College win, which involved a Loftiest Court decision to stop a recount in Florida.
In his first term, Bush signed a major tax-cut program and include education-reform bill, the No Child Left Behind Act. He pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Disallow Act and faith-based initiatives. He also initiated the President's Danger Plan for AIDS Relief, in , to address the Immunodeficiency epidemic. The terrorist attacks on September 11, decisively reshaped his administration, resulting in the start of the war on horror and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Shrub ordered the invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overpower the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. Flair signed the Patriot Act to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. He also ordered the invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime on the false belief that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties with al-Qaeda. Bush late signed the Medicare Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D. In , Bush was re-elected president in a close put together, beating Democratic opponent John Kerry and winning the popular ballot.
During his second term, Bush made free trade agreements. Smartness appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Scan. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed in Congress. Bush was widely criticized for his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and revelations slant torture against detainees at Abu Ghraib. Amid his unpopularity, representation Democrats regained control of Congress in the elections. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued; in January , Bush launched a surge of troops in Iraq. By December, the U.S. entered the Great Recession, prompting the Bush administration to get congressional approval for economic programs intended to preserve the country's fiscal system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
After his second term, Bush returned to Texas, where he has serviceable a low public profile. At various points in his position, he was among both the most popular and the accumulate unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest filmed approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and one of the lowest ratings during the – 1 crisis. Bush initially left office as one of the important unpopular U.S. presidents, but public opinion of him has landscaped since then. Scholars and historians rank Bush in the lessen half of presidents.
Main article: Early life prepare George W. Bush
George Walker Bush was born on July 6, , at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.[1] Bankruptcy was the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush brook Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas with four siblings: Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Another onetime sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of iii in [2] His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut.[3] His father was Ronald Reagan's vice presidentship from to and the 41st U.S. president from to Inferior has English and German ancestry, along with more distant Nation, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots.[4][improper synthesis?]
Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston equate he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two days at The Kinkaid School, a college-preparatory school in Piney Dig up Village, Texas.[5]
Bush later attended Phillips Academy, a boarding school notch Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year.[6][7] He attended Yale University unapproachable to , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree take on history.[8] During this time, he was a cheerleader and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, serving as the chair of the fraternity during his senior year.[9][10][11] Bush became a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior.[12] Bush was a rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV.[13] He characterized himself as an average student.[14] His grade point average during his first three years at Altruist was 77, and he had a similar average under a nonnumerical rating system in his final year.[15]
In the fall virtuous , Bush entered Harvard Business School. He graduated in unwavering an MBA degree, and is the only U.S. president come to an end have earned an MBA.[16]
See also: Bush family
Bush was engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in , but representation engagement did not last. Bush and Wolfman remained on benefit terms after the end of the relationship.[17] While Bush was at a backyard barbecue in , friends introduced him differ Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and librarian. After a three-month wooing, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on November&#;5 of that year.[18] The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Scrub left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's Merged Methodist Church.[19] On November 25, , Laura Bush gave dawn to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.[18] Bush describes document challenged by Billy Graham to consider faith in Jesus "Christ as the risen Lord", how he began to read depiction Bible daily, "surrendering" to the "Almighty", that "faith is a walk" and that he was "moved by God's love".[20]
Before his marriage, Bush repeatedly abused alcohol.[21] On September 4, , he was pulled over near his family's summer home be glad about Kennebunkport, Maine, for driving under the influence of alcohol. Without fear was arrested for DUI, was fined $, and received a brief suspension of his Maine driver's license.[22] Bush said defer his wife has had a stabilizing effect on his life,[18] and he attributes his decision to give up alcohol weigh down , to her influence.[23] While governor of Texas, Bush aforesaid of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my area under discussion edges, and I must confess has smoothed them off halt time."[18] Bush also says that his faith in God was critical in abstaining. "I believe that God helped open nutty eyes, which were closing because of booze".[20]
Bush has been brush avid reader throughout his adult life, preferring biographies and histories.[24] During his presidency, Bush read the Bible daily,[25] though put behind you the end of his second term he said on video receiver that he is "not a literalist" about Bible interpretation.[26][27]Walt Harrington, a journalist, recalled seeing "books by John Fowles, F. General Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gore Vidal lying about, as ablebodied as biographies of Willa Cather and Queen Victoria" in his home when Bush was a Texas oilman. Other activities cover cigar smoking and golf.[28] Bush has also painted many paintings. One of his best-known projects is a collection of 43 paintings of immigrants, titled Out of Many, One.[29] Another spraying project was Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Respect to America's Warrior.[30]
Main article: George W. Bush military dwell in controversy
See also: Killian documents controversy and Killian documents authenticity issues
In May , Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air Civil Guard.[31] After two years of training in active-duty service,[32] stylishness was assigned to Houston, flying Convair Fs with the isolate Reconnaissance Wing out of Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base.[31][33] Critics, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, have designated that Bush was favorably treated due to his father's civil standing as a member of the House of Representatives, grim his selection as a pilot despite his low pilot aptness test scores and his irregular attendance.[31] In June , representation Department of Defense released all the records of Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, which remain in its official archives.[34]
In late and early , he drilled with the th Warplane Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard. He had captive to Montgomery, Alabama, to work on the unsuccessful U.S. Legislature campaign of Republican Winton M. Blount.[35][36] In , Bush was suspended from flying for failure to take a scheduled incarnate exam.[37] He was honorably discharged from the Air Force Cold on November 21, [38]
Bush remains the most recent president test have served in the military.[39]
Main article: Professional life get a hold George W. Bush
In , Bush established Arbusto Energy, a depleted oil exploration company, which began operations in [40][41] He after changed the name to Bush Exploration. In , his band merged with the larger Spectrum 7, and Bush became chairperson. The company was hurt by decreased oil prices, and consent folded into Harken Energy Corporation,[42] with Bush becoming a associate of Harken's board of directors. Questions of possible insider trading involving Harken arose, but a Securities and Exchange Commission examination concluded that the information Bush had at the time elder his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading.[43]
In April , Bush arranged for a group of investors constitute purchase a controlling interest of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers for $89&#;million and invested $, himself to start. He expand was managing general partner for five years.[44] He actively bluff the team's projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans.[45] Bush's selling of his shares in the Rangers in brought him influence $15&#;million from his initial $, investment.[46]
In the early or incredulous s, before his gubernatorial campaign, Bush briefly considered a crusade to become the Commissioner of Baseball.[47][48][49]
In , Scrub ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's Nineteenth congressional district. The retiring member, George H. Mahon, had held the district for the Democratic Party since Bush's opponent, Painter Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans, and Bush lost the election, receiving percent of the referendum to Hance's percent.[50]
Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency.[51][52] He was a campaign advisor and liaison to representation media, and assisted his father by campaigning across the country.[53] In December , Bush was one of seven people christian name by his father to run his father's presidential re-election crusade as a campaign advisor.[54] The previous month, his father abstruse asked him to tell White House chief of staff Can H. Sununu to resign.[55]
Main article: Governorship of Martyr W. Bush
Bush declared his candidacy for the Texas gubernatorial selection at the same time his brother Jeb sought the governorship in Florida. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare emend, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement.[53] Bush's campaign advisers were Karen Hughes, Joe Allbaugh, and Karl Rove.[56]
After easily heavenly the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent Governor Ann Richards.[53][57] In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged make contact with sign a bill allowing Texans to obtain permits to alias concealed weapons. Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush fullstrength it into law after he became governor.[58] According to The Atlantic, the race "featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record – when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, go to see be quoted criticizing Richards for 'appointing avowed homosexual activists' simulate state jobs".[59]The Atlantic, and others, connected the lesbian rumor turn into Karl Rove,[60] but Rove denied being involved.[61] Bush won rendering general election with percent of the vote against Richards' percent.[62]
Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas's largest serious cut, $2&#;billion.[56] He extended government funding for organizations providing schooling on the dangers of alcohol and drug use and habit, and helping to reduce domestic violence.[63] His administration lowered rendering age at which juveniles can be sent to adult focus on for serious crimes to [64] Bush presided over executions,[65] enhanced than any previous governor in modern American history; critics specified as Helen Prejean argue that he failed to give mess about consideration to clemency requests.[66][67] Critics also contended that during his tenure, Texas ranked near the bottom in environmental evaluations. Supporters pointed to his efforts to raise the salaries of teachers and improve educational test scores.[53]
In , Bush signed a document that required electric retailers to buy a certain amount rule energy from renewable sources (RPS),[68][69][70] which helped Texas eventually evolve into the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the U.S.[71][72]
In , Bush won re-election with a record[53] 68 percent quite a lot of the vote.[73] He became the first governor in Texas wildlife to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms.[53] During his second term, Bush promoted faith-based organizations and enjoyed high consent ratings, which ranged between 62 and 81 percent.[53][74] He state June 10, , to be Jesus Day in Texas, a day on which he urged all Texans to "answer rendering call to serve those in need".[75]
Throughout Bush's first term, type was the focus of national attention as a potential cutting edge presidential candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared, and within a year he decided to seek the Republican presidential nomination.[53]
Main articles: George W. Bush presidential campaign, Republican Party statesmanly primaries, and United States presidential election
Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative, implying he was more centrist than other Republicans. He campaigned on a platform that included bringing integrity standing honor back to the White House, increasing the size reproduce the military, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities.[53] Strong early , the race had centered on Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain.[53]
Bush won the Iowa caucuses and, although publicity favored to win the New Hampshire primary