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George W. Bush


George Walker Bush (born July 6 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. He was re-elected in 2004 and is currently serving his second and final term. He formerly served as the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. A Republican, he belongs to one of the most politically influential American families, being the son of former President George H. W. Bush and elder brother of Jeb Bush, the present Governor of Florida. Supporters and detractors alike refer to him by the nickname Dubya.

Bush was an entrepreneur in the oil industry in Texas and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. After working on his father's presidential campaign, he purchased a share of the Texas Rangers baseball team, and in 1994 he was elected Governor of Texas. As governor, Bush worked on education reform, school finance and tort reform and sponsored the largest tax cut program in Texas history. He was re-elected as governor of Texas in 1998. Bush won the 2000 presidential election as the Republican candidate in a close and controversial contest. Although he did not secure a majority of the popular vote, he did win the required number of electoral votes after a very close battle in the state of Florida. As President, Bush pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, and has made efforts to privatize Medicare and Social Security. Bush has also pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, faith-based welfare initiatives, the Palm Sunday Compromise and the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which aims to define marriage as between one man and one woman, and thus prevent recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States.

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush declared a global War on Terrorism and ordered the invasion of Afghanistan which he publically stated was in order to overthrow the Taliban, destroy Al-Qaeda and to capture Osama Bin Laden. His response to 9/11 led to an immediate surge in his popularity. Following an unsuccessful attempt at mandating Saddam Hussein diplomatically to yield to further weapons inspections via the UN, which both the British Government and American administration thought of as a failure, Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. Official inspections by the UN that were in progress at the time had not yet concluded and the weapons of mass destruction that the Multinational force in Iraq intended to capture have never been found. Following the overthrow of Saddam's regime, Bush committed the U.S. to establishing democracy in the Middle East, and specifically in both Afghanistan and Iraq in the short term. A self-described "war President",Bush won re-election in 2004 after an intense and heated election campaign, becoming the first candidate to win a majority vote in 16 years.

Since being re-elected in 2004, Bush has received increasingly heated criticism, even from former allies, on the Iraq War and the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, as well as domestic issues such as federal funding of stem cell research, Hurricane Katrina, NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, record budget deficits, the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, and a number of scandals, such as the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal and the Plame CIA leak controversy. According to opinion polling, his popularity has declined.





Early life


Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Bush is the eldest son of George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush. His family moved to Texas when he was two years old. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas with his four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died in 1953 at age three from leukemia.Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator, and his father served as U.S. President from 1989 to 1993. His brother Jeb is a two-term governor of Florida. The Bush family has long-standing and strong involvement in the U.S. Republican Party.

Bush attended the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and, following in his father's footsteps, was accepted into Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1968. At the same time, he worked in various Republican campaigns, including his father's 1964 and 1970 Senate campaigns in Texas. As a college senior, Bush became a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society. By his own characterization, Bush was an average student.

In May 1968, at the height of the ongoing Vietnam War, Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard. After training, he was assigned to duty in Houston, flying Convair F-102s out of Ellington Air Force Base.Throughout his political career, Bush has been criticized over his induction and period of service. Critics allege that Bush was favorably treated due to his father's political standing, and that he was irregular in attendance. Bush took a transfer to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972 to work on a Republican senate campaign, and in 1974 he obtained permission to end his six-year service obligation six months early to attend Harvard Business School, receiving an honorable discharge.

There are a number of accounts of substance abuse and otherwise disorderly conduct by Bush from this time. Bush has described this period of his life as his "nomadic" period of "irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking "too much" in those years.On September 4, 1976, near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, having been drinking with former Australian world number-one tennis player John Newcombe and his former advisor, Raphael Rosenast. He pleaded guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver's license suspended for 30 days within Maine.

After obtaining an MBA from Harvard, Bush entered the oil industry in Texas. In 1977, he was introduced by friends to Laura Welch, a young schoolteacher and librarian. After three months of courting, Bush married Laura and settled in Midland, TX. His twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, were born in 1981. Bush also left his family's Episcopalian Church to join his wife's Methodist Church.

In 1978, Bush ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 19th Congressional District of Texas. Facing Kent Hance of the Democratic Party, Bush stressed his energy credentials and conservative values in the campaign. Hance, however, also held many conservative views, opposing gun control and strict regulation; he portrayed Bush as being out of touch with rural Texans. Bush campaigned hard and was an effective fundraiser, but lost by 6,000 votes. Hance later became a Republican and donated money to Bush's campaign for Governor of Texas in 1993.

Bush returned to the oil industry, becoming a senior partner or chief executive officer of several ventures, such as Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy. These ventures suffered from the general decline of oil prices in the 1980s that had affected the industry and the regional economy, but he remained active through mergers, acquisitions and consolidations of his firms. Faced with serious drinking issues and difficulties in his professional and personal life, Bush abandoned his socializing lifestyle and began attending church regularly. In 1986, he quit drinking alcohol, and, following a personal meeting and exchange with Reverend Billy Graham, he became a born-again Christian.Bush studied the Bible and Christian philosophy, participating in church and community study groups.

Bush moved with his family to Washington, D.C. in 1988, to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency. He worked with Lee Atwater and Doug Wead to develop and coordinate a political strategy for courting conservative Christians and evangelical voters, who were seen as key to winning the nomination and the election. Delivering speeches at rallies and fundraisers, Bush met with representatives of conservative and religious organizations on behalf of his father.

Returning to Texas, Bush purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner of the Rangers for five years. He was active in the team's media relations and in securing the construction of a new stadium, which opened in 1994 as The Ballpark in Arlington. Bush actively led the team's projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans. Bush's role with the Rangers gave him prominent media exposure and attention, as well as garnering public, business and political support. The Rangers were mostly successful while Bush was a part of the organization. During his tenure, the Rangers acquired Hall-of-Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who was popular with the fans during the last years of his career. The team nearly won its first division title in 1994, before a strike shortened the season. In 1989, Bush presided over the trade of the eventually famous Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox. The eventual sale of Bush's share in the Texas Rangers brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment.

George W. Bush is the first president to have run a marathon. Before running for governor of Texas he completed the 1993 Houston Marathon in 3:44:52 for a pace of about 8:36/mile. He had been running since he was 26 and, before taking office, ran 15 to 30 miles a week.....more info