George W. Bush
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Source: Google
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George W. Bush
was the 43rd president of the United States. He led his country's response to
the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and initiated the Iraq War in 2003.
Quotes
- “Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and
freedom will be defended.”
Born in July
6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, George W. Bush was the 43rd president of
the United States. He narrowly won the Electoral College vote in 2000, in one
of the closest and most controversial elections in American history. Bush led
the United States' response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and initiated the
Iraq War. Before his presidency, Bush was a businessman and served as governor
of Texas.
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George Walker
Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the eldest of
six children of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. The Bush
family had been involved in business and politics since the 1950s. Bush's
grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a former Wall Street banker and progressive
Republican senator from Connecticut, and his father was a businessman,
diplomat, and vice president and president of the United States.
In 1948,
George H.W. Bush moved the family to Midland, Texas, where he made his fortune
in the oil business. Young George spent most of his childhood in Midland,
attending school there until the seventh grade. The family moved to Houston in
1961, and George W. Bush was sent to Phillips Academy in Andover,
Massachusetts. There he was an all-around athlete, playing baseball, basketball
and football. He was a fair student and had a reputation for being an
occasional troublemaker. Despite this, family connections helped him enter Yale
University in 1964.
George W. Bush
was a popular student at Yale, becoming president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity and also playing rugby. For Bush, grades took a back seat to Yale’s
social life. Despite his privileged background, he was comfortable with all
kinds of people and had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Like his
father and grandfather before him, George W. Bush became a member of Yale’s
secretive Skull and Bones society, an invitation-only club whose membership
contains some of American’s most powerful and elite family members.
Two weeks
before graduation, at the end of his draft deferment, George W. Bush enlisted
in the Texas Air National Guard. It was 1968 and the Vietnam War was at its
height. Though the Guard unit had a long waiting list, Bush was accepted
through the unsolicited help of a family friend. Commissioned as a second
lieutenant, he earned his fighter pilot certification in June of 1970. Despite
irregular attendance and questions about whether he had completely fulfilled
his military obligation, Bush was honorably discharged from the Air Force
Reserve on November 21, 1974.
After his
Guard duty, George W. Bush continued his education, enrolling at Harvard
Business School, where he earned a Masters of Business Administration degree in
1975. He then returned to Midland and entered the oil business, working for a
family friend, and later started his own oil and gas firm. In 1977, at a
backyard barbeque, Bush was introduced by friends to Laura Welch, a school
teacher and librarian. After a quick three-month courtship, he proposed, and
they were married on November 5, 1977. The couple settled in Midland, Texas,
where Bush continued to build his business.
George W. Bush
credits his wife for bringing his life in order. Prior to marriage, he had
several embarrassing episodes with alcohol. Soon after marrying Laura, he
joined the United Methodist Church and became a born-again Christian. In 1981,
the couple enjoyed the arrival of twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. In 1986,
Bush sold his struggling oil business to Harken Energy Corporation for stock
and a seat on its board of directors. It was also at this time that he quit
drinking and became deeply involved in his church.
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In 1988,
George W. Bush moved his family to Washington DC to work on his father’s bid
for the White House, participating in campaign activities and meeting
influential people. After his father’s victory, he returned to Texas, and in
1989 joined a group of investors purchasing the Texas Rangers baseball team.
George W. Bush quickly emerged as the group’s leader and made some savvy
trades. The team did well and Bush earned a reputation as a successful
businessman. In 1998, Bush sold his share of the team for a reported 17 times
his initial investment.
After his
father’s 1992 reelection loss to Bill Clinton, George W. Bush decided to run
for governor of Texas as a Republican. His affiliation with the Rangers and his
family reputation helped him in the 1994 campaign against incumbent Democrat
Ann Richards. His campaign focused on welfare and tort reform, crime reduction,
and education improvement. The contest was contentious and bare knuckled, with
accusations of financial impropriety on one side, and homosexuality on the
other. Bush won the election with 53 percent of the vote and became the first
child of a U.S. president to be elected a state governor. In 1998, Bush became
the first Texas governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms.
As governor,
George W. Bush appealed to moderate Republicans and Christian conservatives in
his own party and earned a reputation for bipartisan governing. He implemented
the philosophy of "compassionate conservatism," which combined
limited government with concern for the underprivileged and personal
responsibility. The previous gubernatorial administration left the Texas
treasury in a surplus, so Bush pushed for a tax cut and increased funding for
education. He promoted educational reform, tying teachers’ salaries to student
performance on standardized tests, and signed into law legislation lowering the
age at which juveniles could be tried in adult courts.
In 1999,
George W. Bush began his quest for the presidency, and after a contentious
series of primary elections, he won the Republican presidential nomination. The
2000 presidential election pitting George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al
Gore was close and controversial. As Election Day unfolded, there was no clear
winner. The late-night news declared one candidate the winner, then the other
the winner. By early the next morning, Bush had 246 electoral votes and Gore
had 255, with 270 needed to win. Florida’s 25 electoral votes were held in the
balance where several counties reported problems with balloting. After more
than a month of recounts and legal maneuvering, the U.S. Supreme Court decided
the election, giving George Bush the victory. Though Gore lost the election in
the Electoral College (271 to 266) he received over 543,000 more popular votes
than Bush, a result that further complicated Bush’s victory.
In the first
two years of his presidency, George W. Bush enjoyed a political majority in
both Congressional houses but faced a strongly divided government. At times,
his political rhetoric fueled this divide. Taking a budget surplus left by the
previous Democratic administration, Bush pushed through a $1.35 trillion tax
cut to stimulate the economy, but critics contended it favored the wealthy. His
administration prompted further controversy when he announced the U.S. would
not abide by the Kyoto Protocol for reducing green-house gas emissions, citing
potential harm to the U.S. economy.
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On September
11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. commercial jetliners. Three of
them hit their targets in New York and Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed
into a farmer’s field in Pennsylvania. The war on terror had begun, and
President George W. Bush promised the American people that he would do all he
could to prevent another terrorist attack. A comprehensive strategy was formed
with the creation of the Homeland Security Department, the Patriot Act and the
authorization of intelligence gathering that, for a time, included monitoring
international phone calls made by U.S. citizens. The Bush administration also
built international coalitions to seek out and destroy Al Qaeda and other
terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban government was
said to be harboring Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
As the
conflict raged on, United States military forces in Afghanistan began
transferring Taliban fighters and suspected Al Qaeda members to a special
prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a permanent U.S. naval base. Hundreds of
prisoners were held there as enemy combatants, a classification given by the
Bush administration that stated terror detainees were not protected by the
Geneva Conventions. As a result, many were subject to enhanced interrogation
techniques, which in the opinion of various international organizations,
including the Red Cross, amounted to torture.
In September,
2002, the Bush administration announced that the United States would
preemptively use military force if necessary to prevent threats to its national
security by terrorists or "rogue states" especially any that
possessed weapons of mass destruction. Based on what would prove to be
inaccurate intelligence reports, the Bush administration successfully obtained
a UN Security Council resolution to return weapons inspectors to Iraq. Soon
afterward, Bush declared that Iraq hadn’t complied with inspections, and on
March 20, 2003, the United States launched a successful invasion of Iraq,
quickly defeating the Iraqi military. Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, fell on April
9, 2003, and Bush personally declared an end to major combat operations on May
1, 2003. With a power vacuum in place, Iraq soon fell into a sectarian civil
war.
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In 2004,
George W. Bush ran for re-election. Though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
were not going well, and his efforts in Social Security reform had met with
great resistance, Bush's political core remained supportive, and he was able to
win reelection over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry in the November
election. During his second term, Bush pushed for immigration reform, which
received criticism from many conservatives, and eased environmental
regulations, which received criticism from many liberals. The Bush
administration's poor response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans further
pushed down his favorability rating.
In 2008, as
George W. Bush entered the final year of his presidency, the country faced
enormous challenges. The United States was fighting two foreign wars, and the
budget surplus left by the Clinton administration had transformed into a
multi-trillion-dollar debt—the effects of military spending, tax cuts, and slow
economic growth. In the early fall of 2008, the country was hit with a severe
credit crisis that sent the stock market into free fall and led to massive
layoffs. The Bush administration scrambled and encouraged Congress to enact a
controversial $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to bail out the
housing and banking industries.
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Life
After the White House
George W. Bush
left office in January, 2009, leaving behind much unfinished business and low
approval ratings. The country remained politically divided. Critics laid much
of the country’s misfortunes at his feet, while supporters defended him for his
strong leadership during one of the country’s most dangerous periods. Bush and
his wife settled in Dallas, Texas, where he participated in the building of his
presidential library and wrote his memoir "Decision Points." At the
request of President Barack Obama, Bush and former president Bill Clinton led
private fundraising efforts in the United States for disaster relief, after the
2010 Haiti earthquake.
After years of
leading a relatively quiet life in Texas, Bush returned to the media spotlight
in 2013. He was on hand for the opening of the George W. Bush Library and
Museum on the grounds of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The
other living former presidents, including Bill Clinton and Bush's own father,
attended the event as did President Barack Obama. Bush joked that "There
was a time in my life when I wasn't likely to be found at a library, much less
found one," according to Fox News. Speaking on a more serious note, Bush
seemed to defend his time as president. "When people come to this library
and research this administration, they’re going to find out we stayed true to
our convictions," he said.
George W. Bush
played up to his Texas roots through most of his political life. For both his
supporters and detractors, it provided reasons for their support and criticism.
For some, his folksy image and manner suggested he was "not ready for
prime time," politically adept, but not a statesman at a time when the
country need one. For others, he was perceived as a president of big ideas who
eagerly embraced large visions and the risks involved. His supporters credit
him with re-establishing America’s place as the world’s uncontested leader.
Internationally, he has been maligned for his "cowboy diplomacy" in
foreign affairs. Like many presidents before him, the George W. Bush presidency
will find its place in history balanced against his successes and failures.
In July 2013,
George W. Bush made history when he joined President Barack Obama in Africa in
commemoration of the 15th anniversary of Osama bin Laden's first attack on the
United States—marking the first meeting on foreign soil to commemorate an act
of terrorism between two U.S. presidents.
Bush ran into
some health problems later that summer. On August 6, he underwent surgery to
insert a stent in his heart to open a blockage in one of his arteries. The
blockage discovered during his annual physical. Through a spokesperson, Bush
expressed his gratitude to "the skilled medical professionals who have
cared for him," according to the Associated Press. Bush also thanked
"his family, friends, and fellow citizens for their prayers and well
wishes. And he encourages us all to get our regular check-ups."
That October,
it was revealed that Bush's heart condition was more serious than originally
described. He had a 95% blockage in that artery before his surgery, according
to CNN.com. If he had not been treated, Bush would have been at risk of having
a heart attack.
https://www.biography.com/people/george-w-bush-9232768
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