Early Life and Education

Born July 6, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut to his father, former President George H. W. Bush and mother Barbara, George W. entered a family bred for politics. With family lines reaching to 15 presidents and late Kings of England and Scotland, the young George and his younger siblings Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy, had much to live up to.

George W. was raised for the most part in Midland and Houston, Texas. Sent to Andover, Massachusetts George W. attended the all boys Phillips Academy where he played baseball. Like his father before him, Bush attended Yale University, where he participated in the shadowy Skull and Bones society and performed more or less in a mediocre fashion before receiving a Bachelor's degree in history in 1968.

That same year, with the Vietnam War still raging, Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard as a pilot flying F-102 fighter jets. Bush transferred to the Alabama Air National Guard to help a Republican candidate in 1972 before being given a discharge in 1973. This transfer and period became a matter of some controversy during the 2004 election when accusations were made that Bush was absent without leave and only evaded punishment because of his father's considerable influence.

In 1975 Bush received an MBA from Harvard University and became involved in the oil industry in Midland, Texas. He met Laura Welch in 1977 and the two were later married. It was Laura Bush who converted George W. to the Methodist Church from his previous Episcopalian affiliation.

Entrance Into Politics: Establishing the Political Dynasty

Although he had helped with some Republican senate campaigns and witnessed his father's own Senate campaign, George W.'s first real foray into politics was in 1978, when he ran for the seat of the 19th Congressional District of Texas as a Republican. Although he defeated his Republican primary opponent, Jim Reese, Bush lost the race in November to Democrat Kent Hance despite outspending him. Following this defeat, George W. returned to being an oilman and was a senior or executive member of several companies, including Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy (Source: Wikipedia.org). This second entry into the oil business was not successful due in part to the worldwide decline of oil prices in the 1980's. To help with his father's presidential bid, George W. moved to Washington D.C. in 1988. The campaign was successful for the elder Bush, who defeated Micheal Dukakis easily. George W. returned to Texas and became involved in yet another business venture, although this time not oil.

Bush became part owner of the Texas Rangers, a Major League Baseball franchise, in 1989 and was heavily involved in its operation. After 5 years of rebuilding the franchise became somewhat successful and was sold in 1994, with George W. netting 15 million dollars from an initial investment of only $800,000 (Source: Wikipedia.org). That same year Bush also reentered politics, making a run in the gubernatorial race in Texas against a popular Democratic incumbent, Ann Richards. Key to Bush's campaign were several political consultants, especially Karen Hughes, John Allbaugh, and Karl Rove. Together they crafted a successful message and method that was noted for its consistency and focus. Although accusations of underhandedness were leveled against the Bush campaign in its depiction of Governor Richards he did stand out in the debates and went on to defeat Richards by getting 52 percent of the vote compared to the Governor's 47 percent.

Establishing a Base: The Governorship of Texas

George W. Bush was sworn in as the Governor of Texas on January 22, 1995. During his first term education reforms were introduced which included more funding for schools as well as higher standards for academic performance. Governor Bush pushed for tort reform and most notably, reformed the criminal justice system in Texas. During George W.'s time in office, Texas executed 152 inmates, a record for modern American state governors (Source: wikipedia.org).

Another major position Bush took was on taxes, a future hallmark of his time in the White House. He pushed through a multi-billion dollar tax cut plan (made possible by a budget surplus) and favored pro-business policies. Faith-based initiatives were pioneered by Governor Bush, which provided state funding for religious charities and groups. In 1998, Bush won a second term with a landslide victory, garnering 69 percent of the vote. Conservatives, especially Christian conservatives were a key support base that he and his political team targeted and relied on. Following this victory, Bush began considering a run at the White House.

A Close Call: The 2000 Presidential Election

Upon entering the presidential race in 1999, George W. was in a crowded field. Senator John McCain of Arizona, Elizabeth Dole, Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes and Steve Forbes were all major contestants for the Republican nomination. But, Bush was considered the front-runner early on because of several factors, especially his father's connections and his successful governorship of Texas. These advantages resulted in a massive amount of fund raising which gave Bush so much of an edge that most of the Republican field dropped out before the Iowa primary. Bush won the Iowa caucus to open the primary season, but surprisingly lost New Hampshire to Sen. John McCain. This event was a huge upset that caught the attention of the nation, and forced the Bush campaign to refocus. In a controversial move, the Bush campaign ran negative attack ads against McCain and ended up winning the South Carolina primary and essentially the nomination. Bush won by focusing on a conservative base that made up most of the voters of Republican primaries and using a very well run and organized campaign that wasn't afraid of hardball politics, in contrast to the underdog efforts of McCain who campaigned as a crusading maverick against the political establishment and focused on moderate Republicans and independents.

After being made the official Republican nominee at the convention in Philadelphia in 2000 and choosing his running mate, Dick Cheney, the run for the White House entered the final stretch against the Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore and his running mate Sen. Joe Liebermann. The Bush team shaped the general campaign with character as a central theme, something that would appeal to the religious right and rural America. Defense spending and tax cuts were emphasized, but even more was the idea of "compassionate conservatism", an ideology in which religion and government needn't be at complete arms length and economic concerns didn't always trump the suffering of people. Social conservatism on issues such as abortion and family values was emphasized and the issue of integrity was frequently mentioned by Bush, who said that the White House had to be restored to a position of respect, in reference to the scandals of the Clinton Administration during the 1990's.

George W. was noted for his gaffes during the campaign, frequently mispronouncing names of foreign leaders or not knowing them at all. He was also unafraid of mentioning his personal faith and was outspoken about the effect it had on changing his life. For the most part, Gore and Bush differed on taxes, gun control, defense and the role of the United States in the world, and entitlement issues. Bush thought that nation building and the United States playing the role of global cop needed to change, while Gore did not. Bush also believed in a national missile defense shield and a reexamination of the role of the UN and the rise of China. Gore tried to present climate change as a major issue but was unsuccessful at the time.

Election Day, November 7,2000 turned out to be inconclusive. News services and the major television networks continually projected the winner only to withdraw the projections several times. By the end of that night it was clear that Bush and Gore were running a virtual tie in electoral college votes with Florida being the swing state that would decide the election. However, due to issues with ballots in several counties in Florida, three recounts were ordered with the margin of victory being in the hundreds out of over 6 million votes cast. The first two recounts by machine pointed to Bush as the winner, but the Gore campaign insisted on a hand recount to make sure that "hanging chads" and other such ballot problems were not being overlooked. The Florida Supreme Court supported this, but the Bush team pressed the issue all the way to the United States Supreme Court which voted along ideological lines in a 5-4 vote. Republican Katherine Harris was then able to certify the results of the previous recounts, which made George W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes, giving him 271 total votes and the White House, even though he lost the popular vote by over 500,000. The 2000 election was one of the closest and most controversial elections in American history, leaving many bitter feelings that divided the nation in the aftermath.

Early First Term Achievements

President Bush was sworn in on January 20, 2001. His cabinet and White House staff consisted of many former members of previous administrations, such as Dick Cheney (who had been Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush) and Donald Rumsfeld who had been the youngest secretary of defense under Gerald Ford during the 1970's. In addition, former Join Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell was Secretary of State and John Ashcroft was the Attorney General. Condoleeza Rice was National Security Advisor and Paul O'Neil was secretary of the Treasury. Bush chose Andy Card as his Chief of Staff and Ari Fleischer as his Press Secretary.

Initially, the Bush Administration pushed forward as it had advertised during the campaign, pursuing a domestic policy centered on education reform and tax cuts. The No Child Left Behind Act was soon passed with the unlikely help of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, and in July of 2001, the first of what would be several major tax cuts was passed, although they faced opposition in the Congress. The economy was coming off the dotcom boom of the 1990's and was facing recession although unemployment was still low. Foreign policy centered on North Korea, the withdrawal of the United States from the ABM treaty of 1972 with Russia, rejection of the Kyoto treaty, and diplomatic wrangling with China over an incident in which an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter collided in April of 2001. However, Mr. Bush's first term would overwhelmingly be defined by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The War President

On September 11, 2001 President Bush was in an elementary school class room when he received word of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center. The attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. were devastating with the loss of nearly 3,000 lives and immense damage to the affected areas. Following the attacks, President Bush declared a "War on Terror" and vowed action against the perpetrators of the attacks. On October 8, 2001, the United States and allies began a military campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which had been harboring Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group Al-Qaeda (which claimed responsibility for 9/11) for years. Over 11,000 troops plus many aircraft from the United States and NATO took part, helping the Northern Alliance resistance group overthrow the Taliban during the fall of 2001 and spring of 2002. The United States was successful in defeating the Taliban, but many members of Al-Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden managed to escape into the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the home front the State of the Union Address given in January 2002 clearly defined what the Bush Administration's policies were going to be with regards to terrorism. Bush declared an "Axis of Evil", consisting of Iraq, Iran and North Korea that was a threat to the free world. He also outlined the case that preemptive war was justified if the United States was at great risk of a terrorist attack, a policy later called the Bush Doctrine. The President pushed through the Patriot Act which gave the executive branch far-reaching powers to use warrant-less wire taps, confiscation of personal information, data mining and other previously limited intelligence gathering methods to combat terrorists. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security was created with Tom Ridge as the Secretary in order to coordinate efforts to protect the United States from attacks, most notably with airport security and a color coded threat level alert.

By the spring of 2002, the sights had shifted to Iraq and Bush began to prepare for a confrontation with Saddam Hussein over the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's). By the spring of 2003, after much diplomatic posturing and disagreement with France and Germany and a bitter debate at home over the justification for the war, the United States and a "Coalition of the Willing" as the President called it was ready for an invasion of Iraq. In March 2003, the invasion began and by May was over, with the regime of Saddam easily defeated by the vastly superior military of the United States. On May 1st, 2003 President Bush flew onto the USS Abraham Lincoln and announced the end of major combat operations. However, no WMD's were found and civil strife quickly erupted in Iraq and increased with Coalition soldiers being attacked more and more and ethnic cleansing and other crimes increasing.

At first the Interim Governing Authority under the American Paul Bremer III was in charge, but in January of 2005 elections were held and an a sovereign Iraqi government took over, which Mr. Bush hailed as a great achievement and a sign that the democracy he hoped to seed in the Middle East had taken root. Attacks against Coalition forces have continued to the present with over 3,800 dead and tens of thousands wounded, in addition to a hotly disputed number of Iraqi civilian casualties, which ranges from the tens of thousands to over 100,000. The Iraq war has become very unpopular all over the world and at home and was a major reason for the Democratic victory in the midterm 2006 elections.

2004 Presidential Campaign

President Bush faced the Democratic Sen. John Kerry from Massachussets with running mate John Edwards in 2004. In a hotly contested campaign, the Democrats could not unseat a wartime president. Sen. Kerry focused on the huge tax cuts and the widening gap between rich and poor, massive deficits, poor international standing and most importantly the decision for war as well as the handling of it in his campaign. Bush in turn, accused Kerry and the Democrats of being soft on terror and unfit to lead a nation in a time of war, implying in attack ads that Kerry was indecisive, "a flip-flopper". Kerry was also depicted as a liberal who would raise taxes and expand government at the expense of business. Once again, Mr. Bush relied on the good organization of the Republican party, his fundraising ability (amassing nearly $195,000,000) and his longtime friend and advisor Karl Rove with his style of base politics. As in 2000, it was a close election but no recount was needed in the somewhat close vote in Ohio, as Bush won a second term with 286 electoral votes. The Christian Right was instrumental in helping Bush win a second term.

A Man of Conviction

Describing his reelection as a mandate, Bush pushed forward into his second term with a Republican majority in both Houses of Congress and considerable political capital. However, his effort to reform Social Security failed in the spring of 2005 and in August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina and the poor response by FEMA made the Administration look very impotent domestically and opinion polls have fallen to a 30 percent approval rating. Continued budget deficits, and the devolution of Iraq into a quagmire in 2005 and 2006 made Mr. Bush's ability to maneuver limited.

The issues with domestic wiretapping and other problems with the Patriot Act have also plagued his second term. John Ashcroft and Colin Powell and John Snow all left after the first term. Alberto Gonzales became Attorney General but faced a major scandal with the firing of several U.S. Attorney's and recently resigned. In 2007, Karl Rove also left Mr. Bush, a move which surprised many. However, President Bush has remained steadfast in his stance on the Iraq War, dismissing talk of withdrawing and insisting that progress is being made despite the very violent and chaotic situation there.

• Notable Policy Achievements
  • No Child Left Behind
  • Tax Cuts (2001,2003)
  • Medicare Prescription Benefit
  • Patriot Act