Biography
George W. Bush Biography
George W. Bush delivering a speech to the Republican Party in St. Petersburg, Florida, October 19, 2004
George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States. He took office in 2001 and was re-elected and started his second term on January 20, 2005. Prior to becoming the President, Bush was elected as the Governor of Texas for six years. He was born on July 6, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut. Bush attended Philips Academy and Yale University.
Bush was an F-102 fighter pilot for the Texas National Guard. He then attended Harvard Business School, after which he moved to Midland Texas and became a business career in energy. Bush worked on his fathers Presidential campaign and then gathered a group together and bought the Texas Rangers baseball team.
President Bush married Laura Welch who was a teacher and librarian. They have a set of twin girls, Barbara and Jenna.
Bush ran as a compassionate conservative in the 2000 election. He maintained the traditional conservative line with regard to core issues, like preferring a small government, tax reductions and a strong military. He opposed gun control as well as abortion. He chose Dick Cheney as his running mate.
Bush defeated Al Gore his first term. The election was a close one and there were many situations that came up on election night. The media had early on predicted the winner as the one who could win Florida. Bush’s won with a thin margin of 1,200 votes and an automatic recount was in order. The case wound up in the US Supreme Court. Bush officially became the President-elect on December 13. Bush had won with the Electoral College but he had actually lost the popular vote.
In his domestic agenda, Bush focused on a $1.35 trillion tax cut to take place over 11 years. Bush also worked on an antimissile defense system (a system that was designed to intercept long-rage missiles).
Bush’s foreign policy was mainly rejecting a number of international treaties that the Bush administration felt was not in the best interest for Americans. Treaties that were rejected included the Kyoto treaty which was on global warming, a treaty to establish an international war-crimes court. Bush also withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty. Bush was successful in persuading Russians to agree to a treaty that would reduce the nuclear weapons stockpiles by two-thirds for Russia and the US.
On September 11, 2001 when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the lives of Americans changed forever. Bush worked to quickly restore a sense of resolve and security. Bush focused on international terrorism. Bush worked with leaders in other countries to share intelligence, freezing assets of suspected terrorists and apprehending Al-Qaeda group members as well as other suspected terrorists.
On October 7, the US and Britain started war by launching air strikes against Afghanistan, after the Taliban government refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the one behind the September 11 attacks. The Taliban collapsed but bin Laden still has not been caught. Some have suggested the real reason for the invasion was to secure pipelines for natural gas and oil.
Bush then announced that Iraq was a major threat to the US, based partially on weapons of mass destruction (that were never found), but there is evidence that before 9/11 there was talk of toppling Saddam. He labeled Iraq as part of the “Axis of evil”. A preemptive strike was called. In September 2002 Bush went to the UN challenging them to enforce their resolutions against Iraq or else the US would have no choice but to act for itself. The UN approved to imposing new arms inspection and with slow and little cooperation from Iraq, the patience ran out and Bush declared war on March 19 without the support of the UN security council. On April 9, Baghdad fell. The resistance to the occupation continues, and Bush has become unpopular, especially outside of America, for his handling of the conflict.
The reconstruction period is extremely difficult. The infrastructure needed to be rebuilt. The costs of the war were mounting. The pressure started to building with just the majority of the troops from US and Britain. Very little help came from other countries.
Bush created a new Cabinet position in the Homeland Security Department. Since in office, Bush has worked with Congress to provide for all Americans an ownership society. He passed a tax relief bill that allows workers to keep more of their money. Bush also passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.
Bush has also worked to improve healthcare and modernize Medicare. The very first prescription drug benefit for senior citizens was also passed. He has also worked to increase home ownership and conserving our environment.
In his Presidential bid for his second term, Bush was up against John Kerry. The campaign was a long and heated. The ware in Iraq, healthcare, and terrorism were the major issues. Kerry accused Bush of mismanaging the war in Iraq. Kerry was called out as being a flip flopper and not being a strong leader to fight terror.
Bush won the election with 51% of the popular vote in November 2004. The two main issues that were identified as the reason why Bush was elected were moral values and fighting terrorism.
Facts
George W. Bush Facts
- President No.: 43rd
- Served: 2001-2009
- Party: Republican
- From: Texas
- Married: Laura Bush
- Born: July 6, 1946
- Education: Yale University, Harvard University
- Jobs Before President: Businessman, owner of major league baseball team, Governor of Texas
- Height: 5 feet, 11 inches
- Population at time: 281,421,906
- Hobbies: Baseball, reading and biking
- Pets: Dogs, Scottish Terriers Barney and Miss Beazley. He has a cat named India “Willie”
- Transportation: Helicopter, airplane, car
- Communication Methods: Letters, phone, email
Books
Books
Videos
Speeches
George W. Bush Speeches
George W. Bush Inaugural Addresses
George W. Bush State of the Union Addresses
Quotes
George W. Bush Quotes
Compassionate conservatism.
1999 campaign slogan.
Some people say that I proved that if you get a C average, you can end up being successful in life.
1st September, 1999. Campaigning at a grade school in Bedford, New Hampshire.
Now, some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards. I say it is discrimination to require anything less—the soft bigotry of low expectations.
2nd September, 1999. Los Angeles, speech to Latin American Business Association.
Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?
11th January, 2000. Speech in Florence, South Carolina.
I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.
19th February, 2000. Quoted in New York Daily News.
If we’re an arrogant nation, they’ll resent us. If we’re a humble nation but strong, they’ll welcome us.
11th October, 2000. 2nd Presidential Debate.
To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.
21st May, 2001. Commencement address at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut.
We will make no distinction between terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.
12th September, 2001. Television address.
I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
14th September, 2001. To someone who shouted “I can’t hear you” at the World Trade Center site in New York.
It is time for us to win the frist war of the 21st century.
16th September, 2001. Press conference.
I want justice. And there’s an old poster out West, that I recall, that said, “Wanted, Dead or Alive.”.
17th September, 2001. Remarks at the Pentagon.
We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
20th September, 2001. Address to joint session of Congress.
Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
20th September, 2001. Address to joint session of Congress.
We have seen their kind before. They’re the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.
20th September, 2001. Address to joint session of Congress.
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.
20th September, 2001. Address to joint session of Congress.
When I take action, I’m not going to fire a two million-dollar missile at a ten-dollar empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.
24th September, 2001. Quoted in Newsweek.
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.
29th January, 2002. State of the Union Address. (States are Iran, Iraq and North Korea)
America has, and intends to keep, military strengths beyond challenge, thereby making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.
1st June, 2002. Speech at West Point.
All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding or will it be irrelevant?
12th September, 2002. Speech to United Nations General Assembly in New York.
This looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I’m not interested in watching it.
22nd January, 2003. Commenting on pressure to give Iraq more time to disarm, quoted in Washington Post.
The cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose; it is a desire written in the human heart.
4th February, 2003. Memorial speech for the seven crew members killed in space shuttle Columbia which had been destroyed three days earlier.
Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.
17th March, 2003. Broadcast.
My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
1st May, 2003. Address on board USS Abraham Lincoln.
I’m the master of low expectations.
4th June, 2003. Press interview.
My answer is bring ‘em on.
2nd July, 2003. Press conference. Referring to insurgent attacks on American troops.
The best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are the people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.
22nd September, 2003. Interview on Fox News with Britt Hume.
There is a higher father that I appeal to.
2004. On why he didn’t consult his father, former president George Bush, on going to war. Quoted in Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward.
America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people.
20th January, 2004. State of the Union Address.
Freedom is on the march.
2004 campaign slogan.
In Texas, we don’t do nuance.
28th March, 2004. Remark to a CNN reporter Candy Crowley.
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
5th August, 2004. Speech on signing an appropriations bill for Department of Defense.
Catastrophic success.
29th August, 2004. Interview in Time magazine.
I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.
4th November, 2004. Press conference.
The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
20th January, 2005. Second Inaugural Address.
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