Forty-third President - 2001-2009
Born: July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut
On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush took office after a long, contested election. On election night, it became clear that the vote in Florida was too close to call, leaving Florida’s crucial 25 electoral votes in question and the race between Mr. Bush and Democratic opponent Al Gore unresolved. After a legal battle between the Bush and Gore camps over hand recounts in Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Florida recounts unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision, ending Gore’s bid for the presidency about one month after election night.
Among those watching George W. Bush take the oath of office was his father, former president George H. W. Bush. Not since John and John Quincy Adams had a father and son both served as president. Politics runs in the Bush family: Prescott Bush, George W.’s grandfather, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut and his brother Jeb was elected governor of Florida.
After earning an MBA from Harvard in 1975, George W. Bush had an early, unsuccessful flirtation with politics when he ran for Congress in 1978; he then concentrated on the oil business from his base in Midland, Texas. He sold the business and left Midland to help his father, the sitting vice president, win the 1988 presidential election. George W. then returned to Texas and served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise from 1989 until 1994.
In 1994, he was elected governor of Texas; four years later, he became the first Texas governor to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms, winning 68 percent of the vote.
The historic 2000 presidential election was soon eclipsed by another history-making event when, on September 11, 2001, nineteen Muslim extremists commandeered four U.S. airliners; three were flown into landmark buildings, and the fourth crashed, killing thousands of civilians. Just months after a presidential campaign that had focused on domestic issues, President Bush was to declare a long-term war against international terrorism.
In February of 2008, it was officially announced that Laura Bush’s alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, would be the home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Groundbreaking is planned for late 2010 with an anticipated completion date in 2013. In November of 2009, Mr. Bush introduced the new George W. Bush Institute, also located at Southern Methodist University, as a forum for study and advocacy in four main areas: education, global health, human freedom, and economic growth. Since retirement, the Bushes have lived nearby in University Park as well as on their ranch in Crawford, Texas. There have been no plans announced publicly for their burial locations.
For additional information
Visit www.georgebushlibrary.com for information about the George W. Bush Presidential Center, including the library, museum, and the George W. Bush Policy Institute.