George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He is a Republican. He has a ranch in Crawford, Texas, which is near Waco. He is the son of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush. He was Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Although, he originally planned to focus his presidency on programs like education and stay out of foreign wars, the 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in him changing his perspective. Since then, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and sent the military to invade countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. In his opinion, the best way to deal with terrorism was to strike before the terrorists could.

Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Bush grew up in Midland, Texas.

In 1978, Bush tried to get elected to Congress in West Texas, but lost. After that, he ran some oil companies and was one of the owners of the Texas Rangers baseball team. In 1994, he was elected to be Governor of Texas, defeating incumbent Democratic Governor Ann Richards.

Governor of Texas (1995-2000)

Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare reform, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement. After easily winning the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent Governor Ann Richards. Bush won the general election with 53.5 percent against Richards’ 45.9 percent.

Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas’s largest tax-cut, $2 billion. He extended government funding for organizations providing education of the dangers of alcohol and drug use and abuse, and helping to reduce domestic violence.

In 1998, Bush won re-election with a record 69 percent of the vote. He became the first governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms.

Throughout Bush’s first term, national attention focused on him as a potential future presidential candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared. Within a year, he decided to seek the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.

Bush ran against then-Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 United States presidential election. More than 100 million people voted on November 7, 2000. But the election was very close. When they began counting the votes, it became clear that whoever got the most votes in the state of Florida would win the election. But there were many issues with the ballots in Florida. Gore sued to get Florida to count the votes again. For more than a month no one knew who won the election. The Supreme Court made a decision to stop recounting votes. Gore decided to accept his loss on December 13 and Bush was declared the winner.

Presidency (2001-09)

First term (2001-05)

While he was President, George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law. It was an education reform bill.

Bush was the first President of the United States to deliver a speech in both Spanish and in English.

He added Part D to Medicare, which gives older people free medicine if they can not afford it.

He also signed very large tax cuts (many of them were for the middle and lower class) during his presidency.

Bush did not approve of abortion. In 2004, he signed the Unborn Victims Of Violence Act which made it so that if a pregnant woman is murdered, her murderer can also be charged with killing the fetus that the woman was carrying.

His first foreign policy test came when an American spy plane crashed in China. Bush peacefully negotiated the release of the plane crew.

Eight months after Bush became president, the September 11 attacks occurred. Because of this, President Bush declared a War on Terror.

Bush tried to do many things to stop another terrorist attack from happening. He ordered an invasion of Afghanistan in 2002. He did this because the leaders of Afghanistan were helping Osama bin Laden, the person who was responsible for attacking America on September 11, 2001 and it was almost ten years later on May 2, 2011 that bin Laden was killed on orders of President Barack Obama. The war in Afghanistan is still happening today, and over 80,000 people have been killed so far. Bush asked Congress to do more to stop terrorism. As a result, Congress passed a law that created the Department Of Homeland Security, a government department which tries to prevent terrorist attacks from happening. It also responds to emergencies such as floods or diseases.

He signed the Patriot Act (which allowed the government to listen to people’s phone calls so it can track down terrorists which try to communicate with each other).

After Saddam refused to cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors and the United States Congress authorized Bush to invade Iraq if its government did not cooperate with the weapons inspectors, Bush decided to invade Iraq in 2003. The United Kingdom supported the invasion. Saddam Hussein was removed from power, and Iraq turned into a democracy. Over 100,000 people were killed in this war.

Second term (2005-09)

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina (the most destructive hurricane in American history) happened. It caused over 1800 deaths and caused billions of dollars of destruction. George W. Bush signed several acts into law which would help Hurricane Katrina victims.

In the Iraq War, no weapons of mass destruction were found, and the Bush Administration was criticized for being wrong about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. Bush added more American troops to Iraq (which was called “the surge”) to speed up the war. The surge was successful, and in result, Iraq had less violence.

Although the economy was doing very well during much of his presidency, in early 2008, the economy was slowing down. Bush signed a bill into law which would gave $600 to every American citizen, hoping that people would go out and spend the money so that it would prevent a recession (a bad economy) from happening.

Later in 2008, stock market crashed and the country fell into its worst recession since the Great Depression. Bush helped create a 700 billion dollar bailout, which would give money to corporations (large businesses) to prevent them from being bankrupt and to try to prevent the recession from getting worse.

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  George and Laura Bush with their daughters Jenna and Barbara, 1990

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  Lt. George W. Bush while in the Texas Air National Guard

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  George W. Bush with his father outside the White House, April 29, 1992

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  Governor Bush (right) with father, former president George H. W. Bush and wife, Laura, in 1997

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  George W. Bush in Concord, New Hampshire signing to be a candidate for president

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  George W. Bush speaks at a campaign rally in 2004

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  President Bush addressing the media at the Pentagon, September 17, 2001

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  President Bush signing a $1.35 trillion tax cut into law, June 7, 2001

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  President Bush, standing with firefighter Bob Beckwith, addressing rescue workers at Ground Zero in New York, September 14, 2001

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  President Bush presenting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, January 13, 2009

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  President Bush and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan appearing at a joint news conference in Kabul, March 1, 2006

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  President Bush, with Naval Flight Officer Lieutenant Ryan Philips, after landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln prior to his Mission Accomplished speech, May 1, 2003

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  President Bush paying a surprise visit to Baghdad International Airport, November 27, 2003

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  President Bush with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, July 25, 2006

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  President Bush at the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of victory in World War II, Red Square, Moscow

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  President Bush with China’s President and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, 2006

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  President Bush with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Shanghai, October 21, 2001

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  President Bush and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, April 1, 2008

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  Anti-war demonstration during President Bush’s visit to London, June 2008

   

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