George W. Bush

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. The eldest son of President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush , he earned a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University in 1968 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975, followed by service in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973. Before entering national politics, Bush worked in the oil industry, co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team, and served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000, where he pursued education reforms and criminal justice changes emphasizing accountability. Bush secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 and narrowly defeated Vice President Al Gore after the U.S. Supreme Court halted a manual recount in Florida in the case Bush v. Gore , awarding him the state's electoral votes and the presidency despite losing the national popular vote. His administration's defining event was the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks, prompting the launch of the War on Terror , including the invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime harboring the terrorists and the 2003 invasion of Iraq to eliminate Saddam Hussein 's government, justified by intelligence assessments of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism ties that proved inaccurate. Domestically, Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act to enforce educational standards through testing and accountability, enacted major tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 to stimulate economic growth, and expanded Medicare with prescription drug coverage in 2003, though these policies contributed to significant federal deficits. Re-elected in 2004 against Senator John Kerry , his second term faced challenges including the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which drew criticism for delays and coordination failures, and the 2008 financial crisis, addressed via the Troubled Asset Relief Program to stabilize banks amid rising unemployment and housing market collapse. Post-presidency, Bush founded the George W. Bush Presidential Center , focusing on policy research, leadership development, and global health initiatives, while pursuing interests in painting and memoir-writing.

George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut , the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush . His father, born June 12, 1924, enlisted in the U.S. Navy on his eighteenth birthday in 1942, trained as a pilot in July 1943—the youngest in the Navy at the time—and flew 58 combat missions as a torpedo bomber pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II until September 1945. After the war, George H. W. Bush attended Yale University , graduating in 1948, before moving the family to West Texas in 1948 to enter the oil business, first in Odessa and then Midland. His mother, born June 8, 1925, in New York City , grew up in the suburban town of Rye, New York, as the daughter of Marvin Pierce, who became president of McCall Corporation, a major publishing firm, and Pauline Robinson Pierce; she met George H. W. Bush at a Christmas dance during her senior year at Ashley Hall boarding school in 1941, and they married on January 6, 1945.

The Bush family traced its American roots to New England, with a tradition of public service exemplified by George W. Bush's paternal grandfather, Prescott Sheldon Bush , born May 15, 1895, in Columbus, Ohio. Prescott Bush graduated from Yale in 1917, served in World War I with the Connecticut National Guard's field artillery, and later built a career in investment banking as a partner at Brown Brothers Harriman; he was elected as a Republican U.S. Senator from Connecticut, serving from November 4, 1952, to January 3, 1963. On his mother's side, Marvin Pierce rose to prominence in publishing, influencing Barbara Bush's early exposure to business and social circles in New York.