George Walker Bush (/ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈwɔːkɚ ˈbʊʃ/; born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States. He served as the forty-sixth Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before being sworn in as president on January 20, 2001. His term ends at noon (ET) on January 20, 2009.[3]
Bush is the eldest son of former U.S. president George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush. After graduating from Yale University, Bush worked in his family's oil businesses. He married Laura Welch in 1977 and unsuccessfully ran for the United States House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards to become Governor of Texas in 1994. In a close and controversial election, Bush was elected president in 2000 as the Republican candidate, receiving a majority of the electoral votes, but losing the popular vote.
Eight months into his first term as president, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred, and Bush announced a global War on Terrorism, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan that same year, and an invasion of Iraq in 2003. In addition to national security issues, President Bush has attempted to promote policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. He has enacted large tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind Act,[4] medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors, and his tenure has seen a national debate on immigration.[5]
Bush ran for re-election against Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2004 and was re-elected, garnering 50.7% of the popular vote to his opponent's 48.3%.[6] After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism.[7][8][9] Bush was a popular president for much of his first term, peaking after the September 11 terrorist attacks when he received the highest approval rating of any president. His popularity declined sharply during his second term and he received the lowest approval rating as well as the lowest sustained approval numbers on record.
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