George W. Bush

President of the United States of America

(Official Website, Biography.com, A&E Television Networks)

George Walker Bush was sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States on 20 January 2001. A member of the Republican Party, Bush succeeded Democrat William J. Clinton to the post.

Bush was born on 6 July 1946 in New Haven, Conn., and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a Bachelor's degree in history from Yale University in 1968 and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975.

Between 1968 and 1973, Bush served as a pilot for the Texas Air National Guard. In 1975 he began his professional career in the oil and gas business, which he left in 1986. In 1988 he was actively involved in his father's successful campaign for the presidency, and in 1989, together with a group of investors, purchased the Texas Rangers professional baseball team to serve as its managing general partner until November 1994, when he was elected governor of Texas. In 1998 Bush struck a precedent by getting re-elected to a second consecutive four-year term as Texas governor.

In 1999 Bush announced his plans to run for the presidency and after a tough battle with other Republican candidates, won the primaries in March 2000. On 2 August 2000, George Bush and his choice for a running mate, Richard Cheney, were formally nominated for president and vice-president of the United States at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. After one of the most competitive presidential races in American history, Bush and Cheney defeated the Democratic Party's candidates, former Vice-President Al Gore and Sen Joseph Lieberman. However, the victory took weeks of complicated legal procedures and recounts of the Florida votes to certify.

In his first speech as president, Bush reiterated his commitment to a spirit of bi-partisanship and vowed to be the leader of "one nation," not "one party". Some of his key domestic priorities included improving education, reducing taxes and strengthening the military.

On the foreign policy front, Bush pledged to keep the international commitments undertaken by the previous administration, yet suggesting a possible scaling down of US presence in international peacekeeping operations, including in the Balkans. Less than nine months after stepping into office, Bush faced a major challenge following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September. A few months later he put the US in the driving seat of the global campaign against terror.

Bush married Laura Welch in 1977. They have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, born in 1981.