Happy Birthday Dubya
On July 6, 1946 (66 years ago today) George Walker Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush.
Bush attended school in Midland, Texas and Houston, finishing high school in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and during his senior year was the head cheerleader. He attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, where he was also a cheerleader and a member of the Skull and Bones society. In the fall of 1973, Bush attended the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Master of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to have earned an M.B.A.
In 1978, Bush ran for the House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district. His opponent, Kent Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans and Bush lost the election by 6,000 votes. He returned to the oil industry and began a series of small, independent oil exploration companies. He moved his family to Washington, D.C. in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency. Returning to Texas after the successful campaign, he purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner for five years. Bush's sale of his shares in the Rangers in 1998 brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment. Bush was elected as the 46th Governor of Texas, defeating populat incumbent Democrat Ann Richards. He held the office from 1995 to 2000.
In the closest and most controversial election in modern times, Bush was elected president in 2000, becoming the fourth president to be elected while receiving less popular votes nationwide than his opponent. Eight months into Bush's first term as president, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred. He responded with a War on Terror, an international military campaign which included the war in Afghanistan launched in 2001 and the war in Iraq launched in 2003.
In addition to national security issues, Bush also quarterbacked an extensive domestic policy agenda which affected economic, health care, education, and social security reform. He signed into law broad tax cuts (which are still referred to as the "Bush Tax Cuts), the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. During his time in office there were spirited and in some cases polarizing national debates on such subjects as immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and enhanced interrogation techniques. His administration also withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
Bush successfully ran for re-election in 2004 against Democratic Senator John Kerry. In 2005, the Bush Administration dealt with widespread criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina. The combined effect of this and growing unpopularity over the Iraq War, Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections. In December 2007, the United States entered its longest post–World War II recession, prompting the Bush Administration to enact multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system.
After leaving office, Bush returned to Texas and purchased a home in a suburban area of Dallas. If you want to see him, you can always attend a home game of the Texas Rangers where he and his wife Laura usually sit in the front row between home plate and the home team's dugout. Accompanied by his father, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World Series on October 31, 2010.
Bush first spoke as a motivational speaker on October 26, 2009 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. He released his memoir, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release interview promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger," and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. At the request of President Barack Obama, he and former President Bill Clinton established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier in January.
On May 2, 2011, President Obama called Bush, who was at a restaurant with his wife, to inform him that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The Bushes joined the Obamas in New York City to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the Ground Zero memorial, Bush read a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a widow who lost five sons during the Civil War.
Bush attended school in Midland, Texas and Houston, finishing high school in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and during his senior year was the head cheerleader. He attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, where he was also a cheerleader and a member of the Skull and Bones society. In the fall of 1973, Bush attended the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Master of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to have earned an M.B.A.
In 1978, Bush ran for the House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district. His opponent, Kent Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans and Bush lost the election by 6,000 votes. He returned to the oil industry and began a series of small, independent oil exploration companies. He moved his family to Washington, D.C. in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency. Returning to Texas after the successful campaign, he purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner for five years. Bush's sale of his shares in the Rangers in 1998 brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment. Bush was elected as the 46th Governor of Texas, defeating populat incumbent Democrat Ann Richards. He held the office from 1995 to 2000.
In the closest and most controversial election in modern times, Bush was elected president in 2000, becoming the fourth president to be elected while receiving less popular votes nationwide than his opponent. Eight months into Bush's first term as president, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred. He responded with a War on Terror, an international military campaign which included the war in Afghanistan launched in 2001 and the war in Iraq launched in 2003.
In addition to national security issues, Bush also quarterbacked an extensive domestic policy agenda which affected economic, health care, education, and social security reform. He signed into law broad tax cuts (which are still referred to as the "Bush Tax Cuts), the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. During his time in office there were spirited and in some cases polarizing national debates on such subjects as immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and enhanced interrogation techniques. His administration also withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
Bush successfully ran for re-election in 2004 against Democratic Senator John Kerry. In 2005, the Bush Administration dealt with widespread criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina. The combined effect of this and growing unpopularity over the Iraq War, Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections. In December 2007, the United States entered its longest post–World War II recession, prompting the Bush Administration to enact multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system.
After leaving office, Bush returned to Texas and purchased a home in a suburban area of Dallas. If you want to see him, you can always attend a home game of the Texas Rangers where he and his wife Laura usually sit in the front row between home plate and the home team's dugout. Accompanied by his father, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World Series on October 31, 2010.
Bush first spoke as a motivational speaker on October 26, 2009 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. He released his memoir, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release interview promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger," and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. At the request of President Barack Obama, he and former President Bill Clinton established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier in January.
On May 2, 2011, President Obama called Bush, who was at a restaurant with his wife, to inform him that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The Bushes joined the Obamas in New York City to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the Ground Zero memorial, Bush read a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a widow who lost five sons during the Civil War.