Bush, George Walker

Bush, George Walker (b. 6 July 1946). 43^rd US President 2001–  Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated with a BA from Yale, and enlisted in the National Guard, which allowed him to avoid service in Vietnam. He obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School, and returned to Midland, Texas, where he had spent part of his childhood. He entered the oil business, where he had mixed success, but made a fortune through his investment in the Texas Rangers baseball team. Having failed in 1978 to become a Representative in the US Congress, his candidacy for the Governorship of Texas in 1994 came as a surprise. Even more striking was his victory against the popular incumbent, Ann Richards. This was enabled by a conservative programme opposing abortion rights and gun control (Brady Bill). He excelled at working together with the Democrat-dominated legislature, focusing on education reform and tax reforms to stimulate business. As Governor, he moved to the centre ground, reinventing himself as a ‘compassionate conservative’. His willingness to be identified with the right wing of the party and his own evangelicalism allowed him to move to the centre without alienating the right wing of the Republican Party. After consistently high opinion poll ratings from 1998 onwards, he became the Republican candidate for the Presidency. His friendliness towards business interests allowed him to collect substantial campaign donations against the formidable machine of his Democratic opponent, Vice-President Gore. During the race, he came across as more affable and congenial, against the more wooden and cold image of his opponent. He was elected President in a most controversial election by a minority of the popular votes cast. The contest was decided by the electoral votes of Florida, which Bush won by a few hundred votes after one recount and several high court challenges (culminating in a controversial US Supreme Court decision) about the ways in which ballots were counted.

he first son since John Quincy Adams to succeed his father to the Presidency, Bush left much of the organization of his administration to his running mate, Dick Cheney. The administration's first months in office were highly controversial. The President's energy policies were seen as pandering to business rather than the national interest, while his tax cuts were considered by many economists as being too sweeping and ill-targeted. His popularity, the lowest of any president in his first months in office, soared after the September 11 attacks. Bush caught the national mood when declaring a War on Terrorism, which toppled the Taliban in months at almost no human cost to the Americans. His economic policies were controversial, as his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts of up to $2 trillion over ten years projected a growing budget deficit, as did the 2002 budget: This passed the largest increase in regular military spending (by 15%) for 20 years, up to a total of $379bn. Bush was boosted by unprecedented levels of popular support. This allowed him to realize much of his political agenda, which included the biggest shake-up of government administration for 50 years through the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Bush also enacted educational reform and moved to appoint right-wing district judges. To a greater degree than many of his predecessors, Bush became involved in foreign policy, much against his original intentions. Much to the confusion of American and European foreign policy elites, Bush conducted a personal style of foreign policy based less on diplomacy than on personal rapport and trust. As a result, he bore lasting personal resentments against the French President, Chirac, and against the German Chancellor, Schröder, for their refusal to back his campaign for regime change in Iraq. Bush appeared vindicated by the spectacularly swift US occupation of Iraq in the Iraq War. His declaration of 1 May 2003, however, that major combat operations were over, proved ill-advised, as US troops continued to be subject to hostile attack thereafter. In 2003, more US soldiers were killed in November (81) than in April (73) at the height of the war. Bush faced growing domestic pressure to put an end to the persistent attacks on US soldiers and pacify Iraq, and to enlist international aid in doing so. Nevertheless, Bush continued to be a remarkably popular, if divisive, president. And, contrary to most predictions made at the start of his presidency, Bush had proven to be a remarkably decisive and politically astute leader.

Bush election victory