Albert Gore Jr

Home > People > History > U.S. History: Biographies

Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. 1948–, Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard, 1969. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was elected (1976) to the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee as a Democrat. In the Senate (1985–93), Gore emerged as a defender of environmental causes and an authority on nuclear arms control; his concerns for the environment were spelled out in his book Earth in the Balance (1992). In 1988 he was unsuccessful in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but, in 1992, Bill Clinton chose him as his running mate. As vice president, Gore formulated policy for reducing the cost and size of the federal government and was an advocate for the Internet and for environmental protection.

In 1996, Clinton and Gore were reelected. Gore immediately was regarded as the leading candidate for his party's 2000 presidential nomination; he began actively campaigning in 1999 and won a majority of the Democratic delegates early in 2000. Gore chose Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. Despite winning the popular vote, the Democratic ticket lost to Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney . Gore's campaign was hurt by the Green party candidate, Ralph Nader , and the extremely narrow loss of Florida's electoral votes. Gore sought manual recounts of computer punch card ballots from heavily Democratic Florida counties, but ultimately lost (Dec. 12) in the Supreme Court, which split 5–4 along ideological lines. Subsequent studies of the ballots by newspapers indicated (2001) that the outcome of the election in Florida depended on the method used to recount the ballots and on the counties whose votes were recounted. The legal, political, and media battles fought over the election, as well as the delay in finalizing the results, made the 2000 presidential vote the most contentious since the Hayes-Tilden election in 1876.

Soon after the election, Gore began teaching journalism at Columbia. In 2005 he cofounded Current TV, a news and features network on which a significant portion of the programming is created by its viewers. Gore also renewed his work on behalf of the environment, which crested in 2006 with the publication of his book An Inconvenient Truth and the documentary film of the same name (Academy Award, 2007); both deal with the perils of global warming . In 2007 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their efforts to alert people to the threats posed by climate change caused by human activity and for their work in helping to disseminate information on possible solutions. Later that year he became a partner in a private equity firm with strong interests in "green" technology. He also received the $1 million Dan David Present Prize for his environmental work in 2008. Gore is the son of Albert Arnold Gore, Sr., 1907–98, a politician and Democratic senator from Tennessee (1953–71).

Bibliography: See biography of the son by B. Turque (2000); H. Gillman, The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election (2001); Washington Post political staff, Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election (2001).

Gore, Albert Jr. ( ‘Al’ Gore) (b. 31 Mar. 1948). US Vice-President 1993–2001 Born at Carthage, Tennessee, into a political family (his father was a non-racialist US Senator who had voted against southern segregation), he studied religion and law at Vanderbilt University and Harvard. After service in Vietnam he was first elected to Congress in 1976, into the House of Representatives. As Senator for Tennessee (1985–93) he was associated with environmental issues and foreign affairs. He ran for the Democrat nomination for President in the 1988 primary elections. His telegenic looks were not complemented by his uninspiring, ‘wooden’ speaking style, and he lost the nomination to Michael Dukakis. Following an accident which severely injured his son he decided not to run for President in 1992, but was persuaded to serve as the vice-presidential nominee alongside Bill Clinton. He contributed greatly to the latter's success, as his war service and his reputation for solidity and moral conservatism in a crucial way made up for Clinton's lack of these attributes, whilst his intellect and youth reinforced these qualities in Clinton. One of the most influential Vice-Presidents in US history, he won his party's nomination for the 2000 election campaign. Al Gore scored the second highest number of votes ever polled for a candidate in US history (after Ronald Reagan in1984), but lost a highly divisive and controversial election because his rival, George W. Bush, had a majority in the electoral college.

Bush election victory

Gore, Al ( Albert Arnold) (1948– ) US statesman, vice president (1993–2001). He was a Democratic congressman (1977–85) and senator (1985–93) for Tennessee. As vice president to Bill Clinton, Gore championed environmental issues. In 1999 he gained the Democratic Party nomination for president, but was defeated by Republican challenger George W. Bush in a highly controversial and closely fought election.

Gore, Al(bert) (1948– ) US Democratic politician, Vice-President of the USA since 1993. An editorial writer and land developer, he was senator for Tennessee from 1985 to 1993. His publications include Earth in the Balance (1992).