Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-

George Walker Bush was born July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, the first son of future President George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife Barbara (Pierce) Bush. George W. Bush served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. Bush earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968. After college, Bush enlisted in the Air National Guard, serving in Texas and Alabama until his discharge in November 1974. He completed a master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1975. Bush married Laura Lane Welch in 1977. The couple went on to have twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, in 1981. Before beginning a career in politics, Bush worked in the Texas oil industry, founding Arbusto Energy in 1977. In 1986, he underwent a recommitment to his Christian faith, which had a profound impact on his life. He moved his family to Washington D.C. in 1988, while serving as a campaign advisor and media liaison with his father’s Presidential campaign. In 1989, he assembled a group of investors that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball team and served as their managing general partner for the next five years. George W. Bush began his political career in 1978, with an unsuccessful run for U.S. Representative of the 19th District in Texas. In 1994, Bush once again ran for public office and was elected the 46th Governor of Texas. He won gubernatorial re-election in 1998 with nearly 69 percent of the vote. George W. Bush ran for President of the United States in 2000 against Vice President Albert Gore in a close and controversial election. Though the Presidential election was held November 7, 2000, the final outcome was not known until December 12, 2000, when the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore certified Florida’s electoral votes. The Bush Presidency was dominated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which led to the War in Afghanistan in 2001, and the War in Iraq in 2003. Additionally, George W. Bush’s administration focused on issues of education, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, and humanitarian aid projects that included the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative. After George W. Bush’s second term ended in 2009, Bush returned to Texas as a private citizen. He went on to publish his memoir, Decision Points in 2010, and to establish the Bush Center located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Bush continues to remain actively involved in issues of national and global concern through the George W. Bush Institute, operated by the George W. Bush Foundation.