Gore, Al, 1948-

<p>Albert Gore, Jr., was born in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1948, to a highly distinguished family. His father, Albert Gore, Sr., was a powerful Senator from Tennessee who spent thirty-two years in Congress. His mother was the second woman to graduate from Vanderbilt Law School, and his older sister was one of the founding members of the Peace Corps. From an early age, his father's career put Al in close proximity to powerful political figures. He met Richard Nixon, spent time in his father's Senate office, and eavesdropped on phone calls between his father and John F. Kennedy. He also volunteered for his father's campaigns until the elder Gore lost his Senate seat in 1970.</p>

<p>In high school, Gore excelled both academically and athletically and went to Harvard University after receiving a National Merit Scholarship. He graduated in 1969 and enlisted in the U.S. Army as a journalist. After his tour of duty was complete, he attended divinity school at Vanderbilt University. In May 1970, he married Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Aitcheson. After working briefly as a journalist for the Nashville Tennessean, Gore entered law school at Vanderbilt. His academic career was interrupted when he successfully sought election the U.S. House of Representatives at the age of twenty-eight. Despite his youth and inexperience, Gore quickly made a name for himself in Congress. He helped pass legislation to create a "Superfund" to clean up toxic waste sites and attracted the attention of the Reagan administration with his ideas of arms control. Having established a strong record in the House, Gore was elected to the Senate in 1984. Gore entered the Democratic presidential primaries in 1988 and won six states before ultimately losing the contest to Michael Dukakis. In 1991, he was one of ten Democratic Senators to split with their party and support a bill authorizing President George H.W. Bush to pursue military action in the Persian Gulf after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Had it not been for a nearly fatal accident involving his son, Gore likely would have sought the presidential nomination in 1992. Instead, Bill Clinton won a surprise victory and eventually centered on Gore as a possibility for vice president.</p>

<p>Although they were both young Southern politicians, Gore did balance Clinton in a number of important ways. He was a Washington insider with military experience and an untarnished reputation as a man of integrity and strong family values. As important as their differences, however, was the centrist "New Democrat" outlook Clinton and Gore shared that helped them function as a team. Facing an incumbent President badly hurt by economic recession, the Clinton-Gore ticket took the White House.</p>

<p>Shortly after the election, Clinton and Gore began to work out the details of an exceptionally close working relationship that afforded the vice president considerable influence in the administration. Gore met with Clinton regularly and became a chief adviser on nominations. Many members of his own staff were eventually integrated into that of the White House. Once Clinton assumed the presidency, Gore was consulted on a broad range of issues, although his advice on foreign affairs was particularly sought. During his term, the vice president spent roughly a quarter of his working hours on foreign policy and diplomatic missions. He was also deeply involved in issues concerning the environment and information technology and helped generate public support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). After a successful reelection campaign in 1996, the administration endured a difficult second term that was defined more by scandal than policy successes. The Lewinsky scandal dominated the headlines and eventually resulted in the House impeaching President Clinton. Gore called it "the saddest day I have seen in our nation's capital." The Vice President became enmeshed in controversy himself when it was revealed he had partaken in questionable fundraising activities, sometimes from his White House office. Gore did help shape the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during this time, but opposition to the treaty in the United States prevented it from ever being submitted to Congress for formal ratification.</p>

<p>In 2000, Gore ran for President against Governor George W. Bush of Texas. The election was one of the closest and most controversial in U.S. history. While he won the popular vote by more than half a million votes, Gore failed to capture an electoral majority. The election came down to Florida, where Bush commanded a razor-thin 537 vote margin. After a series of recounts and legal battles, the Supreme Court finally ended the election with the case of Bush v. Gore, in which the Court ruled in George W. Bush's favor. The final electoral tally was 271 for Bush against 266 for Gore.</p>

<p>After the election, Gore retired to private life but remained in the public eye as he published a book, appeared on television, and starred in a popular documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," about his efforts to bring attention to global warming. In 2007, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts. Gore's approach to the vice presidency had some parallels with that of Walter Mondale, who served as vice president for President Jimmy Carter and thought the office offered more power when the vice president functioned more as a general adviser than someone who oversaw specific policy areas or directives. Clinton sometimes commented that Gore was amongst the most powerful vice presidents in history, and his assessment was largely correct. Gore had both access to and influence over the channels of power within the administration and used them to leave his mark on administration policy. His ability to impact and guide policy directives made Gore one of the most powerful and most important modern vice presidents.</p>

GORE, ALBERT ARNOLD, JR., (son of Albert Arnold Gore), a Representative and Senator from Tennessee, and a Vice President of the United States; born in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1948; attended the public elementary schools of Carthage, Tenn.; graduated, St. Albans High School, Washington, D.C., 1965; graduated, Harvard University 1969; attended Vanderbilt University School of Religion, Nashville, Tenn., 1971-1972 and the School of Law 1974-1976; business executive; engaged in real estate development in Carthage; served in United States Army 1969-1971 in Viet Nam; investigative reporter for the Nashville Tennessean 1971-1976; elected in 1976 as a Democrat to the Ninety-fifth Congress; reelected to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1977-January 3, 1985); was not a candidate for reelection in 1984 to the House of Representatives, but was elected in November 1984 to the United States Senate; reelected in 1990 and served from January 3, 1985, until his resignation on January 2, 1993; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988; elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket headed by William Jefferson Clinton in 1992 and was inaugurated on January 20, 1993; reelected Vice President in 1996; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president in 2000.

<p>Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Gore was Bill Clinton's running mate in their successful campaign in 1992, and the pair was re-elected in 1996. Near the end of Clinton's second term, Gore was selected as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election but lost the election in a very close race after a Florida recount. After his term as vice-president ended in 2001, Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist, whose work in climate change activism earned him (jointly with the IPCC) the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.</p>

<p>Gore was an elected official for 24 years. He was a representative from Tennessee (1977–1985) and from 1985 to 1993 served as a senator from that state. He served as vice president during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. The 2000 presidential election was one of the closest presidential races in history. Gore won the popular vote, but after a controversial election dispute over a Florida recount (settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5–4 in favor of Bush), he lost the election to Republican opponent George W. Bush in the Electoral College.</p>

<p>Gore is the founder and current chair of The Climate Reality Project, the co-founder and chair of Generation Investment Management and the now-defunct Current TV network, a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., and a senior adviser to Google. Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, heading its climate change solutions group. He has served as a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Fisk University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He served on the Board of Directors of World Resources Institute.</p>

<p>Gore has received a number of awards that include the Nobel Peace Prize (joint award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007), a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (2009) for his book <i>An Inconvenient Truth</i>, a Primetime Emmy Award for Current TV (2007), and a Webby Award (2005). Gore was also the subject of the Academy Award-winning (2007) documentary <i>An Inconvenient Truth</i> in 2006. In 2007, he was named a runner-up for Time's 2007 Person of the Year.</p>