W bush age

The biography for President Bush and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

George W. Bush, America’s 43rd President (2001-2009), was transformed into a wartime President in the aftermath of the airborne terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, facing the “greatest challenge of any President since Abraham Lincoln.”

The airborne terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the thwarted flight against the White House or Capitol on September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 Americans were killed, transformed George W. Bush into a wartime president. The attacks put on hold many of Bush’s hopes and plans, and Bush’s father, George Bush, the 41st president, declared that his son “faced the greatest challenge of any president since Abraham Lincoln.”

In response, Bush formed a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, sent American forces into Afghanistan to break up the Taliban, a movement under Osama bin Laden that trained financed and exported terrorist teams. The Taliban was successfully disrupted but Bin Laden was not captured and was still on the loose as Bush began his second term. Following the attacks, the president also recast the nation’s intelligence gathering and analysis services, and ordered reform of the military forces to meet the new enemy. At the same time he delivered major tax cuts which had been a campaign pledge. His most controversial act was the invasion of Iraq on the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States. Saddam was captured, but the disruption of Iraq and the killing of American servicemen and friendly Iraqis by insurgents became the challenge of Bush’s government as he began his second term. President Bush pledged during his 2005 State of the Union Address that the United States would help the Iraqi people establish a fully democratic government because the victory of freedom in Iraq would strengthen a new

George W. Bush was 62 years old when his presidential term ended. He left office with a dismal 33 percent approval rating and with 60 percent of the American public believing that he would be considered below average as President in the annals of history. When confronted with this situation, Bush wittily replied, “I was also the most popular president,” which he was following his response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Upon leaving office, Bush returned to Midland, Texas, and promptly took up residence at his beloved Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. No typical politician, he seemed to enjoy the relaxation and time away from power.

Bush read several books about George Washington during the final year of his presidency and said that if historians were still analyzing the first President, then the 43rd would never fully discover how history viewed his own administration. Political adviser Karl Rove stated that despite the possibility of regrets, Bush “has an inner confidence…that what he did was right.” After leaving office, Bush lived a quiet life in Texas and largely refrained from any connections to politics, particularly resisting opportunities to criticize his successor. 

George and Laura also bought a home in an exclusive Dallas neighborhood near Southern Methodist University. The former President quickly became a part of the Dallas community, attending local events and hosting barbecues at his home. He supplemented his income with paid speeches and was very involved with the George W. Bush Institute that he established at SMU. In his free time, he enjoyed biking, attending Texas Rangers baseball games, reading American history, and golfing. Inspired by a similar hobby of his hero Winston Churchill, Bush also began painting; primarily producing portraits of his pets and of world leaders that he came into contact with while serving as President. His paintings attracted national attent

George W Bush  ©Bush was the 43rd president of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009. His time in office was dominated by the controversial 'war on terror' that began with the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Bush was born on 6 July 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut but was brought up in Texas when his father, the future President George HW Bush (in office 1989 - 1993), moved the family to try and make his fortune in the oil business. Bush was educated at Yale University. In 1968 he enrolled in the Texas Air National Guard as a pilot and, thus, was not eligible for the Vietnam War draft. He served two years in the Combat Crew Training School. After gaining his MBA in 1975, he returned to Texas to work in the oil industry. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives. In 1988, Bush worked as a paid campaign advisor on his father's successful presidential bid. Around this time he reached an important turning point in his life, pledging to quit his heavy drinking and becoming a born-again Christian.

By the late 1980s, Bush was independently wealthy as a result of selling his stake in the Texas Rangers baseball club. In 1994, he ran for the governorship of Texas and won. He was re-elected four years later. By 2000, he was the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, announcing social policies of 'compassionate conservatism', which included using churches and charities to use federal funds to deliver social services to the needy. After winning the nomination, Bush ran against the Democrat Al Gore. It was one of the closest races in presidential history, but after numerous court challenges and recounts Bush was declared the winner. He became only the second son to follow his father into the Oval Office.

For many Americans, doubts about Bush's legitimacy as president were swept away on 11 September 2001, when Islamic fundamentalists carried out terrorist attacks on New York City and Washing

(1946-)

Who Is George W. Bush?

Born in July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, George W. Bush was the 43rd president of the United States. He narrowly won the Electoral College vote in 2000, in one of the closest and most controversial elections in American history. Bush led the United States' response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and initiated the Iraq War. Before his presidency, Bush was a businessman and served as governor of Texas.

Early Life

George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the eldest of six children of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. The Bush family had been involved in business and politics since the 1950s. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a former Wall Street banker and progressive Republican senator from Connecticut, and his father was a businessman, diplomat, and vice president and president of the United States.

In 1948, George H.W. Bush moved the family to Midland, Texas, where he made his fortune in the oil business. Young George spent most of his childhood in Midland, attending school there until the seventh grade. The family moved to Houston in 1961, and George W. Bush was sent to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. There he was an all-around athlete, playing baseball, basketball and football. He was a fair student and had a reputation for being an occasional troublemaker. Despite this, family connections helped him enter Yale University in 1964.

George W. Bush was a popular student at Yale, becoming president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and also playing rugby. For Bush, grades took a back seat to Yale’s social life. Despite his privileged background, he was comfortable with all kinds of people and had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Like his father and grandfather before him, George W. Bush became a member of Yale’s secretive Skull and Bones society, an invitation-only club whose membership contains some of American’s mo