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Courtesy
of the Office of the Governor, Austin, TX |
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Forty-third
President, 2001-
The son of former President and Mrs. George Bush, George W. Bush grew
up in Midland and Houston, Texas. After earning degrees at Yale and the Harvard
Business School, he returned to his home state to lead a Midland,
Texas-based oil and gas company from the mid-1970s through the 1980s.
In 1989, Bush led a group of partners to purchase the Texas Rangers,
a major league baseball team, and served as managing general partner
of the Rangers before embarking on a political career with a successful
bid for the Texas governorship in 1994. Reelected as governor in 1998,
he decided to seek the Republican party's presidential nomination
in 2000. Bush proved an instant hit with Republican voters, easily
defeating his opponents in a well-run primary race. The fall election
campaign proved unusually tight, with his Democratic opponent Vice
President Albert Gore winning the popular vote by a small margin but
Bush edging him out in the electoral college to win the presidency.
Disputes over ballot-counting in Florida delayed resolution of the
election until December 12, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush's
favor and ended further appeals. With his election, Bush and his father
became only the second father and son to hold the nation's highest
office--preceded only by John Adams and John Quincy Adams. |
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