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George Walker Bush (b. on July 6, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut) was the 43rd President of the United States. He served from 2001 to 2009.
Prior to serving as president, Bush was the governor of Texas and a part owner of the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team.
Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but his father, George H.W. Bush, moved the family to Texas in 1948 working in the oil industry. Bush attended school at the Phillips Academy in Massachusetts where he played baseball, basketball and football. Upon graduation in 1964, he went to Yale University. He joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and accepted an invitation into the Skull and Bones society, a group his father and grandfather were also a part of. Just prior to graduation, Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard serving as a fighter pilot in the Air Force Reserve until he was honorably discharged in 1974. He went on to earn his MBA from the Harvard School of Business.
He moved back to Texas in 1975, where he met and married Laura Welch. He worked on building his oil business until selling it in 1986 to the Harken Energy Corporation. He helped his father get elected to the presidency from Washington, D.C., in 1988 before returning to Texas once again, this time joining a group of investors to purchase Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. In 1994, he ran and won the seat as the governor of Texas.
Below is an abbreviated outline of Bush's academic, professional, and political career:
In 2004, Bush defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 2004 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Republican |  George W. Bush/Dick Cheney Incumbent |
50.8% | 62,039,572 | 286 | |
| Democratic | John Kerry/John Edwards | 48.3% | 59,027,115 | 251 | |
| Independent | Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo | 0.4% | 465,642 | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Michael Badnarik/Richard Campagna | 0.3% | 397,265 | 0 | |
| Constitution | Michael Peroutka/Charles Baldwin | 0.1% | 144,650 | 0 | |
| Green | David Cobb/Pat LaMarche | 0.1% | 119,910 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 122,194,154 | 537 | |||
| Election results via: 2004 Presidential General Election Results | |||||
Other candidates that appeared on the ballot received less than 0.1% of the vote. Those candidates included: Leonard Peltier, Walt Brown, Róger Calero, Thomas Harens, Gene Amondson, Bill Van Auken, John Parker, Charles Jay, Stanford Andress and Earl Dodge.
In 2000, Bush defeated former Vice President Al Gore for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 2000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | George W. Bush/Dick Cheney |
48% | 50,462,412 | 271 | |
| Democratic | Al Gore/Joe Lieberman | 48.5% | 51,009,810 | 266 | |
| Green | Ralph Nader/Winona LaDuke | 2.7% | 2,883,443 | 0 | |
| Reform | Pat Buchanan/Ezola Foster | 0.4% | 449,181 | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Harry Browne/Art Olivier | 0.4% | 384,532 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 105,189,378 | 537 | |||
| Election results via: 2000 Presidential General Election Results | |||||
Other candidates that appeared on the ballot received less than 0.1% of the vote. Those candidates included: Howard Phillips, John Hagelin, James Harris, L. Neil Smith, David McReynolds, Monica Moorehead, Cathy Brown, Denny Lane, Randall Venson, Earl Dodge, Louie Youngkeit and various write-in candidates.
