Boyd
American Jamie Presidency term paper
11/30/2011
George W. Bush
Our 43rd President
Born in New Haven, CT on July 6th, George W. Bush became our president in
January of 2001. On December 9, in a controversial ruling by the Supreme Court, Bush
won the 2000 election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266. Bushs campaign
was against abortion and gay marriage and for embryotic stem cell research, and
cutting the budget deficit in half. He also promised more jobs, and tax cuts, and was
also for the death penalty saying that he believed it saved lives through hopefully
deterring criminals.
He served two terms as our president from 2001-2009. He is the oldest son born
to Barbara Bush and 41st President George H. W. Bush, making him the second
American president to have been the son of a former president. They also had four
other children as well. Pauline Robinson Robin Bush whom died of leukemia in 1953.
Of course his baby brother Jeb Bush whom we all know was the governor of Florida,
also Neil Mallon Bush who hasnt had much desire to be involved in the family tradition
of politics, Marvin Peirce Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch.
Many people thought with his politics running in his family, he would turn out to
be just like his father. Some think that being in the likeness of his father wasnt so bad,
and actually made him a better president. (University of Virginia) Quite a few people
are shocked to find out that aside from his presidency Bush owns part of the Texas
Rangers baseball team. And was featured as People magazines person of the year in
2000. ("Encyclopedia Fun Trivia")
In his early days, Bush received his bachelors degree in history from Yale
University in 1968. He then went on to fly fighter jets in the Vietnam War for the Texas
Air National Guard. After that he received his Masters degree from Harvard Business
School in 1975. Although some believe he was born in Texas, his family didnt move
there until he was a toddler. Little did they know then he would become the first
governor of the great state of Texas to serve two terms, paving his way to follow in his
fathers footsteps as president of the United States. ("White House")
Laura Welch became Laura Bush in 1977, and together they have fraternal twin
daughters, Jenna and Barbara. According to the National First Ladies Library Laura
Bush is said to be the only first lady to have given birth to twins. Mrs. Bush spent the
duration of her husband's two terms in office resolutely focused on the issue of juvenile
literacy. She visited many schools, where she delivered speeches emphasizing the
virtues of reading. She partnered with the Library of Congress to launch the annual
National Book Festival. Besides education, another of her main issues was those
relating to the health and well-being of women. She established the Women's Health
and Wellness Initiative.
Laura Bush also became involved with The Heart Truth awareness campaign in
2003. It is an organization created to raise awareness about heart disease in women,
and how to prevent it. She is the ambassador for the program leading the federal
government's effort to raise awareness in women about the risk of heart disease. She
was quite involved in helping to make America a better place while she and her
husband were in the white house. (National First Ladies Library)
After Bush won the presidency in 2000 on the Republican ticket, he hit the
ground running by getting his most popular, and controversial bills passed. Getting
started with the No Child Left behind Act he passed into legislation in 2002, which aims
to close the achievement gap, measures student performance, provides options to
parents with children in low-performing schools, and targets more federal funding to
low-income schools. This bill requires every school to participate in yearly standardized
testing of every student. His goal was to have a huge leap forward in education by the
year 2014 or each school would be penalized by having their individual budget cut.
(Rigdon)
Something interesting I learned is that the Bush administration pushed for
significantly increased regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003, but after two
years, the regulations passed the House but not the Senate. Bush also signed the very
popular Amber Alert legislation into law on April 30, 2003, which was developed to
quickly alert the general public about child abductions using various media sources.
Another important act he signed on July 27, 2006 was the Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act. This act establishes a national database requiring all convicted sex
offenders to register their current residency on a monthly basis instead of yearly like
some were doing. It also required the state to stay on top of sexual offenders whereas
before a lot of them seem to just fall off the map. During this term he became the first
president in over 100 years that didnt use a veto during his first term. A president hadnt
done that since 1841. ("Enclyopedia Fun Trivia")
Bush is also known for creating the Homeland Security Act of 2002; which was
created due to the September 11th attacks on our nation. It being the largest federal
government reorganization since the Department of Defense, the new department took
on large number of services such as the coast guard, and the secret service. It was sort
of like the Office of Homeland Security. Its main purpose was to prevent terrorist our attacks
on nation.
Bushs domestic policy was a little more organized and focused on key issues
that Americans faced at that time. In December 2007, the United States entered the
longest postWorld War II recession which included a housing market correction, a
subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and a declining dollar value. He wanted to
cut taxes for everyone, and many thought his ideas for tax cuts were out of the
question. But the first stimulus check was being sent as they spoke. Bush was up for reelection in 2004, and amazingly he won and remained in office for his second term.
Reading about him it seems to me that time and time again others took credit for some
of the positive things Bush did.
In response to the bad economy, Bush signed a controversial $170 billion
economic stimulus package; trying to boost the failing economy. Despite all the positive
legislation he passed, Bush is best known and critiqued for the war in Iraq. In October,
2001 our now former president announced to the nation that we would be invading
Afghanistan against Congresss wishes. The invasion of Afghanistan on October 7,
2001 led to the defeat the Taliban and to the capture of quite a few leaders of al Qaeda.
The President said, We will pass through this time of peril and carry on the work
of peace. We will defend our freedom. We will bring freedom to others, and we will
prevail. (University Of Virginia) But our troops had Baghdad under control in less than
six weeks. However, there were excessive American and Iraqi casualties during that
time. They surrendered and the war was supposed to end in May of 2003 but instead
with Bush receiving reports of biological and chemical weapons and weapons of mass
destruction he lead the U.S. to invade Iraq in March of 200.3 Now its 2011 and our
troops are still over there sacrificing their freedom, and some even their lives.
Because of this, many other nations turned their backs on the U.S. Although
many Republicans supported the war in Iraq, the Democratic Party adopted a slogan
known as A.B.B. Anybody but Bush Over 61% of Historians believe Bush was the
worst president ever. (McElvaine) While his foreign policy wasnt the most thought out I
do believe he was doing what he thought was best to protect our country and the people
living in it. Bush simply wanted to take down a dictator that was a great danger to our
country and his own. During his Presidential campaign, Bush's foreign policy platform
didnt just consist of the Middle East. It also included support for a stronger economic
and political relationship with Latin America, especially Mexico. The administration
pursued a national missile defense. Bush was an advocate of China's entry into the
World Trade Organization.
While the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were met with wide criticism they led
to the toppling of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the removal of Saddam Hussein
from power in Iraq. Bush then began his second term with an emphasis on improving
strained relations with European nations. In March 2006, a visit to India led to renewed
ties between the two countries, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The visit focused
particularly on areas of nuclear energy and counter-terrorism cooperation, discussions
that would lead eventually to the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement. The relationship
between India and the United States was one that dramatically improved during Bush's
tenure.
The Vice President while he was in office was, Mr. Dick Cheney. Born on January
30, 1941 in Lincoln, Nebraska, he began his political career as an intern for
Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House
during the Nixon and Ford administrations, where he served the latter as White House
Chief of Staff. In 1978, Cheney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from
Wyoming; he was reelected five times, eventually becoming House Minority Whip.
Cheney was selected to be the Secretary of Defense during the presidency of
George H. W. Bush, holding the position for the majority of Bush's term. During this
time, Cheney oversaw the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, among other actions. He also
played a pivotal role in Bushs War on Terrorism. ("Cheney: Iraq will be 'enormous
success story)
While some believe that Bush was the worst President in history, I believe the
opposite. Just as people say Obama cant fix all of our nations problems, Im not sure
how they expected Bush to do just that. I believe the American people blamed Busy for
anything and everything they could, If a tornado hit, it was his fault! As our commander
in chief and the leader of our country he has to do something to make a stand. While
you might not agree, you werent the president making that decision.
Admitting his faults and setback George W. Bush gave a farewell address to the
nation in the East Room of the White House on January 15, 2009. He talked about why
he made many of the decisions he did and said that he felt he had kept our country as
safe as he could the best way he knew how why he was our president. Bush said in his
last speech to the American people, I have followed my conscience and done what I
thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I
hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions," After his second
term came to an end, his wife and him returned to their home in Texas. ("World")