President of the United States of America
George Walker Bush
George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. Formerly the 46th Governor of the state of Texas, Bush has earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shapes policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.
George W. Bush was born July 6, 1946, and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a Master's of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He served as an F-102 pilot for the Texas Air National Guard before beginning his career in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975, working in the energy industry until 1986. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.
He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. In an historic re-election victory, he became the first Texas Governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms on November 3, 1998, winning 68.6 percent of the vote.
As President, Bush will pursue the same common-sense approach and bipartisan spirit as he has in Texas. He has proposed bold initiatives to ensure that America's prosperity has a purpose. He has also addressed improving our nation's public schools by strengthening local control and insisting on accountability; reducing taxes on all taxpayers, especially for those Americans on the fringes of poverty; strengthening the military with better pay, better planning, and better equipment; saving and strengthening Social Security and Medicare by providing seniors with more options; and ushering in the responsibility era in America.
President Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have 18-year-old twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The Bush family also includes their dog, Spot, and two cats, India and Ernie.
As First Lady of Texas, Laura Welch Bush has worked tirelessly to promote one of her primary interests - education. As First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Bush will continue to focus on this area that plays such an important role in our nation's future. Her background as a teacher and librarian and her lifelong passion for reading have been the motivating forces behind her education advocacy for all Texans - and now for all Americans.
In Texas, Mrs. Bush launched an early childhood development initiative in 1998 to help parents and caregivers prepare infants and young children for learning and reading when they enter school. The initiative includes a family literacy project for Texas - a collaborative effort with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
She also helped organize a celebration of Texas books and authors called the Texas Book Festival in 1996 that has since become an annual fundraiser for Texas public libraries. During the last four years, 352 Texas public libraries have received Texas Book Festival grants totaling $889,845.
Mrs. Bush has also been a champion of breast cancer awareness, working with the Governors Spouse Program of the National Governors Association to promote women's health. Mrs. Bush also serves on several boards, including the University of Texas Graduate School of Library and Information Science Foundation Advisory Council and the national Reading is Fundamental Advisory Council.
Mrs. Bush is a native Texan who was born in Midland. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in library science from the University of Texas at Austin and taught in public schools in Dallas, Houston, and Austin from 1968 to 1977. She and George W. Bush were married in Midland in 1977, and they are the proud parents of twin girls, Barbara and Jenna, who were born in 1981 and are named after their grandmothers.
Biography's taken from www.whitehouse.gov