Bush, George W. (1946–)

REPUBLICAN GEORGE W. Bush, son of George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, and brother of Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, has built his political career on a strategic linkage between the Bush family's eastern establishment political networks and nationwide business connections, and a Texas-style populism reminiscent of the log cabin myth. As much as he liked to appear this way, the 43rd president of the United States, controversially elected in 2000, is clearly not your next-door neighbor, but belongs to one of the preeminent American political families.

George W. Bush pursued a career remarkably similar to his father, albeit initially with much less success, and often surrounded by controversy. He grew up in Texas, where his father had established himself as an oil businessman, but also belonged to the eastern establishment. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Yale University, and then Harvard University. At Yale, he was inducted into the prestigious secret Skull and Bones honor society (allegedly by his father, who is also a member).

Much has been written about the young Bush's “youthful indiscretions” (as he would later describe his reputation as a “frat brat”). He had problems with alcohol, including arrests, and perhaps with drugs. Even more controversy ensued about Bush's time in the Texas National Guard, in which he served from 1968 on to avoid the draft of the Vietnam War. His father's connections helped him to jump a long waiting list, and questions remain about whether he missed time during his commitment. Astonishingly, even though they were raised many times, neither these episodes nor suspicions of a dyslexic condition have hurt Bush's political career. One reason may be that Bush quit drinking after his 40th birthday, guided by evangelist Billy Graham, and became a born-again Christian, changing his denomination from Episcopalian to his wife Laura's Methodist.

After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush was at first unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. Once again following in his father's footsteps, he finally decided to go into politics, but his campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 failed.

In 1979, Bush attempted to establish himself in the Texas oil and gas business and started a company named Arbusto (Spanish for “Bush”). Once again, his father's connections proved helpful. Despite a rather dismal business performance and after renaming, restructuring, and eventually selling his company, Bush was able to come out with a profit.

While working on his father's presidential campaign in 1988, Bush met Karl Rove, a political consultant with a clear vision of where to take the Republican Party and the country: not only back to the pre-New Deal era but right back to the Gilded Age's Republican dominance. Rove was so impressed with Bush's charisma that he became his political adviser in his campaigns and in the White House.

In 1989, Bush joined some of his father's friends to buy the Texas Rangers. He became managing general partner of the baseball franchise, a position that gave him important Texas credentials, and later again faced allegations of wrongdoing regarding the specifics of the purchase of a stadium. Bush went on to challenge Texas Democratic Governor Ann Richards, who was the first of many political opponents to underestimate him, occasionally calling him “shrub.” In the context of the Republican sweep of 1994, the “Gingrich revolution,” Bush won, while his brother Jeb—widely regarded as the better heir to his father's political career—lost in Florida. The governorship in Texas is not a powerful position per se, but Bush was able to focus on key conservative issues, crime, tort law and welfare reform, and education. He worked with the Texas Democrats in a bipartisan fashion, and even appealed to the growing Latino population. Bush was reelected in 1998, already gearing up for a presidential bid.

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