George W. Bush

George W. Bush (born July 6, 1946) served as the 43rd President of the United States from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009. A Republican and son of President George H.W. Bush, he was governor of Texas (1995–2000) before winning the contested 2000 election against Al Gore, decided by the Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore.

His presidency was defined by the response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the weeks that followed, he announced the Global War on Terror, signed the USA PATRIOT Act, and authorized the invasion of Afghanistan to dislodge the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In a January 2002 State of the Union address he described Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an "axis of evil."

In March 2003, Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein, citing alleged weapons of mass destruction programs and links to terrorism—claims that were not substantiated after the fact. The war, the subsequent insurgency, and the establishment of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility drew sustained international criticism and shaped debates over preemptive war, enhanced interrogation, and the laws of armed conflict (notably in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 2006).

On foreign policy beyond counterterrorism, Bush launched the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, one of the largest global health initiatives in history. His administration also withdrew the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and declined to submit the Kyoto Protocol for ratification.

Domestically, he signed the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and major tax cuts. His second term was marked by the federal response to Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the 2008 financial crisis, during which he signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). He left office with low approval ratings but has been partially reassessed in subsequent years, particularly for PEPFAR and post-presidential humanitarian work through the Bush Center.