Presidency of George W. Bush January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
Cabinet	See list
Party	Republican
Election	2000 2004
Seat	White House
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Seal of the president
Archived website Library website

This article is part of a series about George W. Bush
Political positions Electoral history Early life Professional life Family Public image Honors 46th Governor of Texas Governorship 43rd President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations first second Policies Domestic Economic Foreign Bush Doctrine international trips Space Climate change Legislation and programs Pardons Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Roberts Miers Alito First term September 11 attacks War on terror War in Afghanistan Patriot Act No Child Left Behind Act Invasion of Iraq Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Timeline '01 '02 '03 '04 Second term Hurricane Katrina Iraq War 2007 Iraq surge Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy Email controversy Great Recession Economic Stimulus Act Efforts to impeach Timeline '05 '06 '07 '08–'09 Presidential campaigns 2000 primaries convention debates election Florida recount Bush v. Gore 2004 primaries convention debates election Post-presidency Presidential library Bibliography Clinton Bush Haiti Fund One America Appeal
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George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow Electoral College victory over Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, in which he lost the popular vote to Gore by 543,895 votes. Four years later, in the 2004 presidential election, he narrowly defeated Democrat nominee John Kerry, to win re-election. Bush served two terms and was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama, who won the 2008 presidential election. Bush is the eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush.

A decisive event reshaping Bush's administration was the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In its aftermath, Congress created the United States Department of Homeland Security and Bush declared a global war on terrorism. He ordered an invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He also signed the controversial Patriot Act in order to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. In 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, alleging that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Intense criticism came when neither WMD stockpiles nor evidence of an operational relationship with al-Qaeda were found. Before 9/11, Bush had pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, a major education bill. He also pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives. Also in 2003, he signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D.

During his second term, Bush reached multiple free trade agreements and successfully nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continued, and in 2007 he launched a surge of troops in Iraq. The Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy came under attack, with a drop in his approval ratings. A global meltdown in financial markets dominated his last days in office as policymakers looked to avert a major economic disaster, and he established the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to buy toxic assets from financial institutions.

At various points in his presidency, Bush was among both the most popular and unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, but also one of the lowest such ratings during the Iraq War and 2007–2008 financial crisis. Although public sentiment of Bush has improved since he left office, his presidency has generally been rated as below-average by scholars.^[1]

2000 election

The oldest son of George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, George W. Bush emerged as a presidential contender in his own right with his victory in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. After winning re-election by a decisive margin in the 1998 Texas gubernatorial election, Bush became the widely acknowledged front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election. In the years preceding the 2000 election, Bush established a stable of advisers, including supply-side economics advocate Lawrence B. Lindsey and foreign policy expert Condoleezza Rice.^[2] With a financial team led by Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, Bush built up a commanding financial advantage over other prospective Republican candidates.^[3] Though several prominent Republicans declined to challenge Bush, Arizona senator John McCain launched a spirited challenge that was supported by many moderates and foreign policy hawks. McCain's loss in the South Carolina primary effectively ended the 2000 Republican primaries, and Bush was officially nominated for president at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Bush selected former secretary of defense Dick Cheney as his running mate; though Cheney offered little electoral appeal and had health problems, Bush believed that Cheney's extensive experience would make him a valuable governing partner.^[2]

With President Bill Clinton term-limited, the Democrats nominated Vice President Al Gore for president. Bush's campaign emphasized their own candidate's character in contrast with that of Clinton, who had been embroiled in the Lewinsky scandal. Bush held a substantial lead in several polls taken after the final debate in October, but the unearthing of Bush's 1976 DUI arrest appeared to sap his campaign's momentum. By the end of election night, Florida emerged as the key state in the election, as whichever candidate won the state would win the presidency. Bush held an extremely narrow lead in the vote by the end of election night, triggering an automatic recount. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a partial manual recount, but the Supreme Court of the United States effectively ordered an end to this process, on equal protection grounds, in the case of Bush v. Gore, leaving Bush with a victory in both the state and the election. Though Gore narrowly won a plurality of the nationwide popular vote, Bush won the presidential election with 271 electoral votes compared to Gore's 266. In the concurrent congressional elections, Republicans retained a narrow majority in the House, but lost five seats in the Senate, leaving the partisan balance in the Senate at fifty Republicans and fifty Democrats.^[4]

Administration

The Bush cabinet
Office	Name	Term
President	George W. Bush	2001–2009
Vice President	Dick Cheney	2001–2009
Secretary of State	Colin Powell	2001–2005
Condoleezza Rice	2005–2009
Secretary of the Treasury	Paul H. O'Neill	2001–2002
	John W. Snow	2003–2006
Henry Paulson	2006–2009
Secretary of Defense	Donald Rumsfeld	2001–2006
Robert Gates	2006–2009
Attorney General	John Ashcroft	2001–2005
	Alberto Gonzales	2005–2007
Michael Mukasey	2007–2009
Secretary of the Interior	Gale Norton	2001–2006
Dirk Kempthorne	2006–2009
Secretary of Agriculture	Ann Veneman	2001–2005
	Mike Johanns	2005–2007
Ed Schafer	2008–2009
Secretary of Commerce	Donald Evans	2001–2005
Carlos Gutierrez	2005–2009
Secretary of Labor	Elaine Chao	2001–2009
Secretary of Health and Human Services	Tommy Thompson	2001–2005
Mike Leavitt	2005–2009
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Mel Martínez	2001–2004
	Alphonso Jackson	2004–2008
Steve Preston	2008–2009
Secretary of Transportation	Norman Mineta	2001–2006
Mary Peters	2006–2009
Secretary of Energy	Spencer Abraham	2001–2005
Samuel Bodman	2005–2009
Secretary of Education	Rod Paige	2001–2005
Margaret Spellings	2005–2009
Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Anthony Principi	2001–2005
	Jim Nicholson	2005–2007
James Peake	2007–2009
Secretary of Homeland Security	Tom Ridge	2003–2005
Michael Chertoff	2005–2009
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Christine Todd Whitman	2001–2003
	Mike Leavitt	2003–2005
Stephen Johnson	2005–2009
Director of the Office of Management and Budget	Mitch Daniels	2001–2003
	Joshua Bolten	2003–2006
Rob Portman	2006–2007
Jim Nussle	2007–2009
United States Trade Representative	Robert Zoellick	2001–2005
	Rob Portman	2005–2006
Susan Schwab	2006–2009
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy	John Walters	2001–2009
Chief of Staff	Andrew Card	2001–2006
Joshua Bolten	2006–2009

Rejecting the idea of a powerful White House chief of staff, Bush had high-level officials report directly to him rather than Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Vice President Cheney emerged as the most powerful individual in the White House aside from Bush himself. Bush brought to the White House several individuals who had worked under him in Texas, including Senior Counselor Karen Hughes, Senior Adviser Karl Rove, legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, and Staff Secretary Harriet Miers.^[5] Other important White House staff appointees included Margaret Spellings as a domestic policy adviser, Michael Gerson as chief speechwriter, and Joshua Bolten and Joe Hagin as White House deputy chiefs of staff.^[6] Paul H. O'Neill, who had served as deputy director of the OMB under Gerald Ford, was appointed secretary of the treasury, while former Missouri senator John Ashcroft was appointed attorney general.^[7]

As Bush had little foreign policy experience, his appointments would serve an important role in shaping U.S. foreign policy during his tenure. Several of his initial top foreign policy appointees had served in his father's administration; Vice President Cheney had been secretary of defense, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had served on the National Security Council, and deputy secretaries Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage had also served in important roles. Secretary of State Colin Powell had served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first president Bush.^[8] Bush had long admired Powell, and the former general was Bush's first choice for the position. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who had served in the same position during the Ford administration, rounded out the key figures in the national security team.^[9] Rumsfeld and Cheney, who had served together in the Ford administration, emerged as the leading foreign policy figures during Bush's first term.^[10]

O'Neill, who opposed the Iraq War and feared that the Bush tax cuts would lead to deficits, was replaced by John W. Snow in February 2003.^[11] Frustrated by the decisions of the Bush administration, particularly the launching of the Iraq War, Powell resigned following the 2004 elections.^[12] He was replaced by Rice, while then-deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley took Rice's former position.^[13] Most of Bush's top staffers stayed on after the 2004 election, although Spellings joined the Cabinet as secretary of education and Gonzales replaced Ashcroft as attorney general.^[14] In early 2006, Card left the White House in the wake of the Dubai Ports World controversy and several botched White House initiatives, and he was replaced by Joshua Bolten.^[15] Bolten stripped Rove of some of his responsibilities and convinced Henry Paulson, the head of Goldman Sachs, to replace Snow as secretary of the treasury.^[16]

After the 2006 elections, Rumsfeld was replaced by former CIA director Robert Gates.^[17] The personnel shake-ups left Rice as one of the most prominent individuals in the administration, and she played a strong role in directing Bush's second term foreign policy.^[18] Gonzales and Rove both left in 2007 after controversy regarding the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, and Gonzales was replaced by Michael Mukasey, a former federal judge.^[19]

Senior non-cabinet officials and advisers

• Senior Advisor to the President – Karl Rove (2001–2007), Barry Steven Jackson (2007–2009)
• Counselor to the President – Karen Hughes (2001–2002), Dan Bartlett (2002–2007), Ed Gillespie (2007–2009)
• National Security Advisor – Condoleezza Rice (2001–2005), Stephen Hadley (2005–2009)
• White House Deputy Chief of Staff – Joe Hagin (2001–2008), Joshua Bolten (2001–2003), Harriet Miers (2003–2004), Karl Rove (2005–2007), Joel Kaplan (2006–2009), Blake Gottesman (2008–2009)
• White House Communications Director – Karen Hughes (2001), Dan Bartlett (2001–2005), Nicolle Wallace (2005–2006), Kevin Sullivan (2006–2009)
• White House Counsel – Alberto Gonzales (2001–2005), Harriet Miers (2005–2007), Fred Fielding (2007–2009)
• White House Press Secretary – Ari Fleischer (2001–2003), Scott McClellan (2003–2006), Tony Snow (2006–2007), Dana Perino (2007–2009)
• Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers – Glenn Hubbard (2001–2003), Greg Mankiw (2003–2005), Harvey S. Rosen (2005), Ben Bernanke (2005–2006), Edward Lazear (2006–2009)
• Ambassador to the United Nations – John Negroponte (2001–2004), John Danforth (2004–2005), John Bolton (2005–2006), Zalmay Khalilzad (2007–2009)
• Director of National Intelligence – John Negroponte (2005–2007), Mike McConnell (2007–2009)
• CIA Director – George Tenet (2001–2004), John E. McLaughlin (acting, 2004), Porter Goss (2004–2006), Michael Hayden (2006–2009)
• FBI Director – Louis Freeh (2001), Thomas J. Pickard (acting, 2001), Robert Mueller (2001–2009)
• FCC Chairman – Michael Powell (2001–2005), Kevin Martin (2005–2009)

Judicial appointments

Supreme Court

After the 2004 election, many expected that the aging Chief Justice William Rehnquist would step down from the United States Supreme Court. Cheney and White House Counsel Harriet Miers selected two widely respected conservatives, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge John Roberts and Fourth Circuit judge Michael Luttig, as the two finalists. In June 2005, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor unexpectedly announced that she would retire from the court, and Bush nominated Roberts for her position the following month. After Rehnquist died in September, Bush briefly considered elevating Associate Justice Antonin Scalia to the position of chief justice, but instead chose to nominate Roberts for the position. Roberts won confirmation from the Senate in a 78–22 vote, with all Republicans and a narrow majority of Democrats voting to confirm Roberts.^[20]

To replace O'Connor, the Bush administration wanted to find a female nominee, but was unsatisfied with the conventional options available.^[20] Bush settled on Miers, who had never served as a judge, but who had worked as a corporate lawyer and White House staffer.^[21] Her nomination immediately faced opposition from conservatives (and liberals) who were wary of her unproven ideology and lack of judicial experience. After Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist informed Bush that Miers did not have the votes necessary to win confirmation, Miers withdrew from consideration. Bush then nominated Samuel Alito, who received strong support from conservatives but faced opposition from Democrats. Alito won confirmation in a 58–42 vote in January 2006.^[20][22] In the years immediately after Roberts and Alito took office, the Roberts Court was generally more conservative than the preceding Rehnquist Court, largely because Alito tended to be more conservative than O'Connor had been.^[23]

Other courts

Bush also appointed 62 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 261 judges to the United States district courts, and 2 judges to the United States Court of International Trade. Among them were two future Supreme Court associate justices: Neil Gorsuch to a seat on the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2006, and Brett Kavanaugh to the Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit in 2006.

Domestic affairs

Bush tax cuts

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