Bush occupied the White House after winning one of the most exciting and intensely disputed presidential elections in American history against Democratic opponent Al Gore. After a series of ballot recounts and a trial in the state of Florida, the US Supreme Court finally ruled 5-4 to stop the counting. Bush won the state by a margin of 537 votes, thus clinching the presidency. Uncertainty continues, however, as to the legitimacy of his victory. Conducting his campaign as a "compassionate conservative," with Dick Cheney as his running mate, Bush promised to generate welfare and tax reform, improve education, and model a more inclusive Republican party.

Born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, George W. Bush is the son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. He grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas, along with siblings Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. His youngest sister, Robin, succumbed to leukemia at the age of three. After attending Philips Andover

In 1988, he arranged the purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team in conjunction with a group of wealthy investors. He became the team's managing partner and, when it was sold in 1998, walked away with a profit of nearly $15 million.

Bush Junior's first attempt to enter politics was in 1978, when he joined the race for the US House of Representatives but lost to Democratic State Senator Kent Hance. Bush was able to penetrate the political arena in 1987 when he joined his father's presidential campaign. George W. Bush Senior positioned his son as his trusted confidante, right-hand man and chief liaison to Christian conservatives. Gorge Bush is a proclaimed born again Christian, who's conversion brought an end to days of his chronic difficulties with alcohol.

Beginning in 1994, his election as governor of Texas for consecutive terms was unprecedented. He was a popular leader who, ironically, in 1998 enjoyed the support of record numbers of Hispanic and African Americans. Critics, however, attacked what they saw as his "uncompassionate" views: his support of the death penalty, his anti-abortion persuasion and his opposition to hate-crime legislation devised to protect homosexuals.

Academy in Massachusetts, Bush earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1975. He married Laura Welch in 1977, who gave birth to their twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, in 1981.

Calling the early 1970s his "nomadic days," Bush has stated that he would pass a background check going as far back as 1974. He served as a fighter jet pilot for the Texas Air National Guard and became a lieutenant but did not serve in Viet Nam.

Before and after his father's presidential campaign, George W. Bush was successful in business, though he admittedly began with some advantages, both in terms of personal connections and financial backing. He invested $17,000 to set up Arbusto Energy, an oil and gas exploration company, which he later renamed Bush Exploration and then merged with Spectrum-7, an oil-investing fund. After the decline of oil prices in 1986, he sold the company and his original stock shares for a considerable profit.

Gorge Bush is a self-proclaimed born-again Christian. In November 2000, days before the presidential election, Bush admitted that in 1976 he was arrested for drunk driving in Maine, an arrest he had previously hidden... He says he stopped drinking alcohol entirely in 1986.

Beginning his presidency amid considerable controversy and with a divided nation, the attack on the World Trade Center and subsequent War on Terrorism brought nearly all elements in the US to President Bush's support. It is highly uncertain to what extent this universal backing will continue.