George W. Bush 1946–

George W. Bush was born in 1946 in Connecticut but grew up in Texas. His father, George H. W. Bush, was a career politician who served in a variety of posts, including both vice president and president of the United States. After a business career as an oilman and owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, the younger Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994 and was reelected in 1998. He gained the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 based on a campaign that emphasized “compassionate conservatism,” a new, more moderate approach to social and domestic issues. Bush won the 2000 election in one of the closest contests in U.S. history. His Democratic opponent, Al Gore, won the majority of the popular vote, but Bush won the electoral vote after controversy surrounding recounts in Florida. Bush achieved some initial successes in his domestic policy, including the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act and a series of tax cuts; however, his presidency came to be defined by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S.-led “war on terror,” as Bush referred to it. He was reelected in 2004.