John Quincy Adams, elected the sixth president in 1824, was the son of John Adams, the second president. Bush, at the age of 54, became the 43rd president of the United States, it was only the second time in American history that a president’s son went on to the White House. They had twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, now out of college and pursuing careers. In Midland he met and married Laura Welch, a teacher and librarian. Bush graduated from Yale, received a business degree from Harvard, and then returned to Midland where he too got into the oil business. The son spent formative years there, attended Midland public schools, and formed friendships that stayed with him into the White House. The family moved to Midland, Texas, where the senior Bush entered the oil exploration business. President Bush pledged during his 2005 State of the Union Address that the United States would help the Iraqi people establish a fully democratic government because the victory of freedom in Iraq would strengthen a new ally in the war on terror, bring hope to a troubled region, and lift a threat from the lives of future generations.īush was born in New Haven, Connecticut while his father was attending Yale University after service in World War II. Saddam was captured, but the disruption of Iraq and the killing of American servicemen and friendly Iraqis by insurgents became the challenge of Bush’s government as he began his second term.
His most controversial act was the invasion of Iraq on the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States. At the same time he delivered major tax cuts which had been a campaign pledge. Following the attacks, the president also recast the nation’s intelligence gathering and analysis services, and ordered reform of the military forces to meet the new enemy. The Taliban was successfully disrupted but Bin Laden was not captured and was still on the loose as Bush began his second term. In response, Bush formed a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, sent American forces into Afghanistan to break up the Taliban, a movement under Osama bin Laden that trained financed and exported terrorist teams. The attacks put on hold many of Bush’s hopes and plans, and Bush’s father, George Bush, the 41st president, declared that his son “faced the greatest challenge of any president since Abraham Lincoln.” The airborne terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the thwarted flight against the White House or Capitol on September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 Americans were killed, transformed George W.