President George W. Bush: Biography and Fast Facts

Here are five interesting facts about former President Bush:

1. 1. He met Laura at a barbecue. President Bush met his wife, Laura Welch Bush, in 1977 at a summer barbecue. The couple fell quickly in love and dated for just five months before tying the knot.
2. 2. He owned a baseball team. In 1989, President Bush became part-owner of the Texas Rangers, a Major League Baseball Team. He sold his stake in the team a decade later, just before becoming president.
3. 3. He was a cheerleader. In his youth, President Bush attended Phillips Academy, a boarding school where he played on the baseball team and became the head cheerleader during his senior year.
4. 4. He was in the oil business. In 1979, President Bush opened a small oil exploration company called Arbusto in Midland, Texas.
5. 5. His dad was also president. Only two people in US history have been both the child of a US president and elected president in their own right: John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush.

George W. Bush is a Republican politician who served as the forty-third President of the United States of America from 2001–2009. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946 into a family devoted to public service. At the time of his birth, his father, George H. W. Bush, studied at Yale University following his service in World War II. His father would go on to become Vice President to Ronald Reagan before becoming the forty-first President of the United States from 1989–1993.

Before his career in politics, President George W. Bush flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard, graduated from Harvard Business School, and worked in the oil industry. In 1978, he made an unsuccessful bid for the House of Representatives, which would become the only general election he’d ever lose. In 1988, he worked on his father’s presidential campaign before becoming co-owner of the Texas Rangers, a Major League Baseball Team.

Before President Bush ran for the presidency, he served as the forty-sixth Governor of Texas. In the 2000 presidential election, President Bush defeated the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, to become the forty-third President of the United States. It was a narrow contest—ultimately, a Supreme Court decision stopped a recount in the state of Florida, which led to Bush’s victory. The Bush family, including First Lady Laura Bush and their twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, took up residency in the White House on January 20, 2001. President Bush chose Dick Cheney to be his Vice President.

Early on, President Bush focused on tax cuts and an education reform bill called the No Child Left Behind Act, but the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, would ultimately shape his entire presidency. President Bush established the Department of Homeland Security and deployed US troops to remove the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 attacks were planned. He then deployed troops to remove Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, who many US and foreign intelligence agencies widely believed possessed weapons of mass destruction. US and allied forces quickly overthrew the Iraqi regime, but they did not find the weapons of mass destruction during the Iraq War.

In 2004, President Bush won his bid for reelection against the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry. President Bush worked to modernize Medicare and improve the US’s healthcare system in his second term.

Following the end of his presidency, President Bush left Washington, DC, to return to Dallas, Texas, where he founded the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum and dedicated his time to painting and philanthropy. In 2010, President Bush fundraised alongside President Bill Clinton for victims of the Haiti Earthquake. In 2017, he published Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, a book of his paintings depicting US veterans.

Over twelve lessons, President Bush teaches strategies for authentic leadership. Here are some highlights from his class:

1. 1. Do the best you can. When the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred, all eyes were on President Bush. Nothing could have prepared him for this moment. “There is no rule book; there is no playbook,” he says. “You use your best judgment. And you rely upon others’ best judgment as well. Obviously, there’s a lot of collaboration on a big issue, any issue, but [especially] big issues. And you wanna make sure that your instincts are correct. And you bounce ’em off other people, or you listen to what they have to say. But on 9/11, there wasn’t a lot of warmup for dealing with the crisis, because it came upon us suddenly and out of the blue. And you know, it’s like life. You do the best you can. And hopefully, the experiences that led up to this moment in time during a crisis enable you to better deal with it.”
2. 2. Embrace the “Bushism.” Throughout his presidency, President Bush frequently stumbled over his words during speeches and interviews with the press. Instead of letting these gaffes derail him, he found a way to leverage the authenticity of his speech to his advantage. “People have asked me, ‘Did the so-called Bushism—which is an interesting way to describe malapropism, the misuse of words—was that somewhat contrived to lower expectations about you?’ And the answer is, ‘No, it just happened.’” But he did embrace it: “One thing though that I was conscious of when I was speaking to audiences is that I didn’t want them to think I was smarter than they were. I didn’t want people to think I was speaking down to them. And therefore, I was comfortable with the style, my speaking style that had developed over the years.”
3. 3. Humility is key. For President Bush, humility is the No. 1 quality a leader should possess. “The idea of a CEO lording power over somebody sends all kinds of terrible signals throughout an organization,” he says. “Therefore, there’s a key component of being a leader, and that is humility. Even though you’re a powerful person, be humble enough to recognize that you’ve got plenty of weaknesses yourself.”
4. 4. Know when to be decisive. Whether you’re the President of the United States or a small business owner, there will come a time when you have to make a difficult decision. President Bush says that’s when it’s essential to be decisive. “Agendas, you know, don’t get set by consensus,” he says. “Oftentimes, if you're leading a corporation or leading an entity, it’s up to you as a leader. Now obviously, you’ve gotta consult with the board of advisors, board of directors—key personnel whose judgment you trust. But ultimately, a leader leads.”
5. 5. Work in the trenches. President Bush often gets asked what’s the best way to get involved in politics. His answer? Get your hands dirty. “Politics tends to be a meritocracy,” he says. “And by that, I mean that, if you wanna be involved in a campaign, the best thing you can do is to become somebody who makes signs and puts them up and do the best at that. So that when another task is needed, you get called upon. In other words, hard work in the trenches pays off in the long term for politics.”

For additional perspectives on leadership, check out:

1. 1. Bill Clinton on inclusive leadership: Drawing from his career in politics, President Clinton teaches you how to inspire diverse teams, manage criticism, and mediate conflict. To lead anyone from one place to another, one must first understand where they’re starting from. In President Clinton’s class you’ll learn how developing a framework can help you make sense of the world.
2. 2. Doris Kearns Goodwin on US presidential history and leadership: Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin teaches you how to develop the leadership qualities of exceptional American presidents. Looking at the early lives of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and LBJ, Doris’s class discusses whether leaders are born or made and why great leaders have ambition for something bigger than themselves.
3. 3. Howard Shultz on business leadership: Howard Schultz didn’t have an MBA or an Ivy League degree, but he had a dream of building an enduring company. In Howard’s class, the Starbucks CEO shares lessons from nearly 40 years of leading one of the world’s top brands, including how to face self-doubt when starting your journey as an entrepreneur.

Having weathered some of the toughest challenges during his presidency, President Bush knows that the essential characteristics of a leader are humility and decisiveness. Learn how to stay true to your values while building a strong team and making personal connections when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.

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