User:Ethanbas/Timeline of the presidency of George W. Bush
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The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001 when George W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2009. A Republican, he took office following a razor–thin win in the 2000 presidential election over Democratic nominee Al Gore, the then–incumbent Vice President. This was the closest presidential election in the nation's history, with a .009% margin, 537 votes, separating the two candidates in the decisive state, Florida. The narrow margin there triggered a mandatory recount. Litigation in select counties started additional recounts, and this litigation ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court. The Court's contentious 5–4 decision in Bush v. Gore, announced on December 12, 2000, ended the recounts, effectively awarding Florida's 25 electoral votes to Bush, giving him a total of 271 votes, enough to defeat Gore. While Gore lost the electoral vote and the election, he did win the nation-wide popular vote by 543,895 votes. As a result, the 2000 election became the fourth presidential election in which the eventual winner lost the popular vote (after the elections of 1824, 1876, and 1888).
George W. Bush is the oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, and when he became the 43rd United States president, it was only the second time in American history that a president’s son went on to the White House (after the election of John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, in 1824).[1] Bush was re-elected in 2004, defeating his Democratic opponent John Kerry by a slim margin.[2]