Presidency of George W. Bush

Advisors and other officials

• Deputy Secretary of Defense – Paul Wolfowitz (2001–2005), Gordon R. England (2005–2009)
• CIA Director – George Tenet (2001–2004), John E. McLaughlin (acting, 2004), Porter J. Goss (2004–2006), Michael Hayden (2006–2009)
• FBI Director – Louis Freeh (2001), Thomas J. Pickard (acting, 2001), Robert S. Mueller (2001–2009)
• NASA Administrator – Sean O'Keefe (2001–2005), Michael D. Griffin (2005–2009)
• FAA Administrator – Marion Blakey (2002–2007), Robert A. Sturgell (acting) (2007–2009)
• FDA commissioner – Mark McClellan (2002–2004), Lester Crawford (2005), Andrew von Eschenbach (2005–2009)
• National Security Advisor – Condoleezza Rice (2001–2005), Stephen Hadley (2005–2009)
• Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan – Meghan O'Sullivan (2004–2007), Douglas Lute (2007–2009)
• Ambassador to the United Nations – John Negroponte (2001–2004), John Danforth (2004); John R. Bolton (2005–2006), Zalmay Khalilzad (2007–2009)
• FCC Chairman – Michael Powell (2001–2005), Kevin Martin (2005–2009)
• White House Deputy Chief of Staff – Joe Hagin (2001–2008), Joshua Bolten (2001–2003), Harriet Miers (2003–2004), Karl Rove (2005–2007), Joel Kaplan (2006–2009), Blake Gottesman (2008–2009)
• Director of National Intelligence – John Negroponte (2005–2007), John Michael McConnell (2007–2009)
• White House Counsel – Alberto R. Gonzales (2001–2005), Harriet Miers (2005–2007), Fred Fielding (2007–2009)
• White House Press Secretary – Ari Fleischer (2001–2003), Scott McClellan (2003–2006), Tony Snow (2006–2007), Dana Perino (2007–2009)
• Senior Advisor to the President – Karl Rove (2001–2007), Barry Steven Jackson (2007–2009)
• Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States – Lewis Libby (2001–2005), David Addington (2005–2009)
• Counselor to the President – Karen Hughes (2001–2002), Dan Bartlett (2002–2007), Ed Gillespie (2007–2009)

Military nominations and appointments

• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – Richard B. Myers (2001 –2005), Peter Pace (2005 –2007), Michael Mullen (2007 –2011)
• Chief of Staff of the United States Army – Peter Schoomaker (2003–2007), George W. Casey, Jr. (2007 –2011)
• Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force – John P. Jumper (2001–2005), T. Michael Moseley (2005–2008), Norton A. Schwartz (2008-2012)
• Chief of Naval Operations – Michael Mullen (2005–2007), Gary Roughead (2007–2011)
• Commandant of the Marine Corps – Michael Hagee (2003–2006), James T. Conway (2006–2010)

Bush tax cuts

Bush's promise to cut taxes was the centerpiece of his 2000 presidential campaign, and upon taking office, he made tax cuts his first major legislative priority. A budget surplus developed during the Bill Clinton administration, and with the Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's support, Bush argued that the best use of the surplus was to lower taxes. After Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill expressed concerns over the tax cut's size and the possibility of future deficits, Vice President Cheney took charge of writing the bill, which the administration proposed to Congress in March 2001.^[23] President Bush rejected the idea of "triggers" that would phase out the tax reductions should the government again run deficits, arguing instead that the tax cuts were the best ways to stimulate the economy regardless of deficits. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 won the support of congressional Republicans and a minority of congressional Democrats, and Bush signed it into law in June 2001. The act lowered the top income tax rate from 39-35%, and it also reduced the estate tax. The narrow Republican majority in the Senate necessitated the use of the reconciliation, which in turn necessitated that the tax cuts would phase out in 2011 barring further legislative action.^[24]

After the tax bill was passed, Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party and began caucusing with the Democrats, giving them control of the Senate. After Republicans re-took control of the Senate during the 2002 mid-term elections, Bush proposed further tax cuts. With little support among Democrats, Congress passed the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which cut taxes by another $350 billion over 10 years. That law also lowered the capital gains tax and taxes on dividends. Collectively, the Bush tax cuts reduced federal individual tax rates to their lowest level since World War II, and government revenue as a share of gross domestic product declined from 20.9% in 2000 to 16.3% in 2004.^[24]

Education

President George W. Bush prepares for the State of the Union Address.

Bush's other major policy initiative upon taking office was education reforms. Although some congressional Republicans had called for abolishing the Department of Education, the President's success in campaigning on education reform had convinced many Republicans, including Congressman John Boehner of Ohio, that an education reform bill increasing federal funding would prove politically popular.^[25] Seeking to craft a bipartisan bill, Bush sought out Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, a leading liberal Senator who served as the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Pensions. Bush proposed the No Child Left Behind Act, which required extensive testing to ensure that schools met uniform standards for skills such as reading and math. Bush hoped that testing would make schools more accountable for their performances and provide parents more information in choosing which schools to send their children. Kennedy shared Bush's concern for the education of impoverished children and hoped to increase federal funding for education, but he strongly opposed the president's proposed school vouchers, which would have allowed parents to use federal funding to pay for private schools. Both men cooperated to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, which dropped the concept of school vouchers but included Bush's idea of nationwide testing. Both houses of Congress registered overwhelming approval for the bill's final version, which Bush signed into law in January 2002.^[26] However, Kennedy would later criticize the implementation of the act, arguing that Bush had promised great federal funding for education.^[27]

Marriage, abortion, and faith

On his first day in office - January 20, 2001, President Bush moved to block federal aid to foreign groups that offered counseling or any other assistance to women in obtaining abortions.^[28] Days later, he announced his commitment to channeling more federal aid to faith-based service organizations, despite the fears of critics that this would dissolve the traditional separation of church and state in the US.^[29][30] To further this commitment, he created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to assist faith-based service organizations.^[31] In 2003, Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.^[32]

Following a national furor over recognizing same-sex marriages in both San Francisco and Massachusetts, Bush announced his opposition to same-sex marriages in 2004 when endorsing the Federal Marriage Amendment to the US Constitution which would have permanently defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.^[33]

Euthanasia

Bush was staunchly opposed to euthanasia and supported Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision to file suit against the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which was ultimately decided by the US Supreme Court favoring the Oregon law.^[34] However, while he was governor of Texas, Bush had signed a law giving hospitals the authority to remove life support from terminally ill patients against the wishes of spouses or parents, if the doctors deemed it as medically appropriate.^[35] This perceived inconsistency in policy became an issue in 2005, when Bush signed controversial legislation forwarded and voted on by only three members of the US Senate to initiate federal intervention in the court battle of Terri Schiavo, a comatose Florida woman who ultimately died.^[36]

Stem cell research

Early in his administration, President Bush became personally interested in the issue of stem cell research. The Clinton administration had issued guidelines allowing the federal funding of research utilizing stem cells, and the Bush administration studied the situation's ethics. Evangelical religious groups argued that the research was immoral as it destroyed human embryos, while various advocacy groups touted the "miracle possibilities" of stem cell research. In August 2001, Bush announced that he opposed stem cell research, and he banned federal funding for research on new stem cell lines.^[37]

In July 2006, Bush used his first presidential veto on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. A similar bill was passed in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate early in summer 2007 as part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 100-Hour Plan. However, Bush vetoed the second bill as well and Congress could not override the veto.^[38]

Surveillance and homeland security

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Bush announced the creation of the Office of Homeland Security and appointed former Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge its director. After Congress passed a law creating the Department of Homeland Security, Ridge became the first director of the newly-creatly department. The department was charged with overseeing immigration, border control, customs, and the newly-established Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which focused on airport security. On October 26, 2001, Bush signed into law the Patriot Act. Passed on the President's request, this act permitted increased sharing of intelligence among the US Intelligence Community and authorized the government to examine the credit card bills and library records of suspected terrorists. Bush also secretly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of communications in and out of the US.^[39]

Environmental policies

Cabinet meeting

Bush's environmental record began with promises as a presidential candidate to clean up power plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a speech on September 29, 2000, Bush pledged to commit two billion dollars to the funding of clean coal technology research. In that same speech, he also promised to work with Congress, environmental groups, and the energy industry to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide into the environment within a "reasonable" period of time. He would later reverse his position on that specific campaign pledge in March 2001 in a letter to Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, stating that carbon dioxide was not considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that restricting carbon dioxide emissions would cause energy prices to rapidly increase.^[40]

In March 2001, the G.W. Bush administration announced that it would not implement the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan that required nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The administration argued that ratifying the treaty would unduly restrict U.S. growth while unsuccessfully limiting emissions from developing nations.^[41] In February 2002, President Bush announced his alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, by bringing forth a plan to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gases by 18% over 10 years. The intensity of greenhouse gases specifically is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions and economic output (i.e., under this plan, emissions still continued to grow, but at a slower pace). Bush stated that this plan would prevent the release of 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which is about the equivalent of removing 70 million cars from the road. This target would achieve this goal by providing tax credits to businesses that use renewable energy sources.^[42]

President Bush stated that he believed global warming is real^[43] but also a serious problem, although he asserted there existed a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused".^[44] The Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and environmental communities. Critics alleged that the administration^[45] misinformed the public and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.^[46]

On January 6, 2009, President Bush designated the world's largest protected marine area. The Pacific Ocean habitat includes the Mariana Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll in American Samoa, and seven islands along the equator.^[47]

Campaign finance reform

In 1995, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) jointly published an op-ed calling for campaign finance reform, and began working on a bipartisan bill.^[48][49] McCain's 2000 presidential campaign along with several scandals (including the Enron scandal) brought the issue of campaign finance to the fore of public consciousness in 2001.^[48] Both McCain and Feingold pushed the bill in the Senate, while Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) led the effort of passing it in the House.^[48] In just the second successful use of the discharge petition since the 1980s, a mixture of Democrats and Republicans defied Speaker Dennis Hastert and passed a campaign finance reform bill.^[50] The House approved the bill with a 240-189 vote, sending it to the Senate.^[51] The bill passed the Senate in a 60-40 vote, the bare minimum required to overcome the filibuster.^[49] Throughout the Congressional battle on the bill, Bush declined to take a strong position.^[51] However, he signed the bill in March 2002 after it cleared both houses of Congress. However, in March 2002, Bush signed into law the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. In signing it, Bush stated that he thought the law would improve the financing system for elections but was "far from perfect."^[52] The law placed several limits on political donations and expenditures, and closed loopholes on contribution limits on donations to political candidates by banning the use of so-called "soft money."^[48] Portions of the law restricting independent expenditures would later be struck down the Supreme Court in the 2010 case of Citizens United v. FEC.^[53]

Healthcare

After the passage of the Bush tax cuts and the No Child Left Behind Act, Bush then turned his domestic focus to healthcare. He sought to expand Medicare so it would also cover the cost of prescription drugs, a program that became known as Medicare Part D. Many congressional Democrats opposed the bill, arguing that it should have allowed Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs, while many conservative Republicans also opposed the expansion of a government program. Along with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, he narrowly won approval of the bill in the House, while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist overcame strong opposition in the Senate.^[54] In December 2003, Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, the largest expansion of Medicare since the program's creation in 1965.^[55]

Attempted Social Security reform

President George W. Bush talks with Colleen Rummel during a conversation on Social Security at the James Lee Community Center, Falls Church, Virginia.

After winning re-election in 2004, Bush called for changes in Social Security as part of his vision of an "ownership society." He wanted to restructure the program for citizens to invest some of the money going in to the payroll taxes funding the program.^[56] The President argued that Social Security faced an imminent funding crisis and that reform was necessary to ensure its continuing solvency.^[57] However, Bush's plan earned unified opposition from congressional Democrats and failed to attract the necessary support from Republicans, and legislation on Social Security reform was never brought to a vote.^[58]

Response to Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, President Bush and Louisiana Senator David Vitter meet September 2, 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina, one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the United States, ravaged several states along the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005. On a working vacation at his ranch in Texas, Bush initially allowed state and local authorities to respond to the natural disaster. The hurricane made landfall on August 29, devastating the city of New Orleans after the failure of that city's levees. Over eighteen hundred people died in the hurricane, and Bush was widely criticized for his slow response to the disaster. His approval ratings fell below 40% and never recovered.^[59]

Proposed immigration reform

President George W. Bush gives a television address to the American public outlining his comprehensive immigration reform in response to growing concern of massive protests demanding legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.

Alhough he concentrated on other domestic policies during his first term, Bush supported immigration reform throughout his administration. In May 2006, he proposed a five-point plan including increased border security, a guest worker program, and a path to citizenship for the twelve million illegal immigrants living in the United States. The Senate passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which included many of the president's proposals, but the bill did not pass the House of Representatives. After Democrats took control of Congress in the 2006 mid-term elections, Bush worked with Ted Kennedy to re-introduce the bill as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. The bill received intense criticism from many conservatives, who had become more skeptical of immigration reform, and it failed to pass the Senate.^[60]

Great Recession

After years of financial deregulation accelerating under the Bush administration, banks began lending subprime mortgages to more and more home buyers, causing a housing bubble. Many of these banks also invested in credit default swaps and derivatives that were essentially bets on the soundness of these loans. When housing prices starting declining in 2007, the Bush administration began fearing a possible short recession, thus passing the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. Falling home prices started threatening the financial viability of many institutions, and Bear Stearns, a prominent U.S.-based investment bank, was on the brink of failure in March 2008. Recognizing the growing threat of a financial crisis, Bush allowed Treasury Secretary Paulson to arrange for another bank, JPMorgan Chase, to tank over most Bear Stearn's assets. Out of concert that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might also fail, the Bush administration put both institutions into conservatorship. Shortly afterwords, the administration learned that Lehman Brothers was on the verge of bankruptcy. The administration's intervention in other financial institutions (often described as "bailouts") was criticized on both the left and the right. Both Bush and Paulson were reluctant to intervene on behalf of Lehman Brothers. The firm declared bankruptcy on September 15.^[61]

Paulson hoped that the financial industry had shored itself up after the failure of Bear Stearns and that the failure of Lehman Brothers would not strongly impact the economy, but news of the failure caused stock prices to tumble and froze credit. American International Group (AIG), another major financial institution, teetered on the brink of failure. In fear a financial collapse, Paulson and the Federal Reserve took control of AIG. Hoping to shore up the other banks, Bush and Paulson proposed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which would create the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), in which the federal government would buy toxic assets. The House rejected TARP in a 228-205 vote; although support and opposition crossed party lines, only about one third of the Republican caucus supported the bill. After the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 778 points on the day of the House vote, the House and Senate both passed TARP. Bush later extended TARP loans to U.S. automobile companies, which faced their own crisis due to the weak economy. TARP helped end the financial crisis, but it did not prevent the onset of the Great Recession.^[62][63]

Other legislation

In July 2002, following several accounting scandals such as the Enron scandal, Bush signed the Sarbanes–Oxley Act into law. The act expanded reporting requirements for public companies^[64] Shortly after the start of his second term, Bush signed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which had been a priority of his administration and part of his broader goal of instituting tort reform. The act was designed to remove most class action lawsuits from state courts to federal courts, which were regarded as less sympathetic to plaintiffs in class action suits.^[65]

War in Afghanistan

September 11 attacks

See also: Motives for the September 11 attacks and 9/11 Commission

The World Trade Center on television as President Bush enters the room in which he is briefed on the attacks^[68]

Terrorism had emerged as an important national security issue in the Clinton administration, and it became one of the dominant issues of the Bush administration^[69] In the late 1980s, Osama bin Laden had established al-Qaeda, a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization. Bin Laden sought to defeat the so-called "Near Enemy," Western-backed governments in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Pakistan. After Saudi Arabia began hosting U.S. soldiers in 1991, al-Qaeda conducted a terrorist campaign against U.S. targets, orchestrating attacks such as the 1998 USS Cole bombing. During Bush's first months in office, U.S. intelligence organizations intercepted communications indicating that al-Qaeda was planning another attack on the United States, but foreign policy officials were unprepared for a major attack on the United States.^[70]

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airliners and flew two them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying both 110-story skyscrapers. Another plane crashed into Pentagon, while the final plane was brought down in Pennsylvania following a struggle between the terrorists and the aircraft's passengers.^[71] The attacks had a profound effect on many Americans, who felt vulnerable to international attacks for the first time since the end of the Cold War.^[72] Appearing on national television on the night of the attacks, Bush promised to punish those who had aided the attacks, stating, "we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." In the following days, Bush urged the public to renounce hate crimes and discrimination against Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans.^[71] He also declared a "War on Terror", instituting new domestic and foreign policies in an effort to prevent future terrorist attacks.^[73]

Iraq

Prelude to the war

Further information: Rationale for the Iraq War and United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War

During the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, the United States had launched the Gulf War against Iraq after the latter invaded Kuwait. Though the U.S. defeated Iraq and threw it out of Kuwait, it left Saddam Hussein's administration in place, partly to serve as a counterweight to Iran. After the war, the Project for the New American Century, consisting of many individuals such as Wolfowitz and Cheney who would serve in both Bush administrations, advocated for the overthrow of Hussein.^[85] In the days following the 9/11 attacks, hawks in the Bush administration such as Paul Wolfowitz argued for military action against Iraq, but the issue was set aside in favor of planning the invasion of Afghanistan.^[86] Under the Clinton administration, the United States had adopted a policy of regime change against Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government, and some within the administration believed that it shared some responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. The administration also thought that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that could potentially threaten the U.S. and U.S. allies, possibly by providing those weapons to terrorists.^[87] Many in the administration also hoped that the fall of Iraq would help spread democracy in the Middle East, deter the recruitment of terrorists, and increase the security of Israel By the end of 2001, while the war in Afghanistan was ongoing, the administration began drawing up military plans for an invasion of Iraq.^[12]

In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush identified Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil" due to their (WMD) programs and alleged sponsorship of terrorism. Throughout 2002, administration officials developed the Bush Doctrine, which called for preemptive and unilateral war when justified by national security interests.^[88] Beginning in September 2002, the Bush administration mounted a campaign designed to win popular and congressional support for the war. Most congressional Republicans supported fell in line behind Bush, while leading Democrats like Hillary Clinton urged Bush to seek international support before going to war.^[89] In October 2002, Congress approved the Iraq Resolution, authorizing the use of force against Iraq. While congressional Republicans almost unanimously supported the measure, congressional Democrats were split in roughly equal numbers between support and opposition to the resolution.^[90] Bowing to domestic and foreign pressure, Bush sought to win the approval of the United Nations before launching an attack on Iraq.^[91] Led by Powell, the administration won the November 2002 passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, which called on Iraq to dismantle its WMD program.^[92]

President George W. Bush meets with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld outside the Oval Office shortly after authorizing operation Iraqi Freedom.

In December 2002, Iraq issued a report stating that it did not have a WMD program, but the U.S. rejected the report as false.^[93] After a U.N. weapons inspections team led by Hans Blix, as well as another team led by Mohamed ElBaradei, failed to find evidence of an Iraqi WMD program, Bush's proposed regime change in Iraq faced mounting international opposition. Germany, China, France, and Russia all expressed skepticism about the need for regime change, and the latter three countries each possessed veto power on the United Nations Security Council.^[94] At the behest of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who supported Bush but hoped for more international cooperation, Bush dispatched Powell to the U.N. to make the case to the Security Council that Iraq maintained an active WMD program.^[95] Though Powell's presentation preceded a shift in U.S. public opinion towards support of the war, it failed to convince the French, Russians, or Germans.^[95] Contrary to the findings of Blix and ElBaradei, Bush asserted in a March 17 public address that there was "no doubt" that the Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Two days later, Bush authorized Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Iraq War began on March 20, 2003.^[96]

Continuing occupation

Further information: Iraq War and History of Iraq (2003–11)

After 2003, more and more Iraqis began to see the U.S. as an occupying force. The fierce fighting of the First Battle of Fallujah alienated many in Iraq, while cleric Muqtada al-Sadr encouraged many Shia Muslims to oppose the CPA.^[100] Sunni and Shia insurgents engaged in a campaign of guerilla warfare against the United States, blunting the technological and organizational advantages of the U.S. military.^[101] While fighting in Iraq continued, domestic opposition to the war also strengthened, and many anti-war activists held protests against the Iraq War. In increasingly greater numbers, congressional Democrats such as Jack Murtha began attacking the war as well.^[102] Bremer left Iraq in June 2004, transferring power to the Iraqi Interim Government, which was led by Ayad Allawi.^[101] In January 2005, the Iraqi people voted on representatives for the Iraqi National Assembly, and the Shia United Iraqi Alliance formed a governing coalition led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In October 2005, the Iraqis ratified a new constitution that created a decentralized governmental structure dividing Iraq into communities of Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds. After another election, Jafari was succeeded as prime minister by another Shia, Nouri al-Maliki. The elections failed to quell the insurgency, and hundreds of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq died during 2005 and 2006. Sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias also intensified following the 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing.^[103] In a December 2006 report, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group described the situation in Iraq as "grave and deteriorating," and the report called for the U.S. to gradually withdraw soldiers from Iraq.^[104]

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shake hands at the conclusion of a joint press availability session in the East Room of the White House on July 26, 2006

As the violence mounted in 2006, Rumsfeld and military leaders such as Abizaid and George Casey, the commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, called for a drawdown of forces in Iraq, but many within in the administration argued that the U.S. should maintain its troop levels.^[105] Still intent on implementing a democratic Iraq, the Bush administration rejected a drawdown and began planning for a change in strategy and leadership following the 2006 elections.^[106] After the elections, Bush replaced Rumsfeld with Gates, while David Petraeus replaced Casey and William J. Fallon replaced Abizaid.^[107] Bush and his National Security Council formed a plan to "double down" in Iraq, increasing the number of U.S. soldiers in hopes of establishing a stable democracy.^[108] After Maliki publicly announced his support for an increase of U.S. soldiers, Bush announced in January 2007 that the U.S. would send an additional 20,000 soldiers to Iraq as part of a "surge" of forces.^[109] Though McCain and a few other hawks supported Bush's new strategy, many other members of Congress from both parties expressed doubt or outright opposition to it.^[110]

In April 2007, Congress, now controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that called for a total withdrawal of all U.S. troops by April 2008, but Bush vetoed the bill.^[111] Without the votes to override the veto, Congress passed a bill that continued to fund the war but also included the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which increased the federal minimum wage.^[112] U.S. and Iraqi casualties continuously declined after May 2007, and Bush declared that the surge had been a success in September 2007.^[113] He subsequently ordered a drawdown of troops, and the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq declined from 168,000 in September 2007 to 145,000 when Bush left office.^[113] The decline in casualties following the surge coincided with several other favorable trends, including the Anbar Awakening and Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to order his followers to cooperate with the Iraqi government.^[114] In 2008, at the insistence of Maliki, Bush signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which promised complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011.^[115]

Israel

President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney discuss the Israeli–Palestinian issue in the Oval Office with: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig-Moeller, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov, European Union Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten and European Union High Representative Javier Solana.

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict, ongoing since the middle of the 20th century, continued under Bush. After President Clinton's 2000 Camp David Summit had ended without an agreement, the Second Intifada had begun in September 2000.^[116] While previous administrations had tried to act as a neutral authority between the Israelis and Palestinians, the Bush administration placed the blame for the violence on the Palestinians, angering Arab states such as Saudi Arabia.^[116][117] However, Bush's support for a two-state solution helped smooth over a potential diplomatic split with the Saudis.^[118] In hopes of establishing peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, the Bush administration proposed the road map for peace, but his plan was not implemented and tensions were heightened following the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections.^[119]

Free trade agreements

Believing that protectionism hampered economic growth, Bush concluded free trade agreements with numerous countries. When Bush took office, the United States had free trade agreements with just three countries: Israel, Canada, and Mexico. In 2003, Bush signed the Chile–United States Free Trade Agreement, the Singapore–United States Free Trade Agreement, and he concluded the Morocco-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement the following year. He also concluded the Bahrain–United States Free Trade Agreement, the Oman–United States Free Trade Agreement, the Peru–United States Trade Promotion Agreement, and the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement. Additionally, Bush reached free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, but agreements with these countries were not ratified until 2011.^[120]

Russia

Bush emphasized creating a personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to ensure harmonious relations between the U.S. and Russia. After meeting with Putin in June 2001, both presidents expressed optimism regarding cooperation between the two former Cold War rivals.^[121] After the 9/11 attacks, Putin allowed the U.S. to use Russian airspace, and Putin encouraged Central Asian states to grant basing rights to the U.S.^[122] In May 2002, the U.S. and Russia signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, which sought to dramatically reduce the nuclear stockpiles of both countries.^[123]

Iran

In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush grouped Iran with Iraq and North Korea as a member of the "Axis of Evil", accusing Iran of aiding terrorist organizations.^[124] In 2006, Iran re-opened three of its nuclear facilities, potentially allowing it to begin the process of building a nuclear bomb.^[125] After the resumption of the Iranian nuclear program, many within the U.S. military and foreign policy community speculated that Bush might attempt to impose regime change on Iran.^[126] In December 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1737, which imposed sanctions on Iran in order to curb its nuclear program.^[127]

North Korea

North Korea had developed weapons of mass destruction for several years prior to the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration had sought to trade economic assistance for an end to the North Korean WMD program. Though Secretary of State Powell urged the continuation of the rapprochement, other administration officials, including Vice President Cheney, were more skeptical of the good faith of the North Koreans. Bush instead sought to isolate North Korea in the hope that the regime would eventually collapse.^[128]

North Korea launched missile tests on July 5, 2006, leading to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695. The country said on October 3, "The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test", which the Bush administration denied and denounced.^[129] Days later, North Korea followed through on its promise to test nuclear weapons.^[130] On October 14, the Security Council unanimously passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, sanctioning North Korea for the test.^[131] In the waning days of his presidency, Bush attempted to re-open negotiations with North Korea, but North Korea continued to develop its nuclear programs.^[132]

AIDS relief

Shortly after taking office, Bush pledged $200 million to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.^[133] Finding this effort insufficient, Bush assembled a team of experts to find the best way for the U.S. reduce the worldwide damage caused by the AIDS epidemic.^[133] The experts, led by Anthony S. Fauci, recommended that the U.S. focus on providing antiretroviral drugs to developing nations in Africa and the Caribbean.^[133] In his State of the Union message in January 2003, President Bush outlined a five-year strategy for global emergency AIDS relief, the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. With the approval of Congress, Bush committed $15 billion to this effort, which represented a huge increase compared to funding under previous administrations. Near the end of his presidency, Bush signed a re-authorization of the program that doubled its funding. By 2012, the PEPFAR program provided antiretroviral drugs for over 4.5 million people.^[134]

International trips

Countries visited by President George W. Bush, 2001-2009:

  1 visit

  2 visits

  3 visits

  4 visits

  5 visits

  6 visits

  7 or more visits

  United States

Bush made 48 international trips to 72 different countries (in addition to visiting the West Bank) during his presidency.^[135]

He visited six continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. On one of his two trips to Sub-Saharan Africa, he visited three of the poorest countries in the world: Liberia, Rwanda, and Benin. He was the first sitting president to visit: Albania, Bahrain, Benin, Estonia, Georgia, Iraq, Lithuania, Mongolia, Qatar, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. Bush also made a secret trip to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day 2003 to dine with the troops. His father had made a similar visit to the U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia in 1990. On November 15–20, 2006, Bush made the third round the world presidential flight (after Johnson and Nixon).

The number of visits per country where he travelled are:

• One visit to Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Kosovo, Kuwait, Liberia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vietnam, and the West Bank
• Two visits to Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Latvia, Peru, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, and Thailand
• Three visits to Egypt, South Korea, and Poland
• Four visits to Canada, China, France, Iraq, and Japan
• Five visits to Germany, the United Kingdom, and Vatican City
• Six visits to Italy and Mexico
• Seven visits to Russia

CIA leak scandal

In July 2005, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief political advisors, Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby respectively, came under fire for revealing the identity of covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Valerie Plame to reporters in the CIA leak scandal. Libby resigned on October 28, hours after his indictment by a grand jury on multiple counts of perjury, false statements, and obstruction in this case. In March 2007, Libby was convicted on four counts, and Cheney pressed Bush to pardon Libby. Rather than pardoning Libby or allowing him to go to jail, Bush commuted Libby's sentence, creating a split with Cheney, who accused Bush of leaving "a soldier on the battlefield."^[136]

Dismissal of United States attorneys

President Bush announcing his nomination of Alberto Gonzales as the next U.S. Attorney General, November 10, 2004

In December 2006, Bush dismissed eight United States Attorneys. Though these attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, the large-scale mid-term dismissal was without precedent, and Bush faced accusations that he had dismissed the attorneys for purely political reasons. During the 2006 elections, several Republican officials complained that the U.S. attorneys had not sufficiently investigated voter fraud. With the encouragement of Harriet Miers and Karl Rove, Attorney General Gonzales dismissed eight U.S. attorneys who were considered insufficiently supportive of the administration's policies. Though Gonzales argued that the attorneys had been fired for performance reasons, publicly released documents showed that the attorneys were dismissed for political reasons. After Gonzales testified before the Senate in April 2007, several Senators from both parties asked Gonzales to resign. As a result of the dismissals and the subsequent congressional investigations, Rove and Gonzales both resigned. A 2008 report found from the Justice Department inspector general found that the dismissals had been politically motivated, but a special counsel found that no crimes had been committed and no one was ever prosecuted in connection to the dismissals.^[137]

2002 mid-term elections

In the 2002 mid-term elections, Bush became the first president since the 1930s to see his own party pick up seats in both houses of Congress. Republicans picked up two seats in the Senate elections, allowing them to re-take control of the chamber.^[144] Bush delivered speeches in several venues in support of his party, campaigning on his desire to remove the administration of Saddam Hussein. Bush saw the election results as a vindication of his domestic and foreign policies.^[145]

2004 election

Bush and his campaign team seized on the idea of Bush as a "strong wartime leader," though this was undermined by the increasingly-unpopular Iraq War.^[55] His conservative policies on tax cuts and several other issues appealed to many on the right, but Bush could also lay claim to some centrist achievements, including No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Medicare Part D.^[146] Fearing that he might hurt Bush's re-election chances, Cheney offered to step down from the ticket, but Bush refused this offer, and the two were re-nominated without opposition at the 2004 Republican National Convention.^[147] On the advice of pollster Matthew Dowd, who perceived a steady decline in the number of swing voters, the 2004 Bush campaign emphasized turning out conservative voters rather than the persuasion of moderates.^[148]

In the 2004 election, Bush won 286 of the 538 electoral votes. States won by Bush are in red.

In the 2004 Democratic primaries, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts defeated several other candidates, effectively clinching the nomination on March 2. A Vietnam War veteran, Kerry had voted to authorize the Iraq War but had come to oppose it.^[149] The Bush campaign sought to define Kerry as a "flip-flopper" due to his vote on a bill funding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.^[150] Kerry sought to convince Republican Senator John McCain to become his running mate, but chose Senator John Edwards of North Carolina for the position after McCain rejected the offer.^[151] The election saw a major jump in turnout; while 105 million people had voted in 2000, 123 million people voted in 2004. Bush won 50.7% percent of the popular vote, making him the first individual to win a majority of the popular vote since United States presidential election, 1988, while Kerry took 48.3% of the popular vote. Bush won 286 electoral votes, winning Iowa, New Mexico, and every state he won in 2000 except for New Hampshire.^[152]

2006 mid-term elections

Damaged by the unpopularity of the Iraq War and President Bush, the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections. Republicans were also damaged by various scandals, including the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and the Mark Foley scandal. The elections confirmed Bush's declining popularity, as many of the candidates he had personally campaigned for were defeated. After the elections, Bush announced the resignation of Rumsfeld, and promised to work with the new Democratic majority.^[153]

2008 election and transition

In the 2008 election, Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain

Under the terms of the twenty-second amendment, Bush was ineligible to seek a third term in 2008. Senator John McCain won the 2008 Republican primaries, while Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeated Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic presidential nomination. McCain sought to distance himself from the unpopular policies of Bush, and Bush appeared only by satellite at the 2008 Republican National Convention, making him the first sitting president since Lyndon Johnson to not appear at his own party's convention.^[154] Though McCain briefly took the lead in polls of the race taken after the convention, Obama quickly re-took the lead, and he retained for the remainder of the campaign.^[155] Obama won 365 electoral votes and 52.9% of the popular vote. The election gave Democrats unified control of the legislative and executive branches for the first time since the 1994 elections. After the election, Bush congratulated Obama and invited him to the White House. With the help of the Bush administration, the presidential transition of Barack Obama was widely regarded as successful, particularly for a transition between presidents of different parties.^[156] During his inauguration on January 20, 2009, Obama thanked Bush for his service as president and his support of Obama's transition.^[157]

Works cited