George W. Bush |
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Childhood
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Yale
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National Guard
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Family
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Business
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Texas
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2001
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9/11
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Iraq
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Click on the icons to read about George W. Bush's life |
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Childhood
George Walker Bush was born in Connecticut on July 6, 1946, the eldest of six children born to Barbara and George Herbert Walker Bush. One child, a girl, died leukemia at the age of three. The family moved to Texas when George was still young and he grew up in Midland and Houston.
When he was 15, George followed in his father's footsteps by entering Phillips Academy, a prestigious New England prep school. He was a solid athlete rather than a star player and finished with a mediocre academic record. The intellectual rigour and competitiveness of the school were reportedly a shock to an exuberant young man who loved to have a good time.
In his senior year he applied to the University of Texas and Yale.
Yale
Some observers said that George W. Bush was surprised to have been accepted at Yale, his father's alma mater and the school of his grandfather and uncles.
He seems to have made little impression on his teachers but was elected president of the fraternity known as the hardest drinking jock house on campus. He was also inducted into Yale's most elite secret society, given one of the "legacy" slots at Skull and Bones because his father had been a member.
At the age of 20 he surprised his friends after a Christmas in Texas by announcing an engagement to a woman attending university in Houston. They made plans for a summer wedding which was delayed and then called off. It is unclear who ended the relationship.
Seemingly oblivious to the swelling anti-war feeling on U.S. campuses, including Yale, Mr. Bush told an interviewer in the late 1990s that he had been unaware of any such sentiment at his school.
National Guard
Shortly before he was to graduate from Yale -- only 12 days before he would lose his draft deferment as a student - Mr. Bush signed up with the Texas Air National Guard at an airfield outside Houston.
He was sworn in as an airman the same day he applied, earning a coveted slot in a unit that had no chance of being ordered overseas. In later interviews Mr. Bush denied receiving special treatment. He acknowledges that infantry service had no appeal to him but maintained that the primary reason he joined the Guard was because he wanted to fly, not to avoid service in Vietnam.
Mr. Bush requested transfer to an Alabama Air National Guard base in 1972, which would allow him to assist a political campaign. There have been persistent allegations that he failed to perform any duties while in Alabama.
With more education in mind, Mr. Bush was granted early exit from his six-year Guard commitment to enter the Harvard Business School. He started Harvard in 1973 and was awarded a Master of Business Administration two years later. He is the first U.S. president to hold an MBA.
Family
A classic case of opposites attract, the marriage of George W. Bush and Laura Welch surprised many of their friends. He was known to be the life of the party, a man who craved attention, while she was a self-contained only child, a shy librarian who enjoyed reading quietly. They were married in November, 1977, but had to delay their honeymoon.
Mr. Bush had his eye on a seat in the federal House of Representatives and the new couple hit the campaign trail in immediately. He managed to eke out victory in the bitter fight for Republican nomination but lost the overall race. In both campaigns he had to counter accusations that, with his East-coast roots, he was not a proper Texan.
