From 1968 to 1973, he served as a part-time helicopter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard, but many people are seeing it as a way to avoid being drafted to the war in Vietnam. Some others also believe that he did not even fulfill his duties there, being protected by his important father. In 1977, he met and married his wife, Laura Welch, a librarian. They have twin girls, Jenna and Barbara Bush born in 1981. Also in 1977 he started an oil and gas business in Midland, and in 1978 he attempted to enter politics, but was defeated in his bid for election to the US House of Representatives. After selling his oil business, he began to work for his father's presidential campaign in 1986 as an adviser and speechwriter. He then became managing partner in a group of investors who bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in 1989, a position that placed him in the public eye.
In 1994 Bush defeated the incumbent Ann Richards for the governorship of Texas. As a governor his initiatives included reform of the Texas welfare system, a tax cut, tort reform, increased spending for schools, and a tougher approach to juvenile criminals. His proposed reform of the state's tax structure was defeated in the legislature. He was re-elected in 1998 becoming the first Texas governor to win two consecutive four-year terms. His support among Hispanic voters, an important factor in Texas politics, was unusually strong for a Republican.
On June 12, 1999, Bush formally announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. He described his political philosophy as "compassionate conservatism." He outdistanced all the other Republican candidates in fund-raising, collecting approximately $100 million for his primary election campaign. Despite his refusal to answer specific questions about his private life (he admitted having had a drinking problem earlier in his life, but would not address inquiries about any use of illegal drugs), he won the Republican nomination. Initially, he was leading in the public opinion polls over Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic Party nominee, but the gap narrowed to the closest in any election in 40 years. Bush lost the nationwide popular vote by 500,000 votes out of 105 million, but the presidency was still hinging on Florida's 25 electoral votes. Bush was narrowly leading Gore in Florida's official machine-recount tallies; he filed suit in Federal Court to stop any further recounts after Gore asked for manual recounts in four heavily democratic Florida counties. This was followed by several legal challenges, with the Gore campaign seeking a manual recount of the "undervotes" (ballots that machines recorded as not clearly expressing a presidential vote) in selected counties. The result remained in doubt for five weeks as the Florida and Federal Courts became involved. As Bush was leading Gore by fewer than 1,000 votes, the Florida Supreme Court by a 4-3 majority ordered a statewide manual recount of the 45,000 undervotes, and the inclusion of hand-counted ballots in two counties that had not been previously certified by Florida's Secretary of State, thereby reducing Bush's margin to under 200 votes. Bush filed an appeal to halt the manual recount, which the US Supreme Court granted by a 5-4 vote pending oral arguments. Concluding (7-2) that a statewide recount could not be done fairly unless ground rules were agreed, the court issued a controversial 5 to 4 decision to reverse the Florida Supreme Court's recount order, effectively awarding the presidency to Bush. By winning Florida, Bush narrowly won the electoral vote over Gore by 271 to 266, only one more than the required 270. On January 20, 2001 with Bush's inauguration as the 43rd President of the USA, America had, for the second time in its history a son of a president in the nation's highest office; the other was John Quincy Adams (1825-29), the son of John Adams (1797-1801).
All of this seems very nice and legally correct but if we look a little
closer, things are not neat. However, even a limited analysis shows that
the United States has never been as democratic as we are told to believe:
a- The judges in the USA are chosen, not so much for their competence,
but mainly for their political affiliation. In 2000, the Florida Supreme
Court had a majority of Democrat judges, and they decided in Gore's favour.
On the other hand, the US Supreme Court had a majority of Republican members
and, paying back their nomination, they handed the presidential nomination
to the Republican candidate, George W Bush.
b- The killing of hundred of thousands of Native Americans in North America
is seen by many people outside the USA as genocide, even the biggest genocide
of the last 500 years. About 15 millions Native Americans were killed
since Christopher Columbus landed in America in 1492. It is true that
other mass genocides occurred in other places like in South America (14
million deaths since 1500); the Nazis killed about 6 million Jews in concentration
camps; more recently millions of people were killed in Rwanda.
c- Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941,
the United States was in full war hysteria. Along the Pacific coast, residents
feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses. Leaders
in California, Oregon, and Washington demanded that the Japanese citizens,
and the American citizens of Japanese ancestry, be relocated in isolated
inland areas. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive
Order 9066; 120,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry, and many Japanese
citizens -over two-thirds of those interned were citizens of the United
States, and none had ever shown any disloyalty- were interned in concentration
camps. These camps were built in isolated desert areas of Arizona, California,
Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming. President Roosevelt rescinded Executive
Order 9066 in 1944, and the last of the camps was closed in March 1946.