User:Ethanbas/Timeline of the presidency of George W. Bush

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). Bush was re-elected in 2004, defeating his Democratic opponent John Kerry by a slim margin.

2001

 * January 20 - First inauguration of George W. Bush
 * September 11 - September 11 attacks
 * October 7 - The United States goes to war with Afghanistan In response to the September 11 attacks.
 * October 26 - Bush signs the U.S. Patriot Act.

2002

 * January 8 - No Child Left Behind Act
 * January 13 - President Bush begins choking on a pretzel and faints around the time he falls off of a couch, the fainting being caused by a heart rate decrease as a result of swallowing the pretzel, according to White House physician Richard Tubb.
 * June 1 - President Bush delivers an address at the United States Military Academy.
 * June 3 - President Bush reports the FBI as "doing a better job", citing its communication and sharing of intelligence with the CIA during an appearance at a Little Rock, Arkansas welcoming ceremony.
 * June 4 - While speaking to reporters during a tour of the National Security Agency, President Bush says there is no evidence of the U.S. government being able to prevent the 9/11 strikes.
 * June 6 - President Bush calls on Congress to create a homeland defense agency of Cabinet-level to protect the US during "a titanic struggle against terror."
 * June 8 - President Bush equates the proposed Department of Homeland Security to the creation of the Defense Department and National Security Council under President Harry Truman during his weekly radio address.
 * June 17 - President Bush states he wishes to boast minority home ownership to 5.5 million prior to the decade ending while speaking to at St. Paul AME Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
 * November 25 - United States Department of Homeland Security is established.

2003

 * February 3 - Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. All seven crew members perish.
 * March 19 - President Bush addresses the nation and declares war with Iraq.
 * November 27 - Thanksgiving Day, Bush visits American troops in Iraq.
 * December 8 - President Bush signs the Medicare Modernization Act.
 * December 13 - Operation Red Dawn leads to the capture of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

2004

 * July 22 - The 9/11 Commission releases its final report.
 * November 2 - President Bush wins re-election over challenger Senator John F. Kerry.

2005

 * January 20 - Second inauguration of George W. Bush
 * August 29 - Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf of Mexico's bordering southern states.

2006

 * November 7 - The democratic party takes control of both Congressional Houses in the 2006 Midterm elections.
 * December 26 - Former President Gerald R. Ford dies.
 * December 30 - Execution of Saddam Hussein

2007

 * January 10 - Iraq war troop surge
 * April 16 - Virginia Tech shooting

2008

 * October 3 - Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
 * November 4 - Democratic Senator Barack Obama wins the 2008 presidential election against Republican Senator John McCain.

2009

 * January 19 - Last full day as President of the United States.