Both parents had a tremendous influence on Bush, who was unpretentious and hardworking despite his privileged background. As a young boy, Bush attended Greenwich Country DaySchool, in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Phillips Academy, an elite prep school in Andover, Massachusetts. At Andover, Bush excelled academically and athletically. Nick- named Poppy after his grandfather Walker, Bush was a popular student, serving as class president and captain of the basketball and soccer teams. When WORLD WAR II broke out, Bush was determined to see military action. On June 12, 1942, shortly after graduation from Andover, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. At the age of 20 he became the youngest commissioned pilot in Navy history. Bush was stationed in the Pacific theater and flew dozens of dangerous missions. On September 2, 1944, while Bush was assigned to the USS Jacinto, his plane was shot down near a Japanese island. Bush bailed out of the aircraft and was rescued at sea; his crewmen did not survive. Bush returned to the United States after his tour of duty and entered Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. Not surprisingly, Bush had an outstanding college career. He played varsity baseball, was inducted into the Skull and Crossbones secret society, and in 1948 graduated Phi Be ta Kappa with a degree in economics. Before entering Yale in 1945, Bush married Barbara Pierce, the daughter of the publisher of McCall’s and Redbook. Their first child, future President GEORGE WALKER BUSH, was born during Bush’s senior year of college. The couple eventually had six children, including John (Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Their second child, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953. After graduating from Yale, Bush and his young family headed for Texas, determined to make their fortune in the oil business. In 1951, Bush started Bush-Overby Oil Development Company, and in 1954, he created Zapata Offshore Company, which designed and built offshore drilling platforms. Bush’s success in the oil business kindled his political ambitions. In 1964 Bush entered the race for U.S. senator from Texas but lost to Democrat Ralph Yarborough. Two years later, Bush made it to Washington, D.C., as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the ▼▼ ▼▼ George Herbert Walker Bush 1924– 1910 1975 2000 1925 ❖ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆◆◆ ◆ ◆ ◆◆ ◆◆ 2001 George W. Bush became 43rd U.S. president 2009 U.S.S. George H. W. Bush commissioned 1991 Persian Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm 1961–73 Vietnam War 1939–45 World War II 1914–18 World War I 1924 Born, Milton, Mass. 1942 Graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover; joined U.S. Navy for World War II service 1951 Founded Bush-Overby Oil Development Company in Texas 1948 Graduated from Yale University 1966 Elected to U.S. House 1970 Ran for U.S. Senate, lost to Lloyd Bentsen 1971–77 Held appointive posts, including U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. liaison officer to China, head of the CIA 1980 Elected vice president under President Ronald Reagan 1988 Became 41st U.S. president 1992 Lost reelection campaign to Democratic Clinton-Gore ticket 1999 All The Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings published 2005 Co-founded the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to secure aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina 1950 George H. W. Bush. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 188 BUSH, GEORGE HERBERT WALKER Seventh District of Texas. Reelected to the House in 1968, Bush was a member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. In 1970 he again ran for the Texas Senate seat, this time losing to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. Despite his defeat Bush’s career in public service was far from over. During the 1970s he held a wide range of appointive posts and built up an impressive résumé. From 1971 to 1973 Bush served as the U.S. ambassador to the UNITED NATIONS. In 1974 he was the chair of the Republican National Committee. In 1974 and 1975 Bush traveled to the Peo ple’s Republic of China as the U.S. liaison officer. And from 1976 to 1977 he was the head of the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY . Confident in his experience and abilities, Bush announced his intention to run for president. From 1977 to 1980 he actively campaigned for the Republican nomination. Although he lost the 1980 GOP nod to Reagan, the conservative governor of California, Bush was chosen by Reagan as his vice presidential candidate. The Reagan-Bush ticket reached the White House easily in 1980, defeating INCUM- BENT president JIMMY CARTER and vice president Walter F. Mondale. Bush was a late convert to Reagan’s conser- vatism. As a U.S. representative in the 1960s Bush had been a political moderate, voting in favor of open housing, the abolishment of the military draft, and the vote for 18-year-olds. As vice president under Reagan, Bush became more conservative. Bush was a loyal vice president and basked in the reflected glory of Reagan, a popular president. When Reagan and Bush ran again in 1984, they won in a landslide victory against Democratic candidate Mondale and his running mate, GERALDINE FERRARO. In 1988 the REPUBLICAN PARTY rewarded Bush for his loyal service as vice president. Despite an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses, Bush won the GOP nomination for president. To the surprise of many, Bush chose Dan Quayle, a relatively unknown and inexperienced senator from Indi- ana, as his running mate. The choice puzzled many political experts who felt that Quayle’s credentials were meager. Bush and Quayle ran against Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts and Bush’s old nemesis from Texas, Senator Bentsen. During the campaign, Bush resorted to some tactics that seemed out of keeping with his congenial personality. One Bush TV commercial focused on Willie Horton, an African American FELON who committed additional crimes upon his release from prison in Massachusetts. Suggesting that Dukakis was soft on crime, the ad capitalized on racial fears and prejudice. Also, despite the soaring DEFICIT, Bush promised to give U.S. citizens a financial break, in the campaign pledge, “Read My Lips: No New Taxes.” After the election Bush’s pledge came back to haunt him: Once in office, he agreed to tax increases to combat a $140 billion budget deficit. Bush and Quayle captured the vote in 40 states to win the 1988 election. At his inauguration Bush made an APPEAL for a “kinder, gentler nation” and shared his vision of volunteers, like “a thousand points of light,” helping to solve problems. The height of Bush’s popularity came during Operation Desert Storm, a six-week display of technological warfare against Sadam Hussein in Kuwait and Iraq. In 1992 Bush and Quayle squared off against Democratic challengers Clinton and AL GORE,a senator from Tennessee. The GOP incumbents won their party’s endorsement after a bruising primary fight with conservative columnist PATRICK BUCHANAN . Independent candidate H. Ross Perot, a Texas multimillionaire businessman, also threw his hat into the ring, to further muddle the election scene. Despite Clinton’s liabilities— rumors of infidelity, avoidance of the draft, and a “slick” image—Clinton was able to defeat Bush. Commentators often argue over the reasons one politician wins or loses, but many agree that a sluggish economy and Bush’s broken promise of no new taxes hurt his chances for reelection. Clinton and Gore, a generation younger than Bush, won the election with a promise of change and new beginnings. Bush reentered the public consciousness as two of his sons pursued their own political careers. George W. Bush was elected governor of the state of Texas in 1995, a position he held until 2000. Younger son Jeb Bush served as governor of the state of Florida. George W. Bush ran for president in 2000 against then- Vice-President Al Gore in one of the most hotly contested races in U.S. history. The younger Bush’s running mate was Richard B. (Dick) Cheney, who had served as secretary of Defense under the elder Bush. A FREE ECONOMY DEMANDS ENGAGEMENT IN THE ECONOMIC MAINSTREAM . I SOLATION AND PROTECTIONISM DOOM [THEIR] PRACTITIONERS TO DEGRADATION AND WANT . —GEORGE H.W. B USH GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH, GEORGE HERBERT WALKER 189 Although George H.W. Bush remained in the background of the 2000 presidential election, several of George W. Bush’s advisers had ties to his father. For several weeks following the election, the country focused much of its attention on the election returns in the state of Florida. James A. Baker III, the former SECRETARY OF STATE under the elder Bush, served as an advisor and spokesperson for the younger Bush during the controversy. When George W. Bush assembled his cabinet after the election results had been resolved, several names tied to the elder Bush were nominated for positions. The most notable of these officials, Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was eventually nominated and sworn in as the secretary of state. George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are the first father and son to serve as presidents of the United States since JOHN ADAMS (1797–1801) and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1825– 29). The elder Bush largely remained in the background of his son’s presidency. Naturally, the American press focused considerable attention on him during his son’s candidacy and eventual election. Bush’s policies while he was in office also came into question once again because many viewed the election in 2000 as a repeat of the election between George H.W. Bush and Clinton in 1992. Several commentators agree that a sluggish economy and Bush’s broken promise of no new taxes hurt his chances for reelection, and many have compared the policies of father and son as the economy slowed under the younger Bush. The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located in College Station, Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M University. In addition to several speaking engagements, Bush and his wife divide their time between Texas and Kennebunkport, Maine, spending time with their children and grandchildren. It would seem that Bush and Bill Clinton put aside political differences for charitable causes in recent years. He and Clinton appeared together in television ads in 2005, encouraging aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. In January 2009, the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77), the tenth and last Nimitz class supercarrier of the U.S. Navy, was commis- sioned. Both Bush and his son, former president George W. Bush, were present at the ceremony. FURTHER READINGS Bush, George H.W. 1999. All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. New York: Scribner. Campbell, Colin, and Bert A. Rockman. 1991. The Bush Presidency: First Appraisals. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House. Koch, Doro Bush. 2006. My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush. New York: Grand Central Publishing. Levy, Peter B. 1996. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood. Thompson, Kenneth W. 1997. The Bush Presidency: Ten Intimate Perspectives of George Bush. Lanham, Md.: Univ. Press of America. CROSS REFERENCE Bush, George Walker. v BUSH, GEORGE WALKER The administration of George Walker Bush, the forty-third PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, was a study in co ntrasts. On the one hand, Bush showed a fierce determination to protect the interests of the United States and its citizens following the September 11, 2001, attacks, in which terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and seriously damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. On the other hand, his administration was shrouded in controversy, beginning from the day of his contested election on November 7, 2000, to a slow economy in the early 2000s, and the U.S. military decisions made regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. For years, Bush’s public identity was inextri- cably tied to his famous father, George H. W. Bush. They are the first father and son to be elected presidents since JOHN ADAMS and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS . In 1994 the son of the former Republican president established an identity of his own when he defeated INCUMBENT Ann Richards in a hotly contested political race to become the forty-sixth governor of Texas. Convincing Texas voters that he was a strong politician in his own right, Bush claimed a victory that he could call his own. Six years later, he was part of an extremely controversial presidential election when he defeated then-Vice-President ALBERT GORE to win the presidency. Born in Connecticut on July 6, 1946, and raised in Texas, George Walker Bush has a well- documented lineage. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, a Connecticut resident who worked on Wall Street, was elected to the Senate. His father, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, earned his fortune as GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 190 BUSH, GEORGE WALKER an oilman in Texas, entered politics, became director of the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, and eventually achieved the country’s highest office as president. GEORGE W. BUSH, the oldest of five Bush children, retraced his father’s early career. Like his father, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Yale University. After graduating from Yale, the young Bush continued to be his father’s shadow. He learned how to fly a combat aircraft and then became an oilman. He completed a 53-week program with the Texas Air NATIONAL GUARD, learning to fly F-102s and earning the rank of lieutenant, and then he returned home looking for a new challenge when he was not called to fight in Vietnam. He spent time in Houston holding various short-term jobs, including a stint at a program called Pull for Youth for underprivi- leged kids. Possessing his father’s drive and fierce determination to make something of himself, Bush attended Harvard Business School, returned to Texas with an M.B.A., became an oilman, and ventured into politics. At age 32, he ran for Congress in w est Texas but was defeated by six points. He was successful in the oil business, however, and within ten years of working in the industry earned his first million dollars. Bush’s biggest oil venture, however, proved controversial. During the late 1970 s, he built a small, thriving company called Bush Explora- tion. When the energy market turned soft in the early 1980s, Bush Exploration, like many oil enterprises, floundered. In 1983 Bush merged his outfit with Spectrum 7; three years later Spectrum 7 was bought by Harken Energy. Bush’s supporters said the sale was the work of a shrewd dealmaker, whereas others—including journalists from conservative and liberal pub- lications—suspected that the deal came about because of Bush’sfather’s political contacts. “Many oil companie s went belly-up during that time,” reported Stephen Pizzo of Mother Jones. “But Spectrum 7 had one asset the others lacked—the son of the vice-president. Rescue came in 1986 in the form of Harken Energy. Harken absorbed Spectrum, and, in the process, Bush got $600,000 worth of Harken stock in return for his Spectrum shares. He also won a lucrative consulting contract and stock options. In all, the deal would put well more than George W. Bush. MANNIE GARCIA-POOL/ GETTY IMAGES George Walker Bush 1946– ▼▼ ▼▼ 1935 2000 1975 1950 ❖ ◆◆ ◆ ◆ ◆◆◆ ◆ ◆ 2001 Entered office as 43rd U.S. president 2004 Re-elected as president 2009 Retired to Texas 2000 Won electoral college despite losing popular vote-count to defeat Al Gore in controversial presidential election 1994–2000 Served as governor of Texas 1989–94 Managing general partner of Texas Rangers professional baseball team 1975 Received M.B.A. from Harvard Univ. 1946 Born, New Haven, Conn. 1939–45 World War II 1961–73 Vietnam War 2000 U.S. Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision halted presidential vote recount in Florida 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq 2008 Barack Obama elected 44th U.S. president GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH, GEORGE WALKER 191 $1 million in his pocket over the next few years—even though Harken itself lost millions.” Bush came under fire again in 1990. Time reported, “about a month before Iraq invaded Kuwait, young Bush sold 66 percent of his Harken stake (or 212,140 shares) at the top of the market for nearly $850,000, which repre- sented a 200 percent profit on his original stake.” President Bush balked at the allegations of impropriety. “The media ought to be ashamed of itself for what they’re doing,” he said. Meanwhile, the younger Bush dismissed the criticism, “claiming somet hing close to penury,” according to Newsweek. While speculation swirled in the media about his oil dealings, Bush left business for politics. He helped manage his father’s 1988 presidential campaign, moving with his wife and twin daughters to Washington, where he worked closely with Lee Atwater. By all accounts, Bush did not enjoy the experience. “He remembers finding Washington a ‘hostile environment,’” reported Time. “The campaign operation was often a mud wrestle among contending egos.” Confessed the young Bush, “I was the loyalty thermometer.” But he gained respect for handling volatile diplomatic matters, such as the firing of chief of staff John Sununu, and for swiftly taking care of business. After the election, Bush wasted no time getting back to Texas, where he promptly found a new venture—baseball. The sport offered Bush the first honest chance at independence. In a matter of months, he successfully organized a coalition of wealthy investors to purchase American League’s Texas Rangers, and he assumed a role as managing partner. Bush was instrumental in promoting the team and boosting attendance. Riding the wave of popu- larity that arose from his success with the Rangers, Bush decided it was an ideal time to try his hand at local politics. George H. W. and Barbara Bush had both discouraged their oldest son from entering politics as a full-time career until he had first secured his financial future . Even after Bush earned a small fortune in the oil industry, and with the promise of more to come from his baseball investments, his mother remained wary of his chances in the 1994 gubernatorial race. Like other political observers, Barbara Bush believed that Texans were not ready to retire their quick-witted Democratic governor Ann Richards. Nevertheless, Bush jumped into the race, while his younger brother, Jeb, did the same in Florida. The brothers were, of course, highly skilled campaigners, having served as aides to the ir father since the age of 18. Bush’s strat egy was to run an intensely focused and positive, issue-oriented campaign. When Richards attacked his credibility with barbs such as “If he didn’t have his daddy’s name, he wouldn’t amount to anything,” Bush countered with pleasantries. “I don’t have to erode her likability,” he told the New York Times. “I have to erode her electability.” And when Richards called him “ some jerk,” Bush replied, “The last time I was called a jerk was at Sam Houston Elementary School in Midland, Texas. I’m not going to call the Governor names. I’m going to elevate this debate to a level where Texans want it.” That debate focused on WELFARE reform, a crackdown on crime (espe- cially concerning juveniles), increased autono- my and state financing for local school districts, and personal responsibility. As he campaigned, it was clear to observers that he was not the spitting political image of his father. As he told local audiences, “Let Texans run Texas.” It was a message that appealed to the proud Texans. And despite the popularity Ann Richards had enjoyed during her reign as governor, Bush, to the surprise of many, won with 53.5 percent of the vote. Twenty thousand people attended Bush’s inauguration in Austin, including the famous preacher Billy Graham, legendary base- ball pitcher Nolan Ryan, movie star Chuck Norris, and, of course, George H. W. and Barbara Bush. After only a year in office, Bush was hailed as the most popular big-state governor in the country. In 1998 he won reelection in a landslide. His vote-getting among minorities impressed national Republicans. Bush entered the 2000 presidential election race in 1999, eventually raising the largest amount of money— more than $100 million—for any presidential race in U.S. history. His support largely demoralized the field of potential Republican candidates. He later defeated Senator JOHN MCCAIN in a series of primary elections and became the GOP’s candidate in 2000. The race pitted Bush against AL GORE,who had served as VICE PRESIDENT for two terms under BILL CLINTON. Bush, who did not have extensive experience in foreign policy, chose former FREEDOM AND FEAR, JUSTICE AND CRUELTY , HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR , AND WE KNOW THAT GOD IS NOT NEUTRAL BETWEEN THEM . —GEORGE W. BUSH GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 192 BUSH, GEORGE WALKER Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney as his running mate. Despite early leads for the Bush camp, the race was large ly deadlocked as the November 7 election date approached. On the day of the election, early results supported Gore, and late in the afternoon several media outlets pronounced Gore the probable victor. Late returns, however, supported Bush, and by the end of the day, he had apparently won the election through the ELECTORAL COLLEGE, despite the fact that Gore had won a majority of the popular vote. Gore immediately contested the results, requesting a recount of votes in the state of Florida, where voting procedures caused a great deal of controversy. For a month after the elections, the nation observed high profile wrangling from both sides as politicians and the courts sought to sort out the election fiasco. The U.S. Supreme Court in BUSH V. GORE, 531 U.S. 98, 121 S. Ct. 525, 148 L. Ed. 2d 388 (2000), overturned an order by the Florida Supreme Court requiring a recounting of ballots in several counties. The ruling, one of the most controversial ever, allowed Bush to be certified as the winner. Bush’s first nine months in office were largely unremarkable as he sought to pass education reform bills and new tax legislation. The events of September 11, 2001, however, irrevocably changed the Bush administration and the public’s perceptions of the president. On September 20, 2001, President Bush deliv- ered a speech to Congress regarding the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks, and several commentators likened the speech to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Months after the attack, U.S. forces, in conjunction with U.S. allies, toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which had been sus- pected of harboring terrorists. Bush initiated the largest reorganization of the federal government since WORLD WAR II in an effort to allow the United States to defend itself against terrorist attacks. In 2002, Congress approved the Home- land Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 6 U.S.C.A.), which created the HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT and reorganized several existing agencies. Throughout 2002 and 2003, the Bush administration focused much of its attention on Iraq, which was also at the center of attention under the administration of the elder Bush. More than 250,000 troops had been amassed in the Persian Gulf by March 2003 in preparation with a possible showdown with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The United States attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003. After his regime was toppled by a U.S led coalition, Hu ssein was captured and subsequently executed for crimes against hu- manity. The U.S. attack was launched in part because Iraq was alleged to have WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMD). The search by UNITED NATIONS inspectors, however, uncovered no evidence that Iraq stockpiled WMDs. In 2004 Bush was re-elected to serve a second term, defeating Democratic candidate John Kerry, with 50.73 percent of the popular vote. At the commencement of his second term, some 150,000 troops remained in Iraq. Throughout his second term, Bush faced increasing criticism concerning his decisions in the IRAQ WAR. By 2009, as Bush’s term was coming to an end, there had been more than 4,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq. Bush also faced criticism relating to domes- tic issues. Though the United States experienced economic growth under former President Clinton, this trend came to an end during the Bush administration, which left the country in a recession. Bush likewise faced criticism relating to his administration’s allegedly delayed re- sponse to Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating hurricanes in U.S. history. When Bush’s presidential term ended in 2009, he retired to Texas. FURTHER READINGS Campbell, Colin, and Bert A. Rockman. 2007. The George W. Bush Legacy. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. Frum, David. 2003. The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush. New York: Random House. Kettl, Donald F. 2003. Team Bush: Leadership Lessons from the Bush White House. New York: McGraw Hill. Kilberg, William J. 2009. “The George W. Bush Adminis- tration: A Retrospective.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Summer. Kinkopf, Neil. 2009. “Is It Better to be Loved or Feared? Some Thoughts on Lessons Learned from the Presi- dency of George W. Bush.” Duke Journal of Constitu- tional Law and Public Policy. 4. Lind, Michael. 2003. Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics. New York: Basic Books. CROSS REFERENCES Bush v. Gore; Homeland Security Department; Terrorism. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH, GEORGE WALKER 193 BUSH V. GORE Introduction In Bush v. Gore 531 U.S . 98, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (U.S. 2000), the U.S Supreme Court ruled that the system devised by the Florida Supreme Court to recount the votes cast in the state during the 2000 U.S. presidential election violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution. Because there was no time to create a system that was fair to both candidates, the Supreme Court effectively stopped the recount process in its tracks, allowing George W. Bush of Texas to become the 43rd president of the United States. Bush v. Gore was more than just a lawsuit or a series of lawsuits about technical areas of Florida election law. Instead, Bush v. Gore represented a 36-day American drama of the highest order, captivating the world’s attention as the U.S. judicial system was ensnared by a whirlwind of power politics that saw the Republican presidential candidate clinging to a slim lead that seemed to dwindle by the day, if not by the hour, while the Democratic candi- date kept forging ahead, trying to build momentum to eclipse his rival. At the same time, the nation witnessed the Bush and Gore legal teams doing whatever they could to secure what each candidate felt rightly belonged to him. Having lost the nationwide popular vote by approximately 500,000 votes, Bush defeated Gore in Florida by a mere 537 votes to capture that state’s 25 electors, enough to win the ELECTORAL COLLEGE and the presidency. Election Night As daylight turned to twilight on the East Coast of the United States, it became evident that Florida’s 25 electoral votes held the key to victory in the November 7, 2000, U.S. presiden- tial race. Early returns combined with exit polling results indicated that Gore had a commanding lead in the state. By 8:00 p.m. EST, all of the major television networks projected that Gore had defeated Bush to become the nation’s next president. However, the polls had not yet closed in the Florida’s panhandle, which is in the Centra l time zone. A few hours later, the lead swung to Bush, forcing the networks to retract their projections. By 2:15 EST, Bush appeared to have a decisive lead of about 50,000 votes, and all of the major networks were declaring Bush the winner. Gore even called Bush privately to concede. But while Gore was en route to Nashville, Tennessee, to make his public concession speech, Gore’s aides informed him that Bush’s lead had shrunk to a few thousands votes, at best. Gore immediately withdrew his concession, and the embarrassed networks announced the race was too close to call. When the votes were finally tallied on November 8, minus the late-arriving overseas ballots, Bush was ahead of Gore by 1,784 votes, or less than .5 percent of the total number of votes tabulated for the U.S. presidency in Florida. Under Florida Election Law, a recount was automatic in these circumstances, unless Gore refused, which he did not. The recount was performed by machine and was designed to correct any errors in the first machine tabula- tion of the vote. On November 10 the first recount was complete. Bush’s lead had dwin- dled to 327 votes. The Controversy Begins Before the results of the first recount were announced, two controversies had arisen. First, all Palm Beach County voters had cast their votes on confusing ballots known as “butterfly ballots”, which displayed candidates’ names on both sides of the ballot , one pair of candidates ’ names on top of the other, with arrows pointing toward the middle of the ballot, where voters were required to mark their vote by using a stylus to punch through a small circular or rectangular “chad” (a perforated punchhole used to record votes). The poorly configured ballot had caused hun dreds or more elderly Jewish voters to mistakenly cast their vote for Pat Buchanan, a right-wing candidate for the REFORM PARTY, someone whom such voters are demographically unlikely to support. Second, Gore’s legal team had discovered an unusually high number of “undervotes” (ballots that the tabulating machines had not counted as a vote for any presidential candidate) in counties that used punchcard voting. Florida’s election law allows both candidates to “protest” an election by requesting a manual recount within seven days of the election, and the county canvassing boards “may” agree to authorize one, Fla. Stat. sections 102.112, 102.166. On November 9 Gore invoked these statutory provisions, asking the canvassing boards of Broward, Miami -Dade, Palm Beach, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 194 BUSH V. GORE and Volusia Counties to authorize a manual recount. Gore had carried each of those counties by wide margins and expected to benefit from a manual recount of the ballots in those heavily Democratic counties. Notwithstanding Republican opposition, all four counties authorized a manual recount of several “sample” precincts. Once the sample precincts had been manually recounted, state law authorized the canvassing boards to order a full recount of all ballots cast in the county if the results from the sample precincts indicated “an error in the vote tabulation which could affect the outcome of the election,” Fla. Stat. section 102.166. The problem was that Florida law required all counties in the state to submit their final counts by November 14, again minus the overseas votes, which could be submitted until November 18. Only Volusia County met the November 14 deadline, and Florida SECRETARY OF STATE Katherine Harris, the state’s highest election official, refused to extend the deadline so the manual recount could be completed in the other three counties. In making her decision, Harris was accused of being influenced by Republican Florida governor Jeb Bush, brother of presidential candidate GEORGE W. BUSH, even though Harris was a prominent member of the state REPUBLICAN PARTY who had been elected to office and not appointed by the governor. On November 18 Harris announced that the overseas votes had increased Bush ’s lead from 327 to 930 votes. The Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade canvassing boards sued Harris to extend the deadline on which they had to submit their final counts, and though they lost in trial court, the Florida Supreme Court overruled the trial court and extended the deadline to November 26. The state high court authorized the canvassing boards to order countywide manual recounts if they concluded that the results from their sample precincts revealed “an error in the vote tabulation which could affect the outcome of the election.” Republicans had argued that “an error in vote tabulation” meant a machine error in tabulating the vote. But the Florida Supreme Court ruled that this phrase also included voter error in failing to fully dislodge the chad from the ballot, such that the chad was left “hanging” by one corner, “swinging” by two corners, attached by three corners (a “tri-chad”), or otherwise “dimpled” or “pregnant” (dimpled and pregnant chads referred to bulging, indented, or marked chads that remain attached to the ballot by all four corners). On REMAND all three canvassing boards concluded that “an error in vote tabulation” had occurred and ordered countywide manual recounts of hundreds of thousands of votes across several hundred precincts. Only Broward County completed its recount by the newly extended deadline, and the Florida Supreme Court refused to extend the deadline further for Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties. With Bush holding a lead of 537 votes after factoring in the manually recounted ballots from Bro- ward County, Katherine Harris certified Bush the winner on November 27. Gore then sued Harris to contest the certification, again losing in the trial court but prevailing on appeal, where the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Harris had to include in her certified totals the untimely recounted votes from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties, which whittled down Bush’s lead to 154 votes. The court also ordered a manual recount for all the 60,000 undervotes cast in the state but failed to specify the criteria by which those votes would be counted as having been made for Bush or Gore. The canvassing boards of each county were free to determine their own criteria. The U.S. Supreme Court Steps In Meanwhile, Bush had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Florida Supreme Court’s decision extending the deadline by which the counties had to submit their final counts. On December 4 the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the state supreme court’s decision, remanding the case so the Florida high court could clarify the grounds of its decision. The U.S. Supreme Court expressed concerns that the Florida Supreme Court had usurped the state legislature’s authority to determine the manner in which a state’s presidential electors are appointed for the electoral college, an authority conferred by Article II of the federal Constitu- tion. Five days later the U.S. Supreme Court, again at Bush’s request, stayed the Florida State Supreme Court’s decision ordering a statewide hand recount of the undervote, pending further review of that decision by the nation’s high court. After further review, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision on December 12, 2000. The Court reversed the Florida Supreme Court’s GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH V. GORE 195 decision ordering a statewide hand recount, declaring that the order violated Florida voters’ right to EQUAL PROTECTION of the laws guaranteed by the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. “When a court orders a statewide remedy,” the Supreme Court said in a PER CURIAM opinion, “there must be at least some assurance that the rudimentary requirements of equal treatment and fundamen- tal fairne ss are satisfied.” The Court said that these requirements were missing from the process by which the court-ordered manual recount was being conducted. The Florida Supreme Court had provided the canvassing boards with no uniform stan- dards to evaluate the ballots cast by Florida voters. To the contrary, the U.S. Supreme Court observed, “standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but indeed within a single county from one recount team to ano ther.” For example, the Court noted that Palm Beach County changed its standards three times during the ma nual recounting process, fluctu- ating from more strict standards that precluded counting pregnant chads to more relaxed standards that allowed hanging, swinging, or tri-chads to be counted. Broward County, by contrast, used a more forgiving standard throughout its entire recount process and uncovered almost three times as many new votes as Palm Beach County, a result “mark edly disproportionate” to the difference in popula- tion between the counties,” the Court said. The equal protection problems arising from the absence of uniform standards in evaluating a chad’s status primarily affected the undervotes, or those ballots in which the vote tabulating machines detected that no vote for the presi- dency had been cast. But the Court said there was also an equal protection problem with the overvotes, or those votes in which the ballot reflected more than one vote for the presi dency. Voters who marked their ballot in a way that was not readable by the machine (the under- votes) stood to have their votes counted through the manual recount process, while those who marked two candidates in a way that was discernable by the machine would not have had their votes counted, even if a manual examination of the ballot would reveal the voter’s intent, because the Florida Supreme Court excluded the overvote from the statewide recount it had ordered. While seven justices agreed that the court- ordered, statewide recount violated the Equal Protection Clause, only five justices agreed on the remedy. Chief Justice WILLIAM REHNQUIST and Associate Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, ANTONIN SCALIA, CLARENCE THOMAS, and ANTHONY KENNEDY noted that Florida law required the state to select its electors for the electoral college by December 12, which was the day the Court announced its decision in Bush v. Gore. Rehnquist, O’Connor, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy concluded that it was thus impossi ble to complete a statewid e recount by day’s end. For all intents and purposes, then, a majority of the Court ruled that the 2000 U.S. presidential election was over and George W. Bush had won. Justices JOHN PAUL STEVENS, DAVID SOUTER, STEPHEN BREYER, and RUTH BADER GINSBURG dis- sented, with Stevens, Breyer, and Ginsburg each writing their own dissenting opinion. The December 12 deadline chosen by the majority was misleading, the dissenting justices asserted, because under federal law the electors had until December 18 to deliver their votes to Congress and until December 28 before Congress could request the electors to deliver their votes had they not already done so. “By halting the Florida recount in the interest of finality,” Justice Stevens wrote, “the majority effectively orders the disenfranchisement of an unknown number of voters whose ballots reveal their intent—and are therefore legal votes under state law—but were for some reason rejected by ballot- counting machines.” In addition, Breyer stated: “An appro priate remedy would be to remand this case with instructions that, even at this late date, would permit the Florida Supreme Court to require recounting all undercounted votes in Florida and to do so in accordance with a single uniform standard.” The Legacy of Bush v. Gore On January 6, 2001, Congress met t o count the electoral college votes. Bush was declared the winner by a 271-266 margin, with one of Gore’s electors abstaining in protest over the District of Columbia not having statehood. Fourteen days later George W. Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Following the inauguration, several news services set out to determine who “really” won the 2000 presidential race, attempting to conduct their own manual recounts of the ballots cast in the four contested counties. Most GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 196 BUSH V. GORE of the news agencies reported that Gore would not have picked up enough additional under- votes to have won the election. However, the Palm Beach Post reported that its examination of approximately 19,000 overvotes cast on the Palm Beach County “butterfly ballot” indicated that Gore lost as many as 6,600 votes. In early 2003 it was probably too early to fully assess the legacy of Bush v. Gore. Immedi- ately after the U.S Supreme Court announced its decis ion stopping the recounts and effectively ending the election, liberal commentators con- demned the five unelected conservative justices for having “hijacked” U.S. democracy by judicial FIAT. Earlier Florida Supreme Court decisions in the Bush v. Gore saga had been assailed by conservative commentators on similar grounds. Even more temperate Americans were forced to confront the fact that the perso nal politics of court members may have influenced the outcome of a high-stakes legal controversy: five politically conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in favor of the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, which overturned a decision made by the predominantly libera l judges on the Florida Supreme Court in favor of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, demonstrating that the judiciary’s ability to remain indepen- dent of partisan politics is compromised when the subject matter of the “legal” controversy involves a cutthroat political battle for the nation’s highest office. FURTHER READINGS Bugliosi, Vincent. 2001. Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President. New York: Perseus. Dershowitz, Alan M. 2002. Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Gillman, Howard. 2003. The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. Posner, Richard A. 2001. Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. BUSINESS AFFECTED WITH A PUBLIC INTEREST A commercial venture or an occupation that has become subject to governmental regulation by virtue of its offering essential services or products to the community at large. A business affected with a public interest is subject to regulation by the POLICE POWER of the state to protect and to promote the GENERAL WELFARE of the community which it serves. Such a designation does not arise from the fact that the business is large, or that the public receives a benefit or enjoyment from its operation. The enterprise, as a result of its integral participation in the life of the community or by the privilege it has been granted by the state to serve the needs of the public, is regulated more strictly by the state than other businesses. What constitutes a business affected with a PUBLIC INTEREST varies from state to state. Three classes of businesses have been traditionally regarded as affected with a public interest: (1) those carried on pursuant to a public grant or privilege imposing a duty of making available essential services demanded by the public, such as common carriers and PUBLIC UTILITIES; (2) occupations considered from the earliest times in common law to be exceptional, such as the operation of inns or cabs; and (3) businesses that although not public at their inception have become such by devoting their activities to a public use, such as insurance companies and banks. A business affected with a public interest remains the property of its owner, but the community is considered to have such a stake in its operation that it becomes subject to public regulation to the extent of that interest. CROSS REFERENCE Regulation. BUSINESS CLOSINGS After advocating such measures for fifteen years, proponents of mandatory plant closing notifi- cation secured federal leg islation in August 1988 with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 100 P.L. 379. The measures were initially part of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, P.L. 100-418, 102 Stat. 1159, which President RONALD REAGAN had vetoed. After failing to garner the two-thirds majority required for an OVERRIDE, Congress chose to make the plant closing notification provisions into a separate act. In July, the Senate approved the plant closing legislation by a vote of 72 to 23, and the House of Representatives passed it by a vote of 286 to 136. On August 2, 1988, perhaps sensing the popularity of the bill, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSINESS CLOSINGS 197 . a vote of 72 to 23 , and the House of Representatives passed it by a vote of 28 6 to 136. On August 2, 1988, perhaps sensing the popularity of the bill, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E. Department; Terrorism. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH, GEORGE WALKER 193 BUSH V. GORE Introduction In Bush v. Gore 531 U.S . 98, 121 S.Ct. 525 , 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (U.S. 20 00), the U.S. H.W. B USH GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION BUSH, GEORGE HERBERT WALKER 189 Although George H.W. Bush remained in the background of the 20 00 presidential election, several of George