Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: White House photograph, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain
George W. Bush
- Country
- United States
- Era
- b. 1946
- Tradition
- Compassionate conservatism, neoconservatism
President whose two terms were defined by the response to the 11 September attacks — the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act and Guantánamo — alongside large tax cuts, a new Medicare drug benefit and the largest global AIDS programme ever attempted.
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the stated basis of weapons of mass destruction that were not found
- Signed the Patriot Act, authorised warrantless surveillance and established indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay
- Cut income, capital gains and estate taxes substantially in 2001 and 2003
- Created PEPFAR, the largest programme by any nation to address a single disease, credited with millions of lives saved
- Added prescription drug coverage to Medicare, the largest expansion of the programme since its creation
- Withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol and opposed mandatory emissions limits
- Proposed partial privatisation of Social Security, which Congress did not take up
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
Evidence: Well documented
Tradition and change
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
Evidence: Well documented
Environment and growth
Evidence: Well documented
Crime and punishment
Evidence: Documented
Sources
- George W. Bush, State of the Union Address · 2002
- Robert Draper, Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush · Free Press · 2007
Last verified: