Jump to content

Jeb Bush

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush in 2019
43rd Governor of Florida
In office
January 5, 1999 – January 2, 2007
Lieutenant
Preceded byBuddy MacKay
Succeeded byCharlie Crist
Secretary of Commerce of Florida
In office
January 6, 1987 – September 9, 1988
GovernorBob Martinez
Preceded byWayne Mixson
Succeeded byBill Sutton
Personal details
Born
John Ellis Bush

(1953-02-11) February 11, 1953 (age 71)
Midland, Texas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1974)​
Children3, including George
Parents
RelativesSee Bush family
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BA)
Signature

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American businessman and politician. He served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.

Bush is the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, the younger brother of former President George W. Bush, and grandson of the late Prescott Bush, United States Senator from Connecticut. Following his father's successful run for Vice President in 1980, he moved to Florida and pursued a career in real estate development. In 1986, Bush was named Florida's Secretary of Commerce, a position he held until his resignation in 1988 to help his father's successful campaign for the Presidency.

In 1994, Bush made his first run for office, losing the election for governor by less than two percentage points to the incumbent Lawton Chiles. Bush ran again in 1998 and defeated Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote. He ran for reelection in 2002. He won with 56 percent to become Florida's first two-term Republican governor.[1] During his eight years as governor, Bush helped create environmental improvements, such as conservation in the Everglades, supporting caps for medical malpractice litigation, moving Medicaid recipients to private systems, and creating reforms to the state education system, including the issuance of vouchers and promoting school choice.[2][3]

Bush was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.

Early life

[change | change source]

Bush was born in Midland, Texas.[4] He was raised in Houston, Texas. His father is George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States and 43rd Vice President of the United States. His mother is Barbara Pierce. The nickname "Jeb" is made up of his initials J.E.B. (John Ellis Bush).[5]

Bush received poor grades at first and occasionally smoked marijuana.[6] He made the honor roll by the end of his senior year and served as captain of the tennis team.[6] He studied at the University of Texas at Austin.[6] At the age of 17, Bush taught English as a second language and worked in the building of a school in Ibarrilla, a small village outside of León, Guanajuato, Mexico/[7] It was part of a student exchange summer program.[8] While in Mexico, he met his future wife, Columba Garnica Gallo.[8][9]

Early career

[change | change source]

Florida Secretary of Commerce (1987-1988)

[change | change source]

Following his father's successful run for Vice President in 1980, he moved to Florida and pursued a career in real estate development.[10] In 1986, Bush was named Florida's Secretary of Commerce, a position he held until his resignation in 1988 to help his father's successful campaign for the Presidency.[11]

1994 gubernatorial run

[change | change source]

In 1994, Bush made his first run for office. He lost the election for governor by less than two percentage points to the incumbent Lawton Chiles.[10]

Governor of Florida (1999-2007)

[change | change source]

Bush ran again in 1998 and beat Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote. Bush's administration was marked by a focus on public education reform.

While Governor, Bush reduced taxes by $19 billion, reduced the size of state government by 6.6 percent, and vetoed $2 billion in new spending. Bush eliminated civil service protection for over 16,000 state jobs, which had the effect of making it easier to fire employees in those positions.

Bush signed legislation to restore the Everglades as part of an $8 billion project in conjunction with the federal government. Bush supported more than a dozen new protections for gun owners. In 2005, Bush signed into law Florida's stand-your-ground law,[12][13] which was the first such state law in the United States.[14] In 2004, Bush supported an unsuccessful bill to allow illegal immigrants to be issued drivers licenses by the state.

He ran for reelection in 2002 and won with 56 percent to become Florida's first two-term Republican governor.[15]

During his eight years as governor, Bush was credited with initiating environmental improvements, such as conservation in the Everglades, supporting caps for medical malpractice litigation, moving medicaid recipients to private systems, and instituting reforms to the state education system, including the issuance of vouchers and promoting school choice.[16][17]

2016 presidential race

[change | change source]
Bush at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, July 2015
See the main article: Jeb Bush presidential campaign, 2016

Bush was considered a potential candidate in the 2016 presidential election since the end of the 2012 election.[18]

At a press conference on April 16, 2013, at Bluefield College, Bush stated he had not begun the decision-making process about a run but that he would begin to consider a run soon.[19] On October 2, 2014, Bush's brother George said that his brother "wants to be President".[20] On December 16, 2014, Bush announced via Facebook that he would be "actively exploring" a 2016 run to become President of the United States and at the end of the year resigned several corporate boards.[21][22]

Bush announced his candidacy on June 15, 2015.[23][24][25] Bush was high on Republican polls for president in June, but slipped as he lost to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and to Marco Rubio.[26] After losing the Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina caucuses, Bush suspended his campaign on February 20, 2016.[27]

Personal life

[change | change source]

Bush married Columba Bush in 1974. They have three children: George, Noelle, and John.

In 1995, Bush converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism.[28] In 2004, he became a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus.[29] Bush, a member of Father Hugon Council 3521 in Tallahassee, has joined Father Hugon Assembly.[30]

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ "Jeb Bush Makes History In Florida". CBS News. February 11, 2009. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  2. ↑ Associated, The (December 14, 2006). "Gov. Jeb Bush's environmental legacy during eight years in office". Jacksonville.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Jeb Bush | StateImpact Florida". Stateimpact.npr.org. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  4. ↑ McCrimmon, Ryan (March 17, 2015). "In Texas, a Focused Jeb Bush Stood Out From the Crowd". Texas Tribune. Austin, Texas. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Jeb Bush's Pros and Cons". The Huffington Post. 16 December 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kranish, Michael (February 1, 2015). "Jeb Bush shaped by troubled Phillips Academy years". Boston Globe. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  7. ↑ Kruse, Michael (May 21, 2015). "Andover, Mexico and the Making of Jeb Bush". Politico. Washingon, DC. Retrieved May 25, 2015. Before the Andover boys and teacher John J. Patrick helped build the two-room schoolhouse in Ibarrilla, outside of León, in their two-month trip in 1971, the village had no school at all—only a local woman who volunteered to teach the children who were interested in learning rudimentary reading and math skills.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Guevara-Castro, Lillian (May 5, 1999). "Florida's First Lady: Columba Bush settles into life in the governor's mansion". Ocala Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida. Retrieved March 22, 2015. Columba Garnica Gallo was 16 and John Ellis "Jeb" Bush was 17 when they met in the central Mexican town of León. Jeb was teaching English and helping to build a school as an exchange student from Phillips Academy, a prestigious prep school in Andover, Mass.
  9. ↑ "Hispanic consciousness lends weight to Jeb Bush as GOP eyes 2016 presidential race". The Washington Post. April 24, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kyle Pendergast (November 19, 2008). "Where are they now? Jeb Bush". Houston Chronicle.
  11. ↑ Eder, Steve; Barbaro, Michael (February 14, 2015). "As Dynasty's Son, Jeb Bush Used His Connections Freely". New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  12. ↑ Jeffers, Jr., Groomer (24 March 2012). "In Arlington, Jeb Bush says 'stand your ground' invalid in Trayvon Martin case". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  13. ↑ Meckler, Laura (16 December 2014). "What Kind of Republican is Bush? His Time as Governor Offers Clues". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "States That Have Stand Your Ground Laws". FindLaw. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  15. ↑ February 11, 2009, 8:57 PM (2009-02-11). "Jeb Bush Makes History In Florida". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2013-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Associated, The (2006-12-14). "Gov. Jeb Bush's environmental legacy during eight years in office". Jacksonville.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  17. ↑ "Jeb Bush | StateImpact Florida". Stateimpact.npr.org. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  18. ↑ Rutenberg, Jim; Jeff Zeleny (November 22, 2012). "Jeb Bush in 2016? Not Too Early for Chatter". The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Bush: No decision yet on whether to run for president in 2016". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. VA. April 16, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  20. ↑ Kendall Breitman, George W. Bush: I think Jeb wants it. Politico, 10/2/14.
  21. ↑ "A Note from Jeb Bush". facebook.com.
  22. ↑ Roberts, Dan (January 1, 2015). "Jeb Bush sheds corporate commitments to help 2016 presidential run". www.theguardian.com. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  23. ↑ Diamond, Jeremy (June 4, 2015). "Jeb Bush to announce candidacy June 15". CNN. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  24. ↑ Tau, Byron (June 15, 2015). "Jeb Bush Files Paperwork to Run for President". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  25. ↑ Holland, Steve (June 15, 2015). %5b%5bReuters%5d%5d "Jeb Bush vows to fix Washington as he starts White House run". Retrieved June 15, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  26. ↑ Mazzei, Patricia and Sherman, Amy. “With pressure on, Jeb Bush delivers forceful speech confirming 2016 presidential candidacy”, Miami Herald (June 15, 2015).
  27. ↑ "Jeb Bush suspends 2016 campaign". Washington Post.com. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Jeb Bush, Catholic Convert. Will His Brother Convert?". Catholic.org. September 2, 2009. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  29. ↑ "President Discusses Compassionate Conservative Agenda in Dallas". Retrieved August 8, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  30. ↑ [1] Archived 2015-01-08 at the Wayback Machine Knights of Columbus, Accessed January 8, 2014

More reading

[change | change source]

Other websites

[change | change source]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jeb Bush.
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeb_Bush&oldid=9787124"