The Presidency of George W. Bush by John Robert Greene

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Presidency of George W. Bush by John Robert Greene Joel Webster The Presidency of George W. Bush. By John Robert Greene. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2021. Pp. 421. Notes, bibliographical essay, index.) While not the first attempt to make sense of the presidency of George W. Bush, John Robert Greene's book takes advantage of both a suitable distance from his subject—over a decade since "the most tumultuous presidency of the modern period" (xi)—and the availability of the archival records of the George W. Bush Presidential Library that opened to research in 2013. As the latest installment of the American Presidency Series from the University Press of Kansas, this work clearly sets the bar for future attempts to understand Bush's two terms. This is not, nor does it attempt to be, a traditional biography. It is instead a political analysis that utilizes fresh evidence and time to ponder its conclusions. Despite being academic in nature, it is highly readable and strikes a strong balance between narrative and analysis. Greene's criticisms of the existing literature, academic or otherwise, about President Bush is its almost single-minded focus on the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent War on Terror. While this is a significant piece of the story that must be told, Greene seeks to show that there was more than that to the man and to his administration's plans and accomplishments. Greene starts at the beginning of Bush's life and assesses how his West Texas roots and patrician ties, through both family and formal education, defined and challenged his early life. Greene emphasizes Bush's effort to learn from his father's political career, to distance himself from it, and to prove that he was his own successful man. Part of this process is shown through two life-altering events: quitting heavy drinking and adopting born-again Christianity. Another key to revealing that Bush's story is bigger than the War on Terror is Greene's illustrating that much of Bush's domestic policy was built on his experience as governor of Texas. This pre-presidential material takes up almost one-third of the content. As for Bush's time in the White House, Greene discusses the dark days after September 11, Hurricane Katrina, and the opening of two Middle Eastern wars to understand how and why the Bush Administration handled and mishandled them. Bush's use of bipartisan solutions and support, another strategy from his days as governor, and his self-identification as a "compassionate conservative" (32), provided Bush and the Republican Party with opportunities to reform education, the welfare system, and Medicare. In the realm of foreign policy, Greene suggests that Bush's version of conservatism pushed him to provide massive funding to curtail AIDS in Africa. Given Greene's criticism of the focus in Bush literature on September 11 and the War on Terror, one can see his efforts here as [End Page 606] an attempt to shift that focus and in the process unveil other aspects of President Bush and his presidency. Future authors will undoubtedly find some fault with Greene's work either as new evidence comes to light or other lines of argument are employed, but as a single-volume history of President George W. Bush that is told in just over three hundred pages of text, this book will stand as the one with which all forthcoming works must contend. Joel Webster Texas Tech University Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association