High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the 2000 general election, thus becoming the second second-generation president, succeeding his father after just one other president, and with just two terms between them. The Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of Bush by allowing the Florida Secretary of State's previous certification of Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, defeating Democratic candidate Al Gore in a close and controversial election. Bush was re-elected in 2004, and his term ended on January 20, 2009.