1.
George W. Bush
–
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
2.
Dick Cheney
–
Richard Bruce Dick Cheney is an American politician and businessman who was the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009, under President George W. Bush. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was primarily raised in Sumner, Nebraska and he attended Yale and then the University of Wyoming, at the latter of which he earned a BA and an MA in Political Science. Cheney was selected to be the Secretary of Defense during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, during his time in the Department of Defense, Cheney oversaw the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, among other actions. Out of office during the Clinton administration, Cheney was the Chairman, in July 2000, Cheney was chosen by presumptive Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush as his running mate in the 2000 Presidential election. They defeated their Democratic opponents, incumbent Vice President Al Gore, in 2004 Cheney was reelected to his second term as Vice President, defeating Senator John Kerrys running mate, Senator John Edwards. He was a proponent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and defender of the Administrations anti-terrorism record. He became at odds with President Bushs position against same-sex marriage in 2004 and he has been cited as the most powerful Vice President in American history. At the same time he has been among the least favored politicians in the history of the United States, Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Marjorie Lorraine and Richard Herbert Cheney. He is of predominantly English, as well as Welsh, Irish, although not a direct descendant, he is collaterally related to Benjamin Pierce Cheney, the early American expressman. His father was a soil conservation agent for the U. S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a star in the 1930s. He attended Calvert Elementary School before his family moved to Casper, Wyoming and he attended Yale University, but by his own account had problems adjusting to the college, and failed out twice. Among the influential teachers from his days in New Haven was Professor H. Bradford Westerfield and he later attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science. He subsequently started, but did not finish, doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in November 1962, at the age of 21, Cheney was convicted of driving while intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI again the following year, Cheney said that the arrests made him think about where I was and where I was headed. I was headed down a bad road if I continued on that course, in 1964, he married Lynne Vincent, his high school sweetheart, whom he had met at age 14. When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for, initially, Cheney was not drafted due to his marriage to Lynne Cheney. When the draft was expanded to include married men without children and he applied for his fifth exemption on January 19,1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant. He was granted 3-A status, the exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents
3.
Nancy Pelosi
–
Nancy Patricia DAlesandro Pelosi is an American politician who is the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, representing Californias 12th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi represents Californias 12th congressional district, the district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosis first three terms in the House, and as the 8th from 1993 to 2013. She served as the House Minority Whip from 2002 to 2003, Pelosi is the first woman, the first Californian and first Italian-American to lead a major party in Congress. On November 17,2010, Pelosi was elected as the Democratic Leader by House Democrats, Pelosi is Italian-American and was born Nancy Patricia DAlesandro in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the youngest of six children of Annunciata M. Nancy, who was born in Campobasso, South Italy, on 25 March 1909, Congressman from Maryland and a Mayor of Baltimore. Pelosis brother, Thomas DAlesandro III, also a Democrat, was mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971, Pelosi was involved with politics from an early age. In her outgoing remarks as the 60th Speaker of the House and she graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame, a Catholic all-girls high school in Baltimore, and from Trinity College in Washington, D. C. in 1962 with a B. A. in political science. Pelosi interned for Senator Daniel Brewster alongside future House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and she met Paul Frank Pelosi while she was attending Trinity College. They married in Baltimore at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on September 7,1963, after moving to San Francisco, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic politics. She became a friend of one of the leaders of the California Democratic Party, in 1976, Pelosi was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996. She was elected as party chair for Northern California on January 30,1977, and for the California Democratic Party, Pelosi was appointed Finance Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of the U. S. Senate Democrats, in 1985. That same year, she ran to succeed Chuck Manatt as chair of the Democratic National Committee, Pelosi left her post as DSCC finance chair in 1986. Phillip Burton died in 1983 and was succeeded by his wife, in late 1986, Sala became ill with cancer and decided not to run for reelection in 1988. She picked Pelosi as her successor, guaranteeing her the support of the Burtons contacts. Sala died on February 1,1987, just a month after being sworn in for a full term. Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country, Democrats have held the seat since 1949 and Republicans, who currently make up only 13 percent of registered voters in the district, have not made a serious bid for the seat since the early 1960s. She won the seat in her own right in 1988 and has been reelected 10 more times with no substantive opposition and she has not participated in candidates debates since her 1987 race against Harriet Ross. The strongest challenge Pelosi has faced was in 2008 when anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan polled 16%, in the House, she served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, and was the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee until her election as Minority Leader
4.
State of the Union
–
The State of the Union address is a speech presented by the President of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress, except in the first year of a new presidents term. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the President to outline his legislative agenda, during most of the countrys first century, the President primarily only submitted a written report to Congress. With the advent of radio and television, the address is now broadcast live across the country on most networks, although the language of this Section of the Constitution is not specific, by tradition, the President makes this report annually in late January or early February. Between 1934 and 2013 the date has been as early as January 3, before that time, most presidents delivered the State of the Union as a written report. When a presidential inauguration occurs in January, the date may be delayed until February, what began as a communication between president and Congress has become a communication between the president and the people of the United States. Since the advent of radio, and then television, the speech has been broadcast live on most networks, to reach the largest audience, the speech, once given during the day, is now typically given in the evening, after 9pm ET. George Washington delivered the first regular annual message before a joint session of Congress on January 8,1790, in New York City, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchical. Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice despite some initial controversy, however, there have been exceptions to this rule. Presidents during the half of the 20th century have sent written State of the Union addresses. The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter in 1981, for many years, the speech was referred to as the Presidents Annual Message to Congress. The actual term State of the Union first emerged in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase, prior to 1934, the annual message was delivered at the end of the calendar year, in December. The ratification of the 20th Amendment on January 23,1933 changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, since 1934, the message or address has been delivered to Congress in January or February. The Twentieth Amendment also established January 20 as the beginning of the presidential term, in years when a new president is inaugurated, the outgoing president may deliver a final State of the Union message, but none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. In 1936, President Roosevelt set a precedent when he delivered the address at night, only once before—when Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to order the U. S. into World War I—had a sitting president addressed Congress at night. Calvin Coolidges 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio, harry S. Trumans 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. Johnsons address in 1965 was the first delivered in the evening, three years later, in 1968, television networks in the United States, for the first time, imposed no time limit for their coverage of a State of the Union address. Johnson, this address was followed by extensive televised commentary by, among others, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Ronald Reagans 1986 State of the Union Address is the only one to have been postponed
5.
President of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
6.
Eastern Time Zone
–
Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
7.
Joint session of the United States Congress
–
Joint sessions and meetings are traditionally presided over by the Speaker of the House and take place at the House chamber. However, the Constitution requires the Vice President to preside over the counting of electoral votes, the speech is modeled on the Speech from the Throne, given by the British monarch. There is a difference, however. The President is the author of his own State of the Union message. Written reports were standard until 1913, when Woodrow Wilson reestablished the practice of attending to deliver the speech. Few Presidents have deviated from this custom since, the Twelfth Amendment mandates that the Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election. The session is ordinarily required to place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. Since the Twentieth Amendment, the newly elected Congress declares the winner of the election, in elections before 1936, the outgoing Congress counted the electoral votes. The meeting is held at 1,00 p. m. Eastern time in the Chamber of the U. S. House of Representatives. The sitting Vice President is expected to preside, but in cases the President pro tempore of the Senate has chaired the proceedings instead. The Vice President and the Speaker of the House sit at the podium, Senate pages bring in the two mahogany boxes containing each states certified vote and place them on tables in front of the Senators and Representatives. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote, relevant portions of the Certificate of Vote are read for each state, in alphabetical order. Members of Congress can object to any states vote count, provided that the objection is supported by at least one member of house of Congress. Bush of Texas and the Vice President of the United States, if there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer declares the result of the vote and states who is elected President and Vice President. The Senators then depart from the House Chamber, in addition to State of the Union Addresses, inaugurals and counting of electoral votes, Joint Sessions usually fall into one of several topics. Foreign heads of state and heads of government from 48 countries have addressed joint meetings of Congress more than a hundred times, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France lead the list with eight joint meeting addresses by heads of state or dignitaries. Other leading countries are, Mexico, Italy, Ireland, South Korea, Germany, including West Germany and unified Germany, India, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and the Philippines. Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill have each made three joint addresses to Congress, more than any other foreign dignitaries
8.
United States Congress
–
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D. C, both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, Congress has 535 voting members,435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members and these members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms representing the people of a single constituency, known as a district. Congressional districts are apportioned to states by using the United States Census results. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, currently, there are 100 senators representing the 50 states. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a term, with terms staggered. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers, however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills, the House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before a person can be forcibly removed from office. The term Congress can also refer to a meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years, the current one, the 115th Congress, began on January 3,2017, the Congress starts and ends on the third day of January of every odd-numbered year. Members of the Senate are referred to as senators, members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives, congressmen, or congresswomen. One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played a role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure. Several academics described Congress, Congress reflects us in all our strengths, Congress is the governments most representative body. Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the public policy issues of the day. —Smith, Roberts, and Wielen Congress is constantly changing and is constantly in flux, most incumbents seek re-election, and their historical likelihood of winning subsequent elections exceeds 90 percent
9.
United States House of Representatives
–
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
