The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001 at noon Eastern Standard Time, when George W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States. Bush's presidency ended on January 20, 2009. A Republican, he took office following a very close win in the 2000 presidential election over Democratic nominee Al Gore, the then–incumbent Vice President. Bush, the 43rd United States president, is the son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush. Bush was re-elected in 2004, defeating his Democratic opponent John Kerry by a slim margin. He was succeeded in office by Democrat Barack Obama, who won the 2008 presidential election.
Upon taking office, Bush pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, a major education bill. He also pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush declared a global war on terrorism and, in October 2001, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy the terrorist group al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. That same month, he signed into law the controversial Patriot Act in order to strengthen security and allow for greater surveillance. In 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, asserting that Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. Later that year, he signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D and made other changes to Medicare.