JULY 6 — 1946 Happy Birthday George W. Bush; INVENTION/PATENT: 1858 Blake patents machine to sow shoes together; 1990 Wyeth dies (plastic soda can); 1960 Happy Divorcery Bette Davis/Gary Merrill
JULY 6
1946 — Happy birthday Dubya.
…George W. Bush served as President from 2001-2009. He’s the oldest son of #41 George H.W. Bush, was also a Harvard Business and Yale graduate, two-term governor of Texas, and former co-owner of the MLB Texas Rangers. He married Laura Welch, a teacher and librarian. They had twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, now out of college and pursuing careers.
In 2000 Bush barely beat democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in an election that required a Florida recount. This recount got tied up in courts and lawsuits before reaching the Supreme Court, and became a whole story in of itself in regards to problems with the balloting, plus the fact that even though Bush won the Electoral College, Gore had over a half million popular votes over Bush.
For the record, winning the election by winning the electoral college but losing the popular vote has happened three other times before this in American history.
Anyway. In his first term, Bush pushed through a $1.35T tax cut to stimulate the economy but was accused of favoring the wealthy. His administration was further tarnished by not abiding by the Kyoto treaty, for reducing greenhouse gas emission.
Then came the terrorist attacks, which I realize has its own controversy, something I’ll have to get into another time. U.S. troops were sent into Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and then Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Hussein was captured and executed but the Weapons of Mass Destruction which was used to justify the invasion were never found.
Lots of sarin and mustard gas was found yes, but if Saddam had any WMD’s he must have used them all apparently against the Iranians. Again, a topic for another day. Also in Bush’s first term, he was awarded congressional approval of wide spread tax cuts, Medicare prescription drug coverage programs for seniors, signed the No child Left Behind Act, spent billions of dollars on HIV and AIDs prevention throughout the world, created Faith Based Community Initiative, and more.
Although Bush easily beat John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election, his approval rating slipped in his second term after immigration reform policies angered conservatives, eased environmental restrictions which angered liberals, and was blamed for the bad handling of Hurricane Katrina, which angered many on both sides.
He took over the Clinton administration in 2000 with a budget surplus, but now seemingly led America to a federal deficit, with fighting two wars and broad tax cuts. Overall during his tenure, Bush went from a 50% approval rating from when he first started, to 90% after invading Afghanistan, then all the way down to 19% by the end of his second term.
So happy birthday Dubya!
1858 – Lyman Blake from South Abington, Massachusetts patents the manufacturing machine for sewing the soles of shoes to the vamp of the shoe. I mean why do it manually when we can invent a machine to do it for us. Like a boss!
1990 – Nathaniel C Wyeth from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, passes. He came up with the polyethylene terephthalate that we use for plastic soda cans to this day. He
1960 Happy divorcery Bette Davis and Gary Merrill after almost 10 years of marriage.