GORE, ALBERT ARNOLD, JR.
He has been a reporter, an environmentalist, a congressman, and served as vice president of the United States, but Al Gore may go down in history as the unsuccessful candidate in possibly the most contested presidential race the United States has ever seen. Having spent the majority of his life in the political ring, Gore made two
unsuccessful bids for the presidency. The first
came in 1988, when he was a fledgling senator;
the second was in 2000, following two terms as
vice president under BILL CLINTON. In the pro-
tracted 2000 race, Gore won the popular vote,
but lost the electoral vote to GEORGE W. BUSH.
He became the third candidate in history to
receive the greatest share of the popular vote, but
lose the presidency. In 2002,Gore announced that
he would not try for the office a third time, claim-
ing, “there are many other exciting ways to serve.”
Gore was born in Washington, D.C., on
March 31, 1948. His father, Albert Gore Sr., at
the time served as a Democratic member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee.
The senior Gore was to serve in the House and
the Senate for nearly three decades. His mother
was Pauline LaFon Gore. She had the distinction
of being one of the first women to graduate
from the law school at Vanderbilt University.
Gore attended St. Alban’s Episcopal School
for Boys in Washington, D.C., where he was an
honor student and captain of the football team.
In 1969, he received a B.A. with honors in gov-
ernment from Harvard University.He was inter-
ested in becoming a writer, rather than
following his father’s footsteps as a politician.
After graduation he enlisted in the army,
although he opposed the intervention of the
United States in the VIETNAM WAR.
While stationed in Vietnam, Gore served as
an army reporter. After Gore left the military
service in 1971, the Nashville Tennessean hired
him as an investigative reporter and, later, as an
editorial writer. In addition to his journalism
career, Gore was a home builder, a land devel-
oper, and a livestock and tobacco farmer.
Interested in religion and philosophy, Gore
enrolled in the Graduate School of Religion at
Vanderbilt University during the 1971–72 aca-
demic year. In 1974, he entered Vanderbilt’s law
school but left to enter elective office two years
later.
In 1976, Gore ran for a seat in the U.S.House
of Representatives. He won the primary election
against eight other candidates and went on to
win in the general election.He ran successfully in
the three following elections. Gore claimed some
early attention in 1980 when he was assigned to
study nuclear arms as a member of the House
Intelligence Committee. He researched and
eventually published a comprehensive manifesto
on arms restructuring for future security, which
was published in the February 1982 issue of
Congressional Quarterly. In 1984, Gore cam-
paigned for a seat in the U.S. Senate that had just
become vacant. He won that office with a large
margin of votes.
While in Congress, Gore focused on several
issues, including HEALTH CARE and environ-
mental reform. He worked for nuclear ARMS
CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT, as well as other
strategic defense issues. He also stressed the
potential of new technologies, such as biotech-
nology and computer development.
As the decade came to a close, Gore set his
sights on the race for the 1988 presidential elec-
tion.Only 39 years old at the time, he ran on tra-
ditional domestic Democratic views and was
tough on foreign policy issues. He failed, how-
ever, to develop a national theme for his cam-
paign and was criticized for changing positions
on issues. Gore was successful in gaining public
support in the primaries during the early spring
and won more votes than any other candidate in
southern states. However, he obtained only
small percentages of votes in other states and
withdrew from the presidential nomination
campaigns in mid-April.
Two years later Gore won election to a sec-
ond term in the U.S. Senate. He chose not to
seek the presidency in 1992, citing family con-
cerns (his son Albert had been hit by an auto-
mobile and was seriously injured). It was during
this time that Gore wrote the book Earth in the
Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, which
expressed his concern, ideas, and recommenda-
tions on conservation and the global environ-
ment. In the book he wrote about his own
personal and political experiences and legislative
actions on the environmental issue. One of
Gore’s statements in the book that sums up his
philosophy regarding the environment and
human interaction is, “We must make the rescue
of the environment the central organizing prin-
ciple for civilization.”
In the summer of 1992, Bill Clinton selected
Gore as his vice presidential nominee. The
choice startled many people because it ended a
long-standing pattern of a candidate choosing a
