Al Gore (born 31 March 1948) was Vice President of the United States from 20 January 1993 to 20 January 2001, succeeding Dan Quayle and preceding Dick Cheney. He previously served as a member of the US House of Representatives (D-TN 4) from 3 January 1977 to 3 January 1983 (succeeding Joe L. Evans and preceding Jim Cooper) and from TN 6 from 3 January 1983 to 3 January 1985 (succeeding Robin Beard and preceding Bart Gordon), and as a US Senator from Tennessee from 3 January 1985 to 2 January 1993 (succeeding Howard Baker and preceding Harlan Mathews). After leaving the vice presidency, he continued to be renowned as an author and environmental activist, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Biography[]
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. was born in Washington DC on 31 March 1948, the son of US Senator Albert Gore Sr., a non-racialist senator who had voted against southern segregation. Gore studied religion and law at Vanderbilt University and Harvard, and he served in the US Army during the Vietnam War before being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1976. As Senator for Tennessee from 1985 to 1993, he was associated with environmental issues and foreign affairs. He ran for the Democratic Party nomination for president in the 1988 primary elections, but his telegenic looks were not complemented by his uninspiring, "wooden" speaking style, and he lost the nomination to Michael Dukakis. Following an accident which severely injured his son he decided not to run for president in 1992, but was persuaded to serve as the vice-presidential nominee alongside Bill Clinton. He contributed greatly to the latter's success, as his war service and his reputation for solidity and moral conservatism in a crucial way made up for Clinton's lack of these attributes, whilst his intellect and youth reinforced these qualities in Clinton. In 2000, Gore ran for President of the United States as the Democratic nominee, and, although he won the popular vote against Republican Party nominee George W. Bush, he lost in the Electoral College due to narrow loss in Florida, which, after a recount, was discovered to have been lost by just 537 votes (a .009% margin). After leaving the vice presidency in 2001, he continued to be an activist for climate change, winning him the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.