Al Gore

It's tough being an author when you're a politician. Your books either help you win votes or irrevocably lose them. Either way, your books will always be evaluated by their political value rather than for their literary value. Of no exception is Al Gore, Jr., former vice president, senator, and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate.

Al Gore, Jr. was born in 1948 in Washington D.C., the son of a senator and coming from a long line of distinguished Americans. Growing up, he split his time between the capital and the family farm in a small town in Tennessee. He attended St. Albans where he played basketball and football. At the senior prom, he met Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, or Tipper. She would later become his wife and the two of them would have four children together.

Gore attended Harvard, earning a degree in government. After graduating, he signed up to serve in the Army, despite being openly opposed to Vietnam. After returning, he studied divinity at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, a place where he began to form his views on environmental politics. He left the Divinity School to become an investigative reporter.

From there, Gore was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served from 1977 to 1985. In 1985, he successfully ran for the Senate, where he stayed until he was tapped as Bill Clinton's vice president in 1992. In 2000, he unsuccessfully ran for president against George W. Bush, winning the popular vote, but losing the election in the electoral college.

Bibliography

--B. Redman