President George Bush: A journey through eight years in office

19 January 1999: Then-Texas governor George W Bush and his wife Laura ride in the state's inaugural parade with the Texas Capitol in the background Photograph: Harry Cabluck/AP

14 June 1999: Six-year-old Emma Frampton, right, lets out a big yawn while she and Governor Bush listen to Laura read to children at an elementary school in New Castle, New Hampshire. Bush had travelled through Iowa and Maine over the previous weekend to announce his decision to run for president in the 2000 election Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP

1 October 1999: A few months later on the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Bush speaks before the annual convention of the Christian Coalition in Washington Photograph: Getty Images/Getty Images

13 December 1999: Republican presidential hopefuls Governor Bush, left, and Arizona senator John McCain, right, manage to share a brief embrace after a debate forum in Des Moines, Iowa. McCain left the race following the South Carolina primary in 2000, but ran as the Republican candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He eventually lost to rival Barack Obama Photograph: Luke Frazza/AFP

30 October 2000: Governor Bush prepares to frighten the American public as he gives the W sign while donning an Al Gore mask for Halloween during a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno programme in Burbank, California. Jay Leno, host of the show, wears a Bush mask Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

26 July 2000: The Republican presidential candidate and his vice-presidential running mate Dick Cheney talk to reporters as they arrive in Casper, Wyoming Photograph: Timothy A. Clary/AFP

14 June 2000: Governor Bush, second left, keeps fit on the campaign trail during an early morning jog with secret service agents in Kennebunkport, Maine Photograph: Darren McCollester/Getty Images

31 July 2000: A delegate at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia wears a sign reading 'Love Ya Dubya', Bush's self-chosen nickname based on the Texan pronunciation of his middle initial, along with message pins and an American flag Photograph: Mark Peterson/Corbis

2 September 2000: As the campaign season ramps up, Governor Bush, centre, meets with Condoleezza Rice, left, and Paul Wolfowitz, right, at his ranch near Crawford, Texas for a security briefing from the CIA. Rice and Wolfowitz were advisers on foreign policy issues with the Bush campaign Photograph: Paul Buck/AFP

28 October 2000: Always one to work a crowd, Bush pretends to lose his balance while reaching out to shake hands with supporters after an airport campaign rally in Columbia, Missouri Photograph: Jeff Mitchell/Reuters/Corbis

9 November 2000: Republican campaign chairman Don Evans, left, listens as Karl Rove, Bush campaign strategist, displays a Cook county, Illinois ballot at a press conference in Texas. The Illinois ballot had been similar to Florida ballots which were under question for their clarity following the 2000 election Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

18 January 2001: President-elect Bush, right, displays his dancing skills with singer Ricky Martin at the opening ceremony of the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Bush was officially sworn in as the 43rd US president on 20 January Photograph: Rick Wilking/AFP

20 January 2001: The new president, right, flashes the W sign as he and wife Laura dance at an inaugural ball Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP

23 January 2001: First pets Scottish terrier Barney, left, and English Springer spaniel Spot play on the north lawn of the White House Photograph: Paul Morse/AP

31 January 2001: President Bush meets with religious leaders in the India Treaty Room of the Old Executive Office Building. Upon taking office, Bush had pushed a number of ambitious initiatives, including controversial plans to reform education and arm religious faith-based groups on the front lines of the battle against social ills with federal funds Photograph: Shawn Thew/AFP

5 February 2001: Bush, left, and vice-president Cheney, centre, are joined for lunch by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan at the White House. That day Bush announced that he wanted to make his $1.6tn tax cut package retroactive to the beginning of 2001 Photograph: Eric Draper/The White House/AFP

27 February 2001: Members of President Bush's cabinet, from left, US secretary of state Colin Powell, secretary of treasury Paul O'Neill, secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and attorney general John Ashcroft applaud prior to Bush delivering his first address to a joint session of Congress Photograph: Mario Tama/AFP

5 April 2001: China's president Jiang Zemin. Jiang was in Chile on an official three-day visit which came amid a diplomatic showdown over a mid-air collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a US surveillance plane over the South China sea. The ordeal was just one of the major foreign diplomacy crises Bush faced as president Photograph: STR/Reuters

18 April 2001: Denis Hayes, known as the father of Earth Day, speaks during the 'Take Back the Earth Day' rally to protest Bush's environmental policies and protocols outside the White House. The president was often at odds with environmentalists and made controversial moves on climate issues, including his refusal to sign the Kyoto agreement to curb emissions Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

23 July 2001: The president reads a statement as Pope John Paul II listens at the Pope's country retreat, Castel Gandolfo. During the statements, the Pope commented on the growing debate over stem-cell research in the medical profession Photograph: Win McNamee/Reuters/Corbis

7 July 2001: President Bush, centre, former US president George HW Bush, left, and then-Florida governor Jeb Bush after finishing a round of golf are seen on the 18th green at the Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine Photograph: John Mottern/AFP

25 August 2001: President Bush leads the way into the canyon he calls the 'cathedral' on his ranch near Crawford. Bush was clearing a nature trail into the canyon, one of several on the 1583-acre ranch, known as 'Prairie Chapel' Photograph: Paul Buck/AFP

11 September 2001: Chief of staff Andrew Card, left, interrupts the president during a reading event at Booker elementary in Sarasota, Florida. Bush is being told about the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre towers in New York City Photograph: Paul J Richards/AFP

14 September 2001: President Bush speaks to rescue workers, firefighters and police officers from the rubble of Ground Zero, where the World Trade Centre once stood in New York City. Standing with Bush is retired firefighter Bob Beckwith and New York governor George Pataki, right Photograph: Getty Images/Getty Images

15 September 2001: President Bush's war cabinet at Camp David. Clockwise from left: US attorney general John Ashcroft, vice-president Cheney, Bush, secretary of state Powell, secretary of defence Rumsfeld, and deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz, FBI director Robert Mueller, secretary of treasury Paul O'Neill, CIA director George Tenet, chief of staff Card, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Henry Shelton Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

7 October 2001: Qatar-based satellite TV station al-Jazeera airs footage of the Saudi-born alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, reportedly recorded at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. Retaliatory strikes against Afghanistan began that day with US and British forces bombing terrorist camps Photograph: AFP

13 November 2001: Citizens of Kabul cheer Northern Alliance fighters as the rebels ride tanks into the Afghan capital on the heels of fleeing Taliban forces. The capture of Kabul had been the most significant gain for the alliance as they swept across the north of the country Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

3 December 2001: Enron employee Meredith Stewart sits with her belongings outside the Houston energy company's building after the shattered company laid off about 4,000 employees as part of a cost-cutting move in the wake of its bankruptcy filing. Enron was one of the first major US corporate scandals during the Bush years Photograph: Richard Carson/Reuters

14 January 2002: Bush frowns as he prepares to depart from Washington to visit the mid-west. In the photo, the president is sporting a now infamous abrasion he suffered after he choked on a pretzel, fainted and fell off a couch while watching an NFL playoff game Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

11 January 2002: US army military police escort an al-Qaida detainee to his cell in Camp X-Ray on the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, during in-processing to the detention facility Photograph: Shane T McCoy/PA

29 January 2002: President Bush delivers his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington. He urged the legislators to revive the economy with tax cuts and to strengthen US defences with a multibillion-dollar increase in military spending. Bush also coined the phrase "axis of evil", describing the threat presented by Iran, North Korea and most notably Iraq Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

1 April 2002: Attendees at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll received wooden eggs signed by the president and first lady. George and Laura Bush led the event, in which young children race to the finish line while pushing their eggs with a spoon Photograph: Doug Mills/AP

6 August 2002: President Bush tries to persuade his dog Barney to walk up the steps to Air Force One on the tarmac at Andrews air force base, en route to the president's ranch in Crawford Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP

12 September 2002: United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, right, raises a toast as President Bush, left front, looks on at a luncheon at the UN. Bush lobbied unsuccessfully to get the UN to join a plan for military action against Iraq for the country's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP

5 February 2003: Unidentified customers watch secretary of state Powell deliver a speech to the UN security council in New York from an electronics shop in Kiel, Germany. The speech was intended to make the case for initiating attacks in Iraq Photograph: Heribert Proepper/AP

15 February 2003 An anti-war protester holds a poster with British prime minister Tony Blair and Bush kissing at a rally in Hyde Park, London. The prime minister stood by Bush as the US moved closer to initiating strikes against Iraq. However, other European powers, including Germany and France, opposed the action. The Hyde Park rally was the largest demonstration in London Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

20 March 2003: Bush, centre, receives an update in the Oval Office on the status of military action against Iraq. Also present, from left, are vice-president Cheney, CIA director Tenet, and chief of staff Card Photograph: Eric Draper/Sygma/Corbis

31 March 2003: An Iraqi man comforts his 4-year-old son at a re-groupment centre for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, Iraq. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son and the US military did not want to separate them Photograph: Jean-marc Bouju/AP

1 May 2003: President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, walks the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln after landing in a S-3 Viking aircraft off the coast of San Diego. Bush announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ceased and was filmed in front of a large banner that read "Mission Accomplished". However, combat troops would remain in Iraq for the remainder of his presidency Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

10 July 2003: Bush walks up to African elephants as his daughter Barbara follows cautiously behind him at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve in Gaborone, Bostwana. The president, his daughter and first lady Laura went on a safari at the park, where they saw white rhinoceros, African elephants and other animals native to the region Photograph: Jason Reed /Corbis

18 November 2003: Valerie Plame, who had been a CIA operative, is seen seated with her husband, ex-diplomat Joseph C Wilson, in their Jaguar convertible in this photograph taken for the opening spread of Vanity Fair magazine. Even as the US justice department was investigating who leaked the identity of the CIA undercover officer to the press, the agent's photo was being published Photograph: Jonas Karlssom/AP

14 December 2003: Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein moments after his capture by US forces in a farm house outside Tikrit, Iraq Photograph: STRINGER/EPA

19 January 2004: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean defiantly concedes defeat in the 2004 Iowa caucuses to rival Massachusetts senator John Kerry. Though he failed to secure the Democratic nomination in 2004, Dean later became the party's chairman. His 50-state strategy is widely seen as a positive force, pulling in huge congressional gains for the Democrats in 2006 and 2008 and leading Barack Obama to triumph in the 2008 presidential election Photograph: Jim Bourg/Reuters/Corbis

24 February 2004: CIA director Tenet waits to testify before the Senate intelligence committee on Capitol Hill. Tenet reported on his assessment of worldwide threats to the US Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters/Corbis

May 2004: The New Yorker magazine publishes photos from the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. In this photo, American soldiers Sabrina Harman and Corporal Charles Graner stand behind a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners. The scandal caused a furore over the training of US soldiers stationed in Iraq Photograph: AP

16 April 2004: British prime minister Blair, left, and President Bush walk down the Colonnade at the White House following the conclusion of their joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

23 May 2004: US film-maker Michael Moore, his wife Kathleen Glynn and daughter Natalie attend the post-award ceremony screening of Michael Moore's Palme d'Or-winning film Fahrenheit 9/11 during the 57th Cannes Film Festival. The documentary was seen as a damaging portrait of the Bush administration and was released in US theatres during the 2004 presidential election Photograph: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis

23 May 2004: Bush reveals minor cuts to his hand and face as he waves while heading towards Air Force One en route to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend fundraising events. Bush had fallen from his bicycle the previous day on his Crawford ranch Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP

1 September 2004: Vice-president Cheney and his daughter Mary watch news coverage of Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Bush administration's opposition to same-sex unions turned the spotlight on Mary Cheney's homosexuality. During the 2004 campaign, she publicly kept silent about her views on gay marriage and civil unions. However in her 2006 book, Mary Cheney admitted her stance differed with that of the administration Photograph: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

29 July 2004: Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry salutes the delegation after taking the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston to formally accept the party's nomination. Kerry faced Bush in the 2004 US presidential election Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters/Corbis

4 September 2004: Bush's twin daughters Barbara, left, and Jenna sit with Laura onstage supporting the president at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Corbis

1 November 2004: Bush supporters hold 'W' signs at a campaign rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bush and Democratic nominee Kerry made a final push through a handful of crucial swing states in a last-ditch hunt for votes. The day following the election, the final result came down to the state of Ohio. Kerry eventually conceded the state, securing a second term for Bush Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Corbis

11 March 2004: Partners Tripp Kelley, left, and Todd Armbruster protest during a rally at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. Supporters of same-sex marriage rallied and marched for equal marriage rights and against President Bush's proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage Photograph: Tim Boyle/Getty Images

6 January 2005: Presidential dog Barney, left, prepares to acquaint himself with Miss Beazley, right, the Scottish terrier pup given to First Lady Laura Bush as a birthday present by the president Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

20 January 2005: Bush appears in his element amid family members during inaugural ceremonies on Capitol Hill Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP

24 January 2005: Attorney General John Ashcroft and his wife Janet listen to his introduction during his farewell ceremony at the US justice department in Washington. Ashcroft stepped down as head of the department after his replacement was confirmed by the Senate Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

25 April 2005: Bush, left, holds hands with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah while walking past some blue bonnets at his Crawford ranch. Bush reportedly talked to Abdullah about boosting his country's oil production in hopes of driving down soaring oil and US gas prices Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

9 May 2005: Children in North Korea make fun of President Bush. Bush removed North Korea from the US terror blacklist in 2008 after the Communist country agreed to allow nuclear inspections Photograph: KCNA/EPA/Corbis

8 May 2005: Bush, right, and Russian president Vladimir Putin wave as the two presidents go for a ride in Putin's 1956 Volga before dinner at his residence outside of Moscow. Relations between Putin and Bush were volatile throughout the US president's time in office Photograph: TIM SLOAN/AFP

10 May 2005: Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, right, and Bush wave to the crowd at Freedom Square in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. According to media reports, a grenade was thrown near the stage when Bush was giving a speech in an apparent assassination attempt Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

18 July 2005: Federal appeals court judge John G Roberts Jr, left, and his family appear with the president. Bush announced Roberts as his first US supreme court nominees during a prime-time speech from the White House. The appointment of Roberts, a conservative, appeared to give Bush a judicial ally on issues such as abortion rights and stem-cell research Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

11 August 2005: Secretary of state Condolezza Rice, centre, catches up to Bush, right and defence secretary Rumsfeld as they make their way to a press conference after Bush met with his defence and foreign policy teams in Crawford. Rice became secretary of state in January 2005 after Colin Powell resigned the post Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP

30 August 2005: Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans Photograph: David J. Phillip/AP

31 August 2005: President Bush looks out the window of Air Force One as he flies over New Orleans surveying the damage left after the hurricane Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

22 November 2005: Massachusetts representative Bill Delahunt and Joseph P Kennedy III of Citizens Energy Corporation, along with others, pull a fuel hose to a house during a ceremony announcing a plan for a subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned oil company to provide home heating to low-income families. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's leftist leader, often launched criticisms of the Bush administration and US influence in Latin America Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

28 September 2005: US House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay's hands can be seen while he makes a brief statement to the news media after announcing that he was stepping down from his leadership position at the Capitol. DeLay was indicted on campaign finance charges in his home state of Texas. Two of DeLay's aides were convicted in a scandal involving Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, further tainting the prominent Republican Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

26 October 2005: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during The World without Zionism conference in Tehran. Ahmadinejad said that Israel should be "wiped off the map", a statement roundly condemned by three European powers and Canada. Ahmadinejad and his nation's nuclear programme have remained focal points of the Bush administration's foreign diplomacy Photograph: Isna/Reuters/Corbis

3 November 2005: Vice-president Cheney's former chief of staff I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, centre, leaves the US federal courthouse after his arraignment. Libby pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to investigators about leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA/Corbis

20 November 2005: President Bush reacts as he tries to open a locked door after a news conference in Beijing, China Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

19 December 2005: The president holds a news conference in the East Room of the White House. Bush vowed to authorise more eavesdropping on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists and said he believed a probe was under way into who committed "the shameful act" of revealing the covert programme Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

29 April 2006: Guest host Comedy Central's satirist Stephen Colbert, right, gestures during a performance as Bush, centre, and Tom Curley of the Associated Press look on at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP

1 May 2007: Mothers with babies in strollers join the march to city hall in one of several May Day marches to press for immigrant and labour rights in Los Angeles. Immigration became a hot-button issue during the Bush era, with many of the newcomers to the US moving from Latin American nations. In a break with Republican leaders, Bush tried to push a comprehensive immigration bill that would create a path to citizenship for nearly 12 million undocumented workers Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

13 July 2006: German chancellor Angela Merkel arrives, followed by President Bush at their joint press conference in Stalsund, north-eastern Germany. Merkel warned that Iran could face sanctions if it continued to respond to international proposals on its nuclear programme with silence. Also that day, Bush famously surprised the chancellor with an impromptu massage Photograph: Michael Urban/AFP

13 July 2006: President Bush holds a baby that was handed to him from the crowd as he arrived for an outdoor dinner with Chancellor Merkel in Trinwillershagen, Germany Photograph: Jim Bourg/Reuters

6 August 2006: Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, second right, and supporters march from Camp Casey III to a check point outside Bush's ranch in Crawford hoping to make an appointment. Fresh from meeting Iraqi opposition figures in Jordan, Sheehan was in President Bush's backyard hoping to tell him in person to call US forces home Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

15 December 2006: Secretary of defence Rumsfeld, President Bush and vice-president Cheney attend the Armed Forces Farewell Tribute to Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Praise was heaped on the outgoing secretary by Bush and Cheney as Rumsfeld used his farewell speech to call for an increase in military spending Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

31 December 2006: An image grab from a mobile phone video appears to show Saddam Hussein's head in a noose just before he was hanged in Baghdad early 30 December 2006. Hussein's death was a pivotal moment in the Bush era Photograph: AFP

22 February 2007: President Bush stands over a bottle of ethanol and a model car while he speaks to reporters during a tour of Novozymes North America, a biotechnology company which produces enzymes for industrial use. Biofuels were touted as a welcome environmentally-friendly alternative to petrol as oil prices soared. However, the devastating global food crisis in 2008 was largely attributed to biofuels, which drove up the prices of dietary staples around the world Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP

25 April 2007: President Bush, second from left, and First Lady Laura, right, dance with Medoun Yacine Gueye, left, and Assan Ronte, second from right, from the Kankouran West African Dance Company in the Rose Garden of the White House during Malaria Awareness Day Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

29 March 2007: The president, right, reacts as he listens to Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner at a hotel in Washington Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters/Corbis

7 May 2007: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and President Bush pose for photographs on the North Portico of the White House after arriving for a formal white-tie state dinner. During ceremonies that week, Bush nearly misspoke about the queen's role in US bicentennial celebrations, almost stating she participated in 1776 instead of 1976. "She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child," the president later remarked Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

10 May 2007: US attorney general Alberto Gonzales stands at the witness table before the start of a House judiciary committee hearing on Capitol Hill. The committee wanted Gonzales to further explain his role in the firing of eight US attorneys. Gonzales resigned his post later that year Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty

26 May 2007: Pictures of US troops killed in Iraq are displayed as volunteers set up the Arlington West display of war memorial crosses organised by Veterans for Peace on Santa Monica beach in California. The death toll for US troops passed 4,000 in March 2008 Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

13 August 2007: President Bush, left, with Deputy Chief of Staff and political adviser Karl Rove, makes a statement to the news media on the resignation of Rove on the South Lawn of the White House. Rove announced his departure during a Wall Street Journal interview citing that he wants to spend more time with his family in Texas Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA/Corbis

1 October 2007: Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy takes part in a protest against the president's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Programme across from the White House. Known as the "liberal lion", Kennedy is a member of one of most well-known political dynasties in the US and has served as senator for more than four decades. In 2008, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, prompting a public outpouring of affection Photograph: JIM YOUNG/Reuters

3 April 2008: Bush, right, stands next to Croatian president Stipe Mesic, centre, as others chat before posing for the Nato heads of states and governments official picture at the parliament palace on the second day of the Nato summit in Bucharest. That day, Nato leaders had decided to invite Albania and Croatia to join their military alliance Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP

8 May 2008: Decorations in the shape of cowboy boots bearing the initials of Jenna Bush and her fiance Henry Hager are seen in the Red Bull souvenir shop in Crawford. The president was at his ranch to attend the wedding of his daughter Jenna on 10 May Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP

15 May 2008: President Bush rides an Israeli-made bicycle presented to him by Israeli president Ehud Olmert during a private dinner at his residence in Jerusalem. The presentation was made during Bush's three-day visit during the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the state of Israel. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have been engaged in military conflict with Hamas, which has already resulted in over 1,000 deaths Photograph: GPO/Getty Images

28 May 2008: 18-month-old Kailah Smith, sleeps on a mouldy couch. The mould was caused by rain leaks in her parents' Fema trailer in Louisiana. Doctors feared tens of thousands of children were exposed to dangerous levels of the cancer-causing agent formaldehyde in the post-Katrina Fema trailers and could have lifelong illnesses. Nearly three years after the hurricane, many still had not been able to rebuild their lives Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images North America

11 August 2008: Bush, along with First Lady Laura and daughter Barbara, attends the National Aquatics Centre on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in China Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty

2 September 2008 The president addresses the audience in a live video feed from the White House at the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Centre in St Paul, Minnesota. Hurricane Gustav, which had been moving across the Gulf of Mexico region, prompted a toned-down opening to the party's convention. Bush's low approval ratings and memories of Hurricane Katrina highlighted his absence Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP

19 September 2008: President Bush, second left, appears with Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, left, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, right. The US housing market boom had begun to deflate in 2007, with many forced to foreclose on their homes. However, as large investment banks fell in 2008, the Bush administration had no choice but to admit glaring flaws in the financial system Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

10 November 2008: President Bush meets with President-elect Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Obama easily coasted to victory in the presidential election on 4 November, which was seen as a referendum on the Bush years. However, with Obama's triumph comes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a trillion-dollar budget deficit and a crippling financial crisis Photograph: Eric Draper/White House/Reuters

19 December 2008: If Obama's win signalled Bush's unpopularity in the US, it's possible the mood abroad could be gauged by a pair of shoes. In this photo, Palestinian demonstrators hold placards bearing portraits of the president, topped with shoes during a protest in solidarity with Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi, who was arrested in Iraq after throwing his shoes at Bush during a press conference Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP

In final press conferences and addresses, George Bush has admitted to disappointments, but claims he's always acted in the best interest of the American people. He feels one of his biggest successes was keeping the US safe from another terrorist attack after 9/11. But as Americans now struggle with the toll of war and economic uncertainty, Bush's approval ratings paint the picture of an electorate ready for the new administration Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters