Al Gore – Ex Vice President of the United States of America and Passionate Environmentalist
Al Gore served as vice president under Bill Clinton for two terms of service between 1993 and 2001.
After his service as a politician, Gore became an avid environmental activist, best known for his work on: An Inconvenient Truth, and later as a co-Laureate for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in raising awareness of global warming. Gore also co-founded Generation Investment Management, a firm focused on sustainable investing, and currently serves as Chairman for the firm.
Al Gore Jr. was born in Carthage, Tennessee on March 31, 1948 and spent his childhood hopping between a hotel in Washington and the family farm. He grew up in a political atmosphere due to his father's position as a U.S. Representative between 1939 and 1944 and again from 1945 to 1953.
Al Gore's father also served as a Senator from Tennessee for the years between 1953 and 1971. His mother was one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Young Al Gore attended St. Albans School where he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson ("Tipper") at the senior prom. After achieving a 1355 (out of 1600) on his SAT, he applied and enrolled in Harvard College. Gore became bored with English as his major and switched to Government, graduating with a BA in June of 1969.
Later that year he enlisted in the U.S. Army despite his opposition with the Vietnam War. According to Gore, he felt it was his civic duty to serve his country and he ended up in Vietnam in 1971 for the last seven months of his service.
During his time there he served as a military journalist with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and later with the Army Engineer Command in Long Binh.
He applied for non-essential personnel honourable discharge with only two months left so that he could attend divinity school at Vanderbilt. After Vanderbilt, Gore worked at a newspaper before attending law school. His political future came calling prior to him finishing school and he was elected to his first term as a Representative in 1976.
He served in the House until 1984 when he ran for and won a seat in the Senate. Al Gore served as Senator from Tennessee until 1993 when he became the forty-fifth vice president.
After serving two terms as vice-president under Bill Clinton, Al Gore ran against George W. Bush as the Democratic candidate in 2000. Although Gore won the popular vote, he lost the electoral vote and consequently the presidency.
Despite losing the presidency, Al Gore still had a strong sense of public service and has been dedicating his time to environmental issues around the globe.