Albert Gore Essay

Albert Gore, Jr., was born in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1948. Politics run in his family as his father Albert Gore, Sr. was the senator and a member of the house for Tennessee in the time between 1939 and 1971. Al and his family switched between living in Washington D.C. and his family’s farm in Carthage, Tennessee, while school was out. While residing in Washington D.C., Al attended St. Albans School, an independent college preparatory day and boarding school for boys. As a child, Al excelled in a multitude of areas, from academics to athletics. For example, he was a star track and field player and attained high marks throughout high school. These feats did not come to him easily as he worked tremendously to be the best as possible. Gore’s parents never forced any lifestyle upon him but from an early age they made their expectations for young Al clear. David Maraniss and Ellen Nakashima, two staff writers of the Washington Post write in their article describing Al Gore’s childhood in 1999, “‘Which one of you is going to be
president?’ Albert, perhaps putting his own thoughts into the boy's mouth, told acquaintances about the time he and Al were crossing the street and his son looked up and announced, ‘One day, I'm going to be somebody.’”(14). Following the end of preparatory school, Al attended Harvard to study government.
Unexpectedly, Al graduated with bachelors degree in government achieving high honors in June 1969. During his time in college, the Vietnam war had be happening, after graduating Al lost his protection from the draft. His father Al Gore Sr. was a strong opposer to the conflict. His parents did not wish for him to enter the military, but at the same time his father was running for reelection as a senator of Tennessee, and the War was a major topic in the election. Thinking that the best way to end the war is to keep his father in power, Al Gore enlisted in the US army, and became a military journalist. After his time in the army, Al was reporter at the Tennessean(daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee), at the same time he studied both philosophy(study of existence/meaning of life) and phenomenology(study of consciousness) at Vanderbilt
University.
Al’s life as a “normal” citizen ended in March 1976 when he decided to run for the U.S. House from Tennessee. Impulsively, he made this decision, as at the moment he was dabbling in law, it came as a sudden surprise to his wife and even to himself. U.S. Senate’s Art and History section biography of Al Gore states, "I didn't realize myself I had been pulled back so much to it," he later commented.”(13). Al Gore, with the power of his father’s name, won the Tennessean seat for the House after defeating nine other Democratic candidates.