American politician, an attractive member for the Democratic Party with a famous political name, a solid family life, and strong religious conviction. He is the only son of a powerful U.S. Senator from Tennessee, Albert Gore, Sr. and Pauline LaFon Gore, a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School who campaigned as a helpmate with her husband. Al grew up with political and social awareness and great admiration for his parents. He received a degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Gore met Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, nicknamed “Tipper,” at his high school senior prom. They dated while he was in Harvard and she was working on her psychology degree from Boston University. They married on May 19, 1970, at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, before he shipped out for Vietnam.
Returning to civilian life, Gore settled in Tennessee and attended Divinity School while working nights as a newspaper reporter in Nashville. He and Tipper bought their farm in Carthage, TN in 1973, the same year their first child was born. He had experience as an investigative reporter, home builder and land developer, livestock and tobacco farmer. Gore went into politics in 1976 when he was elected to represent Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984, and when re-elected in 1990, he became the first statewide candidate in modern history to carry all 95 Tennessee counties. Liberal on domestic issues, moderate on defense, he pursued the family political dream as established by his dad, serving four terms in Congress and eight years in the Senate. Making a run for the oval office in 1988, he won Democratic primaries and caucuses in seven states.
The Gore family increased with the addition of four kids, Karenna, born on August 6, 1973, Kristin, June 5, 1977, Sarah, January 7, 1979, and Albert III, October 19, 1982. Despite the joys of his beautiful family, Gore had some tough times. In 1984, his only sibling, Nancy, 10 years his senior, died of lung cancer. Five years later, in April 1989, Gore took his six-year-old son to watch a baseball game. The boy ran into traffic and was hit by a car and thrown 30 feet, suffering massive internal injuries. His legs and ribs were broken and his internal organs crushed. For a harrowing month, Al and Tipper barely left their son’s hospital bedside and one of them slept beside him for the next three months. His recovery took months of extensive surgery and therapy. With family counseling, they learned to put more emphasis on partnership and teamwork. Gore had to deal with his feelings that he should have been better able to protect his son. Having had just recently failed his 1988 presidential nomination, he had to reevaluate his political directions as well as what his family meant to him. He decided against another political run in 1992, pulling away from public life to put more time into the strength and solidarity of his family. During his son’s recovery, Gore wrote his best-selling book, “Earth in the Balance.”
The Gores go to church on Sunday, and in the evenings all get together for a group dialogue to “get their needs out on the table.” Together with Tipper, Al Gore remains one of the strongest voices for America’s families and their campaign policy put a stronger emphasis on fatherhood, increased flexibility for parents in the workplace and gave parents more control over the information that comes into their home.
Named as Bill Clinton’s running mate at the Democratic convention July 13, 1992, he was elected in the November contest and sworn in January 20, 1993, 11:44:40 AM EST, Washington, DC. The pair were re-elected to a second term in 1996 and sworn in on January 20, 1997. Together, they led the country into a period of sustained economic growth marked by new jobs and the lowest combined rate of unemployment, inflation and mortgage rates in 28 years.
On December 5, 1998, his influential father and role model died with Gore holding his dad’s hand. Al Gore Sr. reportedly made these words his last: “Always do right.” In mid-March 1999, Gore once more hit the campaign trail, stumping for the presidential nomination in Iowa. On March 7, 2000, he defeated his opponent in the primaries, Bill Bradley, to become the Democratic candidate for president, running against Republican George W. Bush.
Al Gore accepted his Party’s nomination at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles on August 16, 2000 at 7:14 PM PDT. Elections were held on November 7, 2000, leading to one of the most dramatic and confusing contests ever witnessed. When the issue of uncounted ballots finally went to the Supreme Court, the conclusion was upheld that Bush was the winner by a number of several hundred votes.
On December 13, 2000, Al Gore made a gracious and stirring speech of concession to George W. Bush. At the time that Bush was sworn in as President, January 20, 2001, the New Yorker magazine quoted the Associated Press that the Florida vote count numbered well over a half million more for Gore than for Bush.
In January 2001, Gore began teaching a journalism class at Columbia University in New York city and writing a book while he decided whether or not to continue a career in politics. He became president of a TV station, joined the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, advised Google’s management team, and made public appearances. Though deeply concerned about the future of the U.S., Gore declared on December 15, 2002 that he was not a candidate in the 2004 presidential race. His mother died in her sleep on December 15, 2004 at her home in Carthage, TN. She was 92 and had been in ill health from a prior stroke and heart attack.
In 2006, he won kudos for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The film, Gore’s most recent effort to awaken the public to environmental issues, aired at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006 to rave reviews and opened in national theaters May 24, 2006. His book by the same name was released as well. In view of the attention his film and book are receiving, news analysts have begun to speculate on whether Gore would consider running again for President and on whether he could gain the Democratic Party’s support. Gore himself has said that he does not intend to run, that he will continue instead to bring attention in other ways to causes he cares about, but has subtly left the door open to consider his political options.His film “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Academy Award for Best Documentary on February 25, 2007.
Daughter Sarah, a medical student at University of California medical student, married Bill Lee in Beverly Hills, CA on July 14, 2007. On July 30, 2007, his son Al Gore III, pleaded guilty to four drug related charges in an Orange County, CA courtroom. The young Gore had been arrested on July 4, 2007 with 140 Vicodin pills, other prescription drugs, and a small amount of marijuana. As his sentence he must complete a drug rehab program for 90 days.
Amid renewed speculation about whether he would run for President, Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12, 2007. The former vice president plans to donate his share of the monetary award to the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.
Catching the public by surprise, he and his wife Tipper announced on June 1, 2010 that they were ending their marriage of forty years.
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