One Year Ago In TIME

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Elizabeth L. Bland, Sora Song, Deirdre Van Dyk

When TIME named him Person of the Year for 2000, GEORGE W. BUSH had just emerged from a disputed and divisive election. He--and we--had no idea of the challenges he would face:

For a proud son of a one-term President, could there be a more humbling path to power than this? The candidate with the perfect bloodlines comes to office amid charges that his is a bastard presidency, sired not by the voters but by the courts. You could almost see the weight of it, the regret and relief and resolve, when Bush rose last Wednesday night with tears in his eyes and promised, "I will work to earn your respect," all but admitting it does not just come with the job when you win this way. But could anyone possibly use this to greater advantage than George W. Bush? "I believe things happen for a reason," Bush said Wednesday night, hinting at something his audience was still too bruised to even imagine. Does it take a war, a flood, to leave us no choice but to start all over again?...All through the campaign, George W. Bush practiced for this moment, the very first act of a new President, when he put his hand in the air and swore to uphold the Constitution and the honor and dignity of the office, so help him God. This time it will be for real, the easiest part of the job and yet harder than he could have imagined, because while the office has at last been won, the honor remains to be earned.

--TIME, Dec. 25, 2000