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ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Peter Baker is the Chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. He has covered three presidents for the Times and the Washington Post, winning the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency and the Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for White House coverage. He is author of The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton and, with his wife, Susan Glasser, of Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution. He is a regular panelist on Washington Week on PBS and was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He and Glasser live in Washington, D.C., with their son, Theodore.

George Walker Bush was raised in Midland, Texas, and tried following in his famous father's footsteps without much success until his young wife, Laura, helped prompt him to quit drinking. "I'm all name and no money," he lamented before buying the Texas Rangers. (illustration credit 1.2) He translated that success into an underdog election victory for governor of Texas. (illustration credit 1.3).

Like Bush, Richard Bruce Cheney grew up in the West, playing Little League (right) and overcoming early troubles with alcohol. (illustration credit 1.4) With Donald Rumsfeld as his mentor, Cheney became the youngest White House chief of staff in history, under Gerald Ford. (illustration credit 1.5) He later served as defense secretary under the first George Bush. A friend once asked Cheney what he was after. "To be where the action is," he said. (illustration credit 1.6) Cheney initially declined to run on Bush's ticket in 2000. "I'm not going to go for that," he told one friend. But Bush asked him to reconsider and picked him over the objections of his political strategist, Karl Rove, who argued it would look like he was "falling back on his father's administration." (illustration credit 1.7) Cheney joined the campaign, but eschewed rope lines and baby kissing. (illustration credit 1.8) Bush, greeting his father in the Oval Office on Inauguration Day 2001, was determined to avoid the mistakes of the first President Bush. (illustration credit 1.9) He and Cheney rebuffed pressure to compromise after the disputed election. "Our attitude was hell no," Cheney said. (illustration credit 1.10) On September 11, 2001, Andy Card whispered in Bush's ear, "America is under attack." (illustration credit 1.11) A few minutes later, Bush scribbled out a statement as Dan Bartlett pointed to one of the Twin Towers falling on television. (illustration credit 1.12) In the White House bunker, Cheney ordered any remaining hijacked planes to be shot down. "If it looks threatening," he said without hesitation, "take it out." (illustration credit 1.13) Bush leaned heavily on Cheney and Condoleezza Rice as he tried to figure out war in a new era. (illustration credit 1.14) "I'm fighting an enemy that I can't see," he said. Cheney flew by helicopter to Camp David to preserve the nation's leadership in case of a decapitating attack on the White House. (illustration credit 1.15) Bush's impromptu speech with a bullhorn at Ground Zero became an iconic moment, but just as important was what he heard. "Whatever it takes," at least one angry rescue worker told him. (illustration credit 1.16) After razzing from New York Yankee Derek Jeter, Bush threw out the first pitch at a World Series game following September 11. (illustration credit 1.17) Bush agreed to have the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" played at a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. (illustration credit 1.18) "Defiance is good," he said. Just before touring Ground Zero with New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Cheney learned that he and Bush may have been exposed to the deadly botulinum toxin. (illustration credit 1.19) Colin Powell believed Cheney was intent on "keeping me on a much shorter leash" than during the first Bush administration and relations grew so strained that Powell's deputy urged him to resign in protest. (illustration credit 1.20) Karen Hughes privately expressed doubt about going to war with Iraq. (illustration credit 1.21) Bush, meeting outside the Oval Office with Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld on the day the war began, was emotional after giving the order. "You could see the weight on his face," an aide said. (illustration credit 1.22) Bush's speech under a "Mission Accomplished" banner declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq became a symbol of premature victory. "Our stagecraft had gone awry," he said later. (illustration credit 1.23) Bush tapped L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer to run Iraq, abandoning his own plan for a quick transition in favor of a longer occupation. As sovereignty was officially turned over in June 2004, Bush scribbled out a note: "Let freedom reign!" (illustration credit 1.24) Cheney offered to drop off the ticket in 2004. "I always saw the vice president as expendable in a sense," he said. Bush considered accepting "to demonstrate that I was in charge," but stuck with Cheney. (illustration credit 1.25) Bush's election-year decision to endorse a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage outraged Cheney's daughter, Mary, who nearly quit the campaign. (illustration credit 1.26) Bush's second inaugural address outlining a freedom agenda was, according to Andy Card, "not a speech Dick Cheney would give." (illustration credit 1.27) Surveying damage from Hurricane Katrina from Air Force One made Bush look removed from the disaster, but privately he was aggravated. "What the hell is taking so long?" he asked. (illustration credit 1.28) The nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court collapsed when administration lawyers discovered she could not answer basic questions about constitutional law. (illustration credit 1.29) After Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, White House aides asked Bush to convince him to go on television to explain. (illustration credit 1.30) For two years, Bush resisted aides who urged him to fire Donald Rumsfeld, deferring to Cheney. When Bush finally replaced Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, he did not consult Cheney. "It wasn't open for discussion," Cheney said later. (illustration credit 1.31) Appointed secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice supplanted Cheney as the preeminent adviser in the second term and clashed with him over her efforts to moderate policy. Cheney, she concluded, "would have liked to have kept breaking china." (illustration credit 1.32) A group of White House aides maneuvered behind the scenes to reverse strategy and send a troop surge to Iraq.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Stephen Hadley, J. D. Crouch; (illustration credit 1.33) LEFT TO RIGHT: Meghan O'Sullivan, Brett McGurk; (illustration credit 1.34) Peter Feaver, left. Retired General Jack Keane, right, was an important "validator" in building support for the course change. (illustration credit 1.35) Cheney was not the author of the Iraq surge but became its prime defender as he worried that Bush and his team were going wobbly and undercutting General David Petraeus. (illustration credit 1.36) Even as Iraq turned around, the domestic economy spiraled into crisis and Bush agreed to the bailout sought by Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, who appear here (bottom) with Chris Cox. "Our people are going to hate us for this," Bush confided. (illustration credit 1.37) When Scooter Libby was indicted, he got up on crutches and wordlessly left the White House. "You could have heard a pin drop," a colleague recalled. (illustration credit 1.38) Cheney pressed Bush relentlessly to pardon Libby. Bush refused, concluding that Libby misled investigators because "he was protecting Cheney." Cheney believed it was an injustice and lashed out. "That was wrong, and the president had it within his power to fix it," he said later, "and he chose not to." (illustration credit 1.39) Bush left the Oval Office on his last day in power without looking back. (illustration credit 1.40).

Cheney arrived at the White House for the Inauguration Day coffee in a wheelchair after throwing his back out packing. "Cheney looked like hell," said a White House official. (illustration credit 1.41) Bush said farewell to the new president, Barack Obama, and happily headed to Texas. "He looked relieved, thrilled," an aide said. (illustration credit 1.42).

ALSO BY PETER BAKER.

The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton.

Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution (with Susan Glasser).

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