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Richard Martin
Official White House portrait, 2001
43rd President of the United States
In office January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
Vice President	Alan Keyes
Preceded by	Bill Clinton
Succeeded by	Hillary Clinton
45th Governor of Texas
In office January 15, 1991 – January 20, 2001
Lieutenant	Brian C. McMinn
Preceded by	Bill Clements
Succeeded by	Brian C. McMinn
38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
In office April 27, 1989 – January 15, 1991
Governor	Bill Clements
Preceded by	William P. Hobby Jr.
Succeeded by	Brian C. McMinn
Insurance Commissioner of Texas
In office January 3, 1985 – April 27, 1989
Governor	Mark White Bill Clements
Preceded by	Chester S. Collingsworth
Succeeded by	Frank McDonald
Member of the Texas Board of Insurance
In office January 8, 1979 – January 3, 1985
Preceded by	Frederick Griggs
Succeeded by	Stanley A. Smith
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 6th District
In office January 11, 1977 – January 8, 1979
Preceded by	James Bean
Succeeded by	Walt V. Rayburn
Personal details
Born	Richard Byron Martinez April 14, 1948 Tyler, Texas US
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Gina Elizabeth Ritchie (m. 1975)
Relations	Byron Martinez (father) Catherine McCluskey (mother)
Children	Sophie Graci
Alma mater	Texas A&M University (B.B.A.)
Occupation	Insurace salesman
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1968–1974
Rank	Staff Sergeant
Unit	1st Cavalry Division
Battles/wars	Vietnam War Tet Offensive Operation Toan Thang Cambodian campaign Yom Kippur War

Richard Martin (born Richard Byron Martinez, April 14, 1948) is an American former statesman who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the 45th Governor of Texas.

Born and raised in Tyler, Texas, Martin served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He attended Texas A&M University where he studied business administration, and upon his graduation took up a brief career in insurance sales. He first rose to political prominence in the state of Texas as a member of the Texas Board of Insurance. He was eventually elected Governor of Texas in 1990, succeeding Bill Clements. Martin was elected for three terms as governor, before running for the 2000 Republican Party nomination for President, winning the nomination and defeating the Democratic candidate Al Gore in a close general election.

Despite initial campaign promises to focus on domestic policy, Martin's presidency was met with intense foreign pressure, beginning with the September 11 attacks of 2001 which led to Martin authorizing a special military operation to hunt down Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the attack.

Early life, career and education

Richard Byron Martinez was born on April 14, 1948 in Tyler, Texas. His father, Richard Byron Martinez (1915-1988), was the founder of a locally successful tire company who had served in the United States Navy during World War II, while his mother Catherine Mary McCluskey (1919-2005) was the daughter of an oil industry salesman and worked in a school cafeteria. Martin's father came from Tejano and Scotch-Irish roots, while his mother was a mix of Scotch-Irish and Irish Catholic.

While Martinez's father was baptized a Roman Catholic, Richard was raised in his mother's Baptist faith; during grammar school, he attended the school of Tyler's First Baptist Church. Later, he attended Tyler High School, a public school, from 1962 to 1967.

Military service

In 1968, after two years of working for his father's tire business, Martinez enlisted for service in the United States Army. After completing basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, he was assigned to the 9th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, and sent to Vietnam. Initially stationed with the regiment at Phước Vĩnh Base Camp, Martinez's unit partook in a series of combat operations assisting the III Corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in fighting against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) between February of 1969 and May 1970.

In April 1971, after participating with his regiment in the US-South Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, Martinez, having attained the rank of Sergeant, returned with his unit to the United States, and was stationed at Fort Cavazos. Martinez spent the rest of his army career on reserve duty and was primarily stationed stateside, though was briefly stationed in Tel Aviv in late 1973 due to the Yom Kippur War.

Education and insurance career

While in the Army Reserves, Martinez was offered an appointment to Texas A&M University. He entered initially wanting to study horticulture; however, he began taking up interest in a business career, and enrolled at the university's Mays Business School. Also during this time, Martinez was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and first began to go by the surname Martin; while his detractors would later use this name change as proof that he was attempting to hide his Tejano roots, Martin himself has never addressed why he changed his name.

In 1974, after graduating from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a brief return to active military duty, Martin returned to his hometown of Tyler, using local connections from his father's tire company to become Director of Insurance Sales at the Bergfeld Insurance Agency. It was at this company that he first met Elizabeth Gina Ritchie, and insurance saleswoman whom Martin eventually married.