Long before he became the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio introduced himself as An American Son in his 2012 memoir. At that time, he was a Florida Senator, and also an embodiment of American Dream. Throughout his career which he never planned and his meteoric rise in the current Donald Trump administration, Rubio spoke profoundly about American Dream, about his parents and what these two magic words mean to him.“The American Dream is a term that is often used but also often misunderstood. It isn’t really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that It isn’t really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that,” he wrote explaining what American Dream is not.
What is American Dream to Marco Rubio?
“It’s a happy home and the ability to live without fear for your safety and that of your family. It’s the freedom to worship the way you want. It’s the chance to get a good education and a job that allows you to achieve financial security and retire comfortably. And it’s about leaving your children better off than yourself,” Rubio explained his American Dream.“The America my parents came to almost 60 years ago was one where you could find a middle income job even if you didn’t have a higher education. That is how they made it to the middle class, working as a bartender and a maid. But they desperately wanted their children to have even more than that. Giving us the chance at a better life was their American Dream,” he said.“For them, it meant giving us the chance to have what they didn’t: a college degree. That is why from a very early age, they would tell me tu tienes que estudiar: “You have to study.” And so growing up I never considered not going to college.”“My parents did not make enough to save for our education. But I was able to use Pell grants, student loans, work study and summer jobs to pay for a four-year degree and eventually law school.”Marco Rubio graduated in 1996 and two years later he ran for the city commissioner of West Miami as he already interened for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who became the first Cuban-American woman elected to the US House of Representatives. Rubio won the election and then his political career was on a fast track. In 1999, ge ran to represent District 111 in Florida. In 2000, he was appoint as Majority Whip and then House Majority Leader in 2002. In 2006, he was elected Speaker of the Florida House, when he was just 35.In 2011, he entered US Senate after winning mid-term election in Florida. He served in the Senate for 14 years before becoming the Secretary of State in 2025.In between, he announced his run for Republican nomination in 2015 but lost primary in Florida.
