President Bush and his senior advisor Karl Rove (R) walk towards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington before departing for Texas August 13, 2007. [Photo: Reuters]

Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's top political adviser and close friend, said on Monday that he is resigning and will leave the White House by the end of the month.

Rove made the announcement in a public appearance with President George W. Bush in the White House before both of them leave for Texas.

"It seems the right time to start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life," Rove said, his voice breaking. "It's not been an easy decision."

Bush said that he and Rove had been discussing Rove's going home to Texas for some time, and he appreciated the sacrifice that Rove and his family had made.

Rove said his resignation was not forced and that he plans to spend his post-White House career writing a book and teaching.

He also said the first thing he plans to do after leaving the White House is "go dove hunting in West Texas with family and friends, then drive my wife and the dogs to the beach."

Rove's resignation plan was first disclosed by an interview that appears on Monday's Wall Street Journal.

"I just think it's time," Rove said.

"There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," he added.

Bush nicknamed Rove "the architect" for creating the plan that won the White House in 2000 and 2004.

Rove told the newspaper that he would leave Washington to return to Texas and that he had first suggested the idea of leaving a year ago.

However, a series of problems for the Bush administration, starting when the Democrats took control of Congress last November and then as immigration and the Iraq war topped the agenda, forced him to stay on, he said.

Rove also claimed his hand was forced when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten announced that any senior staff that were working past Labor Day (September 3) would be expected to stay on until the end of Bush's term in January 2007.

Known as the "architect" inside the White House, Rove is widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the Bush administration.

He played an important role in Bush's victory in the two presidential elections and was involved in key decisions of the Bush administration.

Rove, 56, was also a central figure in a series of scandals that rocked the administration.

He is joining the exodus of senior officials who left the administration since Democrats won control of Congress in November.

Among those who have left are former White House counselor Dan Bartlett, former budget director Rob Portman, former chief White House attorney Harriet Miers, former White House political director Sara Taylor, former deputy national security advisers J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.