Bill Clinton1993-2001

Biography

• William Jefferson Blythe III born in Hope, Arkansas

• Father died before he was born

• In 1950 his mother re-married, Roger Clinton, & the family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas

• While in high school he was an avid reader, student leader, & musician (saxophone)• Went to White House & met JFK

in ’63

Biography

• Went to Georgetown U.

• Interned for Arkansas Senator during summer of ’67

• Won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford

• Participated in Vietnam protests while there

• Used his influence w/ a Senator to avoid being drafted

• Legal, but criticized by opponents

• Next, went to Yale Law School in ‘73

• Met Hillary in a Yale library

• Married in ’73

• Law professor at U. of Arkansas in ’74

• Ran for H.O.R. in ‘74, but lost

• Elected Attorney General of Arkansas in ‘76

Biography

• Elected governor of Arkansas in ’78

• Served as governor ‘78-80 & ‘82-’92

• Youngest governor in the country, only 32 y.o.• The “Boy Governor”

• “New Democrat”

• Education reform was top priority• Also focused on

economic growth & job creation

First Term

• Jan. 1993, inaugural address

• Feb. 1993, announced plan to raise taxes & fix deficit

• Aug. 1993, law that cut taxes for low-income families & small businesses, & raised taxes on wealthiest 1% of taxpayers

• Sept. 1993, speech to Congress aimed at universal coverage w/ a nat’l health care plan• Plan was defeated

First Term

• Nov. 1993,

Whitewater Scandal

emerges

• Clinton, while

Governor, forced

others into illegal loans

while making land

deals

• Clinton was never

charged

• Dec. 1993, Clinton

implements “Don’t

Ask, Don’t Tell”

• Repealed in 2011

• Compromise after

attempt to allow gays

to openly serve in

military was shot down

First Term

• Oct. 1994, launches 1st

White House website

• Nov. 1994, Democrats

lost control of Congress

in mid-term elections

• Sept. 1996, Clinton

signs Defense of

Marriage Act (DOMA)

• Marriage=one man &

one woman

• Despite DOMA,

Clinton viewed as 1st

President to champion

gay rights

• Sept. 1996, passed bill

aimed at curbing illegal

immigration

Election of 1996

• Opponents:

• Bob Dole, Republican,

Senator from Kansas

• Ross Perot, Reform

Party, Businessman

from Texas

• Televised debates

featured only Dole &

Clinton, not Perot

• Dole was 73 y.o.,

seemed old & frail at

times

• Reference to “Brooklyn”

Dodgers, Dodgers left

Brooklyn in 1957

• Clinton maintained lead

in polls throughout

Election of 1996

2nd Term

• Oct. 1997, Clinton announces he will get hearing aids

• Balanced Budget Act of 1997 greatly reduces spending

• 1998, House votes to impeach Clinton

• Perjury & obstruction of justice—related to Monica Lewinsky

• 2nd Pres. to be impeached

2nd Term

• Clinton was acquitted on all charges

• Votes were mostly along party lines; 2/3 need to convict

• Only 50 for obstruction & 45 for perjury

• Senate had 55 Republicans

• Trial lasted 21 days; ended on Feb. 12, 1999

Foreign Policy

• Somalia, 1993—Battle of Mogadishu, 18 American soldiers killed—U.S. forces withdrawn

• Bosnia, 1995—U.S./NATO aircraft attack Bosnian Serb targets

• Deployed peacekeepers to Bosnia in ‘95

• Hoped to capture Osama Bin Laden

• Al-Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in E. Africa in ‘98

• Clinton ordered missile strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan & Sudan

• NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in ‘99

• Ethnic cleansing/genocide

• Four-day bombing campaign against Saddam Hussein/Iraq in ‘98

Etc.

• Appeared on Arsenio Hall & MTV

• Admitted to smoking pot

• Toni Morrison, “the first Black President”

• Played the saxophone

• Loved McDonald’s

• “Bubba”

• Several sexual accusations

• Jones, Flowers, Lewinsky

Legacy????

• The good…. • The bad…