Clinton Presidency(1993-2001)
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“For too long we’ve been told about ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that ‘they’ are the problem, not ‘us.’ But there can be no ‘them’ in America. There’s only ‘us.’ ”
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Background Information
President Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19th, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a car accident. At only 4 years old, his mother married Roger Clinton, so William took on the family name. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973 and soon entered into politics in Arkansas. Three years later in 1976, Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General and won the governorship in 1978. Clinton served until he defeated Republican George Bush and third party candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential race becoming the 42nd president of the United States. The Clinton Presidency began and made history.
Election & Campaign of 1992
The 1992 primaries was not a challenge for candidate Bill Clinton; he defeated the leading Democrat contenders. Although he had charges about having avoided the Vietnam draft and rumored affairs with women, most voters seemed unconcerned with his private life. His opponent, President H.W. Bush, ran a dull campaign that didn’t convert his great successes in foreign affairs into a convincing argument for reelection. Republicans were not happy that Bush broke his promise in 1988 to not raise taxes. Clinton’s campaign handlers posted a sign that summarized Clinton’s message: “It’s the economy, stupid.” On November 3rd, Clinton possessed more than twice the number of Electoral College votes than Bush did. Clinton’s promises included to win back large numbers of Regan Democrats, do well in traditional democratic strongholds, and to attract middle class Republicans. Ross Perot, was running as a Fiscal Conservative, and targeted many of the same voters at George H.W. Bush. This has led to a speculation that Perot was a Presidential Spoiler attempting to detract votes from Bush, which gave Clinton Victories in Conservative strongholds such as Kentucky and Montana. During the election night, Clinton performed speeches in rural areas of the country like Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico (16 Electoral Votes). Clinton also won in south/mid-west states such as Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, and Iowa (57 Electoral Votes). Clinton gave Americans a hope for change and became the 42nd President of the United States.
Foreign Policy
President Clinton took office shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union and after the end of the Cold War, but nevertheless was forced to confront many international conflicts. Clinton had to make a decision on whether the United States, as a world superpower, should have a say in the conflicts and violence going on in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Haiti. In 1993, Clinton sent U.S. troops into Somalia in attempt to capture a local warlord. This incident was a miserable failure and embarrassment to the U.S. because Clinton sent the troops out as a humanitarian mission without weapons or armor. In result, bodies of dead American soldiers were carried across the capital of Mogadishu in October 1993. In April 1994, genocide broke out in Rwanda. With the failure of Somalia in mind, the United States did not make an aggressive move to stop the mass killing. Clinton was criticized for not acting quickly in this foreign affair. President Clinton’s most important foreign policy decisions involved the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. Bosnian Serb rebels were trying to expel the Muslim government. Bill Clinton ordered the United States Air Force to help Bosnian Muslims under attack and to end Serb aggression. In late 1995, Mr. Clinton helped put in order a meeting of the warring sides in the Bosnian Civil War. They signed a peace plan that involved a cease-fire. According to the plan, NATO troops had to help guard the cease-fire. In result, Clinton sent American troops to aid in this effort. Clinton’s foreign policy was very successful in Haiti. President Clinton helped return the first democratically elected leader of Haiti to office. Military officers in Haiti got rid of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991, thus creating a military dictatorship. In result, thousand of Haitian refugees attempted to flee to the United States by boat. In 1994, President Clinton threatened to use military force against the dictators if President Aristide did not return to power. The dictators surrendered and President Aristide became the president of Haiti once again. President Bill Clinton dealt with many foreign affairs around the globe which made his foreign policy not an easy one.
Domestic Policy
President Bill Clinton desired to improve the lives of the American People. Clinton signed numerous bills that dealt with family income, medicine, and employment. In 1993, Clinton approved a bill that was previously vetoed by both Reagan and Bush Sr. “The Family and Medical Leave Act” requires certain companies to permit up to 12 weeks unpaid leave to succeeding employees in the event of family or medical emergencies. Clinton also had an opinion on abortion; he stated that he wanted “an America where abortion is safe and legal, but rare.” With a growing national deficit, one of Clinton’s main concerns was to limit federal spending. His idea was designed to reduce the deficit in the long run while using short-term techniques to encourage the economy. This plan was killed by Congress, but the rest of it approved. Another domestic issue that Clinton dealt with was the service of homosexuals in the military. An existing ban on homosexuals in the military was lifted under the condition that any homosexuals did not openly act in homosexual activities and remained silent about their sexual preference. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) was the official policy on Homosexuals serving in the military. This meant that the military services would not ask about the sexual orientation of service personnel and that these personnel would not be required to give out this information. The compromise seemed to satisfy few people, Liberals and gays felt betrayed by the President. This compromise has given an increase to controversy over moral and constitutional issues. On all issues but one, health care reform, he accomplished significantly but not completely.
Impeachment
For the second time in United States History in 1999, the Senate conducted an impeachment trial of a President. He was impeached for two charges, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, but failed in the House of Representatives. The two charges arose from the Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones lawsuit. In November 1995, President Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21 year old intern. Clinton was being sued by Paula Jones for sexually harassing her when he was the governor of Arkansas. During that lawsuit, Paula and her lawyers were going to call Monica Lewinsky as a witness to testify whether or not she had sex with President Clinton. Bill Clinton told Ms. Lewinsky to lie about it which is suborning perjury and is illegal. The President and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House. Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon in April 1996 and during that summer she admitted to having sexual relationships with Clinton to a Pentagon co-worker, Linda Tripp. Tripp began to secretly record conversations with Lewinsky while she told her details about the affair. In January, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to discuss Lewinsky and the tapes she recorded of their conversations. Eventually, the story broke out, and Clinton publicly denied the facts saying “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” As a result, members of the House of Representatives voted to impeach him. During the impeachment, the Senate found him not guilty of the charges. On February 12th, 1999, President Clinton was acquitted by the Senate. In order for a conviction to take place, there has to be a two-thirds majority vote. Only 45 Senators (out of 100) voted guilty on the perjury charge and 50 on the obstruction charge. Therefore, Clinton was only 17 votes shy of being removed from office.