Bill Clinton
 |
| Rank: |
42nd |
| Term of Office: |
January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001 |
| Predecessor: |
George Bush |
| Successor: |
George W. Bush |
| Date of Birth: |
Monday, August 19, 1946 |
| Place of Birth: |
Hope, Arkansas |
| First Lady: |
Hillary Rodham Clinton |
| Profession: |
lawyer, politician |
| Political Party: |
Democrat |
| Vice President: |
Albert Gore, Jr. |
|
William Jefferson Clinton (born August 19, 1946) was the 42nd
(1993-2001) President of the United States.
He was born in Hope, Arkansas and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He
was named William Jefferson Blythe IV after his father, William
Jefferson Blythe III, who had been killed in a car accident just three
months before his son was born. Clinton was raised by his mother and stepfather
Roger Clinton, rising from poverty to graduate from Georgetown University,
attending England's prestigious Oxford University (University College)
on a Rhodes Scholarship, and receiving a law degree from Yale Law School.
After teaching law for a few years, Clinton was elected Attorney General
of Arkansas. Bill Clinton was governor of the state of Arkansas for six
terms, from 1978 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1992.
Clinton was the first Democrat to serve two full terms as President
since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His election ended an era in which the
Republican party had controlled the Presidency for 12 consecutive years,
and for 20 of the previous 24 years. That election also brought the Democrats
full control of the political branches of the federal government, including
both houses of Congress as well as the Presidency, for the first time since
the administration of Jimmy Carter.
Clinton won the 1992 election against Republican incumbent George Bush
and independent candidate Ross Perot, largely on a platform focusing on
domestic issues, notably the economic recession of the pre-election period
- using the line "It's the economy, stupid!" in his campaign headquarters.
Immediately upon taking office, Clinton fulfilled a campaign promise
by signing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required employers
of a certain size to allow their employees to take unpaid leave because
of a family or medical emergency. While this action was popular, Clinton's
initial reluctance to fulfill another campaign promise relating to the
acceptance of openly gay members of the military garnered criticism from
both the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and the
right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate,
Clinton and the Pentagon agreed to a Don't ask, don't tell policy, which
officially remains in effect.
Throughout the 1990s, Clinton presided over continuous economic expansion
(which, according to the Clinton administration's Office of Management
and Budget, began in April 1991), reductions in unemployment, and growing
wealth through the massive rise in the stock market. Clinton's role in
promoting this prosperity is a matter of considerable debate: some substantial
credit can be apportioned to groups such as the Congress and Federal Reserve
head Alan Greenspan, whom he renominated, as well as the congruence of
technological and global economic conditions which had little to do with
Clinton.
After two years of Democratic party control under the leadership of
President Clinton, the mid-term elections in 1994 proved disastrous for
the Democrats. They lost control of both houses of Congress for the first
time in 40 years, in large part due to a failed attempt to create a comprehensive
health care system under a plan developed by the first lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton.
After the 1994 election, the spotlight shifted to the "Contract with
America" spearheaded by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. The Republican-controlled
Congress and President Clinton sparred over the budget, resulting in a
series of government shutdowns at a political penalty to the G.O.P. In
the 1996 election, Clinton won re-election by a healthy margin over Republican
Bob Dole, while the Republicans retained control of the Congress but lost
a few seats.
Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998 by the House of Representatives
on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice, becoming the first elected
U.S. President to be impeached. The Senate, however, in a trial that started
on January 7, 1999, voted not to convict Clinton of the charges on February
12, allowing Clinton to stay in office for the remainder of his second
term. The impeachment cited abuse of powers and for perjury -- lying under
oath to a grand jury regarding matters related to his sexual affair with
Monica Lewinsky (uncovered by an investigation into the unrelated Whitewater
scandal). Clinton was chared with lying under oath about his affair with
Lewinsky to gain advantage in a sexual harassment case brought by Paula
Jones, a case he later settled paying Paula Jones $850,000. A Federal judge
found Clinton also found to be in contempt of court for lying in a deposition
and ordered him to pay a $90,000 fine. This contempt citation led to disbarment
proceedings similar to Richard Nixon's. To avoid these Clinton surrendered
his law license.
Much of Clinton's presidency was overshadowed by numerous scandals or
faux-scandals, including the Kenneth Starr-led Whitewater investigation.
Originally dealing with a failed land deal years earlier, Starr's investigation
eventually expanded to include the suicide of his friend Vince Foster,
an alleged sexual encounter with a woman named Paula Jones (who later admitted
to taking money from conservative political groups, but received a settlement
from Clinton), "Troopergate"- in which an Arkansas State Trooper claimed
to have arranged sexual encounters for then Governor Clinton (claims the
State Trooper later recanted among admissions he had taken money from the
conservative tabloid "American Spectator") and his sexual encounters with
Monica Lewinsky. Starr's successor, Robert Ray, declined to prosecute the
Clintons on all the charges.
Clinton developed a close working relationship with Tony Blair, the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, when he was elected in 1997.
He paid a personal interest in The Troubles in Northern Ireland and
paid three visits there while he was president in order to encourage peace.
This helped both sides in the divided community there to begin to talk,
setting in motion the process that lead to the Provisional Irish Republican
Army commencing disarmament on October 23 2001.
In 1999, in conjunction with a Congress controlled by the Republican
Party he balanced the US budget for the first time since 1969.
Bill and Hilary have one daughter, Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea spent her
latter teenage years in the White House, before moving away to study at
Stanford University.
Cabinet
-
Secretary of State - Warren Christopher (1993-1997), Madeleine Albright
(1997-2001)
-
Secretary of Defense - Les Aspin (1993-1994), William Perry (1994-1997),
William Cohen (1997-2001)
-
Secretary of Treasury - Lloyd Bentsen (1993-1994), Robert Rubin (1995-1999),
Lawrence Summers (1999-2001)
-
Attorney General - Janet Reno
-
Secretary of the Interior - Bruce Babbitt
-
Secretary of Agriculture - Mike Espy (1993-1994), Dan Glickman (1994-2001)
-
Secretary of Commerce - Ronald Brown (1993-1996), Mickey Kantor (1996-1997),
William Daley (1997-2000), Norman Mineta (2001-2001)
-
Secretary of Labor - Robert Reich (1993-1997), Alexis Herman (1997-2001)
-
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Donna Shalala
-
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Henry Cisneros (1993-1997),
Andrew Cuomo (1997-2001)
-
Secretary of Transportation - Federico Pena (1993-1997), Rodney Slater
(1997-2001)
-
Secretary of Energy - Hazel O'Leary (1993-1997), Federico Pena (1997-1998),
Bill Richardson (1998-2001)
-
Secretary of Education - Richard Riley
-
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs - Jesse Brown (1993-1997), Togo West (1998-2000),
Hershel Gober (2000-2001)
Major legislation signed
-
Creation of the Americorps volunteer program
-
1994 Crime Bill Expansion - as part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal
death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses
-
On March 14, 1996 he authorized a $100 million anti-terrorism agreement
with Israel to track down and root out terrorists.
-
Brady bill
-
Telecom bill, which eliminated major ownership restrictions for radio and
television groups.
-
Communications Decency Act
-
Welfare Reform (signed after vetoing it twice before)
-
NAFTA
-
Minimum Wage increase
-
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
-
Defense of marriage act, allowed states the power to refuse to recognize
gay marriages granted in other states, among other things
Major legislation vetoed
-
Republican 1996 national budget (leading to a temporary government shutdown)
-
H.R. 1833, partial birth abortion ban
-
Twice vetoed Welfare Reform before signing the identical act. ( An act
which radically decreased welfare rolls. )
Supreme Court appointments
-
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993
-
Stephen Breyer - 1994
Major legislation he failed to get passed through Congress
-
Healthcare Reform - appointed a committee headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton
to come up with a universal health care plan. Complexity, poor design,
and resistance from the insurance and the medical establishment resulted
in lack of support and it failed to get a single vote.
Initiatives
-
Social Security Reform - appointed a committee on Social Security Reform
and then dismissed their recommendations without ever proposing legislation.
-
Tried to get Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian
Council to agree to a final settlement agreement.
-
Initiated the Don't ask, don't tell policy toward gays in the military,
1993.
Timeline
-
April 19, 1993 - government siege on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco,
Texas results in the death of 80 people - Republicans blame Clinton and
Attorney General Janet Reno, rather than cult leader David Koresh
-
July 20, 1993 - Clinton friend and confidant Vince Foster commits suicide
during the height of the Whitewater investigation
-
October 3, 1993 - Battle of Mogadishu - Ranger Units receive heavy casualies
in Somalia. Military disgruntled because it was denied the hardware it
thought essential to the operation.
-
January 14 - Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin
accords which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles to targets
and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in the Ukraine.
-
April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing - Bombing of federal building in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma results in the death of 168 people
-
November 14, 1995 - Budget negotiations between Congress and the President
break down, resulting in temporary shutdown of U.S. Federal Government.
Shutdowns (partial and full) continue through January, 1996.
-
December, 1995 - Clinton organizes the Dayton Peace Accords at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Ohio, temporarily bringing a cease fire to the Balkan States
-
December, 1995 - Clinton visits Ireland, leading to the establishment of
an International Commission, chaired by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell
-
November, 1996 - Clinton is re-elected, defeating Republican challenger
Bob Dole
-
October, 1997 - Visit by Chinese premier Jiang Zemin to Whitehouse
-
August, 1998 - Clinton orders cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and
suspected chemical weapons factory in Sudan
-
March 24 to June 10, 1999 - NATO bombs Kosovo and Serbia (Kosovo War)
-
May 7, 1999 - US planes accidently bomb Chinese embassy in Belgrade (Kosovo
War)
-
June, 1999 - Serbia withdraws from Kosovo (Kosovo War)
-
October 5, 2000 - The defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in earlier elections
leads to mass demonstrations in Belgrade and ultimate collapse of the regime's
authority. Opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica took office as Yugoslav
president on October 6.
He ended his presidency with approval ratings in the high 60%, despite
granting highly controversial presidential pardons. Although it is quite
common for Presidents to grant a number of pardons before leaving office,
as the details of Clinton's pardon's unfolded (140 pardons on the last
day of office, some given to campaign contributors, one to a cocaine trafficker),
his approval ratings slumped.
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