Bill Clinton
| Bill Clinton
| |
| Order: | 42nd President |
|---|---|
| Term of Office: | January 20, 1993–January 20, 2001 |
| Predecessor: | George H. W. Bush |
| Successor: | George W. Bush |
| Date of Birth: | Monday, August 19, 1946 |
| Place of Birth: | Hope, Arkansas |
| First Lady: | Hillary Rodham Clinton |
| Profession: | Lawyer |
| Political Party: | Democratic |
| Vice President: | Al Gore |
William Jefferson Clinton (born August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Before his Presidency, Clinton served five terms as the Governor of Arkansas.
A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was generally considered a moderate. His domestic priorities included legislation to upgrade education, to restrict handgun sales, to strengthen environmental rules, to protect the jobs of parents who must care for sick children. Internationally, his priorities included reducing trade barriers and mediating the Northern Ireland and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
His tenure was marked by an adversarial relationship with the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress. He became only the second president to be impeached, as a result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but he was acquitted by the Senate. He was the third youngest president and the first of the baby boomer generation. Upon leaving office, he had the highest approval ratings for a retiring President in modern U.S. history.
Bill Clinton was the first United States President born after the close of the Second World War. As such, his assumption of office marked a "generational shift" from the former Presidents who were mostly World War II veterans and had experienced the start of the Cold War in the 1950s.
Early life and education
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III in Hope, Arkansas and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was named after his father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr., a travelling salesman who had been killed in a car accident in Scott County, Missouri between the towns of Sikeston and Morley just three months before his son was born. His mother, born Virginia Dell Cassidy, remarried in 1950 to Roger Clinton. Billy, as he was called, was raised by his mother and stepfather, using the last name "Clinton" throughout elementary school, but not formally changing it until he was 15. Clinton grew up in a turbulent family. His stepfather was a gambler and alcoholic who regularly abused his wife, and sometimes Clinton's half brother Roger, Jr. (born 1956).
Clinton excelled as a student and as a saxophone player. At one time, he considered becoming a professional musician. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John F. Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. This encounter has often been romanticised as a crucial factor in leading Clinton to begin a life of public service.
He rose from poverty to graduate from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a degree in International Affairs. While attending Georgetown, he was a congressional aide for Senator William Fulbright. After graduation, he attended England's prestigious Oxford University (University College) on a Rhodes Scholarship, and received a law degree from Yale Law School. At Yale, Bill Clinton met Hillary Rodham, and they married in 1975. They have one daughter Chelsea, born in 1980.
Arkansas political career
Clinton taught law at the University of Arkansas for a few years. During this time, he ran for the House of Representatives in 1974 against Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt. Clinton lost the election by over 6,000 votes. After his teaching stint, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976. Bill Clinton was elected governor of the state of Arkansas first in 1978, when at the time he was the youngest state governor in the United States. His first term was fraught with difficulties, including an unpopular motor vehicle tax, and popular anger over the escape of Cuban prisoners (from the Mariel Boat Lift) detained in Fort Chafee in 1980.
Furthermore, Hillary Rodham's decision to keep her maiden name while Arkansas' First Lady raised many eyebrows in the traditionally conservative state. After only one term, Clinton was defeated by Republican challenger Frank D. White in 1980. He was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.
Out of office, Clinton addressed the concerns that led to his political failure. He established new relationships with business interests, and made amends with the political establishment of the state. Hillary took her husband's surname and adopted a more traditional public role as a political wife, while quietly establishing herself as a political force in her own right through her skills as an attorney. Clinton was elected governor again in 1982, and was re-elected again in 1984, 1986 and 1990, serving until 1992.
Clinton's business-friendly approach mollified conservative criticism during his terms as governor. However, several deals the Clintons made during this period led to the Whitewater investigation, which dogged his later presidential administration.
During this time, Clinton had hundreds of affairs, which he later admitted to Monica Lewinsky, according to sworn testimony of Lewinsky reported in the Starr report. [1] "Earlier in his marriage, he told her, he had had hundreds of affairs; but since turning 40, he had made a concerted effort to be faithful."
Presidency
Clinton's first major foray into national politics occurred when he was enlisted to speak at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, introducing candidate Michael Dukakis. Clinton's address, scheduled to last 15 minutes, became a debacle as Clinton gave a notoriously dull speech that lasted over half an hour (he joked about the length of this speech at the 1992 convention).
Despite this setback, Clinton prepared for a run in 1992 against incumbent president George H. W. Bush. In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, President Bush seemed undefeatable, and several potential Democratic candidates — notably New York Governor Mario Cuomo — passed on what seemed to be a lost cause. Positioning himself as a straight-talking everyman, Clinton handily won the Democratic Party's nomination.
Clinton chose U.S. Sen. Albert A. Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) to be his running mate on July 9, 1992. Initially this decision sparked criticism from strategists due to the fact that Gore was from Clinton's neighboring state of Tennessee. In retrospect, many now view Gore as a helpful factor in the successful 1992 campaign.
Clinton's opponents raised various "character" issues during the campaign, including his avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War, and his glib response to a question about past marijuana use. Allegations of womanizing and shady business deals also were raised. While none of these alleged flaws led to Clinton's defeat, they did fuel unusually vehement opposition to Clinton's policies among many conservatives from the very beginning of his presidency.
Clinton won the 1992 presidential election against the Republican George H. W. Bush and independent candidate H. 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!" For more information about Clinton's campaign, see Bill Clinton presidential campaign, 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 U.S. Congress as well as the Presidency, for the first time since the administration of Jimmy Carter.
Clinton's first act as president was to sign executive order 12834 (entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees"), which placed substantial restrictions upon the ability of his senior political appointees to lobby their colleagues after they leave office. Clinton rescinded the order shortly before he left office in executive order 13184 of December 28, 2000.
Shortly after taking office, Clinton fulfilled a campaign promise by signing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers 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.
The most important item on Clinton's legislative agenda, however, was a complex health care reform plan, the result of a taskforce headed by Hillary Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage. Though initially well-received, it was ultimately doomed by well-organized opposition from conservatives and the health insurance industry, who labeled it "socialized medicine". It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.
As president, Clinton was characterized as being a much more "hands on" president than some of his Republican predecessors. While Bush and Reagan had operated under what some critics dubbed an Imperial Presidency of bureaucratic "courtiers," Clinton had much more fickle relationships with his aides, and did not delegate them significant powers. He went through four White House Chiefs of Staff — a record number of men in a position that had once been the epicenter of the Imperial Presidency. This is not to say that Clinton was without political confidants in the White House. The First Lady played an active role in helping the President form policy, and Clinton's two best friends and most loyal supporters, Paul Begala and James Carville, could often be seen defending the President's policies in Washington and the media.
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 stalled legislation, including 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 Republicans.
In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton was re-elected by a healthy margin over Republican Bob Dole and Reform candidate Ross Perot, while the Republicans retained control of the Congress losing but a few seats.
Clinton developed a close working relationship with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, when he was elected in 1997.
In 1999, in conjunction with a U.S. Congress controlled by the Republican Party the United States had a balanced federal budget for the first time since Richard Nixon's presidency in 1969.
He took a personal interest in The Troubles in Northern Ireland and paid three visits there while he was president in order to encourage peace. His involvement set in motion the process that lead to the Provisional Irish Republican Army commencing disarmament on October 23, 2001.
Clinton was targeted for assassination several times. One plot was scheduled to be carried out during his late 1994 visit to the Philippines as part of the broader Operation Bojinka, but was never carried out. In 2002, al-Qaeda was discovered to have plotted to kill Clinton toward the end of his term.
Legislation and Programs
Major legislation signed
- September 21, 1993 - creation of the AmeriCorps volunteer program
- November 30, 1993 - Brady Bill
- January 1, 1994 - NAFTA
- September 13, 1994 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses
- 1995 - Executive Order 12958, created tough new standards for the process of classifying documents.
- February 1, 1996 - Communications Decency Act
- February 8, 1996 - Telecom Reform Act: eliminated major ownership restrictions for radio and television groups.
- February 26, 1996 - Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, a welfare reform bill
- March 14, 1996 - authorized $100 million anti-terrorism agreement with Israel to track down and root out terrorists.
- April 24, 1996 - Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
- August 20, 1996 - Minimum wage Increase Act
- September 21, 1996 - Defense of Marriage Act, allowed states the power to refuse to recognize gay marriages granted in other states, among other things
- October 28, 1998 - Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- October 31, 1998 - Iraq Liberation Act
Major legislation vetoed
- Republican 1996 nationaßl budget
- H.R. 1833, partial birth abortion ban
- Twice vetoed welfare reform before signing
Proposals not passed by Congress
Initiatives
- 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 of the Palestinian National Authority, to agree to a final settlement agreement.
- Initiated the Don't ask, don't tell policy toward gays in the military, 1993.
Cabinet
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | Bill Clinton | 1993–2001 |
| Vice President | Al Gore | 1993–2001 |
| State | Warren M. Christopher | 1993–1997 |
| Madeleine K. Albright | 1997–2001 | |
| Treasury | Lloyd Bentsen | 1993–1994 |
| Robert E. Rubin | 1995–1999 | |
| Lawrence H. Summers | 1999–2001 | |
| Defense | Les Aspin | 1993–1994 |
| William J. Perry | 1994–1997 | |
| William S. Cohen | 1997–2001 | |
| Justice | Janet Reno | 1993–2001 |
| Interior | Bruce Babbitt | 1993–2001 |
| Agriculture | Mike Espy | 1993–1994 |
| Daniel R. Glickman | 1994–2001 | |
| Commerce | Ronald H. Brown | 1993–1996 |
| Mickey Kantor | 1996–1997 | |
| William M. Daley | 1997–2000 | |
| Norman Y. Mineta | 2000–2001 | |
| Labor | Robert B. Reich | 1993–1997 |
| Alexis M. Herman | 1997–2001 | |
| HHS | Donna E. Shalala | 1993–2001 |
| Education | Richard Riley | 1993–2001 |
| HUD | Henry G. Cisneros | 1993–1997 |
| Andrew Cuomo | 1997–2001 | |
| Transportation | Federico F. Peña | 1993–1997 |
| Rodney E. Slater | 1997–2001 | |
| Energy | Hazel O'Leary | 1993–1997 |
| Federico F. Peña | 1997–1998 | |
| Bill Richardson | 1998–2001 | |
| Veterans Affairs | Jesse Brown | 1993–1997 |
| Togo D. West, Jr. | 1997–2000 | |
| Hershel W. Gober | 2000–2001 | |
Supreme Court appointments
Clinton appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court:
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993
- Stephen Breyer - 1994
The economy during the Clinton administration
Following up on a campaign promise, President Clinton pursued a balanced budget and made attempts to keep inflation in check. During his tenure, the U.S. enjoyed continuous economic expansion, reductions in unemployment, and growing wealth through a massive rise in the stock market. Although it is debated to what extent his policies were responsible, upon leaving office, Clinton proudly pointed to a number of economic accomplishments, including:
- More than 22 million new jobs
- Highest homeownership in American history
- Lowest unemployment in 30 years
- Higher incomes at all levels
- $360 billion of the national debt paid off
- Largest budget deficit in American history converted to the largest surplus
- Lowest government spending in three decades
- Lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years
- Higher stock ownership by families than ever before
Foreign Policy
Clinton deployed the U.S. military several times under hostile circumstances. In 1993, U.S. troops fought the Battle of Mogadishu attempting to capture a local warlord in Somalia. In 1994, Clinton sent U.S. troops into Haiti to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president, ending a period of intense violence. Aristide, who had been elected, had been ousted in a coup just seven months into his term in 1991. Clinton also committed troops twice in the former-Yugoslavia to stop ethnic violence, most notably in Kosovo. In addition, Clinton launched military strikes on Iraq several times to punish violations of UN sanctions and an attempt to have President Bush Sr assassinated.
In 1994, Clinton negotiated and signed the Nuclear Accords with North Korea. The underlying concern was that North Korea was developing nuclear weapons technology under the guise of a nuclear power plant. In exchange for assistance with energy needs, North Korea agreed to abandon all ambitions for acquiring nuclear weapons. However, by the mid 1990s defectors from North Korea, along with reports from the IAEA, indicated that North Korea was violating both the Nuclear Accords and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
After his presidency, Clinton identified his proudest foreign policy accomplishments as mediating peace talks between Israel and Palestine, resulting in the Oslo Accords. He identified his major foreign policy failure as lack of response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Along with the United Nations, the Clinton administration initially did not publicly acknowledge that genocide was occurring.
During Clinton's tenure attacks on the U.S. by foreign terrorists included the 1993 bombing of New York's World Trade Center, the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen in 2000.
Impeachment and other scandals
- Main article Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Clinton was impeached as President of the United States on December 19, 1998 by the House of Representatives. The charges were perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate found Clinton not guilty on both counts in a trial concluding February 12, 1999.
The charges arose from an investigation by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Originally dealing with the failed land deal years earlier known as Whitewater, Starr expanded his investigation into Clinton's conduct during the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Arkansas government employee, Paula Jones. In a sworn deposition taken for this case, Clinton denied having sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Based on information from Lewinsky's confidante, Linda Tripp, Starr reached the conclusion that Clinton's statement constituted perjury.
The Senate impeachment trial lasted from January 7, 1999 until February 12. No witnesses were called during the trial. A two-thirds majority, 67 votes, is necessary to convict the President on impeachment charges. The perjury charge was defeated with 45 votes for conviction and 55 against. The obstruction of justice charge was defeated with 50 for conviction and 50 against. Again, the impeachment effort lacked bipartisan support, with no Democratic votes for conviction.
In addition to impeachment, the Clinton White House was the subject of many lesser scandals. Travelgate refers to the firing of White House travel office staffers. Filegate refers to White House handling of hundreds of personnel files from individuals without asking for their permission. Chinagate involved Democrats accepting improper campaign contributions; allegedly the ultimate source of this money was the Chinese government. Pardongate refers to a grant of clemency to FALN members in 1999 and pardons to Marc Rich and others in 2001. In 1998, Juanita Broaddrick alleged that Clinton had raped her in 1978. No evidence was produced or charges brought; similar allegations of rape have also been lodged against presidents Reagan and G.W. Bush.
Despite being acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial, Clinton was disbarred from practicing law for five years by the State of Arkansas and the United States Supreme Court. President Nixon was similarly disbarred by the State of New York after resigning the Presidency.
Timeline
- April 19, 1993 - A government siege of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, results in the deaths of 80 people when a cult leader allegedly sets fire to his own compound. Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno receive criticism for mishandling the stand-off.
- July 20, 1993 - Clinton friend and confidant Vince Foster is found dead of a gunshot wound
- October 3, 1993 - Battle of Mogadishu - Ranger Units receive heavy casualties in Somalia, Blackhawk Down incident.
- January 14, 1994 - 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 deaths of 168 people, 19 of which were children.
- November 14, 1995 - Budget negotiations between Congress and the President break down, resulting in a temporary shutdown of the Federal Government. Shutdowns (partial and full) continue through January, 1996.
- November, 1995 - Clinton organizes peace talks for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, eventually resulting in the Dayton Agreement.
- December, 1995 - Clinton visits Ireland, leading to the establishment of an International Commission chaired by former U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell.
- November, 1996 - Clinton is reelected, defeating Republican challenger Bob Dole.
- October, 1997 - Visit by President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin to the White House.
- August, 1998 - Clinton orders cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons factory in Sudan as Monica Lewinsky testifies before a grand jury about her relationship with Clinton.
- August 17, 1998 - Clinton testifies before a grand jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In the evening, he delivers a nationally televised address in which he describes the relationship as "not appropriate" but also "nobody's business".
- December 19, 1998 - Clinton is impeached by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice.
- January 7, 1999 - The trial of Clinton in the Senate begins.
- February 12, 1999 - Clinton is acquitted of all charges by the Senate.
- March 24 to June 10, 1999 - NATO bombs Kosovo and Serbia. (See Kosovo War.)
- May 7, 1999 - U.S. planes accidentally bomb China's embassy in Belgrade. (See Kosovo War.)
- June, 1999 - Serbia hands control of Kosovo to the United Nations. (See Kosovo War.)
- October 5, 2000 - The defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in earlier elections leads to mass demonstrations in Belgrade and the ultimate collapse of the regime's authority. Opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica takes office as the Yugoslavian president the next day.
Public image
As the first Baby Boomer president, Bill Clinton was seen during his presidency and during his candidacy as a change from the presidents of the World War II Generation. He was discussed upon his breaking onto the political horizon as a remarkably informal president in a "common man" kind of way, with his frequent patronage of McDonald's becoming a popular symbol of this image. With his sound-bite rhetoric and pioneering use of pop culture in his campaigning, Clinton was declared, often negatively, as the "MTV president". Despite criticisms that his appeal to young voters lacked substance, Clinton won among Generation X voters in the 1992 election, with the highest Gen-X turnout ever. Indeed, Clinton came across as a man of the people in that election. Until his inauguration as president, he had earned substantially less money than his wife, and had the smallest net worth of any president in modern history, according to ''My Life'', President Clinton's autobiography.
Clinton was very popular overall among African-Americans and made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency. [2]. Toni Morrison dubbed Clinton "the first Black president", saying "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."
Hillary Clinton's very strong role in the administration led to a degree of criticism toward a First Lady not seen since the days of Eleanor Roosevelt. Many people saw the couple as an unprecedented political partnership. Some even suspected that Hillary, and not Bill, was the dominant force behind the team.
Social conservatives were put off by the impression of Bill Clinton having been a "hippie" during the late 1960s, his coming-of-age era. Clinton, however, would probably not have been viewed as such by the hippie subculture. Clinton avoided the draft with a student deferment while studying abroad during the Vietnam War. Clinton's marijuana experimentation — clumsily excused by Clinton's statement that he "didn't inhale" — further damaged his image with some voters. Although he was actually to the right of previous Democratic candidates for the presidency on many issues — he supported the death penalty, curfews, uniforms in public schools, and other measures opposed by youth rights supporters, and he expanded the War on Drugs greatly while in office — Clinton's actions during the 1960s were never forgotten by his opponents. Intense opposition to the Clintons was perhaps the main factor in the phenomenal growth of conservative talk radio in the 1990s.
Clinton's working-class white Southern background was a complicating factor. Many white southern conservatives viewed Clinton as a "traitor" to his class, with his Ivy League and Rhodes Scholarship education and liberal world view. Clinton supporters point out that several prominent conservatives, including Newt Gingrich, had very similar charges of draft evasion, womanizing, and corruption in their past as well, and that these allegations are tied less to Clinton's actual "character" as they are to his refusal to conform to the conservatism expected from white Southern politicians.
Starting from 1992 Presidential election campaign, rumors about Clinton's adultery were floating about, and these surfaced and increased with Paula Jones' accusations of sexual harassment. After allegations had linked him to Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Katherine Willey, Clinton's sex life would become the focus of his public image when in January 1998 recorded conversations by Linda Tripp contained statements by White House intern Monica Lewinsky about having oral sex.
Clinton was viewed with intense personal animosity by some on the far right. Several lurid accusations were leveled by conservative talk radio. Among these were rumors of involvement with drug traffickers, personal cocaine use, and involvement in the death of long-time friend and aide Vince Foster (ruled a suicide). The deadly Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas in 1993 fomented further far right hostility to the Clinton administration.
Clinton is often referred to by nickname among both detractors and fans. One of the earliest was "Bubba", which alludes to his Southern "good ol' boy" background. Other common nicknames include "Slick Willy" and "Clintoon" (by detractors), and the "Big Dog" (by fans).
Clinton was seen as an educated and intelligent person. Clinton was characterised by good grasp of the scientific issues and strong support of "unlimited scientific discovery, and... unlimited applications" [3]. He sometimes criticised other political leaders for being "out of touch" with the acceleration of technology.
Famous quotes
- There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.
- It's the economy, stupid.
- I have news for the forces of greed and the defenders of the status quo; your time has come and gone. It's time for change in America.
- I want to build a bridge to the 21st century that we can all walk across together.
- I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
- It depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" means. If "is" means is, and never has been, that's one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement.
- I feel your pain.
- End welfare as we know it.
- The era of big government is over.
- Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.
Legacy
Clinton presided over the period of longest steady growth of the economy in modern American history. However, his active role in this development is debatable.
Clinton is seen as having led — in conjunction with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) — the Democratic Party away from the left, towards a more moderate centrist position. During the 1990s, the Party was accused of abandoning its traditional base of support (unions, the working class, minorities) in pursuit of a center-right position, responding to — and funded by — corporate contributors, with the soccer mom representing his new base. The current quandary of the Democratic party is felt by many to be primarily due to its inability to define itself vis-à-vis the Republican Party and offer a clear alternative. Clinton was able to surmount this problem through sheer personal charisma, but his successors have been less successful.
Clinton advocated nanotechnology development. Howard Lovy, a nanotechnology writer, said the National Nanotechnology Initiative may "turn out to be one of Clinton's most-important legacies". The Initiative was a federal nanoscale science, engineering, and technology research and development program. In a 21 January 2000 speech at the California Institute of Technology, Clinton said, "Some of our research goals may take twenty or more years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the federal government."
Some of the personal failures and moral lapses of Clinton have tainted his legacy in the eyes of many Americans in spite of the good economic growth of the late 1990's. Additionally, there is controversy over his foreign policy actions; while some Americans feel that his foreign policies had resulted in an environment that permitted terrorists like Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network to strike on September 11th, others feel that his efforts at fighting terrorism were hampered by excessive partisan bickering and were not continued effectively by the succeeding administration.
Post-presidential career
Like all living former American presidents, Clinton has engaged in a career as a public speaker on a variety of issues. He is in high demand and receives very large fees for this, and his speeches have often been very well received. In these, he continues to comment on aspects of contemporary politics. One notable theme is his advocacy of multilateral solutions to problems facing the world, which may be viewed in contrast to the successive administration which is much more prepared to act unilaterally. Clinton's close relationship with the African-American community has been highlighted in his post-Presidential career with his opening of his personal office in the Harlem section of New York City. He assisted his wife Hillary Clinton in her campaign for office as a federal Senator representing New York.
In February 2004, Clinton (along with Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren) won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for narrating the Russian National Orchestra's album Peter and the Wolf/Wolf Tracks. His wife Hillary was also nominated that year, in the Best Spoken Word Album category, for her recording of her memoirs, Living History.
President Clinton collected his memoirs into a book entitled My Life, which was released on June 22, 2004. Commenting on memoirs in general, he said "some are dull and self-serving, hopefully mine will be interesting and self-serving." The book made an unprecedented three appearances on the Amazon.com best-seller list, before it was even released. In an interview with David Dimbleby which aired on BBC TV on June 23, 2004, Clinton was questioned at length about the effects to his presidency of his affair with Lewinsky, conceding that he had made many mistakes while in office. He also spoke about the prospects of a future Clinton presidency, should his wife Hillary Clinton decide to run for office in 2008.
Clinton has gone to other countries for his book tours and has given media interviews on them. One of those was in Canada. On September 11, 2004, CBC Newsworld, which is CBC's cable news network, began its sixth season of "Mansbridge One on One" with an interview Clinton gave with its host, the network's chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge [4]. Unlike Dimbleby, Mansbridge didn't mention the Lewinsky affair. Clinton mostly talked about his book, his thoughts on the issues that confronted the Bush administration, and the election. He also talked about repealing the 22nd Amendment in the event of a terrorist attack.
On July 26, 2004, Clinton spoke for the fifth time in a row to the Democratic National Convention. He used his speech to praise candidate John Kerry. Many critics have argued that Clinton's speech is one of the best in Convention history. In it, Clinton criticized George W. Bush, saying that "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values."
On September 2, 2004, Clinton had an episode of angina and was evaluated at Northern Westchester Hospital. It was determined that he had not suffered a coronary infarction, and he was sent home, returning the following day for angiography, which disclosed multiple vessel coronary artery disease. He was transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where he successfully underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on September 6, 2004. The medical team responsible for Clinton claimed that, had he not had surgery, he would likely have suffered a massive heart attack within a few months.
Rumours have recently appeared that Clinton has set his sights on becoming the next Secretary-General of the United Nations [5]. He dedicated his presidential library, which is the largest in the nation, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 18, 2004. Under rainy skies, Clinton received words of praise from former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, as well as from the current president, George W. Bush. He was also treated to a musical rendition from Bono and The Edge from U2, who expressed their gratitude at Clinton's efforts to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict during his presidency.
On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named him and the other living former presidents (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.
On December 8, 2004, Clinton announced that he was the new spokesperson for Accoona, an internet search engine company.
On December 10, 2004, Clinton was nominated for a second Grammy Award (Best Spoken Word Album) for his recording of My Life.
On January 3, 2005, President George W. Bush named him and George H.W. Bush to lead a nationwide campaign to help the victims of Asian tsunamis.
Related articles
Further reading
- Christopher Anderson (1999). Bill & Hillary: The Marriage. William Morrow & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-75-153035-2
- Sidney Blumenthal (2003). The Clinton Wars. Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 0-37-412502-3
- Bill Clinton (2004). My Life. Knopf. ISBN 0375414576.
- Joe Conason and Gene Lyons (2003). The Hunting of the President : The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-31-227319-3
- Elizabeth Drew (1994). On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-67-187147-1
- Jason D. Fodeman (2003). How To Destroy A Village : What The Clintons Taught A Seventeen Year Old, PublishAmerica. ISBN 1-59-129804-0
- David Maraniss (1996). First In His Class : A Biography Of Bill Clinton, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684818906
- Roger Morris (1996). Partners in Power: The Clintons & Their America. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-89-526302-5
External links
- Clinton Presidential Materials Project - archive of White House websites at nara.gov
- First Inaugural Address
- Second Inaugural Address
- Executive Orders signed by President Clinton
- Clinton Presidential Center
- Pardons Granted By President Clinton
- The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy - by Howard Zinn
- Draft Articles of Impeachment, 1998
- The Salon Interview: Bill Clinton
References
- "Clinton makes nanomention of large legacy"
- "Columbia Nanotechnology: National Nanotechnology Initiative"
