Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton
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42nd President of the United States
Term of office January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001
Political party	Democratic
Vice President	Al Gore
Preceded by	George H. W. Bush
Succeeded by	George W. Bush
Born	August 19, 1946 Hope, Arkansas
Spouse	Hillary Rodham Clinton
Religion	Baptist

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas) served two terms as the 42nd President of the United States of America from 1993-2001, following George H. W. Bush and preceding George W. Bush. He was only the second president ever to have been impeached, and the only president since World War II to be elected twice with pluralities of less than 50% of the popular vote. He governed in a more conservative manner after the Democrats in Congress lost in a landslide in the 1994 midterm elections, signing into law the Defense of Marriage Act and the Welfare Reform Act.

Early Life

Clinton was born on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. His name at birth was William Jefferson Blythe III. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house. After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended Georgetown University, then Oxford University after receiving a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from Yale University in 1973. At Yale he met Hillary Rodham, whom he would later marry. The couple had one daughter, Chelsea.

Early Political Career

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the Supreme Court of the United States found in the case of Clinton vs Jeffers the former Arkansas Governor and Democratic president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

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Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas." In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.

”

The court therefore concluded that

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This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of racial motivation is inescapable.

”

Early Scandals

Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He allegedly used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage.

His close personal business partnerships with James and Susan McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture led to investigation of the Whitewater affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors were never able to charge the Clintons with a crime because Susan McDougall would not cooperate with investigators. Clinton later pardoned Susan McDougall for her role in the Whitewater affair.

The videotape The Clinton Chronicles provided convincing evidence that Clinton engaged in drug smuggling through the airport in Mena, Arkansas when he was governor. He even committed murder to cover his tracks. Nevertheless, his supporters have continued to dispute these allegations.

1992 Presidential Campaign

In 1992 Democrats nominated Governor Clinton to be their Presidential nominee and challenge President George H. W. Bush, despite stories that questioned his character such as dodging the Vietnam War, extramarital affairs, and past drug use. The country briefly entered a mild recession under Bush which made the economy the dominating issue of the campaign. Clinton and his running mate, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, ran as "new Democrats", promising to cut middle class taxes, reduce domestic spending, end welfare and support capital punishment. Bill Clinton won the election with 43 percent of the vote, 37 percent for Bush, and 19 percent for third party candidate Ross Perot, the best showing for a third party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

Clinton become the first President born after World War 2, making him part of the "baby-boom" generation.

1996 Reelection Campaign

By the time of his 1996 reelection campaign the economy had improved which Clinton took credit for. Unemployment and inflation was low, American wages increased, crime rates fell, and the number of people on Welfare declined. The Republican Party nominated Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole. Ross Perot ran again, this time in the reform party. Clinton was reelected with 49 percent of the popular vote, 41 percent for Dole, and 8 percent for Perot, making Clinton the first Democrat President reelected to a second term since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. Despite his victory, Republicans maintained control of the House of Representatives and United States Senate.

Presidency (1993-2001)

Taxing and Spending

Bill Clinton's Presidential cabinet

Clinton's first priority while coming into office the the economy. In an attempt to lower interest rates Clinton sent Congress a deficit reduction plan in early 1993. However, Clinton's problem was that about half of government money goes to entitlement programs such as social security and medicare. Refusing to cut domestic spending, he increased taxes on gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas, breaking his campaign pledge not reduce tax rates. The tax increases proved very unpopular with the American people.

Health Care Reform

Early in his administration President Clinton appointed a task force to address the issues of health care, headed by his wife First Lady Hillary Clinton. The administration put together a plan to create universal health care, however, it put a burden to pay for it on employers. Small business leaders feared they could not afford it. The insurance industry and doctor organizations also opposed it. Republicans felt that it was too costly and relied too heavily on government. Congressional Democrats were divided on the issue. Faced with public opposition, the Clinton plan failed without even having a vote in Congress.

1994 Republican Revolution

Clinton had become very unpopular by 1994. Breaking his pledge to cut taxes and failing on health care reform convinced Americans to vote Republican in the 1994 mid-term elections. Congressional Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich of Georgia created the contract with American, which proposed changes in lower taxes, welfare reform, tougher anti-crime laws, term limits for Congress, and a Balanced Budget amendment. Republicans won a stunning victory, gaining 54 seats in the House of Representatives and 8 seats in the United States Senate, for the first time in 40 years, they had the majority in both houses of Congress. In their first 100 days the House passed the Contract with America, however, the Senate and many of the President's vetoes defeated many of the proposals, including a balanced budget amendment.

Government Shutdown

In 1995 President Clinton and Congressional Republicans fought a bitter battle over the new federal budget. Clinton vetoed Republican budget proposal, claiming they cut social programs. Speaker Gingrich believed that Clinton would back down and approve the budget. If not the entire government would shut down because of lack of funds. Clinton allowed just that, and by doing so gained political capital by successfully blaming that shut down on Republicans. Soon afterword, Clinton and the Congress reached an agreement to a balanced budget.

Impeachment

On August 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of White House intern Monica Lewinsky's upcoming testimony regarding her extramarital affair with the President, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. Kenneth Starr, a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant George Stephanopoulos said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached. Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction."

During the impeachment trial, pornographer Larry Flynt, an old friend of Clinton advisers James Carville and Strobe Talbott, publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail.

In the end Clinton was tried in the Senate for two counts: "perjury" and "obstruction of justice" (the House turned down two other counts: "abuse of power" as well as another count of "perjury" in connection with the Paula Jones case). The Senate impeachment vote fell roughly according to party lines with all Democrats voting "not guilty" on both counts - joined by 5 and 10 "left-leaning" Republicans, respectively (making the counts 55-45 and 50-50 in favor of the verdicts). Although in the former case a majority of Senators voted to convict, two thirds majority being necessary to remove him from office.

David Gergen, former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:

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The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest."

”

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".

Foreign Policy

Critics of Clinton argued that he lacked a knowledge of world affairs. In his 1992 speech at the Democrat National Convention, he devoted one minute to foreign policy issues in an oration that lasted an hour. Clinton entered office after a dramatic change in the world under George H. W. Bush, in a post-Cold War era. During his first year as President, Clinton held no regular meetings with his foreign policy team. However, there were foreign crisis during his Presidency.

Al-Qaeda bombing

During Clinton's presidency the terrorist group al-Qaeda conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden issued two public fatwas declaring War on America. In the 1998 fatwa bin Laden told jihadists worldwide,

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Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, Aden and Mogadishu.

”

Bin Laden told ABC News at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets."

Cruise missiles

Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of cruise missile attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks were launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of Reason remarked,

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Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…"

”

Terrorist pardons

On August 11, 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) terrorist group. On January 24, 1975 the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan killing four people. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people.

Post-Presidency

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president George H.W. Bush to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, was elected Senator to New York in 2000. She was reelected in 2006. She made a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. According to WorldNetDaily Hillary may face a felony conviction that carries with it a five year sentence for receiving $1.9 million to her Senate Campaign in illegal donations, Bill Clinton has refused to make known the identities of financial donors to his Presidential library.

Clinton has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives for his actions in his wife's presidential campaign. Time Magazine, hardly a conservative source, referred to him as "his wife's attack dog". Some accused him of racism for comparing Barack Obama to Jesse Jackson when Bill Clinton commented on the campaign trail in South Carolina in 2008: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." Time Magazine further editorialized that he had broken his strong bond with the African-American community in the process of campaigning.

Clinton received a "Pants on Fire" award from PolitiFact for denying that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card." Clinton received a second "Pants on Fire" award from PolitiFact for this false statement to a Boonville, Indiana crowd on April 10th, 2008.

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Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995.

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Upon Hillary's defeat to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Clinton joined his wife in supporting Obama's candidacy, appearing with Obama in rallies in the weeks prior to the election. Obama won the election with 375 electoral votes.

See also

• Institute for Policy Studies
• Gay Bomb

External links

• No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
• Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo.
• What Liberals Say - Bill Clinton, Accuracy In Media.