American History II: Note Set #38: The Clinton Presidency

Bill Clinton (1946 – Present), 42nd President (1993 – 2001), Democrat

Won election despite reported extramarital affairs and having no national-level political experience

Promised major health-care reform in his campaign

The Internet

During the mid-1990s, localized computer networks began to become interconnected as part of the “World Wide Web,” forever changing how we communicate

Between 1997 and 2000, internet use soared 300%

The internet also sparked a boom in “.com” companies, driving economic prosperity in the late 1990s

The Deficit and Taxes

Clinton pushed for economic recovery through reduction of the federal deficit

To do this, he was forced to increase taxes on the middle-class and on fuels

Health Care Failure

Clinton had promised reforms to provide health insurance to the 40 million Americans without it, but never had enough political support in Congress for his reforms and was unable to fulfill his promise

The Family Medical Leave Act (1993)

Congress did approve providing workers up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child, or for dealing with a serious illness of themselves or a close family member

AmeriCorps

Created by Clinton in 1993 to put people to work improving low-income housing, tutoring students in reading, or in cleaning up the environment

While in AmeriCorps, participants earn a small salary and scholarship money for continuing their education

Later expanded by President Bush, over 500,000 Americans have participated in the program to date

Crime & Gun Control Successes

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993): requires a federal background check before the purchase of a handgun; no handgun ownership for convicted felons, illegal aliens, the mentally ill, drug addicts, and domestic abusers

Clinton also won funding for building new prisons and for hiring over 100,000 more police officers

Newt Gingrich’s "Contract With America"

Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, a Republican, put forward a plan in 1994 calling for lower taxes, welfare reform, tougher anti-crime laws, term limits, and a balanced budget amendment, which resulted in Republicans winning control of Congress and Gingrich becoming Speaker of the House

Democratic president + Republican controlled Congress = legislative stalemate for two years

Balancing the Budget

Clinton allowed the federal government to shut down in 1995 rather than accept a Republican-backed budget which cut into social program spending

Eventually, Clinton's stand forced Republicans to compromise and the two sides produced a balanced budget bill that was acceptable to all parties

Welfare Reform Act (1996)

Limited welfare recipients to no more than 2 consecutive years on welfare and no more than 5 years total on welfare in their lifetime

Required those receiving welfarepayments to work

Gave tax breaks to any company hiring a person on welfare

The 1996 Election

Democrats nominated Clinton for a 2nd term

Republicans nominated the elderly Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas

Billionaire H. Ross Perot ran once again as an independent candidate

Clinton won, but in a fairly close race

A Budget Surplus

As the economy recovered, so did tax collections, leading to a federal budget surplus – the government actually took in more in taxes than it spent from 1997 to 2002 and began to reduce the federal deficit

Clinton's Children’s Programs

New laws banned tobacco advertising aimed at children or teenagers

The Children’s Health Insurance Program: provides health insurance for children whose families cannot afford it

Created policies which expanded federal loans for college tuition

Gained expanded funding for Head Start early-childhood education programs

Clinton's Many Scandals

Travelgate: a scandal over the questionable dismissal of White House Travel Office staff so that Clinton campaign supporters could be hired to replace them

Troopergate: a scandal over Clinton’s inappropriate use of Arkansas state troopers to cover-up his extramarital affairs while he served as Governor of Arkansas

Whitewater: a scandal over Clinton’s alleged arranging of illegal loans to a real estate developer while serving as Governor of Arkansas

The Monica Lewinsky Scandal

In 1998, Clinton was accused of having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky

When questioned under oath, Clinton at firstlied about the relationship, but after physical evidence of the affair surfaced, he admitted to the affair and apologized to the American public

In December 1998, however, Clinton became only the second president to be impeached when the House of Representatives voted to charge him with perjury (lying under oath) and obstruction of justice related to the Lewinsky scandal

In February 1999, Clinton was acquitted (found not guilty) of all charges by the Senate in a narrow vote

A Failed Peace-Keeping Mission in Somalia

The Battle of Mogadishu: Oct. 3-4, 1993

US forces on a UN-approved peace-keeping mission in the lawless nation of Somalia were ambushed while attempting to rescue the crews of two US military helicopters which had been shot down

19 Americans were killed and 73 more wounded (Popularized in the movie Black Hawk Down)

After the battle, US forces left Somalia

A Successful Peace-Keeping Mission in Haiti

After a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Haiti, the UN put a trade embargo in place

To end the violence in Haiti, Clinton ordered US troops to invade and restore order, but Haiti’s new rulers were convinced to step down by former US President Carter before the invasion took place

US troops still took up position in Haiti for many weeks to ensure a peaceful transition in power

Bloodshed in the Former Yugoslavia

After the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the former country of Yugoslavia disintegrated into numerous smaller, ethnic-based states

Bosnia

A civil war between Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croatians, and Bosnian Muslims broke out between 1991 and 1995

US-led NATO forces were used to end the fighting and to enforce the 1996 Dayton Accords peace plan, but did little to settle the old ethnic hatreds

Kosovo

Civil war broke out again in 1998, this time between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo

Once again, US-led NATO forces were used to bring an end to the fighting and to enforce a peace plan

Middle Eastern Peace?

Clinton orchestrated an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), who had been categorized as a terrorist organization, in which the two sides agreed to peacefully negotiate over Palestinian rights in Israel

Unfortunately, no lasting peace agreement has ever been struck

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), 1994

Canada, Mexico, and the US joined into a North American “free trade zone” after agreeing to remove all tariffs and other trade barriers between the three countries

The agreement increased US trade with its neighbors, but shifted many American manufacturing jobs to Mexico while the US transitioned to a service and technology based economy

The European Union (EU), formed in 1993

New organization created to promote economic and political cooperation amongst European states

Member states (except Great Britain)share a common currency (the Euro)

The creation of the EU weakened US political and economic influence in Europe, as EU members began to trade more openly with each other and cut back on US imports

The Kyoto Protocol

International environmental conference, first held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997

38 nations plus the EU agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the US never approved the plan and finally pulled out of the talks completely in 2001

The Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995)

Terror attack carried out by American Timothy McVeigh, an anti-government militiaman

McVeigh detonated a homemade fertilizer-based truck-bomb in front of a federal office building, killing 168, many of whom were children in a ground-floor daycare

McVeigh was later executed by the federal government for the attack

Foreign Terror Attacks

The World Trade Center bombing: Feb. 26, 1993, Islamic terrorists detonated a truck bomb under the World Trade Center in New York City in an attempt to bring down the North Tower; the blast killed 6 and injured over 1000 but did no significant structural damage to the building

US Embassy bombings: US embassies in the African nations of Kenya and Tanzania were attacked by terror bombers in Aug. 1998; the attacks killed many African bystanders, but did little damage to the embassies

The USS Cole: An American warship was attacked in October 2000 by an al Qaeda suicide bomber, killing 17 sailors and nearly sinking the ship

The Election of 2000

Democrats nominated Clinton's Vice-President Al Gore

Republicans nominated Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of former president George H.W. Bush

Environmentalist and reformer Ralph Nader ran as an independent

A Controversial Outcome

In one of the closest elections in US history, Bush won by only 6 electoral votes, thanks largely to his victory in the state of Florida (a state whose governor happened to be his brother, Jeb Bush)

The votes in Florida were so close that a recount was called, but due to problems with the ballots, recounting was difficult and required interpreting voters' intentions

Bush v Gore

When Bush was declared the winner in Florida, Gore sued in federal court for a recount

The US Supreme Court was forced to rule on the validity of the election results and found that a hand recount of ballots, requiring interpretation of voter intent, was unfair, thereby allowing the election results to stand and making George W. Bush President of the United States