Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, is notorious for several aspects of his administration; some better known than others. Regardless of the indiscretions throughout his terms, he carried one of the highest national approval ratings, and reigned in a more peaceful time than any other president in U.S. History.
Early Life:
President Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas, as William Jefferson Blyth III, three months after the death of his father. His mother remarried, to a Roger Clinton, and Bill took the family name in highschool.
He excelled at music, especially the saxophone, and as a student. He, at one point, had dreams of being a professional musician, until a visit with President Kennedy inspired him to enter a life of politics. He graduated from Georgetown University, and received a law degree from Yale University. He entered politics from here, and eventually became Arkansas Governor in 1978. He served a second term as governor years later. He held this office until he and his running mate, Al Gore, defeated George Bush and Ross Perot in the Presidential race of 1992.
The Early Presidency:
Throughout his presidency, he signed and passed several different bills, including the Family and Medical Leave act of 1993, which required employers to allow employees to take leave from work because of pregnancy or serious medical condition.
The Clinton Administration also launched the first official White House Website in 1994. The website was a part of the Clinton Administration's goal to move toward web-based communication. He also sought to remake the Democratic party, by focusing on helping the middle class, creating jobs for welfare recipients, and shifting tax burden to the wealthy. He remained true, however to the core goals of the Democratic party, such as gun control, gay marriage, environmental issues, and domestic affairs.
Also, most notably, in 1993, Clinton supported NATO; it was ratified and signed into law January 1st, 1994.
All of the causes he pushed, however, were not successful, and he stumbled some in his first term, when congress rejected his complex health care bill, comparable to Obama's current health care plan. It wasn't solely his idea, though. His wife, Hillary, spearheaded the initiative. Though this was not passed, Clinton had several moments of strength throughout his first term. He refused to pass a controversial bill, pushed by the republicans, and though a government shut down loomed, he remained firm. No, he did not sign the bill, yet he was still able to take the United States' enormous debt, and for the first time, turned it into a surplus, an insurmountable task that hasn't even been thought of, as we now hold a debt of around 14 trillion dollars.
But, no Administration is without it's scandal, and what Clinton had in success, he matched in scandal.
Scandal:
Though Clinton accomplished so many things, he was not immune to faltering. One of his biggest blunders, would be his near impeachment from the presidency. He was charged of lying under oath, and having obscured justice to cover up his infamous affair with Monica Lewinsky.
As the relationship was found, between the president and his intern, impeachment rose in a republican-dominated House of Representatives. He was impeached by the house, but the vote to impeach him from the presidency did not carry. The idea of his impeachment grew from found-out real estate doings in Arkansas, where many Republican's pushed to bring about criminal charges . However, though These scandals are remembered with his name, but did not effect his performance as president, or his re-election.
Foreign Affairs:
Some of the most notable achievements for the Clinton Administration in foreign affairs is marked with his successful negotiations between the Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland, the end of a brutal dictatorship in Haiti, The end of Serbian attacks on Muslims in Bosnia. Certainly an impressive resume, if you ask me. It seems that his only big inability in foreign affairs was his failure to end the genocide in Rwanda, by not mobilizing the troops that they needed.
When we think of Bill Clinton, we likely recall his famous, " I did not have sexual relations with the woman," the suicide of the lead witnesses against him in the Whitewater scandal, his slow, drawling, voice; but when his name is said, we should think of the accomplishments in communication, foreign affairs, the economy, and continued guidance and wisdom in politics today. It is easy to think more of his wife, now Secretary of State, first, but it is Clinton who impacted policies, took the democratic party in another direction, and presided in one of the United States better periods of economic growth.
Cool Administration, Bro!
Sources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamjclinton#
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton
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