1. Bill Clinton
1993-2001

2. Biography
• William Jefferson Blythe III
born in Hope, Arkansas
• Father died before he was born
• In 1950 his mother re-married,
Roger Clinton, & the family
moved to Hot Springs,
Arkansas
• While in high school he was an
avid reader, student leader, &
musician (saxophone)
• Went to White House & met JFK
in ‟63

3. Biography
• Went to Georgetown U.
• Interned for Arkansas Senator during summer of ‟67
• Won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford
• Participated in Vietnam protests while there
• Used his influence w/ a Senator to avoid being drafted
• Legal, but criticized by opponents
• Next, went to Yale Law School in „73
• Met Hillary in a Yale library
• Married in ‟73
• Law professor at U. of Arkansas in ‟74
• Ran for H.O.R. in „74, but lost
• Elected Attorney General of Arkansas in „76

4. Biography
• Elected governor of
Arkansas in ‟78
• Served as governor „78-
80 & „82-‟92
• Youngest governor in
the country, only 32 y.o.
• The “Boy Governor”
• “New Democrat”
• Education reform was
top priority
• Also focused on
economic growth & job
creation

6. First Term
• Jan. 1993, inaugural
address
• Feb. 1993, announced plan
to raise taxes & fix deficit
• Aug. 1993, law that cut
taxes for low-income
families & small
businesses, & raised taxes
on wealthiest 1% of
taxpayers
• Sept. 1993, speech to
Congress aimed at
universal coverage w/ a
nat‟l health care plan
• Plan was defeated

7. First Term
• Nov. 1993,
Whitewater Scandal
emerges
• Clinton, while
Governor, forced
others into illegal loans
while making land
deals
• Clinton was never
charged
• Dec. 1993, Clinton
implements “Don‟t
Ask, Don‟t Tell”
• Repealed in 2011
• Compromise after
attempt to allow gays
to openly serve in
military was shot down

8. First Term
• Oct. 1994, launches 1st
White House website
• Nov. 1994, Democrats
lost control of Congress
in mid-term elections
• Sept. 1996, Clinton
signs Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA)
• Marriage=one man &
one woman
• Despite DOMA,
Clinton viewed as 1st
President to champion
gay rights
• Sept. 1996, passed bill
aimed at curbing illegal
immigration

9. Election of 1996
• Opponents:
• Bob Dole, Republican,
Senator from Kansas
• Ross Perot, Reform
Party, Businessman
from Texas
• Televised debates
featured only Dole &
Clinton, not Perot
• Dole was 73 y.o.,
seemed old & frail at
times
• Reference to “Brooklyn”
Dodgers, Dodgers left
Brooklyn in 1957
• Clinton maintained lead
in polls throughout

10. Election of 1996

11. 2nd Term
• Oct. 1997, Clinton
announces he will get
hearing aids
• Balanced Budget Act of
1997 greatly reduces
spending
• 1998, House votes to
impeach Clinton
• Perjury & obstruction of
justice—related to
Monica Lewinsky
• 2nd Pres. to be impeached

12. 2nd Term
• Clinton was acquitted on all charges
• Votes were mostly along party lines; 2/3 need to convict
• Trial lasted 21 days; ended on Feb. 12, 1999

13. Foreign Policy
• Somalia, 1993—Battle of Mogadishu, 18 American soldiers
killed—U.S. forces withdrawn
• Bosnia, 1995—U.S./NATO aircraft attack Bosnian Serb targets
• Deployed peacekeepers to Bosnia in „95
• Hoped to capture Osama Bin Laden
• Al-Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in E. Africa in „98
• Clinton ordered missile strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan
& Sudan
• NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in „99
• Ethnic cleansing/genocide
• Four-day bombing campaign against Saddam Hussein/Iraq in
„98

15. Etc.
• Appeared on Arsenio Hall & MTV
• Admitted to smoking pot
• Toni Morrison, “the first Black President”
• Played the saxophone
• Loved McDonald‟s
• “Bubba”
• Several sexual accusations
• Jones, Flowers, Lewinsky

16. Legacy????
• The good…. • The bad…