Transcript Document

President Bill Clinton
U.S. HISTORY
MS. ERAQI
The Clinton
Administration
Essential
Question:
How should
historians judge
the impact,
effectiveness,
and legacy of
the Clinton
administration?
Clinton’s Early Years
 Bill Clinton meets
President John F.
Kennedy as a 16 year-old
delegate of Boy’s Nation
on June 6, 1963
Education
 Georgetown
University, Oxford
University, Yale Law
School
 Early interest in
politics
 Attorney general of
Arkansas at 30 years of
age
 Nation’s youngest
governor at 32 years of
age (Arkansas)
Bill Clinton runs for
Student Council
President at Georgetown
University
Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at
Yale Law School, January 1972
Bill Clinton taking the Oath of Office as the
Governor of Arkansas on January 9, 1979
1992 Presidential Election
Democratic nomination for the
presidency in 1992

Pushed for middle-class tax
cuts and a national health-care
system
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Relied on his wife, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, a top lawyer
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Clinton presented himself as
the protector of the middle
class.

Clinton won 370 electoral
votes to Bush’s 168, although
Clinton won less than 50
percent of the popular vote.
1992 Presidential Debate: Video Clip
Clinton 1992 Campaign Ad
1992 Election Results
Clinton’s Domestic Issues
Budget Deficit
 Campaigned on promise to reduce
taxes for the middle class
 However, Clinton raised taxes.
 Critics complained that the tax
increase would hurt the economy
but this did not happen.
Health Care
 Health care costs were rising and
tens of millions of Americans had
little or no health insurance.
 Hillary Clinton headed a special
task force which proposed a
government-sponsored program of
health care.
 The plan was defeated after months
of debate.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist administers the oath of office to President William Jefferson
Clinton on January 20, 1993. Daughter Chelsea and wife Hilary Rodham Clinton stand by his
side. In his Inaugural Address as the nation’s 42nd president, Clinton invited his fellow citizens
to “celebrate the mystery of the American renewal” and to help him “revitalize our democracy.”
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A “New Democrat” in the White House
11
 Despite being an excellent persuader, Clinton got off to a rocky
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start.
Clinton unsuccessfully promoted a plan for national health
insurance.
This led to Republican control of the House and Senate
after the 1994 elections.
Led by Newt Gingrich, a new breed of younger conservative
Republicans swept the Congressional elections of 1994.
Republicans promoted a “Contract with America” to cut
welfare and eliminate affirmative action.
Failure to compromise on a budget in 1995 shut the government
down and proved a public relations disaster for the GOP.
Clinton undercut Republicans by adopting many of their positions
to his own.
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After the 1994 midterm election gave Republicans control of the House of
Representatives for the first time in forty years, the new Speaker, Newt Gingrich of
Georgia, presented a list of legislative initiatives to be completed within the first one
hundred days of the new session. On April 7, 1995, he appeared at a rally on Capitol
Hill to celebrate the success of the Republicans’ “Contract with America.”
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Other Domestic Challenges
Terrorism
 Terrorists exploded
a bomb in
Oklahoma City that
killed 168 people.
 Timothy
McVeigh
and Terry Nichols
were convicted of
the crime.
Timothy McVeigh
The bombing of the federal
building in Oklahoma City on
April 19, 1995 killed168 and
injured approximately 700.
Re-election
 In 1996 Clinton
defeated Bob Dole of
Kansas.
 The only Democrat to
win reelection to a 2nd
term of office as
president since FDR
Foreign Policy Challenges
Oslo Accords
 2nd U.S. Attempts
 Clinton hosted the
signing of a peace
agreement between
Israel and the
Palestinians.
 Agreed to self-rule for
Palestinians in return
for the Palestinians
recognizing Israel’s
right to exist
 Never fully realized
Foreign Policy Challenges
Somalia
Bush sent troops to help
the UN distribute food to
victims of the civil war.
 UN forces also worked to
end the fighting.
 After a number of
Americans died, Clinton
withdrew the remaining
soldiers.
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
Stopped U.S. from sending
help to Rwanda.
U.S. Army Military Police stop and search vehicles for weapons and explosives at this
checkpoint near Vitina, Kosovo in Yugoslavia, 1999. They were part of the NATO led
international force sent to attack Serbian forces in Kosovo.
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Foreign Policy Challenges
Haiti
 Clinton pledged the
use of American
troops to lead a UN
mission to remove a
military dictator.
 The
presence of UN
forces helped bring
about a generally
peaceful change in
government.
Foreign Policy Challenges
Former Yugoslavia
Violence raged between
the new countries formed
from the breakup of
Yugoslavia.
 Clinton helped broker the
Dayton Accords to end
fighting in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
 He urged NATO to act
against Serbia.
 The Serb army was
forcing ethnic Albanians
from the Serbian region of
Kosovo.
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High Crimes and Misdemeanors
22
 Throughout his political career, Bill Clinton
faced questions of morality.
 In 1998, a sex scandal embroiled the White
House, leading to impeachment inquiries. The
midterm election resulted in Democratic gains,
due in part to the economic prosperity.
 The Republican House voted to impeach
Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice
but failed to convict him.
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What events led to scandal and impeachment
proceedings during the Clinton presidency?
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Whitewater real estate deal
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Kenneth Starr led an investigation
into a failed real estate investment the
Clintons were involved in during the
1970s.
Paula Jones sexual harassment
case

Jones sued Clinton for sexual
harassment while he was governor of
Arkansas and she was a state
employee.
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Information emerged suggesting that
Clinton had an improper relationship
with a White House intern, Monica
Lewinsky.
Monica Lewinsky case
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Clinton accused of lying under oath
about Monica Lewinsky.
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House approved two articles of
impeachment but the Senate did not
have the two-thirds majority
necessary to convict Clinton.
Lesson 2
24
NEW IMMIGRATION
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The New Immigrants and Their
Communities
21
 The 2000 census showed that the U.S,
population had experienced greater growth than
any other decade.
 More than one-third of the population increase
came from foreign immigration, the Latino and
Asian populations increasing by 70 percent.
 Most Mexican immigrants struggled in lowpaying, often dangerous jobs.
 Immigrants formed their own communities and
maintained their group identity.
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FIGURE 31.1
Continent of
Birth for
Immigrants,
1990–2000 By
2000, the
number of
foreign-born
residents and
their children—
56 million
according to the
Census
Bureau—had
reached the
highest level in
U.S. history.
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The sign at this 1996 vigil in Echo Park, Los Angeles, reads, “This fruit is the product of
immigrants’ labor.” Members of the city’s Latino community bless fruit baskets as they protest
a state crackdown on illegal immigration and the increase of the border patrol guards.
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The “Globalization” President
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 Now that the Cold War had ended, Clinton sought to
replace containment with humanitarianism.
 Transnational human rights emerged as another issue.

Human rights became factors in trade and diplomatic relations (i.e.China).
 Clinton pushed through a series of trade agreements
(NAFTA and GATT), which raised fears that jobs were
being sent abroad
 The UN humanitarian mission to Somalia was a failure.
 Heightened ethnic nationalism and religious
fundamentalism created unrest across the globe, especially
in the Balkans.
 The civil war in Kosovo between the Serbians and
Albanians was the worst foreign crisis of Clinton’s
presidency.
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WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
Clinton’s Domestic Issues Cont.
 Worked to Develop
NAFTA (North American
Free Trade Agreement)
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to eliminate barriers to trade and
investment between the US, Canada
and Mexico
At $248.2 billion for Canada and
$163.3 billion for Mexico, they were
the top two purchasers of US exports
in 2010
At $276.4 billion for Canada and
$229.7 billion for Mexico, they were
the second and third largest
suppliers of goods imports to the
United States in 2010
Global Warming
33
 Climate change was a controversial issue that
required international solutions.
 The United States did not sign the Kyoto
Protocol on global warming that had been signed
by 169 other nations.
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GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTALISM
V.P. AL GORE
More than 5,000 activists gathered in Seattle in November 1999 to demonstrate against the
meeting of the World Trade Organization. The event, which was marked by a violent clash
with police and the arrest of dozens of protestors, marked the beginning of a movement for
global economic justice.
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Lesson 3
39
TECHNOLOGY &
GLOBALIZATION
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Silicon Valley
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 Silicon Valley in northern California emerged as the
capital of the American computer industry.
 Although Silicon Valley resembled a suburb, it was a
sprawl of two dozen cities that expanded rapidly as the
computer industry grew.
 Silicon Valley divided along class lines:
 the white male managers and engineers lived in affluent
communities.
 non-unionized, Latino, and Asian workers lived in poor
communities.
 By the early 1990s, the Silicon Valley had lost its
boomtown atmosphere as competition increased.
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An Electronic Culture
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 New computer and telecommunications technologies
transformed American cultural life.
 VCRs and cable TV revolutionized the American
entertainment industry.
 The most revolutionary aspect of the electronic
culture was the Internet.
 The new information technologies gave rise to a
media community that transcended national
boundaries.
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Other Domestic Challenges
Internet

The internet emerged as a
major means of communication
and commerce.
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People were concerned about
inappropriate material on the
Internet.
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The White House tried to pass a
law to limit sexually explicit
material, but the Supreme
Court ruled that it violated the
right to freedom of speech.