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.
4. 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
5. 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.
7. 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
8. 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• Repealed in 2011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
9. 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
10. 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
12. 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
13. 2nd Term
• Clinton was acquitted on all charges
• Votes were mostly along party lines; 2/3 need to convict
• Only 50 for obstruction & 45 for perjury
• Senate had 55 Republicans
• Trial lasted 21 days; ended on Feb. 12, 1999
14. 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.
16. 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
