Bill Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Some key facts about his life and presidency include: He grew up in Arkansas and became a Rhodes Scholar before earning a law degree from Yale. As President, he focused on education reform, economic growth, and universal healthcare, though his plan was defeated. Clinton was impeached in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice related to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, but he was acquitted by the Senate. In foreign policy, he ordered missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan in response to embassy bombings and oversaw NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia.

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• Repealed in 2011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…