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Bill Clinton overcame a difficult childhood, political comebacks, heart surgery.

Feb. 11, 2010 — -- Bill Clinton dubbed himself "the comeback kid," and he proved it over and over by overcoming a difficult childhood, political setbacks and heart bypass surgery.

He remained popular personally even though his career was tainted by scandal.

Before being taken to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital with chest discomfort, he had been working overtime as the U.N. special envoy to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there on Jan. 12, 2010.

Following are some of the key dates in Clinton's life:

Early Life

Aug. 19, 1946 -- Clinton is born William Jefferson Blythe IV in Hope, Ark., after his father dies in a traffic accident. He later takes the last name of his stepfather, Roger Clinton.

July 24, 1963 -- As a high school student and delegate to the American Legion Boys Nation, Clinton meets President John F. Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden and is photographed shaking Kennedy's hand.

1968 -- Wins a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in England.

1968 -- Earns bachelor's degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

1973 -- Earns a law degree from Yale University. Takes teaching job at University of Arkansas Law School.

Enters Politics

1974 -- Clinton loses an Arkansas congressional race to incumbent Republican Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt.

Oct. 11, 1975 -- Marries Hillary Rodham in Fayetteville, Ark.

1976 -- Elected attorney general of Arkansas.

Nov. 7, 1978 -- Elected governor of Arkansas, defeating Republican Lynn Lowe.

Feb. 27, 1980 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton gives birth to the couple's only child, Chelsea.

Nov. 4, 1980 -- Loses re-election bid as Arkansas governor. Takes job at private law firm.

Nov. 2, 1982 -- Re-elected governor of Arkansas, defeating Republican Gov. Frank D. White in rematch of 1980 race.

Presidential Ambitions

Oct. 3, 1991 -- Amid his fifth term as governor of Arkansas, Clinton declares he's running for president.

Feb. 18, 1992 -- After damage from scandals including accusations of draft dodging during the Vietnam War and claims of an extramarital affair, Clinton finishes second in the New Hampshire Democratic primary and declares, "New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid."

June 2, 1992 -- Wraps up the Democratic nomination for president.

July 16, 1992 -- Clinton officially becomes the party's candidate for president at the Democratic National Convention in New York. Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., is his running mate.

Nov. 3, 1992 -- Garners 43 percent of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes to defeat President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot. Democrats maintain their majority in both houses of Congress.

President Clinton

Jan. 20, 1993 -- Clinton is sworn in as the 42nd president of the United States.

Jan. 22, 1993 -- Signs orders overturning Reagan- and Bush-era restrictions on abortions.

Feb. 5, 1993 -- Signs his first law, the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows workers at large companies to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to attend to family concerns.

April 19, 1993 -- Attorney General Janet Reno authorizes a federal raid to end a standoff at the compound of a Waco, Texas, cult, resulting in a fire and dozens of deaths.

July 19, 1993 -- After disputes over whether to allow homosexuals to serve in the military, Clinton proposes a "don't ask, don't tell" compromise with military leaders. The policy allows homosexuals to serve in the military if they do not reveal their homosexuality and refrain from homosexual conduct.

July 20, 1993 -- White House attorney Vince Foster is found dead.

Aug. 10, 1993 -- Clinton signs first federal budget -- which calls for reducing spending and increasing taxes to reduce the deficit -- after it narrowly gained Congressional approval.

Aug. 10, 1993 -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in to replace Justice Byron White, becoming the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sept. 13, 1993 -- Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization sign peace accord at the White House outlining limited Palestinian self-rule in Israeli-occupied territories.

Sept. 21, 1993 -- Signs legislation establishing the AmeriCorps program, which allows people to volunteer for national service and earn money for college.

Oct. 3, 1993 -- Eighteen U.S. soldiers, part of a peacekeeping and humanitarian force sent to Somalia by President Bush, are killed after coming under fire.

Nov. 30, 1993 -- Clinton signs the Brady Bill, imposing a waiting period and background checks for purchasing handguns.

Dec 8, 1993 -- Signs the North American Free Trade Agreement, which reduces tariffs and other trade barriers between North American nations.

Under Investigation

Jan. 20, 1994 -- Reno names Robert Fiske as independent counsel to investigate questions surrounding the Clintons' real-estate investment in the Whitewater Development Corporation.

March 1994 -- Withdraws U.S. troops from Somalia.

May 6, 1994 -- Paula Jones files a civil lawsuit, later dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge, alleging Clinton made sexual advances toward her in 1991, while he was governor of Arkansas.

July 25, 1994 -- At the White House, leaders of Israel and Jordan sign an agreement ending a longstanding state of war between the two nations.

July 29, 1994 -- Orders 200 U.S. troops to civil war-torn Rwanda to support humanitarian relief efforts.

Aug. 3, 1994 -- Stephen Breyer sworn in to replace Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sept. 13, 1994 -- Signs bill banning assault weapons, and funding police hiring and state anti-crime efforts.

Sept. 26, 1994 -- Clinton's universal health care initiative, which was led by Hillary Rodham Clinton, fails in Congress.

Oct. 10, 1994 -- Facing a threat from U.S. military forces, Haitian military leader Raoul Cedras yields power to democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Oct. 21, 1994 -- North Korea agrees to shut down nuclear plants that could produce bomb material in exchange for U.S. help in setting up alternate power supplies.

October 1994 -- Withdraws troops from Rwanda.

Nov. 8, 1994 -- Republicans gain majorities in both houses of Congress in mid-term elections.

Dec. 8, 1994 -- Signs global trade agreement that creates the World Trade Organization.

Road to Re-Election

April 19, 1995 -- Bombing at federal building in Oklahoma City kills 168.

Aug. 5, 1995 -- United States and Vietnam establish diplomatic relations.

Nov. 21, 1995 -- Administration holds peace talks between warring parties in Bosnia, yielding the Dayton peace accord.

Dec. 16, 1995 -- The federal government shuts down amid spending and budget disputes between the White House and Congress.

Feb. 8, 1996 -- Clinton signs telecommunications deregulation bill.

April 26, 1996 -- Following second government shutdown, Clinton and Congress finally agree on a compromise federal budget.

Aug. 6, 1996 -- Signs amendments strengthening the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Aug. 22, 1996 -- Signs welfare reform bill over the objections of some Democrats. The bill limits lifetime welfare benefits to five years and gives more control to states.

Aug. 28, 1996 -- Officially named the presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Sept. 3, 1996 -- United States launches missiles at Iraq in retaliation for the country's moves against its Kurdish minority.

Nov. 5, 1996 -- Re-elected president with 49 percent of the popular vote and 379 electoral votes, defeating Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.

Re-Elected, Then Rebuked

Jan. 20, 1997 -- Clinton sworn in to second term.

Aug. 5, 1997 -- After compromise with Republicans, signs tax-relief plan reducing estate and capital gains taxes, increasing cigarette taxes, establishing tax credits for children and college tuition, and creating Roth IRAs.

Jan. 16, 1998 -- Kenneth Starr, who replaced Fiske as independent counsel in August 1994, receives permission from Reno to expand his investigation to include a probe of Clinton's alleged sexual affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Jan. 17, 1998 -- Denies sexual relationship with Lewinsky in deposition for Jones lawsuit.

Jan. 26, 1998 -- Publicly repeats denials of Lewinsky allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

April 1, 1998 -- U.S. District Court judge dismisses Jones' lawsuit. She later drops an appeal of the dismissal, agreeing to a financial settlement.

Aug. 7, 1998 -- Terrorists bomb U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing hundreds and injuring thousands.

Aug. 17, 1998 -- Testifies via closed-circuit television from the White House before the federal Whitewater grand jury, becoming the first president to testify before a grand jury in his own defense.

Aug. 20, 1998 -- Orders retaliatory missile attacks in response to the embassy bombings. The attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan are said to target Osama bin Laden's terror network, which is suspected of launching the embassy attacks.

Sept. 9, 1998 -- Starr delivers to Congress an explicit report detailing the findings of his years-long investigation into Clinton's alleged wrongdoing.

Oct. 23, 1998 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reach agreement at Clinton-organized talks in Maryland that Israel will transfer more West Bank territory into Palestinian control in exchange for Palestinian efforts to curb terrorism. However, violence later increases and Israel refuses to transfer the territory.

Oct. 28, 1998 -- Announces a $70 billion budget surplus -- the first federal surplus since 1969.

Dec. 16, 1998 -- Clinton becomes the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

Economic Success, Outside Controversies

Feb. 12, 1999 -- The Senate finds Clinton not guilty on the House's impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

March 24, 1999 -- NATO forces, including those from the United States, start bombing Serb military targets in Kosovo.

June 10, 1999 -- Negotiators reach international peace plan for Kosovo. NATO suspends bombing campaign.

Oct. 13, 1999 -- U.S. Senate refuses to ratify the Clinton-signed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would have forbid nuclear weapons testing.

Sept. 2, 1999 -- The Clintons purchase a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., north of New York City.

Feb. 4, 2000 -- Announces the U.S. economy has set a record for its longest uninterrupted economic expansion.

April 22, 2000 -- Federal agents seize Elian Gonzalez, a 6-year-old Cuban refugee boy, in a raid on the Miami home of his relatives. Officials eventually return Gonzalez to his father's custody in Cuba, angering many U.S.-based Cubans.

July 13, 2000 -- United States and Vietnam normalize trade relations.

Oct. 10, 2000 -- Clinton signs bill to grant permanent normal trade relations with China.

Oct. 12, 2000 -- Terrorists attack the USS Cole in a Yemeni port, blowing a hole in the side of the ship and killing 17 sailors.

Nov. 7, 2000 -- Hillary Clinton is elected to represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. Turmoil involving the vote in Florida leaves presidential race between Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush unresolved, though Bush eventually emerges as the winner.

Nov. 17, 2000 -- Clinton arrives for the first official state visit to Vietnam by a U.S. president.

Jan. 20, 2001 -- On his last day in office, Clinton grants pardons to dozens of people, including Marc Rich, a commodities trader living in Switzerland to avoid prosecution on numerous charges.

Elder Statesman

April 2001 -- After controversy over the public expense of proposed office space in downtown New York City, Clinton instead opts for less-expensive office space in the Harlem neighborhood.

June 9, 2003 -- Hillary Clinton's memoirs, "Living History," are published.

June 22, 2004 -- Clinton's memoirs, "My Life," are published.

Sept. 6, 2004 -- Undergoes heart bypass surgery in New York City.

Fall 2004 -- Clinton stumps for unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Nov. 18, 2004 -- Dedication and opening of William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Ark.

December 2004 -- Teams with former President George H.W. Bush to lead the U.S. response to the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

May 3, 2005 -- Joins forces with a fellow former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, a Republican, and the American Heart Association to launch a campaign against childhood obesity.

Dec. 27, 2005 -- Clinton and President George H.W. Bush are named ABC News' people of the year for their relief efforts on behalf of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

February 2006 -- Tours India as part of his efforts to fight world AIDS.

Jan. 26, 2008 -- Sparks controversy by explaining Barack Obama's success in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary against his wife, Hillary Clinton, by citing an earlier African-American candidate's record there: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."

July-August 2008 -- Tours African nations with daughter Chelsea Clinton to observe humanitarian work by the Clinton Foundation.

May 19, 2009 -- Appointed the United Nations special envoy to Haiti.

Aug. 4, 2009 -- Returns from a surprise trip to North Korea after securing the release of jailed U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

Jan. 12, 2010 -- Major earthquake strikes Haiti, to which Clinton is the U.N. special envoy.

Jan. 16, 2010 -- President Obama officially enlists former presidents Clinton and George W. Bush to lead an ongoing American effort to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake four days before. Clinton soon visits Haiti for a firsthand look at the destruction.

Feb. 5, 2010 -- Pays a second visit to Haiti after being asked by the U.N. secretary-general to coordinate all international earthquake assistance to the beleaguered island nation.

Feb. 11, 2010 -- Has two stents placed in his coronary artery at the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Feb. 11, 2010 — -- Bill Clinton dubbed himself "the comeback kid," and he proved it over and over by overcoming a difficult childhood, political setbacks and heart bypass surgery.

He remained popular personally even though his career was tainted by scandal.

Before being taken to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital with chest discomfort, he had been working overtime as the U.N. special envoy to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there on Jan. 12, 2010.

Following are some of the key dates in Clinton's life:

Early Life

Aug. 19, 1946 -- Clinton is born William Jefferson Blythe IV in Hope, Ark., after his father dies in a traffic accident. He later takes the last name of his stepfather, Roger Clinton.

July 24, 1963 -- As a high school student and delegate to the American Legion Boys Nation, Clinton meets President John F. Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden and is photographed shaking Kennedy's hand.

1968 -- Wins a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in England.

1968 -- Earns bachelor's degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

1973 -- Earns a law degree from Yale University. Takes teaching job at University of Arkansas Law School.

Enters Politics

1974 -- Clinton loses an Arkansas congressional race to incumbent Republican Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt.

Oct. 11, 1975 -- Marries Hillary Rodham in Fayetteville, Ark.

1976 -- Elected attorney general of Arkansas.

Nov. 7, 1978 -- Elected governor of Arkansas, defeating Republican Lynn Lowe.

Feb. 27, 1980 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton gives birth to the couple's only child, Chelsea.

Nov. 4, 1980 -- Loses re-election bid as Arkansas governor. Takes job at private law firm.

Nov. 2, 1982 -- Re-elected governor of Arkansas, defeating Republican Gov. Frank D. White in rematch of 1980 race.

Presidential Ambitions

Oct. 3, 1991 -- Amid his fifth term as governor of Arkansas, Clinton declares he's running for president.

Feb. 18, 1992 -- After damage from scandals including accusations of draft dodging during the Vietnam War and claims of an extramarital affair, Clinton finishes second in the New Hampshire Democratic primary and declares, "New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid."

June 2, 1992 -- Wraps up the Democratic nomination for president.

July 16, 1992 -- Clinton officially becomes the party's candidate for president at the Democratic National Convention in New York. Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., is his running mate.

Nov. 3, 1992 -- Garners 43 percent of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes to defeat President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot. Democrats maintain their majority in both houses of Congress.

President Clinton

Jan. 20, 1993 -- Clinton is sworn in as the 42nd president of the United States.

Jan. 22, 1993 -- Signs orders overturning Reagan- and Bush-era restrictions on abortions.

Feb. 5, 1993 -- Signs his first law, the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows workers at large companies to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to attend to family concerns.

April 19, 1993 -- Attorney General Janet Reno authorizes a federal raid to end a standoff at the compound of a Waco, Texas, cult, resulting in a fire and dozens of deaths.

July 19, 1993 -- After disputes over whether to allow homosexuals to serve in the military, Clinton proposes a "don't ask, don't tell" compromise with military leaders. The policy allows homosexuals to serve in the military if they do not reveal their homosexuality and refrain from homosexual conduct.

July 20, 1993 -- White House attorney Vince Foster is found dead.

Aug. 10, 1993 -- Clinton signs first federal budget -- which calls for reducing spending and increasing taxes to reduce the deficit -- after it narrowly gained Congressional approval.

Aug. 10, 1993 -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in to replace Justice Byron White, becoming the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sept. 13, 1993 -- Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization sign peace accord at the White House outlining limited Palestinian self-rule in Israeli-occupied territories.

Sept. 21, 1993 -- Signs legislation establishing the AmeriCorps program, which allows people to volunteer for national service and earn money for college.

Oct. 3, 1993 -- Eighteen U.S. soldiers, part of a peacekeeping and humanitarian force sent to Somalia by President Bush, are killed after coming under fire.

Nov. 30, 1993 -- Clinton signs the Brady Bill, imposing a waiting period and background checks for purchasing handguns.

Dec 8, 1993 -- Signs the North American Free Trade Agreement, which reduces tariffs and other trade barriers between North American nations.

Under Investigation

Jan. 20, 1994 -- Reno names Robert Fiske as independent counsel to investigate questions surrounding the Clintons' real-estate investment in the Whitewater Development Corporation.

March 1994 -- Withdraws U.S. troops from Somalia.

May 6, 1994 -- Paula Jones files a civil lawsuit, later dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge, alleging Clinton made sexual advances toward her in 1991, while he was governor of Arkansas.

July 25, 1994 -- At the White House, leaders of Israel and Jordan sign an agreement ending a longstanding state of war between the two nations.

July 29, 1994 -- Orders 200 U.S. troops to civil war-torn Rwanda to support humanitarian relief efforts.

Aug. 3, 1994 -- Stephen Breyer sworn in to replace Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sept. 13, 1994 -- Signs bill banning assault weapons, and funding police hiring and state anti-crime efforts.

Sept. 26, 1994 -- Clinton's universal health care initiative, which was led by Hillary Rodham Clinton, fails in Congress.

Oct. 10, 1994 -- Facing a threat from U.S. military forces, Haitian military leader Raoul Cedras yields power to democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Oct. 21, 1994 -- North Korea agrees to shut down nuclear plants that could produce bomb material in exchange for U.S. help in setting up alternate power supplies.

October 1994 -- Withdraws troops from Rwanda.

Nov. 8, 1994 -- Republicans gain majorities in both houses of Congress in mid-term elections.

Dec. 8, 1994 -- Signs global trade agreement that creates the World Trade Organization.

Road to Re-Election

April 19, 1995 -- Bombing at federal building in Oklahoma City kills 168.

Aug. 5, 1995 -- United States and Vietnam establish diplomatic relations.

Nov. 21, 1995 -- Administration holds peace talks between warring parties in Bosnia, yielding the Dayton peace accord.

Dec. 16, 1995 -- The federal government shuts down amid spending and budget disputes between the White House and Congress.

Feb. 8, 1996 -- Clinton signs telecommunications deregulation bill.

April 26, 1996 -- Following second government shutdown, Clinton and Congress finally agree on a compromise federal budget.

Aug. 6, 1996 -- Signs amendments strengthening the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Aug. 22, 1996 -- Signs welfare reform bill over the objections of some Democrats. The bill limits lifetime welfare benefits to five years and gives more control to states.

Aug. 28, 1996 -- Officially named the presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Sept. 3, 1996 -- United States launches missiles at Iraq in retaliation for the country's moves against its Kurdish minority.

Nov. 5, 1996 -- Re-elected president with 49 percent of the popular vote and 379 electoral votes, defeating Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.

Re-Elected, Then Rebuked

Jan. 20, 1997 -- Clinton sworn in to second term.

Aug. 5, 1997 -- After compromise with Republicans, signs tax-relief plan reducing estate and capital gains taxes, increasing cigarette taxes, establishing tax credits for children and college tuition, and creating Roth IRAs.

Jan. 16, 1998 -- Kenneth Starr, who replaced Fiske as independent counsel in August 1994, receives permission from Reno to expand his investigation to include a probe of Clinton's alleged sexual affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Jan. 17, 1998 -- Denies sexual relationship with Lewinsky in deposition for Jones lawsuit.

Jan. 26, 1998 -- Publicly repeats denials of Lewinsky allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

April 1, 1998 -- U.S. District Court judge dismisses Jones' lawsuit. She later drops an appeal of the dismissal, agreeing to a financial settlement.

Aug. 7, 1998 -- Terrorists bomb U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing hundreds and injuring thousands.

Aug. 17, 1998 -- Testifies via closed-circuit television from the White House before the federal Whitewater grand jury, becoming the first president to testify before a grand jury in his own defense.

Aug. 20, 1998 -- Orders retaliatory missile attacks in response to the embassy bombings. The attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan are said to target Osama bin Laden's terror network, which is suspected of launching the embassy attacks.

Sept. 9, 1998 -- Starr delivers to Congress an explicit report detailing the findings of his years-long investigation into Clinton's alleged wrongdoing.

Oct. 23, 1998 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reach agreement at Clinton-organized talks in Maryland that Israel will transfer more West Bank territory into Palestinian control in exchange for Palestinian efforts to curb terrorism. However, violence later increases and Israel refuses to transfer the territory.

Oct. 28, 1998 -- Announces a $70 billion budget surplus -- the first federal surplus since 1969.

Dec. 16, 1998 -- Clinton becomes the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

Economic Success, Outside Controversies

Feb. 12, 1999 -- The Senate finds Clinton not guilty on the House's impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

March 24, 1999 -- NATO forces, including those from the United States, start bombing Serb military targets in Kosovo.

June 10, 1999 -- Negotiators reach international peace plan for Kosovo. NATO suspends bombing campaign.

Oct. 13, 1999 -- U.S. Senate refuses to ratify the Clinton-signed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would have forbid nuclear weapons testing.

Sept. 2, 1999 -- The Clintons purchase a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., north of New York City.

Feb. 4, 2000 -- Announces the U.S. economy has set a record for its longest uninterrupted economic expansion.

April 22, 2000 -- Federal agents seize Elian Gonzalez, a 6-year-old Cuban refugee boy, in a raid on the Miami home of his relatives. Officials eventually return Gonzalez to his father's custody in Cuba, angering many U.S.-based Cubans.

July 13, 2000 -- United States and Vietnam normalize trade relations.

Oct. 10, 2000 -- Clinton signs bill to grant permanent normal trade relations with China.

Oct. 12, 2000 -- Terrorists attack the USS Cole in a Yemeni port, blowing a hole in the side of the ship and killing 17 sailors.

Nov. 7, 2000 -- Hillary Clinton is elected to represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. Turmoil involving the vote in Florida leaves presidential race between Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush unresolved, though Bush eventually emerges as the winner.

Nov. 17, 2000 -- Clinton arrives for the first official state visit to Vietnam by a U.S. president.

Jan. 20, 2001 -- On his last day in office, Clinton grants pardons to dozens of people, including Marc Rich, a commodities trader living in Switzerland to avoid prosecution on numerous charges.

Elder Statesman

April 2001 -- After controversy over the public expense of proposed office space in downtown New York City, Clinton instead opts for less-expensive office space in the Harlem neighborhood.

June 9, 2003 -- Hillary Clinton's memoirs, "Living History," are published.

June 22, 2004 -- Clinton's memoirs, "My Life," are published.

Sept. 6, 2004 -- Undergoes heart bypass surgery in New York City.

Fall 2004 -- Clinton stumps for unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Nov. 18, 2004 -- Dedication and opening of William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Ark.

December 2004 -- Teams with former President George H.W. Bush to lead the U.S. response to the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

May 3, 2005 -- Joins forces with a fellow former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, a Republican, and the American Heart Association to launch a campaign against childhood obesity.

Dec. 27, 2005 -- Clinton and President George H.W. Bush are named ABC News' people of the year for their relief efforts on behalf of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

February 2006 -- Tours India as part of his efforts to fight world AIDS.

Jan. 26, 2008 -- Sparks controversy by explaining Barack Obama's success in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary against his wife, Hillary Clinton, by citing an earlier African-American candidate's record there: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."

July-August 2008 -- Tours African nations with daughter Chelsea Clinton to observe humanitarian work by the Clinton Foundation.

May 19, 2009 -- Appointed the United Nations special envoy to Haiti.

Aug. 4, 2009 -- Returns from a surprise trip to North Korea after securing the release of jailed U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

Jan. 12, 2010 -- Major earthquake strikes Haiti, to which Clinton is the U.N. special envoy.

Jan. 16, 2010 -- President Obama officially enlists former presidents Clinton and George W. Bush to lead an ongoing American effort to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake four days before. Clinton soon visits Haiti for a firsthand look at the destruction.

Feb. 5, 2010 -- Pays a second visit to Haiti after being asked by the U.N. secretary-general to coordinate all international earthquake assistance to the beleaguered island nation.

Feb. 11, 2010 -- Has two stents placed in his coronary artery at the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Timeline: President Bill Clinton Through the Years

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Bill Clinton dubbed himself "the comeback kid," and he proved it over and over -- overcoming a difficult childhood, numerous political comebacks, his recovery from heart bypass surgery and by the resiliency of his personal popularity despite often being tarred by scandal.

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Printable Version

In 1992, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeated George Bush and Texas businessman Ross Perot to become the first Democratic president in 12 years. The campaign was a bitter, three-way contest marked by intense assaults on the candidates' records and character.

President George Bush, whose popularity had soared to 90 percent after the Persian Gulf War, only received 38 percent of the vote--largely as a result of a stagnating economy. Clinton obtained 43 percent of the vote, while Perot received 19 percent.

The youngest person elected to the presidency since John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton had served nearly 12 years as governor of Arkansas before entering the White House. A self-described "New Democrat," Clinton promised a new approach to government between the unfettered free market championed by the Republicans and the welfare state economics that the Democratic Party had represented in the past.

As president, Clinton committed his administration to ending 12 years of "legislative gridlock" and "social neglect." During his first two years in office, he had a string of legislative successes. To reduce the federal budget deficit, he persuaded Congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on gasoline and to cut government spending. To create jobs, he persuaded the Senate to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), eliminating tariff barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. He also completed negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), reducing global trading barriers. To aid working parents, he signed parental leave legislation, allowing parents to take unpaid leave during family emergencies. To combat violent crime, he convinced Congress to enact a waiting period for handgun purchases and to impose a ban on the sale of assault weapons.

But two of his proposals alienated many voters. In the face of vocal opposition, President Clinton backed away from a promise to let gays serve in the military and instead instituted a compromise policy of "don't-ask, don't-tell." This policy satisfied no one. Meanwhile, the centerpiece of his legislative agenda--a program of universal health care coverage--had to be withdrawn. His plan to guarantee lifelong healthcare to Americans through local networks of insurers, hospitals, and doctors was criticized for its complexity and for excessive government involvement in the healthcare system.

Clinton also suffered from allegations of financial and sexual misconduct before he became president. One controversy stemmed from investments he and his wife had made in the Whitewater Development Corporation, an Arkansas real estate development firm. Another concerned charges of sexual harassment made by a former Arkansas government employee. Clinton eventually settled the sexual misconduct lawsuit for $850,000 and was ordered by a judge to pay an additional $90,000 for lying under oath.

In the mid-term elections of 1994, Republicans won control of both houses of Congress. Campaigning on a ten-point "Contract With America," Congressional Republicans called for welfare reform; term limits for political office holders; a moratorium on environmental, health, and safety regulations; and a Constitutional Amendment requiring a balanced budget.

Public support for President Clinton rebounded, however, after the Congressional Republicans temporarily shut down the federal government in an effort to force budget cuts and tax reductions. Public support further deepened after anti-government extremists blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people--including 19 children--and injuring 624.

When he ran for office, Bill Clinton promised to cut the federal deficit in half, create millions of new jobs, and "end welfare as we know it." During his presidency, he achieved many of his goals. Over Republican opposition in Congress, the Clinton administration raised the minimum wages and the Earned Income Tax Credit (which provides financial assistance to the working poor). His administration also started "AmeriCorp," a national service program; gave workers up to 12 weeks unpaid leaves to deal with family emergencies; and blocked efforts to restrict abortions. Working with Congressional Republicans, the administration reduced the size of the government workforce, expanded international trade, and eliminated the federal budget deficit. Clinton and the Congressional Republicans also ended the 60-year-old welfare system. The welfare reform measures limited the time that people could spend on welfare rolls and required welfare recipients to work or receive training.

The low-point in Clinton's presidency began when he was accused of encouraging a 24-year-old White House intern to lie to lawyers in a sexual harassment lawsuit about whether she had an affair with the president. For seven months, the president denied that he had an inappropriate relationship with the intern, but ultimately, acknowledged the relationship and admitted that he had misled the American people about it.

In December 1998, the House Judiciary Committee, voting along straight party lines, approved four articles of impeachment. The articles asserted that Clinton had committed perjury, obstructed justice, and abused his power. Later that month, the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment, making Clinton only the second American president to face an impeachment trial in the Senate. On the article charging the President with committing perjury before a grand jury, Senators voted 45 guilty and 55 not guilty. On the charge of obstruction of justice, 50 Senators voted guilty and 50 not guilty. A two-thirds vote was required for conviction and removal from office.

While a majority of the American people told pollsters that they did not approve of President Clinton's behavior, they continued to support his policies, in part, because of his success in handling the economy.

Copyright 2019 Digital History

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Printable Version In 1992, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeated George Bush and Texas businessman Ross Perot to become the first Democratic president in 12 years. The campaign was a bitter, three-way contest marked by intense assaults on the candidates' records and character.

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The Clinton Years, or the 1990s: Crash Course US History #45

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Bill Clinton came into office with relatively little experience in foreign affairs. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the uncertainties of the post-Cold War world produced a number of foreign policy crises which challenged Clinton's abilities as a statesman.

Missteps in Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti

Weeks before Clinton took office, outgoing-President George H. W. Bush had sent American troops into Somalia, a country located in eastern Africa. What started out as a humanitarian mission to combat famine grew into a bloody military struggle, with the bodies of dead American soldiers dragged through the streets of the Somalian capital of Mogadishu in October 1993. Public support for the American mission waned, and Clinton announced a full withdrawal of U.S. forces, which took place in March 1994; United Nations (UN) peacekeeping troops remained in the country until the spring of 1995. The intervention ultimately accomplished little in Somalia: warlords remained in control, and no functioning government was restored in the country after the United States and the United Nations left. The failure of American troops to be properly equipped for the mission led ultimately to the resignation of Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and created the impression of a President ill-prepared for foreign affairs.

In April 1994, a vast killing spree broke out in Rwanda, a nation located in central Africa. An estimated 800,000 Tutsi and their defenders were murdered in a government-sponsored genocide. With the failure in Somalia still very much in the minds of American policymakers, neither the United States nor the United Nations moved aggressively to stop the slaughter. Both Clinton and the world community were criticized for not acting quickly and decisively to stop the violent deaths of Rwandans. In 1998, the Clintons embarked on an extensive six-nation tour of Africa, during which the President stopped briefly in Rwanda to meet with survivors of the civil war and to issue an apology for actions not taken.In Haiti, following Clinton's failed October 1993 attempt to oust Hatian strong man Raoul Cédras, former President Jimmy Carter stepped in to negotiate with the brutal military dictator for his removal from power. Cédras had overthrown the Caribbean nation's democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in a 1991 coup. Accompanied by retired General Colin Powell and Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA), Carter communicated Clinton's threat to invade unless the generals of the junta relinquished power. With American planes in the air, the generals buckled and agreed to leave. United State forces were sent in to make certain that the agreement was enforced, but they were eventually withdrawn. The democratic institutions of this impoverished nation remain fragile and endangered.

Doctrine of Enlargement and Policy Successes

Notwithstanding these early difficulties, Clinton knew that the success of his presidency required a cohesive foreign policy. Trained as a student at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, Clinton eventually focused on the creation of a new approach to international affairs, a policy his advisers called the "doctrine of enlargement." This doctrine, based on the idea of expanding the community of market democracies around the world, embraced free trade, multilateral peacekeeping efforts and international alliances, and a commitment to intervene in world crisis situations when practical (i.e., with little risk and low cost in U.S. lives) and morally defensible. The policy promoted an activist role for America and was designed to extend and protect basic human and civil rights insofar as it was within the power of the United States to successfully achieve those goals without undermining national security or depleting national resources. In Clinton's mind, the United States must continue its role as the principal leader of the world in promoting human dignity and democracy, with the understanding that it must never act in isolation or overextend its reach.

The Clinton administration achieved some notable accomplishments in foreign affairs. Russia was successfully persuaded to withdraw troops from the Baltic Republics of Estonia and Latvia in 1994. It also pushed through Congress two new massive trade agreements: NAFTA in 1993 and a revision of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994. Administration initiatives also staved off an impending economic collapse of Mexico in 1995 and helped produce remedies in similar crises with Asian markets two years hence. Furthermore, an administration emissary, former senator George Mitchell, brokered peace negotiations between the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Sinn Fein ("Ourselves Alone"). In the Middle East, the administration facilitated negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. While these talks seemed to offer hope of a potential settlement, they broke off amid mutual recriminations and were soon followed by a renewed and more lethal round of fighting between Palestinians and Israelis.

Ethnic Wars in Europe

Major international challenges also came from the numerous civil and ethnic conflicts in the Balkans. After two years of keeping U.S. involvement in the conflict to a minimum, Clinton was eventually moved by Serbian atrocities against Bosnian civilians. The administration pushed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to begin bombing Bosnian Serb positions. Eventually, that use of force, in tandem with diplomatic efforts led by Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Richard Holbrooke, brought the three warring parties-Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims-to the bargaining table. The resulting Dayton Peace Accords ended the fighting. Clinton sent a peacekeeping force of 20,000 American troops (part of a larger NATO deployment) into the region to enforce a cease-fire that was to be followed by free elections in September 1996. American and NATO troops enforced an uneasy settlement that stabilized war-torn Bosnia with no American casualties.

In 1999, Clinton moved with NATO to begin a massive bombing campaign against the Serbian government to end its "ethnic cleansing" of Albanians in the Kosovo region. Specially trained forces from the Serb Interior Ministry, along with paramilitary forces that had been active in Bosnia years before, had created hundreds of thousands of refugees through the application of this policy; Serb forces also murdered thousands of ethnic Albanians. But the bombing worked and, with the help of Russian diplomacy, forced the Serbian government to withdraw from the region. With no American battle casualties during the fighting, U.S. troops joined British, French, and other NATO forces to occupy Kosovo as peacekeepers under an agreement worked out with Yugoslavia. The province remained nominally part of Yugoslavia, but the Kosovars had gained autonomy, and the possibility of eventual independence. Clinton's forceful stand in Bosnia and Kosovo enhanced his foreign policy resume.

Dealings with the Former Soviet Union

The former Soviet Union and its East European client states constituted yet another challenge for the Clinton administration. The President lobbied successfully for the inclusion of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), indicating to Russia that neither nuclear weapons nor large numbers of troops would be placed in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, some Russians regarded expansion as an aggressive step by NATO and the United States. Clinton also supported the besieged leadership of Russian president Boris Yeltsin as well as the funneling of billions of dollars in loans to Russia from the International Monetary Fund.In 1999, Clinton's support for financial aid to Russia came under attack in the face of mounting evidence that much of the borrowed money may have been stolen by an organized criminal syndicate which included members of Yeltsin's own family. However, supporters of Clinton's pro-Yeltsin policies credit his administration with an important achievement not easily measured in dollars or in the short run: the security of the Russian nuclear arsenal. Working through the provisions of the Nunn-Lugar Act, the administration provided extensive technical assistance and funding to the former Soviet states in the safeguarding of nuclear power plants and dismantling of nuclear weapons-an astounding achievement in view of the animosity that once existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. By the end of the Clinton presidency, the likelihood of a nuclear exchange between the superpowers was almost nonexistent.

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Bill Clinton: Foreign Affairs | Miller Center

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Bill Clinton came into office with relatively little experience in foreign affairs. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the uncertainties of the post-Cold War world produced a number of foreign policy crises which challenged Clinton's abilities as a statesman. Missteps in Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti Weeks before Clinton took office, outgoing-President George H.

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Clinton's Foreign Policy

In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected America's 42nd president. Clinton intended to focus on domestic policy and did not intend to deviate much from existing foreign policy, except where it could improve the American economy. For example, President Clinton hoped to increase the number of free market democracies in the world, sometimes referred to as the 'policy of enlargement,' and advocated for open trade, including the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO). But it seemed like, time and again, Bill Clinton kept finding himself and the nation mixed up in military actions around the globe.

Middle East

Clinton's predecessor, President George H. W. Bush, drove invading Iraqi troops out of Kuwait during the First Gulf War. Under President Clinton, the U.S. became the main enforcer for United Nations directives against Iraq, including economic sanctions, military no-fly zones, and weapons inspection teams. But Saddam Hussein persistently interfered and obstructed these goals, resulting in a series of U.S.-led missile strikes in retaliation.

When Saddam Hussein expelled the U.N. inspectors in 1998, President Clinton was convinced that he was rebuilding weapons of mass destruction that he had used in the past. Operation Desert Fox was a four-day bombing raid, targeting existing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and the factories used to make them.

Also in the Middle East, Clinton tried to broker peace for Israel. In 1993, he welcomed Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the White House to shake hands and sign the Oslo Accords. But citizens on both sides felt they had made too many concessions, and two years later, the Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated by a dissatisfied countryman. Before long, the entire agreement had broken down and the violence was as bad as ever.

Haiti

Back in September 1991, a military coup in Haiti overthrew that nation's first democratically-elected president. President Bush had supported a series of economic sanctions against that regime, a policy which Clinton continued. But by 1993, Clinton was trying to pressure the rebels to relinquish power. When diplomacy failed, Clinton planned an invasion.

As 25,000 troops and two aircraft carriers embarked for Haiti in October '94, the military government capitulated. President Aristide's original government was restored for the time being. Throughout this process, the Clinton administration also continued President Bush's policy of returning Haitian refugees.

Africa

The Clinton administration also inherited a situation in Africa. President Bush had dispatched American troops to Somalia to distribute food to millions of people starving as a result of civil war. The soldiers had been prepared for a humanitarian mission, but the situation quickly escalated.

Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, 18 soldiers were killed, dozens wounded, and the bodies of the dead desecrated in the streets. Clinton increased American troop presence, attempting to keep peace and track down a warlord responsible for the chaos. But in the face of significant political opposition, Clinton finally withdrew all U.S. forces in March 1994.

This unsuccessful intervention was the backdrop for the administration's hesitation to act in Rwanda, where a bloody civil war broke out the following month. Over a three-month period in the spring of 1994, the majority Hutu tribe massacred 800,000 minority Tutsis and their supporters. Several years later, Clinton remarked that his refusal to intervene was among his biggest regrets as president.

The Balkans

The administration also hesitated to act in the Balkans. In 1991, the former Yugoslavia broke into five nations and the region disintegrated into violence. But as the situation in Bosnia escalated to genocide, Clinton orchestrated a NATO bombing campaign in 1995 to bring the factions to the negotiating table.

The Dayton Peace Accords outlined a fragile peace, and 20,000 U.S. peacekeeping troops tried to uphold it. But by 1998, there was fresh conflict in the region. A new bombing campaign, lasting 77 days, forced Serbia's leader, Slobodan Milosevic, to capitulate, ending the violence.

Terrorism

President Clinton also faced a persistent increase in terrorist attacks, both at home and abroad. In February 1993, a car bomb under the World Trade Center killed four people and injured thousands. During the ensuing investigation, the FBI uncovered a larger plan to bomb several more New York landmarks, including the United Nations.

Eventually, the attack was traced back to foreign-funded Muslim terrorists, but the Clinton administration dealt with the plot as a criminal act and pursued suspects through the judicial system. Likewise, two car bombs targeting U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia in '95 and '96, which killed hundreds, and a deadly attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, prompted no military action.

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bill clinton's foreign policy: the middle east

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african & northern ireland - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Bill Clinton's Foreign Policy: the Middle East, Haiti, African & Northern Ireland - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected America's 42nd president. Clinton intended to focus on domestic policy and did not intend to deviate much from existing foreign policy, except where it could improve the American economy.

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Bill Clinton began his transition into the presidency promising to focus "like a laser beam" on the economic needs of the nation: unemployment, the runaway deficit, the health care crisis, and welfare reform. On all fronts but one, health care reform, he succeeded significantly but not completely.

Fulfilling Campaign Promises

By the end of his first year, Clinton had battled Congress to secure adoption of an economic package that combined tax increases (which fell mainly on the upper class) and spending cuts (which hurt mainly impoverished Americans). His 1993 economic package passed without a single Republican vote in either chamber of Congress, and despite that party's dire predictions that it would result in economic chaos. This economic policy lowered the deficit from $290 billion in 1992 to $203 billion by 1994. By 1999, surging tax revenues from a booming economy had generated a surplus of $124 billion-a development few would have thought possible in 1992. Surpluses amounting to $1.5 trillion were then projected for the first decade of the 21st century. Equally important were the pace of economic growth and low inflation. Combined with historically low interest and unemployment rates, these factors positioned the American economy as the world's strongest and most robust.

On some other issues, like passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which cleared Congress in 1993, Clinton essentially endorsed Republican programs and benefited from Republican support. On others, like welfare reform, the Republican-controlled Congress accepted Clinton's lead in publicizing the issues, but dominated the writing of legislation creating the actual programs. In the summer of 1996, Congress passed a sweeping reform bill, fulfilling Clinton's 1992 campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it." The legislation replaced the long standing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with a system of block grants to individual states. It also dropped the eligibility of legal immigrants for welfare assistance during the first five years of their residency. Clinton also won an increase in the minimum wage to $5.15 per hour. At the same time, the President blocked Republican attempts to bar public education to children of illegal immigrants.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton had also vowed to end the exclusion of homosexuals from military service. A federal court ruling just days after Clinton's election moved that controversial topic onto the public agenda, where it was difficult for the President to set it aside until a more convenient time. A political fight ensued with conservative members of Congress and the leadership of the armed forces. Clinton compromised by agreeing to delay a decision on gays in the military for six months. He ultimately proposed a policy of "don't ask, don't tell," meaning that the military services would not ask about the sexual orientation of service personnel and that these personnel, in turn, would not be required to divulge this information. The compromise seemed to satisfy few people. Liberals and gays felt betrayed by the President, and conservatives overrode the administration's executive directive by writing a more restrictive policy into law in a defense authorization bill. But the controversy knocked the administration off balance politically at the very outset of the first term.

Clinton also looked weak and out of his depth when he withdrew the names of two female nominees for attorney general because they had legal problems with hired immigrant household help. The President's image problem took another hit when he retracted the nomination of Lani Guinier, an African-American law professor and old personal friend, to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Guinier's nomination was jeopardized when critics attacked her legal writings about representation as too radical.

Cabinet and Staff Appointments

During his campaign in 1992, Clinton had promised to form a cabinet "that looked like America." Having lost two female candidates to early controversy, Clinton finally settled on Florida prosecutor Janet Reno for attorney general. Clinton went on to name three other women to cabinet positions: Donna E. Shalala, who had been chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as secretary of health and human services; Hazel O'Leary, an African-American woman, as secretary of energy; and Madeleine K. Albright as secretary of state (she had previously served as Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations).

The President also put women in several other important posts. His campaign media manager Dee Dee Myers was appointed press secretary and California economist Laura D'Andrea Tyson became chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Florida environmental official Carol Browner-also Al Gore's one-time legislative assistant-was named to the top slot in the Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, an African-American who was serving as the Arkansas health director, became U.S. surgeon general. And when Supreme Court justice Byron White retired in 1993, Clinton named Ruth Bader Ginsburg as his replacement; Ginsburg was a federal appeals court judge who had taught at Columbia Law School and pioneered the litigation of cases involving sex discrimination.

Clinton also named several African-American males to leading posts in the administration. He tapped Democratic national chairman Ronald H. Brown as secretary of commerce; former Mississippi congressman Mike Espy as secretary of agriculture; Jesse Brown, a disabled Marine veteran, who ran the Disabled American Veterans office in Washington, as secretary of veterans affairs; and Clifton Wharton, Jr., chairman of TIAA-CREF, as deputy secretary of state. Latinos were also appointed in more substantial numbers than in previous administrations, with former San Antonio, Texas, mayor Henry G. Cisneros as secretary of housing and urban development and Federico Pena as secretary of transportation.

Health Care Reform

Along with the political scandals that plagued his presidency, Clinton failed to realize a major goal of his administration: affordable health care insurance for every American. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a universal health care system, and Clinton felt passionately about the fact that 60 million Americans did not have adequate health insurance. In addition, health-care costs had skyrocketed since the 1970s, consuming, according to some estimates, one seventh of the nation's goods and services-a greater proportion than that of any other industrialized country in the world. Winning a national health package would have provided Clinton with a lasting historical legacy, much as Franklin D. Roosevelt had achieved with Social Security. In the minds of some, Clinton's health care program-if realized-would have constituted the most important piece of social legislation in American history.

The consequences of health care reform were enormous. If Clinton could control health-care costs, he could remove a major drag on the economy. From a political standpoint, universal health care would link the middle-class and the working-class to the Democratic Party for at least another generation. Republicans understood the implications of such a victory and were, with rare exceptions, united in their determination to deny Clinton on this issue. Many Americans, while wanting health insurance, worried, too, that national health insurance was socialistic, a step that would deny Americans the right to see a doctor of their choice while placing physicians in the service of a government bureaucracy.

To push through a health-reform bill in his first hundred days in office, Clinton named his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, head of a task force to develop the program, and Ira Magaziner as its director. Hillary Clinton, a hard-driving, forceful, and committed feminist with a distinguished legal career, was Clinton's closest political confidant-his true partner in his political career. The President appointed her to head the task force, which would be administered by Magaziner, because he knew that she cared deeply about the issue, and that "if anybody had a chance to do it, she had the best chance." Hillary had led a commission on education reform in Arkansas for her husband-to critical acclaim-and the President wanted her to do the same thing for health care nationally.

The appointment of Hillary was a serious mistake. It immediately placed the First Lady in a position of being a major policy and political power-an appointment that deviated significantly from precedent, allowing critics to attack her as well as the program. Moreover, her unique relationship with the President meant that other advisers reacted to her differently than they would to any other task-force head, not wanting to alienate the President's wife with difficult but well-intentioned criticism. Hillary also blundered in several important ways. Her decision to recruit a task-force network of experts to work in secret on complex issues-such as health-care premiums, managed competition, and health-care alliances-looked too much like policy by cabal and fiat. A federal court forced her to make records publicly available of some of the proceedings, after some in the health-care industry sued for open access. Most importantly, the process largely left Congress out of the picture as the task force drafted the particulars of the plan, thus reducing the plan's chances for legislative success; Clinton had wanted to present to Congress a finished package, which meant that key participants in the congressional lawmaking process were not involved in its drafting. Moreover, there was significant internal disagreement within the administration about the costs of the plan, its scope, and its political marketability.

Republican and Public Backlash

The final product was a massively complicated and sophisticated measure, completely beyond the reach of the average citizen to comprehend. Nearly 1,350 pages long, the proposal had taken much longer to produce than originally imagined. Some critics immediately complained that the President had misstepped in not going to the public with the broad outlines of the plan that then could have been worked through the congressional committee process. Although Clinton's September 1993 speech on national health care effectively dramatized the need for reform, Republican opponents lashed out at the plan's size, incomprehensibility, and threat to small business and individual choice. A consortium of health-insurance companies funded a series of sophisticated, negative TV ads featuring "Harry and Louise," a middle-class couple deeply worried about losing the quality health care they had come to expect as Americans.

The coordinated Republican attack was greatly assisted by the outbreak of the Whitewater investigation and the suicide of White House aid Vincent Foster-a distraction that put the Clinton administration on the defensive. No extreme seemed out of bounds in attacking the President and First Lady. Conservative talk-radio hosts ridiculed the President daily, suggesting that Foster's death might have resulted from his harboring dark White House secrets-or even that someone close to the President had murdered him.

Although Clinton had threatened to veto any health-care proposal that did not include universal coverage, no legislation ever got that far. By summer of 1994, health care reform was doomed; congressional leaders dropped consideration of it in August. Opinion polls revealed public support for the general principles of reforming the health-care system, but the approval number dropped enormously once Clinton's name was attached to such a proposal. The loss of health care reform was a devastating setback. In the minds of many political analysts, it was a botched opportunity of gigantic proportions.

Scandals and Impeachment

Throughout his time in office, Clinton was regularly besieged by political opponents, especially those on the far right-wing of the Republican Party. A combination of such attacks, and the Clintons' own missteps, made the President and First Lady the subjects of numerous special investigations.

Whitewater and Paula Jones

The earliest sustained attacks on Clinton were those that charged him with a cover-up of financial impropriety in his Arkansas investments prior to becoming President. The issue involved a failed savings-and-loan company operated by Clinton business associates James and Susan McDougal, who had engaged in questionable business dealings involving real estate on the Whitewater River in Arkansas. Once credible charges of impropriety were made, Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno, named a special counsel, Republican Robert B. Fiske, Jr., on her own authority, to investigate. Not long thereafter, President Clinton signed into law a statute reauthorizing the naming of independent counsels. A three-judge federal panel subsequently claimed that Fiske had a conflict of interest because the President's own attorney general had appointed him, and so it removed Fiske and replaced him with Kenneth W. Starr. Starr was a attorney and former federal judge who had also been retained by various conservative clients, including corporations such as tobacco firms that had actively opposed parts of the Clinton agenda.

Searching for evidence of crime and cover-up, Starr began an open-ended inquiry into every corner of Clinton's life, revisiting issues Fiske had considered settled in the President's favor (and ultimately reaching similar conclusions on those mattes as his predecessor.) No stone was left unturned, including an unprecedented subpoena of the First Lady to testify about lost billing records from the Rose law firm (in which she had been a partner in Arkansas) that mysteriously turned up in the residence area of the White House. Personal or business associates of the Clintons, past and present members of the President's political staff and administration, and just about anyone who might have knowledge of their private and public actions were subject to subpoena as witnesses to be questioned. Any criminal actions uncovered in the search for evidence against Clinton were subject to prosecution regardless of their links to Whitewater or to the President. Defenders of the President, and of the institution of the presidency, decried excesses in these investigations as detrimental to justice and to the fair functioning of the political process. Starr defended his actions as essential to getting at the truth of what the Clintons had done on a series of questionable legal and financial transactions.

Although the Clintons generally weathered the storm, they spent much of their time assembling their defense. Beyond the Whitewater affair, the President suffered a major setback on May 27, 1997, when the Supreme Court ruled 9 to 0 in Clinton v. Jones that the sexual harassment suit Paula Jones brought against the President could go forward while he was in office. The Court, reversing the closest precedent Nixon v, Fitzgerald, held that the President could easily defend himself without being overly distracted from his official duties. The Court was proved to be wrong in this assumption.

Lewinsky Affair and Impeachment

In January 1998, news broke that President Clinton had engaged in an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. This story was political dynamite, not just because it was a sex scandal, but also because it had dire legal implications. Kenneth Starr's vast investigations into the Whitewater land transaction had stalled, with several prospective witnesses being uncooperative. Starr thought the White House was involved in efforts to buy silence. When a disgruntled White House employee, Linda Tripp, approached Starr's investigators with evidence of the President's hidden relationship with Lewinsky, Starr believed he saw the pattern being repeated once again: Lewinsky was protecting Clinton because she was being bought off with promises of employment. Thus Starr expanded the investigations to include not just the President's financial affairs but also his sexual behavior. Starr's investigators questioned Clinton under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky. This testimony-and subsequent efforts by the White House to deal with Lewinsky-related evidence, which bore some signs of tampering-formed the basis for Starr's subsequent charge of illegal conduct by Clinton and were thus at the core of Clinton's impeachment. Starr was convinced that Clinton had lied in trying to cover up the affair, and that he had instructed others to obstruct justice by lying on his behalf. To many observers, impeachment or resignation seemed to be the only resolution.

The next seven months found the American public consumed by the Lewinsky affair, following every nuance of the investigation by Starr and debating the merits of the case. Nothing like this had so captured the attention of the American public since Watergate and Nixon's resignation from office. Startling revelations came out, including taped interviews in which Lewinsky described details of the affair as well as a dress that contained samples of the President's DNA. On August 17, 1998, following his testimony before a federal grand jury on the matter, Clinton acknowledged in a televised address to the nation his "inappropriate" conduct with Lewinsky and admitted that he had misled the nation and embarrassed his family. But he did not admit to having lied, having instructed anyone else to lie, or orchestrating a cover-up involving anyone else.

Starr then sent his report to the House of Representatives alleging that there were grounds for impeaching Clinton for lying under oath, obstruction of justice, abuse of powers, and other offenses. After a vitriolic series of televised House hearings and the release of thousands of documents-many in graphic detail-the House Judiciary Committee, on a strictly partisan vote, recommended that an impeachment inquiry commence. The House adopted two articles of impeachment, charging the President with perjury in his grand jury testimony and obstructing justice in his dealings with various potential witnesses.

The Senate, charged under the Constitution with judging the evidence, opened its trial in mid-January 1999. It became immediately clear that the Senate would not produce a two-thirds majority vote to convict Clinton and remove him from office. Those voting against impeachment argued that the President's actions constituted "low" and tawdry actions involving private matters, not "high crimes and misdemeanors" amounting to offenses against the state. Those voting against Clinton argued that even in private matters, a President who commits perjury and obstructs justice is subverting the rule of law, and that subversion becomes a "high crime." Clinton was acquitted on both counts on February 12, 1999. On the first, 45 Republican senators voted to convict while 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted for acquittal. On the second article of obstruction of justice, 50 Republicans voted for conviction while 45 Democrats and 5 Republicans voted for acquittal. Thus, the second President to have been impeached in U.S. history (Andrew Johnson was the first) remained in office, acquitted and with two years left in his second term.

Impeachment Fallout

In the process of pursuing an impeachment of the President, the Republicans had seriously overplayed their hand. An indication of what lay ahead came when the party actually lost five seats in the House while gaining no Senate seats in the November 1998 elections conducted just prior to the impeachment vote. Traditionally, the opposition party registers significant gains in the off-year elections of a President's second term, and so the Republican loss was virtually unprecedented.

As the impeachment process unfolded, Clinton's ratings in public opinion polls were at an all-time high, hovering at close to 70 percent. Most Americans gave Clinton low marks for character and honesty. But, they gave him high marks for performance and wanted him censured and condemned for his conduct, but not impeached and removed. Many viewed key Republican attackers as mean-spirited extremists willing to use a personal scandal for partisan goals. In the end, voters were happy with Clinton's handling of the White House, the economy, and most matters of public life. Hillary Clinton's public opinion poll ratings actually exceeded the President's, in large measure because of her dignified demeanor during those trying personal times, thus lifting her popularity to among the highest ever for a First Lady.

The Republican Revolution

By 1998, the Republican offensive that captured both houses of Congress in 1994 had run out of steam. Not only did the Republicans lose the presidential election of 1996 (see previous discussion) but they also lost public support by overplaying their hands in the impeachment of a popular President during times of prosperity. As a result, the nation settled for compromise or deadlock for the last two years of the Clinton presidency. During this period, the administration decided that it could best achieve some of its policy goals through executive order. For example, the President signed several proclamations in 2000 creating national monuments out of vast expanses of the American West. Of course, as they were to discover in subsequent years, anything done by executive order can also be undone that same way, if a succeeding President is so inclined.

In one remaining area of executive authority, the President sparked a final controversy. In the dwindling hours of his term, Clinton issued 140 presidential pardons, several of which drew heated criticism not just from the President's usual opponents, but also from some supporters. The most controversial was the pardon of international fugitive Marc Rich, whose ex-wife was a prominent Democratic fundraiser. Few questioned the President's authority to exercise this constitutional power, but many believed that the authority had not been wisely used in several cases. Clinton thus left office dogged by charges of scandal that had been a staple of his time in the White House.

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Bill Clinton: Domestic Affairs | Miller Center

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Bill Clinton began his transition into the presidency promising to focus "like a laser beam" on the economic needs of the nation: unemployment, the runaway deficit, the health care crisis, and welfare reform. On all fronts but one, health care reform, he succeeded significantly but not completely.

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U.S. 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION -TELOS AES

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U.S. 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION -TELOS AES | Piktochart Visual Editor

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1. 1. Bill Clinton 1993-2001

2. 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. 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. 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

5. 5. 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

6. 6. 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

7. 7. 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

8. 8. 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

9. 9. Election of 1996

10. 10. 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

11. 11. 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

12. 12. 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

13. 13. 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

14. 14. Legacy???? * The good.... * The bad...

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Published on 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.

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1. 1. Quick Write - April 21/20From April - July 1994, the Hutu-led military inRwanda killed about 800,000 Tutsis and Hutumoderates in the Rwandan genocide. According toclassified documents made available in March2004, President Bill Clinton and his administrationknew that Rwanda was being engulfed by genocidein April 1994 but chose not to get involved.Why would President Clinton choose not tointervene in Rwanda even though he hadintelligence reports of the "final solution toeliminate all Tutsis"?

2. 2. Political Rise of Bill Clinton16 year old Clinton attended the School of Foreign Serviceat Georgetown University inWashington, D.C., receiving a degree in1968, during which he ran for President of theStudent Council.Sixteen-year-old Bill Clintonshakes hands with President JohnF. Kennedy.

3. 3. Political Rise of Bill Clinton* Attorney general of Arkansas at 30 years of age* Nation's youngest governor at 32 years of age (Arkansas)* Chaired the National Governors Association in the late 1980s- Focused on improving education and reforming the welfaresystem

4. 4. Political Rise of Bill Clinton* Chaired the Democratic Leadership Council-an organizationof centrists* Sought the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1992- Pushed for middle-class tax cuts and a national health-caresystem- Relied on his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of thenation's top lawyers

5. 5. The 1992 ElectionClinton presented himself as theprotector of the middle class.Clinton's running mate was SenatorAl Gore of Tennessee.commercial

6. 6. Three way race betweenClinton, Republican PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush, and anindependent candidate, H. RossPerot.Clinton won 370 electoral votesto Bush's 168, although Clintonwon less than 50 percent of thepopular vote.Perot won 19 percent of thepopular vote.The 1992 Election

7. 7. Domestic Policy IssuesThe 1994 Election* Clinton failed to deliver on hiscampaign promises, such as taxcuts and a health care plan.* Discontent helped contribute toa major Republican victory inthe mid-term elections.* Republicans campaigned with adocument called the Contractwith America.* The Contract had a plan tobalance the budget, fightcrime, and provide tax cuts.* Republicans gained 54 seats inthe House and 8 seats in theSenate-this gave them controlof both houses.What to do about welfare?* The Contract with Americacalled for changes to thewelfare system.* Clinton proposed his ownwelfare-reform plan.* It limited the amount of timepeople could receive benefits.* It required most recipients tofind work within two years ofgetting benefits.* Congress approved this plan.

8. 8. What to do about health care?* Health care costs were risingand tens of millions ofAmericans had little or nohealth insurance.* Hillary Clinton headed a specialtask force which proposed agovernment-sponsoredprogram of health care.* The plan was defeated aftermonths of debate.Domestic Policy Issues

9. 9. Oslo Accords* Clinton hosted thesigning of a peaceagreementbetween Israeland thePalestinians.* Agreed to self-rule forPalestinians inreturn for thePalestiniansrecognizingIsrael's right toexist* Never fullyrealizedSomalia* Bush sent troops tohelp the UNdistribute food tovictims of the civilwar.* UN forces alsoworked to end thefighting.* After a number ofAmericansdied, Clintonwithdrew theremaining soldiers.* Stopped U.S. fromsending help toRwanda.Foreign Policy ChallengesHaiti* Clinton pledgedthe use ofAmerican troopsto lead a UNmission to removea military dictator.* The presence ofUN forces helpedbring about agenerally peacefulchange ingovernment.

10. 10. Former Yugoslavia* Violence raged between thenew countries formed fromthe breakup of Yugoslavia.* Clinton helped broker theDayton Accords to endfighting in Bosnia andHerzegovina.* He urged NATO to actagainst Serbia.* The Serb army was forcingethnic Albanians from theSerbian region of Kosovo.International Trade* Under NAFTA, the UnitedStates, Mexico, and Canadabecame a free-trade zone.* Clinton needed to wincongressional approval of theagreement.* Critics thought NAFTAwould cost American jobs.* Proponents believedincreasing trade would helpthe economy.* Clinton also helped create theWorld Trade Organization.Foreign Policy Challenges

11. 11. Scandal and Impeachment* Whitewater real estate deal- Kenneth Starr led an investigation into a failed real estateinvestment the Clintons were involved in during the 1970s.* Paula Jones sexual harassment case- Jones sued Clinton for sexual harassment while he wasgovernor of Arkansas and she was a state employee.- Information emerged suggesting that Clinton had animproper relationship with a White House intern, MonicaLewinsky.* Monica Lewinsky case- Clinton accused of lying under oath about MonicaLewinsky.- House approved two articles of impeachment but theSenate did not have the two-thirds majority necessary toconvict Clinton.

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Successfully reported this slideshow. Published on 1. Quick Write - April 21/20From April - July 1994, the Hutu-led military inRwanda killed about 800,000 Tutsis and Hutumoderates in the Rwandan genocide.