Much of Clinton's presidency was overshadowed by numerous scandals, including the Kenneth Starr-led Whitewater investigation. Originally dealing with a failed land deal years earlier, Starr's investigation eventually expanded to include the suicide of his friend Vince Foster, an alleged sexual encounter with a woman named Paula Jones[?] (who later admitted to taking money from conservative political groups, but received a settlement from Clinton), "Troopergate"- in which an Arkansas State Trooper claimed to have arranged sexual encounters for then Governor Clinton (claims the State Trooper later recanted among admissions he had taken money from the conservative tabloid "American Spectator[?]") and his sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky. Starr's successor, Robert Ray, declined to prosecute the Clintons on all the charges.
Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998 by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice, becoming the first elected U.S. President to be impeached (and the second since Andrew Johnson). The Senate, however, in a trial that started on January 7, 1999, voted not to convict Clinton of the charges on February 12, allowing Clinton to stay in office for the remainder of his second term. The impeachment cited abuse of powers and for perjury -- lying under oath to a grand jury regarding matters related to his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky (uncovered by an investigation into the unrelated Whitewater scandal).
The perjury charge was defeated with 55 "not guilty" votes and 45 "guilty" votes. On the obstruction of justice article, the chamber was evenly split, 50-50. A two-thirds majority, 67 votes, is necessary to convict the President on impeachment charges.
Clinton was charged with lying under oath about his affair with Lewinsky to gain advantage in a sexual harassment case brought by Paula Jones, a case he later settled paying Paula Jones $850,000. A Federal judge found Clinton also found to be in contempt of court for lying in a deposition and ordered him to pay a $90,000 fine. This contempt citation led to disbarment proceedings similar to Richard Nixon's. To avoid these Clinton surrendered his law license.
Clinton gave 140 pardons[?] his last day of office. Although it is common for Presidents to grant a number of pardons before leaving office, as the details of Clinton's pardon's unfolded (some given to campaign contributors, one to a cocaine trafficker, and one to fugitive Marc Rich[?]) he was subject to severe and lingering criticism.
Clinton presided over the period of longest steady growth of the economy in modern American history. However, his active role in this development is debatable. Moreover, when the stockmarket crashed in 2000, much of this growth was destroyed; it had been largely based on rising stockmarket valuations, not genuine productive capacity.
Clinton is seen as having led — in conjuction with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) — the Democratic Party clearly to the right. During the 1990s, the Party largely abandoned its traditional base of support (unions, the working class, minorities) in pursuit of a center-right position, responding — and funded by — corporate contributors. The current quandary of the Democrats is primarily due to its inability to define itself viz a viz the Republican Party and off a clear alternative. Clinton was able to surmount this problem through sheer personal charisma, but his successors have been less successful.
Healthcare Reform - appointed a committee headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton to come up with a universal health care plan. Complexity, poor design, and resistance from the insurance and the medical establishment resulted in lack of support and it failed to get a single vote.
April 19, 1993 - government siege on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas results in the death of 80 people - Republicans blame Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, rather than cult leader David Koresh
July 20, 1993 - Clinton friend and confidant Vince Foster commits suicide during the height of the Whitewater investigation
October 3, 1993 - Battle of Mogadishu - Ranger Units receive heavy casualies in Somalia. Military disgruntled because it was denied the hardware it thought essential to the operation.
January 14 - Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords[?] which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles to targets and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in the Ukraine.
November 14, 1995 - Budget negotiations between Congress and the President break down, resulting in temporary shutdown of U.S. Federal Government. Shutdowns (partial and full) continue through January, 1996.
December, 1995 - Clinton visits Ireland, leading to the establishment of an International Commission, chaired by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell[?]
October 5, 2000 - The defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in earlier elections leads to mass demonstrations in Belgrade and ultimate collapse of the regime's authority. Opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica[?] took office as Yugoslav president on October 6.
of the same opinion (that Miss Vane isn't her equal), she looks so
tell.html">tell.html">tell.html">tell her that this is right.html">right down bad for Lady So-and-so, it seems as
Lady So-and-so is "extremely nice.html">nice." I don't believe she is nice at
Miss Vane that at Bangor we think.html">think.html">think such ideas vulgar; but then she
her, though she IS so sweet. If she isn't angry with the people who
brother.html">brother.html">brother too, for she is evidently very much afraid of him, and this
everything of her brother, and thinks it natural that she should be
enormously tall and strong, and has very big fists), but morally and
and she makes me realise what I have often heard--that if you are
when I tell him, as I often think it right to do, that his sister is
perhaps in some respects his superior, and that if my brother, in
not spiritenough to see the question in its true light, there would
outrage to the sanctity of womanhood--when I tell him all this, at
plates clatter on the table.
But at such a time as this there is always one person who seems
next to me at dinner.html">dinner, and whom I must tell you more about another
appreciates a great many of my remarks, and after dinner, in the
to think a little, sometimes, to know what I did say, or what I do
fond of discussing things as William Platt is. He is splendidly
was an "intellectual broom." Well, if he is, he sweeps clean; I told
a speck of dust left in my mind anywhere. It's a most delightful
over here to observe. But I have told you enough for to-day. I
that it sometimes seems as if I shouldn't need all the time I have
it sometimes makes me envy you. The fall weather here is very dull
.
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