Scandals have been a part of life since the beginning of time. A scandal is an action or event that is deemed morally or legally wrong and causes worldwide public disapproval. There are private scandals, ones that no one knows about, and public scandals, ones that everyone knows about. One of the most famous public scandals of all time is the one involving William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill Clinton, and Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton wanted this scandal to be kept private. The president that was guiding, leading, and representing the United States of American from 1993 through 2001 was involved in one of the most appalling scandals in history while serving his time in office. A president is a figure that is in charge, is supposed to be looked up to, and is supposed to make moral and rational decisions. Mr. Clinton, after making the choices he did, does not fit that definition. This scandal has had an enormous impact on the United States by putting them into a position of immoral leadership.
The Bill Clinton scandal undermined the American public’s trust in government and politics. He undermined the trust that America had in government and politics by breaking his promise to have good moral conduct (“The Clinton Impeachment Trial” 1-2). After being elected in 1992 to serve as the President of the U.S, Clinton told the public that he would give “the most ethical administration in history” (“The Clinton Impeachment Trial” 1-2). Obviously, he broke this promise. He also planned to talk about how trust is a crucial part of running a country in his state of the union address, after he had gone behind American’s backs and breached their trust (Smith and Lowther 1-8). He went behind American’s backs by having inappropriat...
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...nation about sexual immorality and how wrong it is, which makes his relationship with Lewinsky confusing and damaging to the nation (“Sen. Joseph Lieberman Speaks on Clinton” 1-9).
The bad example that Clinton set weakened the control that parents had over the sexual behavior of their kids (Posener 1-10). Clinton made it seem as if the kind of behavior he put forth is acceptable (“Sen. Joseph Lieberman Speaks on Clinton” 1-9). When the Clinton scandal became public, kids started asking their parents sexual questions about intimacy. Children, teenagers, and young adults began to think that sexual immorality is a lifestyle, and parents could not do anything about it (“Sen. Joseph Lieberman Speaks on Clinton” 1-9).
Additionally, Clinton made the importance of honesty and sincerity seem less important. On a segment of NPR’s Morning Edition, Howard Berkes interviewed
The “Whitewater” scandal was a real estate scheme by the White Water Development Corp. Both President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton were involved in the scandal to make a land deal. Many people were involved in the scheme, which was held in the 1980s in Arkansas. Bill Clinton and his wife maintained their funds by the support of the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, which represented the Clintons in the overthrow of their Whitewater shares. The Clintons were being investigated when there were improper campaign contributions, political and financial favors, and tax benefits.
None of this would have been much of a problem had Monica Lewinsky had not told Tripp that Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan instructed her to lie about the affair with Clinton. Supposedly Linda Tripp has Monica alleging this on tape. These tapes if finally released to the public should prove to be quite titillating, Monica Lewinsky claims that Clinton was very fond of oral sex and that she it to him on a number of occasions. It has been alleged by various news organizations that a secret service agent actually caught Lewinsky and Clinton in the act. It has also been alleged that Monica Lewinsky has a blue semen stained dress which, if true, would be direct DNA evidence of the affair. But it still would not prove obstruction of justice. If that was ever proven it could be an impeachable offence, a sexual scandal probably would not lead to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. If not then it will simply be a source of Bill Clinton jokes.
Both the presidents misled the American public, causing personal as well as professional problems. For instance, President Clinton released a false statement about his affair with Monika Lewinsky, causing a lengthy and costly trial, and greatly affecting his presidential career. Also, President Nixon caused a scandal associated with Watergate, which ended up with his leaving the office. Even though they caused trouble for themselves and others around them, Clinton and Nixon did influence the American economy to a great degree. Clinton practically saved the economy and lowered the US inflation rate, through gradual and advocated plans of reform.
It is clear that while political scandal, primarily the 1974 Watergate scandal, played a large role in the rapidly declining confidence in government between 1968 and 1980, it is not the sole or even the dominant factor. The Watergate scandal only impacted on the Nixon era, and subsequently lead to measures that should have prevented further distrust in the government. Instead, the role played by the four presidents who held office in those years was the main reason behind the decline in confidence. The role of the presidents and their White House administrations encompassed political scandals, and also clearly influenced other factors such as the role
The Watergate Scandal and the resignation of President Nixon was the beginning of American’s mistrust of politicians. This can be viewed as a positive effect. As a result three important open record reforms created. The first of the reforms is the Sunshine Act in 1976. This requires government agencies to conduct meetings that are open to public, with a few exceptions. In 1978, the Ethics in Government Act requires public officials to disclose financial and employment records. The Presidential Records Act, also initiated in 1978, required preservati...
The best way to examine this speech is through a speech-act methodology. Speaker-setting and speaker-audience relationships are key in the analysis of this situation. Before answering the proposed research question we can ask another important question. Why did former President Bill Clinton choose to give this address? According to the Hart text several things must be true. 1. The speaker feels something is wrong. After several rounds of questioning the American public was growing ti...
Mr. Clinton left office with low public ratings and a title of conflict. In 1998 this was the number one topic you would speak about and to this day thinking back on the 90s this scandal surely comes to mind. Since the start of Hillary’s run for presidency we have been reminded of the mistakes of Bill Clinton that happened over a decade ago forgetting to separate his life from presidency and privacy. There were many consequences that followed Bill around at the time of the scandal many of those publicized. “President Clinton made a brief appearance in the White House Rose Garden and stated: ' 'Now that the Senate has fulfilled its constitutional responsibility, bringing this process to a conclusion, I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people."(The History Place) Mr. Clinton is known to be the most controversial president to date. “Widely considered the most investigated President ever, the Clinton administration was dogged by controversy from the very beginning.” (The History
Before stepping into the critical analysis of the speech, it is important to understand the historical setting from which the speech arose. The context can be briefly summarized as the following. In 1995 Clinton had a sexual relationship with one of his White House interns by the name of Monica Lewinsky. On January 17, 1998, a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him was filed. Clinton then quickly delivered a forceful public statement that he did not have a sexual relationship with the woman. However, unknown to President Clinton, Linda Tripp, one of Lewinsky’s associates, had recorded several conversations of Lewinsky describing her affair with the President. In the seven months afterwards, Kenneth W. Starr, the StarWhitewater independent counsel, had began collecting evidence of the affair and carrying out investigation about Clinton’s obstruction of justice. Evidence of Clinton lying under oath would be grounds for impeachment. On August 17, 1998, Clinton decided to a...
Perhaps one of the most interesting times in a president’s administration is during the end of his term in office. Having reached the ultimate goal in a politician’s career, a president no longer has to worry about public opinion or any of the other political give and takes that usually influence a politician’s actions. He is truly free to act as he pleases almost free of consequences. Bill Clinton’s final days in office certainly demonstrated this fact. Using the ultimate unchecked executive power of clemency Clinton issued over 140 pardons and thirty six sentence commutations. He protected over a million acres of land through the creation of six new national monuments. He also nominated nine new federal judges. Clinton also issued a number of executive orders during this time. Unlike most previous presidents who laid low during their last days in office, Clinton was in a flurry of activity trying to exert some last bit of influence from his office. The reasons for his actions are wide spread, ranging from political to personal. The results of his actions were extensive, affecting many situations in the American political and judicial realms. The final days of Clinton administration may be the most controversial of a presidency that was full of tumult and plagued by scandals.
Everyday citizens often live unaware of their government’s inner workings. The knowing of political espionage is often too heavy of a subject to be inducted in conversation. True, prima facie, modest twists and turns of information may not be considered substantial, but this inconsideration leaves much to be uncontrolled. It is easy for political leaders to become power crazed, to not realize the massive implications that come of their actions. Only after all is said and done do the people actually realize their government is an opaque mask of deception. The Watergate Scandal substantially impacted Americans’ trust in their government.
As Bill Clinton name was being mention “Clinton goes on national TV to admit he had an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky” (CNN). This quote showed that Clinton realizes that he had to say the truth of what happened between them since he would always be denying that they had no relationship. This was the first step that Clinton had to do, to be sincere of what happened between them and later apologize for his bad conduct he had with Lewinsky, since he was having a relationship with Hillary Clinton. He mentions that “It is important to me that everybody who was been hurt know the sorrow I feel is genuine… Monica Lewinsky” (The History Place). This quote shows that he is feeling bad for what he had done to Monica and ask her if he could be forgiven due to the bad actions he had done to her that cause pain to her in the heart and that he was unfaithful to his wife Hillary Clinton that cause her pain as well as he did it to
Owen, D. (2000). Popular politics and the clinton/lewinsky affair: The implications for leadership. Political Psychology, 21(01), 161-177. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3792069
On September 11, 1998, former president Bill Clinton delivered the infamously self-proclaimed speech entitled “I Have Sinned.” In an attempt to convert the public suspicion and hatred back to trust and loyalty, Clinton finally confessed to the inappropriate relations with Monica Lewinsky. By deeply expressing his sorrow through his foreboding and apologetic tone, Clinton constructs various examples of ethos, uses stiff body language and blank facial expressions, direct eye contact, and crafts the majority of his speech on short and choppy sentences. The overall purpose of this speech was for Clinton to ultimately express his remorse for the regretful acts he committed, and also to ensure the American people that he will remain trustworthy throughout
Lately, the top story in the news day after day, months after months have been about William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill. Who could blame them, there is nothing better than a story out of the ordinary, especially one with presidential status. For the past months he has been the most talked about figure, being the essential topic for news, talk shows, late night comedy and even going as far as the big screen. Talk about 'Primary Colors' and 'Wag the Dog.' What has gotten to me the most however, were the constant flow of Republicans, along with a few Democrats, who just want to say how shocked and embarrassed they are along with the people of the United States.The president had not just become the most talked about figure, but also one history had ever seen, so far that is, breaking the record and becoming a topic of conversation and debate 'twenty-four seven.' The people, who I think were most affected by this crisis and feel very sad for, are the Republicans, since they had lost severe amount of sleep over the president's bedroom crisis. They had to perform their republican duties by shocking our brains with the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. We had to ignore the rest of the world news and its issues while they plough through the valley of lies, abuse of power and something they called high crimes and misdemeanors.
“The media may be especially important for young people as they are developing their own sexual beliefs and patterns of behavior and as parents and schools remain reluctant to discuss sexual topics (p.26)”.