Have you impacted the United States like Bill Clinton has? Bill Clinton was born on August 19, 1946 in a small town of Arkansas. His father died before he was even born. He was not raised to be religious, but at a very young age he was attending church every Sunday morning alone. Growing up he had to see his stepfather’s abusive behavior towards both his mother and step-brother. When he was 17 years old and attending school he got an invitation to meet President John F. Kennedy at the White House Rose Garden, that’s when he realized what he wanted his career to be. During the 1992 election, on November 3, he became the forty second president. Clinton’s reputation suffered dramatically from a scandal in his personal life. Although Bill Clinton had an affair while being President, he impacted the United States by eliminating the federal deficit and overseeing the strongest economy, managed to remake the images and operations of the Democratic Party, and reforming welfare and changing the environment.
Not only did Clinton have positive impacts on the economy, but he has also made negative impacts on the economy in the United States. During his term the Congress was made up of Republicans, which helped him improve the economy. The congress was exercising fiscal restraint, but the citizens believed Clinton was doing it all on his own (“ProConorg” 2). The article “Was Bill Clinton a Good President” says:
The US went from having the largest budget deficit in American history ($290 billion) in 1992 when Clinton was elected to having a budget surplus of $127 billion when he left office in 2001. 22.5 million new jobs were created and unemployment dropped from 7.5% when Clinton took office to 4.0% by the end of his second term, the lowest i...
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...E Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Clinton, Bill. “IT’S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID. (Cover Story)” Newsweek 157.26 (2011): 34. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Clinton, Bill. My Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Print.
"Clinton - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Columbia University, Press. “Bill Clinton.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1-3. History Reference Center. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Cottle, Michelle. “Reforming Welfare Reform.” Washington Monthly 28.11 (1996): 9. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
"EPA Building Renamed After Bill Clinton To Recognize His Administration’s Environmental Record." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"Miller Center." American President: Bill Clinton: Impact and Legacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"Welfare Reform." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Genovese, Michael A. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. New York: Facts on File, 2010. Print.
Many argue that Reagan “enacted irresponsible tax giveaways for the rich…[starving] the federal government of revenue [which] led to unprecedented deficits.” There is no doubt that “today’s budget deficits [can] impoverish our descendants.”1
Roosevelt became the U.S. president in 1932; he made an attempt to stop the Great Depression by The New Deal, which was based on the idea that the government’s money can save the economy. The New Deal gave jobs for people in governmental projects and also saved the banks from the chaos. However, the new deal didn’t overcome the unemployment issue and the jobs given to the people were only for a short period of time. Also, most of the government’s project created lost much more money than it gained. To be specific, Roosevelt created the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was based on building dams and hydroelectric power, this employed up to 8.5 million Americans; however, the projected costed a huge amount of money and the people were unemployed after the work was done. Franklin’s attempt to end the great depression wasn’t as effective as World War II’s boom in industry and
Perhaps Roosevelt’s greatest blunders occurred in his attempts to fix the economy. The Nation claimed that “some [of his programs] assisted and some retarded the recovery of industrial activity.” They went so far as to say that “six billion dollars was added to the national debt.” All of this is true. Roosevelt’s deficit spending, provoked by the English economist John Maynard Keynes, did add to the already high national debt while his programs did not solve the record-high unemployment rate. This “enormous outpouring of federal money for human relief and immense sums for public-works projects [that] started to flow to all points of the compass” and nearly doubled the nation’s debt also brought about many changes that were, in a large sense, revolutionary (Document C).
Overall, FDR’s response to the crisis in America proved beneficial to many Americans, at least for the short term. As Document J demonstrates, it was WWII that truly solved the problem of depression and spurred America’s recovery. However, FDR’s New Deal impacted the future of America mentally. It instilled trust for FDR and his leadership which would be critical as America was heading into WWII, and FDR would have to serve three terms. As Document H states, “the government as an instrument of democratic action in the future has…been strengthened and renovated.”
Shogan, Colleen. Washington, George. In Genovese, Michael A. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Web. .
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.
Sauer, P. (2000). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the American Presidents. Indianapolis, IN: Macmillan USA, Inc.
The turn of the 20th century sparked change throughout the United States. Theodore Roosevelt’s life was among those drastically changed. Following the assassination of President William Mckinley, Roosevelt was forced to take his position under unsavory conditions, to say the least (“Theodore Roosevelt”). Roosevelt inherited an unfinished job and a country in an uproar over Mckinley’s death. Despite the odds, Roosevelt emerged from his two terms a successful and favored president. While presidents like Abraham Lincoln, a man known for his actions, Roosevelt established a legacy through his personality and likeness. Roosevelt found success through his popularity,
Genovese A., Michael. "'What Have You Done For Me Lately?: The Demands Placed On The American Presidency.' National Forum 80 (2000): 30-40.
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in the small town of Hope, Arkansas. He was named after his father, William Jefferson Blythe II, who had been killed in a car accident just three months before his son's birth. Needing a way to support herself and her new child, Bill Clinton's mother, Virginia Cassidy Blythe, moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, to study nursing. Bill Clinton stayed with his mother's parents in Hope. There his grandparents, Eldrigde and Edith Cassidy, taught him strong values and beliefs such as "equality among all and discrimination to none". This was a lesson Bill never forgot. His mother returned from New Orleans with a nursing degree in 1950, when her son was four year old. Later that same year, she married an automobile salesman named Roger Clinton. When Bill was seven years old, the family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas for it offered a better employment opportunities. Roger received a higher paying job as a service manager for his brother's car dealer-ship and Virginia discovered a job as a nurse anesthetist. In 1956, Bill Clinton's half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., was born. When his brother was old enough to enter school, young Bill had his last name legally altered from Blythe to Clinton.
William Jefferson Clinton?s eight-year term as president of the United States of America was one of the most corrupt, and possibly the most damaging ever. There is evidence connecting him to hundreds of deaths, injuries, and explosions. He, along with his administration, made a number of ?Faustian bargains and policy blunders?
Hargrove, Erwin C. The Power of the Modern Presidency. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. Questia. Web. 25 Mar. 2010.
Web. The Web. The Web. 14 May 2014. Stanley, Jay.