Bill Clinton and Civil Rights
William Jefferson Clinton has spoken of two influential moments in his life that contributed to his decision to become a public figure, both occurring in 1963. One was his visit as a Boys Nation senator to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy. The other was when he heard Martin Luther King's 1963 I Have a Dream speech, which impressed him enough that he later memorized it.
Before becoming President, Clinton served as Governor of Arkansas. In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee, chaired by Clinton's wife, attorney and Legal Services Corporation chair Hillary Rodham Clinton, succeeded in reforming the education system, transforming it from the worst in the nation into one of the best. Many have considered this the greatest achievement of Clinton's time as governor. Clinton and the committee were responsible for state educational improvement programs, notably more spending for schools, rising opportunities for gifted children, an increase in vocational education, raising of teachers' salaries, inclusion of a wider variety of courses, and compulsory teacher testing for aspiring educators.
Clinton had been opposed to the death penalty, but he later changed his position on this. During Clinton's time as Governor, Arkansas performed its first executions since 1964 (the death penalty had been re-enacted on March 23, 1973). As Governor, he oversaw four executions: one by electric chair and three by lethal injection. Later, as president, Clinton was the first President to pardon a death-row inmate since the federal death penalty was reintroduced in 1988. While campaigning for President, Clinton returned to Arkansas to see that Ricky Ray Rector would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to Arkansas state and Federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate may not be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was seen by some as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.
The transition period and the first few weeks of the administration in the White House were full of difficulties and drama. In particular, finding someone for the high-profile United States Attorney General position proved problematic. Clinton had vowed to assemble an administration that "looked like America", and it was widely assumed that one of the major cabinet posts would go to a woman. Clinton soon decided the Attorney General position would be filled by a woman, something women's political action groups were also requesting. Many administration officials reported later that Clinton initially considered nominating the First Lady Hillary Clinton, a prominent attorney, professor, activist, and executive, for Attorney General. However anti-nepotism laws put in place in 1967 after president John F. Kennedy successfully appointed his brother Robert F. Kennedy attorney general prohibited this. Clinton chose little-known corporate lawyer Zoë Baird for the slot, but in what became known as the Nannygate matter, in January 1993 it was revealed that she had hired two illegal immigrants, a Peruvian couple to work in her home. Baird's case provoked common resentment among a large group of people, who flooded the United States Congress and radio programs demanding to know how Clinton could name as the nation's senior law officer a woman who had ignored the law. Baird, seeing the problems the issue was causing for Clinton, withdrew her nomination. Clinton next chose Kimba Wood, who was quickly forced to withdraw due to somewhat similar problems. This led to over a thousand presidential appointment positions being subjected to heightened scrutiny for household help hiring practices, and a consequent significant slowdown in getting new administration positions filled. Janet Reno was nominated for Attorney General a few weeks later, and was confirmed on March 11, 1993.
Clinton had made a campaign promise of allowing openly gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces. His handling of the issue garnered criticism from both the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and the right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate, the Congress—which has sole power under the U.S. Constitution to regulate the armed forces—implemented the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, stating that homosexual men and women may serve in the military as long as their sexuality is kept secret. Some gay rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise simply to get votes and contributions. These advocates felt Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting that President Harry S. Truman ended segregation of the armed forces in that manner. However on January 27, a small delegation had visited the White House and told Clinton that if he tried to force a change by executive order, Congress would pass a bill, with a veto-proof majority, writing the existing policy into law. Clinton's defenders argued that this would make it potentially harder to integrate the military in the future.
Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton criticized the way the policy was implemented, saying he did not think any serious person could say it was not "out of whack." The policy remained controversial, and was finally repealed in 2011, removing open sexual preference as a reason for dismissal from the armed forces.
Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. One of the prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda, however, was a health care reform plan, the result of a taskforce headed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage via a national healthcare plan. Though initially well-received in political circles, it was ultimately defeated by well-organized opposition from conservatives, the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. Despite his party holding a majority in the House and Senate, the effort to create a national healthcare system ultimately died under heavy public pressure. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.
In 1997, Clinton finally had a chance to sign a major health care bill into law. The State Children's Health Insurance Program passed through the efforts of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (who wrote and chaired the earlier task force on the unsuccessful universal plan), Senator Ted Kennedy, and Senator Orrin Hatch. It expanded coverage to approximately six-million children. Also, through the First Lady's work, childhood immunizations reached over 90% and funding for research on Gulf War Syndrome, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and asthma was increased.
The Elián González affair took prominent stage during early 2000. When his family fled from communist Cuba, the boy survived a boat wreck but his mother died, setting off an international legal fight for where the boy should stay. Eventually the administration, via Janet Reno, had González returned to Cuba.
Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency. In 1998, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison called Clinton "the first Black president", saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas". Noting that Clinton's sex life was scrutinized more than his career accomplishments, Morrison compared this to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure.
Before becoming President, Clinton served as Governor of Arkansas. In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee, chaired by Clinton's wife, attorney and Legal Services Corporation chair Hillary Rodham Clinton, succeeded in reforming the education system, transforming it from the worst in the nation into one of the best. Many have considered this the greatest achievement of Clinton's time as governor. Clinton and the committee were responsible for state educational improvement programs, notably more spending for schools, rising opportunities for gifted children, an increase in vocational education, raising of teachers' salaries, inclusion of a wider variety of courses, and compulsory teacher testing for aspiring educators.
Clinton had been opposed to the death penalty, but he later changed his position on this. During Clinton's time as Governor, Arkansas performed its first executions since 1964 (the death penalty had been re-enacted on March 23, 1973). As Governor, he oversaw four executions: one by electric chair and three by lethal injection. Later, as president, Clinton was the first President to pardon a death-row inmate since the federal death penalty was reintroduced in 1988. While campaigning for President, Clinton returned to Arkansas to see that Ricky Ray Rector would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to Arkansas state and Federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate may not be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was seen by some as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.
The transition period and the first few weeks of the administration in the White House were full of difficulties and drama. In particular, finding someone for the high-profile United States Attorney General position proved problematic. Clinton had vowed to assemble an administration that "looked like America", and it was widely assumed that one of the major cabinet posts would go to a woman. Clinton soon decided the Attorney General position would be filled by a woman, something women's political action groups were also requesting. Many administration officials reported later that Clinton initially considered nominating the First Lady Hillary Clinton, a prominent attorney, professor, activist, and executive, for Attorney General. However anti-nepotism laws put in place in 1967 after president John F. Kennedy successfully appointed his brother Robert F. Kennedy attorney general prohibited this. Clinton chose little-known corporate lawyer Zoë Baird for the slot, but in what became known as the Nannygate matter, in January 1993 it was revealed that she had hired two illegal immigrants, a Peruvian couple to work in her home. Baird's case provoked common resentment among a large group of people, who flooded the United States Congress and radio programs demanding to know how Clinton could name as the nation's senior law officer a woman who had ignored the law. Baird, seeing the problems the issue was causing for Clinton, withdrew her nomination. Clinton next chose Kimba Wood, who was quickly forced to withdraw due to somewhat similar problems. This led to over a thousand presidential appointment positions being subjected to heightened scrutiny for household help hiring practices, and a consequent significant slowdown in getting new administration positions filled. Janet Reno was nominated for Attorney General a few weeks later, and was confirmed on March 11, 1993.
Clinton had made a campaign promise of allowing openly gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces. His handling of the issue garnered criticism from both the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and the right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate, the Congress—which has sole power under the U.S. Constitution to regulate the armed forces—implemented the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, stating that homosexual men and women may serve in the military as long as their sexuality is kept secret. Some gay rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise simply to get votes and contributions. These advocates felt Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting that President Harry S. Truman ended segregation of the armed forces in that manner. However on January 27, a small delegation had visited the White House and told Clinton that if he tried to force a change by executive order, Congress would pass a bill, with a veto-proof majority, writing the existing policy into law. Clinton's defenders argued that this would make it potentially harder to integrate the military in the future.
Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton criticized the way the policy was implemented, saying he did not think any serious person could say it was not "out of whack." The policy remained controversial, and was finally repealed in 2011, removing open sexual preference as a reason for dismissal from the armed forces.
Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. One of the prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda, however, was a health care reform plan, the result of a taskforce headed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage via a national healthcare plan. Though initially well-received in political circles, it was ultimately defeated by well-organized opposition from conservatives, the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. Despite his party holding a majority in the House and Senate, the effort to create a national healthcare system ultimately died under heavy public pressure. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.
In 1997, Clinton finally had a chance to sign a major health care bill into law. The State Children's Health Insurance Program passed through the efforts of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (who wrote and chaired the earlier task force on the unsuccessful universal plan), Senator Ted Kennedy, and Senator Orrin Hatch. It expanded coverage to approximately six-million children. Also, through the First Lady's work, childhood immunizations reached over 90% and funding for research on Gulf War Syndrome, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and asthma was increased.
The Elián González affair took prominent stage during early 2000. When his family fled from communist Cuba, the boy survived a boat wreck but his mother died, setting off an international legal fight for where the boy should stay. Eventually the administration, via Janet Reno, had González returned to Cuba.
Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency. In 1998, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison called Clinton "the first Black president", saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas". Noting that Clinton's sex life was scrutinized more than his career accomplishments, Morrison compared this to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure.