Presidents' Highs and Lows: Bill Clinton
For many people, the thing they most remember about the Presidency of Bill Clinton involved an unfortunate stain on a little blue dress and a young White House Intern about whom the President indignantly insisted in an offended tone that he "did not have sexual relations" with. As it turned out however, their president's sexual infidelity didn't matter to most people who were polled in approval ratings polls, and surprisingly, Clinton received his highest approval ratings when impeachment proceedings were taking place, peaking at 73% in a poll released on December 19, 1998. His low point in approval ratings polling occurred in June of 1993, five months into his first term as President, as voters expressed a form of buyers' remorse over their new Chief Executive.
Clinton won the 1992 presidential election, defeating Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush by a margin of 370 to 168 in the electoral college. His victory ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House and it gave Democrats full control of the United States Congress, the first time one party controlled both the executive and legislative branches since Democrats held the 96th United States Congress during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. Less than a month after taking office, he signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition, signalling a trend towards socially progressive legislation.
Two days after taking office, on January 22, 1993—the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade—Clinton reversed restrictions on domestic and international family planning programs that had been imposed by previous republican administrations. Clinton stated that abortion should be kept "safe, legal, and rare", a slogan that had been used by Clinton in December 1991 during his campaign for his party's nomination.
On February 15, 1993, Clinton made his first address to the nation, announcing his plan to raise taxes to close a budget deficit. Two days later, in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, Clinton unveiled his economic plan. The plan focused on reducing the deficit rather than on cutting taxes for the middle class. In August, Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for 15 million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90 percent of small businesses, and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers. Additionally, it mandated that the budget be balanced over a number of years through the implementation of spending restraints
The first of a number of minor scandals was disclosed when, on May 19, 1993, Clinton fired seven employees of the White House Travel Office, in response to financial improprieties that had been revealed by a brief FBI investigation. Critics accused Clinton of orchestrating the firings in order to allow friends of the Clintons to take over the travel business and the involvement of the FBI was unwarranted.
At about this time, Clinton had announced his plans to achieve universal coverage through a national health care plan. This was one of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda and resulted from a task force headed by Hillary Clinton. The plan was met with strong opposition from well-organized lobby groups including the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. The effort to create a national health care system ultimately died when compromise legislation by George J. Mitchell failed to gain a majority of support in August 1994. The failure of the bill was the first major legislative defeat of the Clinton administration.
During this time, Clinton was also under investigation after it was alleged by David Hale that while he was governor of Arkansas, Clinton pressured Hale to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, the Clintons' partner in the Whitewater land deal. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation resulted in convictions against the McDougals for their role in the Whitewater project, but the Clintons themselves were never charged, and Clinton maintains his and his wife's innocence in the affair.
A recent Washington Post article noted the similarities between the Clinton Presidency and the Trump Presidency in the first six months in office. The author of that article attributed Clinton's poor poll numbers to an economy was still weak after the recession of the early 1990s, as well as a negative response to Clinton’s policy efforts on health care and the deficit, and his push to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. In May of 1993, Clinton was asked about his poor poll numbers. In response, he said: “I never expected that I could take on some of these interests that I’ve taken on without being attacked, and whenever you try to change things, there are always people there ready to point out the pain of change without the promise of it, and that’s just all part of it.”
Clinton's popularity recovered and in the 1996 election, Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2 percent of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (who got 40.7 percent of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4 percent). He was the first Democratic incumbent since Lyndon B. Johnson to be elected to a second term and the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected president more than once. The Republicans had won control of both Houses of Congress in the 1994 mid-term elections. In 1996 they lost three seats in the House and gained two in the Senate, keeping control of both houses. Clinton received 379 Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.
In the January 1997 State of the Union address, Clinton proposed a new initiative to provide health coverage to up to five million children. This measure enjoyed bi-partisan support with Senators Ted Kennedy—a Democrat—and Orrin Hatch—a Republican working with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and her staff. Later in 1997, legislation creating the State Children's Health Insurance Program was passed. It was the largest successful health care reform in the years of the Clinton Presidency.
Meanwhile, an investigation of Clinton was taking place, led by Special Prosecutor Ken Starr, an Independent Counsel. Starr had been originally dealing with the Whitewater investigation. But with the approval of United States Attorney General Janet Reno, Starr had conducted a wide-ranging investigation of alleged abuses, including the Whitewater affair, the firing of White House travel agents, and the alleged misuse of FBI files.
In 1994, Paula Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Clinton of sexual harassment when he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton attempted to delay a trial until after he left office but in May 1997 the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the case to proceed. Shortly thereafter the pre-trial discovery process commenced. The lawyers for Ms. Jones wanted to prove that Clinton had engaged in a pattern of behavior with women that lent support to her claims. In late 1997, Linda Tripp began secretly recording conversations with her friend Monica Lewinsky, a former intern and Department of Defense employee, in which Lewinsky divulged that she had had a sexual relationship with the President. Tripp shared this information with Paula Jones' lawyers who put Lewinsky on their witness list in December 1997. According to the Starr report, after Lewinsky appeared on the witness list Clinton was alleged to have attempted to conceal this relationship, and had suggested that she file a false affidavit.
Clinton gave a sworn deposition on 17 January 1998 where he denied having a "sexual relationship", "sexual affair", or "sexual relations" with Lewinsky. He also denied that he was ever alone with her. The Starr Report alleged that Clinton "coached" his secretary Betty Curie into repeating his denials should she be called to testify. After rumors of the scandal became known by the news media, Clinton publicly stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Months later, Clinton admitted that his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong" and "not appropriate." It subsequently became known that Lewinsky engaged in oral sex with Clinton several times.
On January 12, 1998 Linda Tripp, who had been working with the Jones lawyers, informed Starr that Lewinsky was preparing to commit perjury in the Jones case and had asked Tripp to do the same. She also said Clinton’s friend Vernon Jordan was assisting Lewinsky. Starr obtained approval from Reno to expand his investigation into whether Lewinsky and others were breaking the law.
Starr concluded that Clinton had committed perjury. He submitted his findings to Congress in a what became known as the Starr Report, and he also posted the report on the internet. Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70 million on an investigation that substantiated only perjury and obstruction of justice. Starr was also criticized for leaking of information to the press unethically.
After the 1998 elections were concluded in November, the House voted to impeach Clinton, alleging perjury and obstruction of justice related to the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton was only the second U.S. president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson. Impeachment proceedings were based on allegations that Clinton had illegally lied about and covered up his relationship with Lewinsky. To hold impeachment proceedings, the Republican leadership called a lame-duck session of congress in December 1998. It was a move taken without significant public support. Clinton's approval ratings reached their highest point that month at 73%.
The House Judiciary Committee hearings ended in a straight party-line vote. After a lively debate on the House floor, two charges passed in the House (largely with Republican support, but with a handful of Democratic votes as well). They alleged that Clinton was guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, with Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist presiding. On February 9, after voting against a public deliberation on the verdict, the Senate began closed-door deliberations instead. On February 12, the Senate emerged from its closed deliberations and voted on the articles of impeachment. A two-thirds vote, 67 votes, was needed to convict and remove the President from office. The perjury charge was defeated with 45 votes for conviction and 55 against. The obstruction of justice charge was defeated with 50 for conviction and 50 against.
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, Clinton left office with an approval rating of 68%. This matched those of Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era. Clinton's average Gallup poll approval rating for his last quarter in office was 61%, the highest final quarter rating any president had received since such polls were taken. While many Americans knew that their president's marriage vows meant nothing to him, they nevertheless admired him for his handling of the economy, aided by the advent of the internet age, and for the fact that he had brought about the first surplus budgets in recent memory. But while many Americans trusted Clinton's competence as President, they did not trust his integrity. 58% or respondents answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?" One ABC News commentator characterized public consensus on Clinton in this manner: "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics – and he's done a heck of a good job."
Clinton won the 1992 presidential election, defeating Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush by a margin of 370 to 168 in the electoral college. His victory ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House and it gave Democrats full control of the United States Congress, the first time one party controlled both the executive and legislative branches since Democrats held the 96th United States Congress during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. Less than a month after taking office, he signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition, signalling a trend towards socially progressive legislation.
Two days after taking office, on January 22, 1993—the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade—Clinton reversed restrictions on domestic and international family planning programs that had been imposed by previous republican administrations. Clinton stated that abortion should be kept "safe, legal, and rare", a slogan that had been used by Clinton in December 1991 during his campaign for his party's nomination.
On February 15, 1993, Clinton made his first address to the nation, announcing his plan to raise taxes to close a budget deficit. Two days later, in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, Clinton unveiled his economic plan. The plan focused on reducing the deficit rather than on cutting taxes for the middle class. In August, Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for 15 million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90 percent of small businesses, and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers. Additionally, it mandated that the budget be balanced over a number of years through the implementation of spending restraints
The first of a number of minor scandals was disclosed when, on May 19, 1993, Clinton fired seven employees of the White House Travel Office, in response to financial improprieties that had been revealed by a brief FBI investigation. Critics accused Clinton of orchestrating the firings in order to allow friends of the Clintons to take over the travel business and the involvement of the FBI was unwarranted.
At about this time, Clinton had announced his plans to achieve universal coverage through a national health care plan. This was one of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda and resulted from a task force headed by Hillary Clinton. The plan was met with strong opposition from well-organized lobby groups including the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. The effort to create a national health care system ultimately died when compromise legislation by George J. Mitchell failed to gain a majority of support in August 1994. The failure of the bill was the first major legislative defeat of the Clinton administration.
During this time, Clinton was also under investigation after it was alleged by David Hale that while he was governor of Arkansas, Clinton pressured Hale to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, the Clintons' partner in the Whitewater land deal. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation resulted in convictions against the McDougals for their role in the Whitewater project, but the Clintons themselves were never charged, and Clinton maintains his and his wife's innocence in the affair.
A recent Washington Post article noted the similarities between the Clinton Presidency and the Trump Presidency in the first six months in office. The author of that article attributed Clinton's poor poll numbers to an economy was still weak after the recession of the early 1990s, as well as a negative response to Clinton’s policy efforts on health care and the deficit, and his push to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. In May of 1993, Clinton was asked about his poor poll numbers. In response, he said: “I never expected that I could take on some of these interests that I’ve taken on without being attacked, and whenever you try to change things, there are always people there ready to point out the pain of change without the promise of it, and that’s just all part of it.”
Clinton's popularity recovered and in the 1996 election, Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2 percent of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (who got 40.7 percent of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4 percent). He was the first Democratic incumbent since Lyndon B. Johnson to be elected to a second term and the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected president more than once. The Republicans had won control of both Houses of Congress in the 1994 mid-term elections. In 1996 they lost three seats in the House and gained two in the Senate, keeping control of both houses. Clinton received 379 Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.
In the January 1997 State of the Union address, Clinton proposed a new initiative to provide health coverage to up to five million children. This measure enjoyed bi-partisan support with Senators Ted Kennedy—a Democrat—and Orrin Hatch—a Republican working with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and her staff. Later in 1997, legislation creating the State Children's Health Insurance Program was passed. It was the largest successful health care reform in the years of the Clinton Presidency.
Meanwhile, an investigation of Clinton was taking place, led by Special Prosecutor Ken Starr, an Independent Counsel. Starr had been originally dealing with the Whitewater investigation. But with the approval of United States Attorney General Janet Reno, Starr had conducted a wide-ranging investigation of alleged abuses, including the Whitewater affair, the firing of White House travel agents, and the alleged misuse of FBI files.
In 1994, Paula Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Clinton of sexual harassment when he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton attempted to delay a trial until after he left office but in May 1997 the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the case to proceed. Shortly thereafter the pre-trial discovery process commenced. The lawyers for Ms. Jones wanted to prove that Clinton had engaged in a pattern of behavior with women that lent support to her claims. In late 1997, Linda Tripp began secretly recording conversations with her friend Monica Lewinsky, a former intern and Department of Defense employee, in which Lewinsky divulged that she had had a sexual relationship with the President. Tripp shared this information with Paula Jones' lawyers who put Lewinsky on their witness list in December 1997. According to the Starr report, after Lewinsky appeared on the witness list Clinton was alleged to have attempted to conceal this relationship, and had suggested that she file a false affidavit.
Clinton gave a sworn deposition on 17 January 1998 where he denied having a "sexual relationship", "sexual affair", or "sexual relations" with Lewinsky. He also denied that he was ever alone with her. The Starr Report alleged that Clinton "coached" his secretary Betty Curie into repeating his denials should she be called to testify. After rumors of the scandal became known by the news media, Clinton publicly stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Months later, Clinton admitted that his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong" and "not appropriate." It subsequently became known that Lewinsky engaged in oral sex with Clinton several times.
On January 12, 1998 Linda Tripp, who had been working with the Jones lawyers, informed Starr that Lewinsky was preparing to commit perjury in the Jones case and had asked Tripp to do the same. She also said Clinton’s friend Vernon Jordan was assisting Lewinsky. Starr obtained approval from Reno to expand his investigation into whether Lewinsky and others were breaking the law.
Starr concluded that Clinton had committed perjury. He submitted his findings to Congress in a what became known as the Starr Report, and he also posted the report on the internet. Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70 million on an investigation that substantiated only perjury and obstruction of justice. Starr was also criticized for leaking of information to the press unethically.
After the 1998 elections were concluded in November, the House voted to impeach Clinton, alleging perjury and obstruction of justice related to the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton was only the second U.S. president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson. Impeachment proceedings were based on allegations that Clinton had illegally lied about and covered up his relationship with Lewinsky. To hold impeachment proceedings, the Republican leadership called a lame-duck session of congress in December 1998. It was a move taken without significant public support. Clinton's approval ratings reached their highest point that month at 73%.
The House Judiciary Committee hearings ended in a straight party-line vote. After a lively debate on the House floor, two charges passed in the House (largely with Republican support, but with a handful of Democratic votes as well). They alleged that Clinton was guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, with Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist presiding. On February 9, after voting against a public deliberation on the verdict, the Senate began closed-door deliberations instead. On February 12, the Senate emerged from its closed deliberations and voted on the articles of impeachment. A two-thirds vote, 67 votes, was needed to convict and remove the President from office. The perjury charge was defeated with 45 votes for conviction and 55 against. The obstruction of justice charge was defeated with 50 for conviction and 50 against.
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, Clinton left office with an approval rating of 68%. This matched those of Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era. Clinton's average Gallup poll approval rating for his last quarter in office was 61%, the highest final quarter rating any president had received since such polls were taken. While many Americans knew that their president's marriage vows meant nothing to him, they nevertheless admired him for his handling of the economy, aided by the advent of the internet age, and for the fact that he had brought about the first surplus budgets in recent memory. But while many Americans trusted Clinton's competence as President, they did not trust his integrity. 58% or respondents answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?" One ABC News commentator characterized public consensus on Clinton in this manner: "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics – and he's done a heck of a good job."