The Legacy of President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was the forty second President of the United States. He was elected on November 3, 1992. He was the first democrat to serve two terms as President since Franklin D Roosevelt.

Ronald Reagan originally advocated a free trade agreement among the US, Canada and Mexico. George H. W. Bush negotiated the trade agreement and submitted it to the Senate. In 1993, the US Senate approved the North American Free Trade Agreement and Bill Clinton signed it.

START 2 Treaty: Jan 1996 (treaty number 103-1) The original strategic arms reduction treaty (START 1) was the result of 10 difficult years of negotiation with Russia. It was signed by Russia and the US in 1991. The START 2 treaty was signed in Jan 1993 (Before Clinton's inauguration) by the US and RUSSIA. Neither treaty was negotiated by Bill Clinton. The Senate approved the treaty while Bill Clinton was President and Bill Clinton signed it.

Plastic Explosives: Nov 1993 (treaty number 103-8) This treaty was signed at Montreal in March 1991. The US Senate approved it in November 1991 and President Clinton signed it.

Chemical Weapons Convention April 1997 (treaty number 103-21) The Chemical Weapons Convention negotiations started in 1982. It was approved by the US Senate and signed by President Clinton in April 1997. It outlaws chemical weapons.

Chemical Weapons Restrictions March 1995 (treaty number 103-25) are restrictions on exports to countries that did not sign the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty.

The first World Trade Center terrorist bombing and the Oklahoma City Federal Building Terrorist Bombing both took place while Clinton was President. To learn more about Clinton's reactions to terrorism, try the following URL:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB55/index1.html

Clinton pushed for the Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act of 1995. This act is described at the following URL:

http://www.truth-out.org/article/clinton-911-and-facts

The reader is provided with the bill numbers of the Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act

Senate Version: Bill S.390

House Version Bill HR.896

Final Senate Version S.761

Public Law 105-261

The reader is also provided the Public Law number of the Patriot Act.

Public Law 107-56

Both can be found at the Thomas Library Of Congress

thomas.loc.gov/

Clinton also responded to the acts of terrorism with the following:

The FBI was reorganized to prevent terrorists attacks.

Clinton provided federal law enforcement agencies more tools for fighting terrorism.

Clinton ordered a terrorism threat assessment at federal facilities.

Clinton proposed new legislation for investigation of terrorist attacks and prosecution of terrorists.

Clinton ordered the preparation of a Presidential Decision Directive which would authorize all steps necessary to combat terrorism. For details on the Presidential Decision Directive, the following URL is provided:

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/index.html

Clinton tracked the perpetrators of terrorism. He believed in the measured response to terrorist attacks. He ordered retaliatory strikes against terrorist targets.

Clinton spoke about preventing terrorism during the Yeltsin-Clinton Summit meetings. START II had been the major achievement of the Summit meetings during the George H W Bush administration. Some reports state Clinton objected to Russia's role in providing Iran with nuclear power plants. For more information about the Summit meetings, the following URL is provided:

http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11500.html

The Family and Medical Leave Act was signed by Clinton in February 1993. It was introduced in the House of Representatives in Jan 5, 1993 and became Public Law 103-3 on Feb 5 1993. Reference Thomas Library Of Congress.

On November 27 1995, Clinton spoke to the people about Bosnia and the need for US troops in order to ensure peace. Clinton had imposed sanctions on Serbia and enforced a no-fly zone. He used US air power for a "humanitarian lift." The US and NATO made air strikes against Bosnia. The Muslims, Croates and Serbs agreed on a peace treaty in Dayton, Ohio in early November 1995.

In 1995, Congress passed a resolution stating that genocide and ethnic cleaning were committed by the Serbia forces. The Bosnia war came after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Clinton's major failure was the health reform bill.

In 1993, Clinton signed a bill to reduce the federal deficit by 496 billion dollars. This would take place over a five year period. The Brady gun control law was signed by Clinton. The Vietnam trade ban was lifted.

In 1994, Kenneth Star led the Whitewater investigations.

In 1995, the Republican's Contract With America was signed into law.

In 1996, the line item veto was struck down by the Supreme Court. A major welfare reform bill was signed into law. A Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed.

In 1998, a sexual relation between Clinton and Lewinsky was revealed, leading to the impeachment of President Clinton. However he was acquitted by the Senate.

The US enjoyed a robust economy during the Clinton administration. Clinton remained popular despite his impeachment.

My Opinion:

Clinton's efforts to pass legislation to fight terrorism were thwarted by Republican conservatives. Similar legislation was passed during the Bush administration. President Bush totally rejected the Clinton strategy in the war on terror. In doing so, he took multiple steps backward essentially duplicating the accomplishments of President Clinton including the freezing of terrorist assets in the US and creating the Patriot Act which contains some of the provisions in the Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act. If Bush had not wasted so much time destroying Clinton's achievements and re-inventing the similar achievements, would the government have been better prepared to prevent the 9/11 attacks? I am not qualified to answer this question.

Furthermore, the Bush attempt to eradicate all efforts by Clinton to fight terrorism was a terrible waste of our taxes. Today, the Republicans want to repeat this terrible waste of our taxes by repealing the health reform act and the finance reform act in order to start from scratch. Hence, every time we elect a Republican President, we take two steps backward before taking one step forward. In my opinion the narrow minded views of the Republican party increase our national debt and waste our hard earned taxes.