Characteristics Of President Bill Clinton

his avoidance of military service during the Vietnam war. Despite these attempts of the press on the qualifications of Bill Clinton, he became the Democratic nominee and selected Albert Gore as his vice president. Clinton was inaugurated in January 1993 at the age of 46, this made him the third-youngest president in history up to that time. President Clinton defeated the incumbent, President George H.W. Bush with 370 of the 438 electoral votes leaving just 168 for George H.W. Clinton won 43 percent of the popular vote against Bush’s 37.5 and a third party candidate, Ross Perot, who captured just short of 19 percent of the popular vote.

tration before dying of a stroke at the age of 56. Aspin served as a Democratic representative for 22 years
for the state of Wisconsin. After the death of Les Aspin Clinton had to appoint a new secretary of defense, he appointed William Perry. Perry had a broad national security both in industry and government. Perry balanced his focus while in office on both the internal affairs inside the pentagon and on international security issues. William Perry finished his tenure in 1997. This lead Clinton to appoint yet another Secretary of Defense, William Cohen. Clinton made history when appointing Cohen, because he selected Cohen who came from the Republican party. Cohen while serving modernized the military and kept them prepared to fight. He made a movement to increase pay and benefits for the military personnel. Cohen was the last Secretary of Defense during Clinton’s term. Clinton’s appointment to the Secretary of State position was Madeleine Albright. Secretary Albright was the first female secretary of state and the highest ranking woman in the United States government to date. President Clinton’s last major appointment was Robert Rubin. Rubin was the head of the National Economic Council, a council created by Clinton after winning the presidency. In 1995, President Bill Clinton, with advice from Rubin, provided $20 billion in US loan guarantees to the mexican government to help them during their financial crisis. Rubin left Clinton’s administration shortly after the Lewinsky scandal. Rubin was succeeded by Lawrence Summers. Summers played a key role in the 1994 economic crisis with mexico, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the Russian financial crisis. Lawrence Summers was the last major appointment to the Clinton administration. Clinton walked into office at a time where there were many national problems. In 1992, 10 million Americans were unemployed, the country faced record deficits, and poverty and welfare rolls were growing. Family incomes were losing ground to inflation and jobs were being created at the slowest rate since the Great Depression. President Clinton struggled against a Republican controlled House of Representatives and Senate. President Clinton vetoed 35 bills from 1995-2000. Republican leaders questioned 11 of his 35 vetoes, but could only override one of them. For a short time the Republican controlled congress tried to shut down the federal government in an effort to force the president to make budget cuts and tax reductions. Clinton had a string of successes with congress at the beginning of his presidency. He managed to get congress to raise taxes on the wealthy and gasoline. He was also able to persuade congress to cut government spending. Clinton was also able to talk congress into enacting a waiting period for purchasing handguns and impose a ban on the sale of assault weapons. Clinton also persuaded the senate to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement. This agreement eliminated