William Clinton

Honors:
 The Clinton Presidential Center was opened in Little
Rock, Arkansas in his honor on December 5, 2001.
 He has been honored in various other ways, in
countries that include the Czech Republic, New
Guinea, Germany, and Kosovo and also in U.S. states
where he has been honored include Missouri,
Arkansas, Kentucky and New York.
 He was presented with the Medal for Distinguished
Public Service by Secretary of Defense William S.
Cohen in 2001.
 In 1993, Clinton was selected as Time magazine's
"Man of the Year" and again in 1998
 In 2000, Princeton University's American Whig-
Cliosophic Society awarded him the James Madison
Award for Distinguished Public Service.
 In 2005 he received the Freedom Medal of the Four
Freedoms Award.
 On June 2, 2007, Clinton, along with former
president George H.W. Bush, received the
International Freedom Conductor Award, for their
help with the fund raising following the tsunami that
 devastated South Asia in 2004. On June 13, 2007,
Clinton was honored by the Global Business
Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
alongside eight multinational-companies for his work
to defeat HIV/AIDS.
Laws:
The only laws of the Clinton administration that could be
considered deregulatory were the Telecom Reform Act of
February 8, 1996, which eliminated ownership
restrictions on radio and television; the pesticides
legislation of 1996; and the Food and Drug
Administration overhaul of 1997. All were signed into law
by Clinton, along with the Financial Services
Modernization Act of 1999, which allowed banks,
insurance companies, and investment houses to merge,
thus repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been in
place since 1932. Some point to this as a partial cause of
the financial meltdown of 2008.
Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1993 into law. This Act cut taxes for 15 million low-
income families, made tax cuts available to 90% of small
businesses, and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of
taxpayers.
Clinton also strongly supported ratification of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty that
eliminated tariffs and trade restrictions among the
United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Clinton also signed the Defense of Marriage Act,
considered by many to be a blow to the LGBT rights
movement. His attempt to fulfill a campaign promise to
end discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the
military was met with criticism from conservatives and
some military leaders—including Gen. Colin Powell, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The administration faced political opposition in 1994
when Republicans took control of both houses of
Congress, but Clinton was reelected in 1996 after a failed
attempt at health care reform. His presidency saw the
passage of welfare reform in the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Act, which ended the Aid to
Families with Dependent Children program, and reduced
the number of welfare programs overall. This act
received support from both political parties. He also
signed the reversal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which was
designed to prevent financial institutions from getting
too big to fail. In addition, he signed the Commodity
Futures Modernization Act, which legalized over-the-
counter derivatives. The Clinton presidency saw the
escalation of the War on Drugs, prompting a swell in the
prison population from 1.4 to 2 million.
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998: A United States
Congressional statement of policy calling for regime
change in Iraq. It was signed into law by President Bill
Clinton and states that it is the policy of the United
States to support democratic movements within Iraq. It
was cited in October 2002 to argue for the authorization
of military force against the Iraqi government.
Midway through his first term in office, Clinton's
reelection prospects were dim, given the stunning victory
of Republicans in the 1994 off-year elections. For the first
time in forty years, both houses of Congress were
controlled by Republican lawmakers. And almost
everyone blamed Clinton. His campaign promise to
reform the nation's health care system was soundly
defeated. His controversial executive order lifting the ban
against homosexuals in the military enraged
conservatives and failed to generate significant public
support. Clinton's work on behalf of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) split the Democrats,
many of whom feared the loss of jobs to Mexico and
Canada.
However, the Democrats lost their majority in both
Houses of Congress in 1994. Clinton vetoed two
Republican-backed welfare reform bills before signing
the third, the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Act of 1996. The tort reform Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act passed over his veto.
Electoral history:
In November the Clinton-Gore ticket defeated both Bush
and independent candidate Ross Perot with 43 percent
of the popular vote to 37 percent for Bush and 19
percent for Perot; Clinton defeated Bush in the Electoral
College by a vote of 370 to 168.
U.S. presidential election, 1992
Bill Clinton Democratic 370 44,909,889 43.0
George Bush Republican 168 39,104,545 37.4
Ross Perot Independent 19,742,267 18.9

U.S. presidential election, 1996

Bill Clinton Democratic 379 47,402,357 49.2
Bob Dole Republican 159 39,198,755 40.7
Ross Perot Reform 8,085,402 8.4
Clinton’s victory was more dramatic: he captured 370
electoral votes to Bush’s 168, thus ending 12 years of
Republican control of the presidency.
Agenda:
The modern Democratic Party emphasizes egalitarianism,
social equality, protecting the environment, and
strengthening the social safety net through liberalism.
They support voting rights and minority rights, including
LGBT rights, multiculturalism, and religious secularism.
Democrats made civil rights and anti-racism a core party
philosophy. Ideological social elements in the party
include cultural liberalism, civil libertarianism, and
feminism. Other Democratic social policies are
internationalism, openness to immigration, electoral
reform, and women's reproductive rights.