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'''Bill Clinton''' (full name: William Jefferson Clinton) served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2001, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]]. His election is notable as he never won a majority of the popular vote, though he won more votes than any of his opponents. He was impeached by the US House of Representatives during his second term for lying in grand jury testimony connected to the Paula Jones lawsuit. However, the US Senate voted not to remove him from office. His term also saw an increase in terrorism directed at the United States. These incidents included the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
[[Image:billclinton.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Bill Clinton]]
Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]]was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women1946 AD in Hope, which had always been handled under state rather than federal lawArkansas. A key provision of this law was later ruled unconstitutional His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in [[United States va car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Morrison]].<ref>http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-5.ZSClinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the young William was given his stepfather's name.html</ref>
== Early Political Career ==---- After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton also attempted was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976 AD. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country as a 32 year-old. Though defeated in 1980 AD, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 AD and held it until becoming President in 1992 AD. During his time as governor, Clinton was known for his bipartisan leadership. Some business transactions he while made were extensively investigated for years (the [[Whitewater]] scandal), though apparantly there was not enough evidence found to use warrant an indictment. == Presidency ==---- Clinton's presidency is notable as he never won a majority of the popular vote, though he won more votes than any of his opponents. Clinton won in 1992 with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a popular third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States by some sort of government-backed universal health-care insurance, which many conservatives felt would result in effective government control of the health care system. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy. The [[Association of American military Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to kill force disclosure of the committee members, and Clinton was ultimately unable to pass the program. In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton by giving a landslide victory to Republicans in Congress, where Republicans won 49.9% of the popular vote (compared to the Democrat's 44%). This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," amd began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress. These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Osama Bin LadenNewt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government if he did not have his way. When Clinton called his bluff, Gingrich caused the federal government to shut down for several days. Clinton did not cave, however, and eventually had his budget passed [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html]. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approaval ratings, which would remain above 60% for most of his presidency[Al Qaedahttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG]. Clinton was reelected in 1996 with 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. Clinton spent a lot of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor was named to investigate Clinton for allegations of impropriety in the Whitewater real-estate scandal, an action investment of Clinton's in a failed real estate venture. Although nothing came out of this investigation, and it turned out that Clinton actually lost money on his investment, one of the results of the investigation was that the special prosecutor turned to investigating other Clinton activities, one of which (the [[Monica Lewinsky]] scandal) resulted in his impeachment. After a brief trial, the Senate acquitted all charges. Clinton was seen impeached by some as an attempt the US House of Representatives during his second term for lying in grand jury testimony connected to distract the nation Paula Jones lawsuit. However, the US Senate voted not to remove him from office. His term also saw an increase in terrorism directed at the United States. These incidents included the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Clinton responded by striking back at [[Monica Lewinsky scandalal Qaeda]], the organization responsible for the attacks. Some have He launched cruise missile strikes aimed to kill al Qaeda's leader [[Osama bin Laden]] [http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/20/us.strikes.01/], and began planning to invade [[Afghanistan]] in order to capture bin Laden and overthrow the [[Taliban]] government[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n20.shtml]. Clinton also applied this criticism signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to his successorclaims of domestic disputes between men and women, George Wwhich had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Bush A key provision of this law was later ruled unconstitutional in [[United States v. Morrison]].<ref>http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-5.ZS.html</ref> Under Clinton's presidency, the economy boomed, creating the largest ever budget surplus. <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/27/clinton.surplus/</ref>
Clinton devoted much time during his two terms to the peace process in Northern Ireland. He made interventions including 3 trips to Ireland during periods of stagnation in negotiations which coincided in major breakthroughs which ensured the province didn't slide back to the violence of the 70's and 80's.
