Clinton Presidency
The presidency of Bill Clinton began on January 20, 1993 at noon Eastern Standard Time, when Bill Clinton was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat, took office after defeating Republican incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Independent businessman Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election. Four years later, he defeated Republican Bob Dole and Ross Perot (this time running on the Reform Party ticket) to win a second term of office. During both elections, Clinton ran as a New Democrat, and many of many of his administration's policy proposals reflected his centrist, Third Way thinking. The 42nd United States president, he was the first president elected after the end of the Cold War, the first Baby Boomer to become president, and also the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve two full terms.
The nation experienced an extended period of economic prosperity during the Clinton presidency. Months into his first term, he signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which raised taxes and set the stage for future budget surpluses. He also signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade pact negotiated by President George H. W. Bush among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. His most ambitious legislative initiative, a plan to provide universal health care, never received a vote in Congress after strong lobbying from opponents such as the American Medical Association. Clinton's party suffered a strong rebuke in the 1994 elections, and Republicans took control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1950s. The "Republican Revolution," as the 1994 elections came to be known, empowered Congressional Republicans led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to propose several conservative policies. While Clinton vetoed many of these policies, he also signed some, including the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. After disagreements with Congressional Republicans led to two shutdowns of the federal government between 1995 and 1996. In foreign policy, Clinton's first term saw American interventions in Haiti and the Balkans and an emphasis on the peace processes in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Ireland. Clinton also appointed two Supreme Court Justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
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