What Does it Take to be a Great President?

Kanel Ngapmen Tenga, Sophie Mounier & Sarah Larson 

 William Jefferson Clinton

  

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America”

 

Where I Live:

New York, NY.

Blog: http://billclintondailydiary.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/

 

About Me: 

Hi everyone! I am Bill Clinton, the 42^nd President of the United States. I am 6 feet, 2 inches tall. I have a cat called Socks and a golden retriever (a dog) named Buddy. Im known as a card shark with near-photographic memory. My favorite game is hearts. I was the second president to be impeached.I was the first president born after World War II (1939-1945) and the third youngest person to become president, after Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. I was also the first Democrat in 12 years to hold the presidency and the first Democrat since Franklin D.Roosevelt to be elected to two terms.

 

Date of Birth:

I was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. My father died three months after my birth, and in 1950, my mother wed Roger Clinton. In high school, I took the family name.

 

Date of Death:

Fortunately, I am still alive!

 

Sex:

Male

 

Political Views:

I am a democrat.

 

Religious Views:

Baptist

 

Years Served as President:

From January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001

 

Status:

I married Hillary Rodham on October 11, 1975.

 

Children:

I have a daughter called Chelsea Victoria, who was born in 1980.

 

Looking for:

Friendship.

 

Occupations: 

• Lawyer
• Governor of Arkansas
• Public Official
• President

 

Interests/Hobbies:

• Medicine
• Music, especially Saxophone (I considered becoming a professional musician)
• Freemasonry
• Alpha Phi Omega (a collegiate fraternity)

 

Education:

I was graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 and won a scholarship to Oxford University. In 1973, I received a degree from Yale Law School and entered politics in Arkansas.

 

Favorite Books:

Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell.

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison.

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Adam Hochschild.

Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou.

Lincoln, David Herbert Donald.

Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius.

Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics, Reinhold Niebuhr.

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Robert Wright.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, Taylor Branch.

Politics as a Vocation, Max Weber.

The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats, William Butler Yeats.

The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron.

The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes, Seamus Heaney.

The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker.

The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis, Carroll Quigley.

The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot.

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis.

The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century, David Fromkin.

You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe.

 

Favorite Movie:

There is a movie that I really enjoyed and that I honored in London. This movie is called “High Noon" by Fred Zinneman.

 

Favorite Music:

I put together the record 'The Bill Clinton Collection: Selections from the Clinton Music Room'. This CD contains a selection of my favorite hits:

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine

Nina Simone- I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - My One and Only Love

Zoot Sims - Summertime

Mahalia Jackson - Take My Hand, Precious Lord

Igor Butman - Nostalgie

Judy Collins - Chelsea Morning

Art Tatum - There Will Never Be Another You

Mickey Mangun - In the Presence of Jehovah

David Sanborn - Harlem Nocturne

Phil Coulter - The Town I Loved So Well

 

Closest Friends:

• Hillary Clinton – My wife
• Bruce Lindsey
• Al Gore – My Vice President
• Jacques Chirac - Ex-President of France.
• Conrad
• Roger Clinton
• Gennifer Flowers

 

Sports:

• Golf
• Jogging
• Football
• Rugby

 

During my stint as president, the political, social and economic factors and challenges that I had to deal with (at home) included:

 

Political

• I tried to ameliorate the health care.
• I signed a welfare reform bill to fix welfare problems.
• I cut down on the federal bureaucracy.

 

Social

• I was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives.
• I fought against HIV/AIDS.
• I fought against global warming.

 

Economic

• I cut taxes for 15 million low income families and made tax cuts for smaller businesses.
• I created many new jobs, including nearly six million in my first two years in office.
• I signed the largest deficit reduction plan in history.

  

During my stint as president, the political, social and economic factors and challenges that I had to deal with (abroad) included:

 

Political

• Trying to ameliorate the health care.
• I worked with the United Nations to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo.
• I convinced Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukrain to give up their nuclear weapons.

 

Social

• I helped to negociate a peace agreement between the Arabs, and the Israelis.
• I arranged a peace agreement between the nationalist and unionist factions in Northern Ireland.
• I helped to restore democracy.

 

Economic 

• In 1995, when the value of the peso, in Mexico, began to decline, I proposed a plan to help the Mexicans, that was rejected by Congress, so I drafted a 20 million dollar loan to Mexico.
• I helped to reform the economy of the former Soviet Union.

 

Looking back at my presidential career, I had to wear several "hats."  Wearing these different "hats," these were my most significant achievements and failures:

 

Commander-in-Chief

I avoided war with Iraq, but I was still constantly careful, and during my State of the Union Address, I informed the Congress that the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at the pursuit of nuclear weapons. I stopped the ethnic genocide executed by Serbians by authorizing American troops to intervene in Albania.

 

Chief Executive

I put together many new laws and acts. Some of the most famous ones are…

• Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which enabled artists (especially singers) to have copyrights.
• Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
• Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
• Minimum wage Increase Act
• Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996

 

Chief Diplomat

I was impeached in the Lewinsky Scandal and brought shame to my country: I was accused of having had an affair with one of my secretaries, Monica Lewinsky, of perjury and obstruction of justice. However, I was acquitted a year later.

I also promoted homosexual rights and joined the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, but the pro-environmental project I wanted to develop was voted down.

 

Ceremonial Head of State

I attended many events like the V-J Day 50th Anniversary Ceremony in 1995 or the Apollo Ceremony in 2006. In 2007, I even attended a graduation ceremony at Rochester Institute of Technology and spoke among the students I think, overall, I was pretty active with Americans. I really tried to be involved and not to look like an unreachable man, even after my years of presidency.

 

Manager of the Economy

During my presidency, the country enjoyed the longest period of economic growth in its history.

I began my second term with a victory, an agreement with Congress that promised a balanced budget by 2002. But I then failed to get authorization to get "fast track" authority to negotiate trade agreements. I was able to expand NATO to include some of the countries among the old Soviet satellite nations in Eastern Europe.

 

Party Leader

I'm a graceful speaker, I have a remarkable ability to connect with people, which enabled me to bounce back from defeats, scandals, and even impeachment.

I promised to change not only the direction the country had taken under the two previous Republican presidents but also the policies of my own Democratic Party.

 

National Leader

I won the presidency with 43 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 38 per cent for President George H. W. Bush and 19 per cent for Ross Perot.

In 1996, I ran for re-election against Republican Bob Dole. I won with 48 per cent of the popular vote, with Dole getting 41 per cent and Perot 8.5 per cent.

 

Favorite Quote About Me by a Famous Historian:

“He's gifted, bright, charming and charismatic.” – Larry Ellison

 

(More) About Me:

A Slideshow

 

 

Me Singing for Peace

 

Positive Political Cartoon

 

Negative Political Cartoon

 

 

 

 

It's Not Easy Removing a President.  (Online image) Available <http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/remove.htm> 8 May 2008.

 

 

Works Cited:

“William J. Clinton. ”  The White House.  8 May 2008.

     <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html>

White House Kids. 2008. White House Kids. 8 May 2008 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presidents/williamclinton.html>

Pritchett Cartoons. 2008.ClintonCartoon. 8 May 2008. <http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/rug.htm>

 

Thinkexist.com. 1999-2006.Finding Quotations was never this Easy. 8 May 2008.

     <http://thinkexist.com/quotes>

 

Graff, Henry F. "A History of the Presidency." Presidents: A Reference History. Ed. Henry F. Graff. 3^rd ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. xv-xli. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. INTERNATIONALACADEMYHIGH SCHOOL. 8 May 2008 <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=lom_inac>.

 

"Clinton, William J." Presidents: A Reference History. Ed. Henry F. Graff. 3^rd ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. 611. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.INTERNATIONALACADEMYHIGHSCHOOL. 8 May 2008 

     <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=lom_inac>

 

Quotations. 2008.Said What? 8 May 2008.

     <http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/viewquotesabout/bill_clinton_1041>

“Bill Clinton Releases his List of Favorite Books.”  USA Today.  24 November 2003. Books. 8 May 2008 <http://www.usatoday.com>

 

ClintonMuseumStore. 2007. The Bill Clinton Collection. 8 May 2008.

 

<http://www.clintonmuseumstore.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=MMI-WJCCD!MMI&relatedparent=CEC-CSB!CEC>

 

<http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/clinton>

 

<http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/wjclinton.html>

 

<http://www.democrats.org/a/party/history.html>

 

<http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/clinton/>

 

<http://www.politicalgifts.com/bilclinwilje.html>

 

<http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564341/bill_clinton.html>

 

<http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=1457158&text=bill+clinton+et+jacques+chirac>

 

William Jefferson Clinton