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= William Jefferson Clinton = //The 42nd President of the United States of America//
 * 1993-2001**



Overview
William Jefferson Clinton was born on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas, and had hopes from an early age to become President. As a boy he was obsessed with politics, winning student elections at high school and later at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton briefly taught law at the University of Arkansas. He ran for the United States House of Representatives and lost, in 1974, and then was elected state attorney general. In 1978, at the age of thirty-two, he became the youngest governor in the nation and in Arkansas history. After losing his bid for reelection, Clinton came back to win four terms, positioning himself for a shot at the Democratic nomination for President in 1992.

Central Issue
Clinton suffered two major setbacks during his administration. The first was his failure to obtain health care reform. The second, and much more damaging to his place in history, was his impeachment by the House of Representatives on charges of having lied under oath and having obstructed justice in the attempted cover-up of his affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The American people evidently cared less about the President's marital affairs and they found the reactions of the Republican Congress to be excessive. The Republicans lost seats in the House, and the Senate thereafter failed to convict Clinton on the impeachment charges. Benefiting from a basically healthy economy, he handily won reelection in Nov., 1996, garnering 49% of the vote against Republican candidate Bob Dole and Reform party candidate Ross Perot, and became the first Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to win two terms at the polls.   

Conclusion
No one major accomplishment or program marked Clinton's terms in office; his many real achievements were mainly incremental, and were often overshadowed by setbacks. However, through his extraordinary ability to relate to ordinary Americans, his intelligence and wit, and his skill in manipulating the media, he maintained an unusual level of popularity and a high approval rating throughout most of two terms in office. Nonetheless, the Lewinsky scandal, in particular, permanently marred his presidency. 

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Bill Clinton's motivation behind his work

References (2009-10.1.2.B)
"Frontline: the clinton years |." //PBS//. Web. 07 Jan. 2010. []. "William J. Clinton |." //The White House//. Web. 08 Jan. 2010. [].

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