William Jefferson Blythe III, known to many today as Bill Clinton, was born August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. William was born to William Jefferson Blythe Junior and Virginia Cassidy. Before Virginia gave birth to her son, William, her husband died in a vehicle accident. A few years after her husband's death, Virginia married Roger Clinton, an abusive alcoholic who would become the stepfather of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was first introduced to politics in high school, where he was heavily involved in his state’s Boy Nation. After he was chosen to represent his state for Boy’s Nation, he met President John F. Kennedy and instantly knew that he wanted to be involved in politics later in life. Later in life, when Bill was in college at Georgetown, he worked as a clerk for the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Bill Clinton was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that would allow him to study at the prestigious Oxford University in England. In 1978, Clinton got his first major entrance into politics when he ran for Governor of Arkansas. However, Governor Clinton would not be re-elected after his first term in office. Instead of giving up on politics, Bill went around the state campaigning and listening to voters. Voters recognized the amount of charisma that he had and decided to give him another chance during the 1982 election. The connections that Clinton made during his time as a clerk and as a governor aided his presidential campaign during the 1992 presidential election.
George H.W. Bush, the incumbent president of the 1992 election was a strong candidate. One of the most striking and visible issues during the election of 1992 was the employment rate. The United States was seeing the highest unemployment rate in over five years. In 1992, the unemployment rate jumped to a staggering 7.4% in December. At the height of unemployment in 1992, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. At the start of Bush’s presidency, the unemployment rate was only 5.4 to 6.3%. As the unemployment rate continued to increase, Bush’s approval rating tanked. Voters were in disbelief of the exorbitantly high unemployment rate. George H.W. Bush was starting to be seen as out of touch with the middle class and struggling Americans and did not take a strong course of action to try to reinvigorate the economy and lower unemployment rates. Bill Clinton, even though he may not have been an economist, had a clear plan to improve the economy, thus lowering the unemployment rate. Voters enjoyed having a plan that was clear and concise that outlined how to improve the unemployment rate. Clinton’s plan during his 1992 campaign included paying more attention to the middle class and renewing a government program to solve the problem. Bill Clinton’s plan to decrease the unemployment rate was key in convincing voters to vote for him instead of George H.W. Bush.
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The economy was perhaps the biggest issue in the 1992 election. Leading up to 1992, the election was not performing well. Between 1990 and 1992 there was an economic recession. In 1991, the United States saw a loss of over 800,00 jobs. Overall, the economy was in a slump and Bush was partially to blame. Clinton saw Bush’s weakness and exploited it. Bill Clinton publicly came out during his campaign and gave his own potential economic plans. Voters, excited by the thought of an improving economy, heavily supported Clinton and his plan. Clinton’s plan included cutting taxes for the middle class, making training more easily accessible so workers could become highly-trained, giving funding to emerging technologies, and making FHA loans more accessible. Middle class families and those struggling saw the chance to elect a president that would fight for them and their families. During the Clinton’s 1992 campaign, Clinton’s strategist, James Carville, put such an emphasis on the economy that they coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid”. Since many voters will vote in accordance with how well their bank account is performing, Bill Clinton was the top candidate due to his direct plan to boost the economy. Even though Ross Perot was an economist, his lack of political experience and his history of leaving elections made voters weary of what he may do as president. Therefore, Ross Perot lagged behind in the race, even though his main issue to tackle was also his strong suit, the economy. Bill Clinton was able to push an economic plan to Americans that would ultimately aid him in becoming President of the United States of America.
Debt at the time of the 1992 election was approximately 4.17 trillion dollars. George H.W. Bush had raised the debt from 2.68 trillion dollars to 4.17 trillion dollars, an increase of over 55%. National Debt causes many different problems that harm the entire nation and economy. Consequences may include decreased savings and income, higher interest rates on loans, and cuts on government spending. Decreasing income causes a lower amount of income tax collected and decreases spending. A decrease in spending causes less items to be produced, which may cause layoffs in businesses due to decreased demand. Higher interest rates cause less Americans to obtain a mortgage or car loan which may cause a lower amount of money in property taxes collected. Cuts on government spending may mean more people being kicked off food stamps or social programs which causes more people to go into poverty. Overall, national debt is an extremely negative thing to have that causes harm to people. Bill Clinton had an extremely strong stance against debt. When he was Governor of Arkansas, Clinton saw businesses close and people lose their jobs due to the national debt. Clinton strongly believed that the national debt is a direct result of trickle-down economics. Bill Clinton believed that by reinvesting into America, that the national debt would go down in return. In conclusion, during the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton took an extremely strong stance against national debt and believed it was due to trickle-down economics.
Conservatives and Liberals have polar opposite views on taxes. Conservatives believe that lower taxes will result in greater economic growth. Liberals believe that raising taxes will result in greater economic growth. Bill Clinton was a proponent of raising taxes. However, he was also a proponent of cutting taxes for the working middle class. Clinton wanted to raise taxes on the upper class who can afford it. Bill Clinton believed that by promising to cut taxes for the middle class, that he could fulfill a promise that George H.W. Bush had broken. In Bush’s famous “read my lips: no new taxes” speech, he had promised to not add more taxes. However, Bush broke that promise shortly after and Americans were not too fond of him. Clinton also wanted to change the tax code. If the tax code were to benefit companies and entice them to modernize their plants, then they might stay in the United States. Furthermore, during his 1992 campaign, Bill promised to raise 45 billion dollars of revenue from taxes. Those taxes would be from foreign owned corporations. In conclusion, Bill Clinton believed in both raising and lowering taxes. Clinton believed that taxes was one of the ways he could gain voters from the untrustworthy George H.W. Bush.
During George H.W. Bush’s presidency, crime was at an all-time high. More and more people were dying and less people were getting caught. In 1991, crime peaked with an average of 5,856 crimes per 100,000 people. Clinton had a very detailed plan to decrease the number of violent crimes that were happening. Firstly, Clinton believed there was a system that could be made to perform background checks before someone could buy a handgun. The inspiration for this idea most likely came from James Brady, the Vice President of Ronald Reagan who was shot with a handgun. Furthermore, Clinton also believed in a harsh regulation of assault rifles. By regulating assault rifles, the hope is that police have a change in gang-infested neighborhoods. Bill Clinton was also a proponent of hiring more police offices. Most of the inspiration for all of Clinton’s viewpoints came from a crime bill that was not passed by the Senate. In conclusion, Bill Clinton was a proponent of the Brady Bill, believed in regulation on assault rifles, and thought there should be more police on the streets.
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