October 21

"There is nothing wrong with America that can't be cured with what is right about America."

Bill Clinton, 42nd President, 1993-2001, from his First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1993. Ambitious, educated, entitled, and enabled, Bill Clinton, presided over a great period of economic growth. From his teenage years, he found he was good at speech and debate and became active in student government. He was inspired by Martin Luther King and also wanted to follow in the footsteps of John F Kennedy, whom he met in the summer of 1963 as an Arkansas delegate of Boys Nation. Majoring in International Affairs at Georgetown University, he won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University in England, staying involved in government all the while. He graduated from Yale Law School where he met Hillary Rodham and they married in 1975. She provided much support as he rose through the political ranks of Arkansas, where he was elected governor. Through his success in Arkansas, he gained prominence in national politics, and with Hillary's steadfast support, won the Democratic nomination for President in 1992, despite allegations of improprieties with several women. As the first President of the "Baby Boomer" generation, Clinton called for renewal of America: "...Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. And we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us. From our Revolution to the Civil War, to the Great Depression, to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history...Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time. Let us embrace it. Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. And so today we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift, and a new season of American renewal has begun...To renew America, we must be bold. We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, and in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt. And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity."