The President We Deserve: Bill Clinton : His Rise, Falls, and Comebacks - Hardcover

Walker, Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 051759871X ISBN 13: 9780517598719

Publisher: Crown Pub, 1996

Synopsis

Martin Walker's critical biography of Bill Clinton focuses on the president as a classical figure of America's post-World War II meritocracy, a poor boy from the segregated Old South who won scholarships to elite universities and became a lawyer fascinated by the process and the power of government.
This president's background is as grittily American as the woeful tales that wail from jukeboxes in bars across the land. Bill Clinton is Bubba with brains, a redneck with a Rhodes scholarship - America at her most raw - and most cultivated. Martin Walker presents a thorough and insightful account of the tumultuous Clinton administration from the president's foreign policy failures in Bosnia and Somalia to his successes in the Baltic and Northern Ireland, and to the ever-changing role of Hillary Rodham Clinton and her impact on her husband's presidency, beginning with the First Lady's health reform efforts to her involvement in Whitewater and the travel office controversy. Martin Walker shows us the why, the how, and the future of the Clinton administration, which has been unpredictable, volatile, and continually fascinating.

About this title

About the Authors

Martin Walker is the U.S. Bureau Chief for Britain's Guardian and is a regular commentator for CNN, CBC, National Public Radio, Monitor Radio, and the BBC.  He also writes a regular column for the Los Angeles Times and is an occasional contributor to the New York Times and the Washington Post.  He lives in Washington, D.C.

Martin Walker is the U.S. Bureau Chief for Britain's Guardian and is a regular commentator for CNN, the CBC, National Public Radio, Monitor Radio, and the BBC.

From the Back Cover

r's critical biography of Bill Clinton focuses on the president as a classic figure of America's post-World War II meritocracy, a poor boy from the segregated old South who won scholarships to elite universities and became a lawyer fascinated by the process and the power of government.  Walker also unearths a private life that has resonated to the rhythmic clichés of a country-and-western song:  Clinton's father died in a car wreck before he was born; his mother buried three husbands and married two more; his stepdaddy beat his mother and fired gunshots into the bedroom walls; one brother went to jail; and his own marriage tottered under the pain he admitted inflicting upon it.  This president's background is as grittily American as the woeful tales that wail from jukeboxes in bars across the land.  He is Bubba with brains, a redneck with a Rhodes scholarship--America at her most raw, and most cultivated.  And his first term has been unpredictable

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

President We Deserve, The

Bill Clinton: His Rise, Falls, and ComebacksBy Martin Walker

Crown

Copyright © 1996 Martin Walker
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780517598719
The Highs and Lows of the Clinton Administration taken from THE PRESIDENT WE DESERVE: Bill Clinton: His Rise, Falls, and Comebacks by Martin Walker  

1993

January 20                Inauguration
January 22                Zoe Baird nomination withdrawn
January 25                Hillary Clinton given health reform task force
February 10                Promise of U.S. troops to enforce Bosnia peace
February 17                Clinton presents economic plan to Congress
April 3                First summit with Yeltsin
April 19                FBI assault on Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, followed by fire and 83 deaths
April 29                Clinton loses economic stimulus bill in Congress
May 19                Christophe's $200 haircut at LAX
June 4                        David Gergen appointed
July 5-6                G7 Tokyo summit
July 19                Vince Foster found dead
September 13                Arafat and Rabin sign peace accord at White House
September 27                Health reform plan unveiled to Congress
September 29                White House first hears of possible Justice Department criminal investigation into bankruptcy of Madison Guaranty
October 3                18 U.S. Rangers killed in Mogadishu
October 11                USS Harlan County turns back from Haiti
November 17                Congress passes NAFTA
November 20                Asian-Pacific summit in Seattle
December 15                Defense secretary Aspin "resigns"
December 19                American Spectator publishes "What the Troopers Saw"
December 21                Washington Times says Whitewater files removed from Vince Foster's office after his death.

1994

January 6                Senator Dole demands a special prosecutor
January 12                Clinton, from NATO summit in Europe, asks Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate Whitewater affairs
January 30                U.S. visa granted to Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams
February 5                68 die in Sarajevo marketplace mortar attack; NATO promises to protect Muslim "safe havens"
March 5                White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum resigns
March 18                U.S. diplomacy establishes Bosnian-Croat Federation
April 10                NATO jets hit Serb ground targets at Gorazde
June 27                Leon Panetta appointed White House chief of staff
June 28                2656 Haitian boat people picked up by U.S. Navy
July 6                        G7 economic summit in Italy; Yeltsin pressed to withdraw last Russian troops from Baltic states
July 21                Clinton health reform plan dropped by Congress
August 12                Crime bill defeated
August 17                Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman resigns after congressional hearings into "improper" referrals to White House
August 21                Crime bill passed
August 31                Cease-fire announced in Northern Ireland
September 18                Haitian military agree to leave office
September 27                GOP congressmen sign "Contract with America"
October 7                U.S. reinforcements rush to Persian Gulf after Iraqi threat
November 8                The Republican landslide victory in Congress
November 11                U.S. stops enforcing UN arms embargo in Balkans
December 1                GATT trade pact passes
December 6                Lloyd Bentsen resigns as treasury secretary
December 9                Miami summit on Western Hemisphere free trade pact
December 29                Mexican economic collapse

1995

January 4                Republicans take over Congress
February 4                $1 billion sanctions threat against China
March 2                Republicans lose balanced budget amendment in Senate
April 18                Clinton says, "The president is relevant here"
April 19                Oklahoma City terrorist blast
May 8                        Moscow summit; Clinton demands "more robust" policy on Bosnia
May 17                 Clinton's first veto, on $16 billion budget cut
June 14                Clinton promises to balance budget in ten years
July 11                Fall of "safe haven" Srebrenica
July 25                Fall of "safe haven" Zepa
August 4                Croation offensive begins against Bosnian Serbs
August 11                Clinton vetoes Congress attempt to lift arms embargo
August 19                Death of Ambassador Robert Frasure and two other members of U.S. negotiating team on Mount Igmanin Bosnia-Herzegovina
August 30                Start of NATO air strikes, led by U.S., against Bosnian Serb air defenses
September 7                Outline of Bosnian peace agreement announced
October 5                Bosnian cease-fire announced
October 16                Million-Man March; Clinton sticks with affirmative action
November 8                General Colin Powell says he will not run for president
November 14                First U.S. government shutdown in budget battle; lasts three days
November 21                Bosnian peace agreement reached at Dayton, Ohio
November 30                Clinton's triumphant reception in peaceful Belfast
December 1                Clinton signs treaty of intent for free trade with European Union
December 15                Second U.S. government shutdown begins; lasts two weeks
December 15                Last day for New Hampshire primary deadline; Clinton will face no serious Democratic opponents

1996

January 8                First lady is "congenital liar," says William Safire in New York Times
January 9                Budget talks with Congress break down
January 9                U.S. Appeals Court says Paula Jones lawsuit may proceed
January 23                "The era of big government is over," says Clinton in much-praised State of Union address; Dole's response falters
January 26                Hillary Clinton appears before grand jury
February 9                IRA breaks cease-fire with bomb in London; 2 dead
February 20                Pat Buchanan wins New Hampshire primary
February 27                Steve Forbes wins Arizona primary
March 2                Dole wins South Carolina primary
March 12                Dole sweeps Super Tuesday primaries
March 14                 Clinton orders two carrier groups to Taiwan waters
March 25                Dole secures Republican nomination by winning California primary
April 28                Clinton gives video testimony in Jim McDougal's fraud trial
May 15                Dole steps down from senate
August 12-15                Republican convention, San Diego
August 26-29                Democratic convention, Chicago
September 2                Electronic convention of Perot's Reform party
November 5                 Election day

Continues...

Excerpted from President We Deserve, The by Martin Walker Copyright © 1996 by Martin Walker. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 051759871X
• ISBN 13: 9780517598719
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360