Events during the 80s and 90s

This time I had to choose an important event that took place during these wonderful decades. I chose to talk about Bill Clinton's Presidency.

Events of the 1980s -90s
The Positive Side of Bill Clinton’s Administration (1993-2001)

by: Paulina Rebeca Ortega Silva

William Jefferson Clinton, representative of the Democrat Party, won the Presidential Elections in 1992 against George H.W. Bush and H. Ross Perot. It had been a while since a Democrat had been a president of the United States. His success restored the Democrat’s power over the political charges in the American government. Bill Clinton took over his charge as the President of the United States in 1993 and left in 2001. I think that Bill Clinton’s policies improved the life of the Americans. I would like to say that I support the idea that during his administration the United States had a big economical growth, better living conditions, and had the role of peace promoting nation.

According to the statistics, the United States experienced the longest period of economic growth in its history, thanks to the international trading treaties Clinton signed, the budget reforms and the peace dividend following the end of the cold war of Russia and the United States. In 1993, Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trading Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. This treaty reduced the tariffs and created free trading block between these three North American countries. Thanks to the NAFTA, the exports from the United States to Canada and Mexico increased, and therefore, this favored the American Economy. During this same year, Bill Clinton signed a treaty with the Pacific Rim Nations. On November 1993, he sighed in Seattle a treaty called the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). This treaty removed the boundaries for trading between these Asian countries and the United States. Bill Clinton also signed other international trading agreements. No wonder this was a period of economic growth for the United States. Unfortunately, the benefits from these treaties were not equal to all the countries involved because the United States was the one that got the greatest benefits. We have our clearest example right here in our country: the exports from Mexico to the United States were had the best quality, but the Mexicans stayed with the not so good quality products. So if the Mexicans wanted to acquire good quality products they had to travel to the United States and buy the same exported products, and once again favor the American Economy. We can conclude that all this treaties were the main reason why the American economy kept growing throughout Clinton’s administration.

On the first months of his administration, Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical leave act. This act allowed employees unpaid leave for pregnancy or other serious medical conditions. Obviously, the welfare of the American population was strongly related to the growth of the economy, because people were able to buy houses, cars and other things. Also, there were a lot of job offers because of all those free trading treaties and also the salaries increased. There was also a reduction of taxes during his administration. These are the reasons which I consider improved the living conditions in the United States.

Bill Clinton traveled to many countries around the world to promote peace and human rights. Ever since his youth, Bill Clinton had fought for his ideals of justice and peace. During the 1960’s he protested against the Viet Nam War and he was in favor of women’s right to choose and equal rights. He didn’t support the Gulf War and he tried to promote human rights in the countries where there was injustice. He sent his troops to African countries not to fight, but to provide the poor people with food and clothing. He came several times to Mexico and had a good relationship with our presidents (Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox). I read that he even advised president Zedillo when we experienced the peso’s devaluation. I think there was less racism during his presidency and people were more open-minded about foreign tourists who visited the United States. As a person who goes several times a year to the United States I’ve noticed the change now that Bill Clinton is no longer the president. The men who check your visa in the border were friendlier back then and they didn’t check you as much. (Of course maybe this is mostly due to the terrorism experienced with the current President of the United States, but that is another matter for another essay, I guess.) Also, there was less discrimination towards the migrant workers in that country. It was easier for them to fix their papers and become American Citizens and work legally. I didn’t feel there were as much prejudices about Mexican migrants as there are today with all those boarder patrols. Back then, people didn’t make a fuss about building a wall to mark the frontier between Mexico and the United States. People weren’t as paranoid as they are today about a terrorist attack. He refused many times to use military force to solve issues between nations, instead Bill Clinton signed many peace treaties. He promoted peace within Palestine and Israel. I guess all this earned Clinton popularity among the citizens in the United States but also with the people from other countries. We like him better than President Bush.

Personally, I think Bill Clinton did a good job as a president. His policies certainly affected the Americans but in a positive way, I guess. Like I mentioned before, the American Economy experienced a progressive increase during his administration thanks to all those economic treaties he signed with foreign countries. People got better jobs and permissions. I think the best part of his administration was that he promoted peace and human rights. He had a good relationship with most of the presidents and he avoided the use of military forces to solve the conflicts between nations. We can say he meddled in other countries’ business but he had good intentions. Back then, dialogue was the first choice to solve a problem and usually nations would establish an agreement. When Clinton was the President of the United States, the country experienced economical progress, better living conditions for the citizens and somehow less racism than now-a-days.