President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
1978: Supported ERA peripherally in first Governor race
In 1978, Hillary’s presence next to Bill at campaign events--and their vigorous support for the equal Rights Amendment--further inflamed the Moral Majority right, still in its infancy. At a campaign stop, a woman started hollering at Bill, “Talk about
the ERA!” Bill said, “Okay, I’ll talk about it. I’m for it. You’re against it. But it won’t do as much harm as you think it will or as much good as those of us who support it wish it would. Now let’s get back to schools and jobs.”
Source: A Woman in Charge, by Carl Bernstein, p.142
Jun 5, 2007
Believed in affirmative action on racial & personal grounds
Clinton believed that symbolic gestures of racial reconciliation--like affirmative action, which mostly benefits middle class blacks--were not only necessary, but they also reflected an emerging American reality. In the end, the affirmative action
decision was quite personal for the President. He simply could not stand up in front of his African-American friends--who had sacrificed for the civil rights cause--and say the politically expedient words: Affirmative action is unfair & we should end it.
Source: The Natural, by Joe Klein, p.151
Feb 11, 2003
1991: Pledged to allow gays to serve openly in military
In his very first press conference as President-elect, on 11/11/91, he made a serious mistake. Asked if he would stand by his pledge to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military, Clinton said yes. The military issue had never been very important
to the homosexual activist groups, who were more concerned with equal job protection, marriage rights, and AIDS funding; oddly, the Republicans had chosen not to highlight this lesser Clinton pledge during the campaign. And a more alert President-elect
could easily have slipped past the question. (The classic Clintonian response would have been: "Yes, we're going to ask the military to study the situation and come up with a plan"--to be implemented sometime in the next century.)
"It sent precisely th
wrong message," said a campaign advisors. "I'm not saying he shouldn't have taken that position. But as the first thing he did?"
This was also the first glimmer of a significant problem: Clinton's uncertainty about--and unfamiliarity with--the military
In 1993, Clinton made a stunning, impromptu performance before a group of black ministers in Memphis--perhaps the best speech a President has ever delivered to a black audience. He spoke informally, but without patronizing; and he spoke brazenly,
presuming to know what Martin Luther King might say if he were still alive: "'I fought for freedom,' he would say, 'but not for the freedom of children to have children, and the fathers of the children to walk away and abandon them as if they don't amoun
to anything. That is not what I lived and died for.'"
The reception was sensational; the ministers seemed to sense as many African-Americans did, that the President was FAMILY. He was willing to confront black audiences with some difficult truths--abou
the need for welfare reform (a big applause line with socially conservative black middle-class audiences) and parental responsibility--but he was equally insistent on the need for racial tolerance and a determined government effort to promote diversity.
1996: Supported affirmative action despite its unpopularity
According to Hillary Clinton, Bill had to know exactly how "angry white males" felt--he had to feel it himself--before he could, in the summer of 1995, with an election looming (and with Dick Morris brandishing all sorts of polls showing how unpopular
his position was), maintain his longtime support for affirmative action.
The decisions Clinton made on affirmative action and welfare reform, as he approached his reelection campaign of 1996, were very different and yet entirely similar.
A cynic might say that he split that difference--he gave the Old Democrats affirmative action and the New Democrats welfare reform. And while his anguished equivocation under the moral authority of each decision,
Clinton was ultimately consistent--he had stood for both throughout his political career; indeed, both were integral to his governing vision.
The 1995 Adarabd v. Pena case was a landmark Supreme Court ruling against government racial preferences and quotas.
Prior to Adarand, the government sponsored in one form or another more than 160 racial preference programs allocating some $10 billion through overt racial spoils systems.
Those submitting the lowest bid, for example, would not get certain jobs or contracts unless they ore their companies fit certain racial or ethnic profiles.
Bill Clinton responded with a slogan he must have borrowed from Jesse Jackson: he wanted to “mend not end” these discriminatory programs, benignly labeled ‘affirmative action,’ and used an executive order to continue the profiling.
Within days of being sworn in as president, Clinton issued an order about homosexuals in the military, changing existing policy to what became ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’
That order responded to pressure from Clinton’s homosexual supporters, who had raised $3.5 million dollars for him.
Source: The Final Days, by Barbara Olson, p. 78
Oct 25, 2001
Work to End Racial Profiling
To help determine where and when racial profiling occurs, Pres. Clinton directed the Departments of Justice, Treasury and Agriculture to collect data on the race, ethnicity, and gender of individuals subject to certain stops by federal law enforcement.
The President also supports legislation to help state and local police forces to collect the same data. The President has also supported increased resources for police integrity and ethics training and to improve the diversity of local police forces.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Aug 1, 2000
End Discrimination Against People With AIDS
President Clinton supports the Supreme Court’s decision in Bragdon v. Abbott, which reinforces the protections offered by the Americans With Disabilities Act for Americans living with HIV and AIDS. The President directed the Justice Department and the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to vigorously prosecute those who discriminate against people with AIDS, leading to actions against health care providers and facilities that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
May 1, 2000
First President to appoint open gays
Creating the most diverse Administration in history, the President has appointed openly gay men and lesbians to all levels of government, including judicial appointments and top Executive Branch positions requiring Senate confirmation. In fact, President
Clinton is the first President to appoint an openly gay or lesbian person to an Administration post. The President has nominated more than 150 openly gay and lesbian appointees.
On October 6, 1997 and again on January 6, 1999, the President nominated
James C. Hormel to be U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg. Although Mr. Hormel’s qualifications were never in question, and it was generally agreed that his nomination would have easily won a floor vote, a handful of conservative Senators blocked
the nomination. On June 4, 1999, President Clinton announced the recess appointment of James Hormel, making Mr. Hormel the first openly gay U.S. Ambassador.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
May 1, 2000
Include sexual orientation in Hate Crimes
Discrimination or violence because of race or religion, ancestry or gender, disability or sexual orientation, is wrong, and it ought to be illegal. Therefore, I ask Congress to make the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of the land.
Source: State of the Union Address
Jan 19, 1999
Help minority- and women-owned businesses compete
The President signed the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century into law on June 9, 1998. The Act protects the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, a program that ensures that minority and women-owned businesses have
an opportunity to compete for transportation projects. The Administration helped defeat an amendment to the House version of this bill that would have eliminated the DBE Program.
In a different measure, the President also approved the creation of a new program to target assistance to minority-owned businesses in industries that continue to reflect the effects of discrimination.
As a result, thousands of minority-owned businesses will be able to compete more effectively for government contracts.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Jun 9, 1998
Affirmative action: mend it, don’t end it
The Supreme Court rejected the notion that we could ever be separate but equal, and Democrats and Republicans alike passed laws against discrimination and created affirmative action programs to redress centuries of wrongs for minorities and women.
Affirmative action was intended to give everybody a fair chance, but it hasn’t always worked smoothly & fairly. Today there are those who are determined to put an end to affirmative action, as if the purposes for which it was created have been achieved.
They have not. Until they are, we need to mend affirmative action, most certainly, but not end it.
That is exactly what we are trying to do: end abuses, prohibit quotas, subject affirmative action to strict review, oppose any benefits
to those who aren’t qualified, but make that extra effort to see that everyone has not a guarantee, but a chance.
Shift from group preferences to economic empowerment of all.
Clinton adopted the manifesto, "A New Agenda for the New Decade":
Strengthen America’s Common Civic Culture The more ethnically and culturally diverse America becomes, the harder we must all work to affirm our common civic culture -- the values and democratic institutions we share and that define our national identity as Americans. This means we should resist an “identity politics” that confers rights and entitlements on groups and instead affirm our common rights and responsibilities as citizens. Multiethnic democracy requires fighting discrimination against marginalized groups; empowering the disadvantaged to join the economic, political, and cultural mainstream; and respecting diversity while insisting that what we have in common as Americans is more important than how we differ. One way to encourage an ethic of citizenship and mutual obligation is to promote voluntary national service.
If expanded to become available to everyone who wants to participate, national service can help turn the strong impulse toward volunteerism among our young people into a major resource in addressing our social problems. It will also help revive a sense of patriotism and national unity at a time when military service is no longer the common experience of young Americans.
Goals for 2010
Reduce discrimination based on race, gender, national background, religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation.
Shift the emphasis of affirmative action strategies from group preferences to economic empowerment of all disadvantaged citizens.
Expand the AmeriCorps national service program so that everyone willing to serve can serve -- with 1 million participants enrolled by the end of the decade.
Promote character education in all public schools.
Source: The Hyde Park Declaration 00-DLC6 on Aug 1, 2000
Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights.
