President Clinton failed in his first attempt to achieve his goals. Against powerful congressional opposition, he backed away from ordering the admission of gays and lesbians into the military, though many already served secretly. Under pressure, the president instead devised the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which permitted homosexuals to serve in the armed forces so long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret. Gay service members did not benefit from this compromise and continued to encounter discrimination in the military.

Clinton had even less success in reforming health care. Since President Harry Truman had first proposed a system of universal health care coverage in the late 1940s (see chapter 24), the American Medical Association and private insurance companies had succeeded in blocking passage of this and all subsequent plans, despite the general approval of the American public. The Clinton administration recommended a system of universal medical coverage based on “managed competition”—the establishment of regional health care cooperatives to purchase low-cost, private insurance paid for largely by employers. Although Clinton’s plan did not advocate “socialized medicine” (government-run medical care) as many critics charged, the plan nonetheless went down to defeat.

President Clinton was more successful in achieving his goals in other areas, some of which were no less controversial. In 1993, reversing Reagan-Bush policies, President Clinton signed executive orders allowing physicians in federally funded clinics to advise patients about abortion; authorizing military hospitals to perform abortions; and funding UN programs that included abortions. Clinton also demonstrated that women’s rights were not incompatible with family values. He approved the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which allowed parents to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave to care for newborn children without risk of losing their jobs.

Clinton tried to appeal to voters across the political spectrum on other issues. He signed a tough anticrime law that funded the recruitment of an additional 100,000 police officers to patrol city streets, while supporting gun control legislation. Managing to overcome the powerful lobby of the National Rifle Association, in 1993 Clinton signed the Brady Bill (named after Ronald Reagan’s aide who was shot in the attempted assassination of the president in 1981), which imposed a five-day waiting period to check the background of gun buyers.

The president achieved even greater success in promoting racial diversity. He appointed African Americans to high-level positions in his cabinet—his selection of four African Americans at one time was unprecedented. His “rainbow administration” welcomed women and minorities to other important posts. Born in the segregated South, Clinton had become a strong advocate of affirmative action and did what he could to protect it from conservative challenges in the states and the courts.

Clinton’s fiscal policies ushered in a period of economic growth and prosperity, which ended the recession of the early 1990s. With congressional support, the president reduced domestic and defense spending by $500 billion, while raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. By the end of the 1990s, the Clinton administration had eliminated the deficit, the gross domestic product was rising 3 percent annually, unemployment dropped from 6 percent to 4 percent, and the stock market reached record highs.

President Clinton’s accomplishments aroused fierce opposition from conservatives. Right-wing talk radio hosts criticized the president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a lawyer and leader in the effort to reform health care. Conservatives blamed Clinton for all they considered wrong in society—feminism, abortion, affirmative action, and secularism. Rush Limbaugh, a popular conservative talk-show host, donned the self-proclaimed mantle of the “angry white male.” His rhetoric respected few boundaries, even on publicly owned airwaves, where he uttered comments such as “Feminism was established to allow unattractive women access to mainstream society.” Clinton’s personal life also provided ammunition for his opponents. Rumors of marital infidelity hounded him, and questions about his and his wife’s pre-presidential dealings in a controversial real estate development project known as Whitewater prompted the appointment in 1994 of a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of impropriety.

Facing conservative opposition, the president and the Democratic Party fared poorly in the 1994 congressional elections. Republicans, led by House Minority Leader Newt Gingrich of Georgia, championed the Contract with America. This document embraced conservative principles of a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, reduced welfare spending, lower taxes, and term limits for lawmakers. Democrats lost fifty-four seats in the House, and for the first time since 1952 Republicans captured a majority of both houses of Congress. This election also underscored the increasing electoral influence of white evangelical Christians, who turned out to vote in large numbers for Republican candidates.

Stung by this defeat, Clinton tried to outmaneuver congressional Republicans by shifting rightward politically and championing welfare reform. In 1996 he signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children provision of the Social Security law, the basis for welfare in the United States since the New Deal. The measure required adults on the welfare rolls to find work within two years or lose the benefits provided to families earning less than $7,700. Welfare had provided Republicans with a wedge issue to divide the Democratic electorate, and Clinton diminished its effect by supporting reform. Also in 1996, the president approved the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied married same-sex couples the federal benefits granted to heterosexual married couples, including Social Security survivor’s benefits.

In adopting such positions as deficit reduction, welfare reform, and antigay legislation, Clinton ensured his reelection in 1996. Running against Republican senator Robert Dole of Kansas, a military veteran of World War II, and the independent candidate Ross Perot, Clinton captured 49 percent of the popular vote and 379 electoral votes. Dole received 41 percent of the vote, and Perot came in a distant third with 8 percent, a sharp decline from the 19 percent he had received four years earlier.