American History: Clinton Wins 1992 Election

16 February 2012

Bill Clinton takes the oath of office from Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Capitol on January 20, 1993. Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter Chelsea are at his side and behind him is Vice President Al Gore.

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we begin the story of Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president. He led the United States for eight years, from January of nineteen ninety-three to January of two thousand one.

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Our story begins in nineteen ninety-one. In February of that year, American-led forces won Operation Desert Storm to end Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein considered Kuwait a province of Iraq. He had invaded the oil-rich country in August nineteen ninety. Coalition air strikes began four months later, in January, against Iraqi targets. The ground war took place in February and lasted just four days.

The American-led victory in the Gulf war added to the popularity of President George H.W. Bush.

Nineteen ninety-one was also the last year for the U.S.S.R., the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to more than forty years of Cold War tensions and fears of nuclear war.

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In the United States, attention was turning to the nineteen ninety-two presidential election. Many political observers believed President Bush would easily win a second term.