At a political standpoint, each president is his own man, but as a whole, these presidents have made American history by impacting its people.
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/9/8/19983449/581814541.jpg)
The Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton has traversed through public shame and humiliation as well as public admiration and glory. As the 42nd president of the United States, Clinton took office at the end of the Cold War. The Cold War was a time of uncertainties and rebellion against authority, doubts rising in every American as to whether or not we were right. It was a long tunnel of clashing ideals and increasing apprehension, but the end finally arrived, and it arrived in time for the beginning of Clinton's presidential rule. In the words of Stanley Fung, “He was a lucky man.”
However, it was not simply because he was lucky that he was loved and admired. His presidency resided over a time that many Americans had taken to call “The Golden Age.” As Fung recalls that period of time, he is reminded of peace and economic prosperity – something which both garnered respect for Clinton, as well as saved his presidency.
“I believe instead of debt – the country had a debt – I believe they ended up having a surplus instead of a debt... revenue wise. […] People had jobs. The economy was good,” Fung said.
Yet, not all shared Fung's admirations as some had been led to believe that Clinton really was just “a lucky man.”
“It certainly seemed like Clinton was one of the best presidents that we have had while I have been alive, but I am also cynical enough to think that he just led during the time of our nation's greatest prosperity, the Golden Age.” Daniel Kuhns said.
Through his promising presidency, Bill Clinton hit a snag and nearly lost it all as he faced the Lewinsky Scandal of 1998. The controversy nearly costed Clinton his presidency as people began to question him, his morality, and his capabilities as a president.
“Did the president really lie? Or did he not lie? There was a lot of controversy for that. And was it considered a personal business, or the moral standards and how we define that... it really becomes a big issue and topic discussed in this event. So it might change people’s mind regarding to the truthfulness and the honesty of the president.” Fung said.
In all finality, the only thing that could be said about the wrongfulness of Clinton's actions was voiced by Fung, whose statement also echoed that of the opinions that had emerged in Americans during that time, “The biggest mistake Clinton made, was lying to the country.”
But Clinton survived and finished the rest of his term, saved by the economic prosperity his presidency had brought to America. “People might think he’s a liar but... but I guess Clinton survived that scandal and he finished up his term. And during his term, the economy was good and people’s lives were good. The economy was just really, really good. So I think that was one of the reasons he survived from that.”
Although Clinton's presidential track record was not as flawless and shiny as would be expected from the man who gave rise to “The Golden Era,” he did not allow his mistakes and petty rumors about his personal life deter him from his one and only goal: make America as great of a country as he knows it to be. Through that mentality, Bill Clinton made a name for himself in American history, not for his personal affairs, but for what he had done for our people, our country, our America.
Bill Clinton has traversed through public shame and humiliation as well as public admiration and glory. As the 42nd president of the United States, Clinton took office at the end of the Cold War. The Cold War was a time of uncertainties and rebellion against authority, doubts rising in every American as to whether or not we were right. It was a long tunnel of clashing ideals and increasing apprehension, but the end finally arrived, and it arrived in time for the beginning of Clinton's presidential rule. In the words of Stanley Fung, “He was a lucky man.”
However, it was not simply because he was lucky that he was loved and admired. His presidency resided over a time that many Americans had taken to call “The Golden Age.” As Fung recalls that period of time, he is reminded of peace and economic prosperity – something which both garnered respect for Clinton, as well as saved his presidency.
“I believe instead of debt – the country had a debt – I believe they ended up having a surplus instead of a debt... revenue wise. […] People had jobs. The economy was good,” Fung said.
Yet, not all shared Fung's admirations as some had been led to believe that Clinton really was just “a lucky man.”
“It certainly seemed like Clinton was one of the best presidents that we have had while I have been alive, but I am also cynical enough to think that he just led during the time of our nation's greatest prosperity, the Golden Age.” Daniel Kuhns said.
Through his promising presidency, Bill Clinton hit a snag and nearly lost it all as he faced the Lewinsky Scandal of 1998. The controversy nearly costed Clinton his presidency as people began to question him, his morality, and his capabilities as a president.
“Did the president really lie? Or did he not lie? There was a lot of controversy for that. And was it considered a personal business, or the moral standards and how we define that... it really becomes a big issue and topic discussed in this event. So it might change people’s mind regarding to the truthfulness and the honesty of the president.” Fung said.
In all finality, the only thing that could be said about the wrongfulness of Clinton's actions was voiced by Fung, whose statement also echoed that of the opinions that had emerged in Americans during that time, “The biggest mistake Clinton made, was lying to the country.”
But Clinton survived and finished the rest of his term, saved by the economic prosperity his presidency had brought to America. “People might think he’s a liar but... but I guess Clinton survived that scandal and he finished up his term. And during his term, the economy was good and people’s lives were good. The economy was just really, really good. So I think that was one of the reasons he survived from that.”
Although Clinton's presidential track record was not as flawless and shiny as would be expected from the man who gave rise to “The Golden Era,” he did not allow his mistakes and petty rumors about his personal life deter him from his one and only goal: make America as great of a country as he knows it to be. Through that mentality, Bill Clinton made a name for himself in American history, not for his personal affairs, but for what he had done for our people, our country, our America.
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/9/8/19983449/1368675711.jpg)
President Obama
In January 20th, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama II walked into the white house on his first day as America's first black president. It has been almost six decades since the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, a battle for black equality – for the basic human rights of “Negroes.” Nearly six decades later, it is not a white man who walks into that oval office, it is a black man whose ancestors had fought for his place in that room, in that building, in that political position. And for such a monumental change from the centuries of white men standing where President Obama has been standing for the past 4 years, he is not easily forgotten from American history.
As his iconic poster designed by artist Shepard Fairey states, "Hope" is the center of what Obama means to the people of America. His election was not only a surprise, but the "change [that] we can believe in" – the slogan Obama used to emphasize who he was: hope and change.
"[Obama's inauguration] shows a lot and it tells a lot of people that anything is possible. It gives a lot of young people hope to pursue their dreams; and that actually changes peoples’ mind towards … it changed people’s mind from the impossible to the possible." Fung expressed.
The basis of American intrigue and surprise of Obama's inauguration was the idea that nearly six decades ago, the American society looked upon Obama's race with disgust and treated them as inferior to human beings. Nearly six decades ago, racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation was something black people fought tooth and nail against, something that restricted and confined the blacks from being able to rise to the power that Obama had gained just four years ago.
The children of the Millennial generation, the ones learning of the Civil Rights Movement in their history classes today, remember Obama's inauguration on the entirety of the context, the background of his race up to the point he has reached today. “I remember when Obama was first elected, I was surprised because America is a really racist place, but I thought it was cool that he was elected.” Lilian Ngeow said.
In an age where racism and discrimination is considered unjust and unethical, Obama's election brings about new hope to those who had once been oppressed.
“It used to be impossible that we could have a black president, but now it shows that it is possible. And maybe even in the future we could have a woman president. And as long as we work hard, we can have our dreams come true.” Fung states.
It is no longer a matter of creed, race, or blood, but a matter of merit and passion, drive and hard work. Obama struggled to gain the spot he sits in today. And for America, whose history is brimmed with oppression by racism and discrimination, having a black president speaks bounds. It goes beyond our past and heads towards our future. He is the turning point, the end of an oppressive era as he declares to the Americans, “America, we cannot turn back. We can not walk alone.” Looking only at the prospect of American future, defying all the prejudice and discrimination his ancestors faced before, Obama engraves his name in American history, not only as the first black president America gained, but as the man who has only eyes for the future as he says, “We must pledge once more to walk into the future.” He has been the first change of a future with many more.
In January 20th, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama II walked into the white house on his first day as America's first black president. It has been almost six decades since the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, a battle for black equality – for the basic human rights of “Negroes.” Nearly six decades later, it is not a white man who walks into that oval office, it is a black man whose ancestors had fought for his place in that room, in that building, in that political position. And for such a monumental change from the centuries of white men standing where President Obama has been standing for the past 4 years, he is not easily forgotten from American history.
As his iconic poster designed by artist Shepard Fairey states, "Hope" is the center of what Obama means to the people of America. His election was not only a surprise, but the "change [that] we can believe in" – the slogan Obama used to emphasize who he was: hope and change.
"[Obama's inauguration] shows a lot and it tells a lot of people that anything is possible. It gives a lot of young people hope to pursue their dreams; and that actually changes peoples’ mind towards … it changed people’s mind from the impossible to the possible." Fung expressed.
The basis of American intrigue and surprise of Obama's inauguration was the idea that nearly six decades ago, the American society looked upon Obama's race with disgust and treated them as inferior to human beings. Nearly six decades ago, racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation was something black people fought tooth and nail against, something that restricted and confined the blacks from being able to rise to the power that Obama had gained just four years ago.
The children of the Millennial generation, the ones learning of the Civil Rights Movement in their history classes today, remember Obama's inauguration on the entirety of the context, the background of his race up to the point he has reached today. “I remember when Obama was first elected, I was surprised because America is a really racist place, but I thought it was cool that he was elected.” Lilian Ngeow said.
In an age where racism and discrimination is considered unjust and unethical, Obama's election brings about new hope to those who had once been oppressed.
“It used to be impossible that we could have a black president, but now it shows that it is possible. And maybe even in the future we could have a woman president. And as long as we work hard, we can have our dreams come true.” Fung states.
It is no longer a matter of creed, race, or blood, but a matter of merit and passion, drive and hard work. Obama struggled to gain the spot he sits in today. And for America, whose history is brimmed with oppression by racism and discrimination, having a black president speaks bounds. It goes beyond our past and heads towards our future. He is the turning point, the end of an oppressive era as he declares to the Americans, “America, we cannot turn back. We can not walk alone.” Looking only at the prospect of American future, defying all the prejudice and discrimination his ancestors faced before, Obama engraves his name in American history, not only as the first black president America gained, but as the man who has only eyes for the future as he says, “We must pledge once more to walk into the future.” He has been the first change of a future with many more.
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/9/8/19983449/1368674150.png)
John and Robert Kennedy
Both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy have greatly impacted American history as the changes they have pushed from fiction to reality continues to live on in their legacies.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th United States president who enforced protection of America from communistic domination through events such as Bays of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, while also advancing American technology with the Space Race, and emphasizing radical change which altered American bigotry through his support of the Civil Rights Movement.
John F. Kennedy was an important figure to the changes that America faced during his presidency. He vowed for change and made due with his promises. He protected the American people from outside threats, pushing national security to be even stronger, fighting back against all those who jeopardized the lives of the nation's people, his people. Kennedy battled against the spread of communism beyond his home territory of America while also fighting the internal struggles of racism within that very same home he had been trying to protect. He sought equality through the Civil Rights Movement and safety through his war against communism.
But the man, despite his efforts and despite the impact he had made in American history, was not immortal. On November 22, 1963, the untouchable man was shot and killed – assassinated and dead on the spot. All across America people heard of the news, learned that their great president was just a mortal man, just another American who had been fighting for his comrades, his brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, his fellow Americans.
Even to the west, all the way in California, the news of Kennedy's assassination reached the ears of Peter Tadin. Tadin reminisces of that moment when heard of the devastating blow against a supposedly immortal, untouchable man. He recalls, “The JFK assassination was very tragic. I still remember what happened. My brother had the radio on and I heard about it right when it happened. When I came home, I heard about it and saw it on TV – I was working in Palo Alto. And it just showed that we are vulnerable no matter the protection we had.”
But it was not yet the end of an era, as Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's brother, stepped up to the role in fighting for just causes and protecting the vulnerable.
During John F. Kennedy's presidency, Bobby Kennedy served as President Kennedy's chief adviser and U.S. Attorney General. Bobby was the “icon of American liberalism” and a prominent civil rights activist. Alongside his brother, Bobby Kennedy supported those who had fought for their basic human rights in the Civil Rights Movement, and oversaw the protection of American citizens in devising a blockade strategy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
At the loss of his brother, Bobby Kennedy did not end his efforts to making a change in America. He turned to the support of blacks, hispanics, and Catholics during his run for presidency. Through the efforts he made in defending the blacks when they were discriminated and subjugated to white oppression, Bobby established his role and influence over the Civil Rights Movement, which in turn granted him the support of the black community.
For the hispanics, Bobby began to focus his efforts on the working class Americans – the ones at the bottom of the totem pole, the ones who struggled, who faced incredible hardships in order put food on fellow Americans' tables while they themselves had none to put on their own. He supported César Chávez and Chávez's efforts during the Viva La Causa. Bobby saw the injustice these hispanic workers had to face daily and he saw the mitigation of their movement. These hispanic workers sought liberation from the confines of their inhumane working conditions, their sufferings as nearly being treated as slaves. They pursued the ideal of the barest human needs and basic human rights, not stopping because it was as Dolores Huerta explained, “If this road we chart leads to the rights and reforms we demand, if it leads to just wages, humane working conditions, protection from the misuse of pesticides, and to the fundamental right of collective bargaining, if it changes the social order that relegates us to the bottom reaches of society, then in our wake will follow thousands of American farmworkers.” Thus, when Bobby Kennedy began to encourage their cause, to fight for their cause alongside them, he gained prominence and support for the efforts he placed in their grand movement of social justice.
Yet Bobby Kennedy was – just like his brother – a mortal, American man. Following the same tragic course of death, Bobby Kennedy was shot and assassinated in June 6, 1968.
It tore apart the hearts of many Americans as they received the news of his death. Across the United States, Teri Sulgit is still reminded of how she felt that day, reminiscing, “I remember seeing Robert Kennedy passing away. I was sitting there crying and I remember how safe we felt while watching Bobby Kennedy.”
The Kennedys provided Americans the safety, the care, and the changes that our flawed society desperately needed. Under their care, we as Americans, were safe. And though they themselves, in their physical forms, were as mortal as any American, any human, the actions they have made in their lifetimes, the changes they enforced, the beliefs they incurred, immortalized who they were to America, who they meant to our history and our future.
Both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy have greatly impacted American history as the changes they have pushed from fiction to reality continues to live on in their legacies.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th United States president who enforced protection of America from communistic domination through events such as Bays of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, while also advancing American technology with the Space Race, and emphasizing radical change which altered American bigotry through his support of the Civil Rights Movement.
John F. Kennedy was an important figure to the changes that America faced during his presidency. He vowed for change and made due with his promises. He protected the American people from outside threats, pushing national security to be even stronger, fighting back against all those who jeopardized the lives of the nation's people, his people. Kennedy battled against the spread of communism beyond his home territory of America while also fighting the internal struggles of racism within that very same home he had been trying to protect. He sought equality through the Civil Rights Movement and safety through his war against communism.
But the man, despite his efforts and despite the impact he had made in American history, was not immortal. On November 22, 1963, the untouchable man was shot and killed – assassinated and dead on the spot. All across America people heard of the news, learned that their great president was just a mortal man, just another American who had been fighting for his comrades, his brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, his fellow Americans.
Even to the west, all the way in California, the news of Kennedy's assassination reached the ears of Peter Tadin. Tadin reminisces of that moment when heard of the devastating blow against a supposedly immortal, untouchable man. He recalls, “The JFK assassination was very tragic. I still remember what happened. My brother had the radio on and I heard about it right when it happened. When I came home, I heard about it and saw it on TV – I was working in Palo Alto. And it just showed that we are vulnerable no matter the protection we had.”
But it was not yet the end of an era, as Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's brother, stepped up to the role in fighting for just causes and protecting the vulnerable.
During John F. Kennedy's presidency, Bobby Kennedy served as President Kennedy's chief adviser and U.S. Attorney General. Bobby was the “icon of American liberalism” and a prominent civil rights activist. Alongside his brother, Bobby Kennedy supported those who had fought for their basic human rights in the Civil Rights Movement, and oversaw the protection of American citizens in devising a blockade strategy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
At the loss of his brother, Bobby Kennedy did not end his efforts to making a change in America. He turned to the support of blacks, hispanics, and Catholics during his run for presidency. Through the efforts he made in defending the blacks when they were discriminated and subjugated to white oppression, Bobby established his role and influence over the Civil Rights Movement, which in turn granted him the support of the black community.
For the hispanics, Bobby began to focus his efforts on the working class Americans – the ones at the bottom of the totem pole, the ones who struggled, who faced incredible hardships in order put food on fellow Americans' tables while they themselves had none to put on their own. He supported César Chávez and Chávez's efforts during the Viva La Causa. Bobby saw the injustice these hispanic workers had to face daily and he saw the mitigation of their movement. These hispanic workers sought liberation from the confines of their inhumane working conditions, their sufferings as nearly being treated as slaves. They pursued the ideal of the barest human needs and basic human rights, not stopping because it was as Dolores Huerta explained, “If this road we chart leads to the rights and reforms we demand, if it leads to just wages, humane working conditions, protection from the misuse of pesticides, and to the fundamental right of collective bargaining, if it changes the social order that relegates us to the bottom reaches of society, then in our wake will follow thousands of American farmworkers.” Thus, when Bobby Kennedy began to encourage their cause, to fight for their cause alongside them, he gained prominence and support for the efforts he placed in their grand movement of social justice.
Yet Bobby Kennedy was – just like his brother – a mortal, American man. Following the same tragic course of death, Bobby Kennedy was shot and assassinated in June 6, 1968.
It tore apart the hearts of many Americans as they received the news of his death. Across the United States, Teri Sulgit is still reminded of how she felt that day, reminiscing, “I remember seeing Robert Kennedy passing away. I was sitting there crying and I remember how safe we felt while watching Bobby Kennedy.”
The Kennedys provided Americans the safety, the care, and the changes that our flawed society desperately needed. Under their care, we as Americans, were safe. And though they themselves, in their physical forms, were as mortal as any American, any human, the actions they have made in their lifetimes, the changes they enforced, the beliefs they incurred, immortalized who they were to America, who they meant to our history and our future.