0:00:04 > 0:00:12This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:34 > 0:00:38The Clintons arrived in Washington in the midst of a media revolution.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Every detail of their White House was scrutinised,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44including the July 1993 suicide
0:00:44 > 0:00:47of their close friend and counsel Vince Foster.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Cable television was beginning to become a force.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53And the competition among cable news
0:00:53 > 0:00:57became a vicious fact of Bill Clinton's life.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Sex sold. Corruption sold.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Foster's suicide fuelled media fascination.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Within days of the discovery of his body,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14there was speculation about the real cause of his death.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20The immediate reaction to Vince Foster's death was,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23"What happened here, and were the Clintons involved?
0:01:23 > 0:01:26"Were they covering something up?"
0:01:26 > 0:01:29There begins bubbling up this notion
0:01:29 > 0:01:31that there's a conspiracy.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33That Vince Foster's been murdered.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36You know, on one account, his body rolled up in a rug,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40he's having an affair with Hillary, all of these terrible things.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Attention focused mostly on some files
0:01:44 > 0:01:47mysteriously removed from Foster's office after his death,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52including documents related to an old Arkansas land deal -
0:01:52 > 0:01:53Whitewater.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Whitewater, the scandal that would haunt Clinton's presidency
0:02:00 > 0:02:04longer than any other, had its roots in the late 1970s.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09At the time, Bill Clinton was a young Attorney General
0:02:09 > 0:02:13making just over 25,000 a year.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Hillary, an associate at the Rose law firm in Little Rock,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19was the family's main breadwinner.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23When an old friend named Jim McDougal approached her
0:02:23 > 0:02:26with a plan to build vacation homes along the White River,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28Hillary decided to invest.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Here's a guy, McDougal, that comes to him and says,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35"Put a little money into this thing."
0:02:35 > 0:02:38He said, "Boy, you'll be rich and you'll make money,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41"and this is going to be great." Well, I guess in hindsight,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44every person promoting any sort of land scheme
0:02:44 > 0:02:47thinks it's going to be a world-beater
0:02:47 > 0:02:51and we're going to be rich as Midas by the time it's over.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Whitewater was going to the wall.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58To prop up his scheme, McDougal made illegal transfers
0:02:58 > 0:03:01from his own loan company, Madison Guaranty.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Before long, Madison Guaranty failed.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07McDougal was charged with fraud.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09President Clinton,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12you just mentioned James McDougal, your former business partner.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16A lot of questions have been raised about his business practices.
0:03:16 > 0:03:2015 years later, President Clinton was asked by reporters
0:03:20 > 0:03:24what he and Hillary knew about McDougal's illegal activities.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28To the best of my knowledge he was honest in his dealings with me
0:03:28 > 0:03:29and that's all I can comment on.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32'The White House was totally unprepared for it.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'There was no memo on it, there was no defence group.'
0:03:35 > 0:03:37I had nothing to do with the management of Whitewater.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Hillary had nothing to do with it.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41We didn't keep the books or the records.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45There were some of us who said, "Keep the walls up, keep it back,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49"you know, it's none of their business, uh, nothing happened.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52"It's a little deal down in Arkansas,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56"it's nothing to do with the presidency, and it'll go away."
0:03:56 > 0:04:00It didn't go away, but that built up a suspicion,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03and, as new things leaked out, as inconsequential as they might be,
0:04:03 > 0:04:09the press would say, "Oh, the Clintons have been hiding stuff."
0:04:09 > 0:04:12And there was built up, relatively quickly,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14that the Clintons were just stonewalling.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The Whitewater scandal couldn't have come at a worse time.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26In the late summer of 1993, he needed broad political support,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28as his first major piece of legislation,
0:04:28 > 0:04:32the federal budget, was headed for a showdown in Congress.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37We knew that if Bill Clinton lost that vote,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42the signal would be, "He can't get the Democrats in the House
0:04:42 > 0:04:45"and the Senate to go along with him."
0:04:45 > 0:04:47That means he doesn't have power.
0:04:47 > 0:04:48That's the definition of lacking power.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51And if, this early in the administration,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55our new President lacks power, where do we go next?
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Abandoning his campaign promise to cut taxes
0:05:00 > 0:05:04and invest in the middle class, Clinton instead took the advice of
0:05:04 > 0:05:09the administration's deficit hawks to reduce spending and raise taxes.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16Bill Clinton's first big decision was an intellectual act of faith.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18We're on the eve of historic action.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23Without deficit reduction, we can't have sustained economic growth.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27He gambled in the midst of a recession
0:05:27 > 0:05:34that he'd get more economic growth if he was fiscally conservative.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37And, if he began to reduce the deficit,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40that would convince the bond market
0:05:40 > 0:05:45to start reducing interest rates, and the economy would grow.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49That was just a theory. No-one knew it would work.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51More than anything,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Clinton had wanted to invest in the middle class.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59The realisation that he couldn't left him deeply disappointed.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01He didn't become president to say no.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04He didn't become president to administer pain.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09He didn't become president because he wanted to placate Wall Street.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10But, in fact, his agenda
0:06:10 > 0:06:14did require, to some extent, doing all those things.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21As the budget reached Congress, Clinton knew it was on a knife-edge.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25With Republicans unanimously opposed,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30the President needed nearly every Democratic vote to pass the bill,
0:06:30 > 0:06:35but the party, like the administration, was in disarray.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Liberal democrats complained about the cuts in spending,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42while conservatives opposed the tax hikes.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I think that the President will fail,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46the party will fail,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48and the country will fail if we enact this budget.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Faced with the possibility of a catastrophic defeat,
0:06:54 > 0:06:55Clinton got down to work.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59"I knew if I didn't get the economy going,"
0:06:59 > 0:07:02he said, "nothing else would matter."
0:07:03 > 0:07:05There wasn't anything he wasn't willing to do.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11He would call, he would meet, he would grovel, he would strong-arm.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16He would use every tactic any leader has at his disposal
0:07:16 > 0:07:18to try to get this thing done.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22But the days when a president could command votes,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25even from members of his own party, were long over.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Bill Clinton was used to Arkansas.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31You know, he knew the good old boys, he knew who he had to go to.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34He could walk on the floor of the legislature
0:07:34 > 0:07:35and basically, you know,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39with a smile and a pat on the back, he could get any vote he wanted.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42That wasn't true, here in Washington.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46In many ways it was frustrating for him
0:07:46 > 0:07:51because he really felt he knew what was best
0:07:51 > 0:07:57for the country and that by the sheer power of his personality
0:07:57 > 0:08:02and his words and his smile, that somehow he could make it work.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08In early August, the final budget bill reached the floor of the House.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11All eyes turned to a freshman Democrat
0:08:11 > 0:08:14from a historically Republican district,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23We had her down as voting yes, and she votes no, early on.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28And so we said, "Go in there, find out what the hell's going on,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30"try to turn her vote around."
0:08:30 > 0:08:32First of all, as a former member,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34if you're going to vote against the leadership,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36vote and get the hell out of there.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38She didn't do that, she stayed there.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40So suddenly these guys are all pouring on her,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and she's standing there, and they're saying, "Come on,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46"you've got to change your vote, this is important to the Administration."
0:08:46 > 0:08:49She then says something like, "I'll do this,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52but the President has to come into my district."
0:08:52 > 0:08:54So they call me, back in the office, and they say,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56"Will the President come into her district?"
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And I say, "Absolutely!
0:08:59 > 0:09:01"Whatever it takes, we're going to do it."
0:09:03 > 0:09:06With the vote, and his presidency on the line,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Clinton paced nervously in a small office in the West Wing.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13We're all crowded around this little television set,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15really with quite a high level of uncertainty.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Finally, Mezvinsky cast her vote "yes" and the budget passed.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27With an equally narrow victory in the Senate,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Clinton's final budget became law.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Not even he foresaw the economic boom it would set off.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38It contributed enormously to what turned out to be the longest
0:09:38 > 0:09:40economic expansion in the nation's history.
0:09:40 > 0:09:4422 million new jobs were created, productivity went up.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Incomes rose at all levels.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50And, for the first time in 30 years, we had a federal surplus.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54But beyond America's shores, a troubled world
0:09:54 > 0:09:57would wait no longer for the President's attention.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58EXPLOSION
0:10:00 > 0:10:01GUNSHOTS
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The Cold War had kept a lot of tensions quiet
0:10:09 > 0:10:11and a lot of groups quiet.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15And now, with that over, all of the old animosities,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17all of the old hatreds -
0:10:17 > 0:10:20ethnic hatreds, regional tensions -
0:10:20 > 0:10:23that had been under that iceberg of the Cold War
0:10:23 > 0:10:26were now popping out, and were real problems.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32How much did the United States want to get involved in problems
0:10:32 > 0:10:35in the rest of the world, which tended to be localised problems?
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Were those worthy of our time and attention?
0:10:41 > 0:10:44This was uncharted territory.
0:10:45 > 0:10:46We were all reaching for,
0:10:46 > 0:10:51all searching for, some new grand unifying theory.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Give us a new way of looking at the world.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Clinton had little to offer in the realm of foreign affairs.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02The first President since World War II who had not worn
0:11:02 > 0:11:07a military uniform, he lacked confidence as a Commander in Chief.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08Clinton came to the White House
0:11:08 > 0:11:11with very little knowledge of the US military.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Famously, he didn't even know how to salute.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18To a great many people in this country,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21that was legitimately something to be worried about.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Clinton's first major foreign policy crisis came in Somalia.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Mohamed Farrah Aidid was terrorizing the local population
0:11:36 > 0:11:40in an effort to suppress his opponents in a civil war.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Clinton ordered US Special Forces into Somalia to capture Aidid.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50During a mission on October 3rd,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59American forces sent in to assist were pinned down
0:11:59 > 0:12:01by overwhelming firepower.
0:12:02 > 0:12:02GUNSHOTS
0:12:04 > 0:12:0818 US soldiers were killed, with 84 more wounded.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Around the world, images of a dead American soldier
0:12:15 > 0:12:18being dragged through the streets inflamed public opinion.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24You need to understand the average citizen.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29In their minds, we have gone there on a humanitarian mission
0:12:29 > 0:12:34to offer a helping hand, and we get attacked and humiliated.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39"Why are we there? Why should we continue to help?
0:12:39 > 0:12:43"Why are you keeping the boys there? Bring the boys home."
0:12:44 > 0:12:47That sort of political pressure
0:12:47 > 0:12:50that President Clinton and his team had to deal with.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Public opinion contained what seemed a clear lesson.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04Military intervention, without a compelling national interest,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07came with unforeseeable risks and costs.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15It sent a chill through the administration and made them
0:13:15 > 0:13:19much more reluctant to intervene in other parts of the world,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23and where that came home, in the most profound way,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27and one that Bill Clinton came to deeply, deeply regret, was in Rwanda.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Rwanda was suffering through its own civil war between two tribes,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Hutus and Tutsis.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51In early April 1994, the Rwandan president's plane was shot down.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54The Hutu government blamed Tutsi rebels.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58When the plane was shot down, all hell broke loose
0:13:58 > 0:14:04and that became the trigger which set off this mass killing.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11The killing caught the Clinton administration entirely by surprise.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17That night, I was leaving the office and I noticed on CNN,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20on the television screen, there was shooting going on.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24And I said to my assistant, "What's going on? What is that?"
0:14:24 > 0:14:27He said, "Oh, it's, it's R-wanda.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30"There's some kind of operation going on over there."
0:14:30 > 0:14:34I said, "Is that real? Is that on time?" He said, "Yes, sir."
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Some 800,000 Tutsis were massacred.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47But with the Black Hawk Down incident still fresh,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50the Clinton administration did virtually nothing
0:14:50 > 0:14:51to stop the slaughter.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00We needed international support in Rwanda,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03but the will to intervene was not there.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06They knew what was happening,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09but they were not about to take the risks.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Rwanda lived in the shadow of Somalia,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and paid the price for what had happened in Somalia.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Clinton was trapped in no man's land.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27If Somalia had demonstrated the risks of military intervention,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Rwanda proved the costs of doing nothing.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37I know the president felt awful afterwards. Awful.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42As it came out, and we understood the scale, the enormity,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45we realised that... there are sins of omission,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47as well as sins of commission.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51This was a horrible omission.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00Here we go.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02All right. Flip it, Chels.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:16:07 > 0:16:10After a year Hillary described as "hellish,"
0:16:10 > 0:16:14the Clintons were looking forward to their first Christmas in Washington.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Escaping the White House, they visited close friends
0:16:18 > 0:16:20and even shopped at a local mall.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Bill and Hillary had always been doting parents to Chelsea,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29trying to keep her life as normal as possible.
0:16:31 > 0:16:37Both Hillary and Bill in their own way were fabulous parents,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39very protective of Chelsea,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and managed to keep a cordon of privacy around her,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45let her grow up more or less naturally.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50For the most part, the press respected Chelsea's privacy,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53but showed no such consideration for her parents.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59In mid-December, the First Family's hopes for a quiet Christmas
0:16:59 > 0:17:02were dashed when a call from the Washington Post
0:17:02 > 0:17:06once again plunged them into the Whitewater scandal.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10I got a call from Bob Kaiser,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13who was then the number two editor at the Washington Post.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And he said, "David, you know, we've known each other a long time,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19"and we've made numerous requests to the White House
0:17:19 > 0:17:21"for some "Whitewater-related documents,
0:17:21 > 0:17:23"that we're getting stonewalled,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26"and we're about to go on the attack."
0:17:26 > 0:17:27Many advised the President
0:17:27 > 0:17:30to turn over his private papers on Whitewater to the Post.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I said, "Mr President, this is a flagship newspaper.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37"They're going to put a team of investigative reporters on this
0:17:37 > 0:17:39"if you don't give these documents over.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41"No-one knows where that's going to go.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44"Why don't we just do it now and just, you know,
0:17:44 > 0:17:45do the fair and square thing?"
0:17:45 > 0:17:49He said, "I agree, let's do it," He said, "But there's one problem."
0:17:49 > 0:17:54He said, "I'm in this with Hillary. You've got to go convince Hillary."
0:17:55 > 0:18:00Hillary's attitude toward the press and thus towards the Washington Post
0:18:00 > 0:18:04was to pull back, to reveal nothing.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06To keep the media or anybody else
0:18:06 > 0:18:10who's asked questions about their inside life at bay.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13So she's locked down.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Finally after about two weeks,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18I got a call from the counsel's office saying,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20"By the way, David, we have now sent a letter
0:18:20 > 0:18:22"to the Washington Post and we'll read it to you."
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I said, "Fine, let me hear the letter." And basically it said,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28"Dear Washington Post, screw you. No documents."
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Clinton's refusal to turn over his private Whitewater records
0:18:33 > 0:18:36was a red flag to many of his political enemies.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40In early January, Republican Senator Robert Dole
0:18:40 > 0:18:44demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor
0:18:44 > 0:18:46to investigate Whitewater.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49If there's nothing to hide, why not lay it all out there?
0:18:49 > 0:18:52But every day there's another little drip coming from somewhere.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Dole's demand restarted the argument inside the White House.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04Most of Clinton's advisors urged him to appoint a special prosecutor,
0:19:04 > 0:19:09but Hillary and White House counsel Bernie Nussbaum argued against it.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12I said to the President, "They'll investigate you,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"They won't find anything because you did nothing in Whitewater,
0:19:15 > 0:19:16"but they'll investigate."
0:19:16 > 0:19:20"Somebody did something in Arkansas in the last 20 years."
0:19:20 > 0:19:22"They will try to find that person.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25"Then they will try to get that person, to save their neck,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28"to remember something that you did in Arkansas
0:19:28 > 0:19:31"in the last 20 years which was illegal.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35"This will last, Mr President, as long as you're President and beyond."
0:19:37 > 0:19:39The contrary argument was,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42"We're trying to run a presidency and a White House here.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44"This is not going to go away."
0:19:45 > 0:19:48"Yes, you can stave it off for a while,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51"but at some point everything is going to come out."
0:19:51 > 0:19:55And that's when Clinton said, "I can't take it anymore.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56"Tell me what to do.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59"You got to, got to give me...tell me what to do!" He screams at me.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05We finally persuaded Hillary, much against her better instincts,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08to call the President
0:20:08 > 0:20:12and say that we wanted him to authorise Attorney General Reno
0:20:12 > 0:20:13to appoint a special counsel.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Exhausted and distraught over the recent death of his mother,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Clinton did not put up a fight.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26On January 20 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno,
0:20:26 > 0:20:31acting on Clinton's authorization, appointed lawyer Robert Fiske
0:20:31 > 0:20:33as special counsel in the Whitewater matter.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Most of the newspapers in the country asked me
0:20:37 > 0:20:40to have a special counsel appointed. That's what I have done.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42I did it so that I could go on with my work.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I want a full investigation.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49I want this thing to be done, fully, clearly, and to be over with.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Years later, Clinton would say,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56"It was the worst mistake of my presidency."
0:20:59 > 0:21:04By the spring of 1994, Bill Clinton had endured 18 months
0:21:04 > 0:21:09of attacks by his political enemies, the press, and even other Democrats.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Tired of being on the back foot,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15he set out to reclaim his Presidency with one grand gesture.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20For 60 years, this country has tried to reform health care.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23President Roosevelt tried, President Truman tried,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26President Nixon tried, President Carter tried.
0:21:26 > 0:21:32Every time, the special interests were powerful enough to defeat them.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34But not this time.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36APPLAUSE
0:21:36 > 0:21:41Healthcare was to be the giant monument of the Clinton presidency.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Under our plan, every American would receive a healthcare security card.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52To lead the signature initiative of his presidency,
0:21:52 > 0:21:57Clinton turned as he had before to the person he trusted most.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00This is a crucial moment
0:22:00 > 0:22:05in the fight for healthcare reform in our nation.
0:22:05 > 0:22:11We all know our country needs health security that's decent,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14affordable for every American.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19There are those who would cynically say he owed her
0:22:19 > 0:22:22for standing by her man, despite Gennifer Flowers
0:22:22 > 0:22:24and all the rest during the campaign.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27But I think it was something else.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Clinton...
0:22:32 > 0:22:34..adores her.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36And he especially adores her mind.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40We cannot provide primary preventive health care in America
0:22:40 > 0:22:42if we don't make better use of our nurses.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Bill Clinton really believed
0:22:44 > 0:22:47that if anybody was going to come up with the answer
0:22:47 > 0:22:49to the most vexing public policy problem out there,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51it was going to be Hillary.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It was one of the stupidest political decisions
0:22:55 > 0:22:56Bill Clinton ever made.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01And now it's time for everybody to board their busses.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Hillary Clinton took to her new job
0:23:03 > 0:23:06with all the energy and determination
0:23:06 > 0:23:08pent up during the previous year.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10This issue affects everybody.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13In forums and town meetings across the country,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18she heard stories of insurance abuse, exorbitant healthcare bills
0:23:18 > 0:23:20and poor-quality care.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27But once back in Washington, she shut out nearly every outside voice,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31relying on a tight circle of advisors to write a 1,300-page plan
0:23:31 > 0:23:36that would radically reshape the nation's healthcare system.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42There was a rigidity and an unwillingness to really listen.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The mark of a good politician is to listen
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and to be able to understand what's really being said.
0:23:51 > 0:23:59The frailty of Hillary was it was too cloistered, too walled off,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03and she really thought what she perceived
0:24:03 > 0:24:06as the public opinion in favour of healthcare
0:24:06 > 0:24:09would override the resistance in Congress
0:24:09 > 0:24:13and of the special interests, and it was a big mistake.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19This was covered under our old plan.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Oh, yeah, that was a good one, wasn't it?
0:24:21 > 0:24:24By the summer, Hillary's plan
0:24:24 > 0:24:26was being pilloried by the health insurance industry
0:24:26 > 0:24:29as a big government takeover of healthcare.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33We spent more than a year trying to legislate something
0:24:33 > 0:24:35the country didn't want.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Having choices we don't like is no choice at all.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41- They choose.- We lose.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43We scared people by saying,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45"The healthcare system isn't working,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48"and here comes the government to fix it."
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Ronald Reagan had been schooling this public for many years now
0:24:52 > 0:24:54that the government is the problem.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57People didn't think, "Oh, great, here comes the government."
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Reagan had won that argument.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Clinton did nothing to hedge Hillary's "all or nothing" bet
0:25:05 > 0:25:07or avert the looming political catastrophe.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13In the President's mind this was something he had given to Hillary
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and he was very, very reluctant to override her.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20I think that because of the husband-wife relationship,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24that it was not something that he was willing to take on.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28- CHANTING:- Socialised medicine makes me sick.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Socialised medicine makes me sick.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Throughout the summer of 1994,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36as politicians heard from their frightened constituents,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Hillary's healthcare bill lost support.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Before it even came up for a vote in Congress,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46the Clinton healthcare bill was dead.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52The defeat of healthcare was a huge defeat.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It was the number-one objective,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and to have it defeated...
0:25:59 > 0:26:04was a repudiation, in a sense.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Or at least felt like a repudiation of the Clinton administration.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Weakened by scandal and the defeat of healthcare,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Clinton was about to be challenged by a new and formidable rival.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32I am a genuine revolutionary. They are the genuine reactionaries,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36We are going to change their world. They will do anything to stop us.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39They will use any tool. There is no...
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich had spent more than a decade
0:26:43 > 0:26:46planning his assault on the Democratic Party.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49He was a giant personality.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55He was one of the best policy wonks and thinkers of new ideas around.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00But his style was very different from mine.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02His personality, his approach was,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05if it's not arrogance, it's at least over-confidence.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Gingrich's ultimate goal was nothing less than
0:27:10 > 0:27:14a dismantling of what he called the "liberal welfare state."
0:27:14 > 0:27:18He would begin by trying to break the Democrats' 40-year stranglehold
0:27:18 > 0:27:23on the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26We had some people that were not satisfied
0:27:26 > 0:27:28to just passively go along
0:27:28 > 0:27:31with being in an abused, mistreated minority.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35There were a lot of Republicans that had been in the minority for so long
0:27:35 > 0:27:37they thought, "This is where we belong and this is OK,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39"if they'll just give us a crumb or two."
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Newt started rocking the boat.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Gingrich decided the best way to achieve a Republican victory
0:27:45 > 0:27:48in the mid-terms was to run against Clinton.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Republican candidates across the country
0:27:51 > 0:27:55morphed their Democratic opponents into the President.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Look at congressman Tim Johnson's voting record.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01It looks just like Bill Clinton's liberal agenda.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Clinton was sure his record could yet win over the American people.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13By the fall of 1994, the economy was growing again...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18..but scandals, the failure of healthcare and foreign policy
0:28:18 > 0:28:20weighed heavily on public opinion.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28'I remember him saying to me on God knows how many speeches,'
0:28:28 > 0:28:34"Harold, if I can just communicate to enough Americans
0:28:34 > 0:28:38"what we have done and where we want to take the country,
0:28:38 > 0:28:39"we'll win this."
0:28:39 > 0:28:42I now declare the polls open.
0:28:42 > 0:28:43'One of the big questions
0:28:43 > 0:28:47'is whether the Republicans have been successful'
0:28:47 > 0:28:49in turning this election into a referendum on Bill Clinton
0:28:49 > 0:28:50as they had wanted.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Our exit polls are turning up bad news all over the country
0:28:54 > 0:28:56for President Clinton and his Party.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59'I had called a friend at NBC
0:28:59 > 0:29:02'to find out what the 1.30 exit polls looked like'
0:29:02 > 0:29:07and she told me, "Well, Tony, I actually haven't seen the ex...
0:29:07 > 0:29:09"1.30 exit polls, they're holding them back.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12' "Apparently you guys are doing so well
0:29:12 > 0:29:15' "that there must be something wrong with the polling." '
0:29:15 > 0:29:18That was the beginning of a hopeful evening
0:29:18 > 0:29:19that turned into a glorious one.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23This is a truly a wildly historic night.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26I mean, this is just... You know.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29'The Republican Revolution of Election '94'
0:29:29 > 0:29:32shook Capitol Hill like an earthquake today.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Its reverberations went into state houses
0:29:34 > 0:29:38and moved the whole political landscape sharply to the right.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42By the end of the night,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Republicans had picked up 54 seats in the House
0:29:45 > 0:29:46and eight in the Senate,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49winning control of both chambers of Congress.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59'After the mid-terms, the President, I think, felt that...
0:29:59 > 0:30:03'he was almost a hostage in his own White House.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06'He was unhappy with the White House staff,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09'he was unhappy with the policy direction...'
0:30:09 > 0:30:14and so he actually began a very quiet operation
0:30:14 > 0:30:17to begin to change his administration.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Beginning in early 1995,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26White House staffers began to notice a change in the president.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30His speeches contained unfamiliar language and cadences.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35In meetings, he'd get up abruptly and leave the room.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Many aides felt he was no longer listening to them.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46The influence of one significant new appointment was becoming apparent.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Dick Morris, an abrasive political consultant from New York,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52had set up shop in the White House.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Morris, who had a history with the Clintons,
0:30:56 > 0:30:58began to chair weekly strategy meetings
0:30:58 > 0:31:02that were attended by most of the president's senior staff.
0:31:02 > 0:31:08'Clinton typically dominates any group or discussion that he's in.'
0:31:08 > 0:31:11In the meetings on the second floor of the residence,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13which we had every week,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Clinton would literally sit there for an hour, sometimes,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19hardly saying a word, listening to Morris.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23'When I first started to work for Clinton in the White House
0:31:23 > 0:31:24'he had two big negatives - '
0:31:24 > 0:31:27a third of the country thought he was immoral
0:31:27 > 0:31:29and a third of the country thought he was weak.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31And I basically went to him and I said,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35"I can't do much about the immoral, but we sure can solve the weak."
0:31:35 > 0:31:39And therefore we embarked on a conscious strategy
0:31:39 > 0:31:42of making sure people saw Clinton as strong.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47The heart of Morris's operation was his polling,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50which he used to diagnose where Clinton's weaknesses lay
0:31:50 > 0:31:52and how he could correct them.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57'They polled everything.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00'They polled every last word that came out of his mouth.'
0:32:00 > 0:32:03They polled where he should go on vacation!
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Instead of going to Martha's Vineyard,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08that elite island off the coast of Massachusetts,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11they had him riding a horse in Wyoming.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15I think Bill Clinton's allergic to horses!
0:32:15 > 0:32:19But that's what the focus group said would be a more acceptable vacation.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26'One of the big problems was the relationship
0:32:26 > 0:32:28'between Bill and Hillary.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31'Voters thought that it was a zero-sum game -
0:32:31 > 0:32:34'that for Hillary to be strong Bill would have to be weak.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38'And as a result the perception of Hillary's strength
0:32:38 > 0:32:41'became a perception of Bill's weakness.'
0:32:41 > 0:32:43The polling made me understand that
0:32:43 > 0:32:45and when I came back to work for Clinton,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48one of the first things I did was to tell Hillary,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52"You can be as influential as you want to be, but do it in private.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54"Don't sit in on the strategy meetings,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58"don't make the appointments, don't make everybody be cleared with you.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01"In the bedroom at night, tell him what to do,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03"but don't let it be seen in public."
0:33:05 > 0:33:07Morris's advice hit home.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12After the stunning defeat in the mid-term elections,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14Hillary had received a large share of the blame.
0:33:17 > 0:33:22'She had been caught out trying to be a co-President.'
0:33:23 > 0:33:24'That just wasn't going to fly.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29'And that's when she really had to begin to really re-examine,
0:33:29 > 0:33:32'again, as she did as Governor's wife,'
0:33:32 > 0:33:35"What does the public want from me in this role?",
0:33:35 > 0:33:39and to take on, gradually, a little bit more of the traditional role
0:33:39 > 0:33:41of First Lady.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Well, welcome to the White House
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and the beginning of the Christmas Season here...
0:33:47 > 0:33:51Unsatisfied by her ceremonial role as First Lady,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Hillary began working on issues important to her,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56but not alarming to the public.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01She began writing a book about children
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and travelled abroad with Chelsea to advocate for women's rights.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07She wrote a weekly syndicated column
0:34:07 > 0:34:10and even consulted a psychic in the White House.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12But it wasn't enough.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18'She felt, for one of the rare times in her life, completely depressed.'
0:34:18 > 0:34:21She said everything that she was doing wasn't working,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24she just didn't know what to do any more.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28It's cos she really wanted to be in there, right at Bill Clinton's side,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31fighting all the political battles that he was doing.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35The president wants to defend Washington bureaucracy,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Washington red tape, and Washington spending,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41and higher taxes to pay for less out of Washington...
0:34:41 > 0:34:42While the Clintons struggled,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47their deadly rival, Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51was dominating politics in Washington and spoiling for a fight.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57In the spring of 1995, Gingrich picked his battleground.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00What you currently have
0:35:00 > 0:35:04is a system designed to be a centralised bureaucracy...
0:35:04 > 0:35:08In May, Gingrich unveiled a plan to eliminate the federal budget deficit
0:35:08 > 0:35:13in seven years through huge cuts in government spending.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Gingrich had managed to shift the focus of power and media attention
0:35:19 > 0:35:22from Clinton to himself.
0:35:23 > 0:35:24With Gingrich in the spotlight,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Clinton seemed increasingly peripheral.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33April 18th, 1995.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Bill Clinton gives a press conference
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and we're all over him about his lack of power.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42Newt's running the town! Newt's in control!
0:35:42 > 0:35:44- Yes, Jean.- President Clinton,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Republicans have dominated political debate in this country
0:35:47 > 0:35:49since they took over Congress in January
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and even tonight, two of the major broadcast networks
0:35:52 > 0:35:54declined to broadcast this event live.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Do you worry about making sure your voice is heard in the coming months?
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Clinton is forced to say that the President is still relevant here.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03The Constitution gives me relevance,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05the power of our ideas gives me relevance,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08the record we have built up over the last two years
0:36:08 > 0:36:12and the things we are trying to do to implement it give it relevance.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14The President is relevant here...
0:36:14 > 0:36:15'It was AWFUL!'
0:36:15 > 0:36:18You know, "The President is still relevant."
0:36:19 > 0:36:23Just the fact that he felt compelled to say those words says everything.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25I am willing to work with the Republicans.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28The question is, what happens now?
0:36:31 > 0:36:34'About a third of the building has been blown away.'
0:36:37 > 0:36:43'The next day, on April 19th, the bomb went off at Oklahoma City.'
0:36:43 > 0:36:45CHILD CRYING AND SCREAMING
0:36:45 > 0:36:49It was the largest domestic terrorist event in American history.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55'That changed everything.'
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The bombing in Oklahoma City...
0:37:03 > 0:37:07was an attack on innocent children...
0:37:07 > 0:37:08and defenceless citizens.
0:37:10 > 0:37:16It was an act of cowardice... and it was evil.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20The United States will not tolerate it...
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and I will not allow the people of this country
0:37:23 > 0:37:27to be intimidated by evil cowards.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Within 48 hours of the incident,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35the FBI arrested 26-year-old Timothy McVeigh,
0:37:35 > 0:37:39a former soldier with a burning hatred for the government.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42Four days after the bombing,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Clinton travelled to Oklahoma City to console the mourners.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51I went with him down to Oklahoma City for that Sunday morning.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53On the flight we worked on the speech some more.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56He was very focused on what to say.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01'I remember we went into what I think they call the Cow Palace,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06'and I've never been in a setting that was as eerily silent
0:38:06 > 0:38:11'as that one was... except for the sound of sobbing.'
0:38:14 > 0:38:17You have lost too much...
0:38:17 > 0:38:19but you have not lost everything.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24And you have certainly not lost America...
0:38:26 > 0:38:29..for we will stand with you.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34'He spoke to the country as a unifying, a healing figure'
0:38:34 > 0:38:40but, very subtly and appropriately, he also drew attention to the fact
0:38:40 > 0:38:42that the rhetoric Timothy McVeigh was using
0:38:42 > 0:38:46was not all that different from the rhetoric that the talk show hosts,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49and the militias and even some of the members of Congress were using.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53Let us teach our children that the God of comfort
0:38:53 > 0:38:56is also the God of righteousness.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Bill Clinton had begun to find his voice at home
0:39:07 > 0:39:11but he commanded little respect on the international stage.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14War had broken out in Europe.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17The former state of Yugoslavia had fractured
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and disintegrated into civil war along old ethnic divides.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Bosnian Serbs had begun wiping out the largely Muslim population
0:39:26 > 0:39:27in their own country.
0:39:27 > 0:39:33'In 1995, the massacres in Bosnia were in full swing - '
0:39:33 > 0:39:35daily rivers of blood.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Really, it was appalling.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40GUNFIRE
0:39:41 > 0:39:44After two years of this kind of savagery,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Bill Clinton had a disaster on his hands.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52This was genocide in Europe.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Mr President, I cannot NOT tell you something.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00I have been in the former Yugoslavia.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04We must do something to stop the bloodshed in that country!
0:40:04 > 0:40:08'The ongoing scenes of this horrific genocidal slaughter'
0:40:08 > 0:40:12going on by the Serbs against the Muslims
0:40:12 > 0:40:15was just undermining Clinton's image day after day.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Clinton would complain, "The media's trying to force me into a war
0:40:19 > 0:40:20"and I don't want it.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22"I'm not going to go into my own Vietnam."
0:40:22 > 0:40:26And every night these images came on the screen.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33European leaders implored Clinton to act.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35"The position of leader of the free world,"
0:40:35 > 0:40:38complained French President Jacques Chirac, "is vacant."
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Privately, Clinton had begun to rethink his policy.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50On July 11 1995,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Bosnian Serb soldiers overran the city of Srebrenica
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and murdered more than 8,000 defenceless men and boys.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05Finally, Clinton made use of American power.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10On August 30th, fighter planes from NATO bases across Europe,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12acting on the president's go-ahead,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15launched a massive attack against Serbs in Bosnia.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24For the next two weeks, NATO pilots flew 3,500 sorties.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31On September 14, Serbian guns fell silent.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36Two months later, Clinton convened the warring parties in Dayton, Ohio
0:41:36 > 0:41:39to negotiate an end to hostilities.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44The parties have agreed to put down their arms
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and roll up their sleeves and work for peace.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51'Finally when you got tough and you said, "Enough already,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55' "we don't accept genocide at the end of the 20th century
0:41:55 > 0:41:59' "in our backyard," they got serious and it stopped.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02'And then the United States, not the Europeans,
0:42:02 > 0:42:03'led the Dayton Peace Process.'
0:42:03 > 0:42:07And to this day, imperfect as it may be, it has held.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13The same month, Clinton visited the troubled country of Northern Ireland
0:42:13 > 0:42:15where crowds hailed him as a peacemaker.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21The young people, Catholic and Protestant alike,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23made it clear to me, not only with their words
0:42:23 > 0:42:28but by the expressions on their faces, that they want peace.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:42:31 > 0:42:33After three years as president,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37he had developed a new vision of America's interests abroad.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40It would come to be known as The Clinton Doctrine.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46'It's easy to say that we really have no interest
0:42:46 > 0:42:49'in who lives in this or that valley in Bosnia,'
0:42:49 > 0:42:53or who owns a strip of brush land in the Horn of Africa,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57or some piece of parched earth by the Jordan River.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00But the true measure of our interest
0:43:00 > 0:43:04lies not in how small or distant these places are,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07or in whether we have trouble pronouncing their names.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12The question we must ask is, what are the consequences
0:43:12 > 0:43:16to our security of letting conflicts fester and spread?
0:43:18 > 0:43:22We cannot, indeed, we should not, do everything or be everywhere.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25But where our values and our interests are at stake,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and where we can make a difference, we must be prepared to do so.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32'There was a Clinton Doctrine,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34'but it wasn't purely a military doctrine.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37'It was a national security doctrine.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39'President Clinton thought
0:43:39 > 0:43:42'the United States is an indispensable nation.'
0:43:42 > 0:43:45You can't do things without the United States.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48It may not be only the United States, and it's not doing it alone.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53But it's the United States that brings the decisive edge
0:43:53 > 0:43:56in being able to get things done.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59And that where you can make a difference, you should.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11In the latest poll I saw,
0:44:11 > 0:44:1886% of the American people said, 'Balance the budget NOW.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21'Don't wait, don't postpone, don't give us promises.'
0:44:21 > 0:44:22APPLAUSE
0:44:26 > 0:44:30Back in Washington, the ideological war at home was heating up.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Speaker Newt Gingrich was standing by his balanced budget proposal,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38daring the president to veto it.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Once again, Clinton hoped to use his powers of persuasion
0:44:44 > 0:44:45to end the impasse.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49'He was thinking,
0:44:49 > 0:44:54'What I'm going to do is I'm going to capture these guys.'
0:44:54 > 0:44:58'Because A, I'm smarter than they are, and B,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02'that's my whole life's learning, is how to capture people.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06'And I'm going to do it through sheer force of personality.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08'I can sit down with Newt Gingrich,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11'I can sit down with the devil himself, and I can cut a deal.'
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Gingrich would not yield to Clinton's charms.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22'The one thing that the House of Representatives has'
0:45:22 > 0:45:25is the power of the purse. We can deny money.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30It is the only thing that the House of Representatives alone can do,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33can refuse to vote an appropriation.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36So inevitably, whatever the fight was going to be,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41it was going to come down to us denying the White House money.
0:45:41 > 0:45:46Unless the president agreed to huge cuts in healthcare,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Congress would refuse to appropriate money for the federal government,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52shutting it down.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58Clinton seemed caught between two toxic political choices.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02If he opposed Gingrich's balanced budget plan,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06he would be portrayed as a defender of big government deficits.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10If he gave in, he would effectively cede control of the government
0:46:10 > 0:46:13to Gingrich and the Republicans.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17There was a third option.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Dick Morris had been polling the Republicans' proposed budget cuts
0:46:21 > 0:46:23and believed he had found an opening.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27'I did a poll for Clinton where I tested each of those cuts
0:46:27 > 0:46:30'and its impact, and I said to him',
0:46:30 > 0:46:33"Do you want the four-hour briefing or the one-word briefing?"
0:46:33 > 0:46:36And he said, "start with the one word." I said, "Medicare."
0:46:36 > 0:46:39I said, "None of the other cuts are nearly as important
0:46:39 > 0:46:41"as the cut they're proposing in Medicare."
0:46:41 > 0:46:46The public supported a balanced budget, Morris argued,
0:46:46 > 0:46:51but not at the expense of their most cherished federal program.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53I said that what's important
0:46:53 > 0:46:55is that you take away from the Republicans
0:46:55 > 0:46:58the balanced budget issue.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02If you can show how you can balance the budget without cutting Medicare,
0:47:02 > 0:47:07but by cutting everything else, then you can call their bluff,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09and then all of a sudden it becomes a question
0:47:09 > 0:47:11of what do we cut? Not do we cut?
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Morris called his strategy "triangulation."
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Clinton seized on it
0:47:18 > 0:47:22as a way to regain the initiative from the Republicans.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26In June, over the strong objections of liberals on his staff,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29he announced his own balanced budget plan,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32protecting Medicare and Medicaid.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35There is an alternative, a way to balance this budget.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39It's not that we shouldn't balance the budget, we should, I strongly support it,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41we ought to do that, I believe we're going to do that.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45But we don't have to do it in a draconian way
0:47:45 > 0:47:47that hurts the American people.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Whether or not to balance the budget, we can't win that fight. We're going to lose.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53'Once you accept that we're going to balance the budget,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55'now let's fight about what we're going to cut
0:47:55 > 0:47:59'and what we're going to protect. That's a fight we can win.'
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Are you going to protect Medicare? Social Security?
0:48:02 > 0:48:05You want to shut down the government over that? Let's go.
0:48:07 > 0:48:08In mid-November,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12with the issue of healthcare cuts still dividing the two sides,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15the federal government ran out of money and shut down.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21Nearly a million federal employees were instantly laid off.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23Government offices closed.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26All but the most essential services ground to a halt.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32"The Washington passport agency is closed for lack of funding..."
0:48:32 > 0:48:36- "..shutdown of the federal government..."- "social security..."
0:48:36 > 0:48:37"The national park service..."
0:48:37 > 0:48:39"..is closed indefinitely."
0:48:39 > 0:48:41'Clinton took a gamble,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44'the biggest gamble of his presidency to that point'
0:48:44 > 0:48:46in saying, "No, I'm going to let the government shut down,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49"rather than accept the cuts that you're proposing here."
0:48:49 > 0:48:52"Day three and nobody moves,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55"least of all the 800,000 federal workers forced to stay home."
0:48:57 > 0:48:59The American people should not be held hostage any more
0:48:59 > 0:49:02to the Republican budget priorities.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04- CHANTING:- Work, work, put the government back to work.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09Through a first shutdown in November and then a longer one in December,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12neither Clinton nor Gingrich blinked.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14It was high-stakes poker.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16Whichever side was blamed for the shutdown
0:49:16 > 0:49:20would probably lose the next presidential election.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28The pressure on the President was enormous.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30Day 13 of the federal budget crisis and the shutdown
0:49:30 > 0:49:33that's brought parts of the government to a dead stop.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36The major players were all assembled in Washington today,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38and they were talking, but not to each other.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40Now one of the major problems we have in America
0:49:40 > 0:49:43is we have a President who doesn't mind playing,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47he doesn't mind talking, but he seems to hate working.
0:49:48 > 0:49:49We're working.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52This was all sui generis, this was completely new,
0:49:52 > 0:49:54nobody knew the temperament of the country,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56how it was going to play out.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00And it was literally hour by hour, certainly day by day.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08With the government closed,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Clinton prowled the empty halls of the White House.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Among the few people permitted to come to work
0:50:16 > 0:50:18were the White House interns,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21including a 22-year-old named Monica Lewinsky.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28The daughter of a Beverly Hills doctor and his socialite wife,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32Lewinsky was a graduate of Oregon's Lewis & Clark College.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34She had an air of confidence,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38even boldness, that set her apart from her fellow interns.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44On November 15th, the second day of the shutdown,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47Clinton and Lewinsky struck up a conversation
0:50:47 > 0:50:52in which Lewinsky confessed she had a huge crush on the President.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55There were almost these sparks flying between them
0:50:55 > 0:50:58from that first moment when they saw each other,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01and as Monica said, "He gave me the full Bill Clinton
0:51:01 > 0:51:04"and undressed me with his eyes."
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Hours later, the two had their first sexual encounter.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16'It's almost as though there was a part of Bill Clinton
0:51:16 > 0:51:18'that he had no control over.'
0:51:18 > 0:51:24That whenever it had the opportunity to come out, would come out.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27And with no forethought, with no calculation,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31with no sense of the consequences, it was simply going to happen.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34And that's terrifying.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41"At this hour, US President Bill Clinton"
0:51:41 > 0:51:43is meeting with top Congressional leaders
0:51:43 > 0:51:46in another attempt to resolve their budget stand-off.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53As Clinton recklessly pursued his affair with Lewinsky,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57he and Gingrich were locked in their own high-wire embrace.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00The President offered compromise after compromise,
0:52:00 > 0:52:02but Gingrich would not budge.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Unless Clinton agreed to his formula of budget and tax cuts,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10he would keep the government closed.
0:52:12 > 0:52:18'They believed that he was soft, that he could be pushed around,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21'and that they could have their way.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25'They believed that he lacked the confidence to stand up to them.'
0:52:27 > 0:52:30They believed they understood his psychology,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32and they thought that they had the political upper hand.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39Clinton sensed that his political enemies had overreached
0:52:39 > 0:52:42and were out of step with the American people.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45As long as they insist on plunging ahead
0:52:46 > 0:52:49with a budget that violates our values,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53in a process that is characterised more by pressure
0:52:53 > 0:52:57than constitutional practice, I will fight it.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01I am fighting it today, I will fight it tomorrow.
0:53:01 > 0:53:02APPLAUSE
0:53:02 > 0:53:06I will fight it next week, and next month.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09I will fight it until we get a budget
0:53:09 > 0:53:13that is fair to ALL Americans.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:53:16 > 0:53:21'There is a moment I will never forget in the Oval Office.'
0:53:21 > 0:53:25We had been going through negotiations on the budget.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27And there were some of us that were nervous
0:53:27 > 0:53:29that President Clinton might go too far.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33That he might want to go so far in compromising
0:53:33 > 0:53:36that he might hurt himself politically.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And so we kept putting different offers on the table,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and they kept coming back and saying, "not good enough."
0:53:42 > 0:53:44And we finally reached a day
0:53:44 > 0:53:50where he wanted to do one more compromise, one more step.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Newt Gingrich said, "No."
0:53:53 > 0:53:57And Bill Clinton basically looked at them and said,
0:53:57 > 0:54:03"You know, Newt... I can't do what you want me to do.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06"I don't believe it's right for the country.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10"And it may cost me the election, but I can't do it."
0:54:11 > 0:54:14And my first reaction was,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17he's drawn a line that he had to draw.
0:54:19 > 0:54:25He understood that he would have to take a risk of not winning,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30and winning was what he was always about.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34From that moment I think, in many ways,
0:54:34 > 0:54:40it became a renewal of Bill Clinton, in terms of who he was,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43both within himself and with the American people.
0:54:43 > 0:54:44- ALL:- We want to work.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51As of last night, the public appeared to be more sympathetic
0:54:51 > 0:54:53to Mr Clinton's position.
0:54:53 > 0:54:5746% blame the Republicans, 27% Mr Clinton.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01'Many traditional Americans, including some Republicans,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03'were outraged that a Speaker of the House
0:55:03 > 0:55:05'would shut down the government.'
0:55:05 > 0:55:09Newt Gingrich is not the president, he shouldn't be acting like it.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11Suddenly, Bill Clinton became the embodiment
0:55:11 > 0:55:12of the traditional America.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14He's the President of the United States.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Whether you agree with him or not,
0:55:16 > 0:55:18no-one has the right to shut down the government
0:55:18 > 0:55:20when he's the President.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Finally, Senator Bob Dole,
0:55:23 > 0:55:27worried that the shutdown would hurt his presidential campaign,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30corralled the necessary votes in the Senate to reopen the government.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33Clinton had won.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34APPLAUSE
0:55:37 > 0:55:39In the weeks that followed,
0:55:39 > 0:55:42Clinton staked out a middle ground between the two parties
0:55:42 > 0:55:46with a vision of government that was neither enemy nor saviour.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50The era of big government is over.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52APPLAUSE
0:55:55 > 0:55:57But...
0:55:58 > 0:56:01But we cannot go back to the time
0:56:01 > 0:56:05when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:08 > 0:56:13It was a real change in his vision of how the presidency could work.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16He had started with this heroic notion of the presidency,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19passing big laws, doing grand things,
0:56:19 > 0:56:21and then the public just rejected it.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24It hit a brick wall of what the public thought of government.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And he realised that he had to change how he was president,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31and he had to re-build that public trust in government.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Clinton now announced a stream of initiatives
0:56:35 > 0:56:38designed to show middle-class Americans
0:56:38 > 0:56:41that he understood, and could improve, their lives.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47'After the government shutdown',
0:56:47 > 0:56:51we adopted a political strategy based on one word - values.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56And our concept was that we would help you raise your child better.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59We have worked very hard to help communities fight crime.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05'I'll provide you with drug-free school zones, school uniforms,
0:57:05 > 0:57:07'medical leave for your children.'
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Reduce teen smoking by raising the price of cigarettes,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13putting into place tough restrictions on advertising.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18'I'll give you all of these weapons to raise better children.'
0:57:18 > 0:57:20This is a v-chip,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24and it will be required to be put in all new television sets.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Not even the Republicans could stand in Clinton's way.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32'After trying to move heaven and earth, big swathes'
0:57:32 > 0:57:33in his first two years,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36he started feeding us up small pieces of bills
0:57:36 > 0:57:38and he'd get into our knickers
0:57:38 > 0:57:41with ideas that we really could not vote against.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43100,000 cops on the street.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Are Republicans going to vote against more enforcement officers?
0:57:47 > 0:57:48APPLAUSE
0:57:48 > 0:57:51It was a politics of the possible.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55Not the things he dreamed of doing, but the things he COULD do.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00'He crafted a whole new view in American politics,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04'literally a third way, a moderate way',
0:58:04 > 0:58:07and achieved the results the American people wanted.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11Three years into his first term,
0:58:11 > 0:58:13with approval ratings on the rise,
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Clinton could once again call himself "The Comeback Kid."
0:58:20 > 0:58:23But as with nearly every Bill Clinton comeback,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25it was soon followed by yet another scandal.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd