An Election Story - Rutherford Hayes Presidential Library

I visited the Rutherford Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont, Ohio more than a year ago, and the post kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the pile due to the amount of research I usually put into these types of posts.  But with the election yesterday, I decided instead to do a little comparison on voting then versus voting today since a large part of the exhibit at the museum actually dealt with this issue.

But first let's take a moment to talk about the President's wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, who was born in Ohio in 1831.  She met her husband on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware and they were married in 1852 in Cincinnati.  They had 8 children, and Rutherford was influenced by Lucy's antislavery sentiments and she also supported his decision to volunteer for military service during the Civil War. She also assisted her brother, Dr. Joe Webb in caring for the sick during the war.  When her husband served in U.S. Congress and when he was Governor of Ohio she worked for the welfare of children and veterans.  As First Lady she regularly visited the National Deaf Mute College and the Hampton Institute where she sponsored a scholarship for an African American student. It was Lucy who started the tradition of the Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn!  She was the first First Lady who had received a college education and was the first wife of a U.S. President to be referred to as the First Lady.

Little active campaigninig? Go to work instead of rallies?

What I found most interesting at this particular presidential museum was the information on campaigning and elections.  I'll let you read the text in the pictures I took. Click on the photo to make it larger if you're having trouble reading it!

What's the secret there?

Nearly 82% of eligible voters turned out to vote? Doesn't that sound crazy? Normally in this country only 40% of eligible voters turn out for mid-term elections and maybe 50% for presidential elections according to an article from Forbes.  The 2016 election had a turnout of about 55%.  Still, 82% of Swedes voted in 2014 and 78% of South Koreans voted in 2017!

REPUBLICANS were concerned that blacks would be kept from polling places.

When I showed up to vote yesterday morning I had a chat with the fellow processing the Early Voter ballots.  Out of 3300 eligible voters in Twin Lakes over 700 submitted early ballots which they process right there at the polls on Election Day.  At 8:30 in the morning he said that meant that with the folks standing in line so far turnout was already higher than in 2016!

Strange to see an election map with blank spots! Those areas still just territories in 1876.

The election in 1876 was a close one, and we know how that turns out.  We had a close race for governor here in Wisconsin yesterday, so I waited until morning for the results.  With 99% of votes counted the Democrat Tony Evers is projected to have won over incumbent governor Scott Walker. There is talk in Walker's campaign of a recount, but an unofficial tally had Evers winning by 1.1 percentage points - a margin that would be too large for a recount if it held according to news reports.

Hayes name not even on the ballot?? Talk about election interference!

Black voter turnout was a problem in Milwaukee in 2016, dropping by about 20%,  and was one of the pieces of the puzzle that allowed Trump to win. Some think that no matter the politicians on the ballot, their vote won't make a difference. Many are confused by the Voter ID law that Governor Scott Walker put into effect. They think you need a voter ID card instead of just a drivers license or other state ID.

Though the 15th amendment gave them the right
to vote, African Americans had difficulty doing so

As a matter of fact, when Katrina went to vote in Waukesha she presented a paper photo ID card from the DMV because she is waiting for her new drivers license to come in the mail.  And her poll worker didn't believe it was legal ID even though it stated right on the card legal ID for voting. Luckily Katrina stood her ground and they found someone to confirm its authenticity.

A special congressional commission decided the outcome of the election of 1876. I'm sure we will be hearing lots of conspiracy theories over some of the election results in the days ahead.  It makes me tired.

Another gentleman told me that once he stood in line to vote for an hour just to get to the front of the line and be told he was at the wrong polling place.  How often does that happen in the larger cities? How often do those folks bother going to the proper polling place and standing in line again? Why don't we have someone at the end of the line double checking that people are in the right place before making them wait? Or put up some sort of signage helping people determine if the polling place serves their district?  Couldn't they put up a big map?  Ah, but then it would be obvious how weirdly drawn the districts are?

Women get the right to vote in 1920

In 1876 women did not have the right to vote.  In these crucial mid-terms it is estimated that 52% of the voters were women! And now more than 100 women will be serving in the House of Representatives! Still not even 20% of the representatives are women...but we're getting there. Though women could not vote during the election of 1876, President Hayes did sign a bill that allowed women attorneys to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nearly 2.7 million people voted in Wisconsin, according to unofficial returns from the Associated Press, in an election that saw Democrats win a narrow victory for governor and a bigger one for US Senate. That is easily the most ever votes cast in a mid-term election in Wisconsin. It is also higher than the 2,516,065 that voted in the 2012 recall election for governor. Based on state population estimates from earlier this year, turnout was equal to almost 60 percent of the voting-age population. (source: Journal Sentinel)  Are the young finally voting? I hope so!

President Hayes had to resolve governor races in South Carolina and Louisiana, using troops of soldiers for a time to keep the peace. Speaking of law enforcement, former federal prosecutor Democrat Josh Kaul appears to have defeated Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel in a very tight race also! Democrats did well in Wisconsin! 

Shocking that white leaders in the south didn't keep their promises to treat blacks equal under the law in 1876?  In nearby Milwaukee the black community still is denied equal economic and educational opportunities, not to mention they have to fear for their safety from the police who should be on their side helping to make their communities safe. My daughter tells me a lot from her experience with Girl Scouts and from her contacts in the domestic violence community.  It's heartbreaking.                 

Frederick Douglass was appointed U.S. Marshal by President Hayes! I guess President Trump never visited this museum or he would have known that he was dead, right?  Sorry, I couldn't help myself!  You have to laugh so you don't cry sometimes.

President Hayes faced numerous major issues, including the end of Reconstruction and its aftermath, and the plight of American Indians. His major concerns were civil service reform, returning the nation’s currency to a gold standard, and education.  In 1880 there was a push to bar Chinese immigration to the United States and after Hayes was gone Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  Sound familiar?  These museums always alarm me by pointing out how the issues seem to never change very much.

Before he took office, Hayes publicly said he would only serve one term, and he returned to his home in Spiegel Grove after completing his term. The museum is located there, and is not all about the issues during his time in office. You can also see artifacts such as Abraham lincoln's slippers, their White House china, their daughter Fanny's elaborate dollhouses, information and artifacts related to the Civil War, and George Washington's ring.  The admission price includes the home so you can also visit that if you like but I did not have the time.

I'll end with a fun fact: while Rutherford Hayes was President the White House was home to a menagerie of their pets which included a mockingbird, 2 dogs, a goat and the nation's first Siamese cat!  I'm hoping to add a few presidential sites to my tally when we head east next summer, specifically JFK in Boston, John Adams in Quincy, and FDR in Hyde Park, New York.  I'll have to sneak away from the "moving to Canada" caravan to do it.  Our caravan of immigrants isn't scary either, I hope we won't have any trouble at the border.

Hope everyone survived the mid-terms with their sanity intact!

The Good and the Bad, The Bitter and the Sweet - Andrew Jackson

While passing through Tennessee on my way down to Georgia I stopped at The Hermitage, home of former U.S. President Andrew Jackson.

Admission was $20, audio tour headphones were available but I don't like blocking out the sounds of the real world so I passed.  The admission gets you access to the museum and the plantation that was his home. I didn't want to wait more than an hour in line to get in to the home, so I satisfied myself with walking the grounds and taking in the information in the museum.

Jackson was born in 1767 in South Carolina to recent immigrants from Ireland. His father died before he was born, and at the age of 13 he and his brothers joined the fighting against the British in the Revolutionary War. His brothers died during the war, one from heat stroke and the other from smallpox, and his mother died from cholera while nursing sick soldiers.  Andrew Jackson was orphaned at the age of 14.

From the Hermitage website:
After the war, Jackson briefly resided with members of his mother’s family but soon went to Charleston and embarked upon a campaign of youthful adventure and mischief.

About this time, Jackson received a modest inheritance from a grandfather still in Ireland. When his money ran out, Jackson finished school and, although he disdained studying, worked as a schoolteacher for a short period. Tall and lanky with red hair and piercing blue eyes, Jackson was known for his fiery temper, fearlessness, playful personality and daring spirit.

At the age of 17 he decided to become a lawyer and by the time he was 21 (sure took a lot less time to become a practicing lawyer in those days!) he was appointed the district prosecuting attorney in the "Western District" and that is how he came to Tennessee. When Jackson moved to Nashville he met the already married Rachel Donelson Robards. Believing her first husband had divorced her, Rachel and Andrew visited Natchez with friends and the two of them returned married in 1791.  Jackson and Rachel never had children of their own, but Jackson became the legal guardian to a number of children including a nephew they named after him and an orphaned Native American child he found in battle. The boy, Lyncoya, was sent back to the Hermitage and was educated along with Andrew Jr., and Jackson had aspirations of sending him to West Point as well. Unfortunately, political circumstances made that impossible and he instead trained as a saddle maker in Nashville. He died of tuberculosis in 1828.

School field trip kept the line long to the museum

The fact that he adopted and obviously cared deeply for a Native American child is such a contradiction to his attitude toward the removal of the Native American tribes east of the Mississippi.

Virginia bluebells

According to the Hermitage website, Jackson argued that the United States policy of attempting to assimilate the tribes into white society had failed and the Native Americans’ way of life would eventually be destroyed. Furthermore, he recognized that whites desired their lands and feared if the Native Americans remained in those areas they would eventually be exterminated. Opposition groups fought Jackson’s removal policy in Congress, but their efforts failed by a handful of votes. Congress’ authorization of the Indian Removal Act in 1831 empowered Jackson to make treaties with the tribes in arranging for their displacement.  The Indian Removal process was completed two years after Jackson left office with great loss of Native American life due to this corruption, inadequate supplies and removal by force.

That explanation sounds a little too noble to me, and I find it hard to believe his actions were to keep the Native Americans safe from extinction due to fighting over land with the white man.  I intend to do more research on the subject because of course every side has a different take on such a complex situation and the outcome after all affected my family since I have a Cherokee ancestor.  So much to know, so little time to read!  Still, current political scientists have him ranked at #15 in the list of Presidential Rankings that came out in February just one spot ahead of John F. Kennedy...and Donald Trump comes in dead last at #44.  And by the way, Obama came in at #8, up from the last survey where they placed him at #18.

Of course Jackson also owned slaves, so when I was visiting the museum all the signs touting him as the "President of the People" left a bitter taste in my mouth since he obviously didn't include anyone with skin that wasn't white as citizens.  However, for the times he was unique in his championing of what was right for the "common people" and led the way to shaping our governement toward those ideals today.  Small steps, I suppose.

When Jackson ran for office in 1828 he suffered through a mud slinging campaign that sounds familiar in light of how campaigns are run in current times.

President Adams’ supporters accused Jackson of being a military tyrant who would use the presidency as a springboard for his own Napoleonic ambitions of empire. For proof, they brought out every skeleton in Jackson’s closet; his duels and brawls, his execution of troops for desertion, his declaration of martial law in New Orleans, his friendship with Aaron Burr, and his invasions of Spanish Florida in 1814 and 1818.

The most painful attack for Jackson, by far, was that on his and Rachel’s character over their marriage. Technically, Rachel was a bigamist and Jackson her partner in it. Adams’ supporters thus judged Jackson as morally unfit to hold the nation’s highest office...They struck back with attacks on corrupt officials in Adams’ administration and labeled Adams an elitist who wanted to increase the size and power of government to benefit the aristocracy.

Fritillaria meleagris - Snake's Head Fritillary

Jackson took office with expectations to cleanse government of corruption and restore the nation’s finances. Jackson kept a watchful eye over government expenditures and congressional appropriations. In one instance, he vetoed a road bill approved by Congress. On top of being too costly, the bill only benefitted one area of the country and failed to improve the nation’s defenses. Prior to Jackson, presidents had only vetoed legislation they believed to be unconstitutional. Jackson established a new principle of vetoing legislation as a matter of policy. Jackson’s spending controls along with increased revenue enabled him to pay off the national debt in 1835 and keep the nation debt free for the remainder of his term. This is the only time in the nation’s history that the federal government was debt free.

The homeschooler in me loves that Jackson was largely self-taught. He read widely from the Bible and the classics to dozens of daily and weekly newspapers. Below are some other interesting facts.

• First president to be a resident of a state other than Massachusetts or Virginia
•  First Tennessee representative to the U.S. House
•  First president to ride a train
•  First president to be assaulted while in office
•  First president to be the target of an assassination attempt
•  First president born to immigrant parents
•  Last president to serve in the Revolutionary War (he participated at age 13!)
•  Only president to have been held as a prisoner of war
•  Only president to raise a Native American child—Lyncoya, who was found orphaned after the Battle of Tallushatchee (1813)
•  Only president to serve in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812
•  Only president to pay off the national debt

Jackson survived numerous attempts on his life as a soldier, he overcame smallpox at age 14, he was shot while dueling, and even an assasination attempt while president.

From the History Channel: Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson’s aides then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but angry.

Jackson served two terms as President and lived another 8 years to the age of 78.  In 1999 researchers obtained samples of his hair from The Hermitage and had them tested.  It was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the real cause of death for Andrew Jackson was lead poisoning, most likely leached out from the bullets left for decades in his body from dueling.

Amusingly, when Jackson died his pet parrot, Poll, attended his funeral service but had to be removed after he started cursing at the mourners. According to the Presidential Pet Museum Andrew Jackson wasn’t the only American president to have a bird as a pet. The long list includes:

• George Washington’s wife had a parrot
• Thomas Jefferson had a mockingbird named Dick
• James Madison’s wife kept a macaw
• For a short time, John Tyler had a canary named Johnny Ty
• Franklin Pierce owned two Japanese birds
• James Buchanan is said to have had a pair of bald eagles
• Abraham Lincoln’s son Tad had a turkey named Jack
• Ulysses S. Grant reportedly had a parrot
• Rutherford B. Hayes apparently had a mockingbird and four canaries
• Grover Cleveland’s wife had mockingbirds and canaries too
• William McKinley had a Mexican parrot named Washington Post
• Teddy Roosevelt had a couple of parrots, and his son had a pet macaw
• Woodrow Wilson kept songbirds
• Warren Harding’s wife, Florence, had canaries
• Calvin Coolidge’s pet canaries were named Nip and Tuck; plus Coolidge had a white canary named Snowflake and a mockingbird
• For a short time, Dwight Eisenhower had a parakeet Gabby, buried in 1957 at the southwest corner of the executive mansion
• John F. Kennedy had a canary named Robin and two parakeets named Bluebell and Marybelle
• Lyndon Johnson had lovebirds

Happy President's Day

For Presidents Day I'll share a final post from my trip I took in January to the Presidential Museums.


Everywhere Katrina and I went on this trip we kept learning new things about our past presidents, even ones whose museums we weren't visiting.  Their names and deeds cropped up everywhere from podcasts we were listening to on historical events to the crossword puzzle book I picked up in one of the gift shops.  Here are a few facts we didn't know that I found interesting and maybe you will too!


John Adams 

John Adams, our first Vice President and second President, died on the same day as Thomas Jefferson which was July 4th of 1826, 50 years to the day after Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence!  That one was definitely the strangest one we came across.

Thomas Jefferson

Photo via <a href="https://www.goodfreephotos.com/">Good Free Photos</a>

• Our third U.S. President had some profound things to say over the years, but he did not believe that women should be involved in politics, saying he hoped they were "contented to soothe and calm the minds of their husbands returning ruffled from political debate."  No one's perfect, I guess!
• Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia which was the first university not centered around religion.  Of course it has been added to the list of places to visit, Sherry has posted beautiful pictures of it in the past!
• What is the "Jefferson Bible"?  Follow this link to find out.  You can even buy a copy if you are intrigued. You'll also get a quick synopsis of "deism" which was a belief system of the time.

Abraham Lincoln 

• Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election to become our 16th President despite his name being absent from the ballot of several states.   
• He was the first Republican president, the party was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854, the Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932. The first public meeting of the general "anti-Nebraska" movement where the name "Republican" was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was partly chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party.

Here's something both Katrina and I were surprised about: not all of our U.S. Presidents were married or had wives as First Ladies while in office!  We learned this while viewing portrait of the Presidents and their First Ladies at the LBJ museum.

1. Thomas Jefferson and his wife had most of their children die in childhood, and his wife died at the age of 33 four months after the birth of their last child.  He had his daughter Martha who he was very close to after his wife's death as First Lady.
2. Jackson's wife died shortly after his election and the duties fell to her niece.
3. VanBuren's wife died 18 years before he was elected, so his daughter-in-law filled the role.
4. John Tyler, President 1841-1844, had a wife named Letitia who died in 1842; he remarried in 1844. 
5. James Buchanan, elected in 1857, was the only unmarried president to stay single his whole life.  The job of First Lady went to his niece, Harriet Lane Johnston, who assumed the role of White House hostess and used her proximity to power to champion several social causes.
6. President Arthur's wife died of pneumonia 19 months before he became president when James Garfield was assassinated. 
7. The last bachelor elected to the White House was Grover Cleveland in 1886, but he married in his first term. Grover Cleveland, President 1885-89 and 93-97, bachelor upon taking office, married 1886 (the only one to have the actual wedding take place in the White House) 
8. Woodrow Wilson, President 1913-1921 remarried during his term in 1915, one year after the death of his first wife.

Herbert Hoover

• In 1931 President Herbert Hoover signed an act making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem.
• Hoover took office in 1929, when the very concept of "illegal immigration" was fairly new. For most of its previous history, the U.S. had encouraged immigration and threw up few legal barriers. The first permanent quotas on immigration had been put in place by the Immigration Act of 1924. And even that law did not apply to Mexico, or to any other country in the Western Hemisphere, because the U.S. didn’t want to alienate its neighbors, and needed Mexican laborers to help with the harvest. It did completely exclude immigrants from Asia, however, and set limits on immigration from Europe.  Hoover appointed the commission that brought abuses of the deportation system to light, and that the descriptions of a "Mexican repatriation" during the Depression don’t put the blame exclusively, or even predominately, on federal officials. They also cite actions by state and local officials, "job denials" by private employers, and pressure by labor unions. For more on this topic go to this link.

Theodore Roosevelt

• On October 14, 1912, an unemployed saloon keeper shot presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt outside a Milwaukee hotel. Rather than being rushed to the hospital, Roosevelt insisted on delivering his scheduled 90-minute speech.  It's a great story, click this link for more details!
• Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to call the official residence the White House.  He was also the first to be called "Mr. President".  His predecessors were called "Your Excellency" or "Your Honor".
• He also sailed his presidential yacht on the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers and after strenuous walks along the Potomac, the president on occasion would shed all his clothes and take a plunge in the river to cool off.  This guy was monumentally cool, I can't wait to visit one of his historical sites and learn everything I can!

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a painter.
• He added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the nation’s official motto. The law, P.L. 84-140, also mandated that the phrase be printed on all American paper currency. 

Richard Nixon signed Title X into law here is a quote from his statement:  I called for a national commitment to provide adequate family planning services within the next 5 years to all those who want them but cannot afford them. It was clear that the domestic family planning services supported by the Federal Government were not adequate to provide information and services to all who want them on a voluntary basis.

To implement this national commitment, I asked for expanded research in contraceptive development and the behavioral sciences, reorganization of family planning service activities within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and legislation which would help the Department to implement this important program by providing broader and more precise legislative authority and a clearer source of financial support. The National Center for Family Planning Services was established in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare shortly after my message.


Ronald Reagan

• As president of the Screen Actors Guild he testified about entertainers he thought were communist sympathizers during the Red Scare.
• He won a record 525 electoral votes for a second term against Democrat Walter Mondale.
• In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that created a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. The holiday, first commemorated in 1986, is celebrated on the third Monday in January, close to the civil rights leader’s January 15 birthday.

In relation to current events, the road to affordable health care for our citizens has been longer than most folks may realize.  Take a look at this display from the LBJ Museum.  I was surprised to learn it was George W. Bush who signed the prescription drug benefit for Medicare!

And it was LBJ who signed the Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965.  I am horrified that immigration legislation is being attempted to be used as a means of discrimination again.  But I am also thrilled that so many citizens have stepped up and made it known that it won't be tolerated, from marches to the small acts ordinary folks are doing when they see discrimination in everyday life.  Democracy in action, spread a little of it yourself this Presidents Day if you can!

Clinton's "Contract With America" - Little Rock Part 3

This post is a continuation of the story of the stops my daughter Katrina and I made 

during our recent trip down to Texas and back to tour 5 Presidential Museums.

After hours of research and preparation I am ready to share the story of the visit to our 5th Presidential museum on our trip: Bill Clinton's Presidential Library in Little Rock.  This one was a re-visit for Katrina but has been at the top of my list for years and I'm glad I finally made my way there.  The 1992 election was the first one that I voted in.  Pushing Katrina in a stroller and with Cory strapped to my chest I cast my ballot for Clinton-Gore down at the water utility building in downtown Kenosha.  I guess I wasn't moved by George W. Bush or Dukakis in 1988, you know how it can be when you're barely old enough to vote and you think what happens in the world doesn't affect you.

The museum was modeled after The Long Room at Trinity College in Dublin, and all the blue boxes in cabinets hold records from the White House Office.  The museum contains more exhibits than one would think including an interactive exhibit on how decisions were made at the White House and of course a recreation of the Clinton Oval Ofice.  We didn't even get close to looking at them all, we just didn't have enough time so I guess I have a reason to go back.  I'm pretty sure these museums occasionally change up their exhibits so who knows what will be on display when Wayne and I get back there someday?

Hillary got her due for all her work both before and after her husband's presidency, including her work as a lawyer investigating President Nixon and her appointment by President Carter to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation.  As First Lady she traveled to 78 countries promoting women's and human rights around the world.  She brought her message to presidents and kings, the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations and even to rural villages and war zones. Together with Secretary of State Madeline Albright they established the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative.   There is much to be said about her extensive career in public service, but now is unfortunately not the time.

Here's the short list of some of President Clinton's actions that I was happy to re-familiarize myself with during our visit.  As with the other presidents' data I've listed I stuck mostly to domestic issues.  See how much of it still sounds like familiar ground we've been covering and re-covering in the years since...

• The Federal Budget was balanced for the first time in nearly 2 decades, going from a $290 billion deficit to a $236 billion SURPLUS by the time he left office.  If the budget hasn't been balanced since who is to blame?
• Within the Balanced Budget Act was investment in the education of our citizens, including tax credits for college and investments in Head Start and Pell Grants.
• Increased the minimum wage by 90 cents.
• The Retirement Protection Act required corporations with underfunded pension plans to increase their contributions.
• Ended the marketing of cigarettes to minors and made the tobacco industry spend millions on anti-smoking campaigns.
• Vetoed the Republican budget plan that contained massive cuts in funding to Medicare, Medicaid, Education and the environment.  Extended the Medicare trust fund ensuring it wouldn't run out of funding in 1999 but would continue until at least 2025.
• Earmarked $300 million in grants to help communities tackle homelessness with job training, home construction and other services.

• The Brady Bill was signed into law after 7 years, requiring background checks before gun purchases.  Guns were kept from 160,000 prohibited individuals in the first year.
• Got gunmakers to approve putting child safety locks on guns and passed the Assault Weapons Ban as part of his 1994 crime bill.
• Required welfare recipients to go to work within two years or risk losing benefits.  Welfare rolls were reduced by 60%, the lowest level in 32 years.
• During the Clinton years the Internet exploded onto the scene and his Administration launched a campaign to connect every school and library to the Internet.  Internet access to students at public schools went from 3% to 98%.

On the left: Clinton's DNC of 1984 speech mentioning President Truman.
Top right: Bill was 1 of 2 Arkansas delegates at Boy's Nation
Bottom left: Bill introduces himself to President John F. Kennedy at Boy's Nation

For the heck of it I'll toss in a few things that expanded beyond our borders a bit.

• Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
• Expanded trade with Canada and Mexico when NAFTA passed Congress with bipartisan support, with increased U.S. exports supporting hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
• Brought America into the Kyoto Protocol - an international treaty aimed at reducing emissions to combat global warming.

And speaking of global warming, let us not forget the Administration's environmental efforts, nor that Vice President Al Gore was the point man for many environmental causes during the Administration.  Here is some of the work they got done together to make our planet a better place as well as our country.

• Signed the Food Quality Protection Act, setting limits on pesticide use on food.
• Strengthened the Safe Drinking Water Act, requiring America's 55,000 water utilities to provide regular reports to their customers on the quality of their drinking water.  The EPA worked feverishly in January 2001 with environmental groups and farm worker unions to produce new regulations for the first time in 60 years, to require substantially lower quantities of arsenic, a naturally occurring substance, in drinking water. The new rule reduced the standard from 59 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.
• Launched the Climate Change Technology Initiative to spur the development of clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming while saving money and creating jobs.
• Approved the strongest air quality standards in history to control pollution from smog and soot.
• The President defended Yellowstone National Park from potential toxic runoff from a proposed gold mine near the Park's boundary, and acquired land near the Park to expanded critical habitat for bison.
• The Administration has also strongly opposed efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the President vetoed legislation that would have opened the Refuge to new exploration.
• Created 11 national monuments - including Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah; Grand Canyon-Parashant in Arizona; Agua Fria in Arizona; Sequoia in California; and the California Coastal monument- and expanded two others.
• Secured a billion dollars to restore Everglades National Park.
• Also launched the Lands Legacy Initiative, establishing funds to protect other green spaces.

Presidential gifts have been on display at each museum 

There was a gorgeous piece by Dale Chihuly on exhibit, and apparently in 2014-2015 there was a full exhibition inside and outside of the museum of his work.  Just the reminder I need to find out where I can find exhibits of his work this year.  I'm always so inspired when I stumble upon his work, but my favorite experience was when I went to an exhibit of his in OshKosh in 2013. Unfortunately photography was not allowed, but I can still see some of his pieces if I close my eyes!

Katrina's always been a huge Clinton fan, here are a "few" of his accomplishments I know she wholeheartedly supports.

• His cabinet, White House staff and judicial nominees were the most diverse in history with qualified individuals that embodied his belief that diversity makes us a stronger nation.
• Signed health insurance reform that required insurance companies to sell to individuals who had lost their group insurance and to protect individuals from denial due to pre-existing conditions.
• Authorized stricter enforcement of exiting child support laws.
• Signed the Violence Against Women Act which provided for investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave un-prosecuted. The Act also quadrupled funding for women's shelters and established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
• Signed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act.  Not up on the latest data of Human Trafficking in this country?  Go to this link.
• Boosted funding for HIV programs and overturned a policy that denied security clearance to gay persons.
• The Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Act helped low income, uninsured and underinsured women secure preventative healthcare
• Signed Megan's Law which makes registered sex offenders information public knowledge.
• The first thing Clinton signed was the Family and Medical Leave Act, allowing workers to take up to 12 weeks upaid leave to care for a newborn or sick family member.  Contrast that with Trump's attempt to roll back Obamacare.  We'll see where that goes, hopefully not too far astray since it was passed into law by Congress and cannot go away with the stroke of his pen.
• Created Americorps in which almost 1 million Americans have participated, and placing thousands of young adults into service positions where they learns valuable skills and earn money for education.

Madame President Katrina??

And here's the list of things that didn't get accomplished while he was in office.

• Universal Health Care.  (Insert heavy sigh....)  However he did enact HIPAA which not only protects patient privacy but protects against discrimination due to mental illness and allows people to keep their health insurance when they change jobs.  He also enacted the State Children's Health Insurance Program which provided insurance to millions of eligible children.
• Between 1993 and 2001 the Senate failed to confirm 114 judicial nominees, nearly as many as during the previous 7 administrations combined.
• After 8 years of investigation (costing the taxpayers $70 million, by the way) NO evidence of wrongdoing was found when the Clintons were investigated over the Whitewater real estate issue.
• President Clinton was also acquitted of all impeachment charges that were brought against him as well.

Wearing my Clinton-Gore t-shirt that I bought in the Gift Shop!

Also making an appearance at the museum was an exhibit about the Beatles.  I enjoy the Beatles but I want to listen to their music, not go to an exhibit about them so it only got a cursory glance.  I did learn though that they considered Buddy Holly a main influence on their music. 

Katrina and I got so caught up watching Darrell Hammond's impression of Bill Clinton on video that we almost overstayed our welcome at the museum.  Luckily the internet had a link so I could finish getting my giggles in.

But this one was even funnier, maybe President Clinton missed his calling and he should have been on Saturday Night Live.  Don't give up on it, the laughs keep coming and it gets funnier as it goes on.

If you want to see video of four decades of his Democratic National Convention speeches over the years try this link. If you haven't had enough of White House Correspondents Dinner videos, check out the one from 2011 where President Obama made jokes after they released his long form birth certificate.  Trump was in the audience - it looked like he wasn't laughing though.