Compare And Contrast Bill Wilson And Bill Clinton

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William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States of

America from the year of 1993 to 2001. He was initially named William Jefferson Blythe on

the day of his birth on 19 August, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas, but changed surnames after his

mother remarried four years later. He studied law in Yale Law School where he met his wife,

Hilary Clinton. Prior to his election as president, Clinton was the State’s Attorney General

from 1977 to 1979, and was the Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1991.

He was dubbed as the third youngest president and the first from the Baby Boomer generation.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th president of the United States of America, serving

from 1981 to 1989. He was born …show more content…

In fact, total economic growth was almost identical, averaging about 4

percent per year, with Reagan edging out Clinton by less than 1 percentage point for the total

eight-year period.
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Additionally both presidents shared many ideals, such as the opinion that Marijuana is

a gateway drug; meaning that it is a drug thought to lead to the use of other dangerous drugs

such as cocaine or heroine. As such, Reagan made an effort to create the Anti-Drug Abuse Act

of 1986, giving the war on drugs a budget of $1.7 billion, and increase the severity of the

punishments for any drug related offences. Similarly Clinton, in his effort to prioritise

education, created the President Clinton’s Safe and Drug Free Schools and Community Act,

signing the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act on October 20, 1994, and submitting and fighting

for the most comprehensive drug control budget …show more content…

During his time, he received a letter from a citizen thanking Reagan for

allowing the death penalty as the reminder of it to his assailant saved his life. However, during

his eight years of presidency, only one man was executed for the crime of murdering a police

officer. Clinton, on the other hand, had other laws passed down to limit crimes. For gun

control, he signed the Brady Bill which imposed a five day waiting period to purchase a

handgun so that background checks can be performed on the buyer, thus helping keep

criminals from buying firearms. As with Reagan, Clinton was a supporter of capital

punishment, as such the Crime Bill was created to expand the number of offences illegible for

the death penalty, and implemented the “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” provision. He also

arranged to have more police officers patrolling around communities.

Even thought the two presidents have even more areas they agreed on during their

term, the differences are still present. For instance Clinton greatly agreed on charging the

wealthy and upper class citizens with higher taxes, thus lowering the burden on indigent
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citizens, and although Reagan had the best in mind for all taxpayers, he strongly disagreed

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