Don't Know Much

Who Said It? (8/17/2014)

 William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton, 42nd President of the United States

President William Jefferson Clinton “Remarks to the Convocation of the Church of God in Christ” Memphis, Tenn. (November 13, 1993)

 

Under the leadership of the First Lady, we have produced a comprehensive plan to guarantee health care security to all Americans. How can we expect the American people to work and to live with all the changes in a global economy, where the average 18-year-old will change work seven times in a lifetime, unless we can simply say we have joined the ranks of all the other advanced countries in the world; you can have decent health care that’s always there, that can never be taken away? It is time we did that, long past time. I ask you to help us achieve that.

But we have so much more to do. You and I know that most people are still working harder for the same or lower wages, that many people are afraid that their job will go away. We have to provide the education and training our people need, not just for our children but for our adults, too. If we cannot close this country up to the forces of change sweeping throughout the world, we have to at least guarantee people the security of being employable. They have to be able to get a new job if they’re going to have to get a new job. We don’t do that today, and we must, and we intend to proceed until that is done.

Source: Miller Center/University of Virginia

The 42nd President of the United States, William J. Clinton was born on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas.

The Clinton health care plan to provide coverage to all Americans became the center of a controversy over the reach of the program and the involvement of First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton.

The legislation flamed out, done in by Congressional objections and an intense advertising campaign mounted by the health insurance industry. One year after this speech was delivered, the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and Senate for the first time in 40 years. In 1998, President Clinton was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate in February 1999.

Read more about Clinton’s life and presidential administration in Don’t Know Much About® the American Presidents

Don't Know Much About® the American Presidents (Hyperion Paperback-April 15, 2014)

Don’t Know Much About® the American Presidents (Hyperion Paperback-April 15, 2014)

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