1102 ★ CHAPTER 27 From Triumph to Tragedy
anti government movement, exploded a bomb at a federal office building in
Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 persons, including numerous children
at a day- care center. McVeigh was captured, convicted, and executed. The
bombing alerted the nation to the danger of violent antigovernment right-
wing groups.
IMPEACHMENT AND THE ELECTION OF 2000
The unusually intense partisanship of the 1990s seemed ironic, given Clinton’s
move toward the political center. Republicans’ intense dislike of Clinton could
only be explained by the fact that he seemed to symbolize everything conser-
vatives hated about the 1960s. As a college student, the president had smoked
marijuana and participated in antiwar demonstrations. He had married a fem-
inist, made a point of leading a multicultural administration, and supported
gay rights. Clinton’s popularity puzzled and frustrated conservatives, rein-
forcing their conviction that something was deeply amiss in American life.
From the very outset of his administration, Clinton’s political opponents and
scandal- hungry media stood ready to pounce. Clinton himself provided the
ammunition.
The Impeachment of Clinton
Sexual misconduct by public officials had a long history. But in the 1980s and
1990s, scrutiny of politicians’ private lives became far more intense than in the
past. Gary Hart, as noted in the previous chapter, had been driven from the 1988
campaign because of an extramarital liaison. In 1991, Senate hearings on the
nomination to the Supreme Court of Clarence Thomas, a black conservative,
became embroiled in dramatic charges of sexual harassment leveled against
Thomas by law professor Anita Hill. To the outrage of feminists, the Senate
narrowly confirmed him. Nonetheless, because of her testimony, Americans
became more aware of the problem of sexual harassment in and out of the
workplace, and complaints shot up across the country.
From the day Clinton took office, charges of misconduct bedeviled him.
In 1998, it became known that Clinton had carried on an affair with Monica
Lewinsky, a White House intern. Kenneth Starr, the special counsel who had
been appointed to investigate a previous scandal, shifted his focus to Lewinsky.
He issued a lengthy report containing almost pornographic details of Clinton’s
sexual acts with the young woman and accused the president of lying when
he denied the affair under oath. In December 1998, the Republican- controlled
House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton for perjury and obstruction