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Healthcare, Economy, Foreign Policy, National Security

Published: 1994
Play Audio Archive Story - UPI
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with members of a health care rally near the US Capitol on August 16, 1994. The rally, sponsored by Families USA, heard from individuals about their health insurance problems. (UPI Photo/Massimo D'Alema/Files)

Announcer: The Republican victory in November climbed extra tough year for the Clinton administration. The President tried to change the whole way America provides healthcare for its citizens.

Hillary Clinton: "This is a very important legislative battle."

Announcer: And he deputized his own wife to spearhead the effort.

Hillary Clinton: "There are many analysts who are analyzing all the different approaches. But there isn't anything as important as taking care of our children."

Announcer: No one disputed that but everyone disputed the best way to do it. By summer Senator Pat Moynihan was openly confirming deadlock.

Pat Moynihan: "There is not now a majority for any healthcare reform plan."

Announcer: The whole effort collapsed.

Unknown Speaker: "Employment this January was 1.9% above last January when the President took office."

Announcer: The jobs picture improved a lot in 1994.

Lloyd Bentsen: "It's a great time to be Secretary of the Treasury."

Announcer: But by year's end Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen felt unappreciated and quit. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy flew the coop over the issue of free plane rides from a chicken magnet. A stimulating comment about what school should teach caused Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders to self-destruct. A slow motion shake-up sent White House aid Dee Dee Myers packing and shunted Bill Clinton’s Republican Advisor David Gergen to a foreign policy job even he didn’t think he was qualified for.

David Gergen: "Frankly I don’t pretend to be an expert in all of the issues of foreign policy."

Announcer: Attacks on the administration came from all sides and weren’t always confined to words.

Unknown Speaker: "We have a small aircraft, single engine Cessna which is up against the building."

Announcer: A Maryland man turned off the lights on a plane, flew right into restricted airspace, past the Washington monument and died in a crash on the White House south lawn.

Unknown Speaker: "This is still under investigation so we cannot comment one way or another."

Announcer: A few weeks later on the North side of the White House.

Unknown Speaker: "At approximately 3 o'clock this afternoon shots were fired at the White House from the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue."

Unknown Speaker: "I heard this noise, which I thought it was fireworks, then I see the sky with but the rifle."

Unknown Speaker: "People that were walking on the lawn, they said all of a sudden they see the dirt starting to blowup and leaves starting to pull down. They didn’t know what was going on, until somebody realized what was going on inside then they told them to duck."

Bill Clinton: "I was upstairs listening to a football game and the shots were sort of intermittent with the cheers."

Unknown Speaker: "Any idea how he got the rifle up here, was he disguised and --?"

Unknown Speaker: "I think it was under his raincoat."

Announcer: In December more shots were fired at the White House and this time no one was caught. A few days before Christmas, a homeless man wielding a knife out in front of the White House was fatally wounded by a Police Officer.

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