Uh, Ike was R.
Just cuz yer pissed Clinton didn't appoint any blues doesn't mean you shouldn't be truthful..
Highlights Of Blacks And The Clinton Years 1992-2001 - Bill Clinton
Jet, Feb 5, 2001
As President Clinton said farewell to the nation in his final televised address, Black Americans across the country recalled with pride his presidency which brought hope, joy and a better way of life.
Clinton, who was the 42nd U.S. president, told the nation: "In all the work I have done as president, every decision I have made, every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed, I've tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build a future of our dreams in a good society with a strong economy, a cleaner environment and a freer, safer, more prosperous world."
Clinton continued: "I have steered my course by our enduring values; opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community of all Americans."
And nowhere did he reveal his efforts for equal opportunity more than in his Cabinet and staff--he appointed more minorities to key positions than any other president in history.
He did so much for Blacks that Clinton himself once referred to himself as the nation's first Black president.
At the Congressional Black Caucus conference in 1999, Clinton recalled how comedian Chris Tucker told him that he planned to star as the first Black president in an upcoming movie. "I didn't have the heart to tell him I had already taken the position," Clinton said as the audience laughed hysterically.
When Clinton was elected to his first four-year term in 1992, one of the first things he did was appoint Blacks to his Cabinet. Among the Black Cabinet appointees during his two terms in office were Ron Brown, U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Mike Espy, Secretary of Agriculture; Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor; Hazel O'Leary, Secretary of Energy; Rodney Slater, Secretary of Transportation; Jesse Brown, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who was succeeded by Togo West, and Dr. Jocelyn Elders, U.S. Surgeon General, who was succeeded by Dr. David Satcher.
Clinton also appointed nine Blacks as assistants to the president--the highest rank in the White House. Among those appointments were Ben Johnson, director of the President's Initiative for One America; Maggie Williams, the first lady's chief of staff; Alexis Herman, director of public liaison, White House, who later became labor secretary; Minyon Moore, director, political affairs; Terry Edmonds, director of speech writing; Thurgood Marshall Jr., director of Cabinet Affairs; Mark Lindsey, director of administration, and Bob Nash, director of personnel.
Ann Dibble Jordan, wife of presidential advisor Vernon Jordan, became the first Black woman to co-chair a Presidential Inauguration in 1997. Betty Currie served as Clinton's secretary during his White House years.
"We were the most diverse White House in the history of the country--and the most successful," Ben Johnson told JET. "When you look at this White House to others, it is phenomenal. He has clearly done more for Black Americans than any other president in history."
Blacks were there in the beginning of Clinton's run for the White House, many serving key roles in his election campaign and their votes helped Clinton sweep to a landslide victory over then-President George Bush (JET, Nov. 23, 1992).
And Clinton never forgot the Black support he received throughout his eight years in office.
During his first visit to Washington, D.C., in 1992, the then-President-elect Clinton opted to do what no other president has done in recent memory--he took a "get acquainted stroll" through a predominantly Black inner-city neighborhood. "I was trying to make a statement," Clinton said at the time. He said he was aware Washington was "a city, not just government buildings" made up of "people who don't want a handout but a hand-up." (JET, Dec. 7, 1992).
Black celebrities also played key roles during major events at the Clinton White House. During his first inauguration, Black dignitaries and celebrities were front and center and played bigger roles in his inauguration than at any other in this nation's history. Poet Maya Angelou delivered an inspiring inaugural poem, On the Pulse of Morning. She was the first inaugural poet since the pairing of President John F. Kennedy and poet Robert Frost in 1961.
Among those Black stars who were guests of the president or performed at the White House were Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Holliday, B.B. King, Jessye Norman, Santita Jackson, Chaka Khan, Whoopi Goldberg, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Berry, Clarence Clemons, Babyface and Savion Glover.
Many Blacks were also the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's guests of honor at White House affairs.
President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to John H. Johnson, founder, publisher, chairman and CEO of Johnson Publishing Company during a White House ceremony. The medal is the nation's highest civilian award.
Clinton praised Johnson during the White House ceremony (JET, Sept. 23, 1996): "John rose from poverty in Arkansas and Illinois to become one of the world's greatest pioneers in media, founding the landmark magazines EBONY and JET. He gave African-Americans a voice and a face, in his words, `a new sense of somebody-ness,' of who they were and what they could do, at a time when they were virtually invisible in mainstream American culture."
1 - 2 - 3 - Next
findarticles.com
Carter appointed two women: Juanita M. Kreps, secretary of commerce, and Patricia Roberts Harris, secretary of housing and urban development. Harris was the only black member of the Cabinet; but Carter appointed Andrew Young, a black Georgia congressman, as ambassador to the United Nations (UN).
course-notes.org |
