The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

On January 17th, 1998, President Clinton videotaped a deposition for the Paula Jones lawsuit against him. December 19th, eleven months later, Bill Clinton became only the second president in our nation's history to face impeachment from congress. The 1998-1999 was a tumultuous year for the President, the media, and the American people as a whole. Yet, the most intriguing and surprising aspect of the scandal was not that Bill Clinton would ever cheat on his wife …

…Clinton was equally suspicious of the media's intentions and angered by their intrusion into his private life. The public, because of the scandals, lost trust in both institutions. More importantly, Clinton past scandals help to explain the response of each of the actors: why Clinton was able to survive the scandal; why the media was too aggressive in its coverage; most importantly, why the public stood by Clinton and approved of his performance as President.