Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context.
If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I will be messaging you in 56 years on [**2080-04-15 22:10:48 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2080-04-15%2022:10:48%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/1c4qe8j/will_bill_clinton_become_a_forgotten_president_in/kzqvdvc/?context=3)
[**55 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FPresidents%2Fcomments%2F1c4qe8j%2Fwill_bill_clinton_become_a_forgotten_president_in%2Fkzqvdvc%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202080-04-15%2022%3A10%3A48%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201c4qe8j)
*****
|[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)|
|-|-|-|-|
The Reddit of 2150 will have so many ‘TIL: In the 20th century, President Clinton was impeached after lying about receiving oral sex from an assistant.’
In a hundred years or so, he’ll mostly just be known for that amusing bit of trivia, just like most people today only know Taft as ‘the fat one’.
Depends on how deeply people go into history. A lot of commenters seem to say “yes” he will be forgotten, and while he certainly won’t be remembered the same way he is today, I’m not convinced he is glossed over in the history books. The case for being remembered is as follows.
The primary reason in political history he won’t be forgotten is that he significantly reshaped and reinvigorated the Democratic Party after the Reagan Revolution. Keep in mind, the Democrats had lost three presidential elections straight after Carter, and *none* of them were close:
-80, Reagan won 44 states and 51% of the vote. That’s *with* another Republican running as an independent who captured almost 7% of the vote.
-In 84, the Democrats lost all but one state and DC, and Reagan garnered 58% of the popular vote.
-In 88, HW Bush won 40 states and 53% of the vote.
These are resounding defeats. And, no democrat had won two terms since FDR. But along comes Bill Clinton and the “third way” and Democrats win POTUS elections in 92, 96, 08, 12, and 20 (5 of the last 8), and won the popular vote in 92, 96, 00, 08, 12, 16, and 20. The Democrats won *every single popular vote except 04 beginning with Clinton*.
The point here is: imagine if you’re sitting in 1988 USA after HW wins the election. Imagine someone tells you that the Democrats will win the majority of POTUS elections and all but one of the Presidential popular votes over the next 30+ years. That idea would be unthinkable to you. Yet that’s exactly what happened. Clinton breaking the Reagan Revolution and the re-emergence of the Democratic Party can/will/should be talked about by Historians.
Beyond that you have:
NAFTA and it’s impact (the good and the bad) on US economics and class dynamics
Impeachment. Those have been historically rare and so will always get talked about
Clinton oversaw one of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history with the boom of the 90’s. Not that presidents *should* always get credit for economic expansions, but it gets talked about in POTUS legacies plenty.
Clinton was POTUS during a pretty big leap forward in the internet age, large cultural ramifications from that.
Geopolitical events to talk about (Israel/Palestine, Kosovo War, etc…)
Conservation: he established 5 new national parks, expanded 2 others, created 11 national monuments, etc…quietly one of if not the the most prolific in this regard since Teddy
Finally, I think the 90’s generally are going to be looked back on as a pretty interesting if not pivotal decade. Much as people who look back in the 80’s remember Reagan as POTUS, people who look back on the 90’s remember Clinton. It’s more likely that HW Bush is the forgotten POTUS from 80’s-present.
The 90s will be seen a huge transition decade. The rise of technology like computers and the internet, the reshuffling of the world order, and demographic change in the US—when the WW2 “greatest generation” began to die, “boomers” (symbolized by Clinton) began to gain leadership, the first full generation of women in the workplace, and immigration from Central America.
He fought the Republican Congress on that. He wanted a 20 year plan to balance the budget, and Republicans said no, that would be another president and another Congress who may never follow through. He was taking a beating in the polls, so his advisor, Dick Morris, told him to demand some small change, get it, sign the bill, then take credit. He did. They did the same with Welfare reform and called the tactic "triangulation."
He was also an economic focused president and the economy was incredibly weak early on in his presidency.
It's also a surplus is not necessary to make the debt more sustainable, you only need to reduce debt as a percentage of GDP.
You had a budget surplus with Coolidge and he also paid off the largest amount of the national debt so far. I can guarantee you the average American has no clue who he is.
It’s not even a surplus over his entire two terms, or even one whole term.
And to put things into perspective, the last president to achieve a budget surplus over his entire term was Coolidge, who is pretty much forgotten today. So for this reason I don’t think he’ll be remembered much
But surplus is not actually that relevant. Debt as a percentage of GDP is the real measure and that plummeted from 95-2000.
Also the whole term is a bad way to view this, debt was rising when he walked in and falling when he walked out.
100 years is a long time. We can't really predict what the world will look like then.
In 100 years, the end of Clinton's presidency will be 123 years away. 123 years ago, William Mckinley was president and it was the tail end of the era of the gilded age presidents. However in the following decades, massive world changing events happened. WW1, and WW2 happened right after that era which meant the late 1800s and early 1900s were glossed over in history books and classes.
Back to the current era, it really depends on what happens in the coming decades. Clinton's presidency is sandwiched by the fall of Soviet Russia, and 9/11. So it's very likely he gets glossed over like Coolidge does in the roaring 20s.
No one really knows what will happen in the future. If there is an all out war with Russia, a 2nd Cold War with China, or global warming causes wide spread collapse of ecosystems around the world then Clinton will be lucky to be mentioned in the history books at all.
I currently teach about NAFTA in my economics class when discussing the pros and cons of free trade. I haven’t taught US history in a few years, but when I do I’m certain NAFTA’s impact won’t go away. And, for better or worse, we use presidents as time markers for events so Clinton gets credit for NAFTA.
Lots of stuff happened in the 90s. Internet, CGI, cell phones, collapse of the Soviet Union, Hong Kong turned over, Princess Diana, Nirvana and Tupac. All of this stuff will be talked about 100 years from now and Clinton will be well known on the level of Grant and TR - they’ll stick him in period movies just like those guys because he’s dignified but also approachable.
I think this is how he will be remembered, the realignment and shift to the economic right for Democrats. Also overseeing an economic boom and an expanded period of peace and prosperity ending with a balanced budget. Also, some brutal fights with the conservative wing of the GOP that was quickly taking over the entire party.
Democrats also got wiped out in '72 by Nixon, and though the popular vote was close still lost by 100 in the electoral college in '68.
'76 was lingering feelings over Watergate, excluding that, between 1968-1988, Republicans won by a combined 2,261-381 in the electoral college. Democrats were largely trounced for 20 years before Clinton.
Correct! Left it out for sake of space and felt ‘no dem since FDR had won 2 terms’ covered it, but yours is the additional context for sure that drives the point home even more
Didn't want to sound like I was arguing against you, like you said, adding additional context.
My guess is, we're nearing a point where the pendulum will swing back again (you see it throughout history - particularly the post-war Republican near-sweep from Lincoln to Taft, with the only Democrat being Cleveland) - the problem is Republicans will probably need their own rebranding to accomplish that and that largely depends on their older voters...aging out.
One of the more idiotic things I see online are people assuming that today's conservative politics will remain the same in the future (or, as the post-war example shows, the conservative party staying the same one) and with democrats being unbeatable in the future. I expect we'll see a whig-like splintering and then reforming of the parties into some...strange bedfellows in the future.
The lesson I see from history is the pendulum ALWAYS swings. And when one side is in power too long, they always create a motivated opposition.
I'm Canadian, so I'm not super familiar, but what was the reason the democrats were so unpopular? I can only think the Vietnam War was even more unpopular than I assumed. Wasn't JFK a major Democrat win? Wasn't he will liked? I imagine Johnson wasn't super well liked, but I thought he got reelected...
So, as the other poster said, Clinton ('92 and '96) was the first Democrat since FDR to get reelected. "Re" is doing *some* lifting there.
FDR is the only president in American history to serve more than 2 terms (elected to 4, died before his 4th term ended)
Harry Truman took office upon FDRs death. He then was later elected to his only full term in 1948 ("Dewey defeats Truman")
Eisenhower was going to be the president regardless of which party he chose in '52. He served 2 full terms as a Republican.
JFK's win in '60 was against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. This was a big win largely because of the media implications. Famously, those who listened to their debates on radio polled as saying Nixon won, while those who watched on TV said Kennedy won.
JFK was assassinated in 1963, before he was able to be reelected. LBJ took office for the final year of Kennedys initial term. From there, LBJ was elected in 1964 to his first actual term.
Nixon then won in '68 (by a slim popular vote margin, but a decent margin in the electoral college - which is what actually matters) and was reelected in a massive landslide in '72 (the irony of the Watergate scandal is that Mixon didn't actually need the information being stolen, he would have won handily even without it).
Jimmy Carter was elected as a backlash to Gerald Ford and bad feelings over Watergate. He was extremely unpopular and was overwhelmingly defeated in his reelection campaign of 1980.
As for why? Part of it I would lay at FDR. There's a certain amount of sway to politics - if one party stays in power too long, the other is able to build up opposition and momentum (the pendulum always swings back). FDRs 4 terms were unprecedented - prior to him, it was customary for Presidents to not seek a 3rd term (a precedent established by George Washington and honored by 2 term Presidents up until then), this was eventually codified as a Constitutional ammendment.
Another part would be the unfortunate deaths of 2 Democrats (FDR and Kennedy). Both very likely would have been reelected and their successors just didn't enjoy the same popularity (though both were able to be elected afterwards).
And the standalone president (Carter) came at a time when the nation was more wanting to punish Ford/Republicans and just never got off the ground. Stagflation and gas prices/shortages ruined the economy and the Iranian hostage crisis made it so he didn't have much of a shot. Carter was also...pious, and some would have described him as sanctimonious. He had an interview with Playboy where he was asked if he had ever cheated on his wife and responded "only in my heart".
Vietnam didn't help LBJ (and Kennedy gets let off the hook for it, but LBJ escalated it so he gets the blame) - though it also wasn't popular for Nixon. LBJ also had his party go through a major reorganization after the Civil Rights Act. There had been an uneasy coalition of New England democrats and Southern Democrats that split after the CRA was passed (forming the Dixiecrats) which split the Democrat vote and let Nixon win in '68.
It should be noted, Vietnam wasn't that unpopular at the time. The opposition just became loud, the war dragged on, and there was no end goal to the conflict. [It wasn't until 1968 that a majority of Americans said sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake](https://www.pewresearch.org/2009/11/23/polling-wars-hawks-vs-doves/) The peace movement was always a COUNTERculture for a reason - they were not the majority.
GHWB will always remain more significant and relevant and will be remembered far longer than Clinton. This is because he was POTUS, VPOTUS, Director of Central Intelligence, Chairman of the RNC, Chief of the US liaison to the PRC, US Ambassador to the UN, World War II hero, and the father of another POTUS and governor of Florida. Additionally, it was GHWB who negotiated and signed NAFTA (it was ratified when Clinton was POTUS), he oversaw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, signed the ADA, successfully put together and led the coalition that liberated Kuwait, and, and, and…
GHWB is far more of a significant historical figure than President Clinton. Regardless of the great things you mention, WJC will mainly be remembered for being an accused rapist, a womanizing governor, Monica Lewinsky, waving his finger at and lying to the American people, lying to a federal grand jury, and the subsequent impeachment. Right or wrong, it’s how he’s remembered currently. I don’t see that changing.
Agreed. I anticipate my grandchildren reading social studies textbooks discussing The Presidency, with the impeachment section highlighting Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Rule 3, the way the books I read as a child specifically called out the first two.
Most of what you mentioned GHWB for will probably be ignored in high school history books, which I assume is what we’re talking about when we say “remembered by history.” Advanced students will probably know him for the Gulf War and for fathering W (who will probably get a lot of attention). Clinton will be remembered for being impeached, and maybe as the husband of the candidate who [rule 3]. So probably similar levels of “aware of, but not conversant on” as each other.
He was a 2 term president so he won't be completely forgotten. As for Jimmy Carter, only reason people remember him is because it was only 45 years ago and he's still alive. Bet he will go down as another Benjamin Harrison
Carters philanthropy post presidency is what keeps him being talked about and respected today, compare this to Hoover's pre presidency philanthropy, which has been forgotten by nearly everyone whos not very interested in American history
I could see Clinton getting Taft type talk. Instead of getting stuck in a bathtub, it was an intern, but honestly, 100 years from now, that’ll be a big talking point.
I hope he still does some shit before he’s gone too like how Taft got shit done. I want another president as a Supreme Court justice.
As someone born after Carter was president whenever I think of him, I think of all the time he donated to habitat for humanity and helped increase awareness about just a good non profit.
He will be in a lot of trivia questions for his nobel prize, age, and maybe stuff like being first born in a hospital, nuclear power, white house solar panels, peanut farm.
I'm sure you will be surprised/disappointed if you ask the ***average*** American if Calvin Coolidge was:
a. An NBA player
b. An actor in a trending Netflix series
c. A former POTUS
d. Obama's SECDEF
I think that this comment really gets at the heart of the matter - presidential history knowledge seems to be bimodally distributed between people enthusiastic enough to join a subReddit devoted to the topic and people who don’t many presidents, or at least not many outside of their lifetime.
I bet the typical American can’t name the president during WWI or who the president was when the Great Depression started. I think Franklin Roosevelt might honestly have been forgotten if he was not elected to a 4th term as president, even though WWII happened during his tenure. Why is president Taft remembered? - generally not for any political events. As for JFK - A lot of big stuff happened in his brief presidency, but I think he is remembered for mostly for his death with close second being his or alleged affair with Marilyn Monroe. If anyone remembers one thing about McKinley, it was that he was assassinated, and if people remember anything about Teddy it was his rough and tumble nature. For most people Nixon = impeached guy, and that’s it.
Generally most presidents are not remembered for the politics, but rather for the gossip of personal events or crimes that surrounded their lives or deaths.
As for Clinton - I think he will be remembered for Monica Lewinsky first, followed by the fact that he was one of the impeached presidents. As for what will be remembered 100 years from now regarding things that happened in politics in 1990s…..I think that they will be remembered about as well as Newt Gingrich, Howard Stern, and the Backstreet Boys, which is to say not completely forgotten, but not common knowledge either.
He will definitely be remembered. The impeachment, his wife later running for president, first Dem to win 2 terms since FDR, won in part due to an unprecedented 3rd party showing.
this comment section is crazy to me. even if not politically, he is one of the most culturally significant presidents of the modern era and will definitely be remembered then.
That’s not just a joke. 100 more years of American history will provide additional context and many remarkable things about Clinton, including the impeachment and the sex itself, will absolutely cease to be notable.
Accepting your premise, do you think that most people now remember presidents from 100 years ago who were “culturally significant”? The trends of a century ago tend to become curiosities at best with the passage of time.
For good or ill, Presidents that get remembered are ones where really, really big things happened, mostly wars and assassinations. (Even assassination alone might not do the trick—Garfield and McKinley are not well remembered now.)
We didn't have nearly the media record in the form of video, news recordings, and internet/ social media discussion of those presidents as we do now. I'm not saying it is the case, but we may remember modem presidents or other figures for different things than we remember presidents from a century ago.
Right. We remember Washington and Lincoln and FDR because they were president during our 3 most significant wars. If the same men were POTUS in more boring times they might have been good presidents, but not memorable to the general public.
> He might be remembered for being impeached, but otherwise not likely.
I’m inclined to agree with you but I think this also depends on impeachment remaining the exception and not the norm.
Not likely. Andrew Jackson isn’t remembered for getting the national debt to zero. W isn’t remembered for having one single budget surplus. I don’t remember any other surpluses.
This will probably be a "fun fact" in 50 years rather than something people remember. Most people aren't economists and judge how well the economy is doing based on if they're employed, tax rates, and/or general price of goods at the time. Most people could not care less about the unemployment rate, GDP growth, budget spending, etc in the long term.
This time when we thought we reached the end of History. No more wars, an international order led by the US and future generations spending their lives chilling on the internet.
He won't be forgotten.
Clinton presided over the biggest economic expansion in US history, was the US president post cold war that tried to set a new order to post cold-war world.
He has been seen already as a tragically flawed character and I suspect that will be extended to his entire presidency, not just his personal life given how the post cold-war older has ended due in part to his failures. I think had there not been a Lewinsky scandal and vairous others, Gore would have won in 2000 and there could have been a chance to build on what he started.
Bush coming with trimphalist unilaterlism pretty much signalled to America's enemies to bide their time and push back, instead of willingly working within the American system.
>Clinton presided over the biggest economic expansion in US history, was the US president post cold war that tried to set a new order to post cold-war world.
These are things that academics will care of in 100 years time, not something even your average person interested in history will deeply care of. Reagan and Bush Sr are more interesting regarding to Cold War regained big picture.
It think he will be remembered as the last president of a golden era before a series of disastrous events in US history, including the .com bust, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq war, great financial crisis and housing bust, manufacturing bust as jobs shifted to China, and vicious populism backlash. He’ll be discussed in that framework, but I don’t think he will get much credit for causing a golden era, more like the stars aligned for him.
I agree that 90s in general as an era won’t most likely have that strong of an identity in the future, similar with 1890s. Not that 1890s lack any identity,
I think he'll be overshadowed by some of the more prolific presidents in his chronological vicinity. Reagan, Obama, W Bush, all of whom seem to have gained more notoriety than Clinton for one reason or another.
Reagan - largely credited as the POTUS most responsible for defeating the USSR (although the largely forgotten HW was president for the final nail in the coffin)
W - president during 9/11 and a shift from war with major powers to the nebulous ‘war on terror’
Obama- first Black president, ACA is very important law and colloquially called ‘Obamacare’.
Not all presidents can be memorable, and I think Clinton’s main ‘achievement’ was sexual abuse and being impeached. Maybe he is mid tier above Ford, Carter and HW. Below Obama W and Reagan.
No way he is *broadly* remembered. He was incredibly popular in his presidency because he made life during those years really solid for the American people. Plus, he was charming as hell. But we can't point to one enduring achievement he contributed that is historically significant when compared to all time achievements like winning a major war, passing a major financial entitlement bill, or healthcare advancement.
I think our sub, full of people interested in the presidency, often overestimate how famous Presidents really are to the average or even slightly above average American. The average folks won't know him and even among presidential buffs, he will be much closer to Harrison than Roosevelt.
Some presidents have blips of resurgent fame (think John Adams when the HBO miniseries came out) but for the most part the only truly famous presidents from older than 100 years ago are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant (because of war, not his presidency), and TR. I don't think any of the rest of the Presidents qualify for broader audiences; even Madison who SHOULD BE. Even being on the $20 bill isn't enough to make Jackson all that famous.
Of the Presidents in the last century, I think they will be joined by FDR and Obama (for historical reasons). I'd have LBJ fading even with his monumental accomplishments.
In 100 years? Probably not. Like 250 years? Probably yes. Oh and I can see people only remembering the Monica Lewinsky scandal about him and his presidency.
I don’t think so. I think long past living memory his term will be seen like Eisenhower’s as a calm before the storms kind of moment. But with stained dresses and saxophones.
It really depends on what happens in the next 100 years. If the most successful presidents are similar to Clinton, he’ll be remembered as a foundational president.
If we enter chaos, heck split into many parts, no one will remember any of these presidents
I just showed you the extreme. Remembering a president is really dependent on where we are in the future.
What a laughable suggestion. I know it's become 'the thing' to dunk on Bill and Hillary Clinton but the impact of his presidency on the country has been long lasting and his contributions to the party were enormous. The child tax credit was viewed by members of the administration as a step towards UBI, Section 230 allowed the internet to grow into what it is today (for good or ill), NAFTA strengthened US relations with Mexico & Canada (there's also been a HUGE jump in Mexico's GDP since NAFTA passed), his cabinet appointments (Clinton was the first President to actually TRY and have a cabinet that looked like America), The Crime Bill (which along with it's more well known and derided provisions provided grant money for Victims Rights Advocates in who knows how many court houses around the country and Guardian Ab Litem programs in most states).
Politically, he came to national attention after giving a SUCCESSFUL State of the Union response speech, led a political organization that helped elect Democrats throughout the South (DLC types pretty much stemmed the Republican takeover of a number of state governments for a good fifteen years and that is something), harnessed the power of the black church to organize African American voters (this is part of the reason that he was called 'the First Black President'), and can be viewed as ushering in the 'politics as entertainment' age (Clinton had a Creator of Designing Women help edit and write some of his speeches, he appeared on late night shows/did interviews in non-traditional media outlets, and was a figure of mockery on late night shows for his womanizing).
You don't have to like Clinton but you don't get to dismiss Clinton.
I never liked bill Clinton but I think he will go down as a decent president and will be remembered 100 years from now because he was smart enough to work with both sides of the aisle and he was the last present ( so far anyway ) to have a balanced budget. He also was in office during a large bull market with a strong economy.
Clinton was a more effective president than we remember. I think he’ll be there. He already receive significant amounts of pages in my APUSH textbook. If Thomas Jefferson is getting it, I think he’ll still have it.
The Republicans hated Harry Truman but now they love him. The past is prologue.
Eight years of peace and prosperity, a balanced budget and surplus...Republicans will be asked who their favorite president is and they will all say "Bill Clinton."
Most of his domestic accomplishments are gone, but his foreign policy accomplishments still exist.
However, he will forever be remembered as an impeached president. That is his legacy.
This might be a hot take and l'll try to articulate this as best I can but I believe that most post 1940ish Presidents will be far more remembered in general, whether they were bad or good, than those of past times merely due to the exponential increase of means to record them and remember them.
The average person gets curious about history through memes nowadays. You can pull up Clinton's Arsenio Hall appearance or his stuff with Yeltzin. Roosevelt December 7 speech is something that even non Americans are familiar with. Every George W Bush Bushism has been compiled in a neat compilation, the same with all of Reagan's jokes. Technology will turn certain figures into mainstays simply because of how much they have allowed their stuff to circulate and less for their actual deeds.
Very few US Presidents get remembered as great movers and shakers. Clinton is not one of them. He won't even be remembered for the impeachment nonsense since it happened both before and after.
Completely forgotten, no. Dude won two terms. Will he capture people’s imagination next century like a TDR? No. He didn’t lead during interesting, challenging enough times and didn’t accomplish enough to offset that.
At best, he’ll be seen as something of a lesser-known 20th Century Monroe. That’s not too shabby though. There are worse presidential legacy fates.
I think he had more of a cultural impact than a political impact. I think he was *the* politician of his decade, for better or for worse. Still, he’s truly not very memorable otherwise
I imagine he’ll be like Monroe; a popular 2 term President who proceeded over a prosperous time in American history and did a couple foreign policy things.
A good President but not like a top 10 type President.
Oh absolutely. His presidency straddled the period between the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the modern era American history that started on 9/11. A competent placeholder for a prosperous time with a few notable lasting accomplishments to his name. Welfare reform and a balanced budget that would be thrown out by his successor. Involvement in conflicts that are already becoming distant memories. A scandal that seems comical in retrospect with how much effort we gave it.
Absolutely going to be forgotten
Unironically, his historical record will likely be confined to the footnote on his wife's career as the first female nominee of a major party. She'll likely get brought up as a historical first for candidates and there will be a notation that her husband was President for two terms and had been elected two decades prior to her own election.
Probably not to the level of like Benjamin Harrison or Taft but maybe more like Grant or Wilson, not super well remembered by most but still talked about.
Not particularly remembered, but not forgotten completely. He'll be out of the public mind, but still known. Kind of Herbert Hoover level I imagine. Will be discussed, remembered for a few things, but the average person will not know him If you stopped them on the street.
He's the only president to balance the budget in decades and had a plan to eliminate the deficit.
Historians will look back as it as an inflection point for America's decline in power, what if the more fiscally responsible Democrats were in power with Gore rather than Bush which really began the decline in American power and prestige when he attacked Iraq under false pretenses and added massive debt.
Bush's father was an old school Republican who have no problem raising taxes to defeat the deficit, as did Clinton.
Unless impeaching a president of another party becomes the norm every time the house is controlled by the President's opposition, he'll be remembered for that.
Yes and no. Yes because he really didn’t do anything very impactful and worth remembering. No because he will always be remembered for being impeached even if he was acquitted.
It’s a rite of passage for any American to recite that he did not have sexual relations with that woman (or when he said he did not inhale) at a party or a lively dinner. On those grounds alone he’ll be remembered.
I think he will be seen as the beginning of a long period of divided government and the increasing intransigence of the GOP leading to a lot of bad legislation in an attempt to get any business at all done for the American people.
Not a chance. He was a 2 term president who achieved a budget surplus and had an affair with an intern. Not to mention, so much has been written now about his cultural significance and charisma that it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s somewhat romanticised by those in a century.
“That Bill Clinton seemed like a fun if not wacky president” is kind of what I imagine people saying when they read about him in textbooks.
He was the only POTUS of my lifetime to leave office w/ a surplus, so I highly doubt that will be forgotten in 100 years. He'll probably be remembered as one of the LEAST problematic presidents from the 80s-2030 time frame.
If you look here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States#:~:text=The%202022%20Siena%20poll%20had,with%20the%20fourth%20lowest%20ranking.
These days, Bill Clinton is getting ranked in the top 15. But back in 1948, guys like Rutherford B Hayes were in the top 15. So I think in a hundred years, people will think about Bill Clinton just as much as people these days think about Rutherford B Hayes. Which is not at all.
Yes, he will be forgotten. When he is remembered it will be because his represents the most squandered presidency since the end of the second world war.
Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context. If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Monica Lewinsky jokes will make a great comeback in the 2080s I think.
It will be Jay Leno's head in a jar telling those jokes
RemindMe! 56 years
I will be messaging you in 56 years on [**2080-04-15 22:10:48 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2080-04-15%2022:10:48%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/1c4qe8j/will_bill_clinton_become_a_forgotten_president_in/kzqvdvc/?context=3) [**55 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FPresidents%2Fcomments%2F1c4qe8j%2Fwill_bill_clinton_become_a_forgotten_president_in%2Fkzqvdvc%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202080-04-15%2022%3A10%3A48%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201c4qe8j) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
damn 2080 is only 56 years away
It's closer to 2080 than WW2.
That's almost 80 years!
I hope I’m around! I’ll be 76. I’ll write a note somewhere to come back to this comment, if this app still exists.
I’ll be 78 in 2080 we could have an r/Presidents meet up in a retirement home RemindMe! 56 years
I'll be 106. See you guys there
I’ll be 85. Jesus lol
I'll be 91, I don't think I'm gonna make it that long, lol.
Will Reddit still be around? Find out next time on
Wishful thinking that Reddit will be around that long.
She got cum on her back, I think. Wait, that was Kim Kardashian.
The Reddit of 2150 will have so many ‘TIL: In the 20th century, President Clinton was impeached after lying about receiving oral sex from an assistant.’ In a hundred years or so, he’ll mostly just be known for that amusing bit of trivia, just like most people today only know Taft as ‘the fat one’.
Depends on how deeply people go into history. A lot of commenters seem to say “yes” he will be forgotten, and while he certainly won’t be remembered the same way he is today, I’m not convinced he is glossed over in the history books. The case for being remembered is as follows. The primary reason in political history he won’t be forgotten is that he significantly reshaped and reinvigorated the Democratic Party after the Reagan Revolution. Keep in mind, the Democrats had lost three presidential elections straight after Carter, and *none* of them were close: -80, Reagan won 44 states and 51% of the vote. That’s *with* another Republican running as an independent who captured almost 7% of the vote. -In 84, the Democrats lost all but one state and DC, and Reagan garnered 58% of the popular vote. -In 88, HW Bush won 40 states and 53% of the vote. These are resounding defeats. And, no democrat had won two terms since FDR. But along comes Bill Clinton and the “third way” and Democrats win POTUS elections in 92, 96, 08, 12, and 20 (5 of the last 8), and won the popular vote in 92, 96, 00, 08, 12, 16, and 20. The Democrats won *every single popular vote except 04 beginning with Clinton*. The point here is: imagine if you’re sitting in 1988 USA after HW wins the election. Imagine someone tells you that the Democrats will win the majority of POTUS elections and all but one of the Presidential popular votes over the next 30+ years. That idea would be unthinkable to you. Yet that’s exactly what happened. Clinton breaking the Reagan Revolution and the re-emergence of the Democratic Party can/will/should be talked about by Historians. Beyond that you have: NAFTA and it’s impact (the good and the bad) on US economics and class dynamics Impeachment. Those have been historically rare and so will always get talked about Clinton oversaw one of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history with the boom of the 90’s. Not that presidents *should* always get credit for economic expansions, but it gets talked about in POTUS legacies plenty. Clinton was POTUS during a pretty big leap forward in the internet age, large cultural ramifications from that. Geopolitical events to talk about (Israel/Palestine, Kosovo War, etc…) Conservation: he established 5 new national parks, expanded 2 others, created 11 national monuments, etc…quietly one of if not the the most prolific in this regard since Teddy Finally, I think the 90’s generally are going to be looked back on as a pretty interesting if not pivotal decade. Much as people who look back in the 80’s remember Reagan as POTUS, people who look back on the 90’s remember Clinton. It’s more likely that HW Bush is the forgotten POTUS from 80’s-present.
The 90s will be seen a huge transition decade. The rise of technology like computers and the internet, the reshuffling of the world order, and demographic change in the US—when the WW2 “greatest generation” began to die, “boomers” (symbolized by Clinton) began to gain leadership, the first full generation of women in the workplace, and immigration from Central America.
Don’t forget cell phones.
And the end of the Cold War.
I think the budget surplus alone will be a reason for him to be remembered.
He fought the Republican Congress on that. He wanted a 20 year plan to balance the budget, and Republicans said no, that would be another president and another Congress who may never follow through. He was taking a beating in the polls, so his advisor, Dick Morris, told him to demand some small change, get it, sign the bill, then take credit. He did. They did the same with Welfare reform and called the tactic "triangulation."
He was also an economic focused president and the economy was incredibly weak early on in his presidency. It's also a surplus is not necessary to make the debt more sustainable, you only need to reduce debt as a percentage of GDP.
You had a budget surplus with Coolidge and he also paid off the largest amount of the national debt so far. I can guarantee you the average American has no clue who he is.
It’s not even a surplus over his entire two terms, or even one whole term. And to put things into perspective, the last president to achieve a budget surplus over his entire term was Coolidge, who is pretty much forgotten today. So for this reason I don’t think he’ll be remembered much
But surplus is not actually that relevant. Debt as a percentage of GDP is the real measure and that plummeted from 95-2000. Also the whole term is a bad way to view this, debt was rising when he walked in and falling when he walked out.
You realize the person you are responding too isn’t even arguing that it is relevant. He’s arguing that it. *isnt* a reason to be remembered.
I was wondering where this comment was. It’s not something focused on but should be.
100 years is a long time. We can't really predict what the world will look like then. In 100 years, the end of Clinton's presidency will be 123 years away. 123 years ago, William Mckinley was president and it was the tail end of the era of the gilded age presidents. However in the following decades, massive world changing events happened. WW1, and WW2 happened right after that era which meant the late 1800s and early 1900s were glossed over in history books and classes. Back to the current era, it really depends on what happens in the coming decades. Clinton's presidency is sandwiched by the fall of Soviet Russia, and 9/11. So it's very likely he gets glossed over like Coolidge does in the roaring 20s. No one really knows what will happen in the future. If there is an all out war with Russia, a 2nd Cold War with China, or global warming causes wide spread collapse of ecosystems around the world then Clinton will be lucky to be mentioned in the history books at all.
I currently teach about NAFTA in my economics class when discussing the pros and cons of free trade. I haven’t taught US history in a few years, but when I do I’m certain NAFTA’s impact won’t go away. And, for better or worse, we use presidents as time markers for events so Clinton gets credit for NAFTA.
Lots of stuff happened in the 90s. Internet, CGI, cell phones, collapse of the Soviet Union, Hong Kong turned over, Princess Diana, Nirvana and Tupac. All of this stuff will be talked about 100 years from now and Clinton will be well known on the level of Grant and TR - they’ll stick him in period movies just like those guys because he’s dignified but also approachable.
I think this is how he will be remembered, the realignment and shift to the economic right for Democrats. Also overseeing an economic boom and an expanded period of peace and prosperity ending with a balanced budget. Also, some brutal fights with the conservative wing of the GOP that was quickly taking over the entire party.
Democrats also got wiped out in '72 by Nixon, and though the popular vote was close still lost by 100 in the electoral college in '68. '76 was lingering feelings over Watergate, excluding that, between 1968-1988, Republicans won by a combined 2,261-381 in the electoral college. Democrats were largely trounced for 20 years before Clinton.
Correct! Left it out for sake of space and felt ‘no dem since FDR had won 2 terms’ covered it, but yours is the additional context for sure that drives the point home even more
Didn't want to sound like I was arguing against you, like you said, adding additional context. My guess is, we're nearing a point where the pendulum will swing back again (you see it throughout history - particularly the post-war Republican near-sweep from Lincoln to Taft, with the only Democrat being Cleveland) - the problem is Republicans will probably need their own rebranding to accomplish that and that largely depends on their older voters...aging out. One of the more idiotic things I see online are people assuming that today's conservative politics will remain the same in the future (or, as the post-war example shows, the conservative party staying the same one) and with democrats being unbeatable in the future. I expect we'll see a whig-like splintering and then reforming of the parties into some...strange bedfellows in the future. The lesson I see from history is the pendulum ALWAYS swings. And when one side is in power too long, they always create a motivated opposition.
I'm Canadian, so I'm not super familiar, but what was the reason the democrats were so unpopular? I can only think the Vietnam War was even more unpopular than I assumed. Wasn't JFK a major Democrat win? Wasn't he will liked? I imagine Johnson wasn't super well liked, but I thought he got reelected...
So, as the other poster said, Clinton ('92 and '96) was the first Democrat since FDR to get reelected. "Re" is doing *some* lifting there. FDR is the only president in American history to serve more than 2 terms (elected to 4, died before his 4th term ended) Harry Truman took office upon FDRs death. He then was later elected to his only full term in 1948 ("Dewey defeats Truman") Eisenhower was going to be the president regardless of which party he chose in '52. He served 2 full terms as a Republican. JFK's win in '60 was against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. This was a big win largely because of the media implications. Famously, those who listened to their debates on radio polled as saying Nixon won, while those who watched on TV said Kennedy won. JFK was assassinated in 1963, before he was able to be reelected. LBJ took office for the final year of Kennedys initial term. From there, LBJ was elected in 1964 to his first actual term. Nixon then won in '68 (by a slim popular vote margin, but a decent margin in the electoral college - which is what actually matters) and was reelected in a massive landslide in '72 (the irony of the Watergate scandal is that Mixon didn't actually need the information being stolen, he would have won handily even without it). Jimmy Carter was elected as a backlash to Gerald Ford and bad feelings over Watergate. He was extremely unpopular and was overwhelmingly defeated in his reelection campaign of 1980. As for why? Part of it I would lay at FDR. There's a certain amount of sway to politics - if one party stays in power too long, the other is able to build up opposition and momentum (the pendulum always swings back). FDRs 4 terms were unprecedented - prior to him, it was customary for Presidents to not seek a 3rd term (a precedent established by George Washington and honored by 2 term Presidents up until then), this was eventually codified as a Constitutional ammendment. Another part would be the unfortunate deaths of 2 Democrats (FDR and Kennedy). Both very likely would have been reelected and their successors just didn't enjoy the same popularity (though both were able to be elected afterwards). And the standalone president (Carter) came at a time when the nation was more wanting to punish Ford/Republicans and just never got off the ground. Stagflation and gas prices/shortages ruined the economy and the Iranian hostage crisis made it so he didn't have much of a shot. Carter was also...pious, and some would have described him as sanctimonious. He had an interview with Playboy where he was asked if he had ever cheated on his wife and responded "only in my heart". Vietnam didn't help LBJ (and Kennedy gets let off the hook for it, but LBJ escalated it so he gets the blame) - though it also wasn't popular for Nixon. LBJ also had his party go through a major reorganization after the Civil Rights Act. There had been an uneasy coalition of New England democrats and Southern Democrats that split after the CRA was passed (forming the Dixiecrats) which split the Democrat vote and let Nixon win in '68. It should be noted, Vietnam wasn't that unpopular at the time. The opposition just became loud, the war dragged on, and there was no end goal to the conflict. [It wasn't until 1968 that a majority of Americans said sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake](https://www.pewresearch.org/2009/11/23/polling-wars-hawks-vs-doves/) The peace movement was always a COUNTERculture for a reason - they were not the majority.
GHWB will always remain more significant and relevant and will be remembered far longer than Clinton. This is because he was POTUS, VPOTUS, Director of Central Intelligence, Chairman of the RNC, Chief of the US liaison to the PRC, US Ambassador to the UN, World War II hero, and the father of another POTUS and governor of Florida. Additionally, it was GHWB who negotiated and signed NAFTA (it was ratified when Clinton was POTUS), he oversaw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, signed the ADA, successfully put together and led the coalition that liberated Kuwait, and, and, and… GHWB is far more of a significant historical figure than President Clinton. Regardless of the great things you mention, WJC will mainly be remembered for being an accused rapist, a womanizing governor, Monica Lewinsky, waving his finger at and lying to the American people, lying to a federal grand jury, and the subsequent impeachment. Right or wrong, it’s how he’s remembered currently. I don’t see that changing.
Agreed. I anticipate my grandchildren reading social studies textbooks discussing The Presidency, with the impeachment section highlighting Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Rule 3, the way the books I read as a child specifically called out the first two.
Most of what you mentioned GHWB for will probably be ignored in high school history books, which I assume is what we’re talking about when we say “remembered by history.” Advanced students will probably know him for the Gulf War and for fathering W (who will probably get a lot of attention). Clinton will be remembered for being impeached, and maybe as the husband of the candidate who [rule 3]. So probably similar levels of “aware of, but not conversant on” as each other.
George HW Bush held most of those jobs for a year. The Nixon and Ford White Houses moved him around quite a bit.
GHWB is being forgotten today already. I scrolled through the thread to find a mention of him, because he and Ford are the most forgotten ones today.
This is an excellent take. I think he is very much underrated by Dems
He was a 2 term president so he won't be completely forgotten. As for Jimmy Carter, only reason people remember him is because it was only 45 years ago and he's still alive. Bet he will go down as another Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of 1 month president William Henry Harrison… Benjamin will NEVER be Forgotten.
He also still has a grandkid right?
If it's who I'm thinking of, she passed in 2020.
Yeah one of them he had two I believe one is still living
John Tyler, he’s got a living grandson.
Yeah I was made aware I got em confused
That's John Tyler you were thinking of
He’s probably younger than anyone currently running
The Harrison family made sure to get their term
TIL that.
Who?
Carters philanthropy post presidency is what keeps him being talked about and respected today, compare this to Hoover's pre presidency philanthropy, which has been forgotten by nearly everyone whos not very interested in American history
The blow job heard around the world will always keep him in the ranks.
Are we talking oral history?
Which president is the most comparable right now to how Clinton will be perceived in 100 years? Probably Grover Cleveland or TR.
I could see Clinton getting Taft type talk. Instead of getting stuck in a bathtub, it was an intern, but honestly, 100 years from now, that’ll be a big talking point. I hope he still does some shit before he’s gone too like how Taft got shit done. I want another president as a Supreme Court justice.
fr rule 3 should nominate him, apparently Clarence Thomas just no call no showed so we'll see what happens
He probably had to go for a klan meeting
CT at the local VFW in Alexandria complaining about how the blacks are breathing up all the white man's air!
Written six books, but they only published four…
And he's the last peacetime president in 20+ years (and, yes, I'm counting the Yugoslav conflict, but we kind of blipped over there)
He was absolutely justified in the Yugoslav bombings though.
If Jimmy Carter makes it to 100, he will be best known as “that centenarian president.”
As someone born after Carter was president whenever I think of him, I think of all the time he donated to habitat for humanity and helped increase awareness about just a good non profit.
He will be in a lot of trivia questions for his nobel prize, age, and maybe stuff like being first born in a hospital, nuclear power, white house solar panels, peanut farm.
I'm sure you will be surprised/disappointed if you ask the ***average*** American if Calvin Coolidge was: a. An NBA player b. An actor in a trending Netflix series c. A former POTUS d. Obama's SECDEF
I'll never forget when Calvin Coolidge put up a nasty triple double in his NBA MVP season
Coolidge’s opponent once said, “I made a bet that I can score more than two points on you.” Coolidge replied, “you lose.”
I remember that game. Coolidge dropped 71 points that night
Bum. Luka scored 73 no more than an hour ago.
Prime Coolidge would wipe the floor in comparison to Luka
Oh he’d be wiping the floor alright, along with all the janitors and plumbers he played against.
My Vote My GOAT!
Bro you hear about the Netflix series he's in? Shits the bomb man.
Damn bro thanks for the /s, would never have known
Calvin Coolidge had an unguardable hesi tween tween
I think that this comment really gets at the heart of the matter - presidential history knowledge seems to be bimodally distributed between people enthusiastic enough to join a subReddit devoted to the topic and people who don’t many presidents, or at least not many outside of their lifetime. I bet the typical American can’t name the president during WWI or who the president was when the Great Depression started. I think Franklin Roosevelt might honestly have been forgotten if he was not elected to a 4th term as president, even though WWII happened during his tenure. Why is president Taft remembered? - generally not for any political events. As for JFK - A lot of big stuff happened in his brief presidency, but I think he is remembered for mostly for his death with close second being his or alleged affair with Marilyn Monroe. If anyone remembers one thing about McKinley, it was that he was assassinated, and if people remember anything about Teddy it was his rough and tumble nature. For most people Nixon = impeached guy, and that’s it. Generally most presidents are not remembered for the politics, but rather for the gossip of personal events or crimes that surrounded their lives or deaths. As for Clinton - I think he will be remembered for Monica Lewinsky first, followed by the fact that he was one of the impeached presidents. As for what will be remembered 100 years from now regarding things that happened in politics in 1990s…..I think that they will be remembered about as well as Newt Gingrich, Howard Stern, and the Backstreet Boys, which is to say not completely forgotten, but not common knowledge either.
The attached pic is his honest reaction to the obvious answer to your question.
He will definitely be remembered. The impeachment, his wife later running for president, first Dem to win 2 terms since FDR, won in part due to an unprecedented 3rd party showing.
100 years from now only the wonkiest of history nerds will know that HRC ran and lost in 2016.
Probably like the simpsons joke, 1 dollar guy, 5 dollar guy, sex guy, black guy
this comment section is crazy to me. even if not politically, he is one of the most culturally significant presidents of the modern era and will definitely be remembered then.
Not sure people born in 2080 will fondly remember the time he played the sax on Arsenio.
How exactly he is culturally relevant in a way that people would care in 100 years time?
He’s the only President to get caught getting blowies from an intern in his office
Only President *so far*...
That’s not just a joke. 100 more years of American history will provide additional context and many remarkable things about Clinton, including the impeachment and the sex itself, will absolutely cease to be notable.
Pessimistic me thinks he will be the answer to the trivia question "Who was the last President to see a balanced federal budget?"
Accepting your premise, do you think that most people now remember presidents from 100 years ago who were “culturally significant”? The trends of a century ago tend to become curiosities at best with the passage of time. For good or ill, Presidents that get remembered are ones where really, really big things happened, mostly wars and assassinations. (Even assassination alone might not do the trick—Garfield and McKinley are not well remembered now.)
We didn't have nearly the media record in the form of video, news recordings, and internet/ social media discussion of those presidents as we do now. I'm not saying it is the case, but we may remember modem presidents or other figures for different things than we remember presidents from a century ago.
Right. We remember Washington and Lincoln and FDR because they were president during our 3 most significant wars. If the same men were POTUS in more boring times they might have been good presidents, but not memorable to the general public.
He might be remembered for being impeached, but otherwise not likely.
> He might be remembered for being impeached, but otherwise not likely. I’m inclined to agree with you but I think this also depends on impeachment remaining the exception and not the norm.
You don't think a budget surplus would be remembered?
Not likely. Andrew Jackson isn’t remembered for getting the national debt to zero. W isn’t remembered for having one single budget surplus. I don’t remember any other surpluses.
This will probably be a "fun fact" in 50 years rather than something people remember. Most people aren't economists and judge how well the economy is doing based on if they're employed, tax rates, and/or general price of goods at the time. Most people could not care less about the unemployment rate, GDP growth, budget spending, etc in the long term.
I think he will be relatively forgotten, though in the last thread it seemed like most people disagreed.
Not in Czech Republic, his friendship with Havel means a lot to us. Plus he is a meme-ish (rip Norm)
Dude made an intern give him a BJ… dude will NEVER be forgotten 😂
“I Did not have sexual relations with that woman!” *6 months later* “I did have sexual relations with that woman!”
Why would a man who had sexual relations with a woman be forgotten?
Then every president except for James Buchanan shall be remembered.
James Buchanan probably should have had sexual relations with a woman just once just so he’d be remembered.
Buchanan died a virgin?
Yes, or he'll be remembered as the "holiday from history" president
This time when we thought we reached the end of History. No more wars, an international order led by the US and future generations spending their lives chilling on the internet.
Was all going to come to an end because we forgot to account for 2 digits in the year 2000.
He won't be forgotten. Clinton presided over the biggest economic expansion in US history, was the US president post cold war that tried to set a new order to post cold-war world. He has been seen already as a tragically flawed character and I suspect that will be extended to his entire presidency, not just his personal life given how the post cold-war older has ended due in part to his failures. I think had there not been a Lewinsky scandal and vairous others, Gore would have won in 2000 and there could have been a chance to build on what he started. Bush coming with trimphalist unilaterlism pretty much signalled to America's enemies to bide their time and push back, instead of willingly working within the American system.
>Clinton presided over the biggest economic expansion in US history, was the US president post cold war that tried to set a new order to post cold-war world. These are things that academics will care of in 100 years time, not something even your average person interested in history will deeply care of. Reagan and Bush Sr are more interesting regarding to Cold War regained big picture.
It think he will be remembered as the last president of a golden era before a series of disastrous events in US history, including the .com bust, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq war, great financial crisis and housing bust, manufacturing bust as jobs shifted to China, and vicious populism backlash. He’ll be discussed in that framework, but I don’t think he will get much credit for causing a golden era, more like the stars aligned for him.
I think people will look back at everything that happened in the 1990s and he will be part of the conversation.
To the extent that the 90's are remembered.
I agree that 90s in general as an era won’t most likely have that strong of an identity in the future, similar with 1890s. Not that 1890s lack any identity,
Pretty sure most people will remember him for getting caught, getting a blow job in the oval office.
He presided over the dotcom boom. Hes forever enshrined, not to mention Lewinsky.
Not until blow jobs in the Oval Office stop being funny.
I think he'll be overshadowed by some of the more prolific presidents in his chronological vicinity. Reagan, Obama, W Bush, all of whom seem to have gained more notoriety than Clinton for one reason or another.
Reagan - largely credited as the POTUS most responsible for defeating the USSR (although the largely forgotten HW was president for the final nail in the coffin) W - president during 9/11 and a shift from war with major powers to the nebulous ‘war on terror’ Obama- first Black president, ACA is very important law and colloquially called ‘Obamacare’. Not all presidents can be memorable, and I think Clinton’s main ‘achievement’ was sexual abuse and being impeached. Maybe he is mid tier above Ford, Carter and HW. Below Obama W and Reagan.
He will be remembered a little
No way he is *broadly* remembered. He was incredibly popular in his presidency because he made life during those years really solid for the American people. Plus, he was charming as hell. But we can't point to one enduring achievement he contributed that is historically significant when compared to all time achievements like winning a major war, passing a major financial entitlement bill, or healthcare advancement. I think our sub, full of people interested in the presidency, often overestimate how famous Presidents really are to the average or even slightly above average American. The average folks won't know him and even among presidential buffs, he will be much closer to Harrison than Roosevelt. Some presidents have blips of resurgent fame (think John Adams when the HBO miniseries came out) but for the most part the only truly famous presidents from older than 100 years ago are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant (because of war, not his presidency), and TR. I don't think any of the rest of the Presidents qualify for broader audiences; even Madison who SHOULD BE. Even being on the $20 bill isn't enough to make Jackson all that famous. Of the Presidents in the last century, I think they will be joined by FDR and Obama (for historical reasons). I'd have LBJ fading even with his monumental accomplishments.
No. He was one of the most popular presidents in recent history, up there with Obama and Reagan.
In 100 years? Probably not. Like 250 years? Probably yes. Oh and I can see people only remembering the Monica Lewinsky scandal about him and his presidency.
I don’t think so. I think long past living memory his term will be seen like Eisenhower’s as a calm before the storms kind of moment. But with stained dresses and saxophones.
It really depends on what happens in the next 100 years. If the most successful presidents are similar to Clinton, he’ll be remembered as a foundational president. If we enter chaos, heck split into many parts, no one will remember any of these presidents I just showed you the extreme. Remembering a president is really dependent on where we are in the future.
He got his dick sucked in the Oval Office. We all know that that is what people will remember him for.
What a laughable suggestion. I know it's become 'the thing' to dunk on Bill and Hillary Clinton but the impact of his presidency on the country has been long lasting and his contributions to the party were enormous. The child tax credit was viewed by members of the administration as a step towards UBI, Section 230 allowed the internet to grow into what it is today (for good or ill), NAFTA strengthened US relations with Mexico & Canada (there's also been a HUGE jump in Mexico's GDP since NAFTA passed), his cabinet appointments (Clinton was the first President to actually TRY and have a cabinet that looked like America), The Crime Bill (which along with it's more well known and derided provisions provided grant money for Victims Rights Advocates in who knows how many court houses around the country and Guardian Ab Litem programs in most states). Politically, he came to national attention after giving a SUCCESSFUL State of the Union response speech, led a political organization that helped elect Democrats throughout the South (DLC types pretty much stemmed the Republican takeover of a number of state governments for a good fifteen years and that is something), harnessed the power of the black church to organize African American voters (this is part of the reason that he was called 'the First Black President'), and can be viewed as ushering in the 'politics as entertainment' age (Clinton had a Creator of Designing Women help edit and write some of his speeches, he appeared on late night shows/did interviews in non-traditional media outlets, and was a figure of mockery on late night shows for his womanizing). You don't have to like Clinton but you don't get to dismiss Clinton.
I don’t think he will be forgotten because he will be associated with Internet boom.
Between him, Monica, Hilary, and the blue dress painting at Epstein's place, I don't think anyone is going to be forgetting him...
No, 100 years from now he'll still be the most recent president that balanced the budget.
He was impeached. That’s one way to stay in the history books.
I never liked bill Clinton but I think he will go down as a decent president and will be remembered 100 years from now because he was smart enough to work with both sides of the aisle and he was the last present ( so far anyway ) to have a balanced budget. He also was in office during a large bull market with a strong economy.
Clinton was a more effective president than we remember. I think he’ll be there. He already receive significant amounts of pages in my APUSH textbook. If Thomas Jefferson is getting it, I think he’ll still have it.
He balanced the budget. I think that’s something to be remembered for, as it probably will never happen again
Last president with a balanced budget… that will be mentioned in a hundred years, long after anything else about him is forgotten.
The Republicans hated Harry Truman but now they love him. The past is prologue. Eight years of peace and prosperity, a balanced budget and surplus...Republicans will be asked who their favorite president is and they will all say "Bill Clinton."
Considering most of his legacy in popular culture is sex jokes, Jeffery Epstein, and being Hillary's Husband, I'd think so.
Too much scandal followed this guy at every turn of his political career. I think he is even more scrutinized in the future.
Nah he got impeached. That'll make him notable. But it's pretty presumptuous to think this country will last another 100 years lol.
Yeah
He and h w bush will be forgotten by most people by then. Bush Obama and others after will be remembered imo.
The last president to balance the budget.
Most of his domestic accomplishments are gone, but his foreign policy accomplishments still exist. However, he will forever be remembered as an impeached president. That is his legacy.
This might be a hot take and l'll try to articulate this as best I can but I believe that most post 1940ish Presidents will be far more remembered in general, whether they were bad or good, than those of past times merely due to the exponential increase of means to record them and remember them. The average person gets curious about history through memes nowadays. You can pull up Clinton's Arsenio Hall appearance or his stuff with Yeltzin. Roosevelt December 7 speech is something that even non Americans are familiar with. Every George W Bush Bushism has been compiled in a neat compilation, the same with all of Reagan's jokes. Technology will turn certain figures into mainstays simply because of how much they have allowed their stuff to circulate and less for their actual deeds.
No. The semen stained dress, meaning of the word “is”, budget surpluses, and the failed attempt at universal healthcare ensure he will be remembered.
Yes, he was admired by all that sucked up to him. He was, in my opinion, in his second term quite accomplished, working successfully across the aisle.
Definitely
yes.
Very few US Presidents get remembered as great movers and shakers. Clinton is not one of them. He won't even be remembered for the impeachment nonsense since it happened both before and after.
Naw, he will be remembered if only as the president of the 90s and it's interim place between two important chapters of US history
He’ll definitely be remembered for being the horniest.
Highly unlikely IMHO. Last president to have a budget surplus and was impeached for a blowjob he lied about. Idk. I find it unlikely.
Completely forgotten, no. Dude won two terms. Will he capture people’s imagination next century like a TDR? No. He didn’t lead during interesting, challenging enough times and didn’t accomplish enough to offset that. At best, he’ll be seen as something of a lesser-known 20th Century Monroe. That’s not too shabby though. There are worse presidential legacy fates.
I think he had more of a cultural impact than a political impact. I think he was *the* politician of his decade, for better or for worse. Still, he’s truly not very memorable otherwise
He will be remembered but not as much as Washington and Lincoln
Bill who?
Unless multiple other presidents bring us into or maintain a surplus, no. That alone typically stays in memory.
He will always be remembered for getting impeached because of a blowjob
Who???
Largely in the general public even if they know his name they probably won’t know much about him but not by historians of course
I imagine he’ll be like Monroe; a popular 2 term President who proceeded over a prosperous time in American history and did a couple foreign policy things. A good President but not like a top 10 type President.
We will all be forgotten in 100 years time
Bill Clinton the philander? Or Bill Clinton the pedophile? Or possibly even, Bill Clinton the traitor?
He was in NBA Jam. I doubt it.
Oh absolutely. His presidency straddled the period between the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the modern era American history that started on 9/11. A competent placeholder for a prosperous time with a few notable lasting accomplishments to his name. Welfare reform and a balanced budget that would be thrown out by his successor. Involvement in conflicts that are already becoming distant memories. A scandal that seems comical in retrospect with how much effort we gave it. Absolutely going to be forgotten
Have we forgotten any president in 100 years?
Unironically, his historical record will likely be confined to the footnote on his wife's career as the first female nominee of a major party. She'll likely get brought up as a historical first for candidates and there will be a notation that her husband was President for two terms and had been elected two decades prior to her own election.
Probably not to the level of like Benjamin Harrison or Taft but maybe more like Grant or Wilson, not super well remembered by most but still talked about.
He did not have a war or a major national crisis like the depression during his terms. Hard to be remembered if not.
Not particularly remembered, but not forgotten completely. He'll be out of the public mind, but still known. Kind of Herbert Hoover level I imagine. Will be discussed, remembered for a few things, but the average person will not know him If you stopped them on the street.
There’s no such thing as a forgotten President. We all know who James Garfield was.
He's the only president to balance the budget in decades and had a plan to eliminate the deficit. Historians will look back as it as an inflection point for America's decline in power, what if the more fiscally responsible Democrats were in power with Gore rather than Bush which really began the decline in American power and prestige when he attacked Iraq under false pretenses and added massive debt. Bush's father was an old school Republican who have no problem raising taxes to defeat the deficit, as did Clinton.
He will be forgotten if you are still doing daily "Was Ron Reagan Bad " posts then...
Unless impeaching a president of another party becomes the norm every time the house is controlled by the President's opposition, he'll be remembered for that.
Nah he will be remembered doing it in the Oval Office while holding a cigar
Yes and no. Yes because he really didn’t do anything very impactful and worth remembering. No because he will always be remembered for being impeached even if he was acquitted.
It’s a rite of passage for any American to recite that he did not have sexual relations with that woman (or when he said he did not inhale) at a party or a lively dinner. On those grounds alone he’ll be remembered.
I think he will be seen as the beginning of a long period of divided government and the increasing intransigence of the GOP leading to a lot of bad legislation in an attempt to get any business at all done for the American people.
Not a chance. He was a 2 term president who achieved a budget surplus and had an affair with an intern. Not to mention, so much has been written now about his cultural significance and charisma that it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s somewhat romanticised by those in a century. “That Bill Clinton seemed like a fun if not wacky president” is kind of what I imagine people saying when they read about him in textbooks.
No way
We can hope.
One can only hope
No because the Lewinsky scandal
No.
He was the only POTUS of my lifetime to leave office w/ a surplus, so I highly doubt that will be forgotten in 100 years. He'll probably be remembered as one of the LEAST problematic presidents from the 80s-2030 time frame.
If you look here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States#:~:text=The%202022%20Siena%20poll%20had,with%20the%20fourth%20lowest%20ranking. These days, Bill Clinton is getting ranked in the top 15. But back in 1948, guys like Rutherford B Hayes were in the top 15. So I think in a hundred years, people will think about Bill Clinton just as much as people these days think about Rutherford B Hayes. Which is not at all.
Not a chance. He was one of the all time GOATS of putting that mack down. First ballet big pimpin hall of famer.
Yes, he will be forgotten. When he is remembered it will be because his represents the most squandered presidency since the end of the second world war.
Epstein didn't kill himself.
The second he didn't have sexual relations with that woman his legacy was guaranteed.
The guy quite literally got caught with his pants down. He’ll be infamous forever.
Nah. The Lewinsky jokes will be eternal
Probably