The Whitewater scandal proved to be one of the more controversial stories associated with Bill Clinton, obviously along with the Monica Lewinsky affair. The Whitewater scandal occurred in the 1990’s, and it was basically a scandal over the real-estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In 1978, Bill and Hillary Clinton undertook a real-estate venture to buy 220 acres in Arkansas. At the time, Bill Clinton was serving time as the Attorney General of Arkansas and would become governor in that following November. It was at that point that the Clintons sought out to find an investment that they could put their money into. So, they, along with Susan and Jim McDougal (real estate businessmen), decided to create the Whitewater Development Corporation and bought 220 acres.
Their hope in doing the deal was that they could allow people to purchase the land for vacation homes, and would make money off of that deal. However, due to a lack of interest, the land deal did not work out, causing the Clintons to suffer approximately a $40,000 loss. Initially, however, the losses were not too much of an issue, as both the McDougals and the Clintons recovered. Bill Clinton became governor, and Jim formed a loan business in the banking industry, called Madison Guaranty.
However, Jim committed fraud against a loan-firm called Capital Management Services, which was run by a man named David Hale, as well as against Madison Guaranty. This was the first sign that perhaps the initial real-estate venture that the Clintons were a part of was fishy as well. While initially there was little to no evidence that the Clintons were involved in Jim’s illegal actions, it stirred up a controversy that prompted an investigation into the real-estate ventures of the Clintons.
The investigation was basically centered on the supposed idea that Bill Clinton forced Hale to give a loan that would help both McDougal and Clinton recover from the financial losses suffered as a result of the Whitewater scandal. David Hale testified against both McDougal and Clinton for doing this, and the trial carried on for a fairly long time as Hale continued to testify. However, after a prolonged investigation into the Whitewater scandal, there was little evidence to show that the Clintons were involved in any illegal affairs. Despite the Clintons getting off scot-free, there were over a dozen people linked to McDougal’s illegal affairs who were prosecuted.
While there was no actual evidence that was able to prove the Clintons of any wrongdoing, there was a lot of political implications as a result of this scandal. The scandal was something that changed people’s perceptions of Clinton and caused him to lose a lot of support. Along with the Lewinsky affair, it caused people to change their perceptions of the Clinton-presidency overall. In addition, it was brought up by many Hillary-opposers during her campaign for the presidency as evidence, along with the Benghazi scandal, that she was not fit to rule our country.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2016/06/12/481718785/clinton-scandals-a-guide-from-whitewater-to-the-clinton-foundation
Interesting post Rushil, and I find it interesting that events from the '90s came back to haunt the Clinton's during this most recent election. According to one source, Hillary Clinton had destroyed, hidden, and withheld evidence during the Whitewater incident, and for that reason alone, she was able to walk away charge free. Perhaps this mark on her reputation, and a showing of seemingly immoral character is what caused Trump to be elected as the President of the United States.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/us-history/whitewater
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/timeline.htm
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-destroyed-whitewater-records-long-before-benghazi/
Great post and it makes me compare it to todays politics and "scandals" we see today with the russia involvement in the election. We really do never know the answer because most politicians are somewhat keeping to themselves to keep their name clear and in least trouble as possible. The scandals bill clinton had don't seem as big compared to watergate but somehow clinton got more in trouble than nixon did. And so far trump has not gotten in trouble yet but it will be interesting if that changes and we see how the public responds to it.
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