The First Black President and Gay Rights: Bill Clinton at the War College and the National Archives

• In Event: Queerness and Queer Issues in Public Address

Abstract

This essay compares two speeches given by President Bill Clinton: his 1993 address introducing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and his statement on affirmative in 1995. On DADT he engages in material compromise and falls into an enactment of the presidency that is morally compromised. On affirmative action, however, Clinton takes an uncompromising stand against discrimination and refuses material compromise regarding policy direction. The essay concludes with implications for scholars of presidential rhetoric.

Author

• Jon Hoffman, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities