Topic Paper: Bill Clinton
Damien Acla
5229 Management Communications
Karla Back
4/21/2025
1
Table of Contents
1. Introduction, p.3
2. Setting Communication Goals, p.4
3. Communication Strategy, p.5
4. Style & Tone, p.6
5. Conclusion, p.7
2
1. Introduction
Great communicators are the cornerstone of successful ventures. Whether that be a single
project, a business, or an entire country, the ability to communicate and speak to one’s audience
well is necessary to turn goals into realities. This holds especially important in the case of the
President of the United States; addressing one’s country may be the biggest, yet most important
communication challenge one may ever face. Bill Clinton, who served in office for the majority
of the 1990s, is a president that comes to mind for many because of the way in which he
presented himself to the American people.
To frame the discussion around how Bill Clinton communicated during his presidency, it
is important to know who exactly he is. The Clinton Library archive tells us about the former
president’s life. Born in 1946, Clinton was successful even at a young age. Graduating from
Georgetown University in 1968 and Yale in 1973 for a law degree, he had already created the
basis he needed to begin pursuing politics (Clinton Library). In 1976 he was elected the Arkansas
Attorney General, and governor in 1978. He served for two years and regained his seat in 1982,
where he served until 1993 where he begins to serve as President of the United States (Clinton
Library). Bill Clinton served from 1993 to 2001, during which he had undertaken many
admirable feats such as reforming the welfare system, strengthening environmental regulations,
expanding international trade and launching peace initiatives in the Middle East (Clinton
Library). When Clinton’s term ended, he integrated well into becoming a private citizen once
again, during which he showed his more everyday American values. According to his biography
titled My Life, Clinton describes the life he was excited to live after leaving office: “…building
my library, doing public service work through my foundation, supporting Hillary, and having
more time for reading, golf, music, and unhurried travel” (Clinton, 2004, 831). Both a great
3
leader and a man who many in America can relate to, it is not hard to see why many still admire
Bill Clinton.
2. Setting Communication Goals
The first step to tackling any communication challenge is to set goals and guidelines.
Traditionally, the goal setting process involves establishing what one wants to accomplish with
their message, analyzing level of importance, planning and enacting one’s communication goals
(Back). These steps correlate well with the responsibilities of a president. Creating concise goals
from the start, determining how important these goals are for the government and the American
people, and finally how to address these audiences in a way that will garner more support than
opposition is important for both social welfare and presidential approval.
While we can’t know for certain about Bill Clinton’s complete strategy on setting goals,
the goals he has set throughout his presidency and the reactions of those reporting on it can be
analyzed. A guest editorial from Arthur MacEwan gives us a glimpse into Clinton’s strategies as
he approaches the challenges presented by public education. The paper outlines how Clinton
departed from Republicans’ push against public education, putting no blame on education
failures on aspects such as teacher unions or the teachers themselves, and instead opting to
appeal to a much wider spectrum of Americans by claiming that everyone in the country
deserves a proper education. As a result, his lobbying would put more federal funding into
schools while showing weakness in the Republican party’s push for the opposite (MacEwan,
1997). Assuming Clinton’s communication goals, his primary mission is to support America’s
education while showing his supporters and opposition that he stands against choosing to hinder
the system. He chose to approach this goal by appealing to Americans’ values that they place on
4
their children’s welfare, a common interest despite some of the government’s dismay. This
scenario shows that he has a grasp on his primary audience’s interests and how to appeal to them.
Another example of how Clinton can set and accomplish communication goals lays
within his pursuit for healthcare reform. Jerry Geisel for Business Insurance summarizes a
speech he gave to the Service Employees International Union. In the speech, Clinton tackled
healthcare coverage challenges, particularly regarding early retiree and women’s benefits. Some
of these include denial of coverage for hospital stays after mastectomies, retirees who cannot
qualify for Medicare, and coverage for the unemployed. In his address, he also made sure to call
on Congress to consider making these changes (Geisel, 1997). Clinton’s goal here is clear; appeal
to Americans who do not benefit well from the county’s healthcare system, in this case being
women and those who cannot work. He acknowledges common coverage concerns among these
people while calling on Congress for change to garner support, strategically appealing to their
woes. He once again makes clear who his audiences are, in this case primarily being less
fortunate Americans and secondarily Congress. Clinton once again shows he is very capable of
analyzing the outcome he desires from speeches, his audiences and how to appeal to them.
3. Communication Strategy
Accomplishing communication goals necessitates a proper communication strategy. Whether it
be recurring patterns or specific situations, Bill Clinton has a proven track record as a verbal
strategist. Fred Greenstein writing for Political Silence & Politics how he approaches governing
the country. Key approaches to strategy laid out by Greenstein include his political passion,
meaning he strives “…to meet people, to know them, to like them, to have them like him”
(Greenstein, 1998). Clinton also makes an effort to take criticism and make corrections, being
prone to admitting his own failings to maintain his claims that he refuses to make the same errors
5
continuously (Greenstein). In summary, Clinton’s observable strategies to appeal to Americans
and political peers are to appeal to other people as a means to appeal to them in return, while
admitting to mistakes and rectifying them to gain trust.
One can look to the low point of Clinton’s presidency for another example of his
strategist nature. In 1998, a sex scandal between himself and a White House intern exploded onto
the press, resulting in calls for impeachment against Clinton for his actions. Clinton employed
various strategies in an attempt to rectify his actions and regain the trust of the American people.
An article written by Cesar Garcia describes his strategies as being in two phases. In the first
phase of Clinton’s damage control strategy, he at first denied the accusations against him before
refusing to step down from office for them. As the press raged on, Clinton transitioned into a
second phase. In this phase, Clinton admits to there being an inappropriate relationship with the
intern, while speaking out against the press and investigators for their continuous focus on the
story. Lastly, he called for privacy for his own family about the matter while promising he will
learn from the mistake he had made (Garcia, 2011). It can be seen that Clinton is capable of
changing his strategy for communicating when others fail. His denial of any mistake or affair
was not fully bought into, so he made the decision to come clean to his followers while
promising to make amends for his mistake. In the end this strategy would prove fruitful, as his
approval ratings were still high at the end of his presidential term. If he were to continue denying
the affair, his approval may not have been as high if he were not focused on keeping the trust of
the American people.
4. Style & Tone
How someone presents themselves through their style of speech as well as their tone puts the
finishing touches on a well-crafted address. The way one speaks both sets the mood for their
6
message while appealing to the audience mentally or emotionally. Herbet Buchsbaum for
Scholastic Update outlines the attitude Clinton had brought to his presidency and furthermore his
influence. Buchsbaum outlines Clinton’s “can-do” attitude that he inherited from John F.
Kennedy, with his motivation for doing so being its effect on the national mood. He cites
Kennedy’s determination to get a man on the moon driving scientists to make it happen as
another big influence for him to take up this approach (Buchsbaum, 1993). Clinton having a
positive attitude that himself and the American people can accomplish any task they set forth on,
no matter the scale, undoubtedly help him in garnering a following off charisma alone.
Clinton’s attempts at making more personally motivated addresses to his listeners are
looked back on fondly by those present during his term, showing the influence his style had on
others. David Kusnet in a special report for CNN reminisces on one of these instances. Kusnet
recalls writing teleprompter scripts for Clinton’s addresses and assisting in operation, only for
Clinton to go off script on multiple instances. One of these instances resulted in Clinton giving a
5,895-word speech, while the one that was prepared for him was just over 3,000 words (Kusnet,
2012). As a result of Clinton’s personally worded anecdotes and issue addresses, many still cite
him as one of the most charismatic and easy to listen to presidents in American history.
5. Conclusion
There is no doubt that Bill Clinton’s high approval ratings at the end of his presidency are
attributed to his seemingly natural ability to communicate. The former president’s goal oriented
nature, strategic maneuvering around difficult topics, charisma and personal drive behind his
speeches make him a leader one will not soon forget from his dialogue alone.
7
Works Cited:
Clinton biographies. William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. (n.d.).
https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/research/clinton-biographies
Clinton, B. (2004). My Life . Random House, Inc. p.831
Back, K. BUAD 5003 Management Communications: Week 2 Job Aide
MacEwan, A. (1997). Guest Editorial: Bill Clinton’s Practical Approach to Public Education. The
Radical Teacher, 51, 2–5. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20709922
Geisel, J. (1997, September 22). Clinton details his goals for gradual health reform. Business
Insurance, 31(38), 1+. https://link-galecom.ezproxy.alfredstate.edu/apps/doc/A19971368/AONE?u=alfredtech&sid=bookmarkAONE&xid=c0ab20ef
Greenstein, Fred I. "There he goes again: the alternating political style of Bill Clinton." PS:
Political Science & Politics, vol. 31, no. 2, June 1998, pp. 178+. Gale Academic
OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A20852315/AONE?u=alfredtech&sid=bookmarkAONE&xid=0a586690. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
Garcia, C. (2011, September). Sex scandals: a cross-cultural analysis of image repair strategies in
the cases of bill clinton and silvio berlusconi. Public Relations Review, 37(3).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.03.008
Buchsbaum, H. (1993, January 15). The Clinton style. Scholastic Update, 125(8),
12+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A13355873/AONE?u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=
ec351436
Kusnet, D. (2012, September 7). How Bill Clinton ad-libs his way to a winning speech. CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/opinion/kusnet-clinton-speech-style/index.html
8