Historical Controversy: Don ` T Ask, Don T Tell

Each American president has had to deal with controversial issues and sometimes scandals during their administration terms in office. How they address, or avert the issue impacts the perception to their leadership capability for our republic. Their policies are sculpted often by public opinion and historical context. President William Clinton is no exception and his handling of the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” controversy indicates that his policies, openly excluded gay and bisexual people from military service, and this shaped how America treated people of difference.
Before William Clinton became a President of the United States, he grew up with changing directions like many children. William Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas ("Bill Clinton Biography"). His father had died three months before he was born in a car crash. His mother moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to achieve her
The murder of gay U.S. Navy petty officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr. on October 27, 1992, brought calls from advocates of allowing open service by gays and lesbians for prompt action from the incoming Clinton administration. Later, Army Pfc. Barry Winchell, was beaten to death with a baseball bat while he slept by Pvt. Calvin Glover, a member of his unit. in July 1999. was suspectedly motivated by anti-gay bias. Glover claimed to have beaten Wincell because he was homosexual ("Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Historical Context"). President Clinton issued an executive order which modified the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ, 64 Stat. 109, 10 U.S.C. §§ 801–946) to permit evidence of a hate crime to be admitted during the sentencing phase of a trial ("Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Historical