If you’re asking who was president 1999, you probably have a hazy memory of baggy jeans, the screech of dial-up internet, and a vague sense of panic about computers exploding when the clock struck midnight.
Bill Clinton.
He was the man in the Oval Office. He was the 42nd President of the United States, and honestly, 1999 was probably the weirdest year of his entire eight-year run. It was a year defined by a massive budget surplus—something that feels like science fiction today—and a grueling impeachment trial that nearly ended his career just as the millennium was closing out.
Think about it. We were at the peak of the "Long Boom." The dot-com bubble hadn't popped yet. People were getting rich off companies that didn't actually sell anything. And right in the middle of it was Clinton, playing the saxophone of diplomacy while the Senate decided whether or not to kick him out of the White House.
The Impeachment That Didn't Stick
The year started with a bang. Or a thud, depending on how you view constitutional law. On January 7, 1999, the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton formally began in the Senate.
He was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.
It all went back to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The House had impeached him in late 1998, but the Senate trial was the real drama. For weeks, the news was nothing but legal jargon and talking heads. Chief Justice William Rehnquist presided over the whole thing, wearing those weird gold stripes on his robes that he'd added because he liked a costume from a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
History is funny.
On February 12, the Senate voted. They needed a two-thirds majority to convict. They didn't even get a simple majority on the perjury charge. It was 45-55. On the obstruction of justice charge, it was a 50-50 split.
Clinton stayed.
He didn't just stay; he thrived in the polls. His approval ratings were sky-high, hovering around 60% to 70%. People liked the economy. They liked their 401(k)s. They mostly wanted the government to stop talking about his private life and get back to business.
What Bill Clinton Actually Did in 1999
While the trial grabbed the headlines, the actual work of being who was president 1999 involved a lot of complex international chess.
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Take Kosovo.
In March, Clinton led the U.S. into a NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The goal was to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo by Slobodan Milošević’s forces. It was a massive moment for "humanitarian intervention." It also wasn't a "war" in the traditional sense—at least, Clinton didn't call it that—but it lasted 78 days.
It worked, mostly. Milošević eventually withdrew. But it also strained relations with Russia and China, especially after a NATO bomb accidentally hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Domestically, the 1999 State of the Union address was a masterclass in political survival. Clinton stood before the very people trying to fire him and laid out a plan to use the budget surplus to "save Social Security first." He talked about education. He talked about the Y2K bug. He acted like the impeachment trial was happening on a different planet.
The Economy Was Just... Different
You can't talk about 1999 without mentioning the money.
The national debt was actually shrinking.
We had a budget surplus of $124 billion. To put that in perspective, the current U.S. deficit is measured in trillions. Back then, the biggest debate in Washington was what to do with all the extra cash. Republicans wanted tax cuts. Clinton wanted to pay down the debt and bolster social programs.
It was a time of irrational exuberance.
Alan Greenspan, the Fed Chair, was basically a rock star. The NASDAQ was up 86% in a single year. If you bought stock in something called "Pets.com" in 1999, you felt like a genius. By 2001, you'd feel like an idiot, but in 1999? You were king of the world.
Tragedies and Cultural Shifts
Even with the booming economy, 1999 had a dark side.
On April 20, the Columbine High School massacre happened. It broke the national psyche. Clinton had to pivot from being the "Policy Wonk in Chief" to the "Comforter in Chief." He pushed for tighter gun control, specifically the closure of the "gun show loophole," but he faced massive pushback from the NRA and a Republican-led Congress.
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Then there was the death of John F. Kennedy Jr.
When his plane went down off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in July, the nation stopped. Clinton ordered the flags at the White House to fly at half-staff. It felt like the end of an era, a final closing of the Camelot chapter, right as we were heading into a new century.
The Y2K Panic: Was It Real?
As 1999 wound down, everyone was terrified of "The Millennium Bug."
The theory was simple: computers were programmed to recognize years using only the last two digits. When the year hit "00," computers would think it was 1900 and the entire global infrastructure—banks, power grids, nuclear silos—would collapse.
Clinton took it seriously.
He appointed John Koskinen as the "Y2K Czar." The government spent billions. Companies spent billions. People hoarded canned peaches and bottled water.
Spoiler: Nothing happened.
Because of the massive preparation led by the Clinton administration and private tech firms, the transition was seamless. But because nothing happened, people later complained that it was all a scam. It's the classic "prevention paradox"—if you do your job perfectly, people think you didn't need to do anything at all.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Riots
In late 1999, the "Battle of Seattle" happened.
Protesters swarmed the WTO ministerial meeting. It was the first time the general public really saw the massive backlash against globalization. Clinton was in a tough spot. He was a "New Democrat" who championed free trade (like NAFTA), but he also needed the support of labor unions.
He actually expressed some sympathy for the protesters' concerns about labor and environmental standards. It was a nuanced, tricky position that defined his "Third Way" politics.
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Key Figures Around the President in 1999
Clinton didn't run the show alone. The cast of characters in 1999 was iconic.
- Al Gore: The Vice President was already distancing himself to start his own run for the presidency in 2000. He famously claimed to have "taken the initiative in creating the internet" during a 1999 interview.
- Madeleine Albright: The first female Secretary of State. She was a powerhouse in the Kosovo negotiations.
- Newt Gingrich: He had actually resigned as Speaker of the House at the very beginning of 1999, replaced eventually by Dennis Hastert.
- Hillary Clinton: By late 1999, she was already making moves to run for the Senate in New York.
Why 1999 Still Matters Today
Looking back, 1999 was the last "innocent" year before the 2000 election chaos (Bush v. Gore) and the trauma of 9/11.
It was the peak of American hegemony. The Cold War was over, and the War on Terror hadn't begun. We were obsessed with Beanie Babies and Britney Spears.
But the seeds of the future were planted right there. The deregulation of the financial industry—specifically the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which Clinton signed in 1999—would later be blamed for the 2008 financial crisis. The rise of Al-Qaeda was already happening in the shadows; the embassy bombings in Africa had happened just a year prior.
Nuance: Was Clinton a Good President in 1999?
It depends on who you ask.
If you ask an economist, they’ll point to the 4.1% unemployment rate and the balanced budget. They'll say he was a genius who navigated the transition to the digital age.
If you ask a social conservative, they’ll talk about the Lewinsky scandal and the "stain on the presidency." They'll argue his personal failings diminished the office.
If you ask a progressive, they might be annoyed that he signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allowed commercial and investment banks to merge.
The reality is that Clinton was a pragmatist. He was a survivor.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs and Researchers
If you're digging into this era, don't just look at the headlines.
- Check the Archives: The William J. Clinton Presidential Library has digitized thousands of documents from 1999, including daily schedules that show exactly what he was doing during the impeachment trial.
- Watch the 1999 State of the Union: It is a masterclass in political rhetoric and "ignoring the elephant in the room."
- Study the Kosovo Documents: To understand modern NATO interventionism, you have to understand the precedents set in 1999.
- Look at the Tech Legislation: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other foundational internet laws were being refined and implemented during this window.
The year 1999 wasn't just about "Party Like It's 1999." It was the year the modern world was forged, under the leadership of a president who was simultaneously fighting for his job and managing the strongest economy in American history.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge
To truly grasp the impact of the Clinton era, your next move should be examining the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its ripple effects into 1999, or researching the impeachment managers who led the case against him to see where they are in politics today. Many, like Lindsey Graham, are still major players. Understanding their 1999 arguments provides a direct window into the current state of American partisanship.