ucing nuclear reactors. Clinton used currency funds controlled by the president to grant Mexico a $40 billion loan guarantee. One of his more controversial decisions was to grant U.S. recognition to Vietnam. In 1994 Clinton deployed troops to Kuwait when Iraq, protesting UN sanctions and the enforcement of a no-fly zone, appeared to threaten its neighbor again. Two years later he ordered air strikes against Iraq for violating the terms of peace agreed to at the end of the Persian Gulf War. On balance, Clinton demonstrated that he had adjusted to the tasks of the presidency and had become an astute political leader. In 1996 voters chose him by a comfortable margin over Republican nominee Robert Dole, making Clinton the first Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to be elected to the office twice. The president was not able to deliver a Democratic majority back to Congress, but he developed a deft touch at leading a divided government. In 1997 Congress enacted a major tax cut, the first since 1981, and Clinton negotiated a deficit-reduction package that projected a balanced federal budget in 2002. He also had success with a number of targeted domestic programs on education, health, and the environment; won an increase in the minimum wage; and sponsored a welfare reform bill that established time limits for benefits. He claimed credit for the general health of the economy, for a 30-year low in unemployment, and for the fastest real-wage growth in 20 years. The 1998 fiscal year ended with a federal budget surplus of $70 billion, the first surplus in a generation. In international affairs Clinton's second term was characterized by attempts to support European unity and strength; to deal with the virtual collapse of the Asian regional economy; to nurture peace efforts in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Israel, and the Korean peninsula; to encourage Chinese cooperation in world affairs; and to ensure Iraqi compliance with international agree...
