What a difference 14 years makes. Here, Bill Clinton departs the White House on July 31, 1998, after telling reporters he wouldn't take questions about the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
This week, the presidential campaign has been dominated by debate over the welfare law from the 1990s. It's just the latest example of how both sides are trying to use the Clinton years to their advantage — portraying them as a halcyon golden age.
Writer Roxana Robinson's most recent novel, Cost, is set in Maine.
Mount Desert Island, off the coast of northern Maine, is known for dramatic scenery. Most of the island is Acadia National Park: steep forests, plunging down to a cobalt sea. Cadillac Mountain, the tallest peak, is the first place where light touches the American continent, each morning at dawn. Trails follow the windswept ridges; they wind along the smooth pink granite bluffs, rising from the deep, icy water, along the wild swirl of the great tides.
Usain Bolt cemented his place as one of the greatest sprinters in history, when he won the 200 meter final today.
Bolt was challenged by his Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake, who closed in with less than 100 meters to go. Bolt kicked on his burners and ended up taking back the lead and beating Blake 19.32 to 19.44 seconds.
The big deal here is that this makes Bolt the first Olympian to win both the 100 meter and 200 meter races two Olympics in a row.
There's some disturbing news out today about a disease we don't hear about much these days: gonorrhea. Federal health officials announced that the sexually transmitted infection is getting dangerously close to being untreatable.
American Carli Lloyd heads in a goal in the first half to put the U.S. up 1-0 against Japan in the Olympic gold medal match.
Credit Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
U.S. women's soccer fans wait for the start of the Olympic gold medal match between U.S. and Japan at London's Wembley Stadium.
Credit Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Hope Solo (in green), Shannon Boxx (top), Christie Rampone, Amy LePeilbet (right), and Kelley O'Hara (left) celebrate the U.S. women's soccer team's gold medal, after defeating Japan, 2-1, in London.
In Olympic women's soccer, the U.S. team has beaten Japan, 2-1, in the gold medal match at London's Wembley Stadium, a game that set a new attendance record with more than 80,000 spectators. Carli Lloyd scored both of the American goals, while U.S. stars Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach weren't able to finish their chances. But they were very active, and both players kept the Japanese defenders occupied around the goal.
Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, will stand trial on charges related to the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Here, the couple is shown in 2007 attending Bo's father's funeral.
Credit Kyodo / Reuters/Landov
Gu Kailai and her husband, Bo Xilai, in 2007. Her trial involving the murder of a British businessman begins Thursday.
Credit Reuters/Landov
British businessman Neil Heywood, seen here at a gallery in Beijing last April, was found dead in his Chongqing hotel on Nov. 15, 2011. Heywood had ties to Bo Xilai's family, helping organize the education of son Bo Guagua, who studied at the exclusive British boarding schools Papplewick and Harrow.
One of China's biggest criminal trials opens Thursday, and its lurid details make for a sort-of Communist Party film noir. The wife of an ambitious Chinese politician is accused of murdering a British businessman. Her powerful husband allegedly blocks the police investigation, and the police chief, fearing for his life, takes refuge in a U.S. consulate and implicates the wife in the killing.
The U.S. government has been working for years to crack down on Americans dodging taxes overseas. In 2009, under intense pressure, the Swiss bank UBS released the names of its American customers.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has acknowledged that he had money in a Swiss bank account until 2010. Romney says he wasn't trying to hide the money, since he reported the account to the government.
Even so, he closed the account at a time when the federal government was in the middle of a major crackdown on offshore tax havens — a crackdown that has made it harder for Americans to hide their money overseas.
Republican activist David Barton speaks before testifying before the Texas State Board of Education in 2009.
Credit Historical archives / Warren Throckmorton
Barton claims Jefferson, unlike the other presidents, closes his documents "In the year of our Lord Christ." It's actually a standard form of closing documents, used here by James Madison.
Credit Jack Plunkett / AP
Diana Gomez and Garrett Mize rally before a state Board of Education meeting in Austin, Texas, in 2010.
David Barton says Americans have been misled about their history. And he aims to change that.
"It's what I would call historical reclamation," Barton explains, in his soft but rapid-fire voice. "We're just trying to get history back to where it's accurate. If you're going to use history, get it right."
