7/22/2023 0 Comments Bill clinton 1994 mlb strike![]() ![]() The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that season being cancelled, including the postseason and, for the first time since 1904, the World Series. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. Lua error in a at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Far from being on an inevitable path of cultural decline as the 20th century closed, as many have argued, baseball remained a cherished national institution which, through its civil religious narrative of myths, heroes and ideals, was appropriated by President Clinton in the exercise of his political power.Script error: No such module "Infobox mapframe". The project further argues that by instrumentalising baseball as an expression of American civil religion Clinton sought to validate his leadership at times of scandal, even while his critics summoned the same civil religious symbolism to question his moral fitness for office. ![]() ![]() By emphasising Clinton's rhetorical commitment to traditional notions of community, the project focuses on his administration's attempts to address the anxieties of those Americans who yearned for 'normality' in an unsettled world. Qualitative analysis of media coverage of some of baseball's most culturally significant moments of the decade - Ken Burns' landmark television series Baseball, the 1994-95 players' strike, Cal Ripken Jr.'s historic 'streak', the 50th anniversary of baseball's integration and the 1998 home-run race - reveals how Clinton's interactions with these events contributed to a broader discourse about what it meant to be American at a time of social and economic uncertainty, when traditional norms of family were contested and when debates about what a multicultural America should look like were unresolved. Drawing on documents and images held at the Clinton Presidential Library (many newly released via the author's Freedom of Information requests) and interviews with former members of the Clinton Administration, this project establishes that Clinton's interactions with baseball went beyond the accepted ritual of the presidency - Opening Day Pitches and White House receptions - to embrace other events and performances which contributed to debates around contested issues including affirmative action, welfare reform and ethics in public life. It argues that it was an association between two national institutions which has been overlooked by scholars of the Clinton presidency, but one which emerges in policy presentation, in the shaping of opinion, in the management of the presidential image and in the framing and communication of domestic policies. This project explores the relationship between the American presidency and baseball in the 1990s, pointing to the national pastime's significant influence on political culture during the Clinton years. ![]()
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