Bill Clinton's 1994 European tour : expanding the democratic order in the post-Cold War world.

Abstract

In 1994, President Bill Clinton made four trips to Europe. In January, he advocated for the expansion of NATO through the Partnership for Peace plan and signed the first nuclear disarmament agreement with former Soviet states. In June, he attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion and spoke of the enduring values of the World War II generation. In July, he visited the capitols of three important former Soviet states and spoke about the imperative of reform. Finally, in December, he attended the CSCE summit and gave a capstone speech about democratic expansion. Each trip had a unique set of goals and circumstances, but all served to bolster Clinton’s foreign policy goal of democratic expansion. Clinton’s speeches demonstrate the unique facets of his beliefs about foreign policy and the role of the United States in the post-Cold War world.