On Wednesday June 5, at 10am, at the Strand Town Hall, the eminently qualified Advocate John Myburgh will address U3A Helderberg members and visitors, on the 1992 US presidential election won by Bill Clinton, over the incumbent George HW Bush and the independent candidate Ross Perot.
In this election year for us and the US, we, on the far southern tip of Africa, are often astounded, maybe even mystified, by the ‘theatre’ of US elections, but it is indisputable that the results have wide-ranging implications even for us.
Furthermore, in time Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela developed a special rapport which augured well for South Africa.
So in 1992 it was gloves off between George HW Bush and Bill Clinton.
In his talk, Advocate Myburgh will describe how the relatively unknown Bill Clinton, Governor of Arkansas – a small, poor, backward state, and himself from very humble beginnings – managed to unseat the incumbent George HW Bush, who had a long and distinguished political career, had been vice president to Ronald Reagan for 8 years, and had had a relatively successful first 4-year term with the Gulf War and end of the Cold War behind him.
Clinton, on the other hand, had no experience of national politics at all and faced the challenge of being unknown outside of Arkansas.
Against this background, Advocate Myburgh will tell how Clinton emerged out of obscurity to become a viable presidential candidate.
How can this turn of events be explained? Was it the economic conditions from which arose the famous statement and title of this talk, It’s the economy stupid!; the end of the Cold War and the fracturing of the Republican party; Bush’s reneging on his election promise of not raising tax?
Or was it the insight and charisma of Clinton, famous for telling the poorer members of the electorate “I feel your pain!’; his sympathy for the southerners or his heralding in the era of ‘baby boomers’ and the end of the ‘Greatest Generation’?
Advocate Myburgh commenced practising law at the Johannesburg Bar in 1972 and in 1986 became an advocate. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court in 1991 and in 1996 became Judge President of the Labour Appeal Court.
He returned to private practice in 2001 and for the past 19 years has conducted a number of public enquiries related to banking matters and corporate governance.
He also acts as a mediator and arbiter in disputes. His hobby is to research historical topics and give talks based on his findings.
Members enter for free; visitors pay R20 at the door. For more information, contact Denise Fourie on 072 211 1173.
