Episode 382 BOB DOLE 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing (Part 19) NAFTA

Send us a text

The North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, opened up the largest free trading block in the world. It was supported by every living former President in 1993, and Bill Clinton worked very hard to make it happen. He got support from an unlikely source.

Bob Dole. 

In fact, he had bipartisan support and opposition. Our own two Senators here in South Carolina, Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, both opposed NAFTA's passing. 

This is the story of how it passed through Congress. You will hear from three living former Presidents: George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford, in the Bush speech you will also hear about an opinion piece written by Ronald Reagan in favor of NAFTA as well. It was a controversial piece of legislation, and while it delivered on many of the high hopes when it passed, it also did not stop some of the very concerns those who were opposed to its passage brought up in their arguments. 

In this episode we will hear some of the oral history that Bob Dole gave and you will hear for yourself some of , what sounds like , regret he voices, ever so briefly, in his interview about supporting the passage of the bill. 

Here is the story of NAFTA, how it passed, and what people thought about it as the historic debate raged in Washington. 

Questions or comments at , [e-mail] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcasts
Thanks for listening!!