Dear FRONTLINE,

Overall, your program focussed mainly on scandal. Maybe you were correct to do so, if this was indeed a revision of the "first draft" of history.

I was hoping Frontline would give an elevated analysis of Clinton's time in office, instead what I got was a blow by blow rehash of the media's obsession with scandal. Your coverage was very lopsided, you mostly ignored the forces who took every oportunity to smear and humiliate the president and his freinds. When they atempted to remove Clinton from office and Hillary responded with an accusation of a vast right-wing conspiracy, you took their side, describing the Clintons' as demonizing thier adversaries. This says a lot about your journalistic integrity.

Your program was a very poor piece of work, though on a positive note, I did find some of the anecdotes from the white house staff interesting.

Mark Slicker

Dear FRONTLINE,

outstanding comes to mind when i think of your latest project "the Clinton years." i watched pbs Frontline for the first time last night and decided to vist the site. the coverage of the clinton years was done well with no bias. i watched and could not leave the room. it was the most detailed account that i have seen or heard of.

i wish that other networks would try to challenge frontline with thier own chronicles, and good luck to them they would need it thank you for the chance to respond. i will be watching frontline for more great things.

joel massey
EL PASO, TX

Dear FRONTLINE,

Congratulations...The Clinton Years is a magnificient bit of historic journalism ! The story behind the story is viewed and described in a very unbiased and newsworthy manner. I was trasfixed to watch it to the end when I came across it while channel surfing. I intend to view it again soon, and my busy life permits.
This is a great capsule of the real president, with emotions and influence, and those who influenced him to become the "Come Back Kid" president...I an saddened that his mis-steps in his personal affairs will over shadow his many successes.

Lewis Thompson
Newburyport, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have just finished watching the two hour, Frontline documentary on Bill Clintonís two terms in office as president of the U.S.. I can not escape the feeling that I was watching the post game wrap up of an important, yet regional, college hockey tournament.

At no time did I feel that there was any importance given to whether a project or program was correct or competent or the ërightí thing for the Country. I felt like I was being reminded of the constant shifting of a hockey puck from goal to goal, with occasional shots and a few scores for either side, by overly clever by irritating announcers.

...If anything, it raised a great deal of weary disgust for the entire system and gave me very little, if any, hope of positive change. Bill Clinton had so much promise. Did the system consume him? Was he ëmorally bankruptí? Were we for allowing him to parade his indecencies before us? Was he, in fact, an honest man, trying to do something for us all, but abandoned, by us, to the wolves? Was he a wolf, himself?

Do answers to these questions matter? For in the end, he was president for eight years and we, whether we voted or not, chose him. Does his presidency say more about him or more about us? I am saddened by what I saw and, even more so, for those things which I did not. The documentary left many unanswered questions and just as many streets, avenues and boulevards unexplored. Is this an example of the 'best and brightest' we send to lead us?

For me, personally, it explained little, offered less and provided little in the way of nourishment for the long road life ahead. God help us all. It is obvious we can not.

Timothy Roesch
Charlton, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Kudos to PBS on its overview of the Clinton years. Amazingly candid interviews with those supposedly closest to Bill and Hill. These are the impressions of the Clintons' dark sides from those people giving him every benefit of the doubt.

Every American should see this story; stop; think well that if a simple broadcast can scratch the surface of a man's soul and reveal these pathologies, what really lies beneath those untouched layers. In the end, when all is said and done, character does count. Thank you.

maureen bradley
millburn, nj

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am thoroughly discusted that you would allow an obvious republican Mr. Bury to host this 2 hour program about President Clinton's years in office. This 2 hr. show had a distinctly negative view of the president sliding over if touching at all on the programs he tried to put through during his presidency for the benefit of the American people.His compassion for the needy and his desire to make lives of those Americans who cannot help themselves better - the elderly, the disabled, single parents, those without healthcare and the poor. Nightline was far more fair in the five night series they did on the president last week.

I realize the tv stations are powerful rich organizations that for the most part are greatful Bush stole the presidency so they-the stations- can benefit from the tax cut Bush wants to push thru for the wealthiest upper one percent of the nation and of course his friends and his father. But to almost totally ignore all the beneficial programs President Clinton put forth and was able to secure for the average american citizen and call yourselves "a station that is neither republican or democratic" makes me and I'm sure many other Americans sick to our stomachs!!!

Darlene Zakutansky
Chicago, Illinois

Dear FRONTLINE,

"Frontline" documentaries are usually excellent,but
I was very disappointed in how you presented "The
Clinton Years".What you did was to allow the youngest and the least professional of Clinton's
staff except for Reich betray him as they felt he had betrayed them.

But a President who apologi-
gized and did everything possible to work and work
more for all of us while going through this shame
deserved better. Shalala,Albright and Berger would not join in your castigation.They illustrated
dignity,professionalism, and humanity. Too bad
that this time "Frontline" failed.

Charlotte Klein
New York, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

We have heard the endless assessments of the Clinton years from his former cabinet members and advisors - but what about the people of this country? Unlike his advisors and cabinet, we had less selfish reasons to view his personal activities as a threat. If he screwed up personally, it could be a real threat to the press secretary's or the Secretary of Labor's job. Little wonder that he or she might be inclined to view the President's behavior in a more judgmental light.

In my opinion, President Clinton has been the greatest example of leadership and the meaning of the word committment that our country has ever seen. You might ask how anyone could praise a liar and adulteror as a great example of committment. And I would answer that, in our history, few, if any, presidents have ever been subjected to the level of personal attack, invasion of privacy, and outright persecution that President Clinton has endured. Most men or women would buckle under the pressure. They would turn tail and run, unable or unwilling to endure the constant onslaught. Surely, it would have been easier to resign, just like in difficult marriages, it is usually easier to divorce. Yet, he remained true to his vision and purpose. And for me, that has been his greatest contribution to this country. In the face of overwhelming humiliation and attack, he never waivered in his committment to his country. He took on the presidency for better or for worse, and he stood by that oath to the end.

Vicki Lane
Charlotte, NC

Dear FRONTLINE,

The report struck me as truthful - those that lived these events were telling the stories. It was also sad - the talk about unrealized potential and what could have been is distressing. Clinton's own lack of honor and character off-tracked himself and his loyal staff time and time again. He tarnished the dignity of the oval office for generations to come, and dragged his family, his people, and the country through the mud with him. What a shame. What a waste of intellect and talent.

Deborah Tierney
Brimfield, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

All the things I like about Frontline -- the format, the reliance on your own research rather than what can be self-serving interviews, the anonymity of the narrator, and other qualities that give a strong impression of objectivity and balance and that result in new insights into a subject -- All those things were utterly missing from this shallow rehash of a story oft-told The Clinton Years. It looked like and resulted in "Nightline." If this was an experiment, chalk it up to that and please go back to Frontline.

And maybe, in a year or two, do a "Frontline" piece on the Clinton years and help us understand more about whether and how Bill Clinton's personal qualities and characteristics contributed or did not to the outcomes of his years in office. In fact, I would liked to have learned more about some of those outcomes -- how NAFTA was negotiated with the Republican's and what has been its legacy to date -- how health care reform failed not just an insider's opinion that it failed because the President was in "Hillary's dog house."

"Frontline" is one of the few shows I always try to catch. It's also one of the shows I can talk about among people with whom I disagree because people with a real interest in understanding watch it. I so applaud the "Frontline" concept and hope you'll be returning to it.

Dianne Lipsey

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your report on the Clinton years was fascinating in some ways and sad in other ways. You have used some of the disgruntled white house staff and your editing technique to prove your point which has been anti Clinton to start with. My feeeling is that the Washington Press could not handle a youth full gang close to their age to run white house. You were jealous and become critical from day one and took advantage of some difficult situations Clinton went through. I would like to see how you treat the new president or would be so nice to him because of his frequent invitations to texas bar-b-que and few tennis matches. I will be keeping any eye on you and the smart washington press corps. For some reason you guys are critical of a Democratic President to disprove the Republican claim that the majority of the press corps are liberals.

Sushil Bhattacharjee
Frederick, MD

Dear FRONTLINE,

The show was a good compendium of the Clinton presidency, and I enjoyed getting the inside view of the last eight years. However, I cannot believe that there was no mention of the invasion of Haiti by the Clinton administration. Not an American soldier was lost in this military adventure and democracy was supposedly restored in the process. Every other major event in the Clinton presidency was mentioned in the two hours. Was this an oversight? I cannot believe an event of this magnitude was not even given a moment's notice. Who researched the show and left out such an important historical event in our history? I would appreciate some explanation for this lapse. But again I want to compliment the staff for a brief but outstanding summary of the Clinton years. It helped me understand the man and his/our presidency in the 90s.

Leonard Bazelak
Sarasota, Florida

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am a staunch Republican and Calvinist. My family has always been the same. Yet following is how I will look BACK on the Clinton years: His personal life aside, Mr. Clinton made the correct decisions to the hardest problems America was faced with during his two terms. We enjoyed 8 wonderful years monetarily as a country. He reacted correctly and admirably to the terrorist events which occurred. He seemed to always seek the peoples' best interests in his decisions contrary to party beliefs. He showed a true compassion for his fellow man. I thank God for giving us Mr. Bill Clinton during this time in history.

Kevin Young
Dayton, Oh

Dear FRONTLINE,

I had hoped Frontline could have put together a more balanced retrospective on Clinton than ABC'sfor broadcasting the day before he delivers his farewell address. Instead you are feeding us all the bad stuff once again. It's a disgrace; it's dreadful journalism; it's unfair and so distorted as to be bad history. The public knows it is. That is why they approve of him in numbers greater than those of any President since Roosevelt. You owed PBS regulars something better.

Bob Prestemon
Rockville, Maryland

Dear FRONTLINE,

I loved the documentary. I just really feel that Clinton will be a forgotten President. I honestly do not see anything he has done that is of historical significance. How sad. To have an opprotunity such as he had and to let it go to waste. May God be with him.

Donnie Simmons
St. Francisville, LA.