President Clinton's new beginning

On December 14 and 15, 1992, just over one month before he was to take the Oath of Office, President Bill Clinton was joined by Vice-President Al Gore, major cabinet appointees and 329 of the nation's top economists, corporate executives, labor leaders and others for an incisive and comprehensive discussion of the problems facing the U.S. economy and the rough choices that lay ahead for his incoming administration. The array of speakers at the Little Rock Economic Conference, in the words of a New York Times editorial, provided government, business and the American public with "a valuable national conversation" and demonstrated that President Clinton, who "displayed a remarkable grasp of big themes and small details ... [was] up to the task" of making the important economic decisions.