Letter From America By Alistair Cooke: The Clinton Years (1997-2000)

The life of George Wallace, reformed racial segregationist and Governor of Alabama is remembered and Alistair Cooke considers his anger and the humble truth of his repentance.

The Lewinsky report is published, the House of Representatives begins to consider evidence and impeachment and President Clinton asks for forgiveness.

The financial crash of August 1998, its causes and effects are compared with Alistair Cooke's memories of the first Black Monday in 1987 and the Black Thursday of 1929.

A subdued Clinton family holiday turns to political action as America launches cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan and Clinton makes a revitalised public appearance.

President Clinton makes a televised confession of his affair with Monica Lewinsky: Alistair Cooke considers its inadequacy and the betrayal of those who trusted and supported him.

Senator Robert Bennett prepares the US to face millennial computer failure and Alistair Cooke considers the origin and potentially disastrous consequences of the Y2K glitch.

Proposition 227, to teach immigrant's children purely in English, passes in California and Alistair Cooke considers the infamous English of Polish Hollywood producer Sam Goldwyn.

President Clinton is subpoenaed to appear before Mr Starr's grand jury, the English origins of the US grand jury system and the flaws that led to it being abandoned in Britain.

Examining allegations that President Clinton persuaded Monica Lewinsky to give false testimony, Clinton's high approval rating and has Alan Greenspan noticed the heat wave?

The emergency caused by the 1998 Texas heatwave and should Clinton's Secret Service men be asked to testify in the Starr investigation into an alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky?

On the death of Roy Rogers (1911 -1998), the singing cowboy, Cooke considers the great film cowboys, Bruce Wayne, William S. Hart, Gary Cooper and the stuntman Yakima Canutt.

The rise and fall of tennis brats from the riot of McEnroe v Nastase, NYC 1979 to McEnroe's forfiet at the 1990 Australian Open and golf as the last refuge of chivalry in sport.

President Clinton visits China and Alistair Cooke considers US - China relations, their economic balance, disagreement over Taiwan and the changes since Nixon's visit in 1972.

US intervention in Japan's economy, Louise Woodward returns to the UK after her life sentence is reduced and Republican Trent Lott calls homosexuality a sin on national TV.

Considering religious freedom, anti-Catholic feeling, same-sex marriage, El Niño and renaming schools named after slave owners as Congress tidies around the edges of major issues.

Remembering Barry Goldwater, Alistair Cooke considers a most memorable defeated presidential candidate - the cowboy from Phoenix, Arizona who changed the Republican Party forever.

What happens if immigrants to America don't want to become Americans? Alistair Cooke considers assimilation, patriotism, Memorial Day and proposition 227.

Bill Gates' Microsoft faces a barrage of legal actions claiming that the Explorer web browser is a monopoly and Alistair Cooke considers the history of US anti-monopoly law.

India's 1998 nuclear tests take the US government by surprise and Alistair Cooke considers the vast changes in the daily burdens of the presidency since the 1920s.

The desire for a 'quick-fix', the false dawns of the daily medical miracle, the instant imitation of new inventions and excitement over a 'so-called' impotence pill.