Bill Clinton

After the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords ended the war in Bosnia, the United States pledged 20,000 troops as part of an international peacekeeping force (IFOR) in the Balkans. Many Americans—who argued that the United States should not get involved in foreign wars—had opposed U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's airstrikes that had helped end the war. When Clinton asked for further U.S. involvement after the war, these critics spoke out against committing U.S. soldiers to the peacekeeping mission. Nevertheless, President Bill Clinton was successful in getting Congress to commit American troops in Bosnia.

In the following speech, Clinton outlines the reasons he believed the United States should help preserve peace in Bosnia. He argues that the United States was founded on the idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit...