An interactive look at non-voters through the last 3 White House elections. The shrinking of America's military, now decried by George W. Bush as one of the Clinton administration's biggest sins, was pushed by his running mate Dick Cheney as defense secretary for Bush's father a decade ago. He called for withdrawing tens of thousands of troops from Europe, canceling weapons programs and removing 442,000 men and women from the military over five years. For Cheney, who said he voted for every defense program that came to Congress when he was in the House during the 1980s, spearheading cuts was a switch, but one that he said at the time had to be done.
Expert differ on what impact the cuts have had on today's military.
Clinton didn't increase defense spending until five years after he took office. This week the Clinton administration said it planned to boost military spending to shore up troop readiness. Former Clinton Defense Secretary William Perry, speaking on behalf of the Gore campaign, said that blaming Clinton for cutting the military leaves out a big piece of the story. I think people might be suffering from a case of amnesia. While they may disagree on which administration's cuts hurt the military most, both Bush and Gore want to spend more on defense.