Presidency of Bill Clinton of the affair. Clinton publicly apologized for having an affair with Lewinsky in September 1998. Though Clinton argued that he had not lied under oath in his answers to the questions asked at the Jones deposition, the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment proceedings against Clinton. The controversy over Lewinsky enveloped Congress and the presidency, derailing the administration's hopes for reforming Medicare and Social Security. Individuals from both parties were outraged by Clinton's affair with an intern, but many Democrats were mollified by Clinton's repeated public apologies and viewed the reaction from the media and Republicans as disproportionate to the gravity
Town Hall with President Clinton to a 21st-century version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats with a similar impact to John F. Kennedy's use of the television broadcast. Clinton, who acted as a proponent of access to the internet and technology for lower income areas, said that the chat utilized, "the most modern technology for . . . old-fashioned communication between the American people and their president." The President recognized the high rate of growth in internet connectivity (1.3 million computers were connected to the internet when he took office as opposed to 56 million connected at the time of the chat) and that the