A look at the recent campaign for president of the United States would lead a non-resident to believe that human rights were non-existent in America, liven though the Clinton-Gore administration stated early on that human rights would be one of the three pillars supporting its foreign policy, Gore ignored the topic during his campaign for president. In fact, human rights in the United Stales emerged only in relationship to the death penalty in Texas.1 As governor of Texas. George W. Bush has presided over more executions than any governor in the country ? 140 since January 1995. In 1997, for example. 37 of the 74 persons executed nationally were in Texas. Of those 37, one had the mental age of a seven year old and another was a Mexican national who was denied access 10 consular assistance. Governor Bush declared during the campaign that he was confident that each of the persons executed during his terms ax governor had a fair trial and competent counsel.- Since both Gore and Bush support the death penalty and its application to minors and the mentally retarded. only the fairness of its application and not its abolition was challenged.