Bill Clinton

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Lore & Background

Clinton was born as William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. He is the son of William Jefferson Blythe Jr., a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and Virginia Dell Cassidy. Clinton's parents married on September 3, 1943; Blythe's divorce from his third wife was finalized before he married Virginia, so the union was not bigamous. Virginia traveled to New Orleans to study nursing soon after Bill was born, leaving him in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store. At a time when the southern United States was racially segregated, Clinton's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races. In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton Sr., who co-owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950. Although he immediately assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Clinton turned 15 that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward him. Clinton has described his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his family. The physical abuse only ceased after a then-14-year-old Bill challenged his stepfather to "stand and face" him, though the verbal abuse continued. Bill would eventually forgive Roger Sr. for his abusive actions near the latter's death. In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and Hot Springs High School, which was segregated, where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician. Clinton was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. While in high school, Clinton performed for two years in a jazz trio, The 3 Kings, with Randy Goodrum, who became a successful professional pianist. In 1961, Clinton became a member of the Hot Springs Chapter of the Order of DeMolay, a youth group affiliated with Freemasonry, but he never became a Freemason. Clinton has identified two influential moments in his life, both occurring in 1963, that contributed to his decision to become a public figure. One was his visit as a Boys Nation senator to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy. The other was watching Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" spee

In Their Own Story

Clinton presided over the longest American period of peacetime economic expansion at the time. He signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act but failed to pass his plan for national health care reform. He appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court. In foreign policy, Clinton ordered U.S. military intervention in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, eventually signing the Dayton Peace agreement. He also called for the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe and many former Warsaw Pact members joined NATO during his presidency. Clinton won re-election in the 1996 election, defeating Republican nominee Bob Dole and returning Reform Party nominee Ross Perot. In his second term, Clinton made use of permanent normal trade. Many of his second term accomplishments were overshadowed by his highly publicised affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, when it was revealed in early 1998 that the two had been engaging in an eighteen-month-long sexual relationship. This scandal escalated throughout the year, culminating in December when Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson. The two impeachment articles that the House passed were centered around perjury and Clinton using the powers of the presidency to commit obstruction of justice. In January 1999, Clinton's impeachment trial began in the Senate, where he was acquitted two months later on both charges. During the last three years of Clinton's presidency, the Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus—the first and only such surplus since 1969. Clinton left office in 2001 with the joint-highest approval rating of any U.S. president. Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the Clinton Foundation to address international causes such as the prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. In 2009, he was named the United Nations special envoy to Haiti. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Clinton founded the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund with George W. Bush. He has remained active in Democratic Party politics, campaigning for his wife's 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns. Following Jimmy Carter's death in December 2024, he is the earliest-serving living former U.S. president and the last surviving president to have served in the 20th century.

Reader's Guide

Clinton graduated from Georgetown University in 1968, and later from Yale Law School, where he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham. After graduating from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and won election as state attorney general, followed by two non-consecutive tenures as Arkansas governor. As governor, he overhauled the state's education system and served as chairman of the National Governors Association. Running as a "New Democrat", Clinton was elected president in the 1992 election, defeating the incumbent Republican president George H. W. Bush, and the independent businessman Ross Perot. He became the first president to be born in the Baby Boomer generation and the youngest to serve two full terms. Starting in the mid-1990s, after Democrats were soundly defeated in the 1994 midterms, he began an ideological evolution as he became much more conservative in his domestic policy, advocating for and signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act and Republican-led financial deregulation measures, while still championing liberal policy such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Clinton's foreign policy in the Middle East saw him sign the Iraq Liberation Act which gave aid to groups against Saddam Hussein. He also participated in the Oslo I Accord and Camp David Summit to advance the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, and assisted the Northern Ireland peace process. His presidency consistently ranks among the middle to upper tier in historical rankings of U.S. presidents. His personal conduct and misconduct allegations have made him the subject of substantial scrutiny.

Did You Know?

• Clinton was born as William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas.
• He became the first president to be born in the Baby Boomer generation and the youngest to serve two full terms.
• Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 1998, becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson.
• During the last three years of Clinton's presidency, the Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus—the first and only such surplus since 1969.
• Following Jimmy Carter's death in December 2024, Clinton is the earliest-serving living former U.S. president and the last surviving president to have served in the 20th century.