Bill Clinton was only 46 when he was elected the 42nd president of the U.S. Fourteen years earlier, he had been the nationÆs youngest governor when his fellow Arkansans elected him in 1978. Though bright (a Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law graduate) and ambitious, Clinton has also been vulnerable to attacks on his character. Conflicting accounts of how he avoided military service during Vietnam, allegations of marital infidelity, and, following his 1992 election, suggestions of impropriety stemming from the Whitewater and so-called Travelgate affairs have plagued his campaign and his presidency. Charitably put, ClintonÆs first two years saw mixed results.
He drew fire early on for pushing for gays in the military. He fumbled on judicial appointments. Republicans opposed his commiting U.S. troops in Haiti. Most spectacular was the highly visible failure of the Clinton health care reform effort, led by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The president triumphed with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but it came only over loud protest from within his party, and with near-unanimous support of congressional Republicans.
Many blamed the DemocratsÆ rout in the 1994 congressional elections at least in part to the presidentÆs perceived weakness. Faced with House Speaker Newt GingrichÆs Republican revolution, however, the öComeback Kidö proved remarkably adept on defense , successfully portraying the GOP agenda as extreme and out of step with ordinary Americans, especially on the politically explosive issue of reforming Medicare. Clinton diluted GOP fire by promising action on such traditionally Republican issues as affirmative action, crime, welfare and a seven-year timetable to balance the federal budget. His controversial deployment of U.S. troops in Bosnia has so far kept peace in that region.
In the protracted budget stalemate of 1995, Clinton won the rhetorical fight, blaming the Republicans for two federal shutdowns. By the spring of 1996, Clinton was on offense castigating Republicans for resisting a hike in the minumum wage. His approval ratings rebounded to the highest of his presidency while continued moderate economic growth and a halved deficit allowed him to claim the healthiest economy in years. While Clinton has incurred the ire of his own partyÆs liberal wing for his willingness to sign GOP welfare reform legislation, Democrats, perhaps spooked by the prospect of Republicans in control of both legislative and executives branches, have rallied around their leader. Despite all the nipping around his heels, and a successful GOP convention, Clinton has held onto a sizable lead in most public opinion surveys, and appears poised to mount a vigorous campaign this fall.
PARTY: Democrat BIRTH DATE: August 19, 1946 AGE ON
FAMILY: Married to Hillary Rodham Clinton; one daughter, Chelsea RELIGION: Baptist
CURRENT JOB: President of the United States PREVIOUS JOBS: Governor of Arkansas (79-81 and 82-93); Arkansas Attorney General (1977-79); attorney for Write, Lindsey and Jennings (1981-1982);
Law Professor, University of Arkansas (1973-76) AFFILIATIONS: Task Force on Adolescent Education; Carnegie Foundation; American Bar Association; Arkansas Bar Association
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: Moderate PET ISSUE: Americorps BIGGEST PLUS: Canny political skills
BIGGEST MINUS: Questions about his character ODDS OF WINNING ELECTION: 3 to 2 CAMPAIGN OFFICE: Clinton/Gore 1996; P.O. Box 19300; Washington, D.C. 20500; (202) 456-1414 Bill Clinton
Early Life
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV on August 19, 1946, a few months after his father (William Jefferson Blythe III) was killed in a traffic accident. His mother, Virginia, decided to return to school in Louisiana to get a degree in anesthesiology. She left Bill in the care of her parents in Hope and went to school in New Orleans. (ArkansasÆ education system was very poor.)
ClintonÆs grandfather, Eldridge Cassidy, was a saw mill watchman who sometimes took his little grandson on his rounds. His grandmother, Edith, insisted education was the route out of poverty and taught Bill his letters and numbers. ClintonÆs grandparents also ran a small grocery store which served a
largely black neighborhood. They let Bill help out in the store. Virginia returned to Arkansas when Bill was four years old. She married a car salesman named Roger Clinton. The three moved to Hot Springs, where Roger ran the parts department at his brotherÆs car dealership. The couple had a child, ClintonÆs half brother Roger. BillÆs new step-father was an alcoholic, and could be abusive when heÆd been drinking. Clinton remembers once, when he was four or five, his step-father was screaming at his mother and fired a gun inside their house. He remembers looking at the bullet hole in the wall every day. As he got older, Bill became very protective of his mother. When ut on dates as a teenager, Bill would call home to make sure his mother was okay. He says öI was 40 years old by the time I was 16. I think my desire to accommodate is probably due in part to the sense that I had from my childhood, that I was the person to hold things together in my home, to keep the peace.ö
During one argument when Bill was 14, Bill broke down the door to his parentsÆ room and told his stepfather öthat I was bigger than him now, and there would never be any more of this while I was there.ö Roger and Virginia divorced when Bill was 15, but the couple quickly reconciled and remarried. Clinton says öI was not eager for them to get back together,ö but his mother insisted it was the right thing to do. After the reconciliation, and partly to show support for his parentsÆ decision, Bill finally had his last name legally changed to Clinton. Roger Clinton died in 1968, when Bill was 21. ClintonÆs mother eventually remarried. Virginia Kelley died January 6, 1994.
Bill Clinton
Family
Bill Clinton married Hillary Rodham in 1975. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law. They have one daughter, Chelsea, born February 27, 1980. Hillary was born October 26, 1947. She grew up in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago. Her father owned a Textile company. Of HillaryÆs childhood, TIME wrote in 1992, öShe earned every Girl Scout badge, pulled a wagon full of sports equipment to her job at the park every summer, was elected president of her high school class and earned so many honors that her parents recall æbeing slightly uncomfortable at her graduation.Æ She organized circuses and amateur sports tournaments to raise money for migrant workers.ö Bill Clinton met Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School, when they were both in a class on political and civil liberties. Clinton says he thought she was öthe greatest thing on two legs.ö Hillary says she was attracted to Bill because öhe wasnÆt afraid of me.ö Hillary tells Vanity Fair magazine (May, 1992) that Clinton followed her around for a couple of weeks, but never spoke. One night, when she saw him staring at her from across the Yale Law School library, she walked up to him and said öLook, if youÆre going to keep staring at me, then IÆm going to keep looking back and I think we ought to know each otherÆs names. IÆm Hillary Rodham.ö Clinton says he was ödumbstruckö and couldnÆt remember his own name.
In 1972, Bill and Hillary went to Texas to work for George McGovernÆs presidential campaign. Once, when Bill and Hillary were partners in a mock trial, Attorney John Doar was one of the judges. He was impressed with both. In 1974, six months after they graduated, Doar contacted Bill and asked if he would like to join the staff he was putting together for the House Judiciary Committee to prepare the impeachmentcase against Richard Nixon. Clinton declined because he was getting ready to runfor Congress, and suggested Hillary. Doar had planned on talking to her anyhow, and she took the job. Hillary spent six months working on the impeachment case. Bill and Hillary also taught at the University of Arkansas Law School. HillaryÆs work in setting up the UniversityÆs Legal Aid Clinic came to the attention of the Rose Law Firm, one of the most prestigious law firms in Arkansas. The firm recruited Hillary. She was a partner with the Rose Law Firm until the Clintons moved into the White House.
Bill Clinton
Tidbits:
In high school, Bill Clinton was a drum major in band, as well as a class officer. He also plays the saxophone and played in a jazz combo. ClintonÆs uncle, Roy Clinton, served in the Arkansas Legislature from 1951 to 1954, two terms. At age 16, Bill Clinton was ArkansasÆ representative to the American LegionÆs öBoyÆs Nationö in Washington. There is a picture, taken in the summer of 1963, of President John Kennedy shaking ClintonÆs hand when the delegates visited the White House. At Wellesley, Hillary Rodham was part of a multiple-winning team on the TV program öCollege Bowl.ö In her 1969 commencement speech at Wellesley, Hillary Clinton said: öWe feel that our prevailing acquisitive and competitive corporate life...is not for us.ö In 1972, Bill and Hillary went to Texas to work for George McGovernÆs presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton worked on the legal staff of House Judiciary Committee during its impeachment proceedings against President
Nixon in 1974. (The job also had been offered to Bill, but he declined because he was running for Congress). Clinton made $35,000 a year as Governor of Arkansas, the lowest salary of any U.S. Governor. The Clintons reported a gross income of $268,646 on their 1990 federalincome tax return, up from $197,651 in 1989. Most of the income came from HillaryÆs law practice. ($105,771 in 1990, $92,444 in 1989.) Clinton is the second person in Arkansas history to serve five terms as Governor. (The other was Democratic Gov. Orval E. Faubus.) In 1976, Clinton directed Jimmy CarterÆs successful presidential campaign in Arkansas. Clinton was 32 years old when he became governor in 1978. He was the youngest governor in the nation since Harold E. Stassen was elected governor of Minnesota in 1938 at the age of 31.
From 1986-87, Clinton served one term as Chairman of the National GovernorsÆ Association. Clinton came to national attention when he delivered an abysmal 32-minute long nominating speech for Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic Convention. The delegates cheered when Clinton said, öIn closing...ö Clinton later joked öIt wasnÆt my finest hour. It wasnÆt even my finest hour-and-a-half.ö Clinton also appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson after the 1988 Dukakis speech and joked about his performance. Clinton plays saxophone, and has given öconcertsö at fund-raisers. He also played sax (wearing a pair of sunglasses) on Arsenio HallÆs syndicated talk show in June of 1992. Clinton became chairman of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1989. He resigned in 1991 as he prepared to enter the race for president. ClintonÆs nickname is öSlick Willy.ö Sheffield Nelson, who lost the 1990 governorÆs race to Clinton, explains it this way: öHeÆll be what the people want him to be. HeÆll do or say what it will take to get elected.ö
Clinton hailed the U.S. victory in the Gulf War but was accused of öwafflingö on the issue, never having taken a clear stance. When Congress voted to authorize the use of force in January, 1991, Clinton said he supported the resolution but was sympathetic to the arguments of those on the other side. The January 15, 1991 edition of the Arkansas Gazette quoted Clinton as saying he agreed with the majority of Democrats in Congress who voted against the use of force for longer reliance on sanctions.
Bill Clinton
Political Career
1974 U.S CONGRESS
REP. JOHN PAUL HAMMERSCHMIDT 52%
BILL CLINTON 48%
Clinton attempted to launch his political career when he was 28 years old by challenging an entrenched Republican incumbent Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt in 1974. Hammerschmidt was first elected to Congress in 1966 to serve ArkansasÆ Third district, which is in the northwestern part of the state, and a Republican stronghold. Hammerschmidt had received 77 percent of the vote in the 1972 election. Clinton came close, losing by only 5000 votes out of 170,000 votes cast. Helping to defeat Clinton were Republican claims that he was an anti-war protester while in college. Although Clinton was narrowly defeated, the race drew statewide attention.
1976 DEM. PRIMARY FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
CLINTON 56% GEORGE JERNIGAN 25%
CLARENCE CASH 19%
CLINTON UNOPPOSED IN 1976 GENERAL ELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
Since Clinton was unopposed in the general election, he directed Jimmy CarterÆs presidential campaign in Arkansas. As Attorney General, Clinton fought against pollution and worked to hold down electricity and telephone rates. He also repealed bans on advertising for liquor and eyeglasses. He opposed a campaign to end the state sales tax on food and medicine.
1978 - GOVERNOR
CLINTON 63% A. LYNN LOWE 37%
Clinton was 32 when he became governor, and was perceived as something of a political öwonder boy.ö Clinton recruited some of his college and law school friends to help his administration but they were viewed as öoutsidersö who thought of Arkansas as a state of öcountry bumpkins.ö Nor were people comfortable with HillaryÆs feminist agenda or her disregard of social protocol. Clinton had promised to improve ArkansasÆ roads if he was elected. He raised taxes in order to fulfill his promise.
1980 - GOVERNOR
FRANK WHITE 52% CLINTON 48%
Arkansas voters rejected Clinton after one term, in part, from their perception that Clinton and his wife Hillary werearrogant. (Hillary used her maiden name throughout term). In addition, voters were angry that Clinton had raised auto license fees to pay for highway improvements. Frank White, a savings and loan president from Little Rock, focused ClintonÆs increases in the gasoline tax and auto registration fees. He also said the Clinton administration was characterized by overspending and inefficiency. In the yearof the Reagan landslide, Clinton also caught part of the backlash generated when theCarter administration housed Cuban refugees at an Arkansas military base (FortChaffee) and the Cubans rioted. Clinton was devastated by the loss, and spent the next two years trying to get back in touch with Arkansas voters, and readjusting his message to appear more centrist.
1982 - GOVERNOR
CLINTON 55% FRANK WHITE 45%
Clinton asked voters for another chance, promising he had ölearned from defeat that you canÆt lead without listening.ö He was forced into a runoff in the Democratic primary, finallydefeating former Lt. Governor Joe Purcell. During their 1982 rematch, Clinton portrayed Gov. White as untrustworthy and dominated by special interests. He also attacked White for not fulfilling a 1980 campaign promise to bring new industries to the state. He blamed utility rate increases on WhiteÆs appointees to the state utilities commission. White also was vulnerable because of a controversial law heÆd approved calling for the teaching of öcreation scienceö (the biblical version of creation) along with the theory of evolution in ArkansasÆ schools. (The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law in 1982). White ran TV ads using a leopard, reminding voters that Clinton couldnÆt change his spots. White also attacked Clinton for commuting death sentences during his term as governor. Clinton responded by promising to be more restrained about issuingcommutations if reelected.
Clinton and Hillary worked very hard to do all the right things at the start of the 1983 term. Hillary adopted her husbandÆs last name and made a point of appearing at the proper social occasions. One major change in Bill ClintonÆs style was to focus on issieu one at a time, forming committees to study problems, then convincing the legislature to approve specific recommendations. In 1983, ClintonÆs main issue was education. He appointed
Hillary to chair the state committee on educational standards. After holding hearings around the state, the committee came up with a number of suggestions including teacher examinations, which was bitterly opposed by the teachersÆ union. Some of the teachersÆ anger was directed at Hillary (an article in May 1992Æs Vanity Fair quotes one librarian who described Hillary as ölower than a snakeÆs bellyö). In a special session of the legislature in the fall of 1983, Clinton pushed through a comprehensive education improvement program which included the teacher examination requirement. During ClintonÆs second term, (1984) State Police arrested ClintonÆs half-brother Roger for selling cocaine. Police had come to the governor with their information, and
Clinton had given the okay for the investigation to proceed. Roger Clinton served more than a year in prison, and later underwent therapy for alcohol addiction.
1984 - GOVERNOR
CLINTON 63% ELWOOD öWOODYö FREEMAN 37%
During the 1984 campaign against contractor öWoodyö Freeman, Clinton pointed to his decisiveness in pushing through education reform. He also used the anger of the teachersÆ union as a political asset. After easily winning reelection, Clinton announced his new focus would be on economic development. He recommended new programs, but the state went into an economic slump and the legislature lost interest in ClintonÆs proposals.
1986 - GOVERNOR
CLINTON 64% FRANK WHITE 36%
Clinton was challenged by 76 year-old former Gov. Orval Faubus in the Democraticy primary, which Clinton won 66 percent to 33 percent. The 1986 general election ended up as another race between Clinton and former Gov. Frank White, who had beaten him in 1980. This time, Clinton won easily. Beginning in 1987, the Arkansas GovernorÆs term in office increased from two years to four years. Clinton served a one-year term as chairman of the National Governors Association in 1986-1987. He used his travels to explore the possibility of running for president in 1988. By July of 1987 he was prepared to announce he would enter the Democratic race. But the morning the announcement had been scheduled, July 14, Clinton told his friends he had changed his mind. They say Clinton and Hillary were concerned about the effect of the scrutiny of a campaign on their seven year olddaughter Chelsea. Clinton told the New York Times (Aug. 16, 1987) öMentally I was 100 percent committed to the race, but emotionally I wasnÆt.ö He said his decision wasnot affected by fear of scrutiny of his private life in the wake of the Gary Hart/Donna Rice scandal. In a June 24, 1988 Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Clinton complained öAmerica is falling apart, literally.ö He outlined a program that would include öaccelerated spending of the federal highway, transit, aviation and waterways trust funds.ö
1990 - GOVERNOR
CLINTON 57% SHEFFIELD NELSON 42%
Clinton began the 1990 campaign by acknowledging öthe fire of an election no longer burns in me.ö While campaigning, he promised to serve the full term, meaning he (öabsolutely, positivelyö) would not run for president in 1992. Clinton survived a primary challenge from Tom McRae, an executive of a charitable organization, defeated a former utilities executive, Sheffield Nelson, in the general election. During the 1991 legislative session, Clinton again focused on education, pushingthrough a variety of tax increases to raise money for school programs as well as for anincrease in teacher salaries. The teacher pay raise finally improved his standing with the teachersÆ union. As late as March, 1991, Clinton was telling reporters he did not intend to run for president. Things changed quickly. By May, Clinton was dropping hints he no longer felt bound by his pledge to serve his full term. In a speech at the May meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council, he said, öOur burden is to give the people a new choice...We are not here to save the Democratic Party. We are here to save the United States of America.ö On August 15th, he resigned as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. Hepromised an announcement on a possible presidential race by Labor Day, but the finaldecision didnÆt come until early October.
