Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton was born on the 19th of August 1946 at the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. His father died three months before his birth in an automobile accident. He grew up with his mother and grandparents who ran a small grocery store that sold goods on credit to people of all races during a time when the southern United States was racially segregated. Bill played the tenor saxophone and won first chair in the state band's saxophone section while attending Hot Springs High School. He performed for two years in a jazz trio called The 3 Kings with Randy Goodrum. A mock trial in his Latin class where he argued the defense of Catiline made him realize he would study law one day. He visited the White House as a Boys Nation senator to meet President John F. Kennedy in 1963. That same year he watched Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech on television and memorized it.
Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary in 1978 at just 31 years old. He defeated Republican candidate Lynn Lowe to become the youngest governor in the country at the time. Citizens became angry over the escape of Cuban refugees detained in Fort Chaffee in 1980. Monroe Schwarzlose polled 31 percent of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Frank D. White defeated Clinton in the general election that year. He joined Bruce Lindsey's Little Rock law firm after leaving office in January 1981. Clinton was elected governor a second time in 1982 and kept the office for ten years. Arkansas changed its gubernatorial term from two to four years effective with the 1986 election. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee transformed the state's education system through reforms passed in September 1983. Clinton called a special legislative session which was the longest in Arkansas history to pass these reforms. He oversaw the first four executions carried out by the state since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1976.
Reports surfaced during the New Hampshire campaign that Clinton had engaged in an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers. He fell far behind former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas in the polls following Super Bowl XXVI. Clinton and his wife Hillary went on 60 Minutes to rebuff the charges. News outlets labeled him The Comeback Kid for earning a firm second-place finish. Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas gave Clinton a sizable delegate lead. He scored a resounding victory in New York City shedding his image as a regional candidate. Bush's approval ratings were around 80 percent during the Gulf War but plummeted to just slightly over 40 percent by election time. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep regarding taxes. On the 26th of March 1992 Robert Rafsky confronted then Governor Bill Clinton about AIDS at a Democratic fund raiser. Clinton replied I feel your pain during the televised exchange. This led to AIDS becoming an issue in the 1992 presidential election. Clinton won the 1992 presidential election with 370 electoral votes against George H. W. Bush who received 168 electoral votes.
Clinton made his first address to the nation on the 15th of February 1993 announcing his plan to raise taxes to close a budget deficit. Two days later he unveiled his economic plan which focused on reducing the deficit rather than cutting taxes for the middle class. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 passed Congress without a Republican vote. It raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers and cut taxes for 15 million low-income families. Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law on the 30th of November 1993 mandating federal background checks on people who purchase firearms. He signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law on the 1st of January 1994. A task force headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton developed a health care reform plan announced on the 22nd of September 1993. The effort ultimately died when compromise legislation failed to gain majority support in August 1994. The Congressional Budget Office reported budget surpluses of $69 billion in 1998 and $126 billion in 1999. Over the years of the recorded surplus the gross national debt rose each year.
American troops had first entered Somalia during the Bush administration in response to a humanitarian crisis. In 1993 two U.S. helicopters were shot down during the Battle of Mogadishu resulting in an urban battle that killed 18 American soldiers. Intelligence reports indicate that Clinton was aware a final solution to eliminate all Tutsis was underway in Rwanda before the administration publicly used the word genocide. Clinton chose not to intervene fearing a reprisal of the events in Somalia. In 1995 U.S. and NATO aircraft bombed Bosnian Serb targets to halt attacks on UN safe zones. Clinton deployed U.S. peacekeepers to Bosnia in late 1995 to uphold the subsequent Dayton Agreement. He became the first president to visit Northern Ireland in November 1995 examining both communities of Belfast. His visit played a key role in the peace talks that produced the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 which instituted a policy of regime change against Iraq.
Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on the 19th of December 1998 for perjury to a grand jury. The House voted 228-206 to impeach him for obstruction of justice as well. Impeachment proceedings were based on allegations that Clinton had illegally lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The Senate finished a twenty-one-day trial on the 12th of February 1999 with the vote of 55 not guilty and 45 guilty on the perjury charge. Both votes fell short of the constitutional two-thirds majority requirement to convict and remove an officeholder. On the 19th of January 2001 Clinton's law license was suspended for five years after he acknowledged engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. On October 1 the U.S. Supreme Court suspended Clinton from practicing law in the high court before he resigned from the bar entirely. Clinton issued 141 pardons and 36 commutations on his last day in office on the 20th of January 2001.
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 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. The Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus during the last three years of Clinton's presidency which was the first since 1969. Clinton left office in 2001 with the joint-highest approval rating of any U.S. president.
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Common questions
When was Bill Clinton born and where did he grow up?
William Jefferson Clinton was born on the 19th of August 1946 at the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. He grew up with his mother and grandparents who ran a small grocery store that sold goods on credit to people of all races during a time when the southern United States was racially segregated.
How old was Bill Clinton when he became governor of Arkansas?
Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary in 1978 at just 31 years old. He defeated Republican candidate Lynn Lowe to become the youngest governor in the country at the time.
What major legislation did Bill Clinton sign into law in 1993?
Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law on the 30th of November 1993 mandating federal background checks on people who purchase firearms. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 passed Congress without a Republican vote and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers.
Why did Bill Clinton choose not to intervene in Rwanda in 1994?
Intelligence reports indicate that Clinton was aware a final solution to eliminate all Tutsis was underway in Rwanda before the administration publicly used the word genocide. Clinton chose not to intervene fearing a reprisal of the events in Somalia.
When were impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton concluded by the Senate?
The Senate finished a twenty-one-day trial on the 12th of February 1999 with the vote of 55 not guilty and 45 guilty on the perjury charge. Both votes fell short of the constitutional two-thirds majority requirement to convict and remove an officeholder.