Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton (full name: William Jefferson Clinton) served as the 42nd President of the United States of America from 1993-2001, following George H. W. Bush and preceding George W. Bush.
Early Life
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 AD in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.[1]
Clinton was active in high high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children.(sources needed) Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing him to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house. (sources needed) After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabiliation, he would eventually rejoin the family.
Clinton attended Georgetown University, then Oxford University after winning a Rhodes Scholarship, and finally earned a Juris Doctorate from Yale University in 1973 ADE. At Yale he met Hillary Rodham, whom he would later marry [2].
Early Political Career
After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976 AD. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country as a 32 year-old. Though defeated in 1980 AD, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 AD and held it until becoming President in 1992 AD. During his time as governor, Clinton was known for his bipartisan leadership. (sources needed)Some business transactions he while made were extensively investigated for years (the Whitewater scandal), though apparantly there was not enough evidence found to warrant an indictment. (sources needed)
Presidency
Clinton's presidency is notable as he never won a majority of the popular vote, though he won more votes than any of his opponents. Clinton won in 1992 with 43% of the popular vote versus President George H. W. Bush's 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a popular third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States by some sort of government-backed universal health-care insurance, which many conservatives felt would result in effective government control of the health care system. (sources needed) His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy. (sources needed) The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee members, and Clinton was ultimately unable to pass the program.(sources needed)
In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton by giving a landslide victory to Republicans in Congress, where Republicans won 49.9% of the popular vote (compared to the Democrat's 44%). This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," amd began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.(sources needed) These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government if he did not have his way. (sources needed)When Clinton called his bluff, Gingrich caused the federal government to shut down for several days.(sources needed) Clinton did not cave, however, and eventually had his budget passed [3]. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approaval ratings, which would remain above 60% for most of his presidency[4].
Clinton was reelected in 1996 with 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ( Bob Dole), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, H. Ross Perot, who won 8%. Clinton spent a lot of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. (sources needed) A special prosecutor was named to investigate Clinton for allegations of impropriety in the Whitewater real-estate scandal, an investment of Clinton's in a failed real estate venture. (sources needed) Although nothing came out of this investigation, and it turned out that Clinton actually lost money on his investment, one of the results of the investigation was that the special prosecutor turned to investigating other Clinton activities, one of which (the Monica Lewinsky scandal) resulted in his impeachment.(sources needed) After a brief trial, the Senate acquitted all charges.(sources needed)
Clinton was impeached by the US House of Representatives during his second term for lying in grand jury testimony connected to the Paula Jones lawsuit.(sources needed) However, the US Senate voted not to remove him from office. His term also saw an increase in terrorism directed at the United States. (sources needed) These incidents included the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. (sources needed) Clinton responded by striking back at al Qaeda, the organization responsible for the attacks. (sources needed) He launched cruise missile strikes aimed to kill al Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden [5], and began planning to invade Afghanistan in order to capture bin Laden and overthrow the Taliban government[6].
Clinton also signed into law the Violence Against Women Act, which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. (sources needed) A key provision of this law was later ruled unconstitutional in United States v. Morrison.[1]
Under Clinton's presidency, the economy boomed, creating the largest ever budget surplus. [2]
Clinton devoted much time during his two terms to the peace process in Northern Ireland. (sources needed) He made interventions including 3 trips to Ireland during periods of stagnation in negotiations which coincided in major breakthroughs which ensured the province didn't slide back to the violence of the 70's and 80's. (sources needed)
After the Presidency
Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fundraising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami.
Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, may be seeking the presidency as well. She was elected Sendator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now running for president in 2008.
Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.
Sources:
![[4]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG){kind=link}