(Brief Biography)

Bill Clinton was the first President from the “baby-boomer” generation (a child born after WWII). He was born in the state of Arkansas. He was born three months after his father died in a traffic accident. Later, his mother remarried, but Bill's stepfather had a problem with alcohol, and this problem led to acts of violence against his mother and younger step-brother. The Clinton family struggled financially as well, and moved around a lot. Bill was, for some of his youth, raised by his grandparents.

Despite these challenges, Bill Clinton did remarkably well as a student. He played the saxophone in band, and participated in student government. He was elected representative to 'Boys Nation' from his state of Arkansas, earning an opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. to meet President John F. Kennedy.  

After high school, he attended and graduated from Georgetown University, and for two of those years, studied at prestigious Oxford, in England. In 1972, attended Yale where he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

During his college years, American Soldiers were still fighting in the Vietnam War. Clinton opposed the war and made efforts to avoid being drafted to serve in Vietnam. When he finally submitted his name to the draft board, the U.S. Army was using a lottery system to select soldiers, and Clinton's number was so high that he would not have to serve.

After graduating from Yale Law School, at a very young age, Clinton tried his hand at running for political office in Arkansas.
He ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and lost, but next ran for state Attorney General, and won. At the age of 32, he was elected Governor of the state of Arkansas. That made him the youngest Governor of any state in the country. Clinton did not win every election he entered. But he became a political rarity: typically, when candidates lose an election, they drop out of politics. Clinton 'bucked that trend'. He lost a re-election effort, but then won the next election, and served as Governor of Arkansas for many years, before losing again.


In his role as Governor of Arkansas, he was seen as a 'centrist', meaning he had both liberal and conservative views. Progressively, he appointed many African-Americans to high level positions in state government, and favored education and welfare programs intended to lift the working poor out of poverty. But Clinton's conservative leanings led to his endorsing competency tests for teachers, and also supported the use of the death penalty for prisoners convicted of murder. Bill Clinton included his wife Hillary in his state government leadership team (more about Hillary Clinton later in this article).

Clinton used a tactic of running the government like a political campaign. Instead of making decisions with his governmental leaders based on what they thought was needed, he would consult public opinion polls to determine the mood of the electorate (the people who vote), and then push for budgets and laws that were popular with voters. This strategy is sometimes called, "Testing the waters" (like when people put their toes in the ocean or pool to test the water temperature before they fully go in). He continued to govern this way even when he became President.


In 1992, Clinton ran for President against Incumbent George Bush Sr., who was struggling with a poor economy, and having relented (giving in) on a pledge he had made not to raise taxes. Bush Sr. had said, in a televised speech, "Read my lips...no new taxes!" Clinton used this soundbite against Bush Sr. to win. Clinton also benefitted in 1992, and 1996, from having a third party candidate, Ross Perot, participate in the election. Perot campaigned on the promise to reduce the National Debt, something among 20th Century Presidents, that only Clinton himself was able to do. Perot, historians would say, took more votes away from Bush Sr. than Clinton. While campaigning for President, Clinton played his saxophone on late night television talk shows and appeared on MTV (Music Television Channel) to try and appeal to younger voters. During an appearance, one MTV adolescent audience member even asked candidate Clinton if he preferred 'boxers or briefs?' and Clinton, not offended, answered the question.

He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. While President, the U.S. enjoyed general peace and economic well-being. Clinton governed over one of the lowest unemployment rates in recent decades, and the lowest inflation rate in 30 years. Crime rates fell in many places, and reduced welfare rolls were also positive trends while he was President.


Clinton, as a Democrat, had to make many compromises with Congress, which, for much of his eight years as President, was controlled by Republicans. The majority party in Congress always has the ability to veto Presidential proposals they do not like. Clinton had to make many concessions to the Republican Leadership in order to get Democrats' legislation passed. Because of these compromises, the healthy economy, and the fact that the U.S. was not at war at the time, he was able to propose the first balanced federal budget in decades. Clinton, together with Congress, even achieved a budget surplus (extra money, beyond what is collected in taxes) in several of his eight years as President.


Home ownership in the country grew while Clinton was President (though many home buyers later foreclosed on the loans they couldn’t pay back, and lost their homes just a few years later). Clinton traveled through South America, Europe, Russia, Africa, and China, advocating U.S. style freedom. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 'First Lady', working as part of Clinton's White House Leadership Team, traveled the country during her husband’s Presidency, holding hearings about instituting affordable health care for people without health insurance. While she encountered great resistance from Republicans and some of the media on this tour, she brought the issue in front of the American People, who later supported affordable health care enough for it to be signed into law when Barack Obama served as President.


Bill Clinton, throughout his life, had a remarkable ability to recall people’s names, which made him a very effective campaigner and negotiator. To his detriment (things that hurt his prospects), he had extramarital affairs with many other women, which terribly distracted from his ability to govern. He was mired in (bothered by) investigations pressed by his political opponents (Republicans), about whether he had had these affairs, and whether he answered questions about them truthfully. This was a terribly troublesome problem for him, especially during his second term in office.

Because he had lied to Congress about the affairs, Bill Clinton was only the second President, after Andrew Johnson, to be Impeached. He, like Johnson, however, was allowed to stay in office. But, because of his status as an impeached President, he had very little power in the last months of his Presidency.


His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served as Barack Obama's Secretary of State, later ran for President herself, but lost to Donald Trump. Her 2016 Campaign brought her the closest any female candidate has come to becoming President. During the campaign, her husband, former President Bill Clinton was largely absent from her campaign, due to the bad publicity associated with his extramarital affairs.

Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-presidents-neighborhood-faq
https://www.biography.com/us-president
https://achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents

-Complied by Henry Anker