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{{short description|42nd president of the United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}  
{{Redirect|William Clinton}}
 
{{Good article}}
 
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Bill Clinton.jpg
|honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable|The Honorable]]
| caption             = Official portrait, 1993
|name          = Bill Clinton
| alt                = Bill Clinton's official portrait, 1993
|image         = Bill Clinton.jpg
| order              = 42nd
|caption       = Official portrait, 1993
| office             = President of the United States
|order        = [[List of Presidents of the United States|42nd]]
| vicepresident       = [[Al Gore]]
|office       = President of the United States
| term_start         = January 20, 1993
|vicepresident = [[Al Gore]]
| term_end           = January 20, 2001
|term_start   = January 20, 1993
| predecessor         = [[George H. W. Bush]]
|term_end     = January 20, 2001
| successor           = [[George W. Bush]]
|predecessor   = [[George H. W. Bush]]
| order2              = 40th and 42nd [[List of governors of Arkansas|Governor of Arkansas]]
|successor     = [[George W. Bush]]
| lieutenant2        = {{ublist|[[Winston Bryant]]|Jim Guy Tucker}}
|order1        = 40th and 42nd [[Governor of Arkansas]]
| term_start2        = January 11, 1983
|lieutenant1  = [[Winston Bryant]]<br>[[Jim Guy Tucker]]
| term_end2          = December 12, 1992
|term_start1  = January 11, 1983
| predecessor2        = Frank D. White
|term_end1    = December 12, 1992
| successor2          = Jim Guy Tucker
|predecessor1  = [[Frank D. White]]
| lieutenant3        = Joe Purcell
|successor1    = [[Jim Guy Tucker]]
| term_start3        = January 9, 1979
|lieutenant2  = [[Joe Purcell]]
| term_end3          = January 19, 1981
|term_start2  = January 9, 1979
| predecessor3        = Joe Purcell (acting)
|term_end2    = January 19, 1981
| successor3          = [[Frank D. White]]
|predecessor2  = Joe Purcell <small>(Acting)</small>
| birth_name          = William Jefferson Blythe III
|successor2    = [[Frank D. White]]
| office4            = 50th [[Attorney General of Arkansas]]
|order3        = 50th Attorney General of Arkansas
| governor4          = {{ublist|[[David Pryor]]|[[Joe Purcell]] (acting)}}
|governor3    = [[David Pryor]]<br>[[Joe Purcell]] <small>(acting)</small>
| term_start4        = January 3, 1977
|term_start3  = January 3, 1977
| term_end4          = January 9, 1979
|term_end3    = January 9, 1979
| predecessor4        = [[Jim Guy Tucker]]
|predecessor3  = [[Jim Guy Tucker]]
| successor4          = [[Steve Clark (Arkansas politician)|Steve Clark]]
|successor3    = Steve Clark
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1946|8|19}}
|birth_name    = William Jefferson Blythe III
| birth_place         = [[Hope, Arkansas|Hope]], [[Arkansas]], U.S.
|birth_date   = {{birth date and age|1946|8|19}}
| death_date          =
|birth_place   = [[Hope, Arkansas|Hope]], [[Arkansas]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_place         =
|party         = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]
| party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse       = [[Hillary Rodham Clinton|Hillary Rodham]] <small>(1975-present)</small>
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Hillary Rodham]]|October 11, 1975}}
|children     = 1; [[Chelsea Clinton|Chelsea]]
| children           = [[Chelsea Clinton]]
|residence    = [[Chappaqua, New York]]
| parents            = {{ublist|[[William Jefferson Blythe Jr.]]|[[Virginia Clinton Kelley|Virginia Cassidy]]}}
|alma_mater    = Georgetown University (B.S.)<br>[[University College, Oxford]]<br>Yale University (J.D.)
| education          = [[Georgetown University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br>[[University College, Oxford]] (attended)<br>[[Yale University]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
|signature    = Signature of Bill Clinton.svg
| relatives          = [[Clinton family]]
|signature_alt = Cursive signature of Bill Clinton in ink
| residence          = {{plainlist|
|website       = [http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ Clinton Presidential Library]
* [[Chappaqua, New York]], U.S.
* [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|lawyer|professor|author}}
| signature           = Signature of Bill Clinton.svg
| signature_alt       = William J Clinton signature.svg
| awards              = [[List of honors and awards received by Bill Clinton|List of honors and awards]]
}}
{{Bill Clinton series}}
 
'''William Jefferson Clinton''' ([[Birth name|né]] '''Blythe III'''; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 42nd [[president of the United States]] from 1993 to 2001. Prior to [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|his presidency]], he served as [[governor of Arkansas]] from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992 and as [[attorney general of Arkansas]] from 1977 to 1979. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], Clinton was known as a [[New Democrat]], and many of his policies reflected a [[centrist]] "[[Third Way]]" political philosophy. He is the husband of [[Hillary Clinton]], who was the [[United States Secretary of State|secretary of state]] from 2009 to 2013 and ran for president in 2008 and 2016.
 
Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas and attended [[Georgetown University]], [[University College, Oxford]], and [[Yale Law School]]. He met Hillary Rodham at Yale and they were married in 1975. After graduating from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and won election as state attorney general, followed by two non-consecutive terms as Arkansas governor. As governor, he overhauled the state's education system and served as chairman of the [[National Governors Association]]. Clinton was elected president in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]], defeating incumbent Republican President [[George H. W. Bush]]. At age 46, he became the [[List of Presidents of the United States by age|third-youngest president]] in history.
 
Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. He signed into law the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) and the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act]], but failed to pass his plan for [[Clinton health care plan of 1993|national health care reform]]. In the [[1994 United States elections|1994 elections]], the Republican Party [[Republican Revolution|won unified control]] of Congress for the first time in 40 years. In [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]], however, he was reelected in a landslide.  He passed [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act|welfare reform]] and the [[State Children's Health Insurance Program]], as well as financial deregulation measures. He also appointed [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] and [[Stephen Breyer]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]]. During the last three years of Clinton's presidency, the [[Congressional Budget Office]] reported a budget surplus—the first such surplus since 1969. In foreign policy, Clinton ordered U.S. military intervention in the [[Bosnian War|Bosnian]] and [[Kosovo War|Kosovo]] wars, signed the [[Dayton Agreement|Dayton Peace agreement]], signed the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] in opposition to [[Saddam Hussein]], participated in the [[Oslo I Accord]] and [[2000 Camp David Summit|Camp David Summit]] to advance the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]], and assisted the [[Northern Ireland peace process]]. In 1998, [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|Clinton was impeached]] by the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], becoming the second U.S. president to be impeached. The impeachment was based on accusations that Clinton committed [[perjury]] and [[obstruction of justice]] for the purpose of concealing his [[Clinton–Lewinsky scandal|affair]] with [[Monica Lewinsky]], a 22-year-old [[White House intern]]. He was acquitted by the Senate and completed his second term in office.
 
Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office [[approval rating]] of any U.S. president since 1945. His presidency has been ranked among the upper tier in [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|historical rankings of U.S. presidents]]. However, he has also been subject to substantial criticism for his [[Bill Clinton sexual assault and misconduct allegations|sex scandals]], especially in the wake of the [[Me Too movement]]. Since leaving office, he 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 of the Secretary-General|Special Envoy]] to [[Haiti]], and after the [[2010 Haiti earthquake]], he teamed up with [[George W. Bush]] to form the [[Clinton Bush Haiti Fund]]. He has remained active in Democratic Party politics, campaigning in his wife's presidential campaigns in the [[2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries|2008]] and [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] presidential elections.
 
==Early life and career==
{{stack|float=left|[[File:President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site May 2018 3 (Bill Clinton Birthplace).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Clinton's [[President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site|birthplace]] home in [[Hope, Arkansas]]]]}}
[[File:Bill Clinton in 1963 Old Gold Book.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Clinton in [[Hot Springs High School (Arkansas)|Hot Springs High School]]'s 1963 yearbook]]
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in [[Hope, Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.eircom.net/%257Eseanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm |title=Directory of Irish Genealogy: American Presidents with Irish Ancestors |publisher=Homepage.eircom.net |date=March 23, 2004 |access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref name="My Life" /> He is the son of [[William Jefferson Blythe Jr.]], a traveling salesman who had died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and [[Virginia Clinton Kelley|Virginia Dell Cassidy]] (later Virginia Kelley).<ref name="whitehouse.gov bio">{{cite web |title=Biography of William J. Clinton |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/about/presidents/williamjclinton |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref> His parents had married on September 4, 1943, but this union later proved to be bigamous, as Blythe was still married to his third wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/21/us/clinton-reported-to-have-a-brother-he-never-met.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 21, 1993|first=Edmund L.|last=Andrews |author-link=Edmund L. Andrews |title=Clinton Reported to Have A Brother He Never Met}}</ref> 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.<ref name="My Life" /> At a time when the southern United States was [[Racial segregation in the United States|racially segregated]], Clinton's grandparents sold goods on [[credit (finance)|credit]] to people of all races.<ref name="My Life" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Chafe |first=William H. |author-link=William Chafe |date=2012 |title=Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtSjqGxPkM0C&pg=PA11 |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |page=11 |isbn=978-0-8090-9465-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Landres |editor1-first=J. Shawn |editor-link=Shawn Landres |date=1992 |title=Bill Clinton: The Inside Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63OGMhI5ISgC&pg=PA5 |location=New York |publisher=S.P.I. Books |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-1-5617-1177-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Takiff |first=Michael |date=2010 |title=A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those who Know Him |url=https://archive.org/details/complicatedmanl00taki |url-access=registration |location=New Haven, Conn. |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/complicatedmanl00taki/page/4 4] |isbn=978-0-3001-2130-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |editor1-last=Flanagan |editor1-first=Sylvia P. |date=September 8, 1997 |title=First Black Food Stamp Chief has Ties to President Clinton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3j8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 |magazine=Jet |location=Chicago |publisher=John N. Johnson |page=10}}</ref> In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married [[Roger Clinton Sr.]], who co-owned an [[Car dealership|automobile dealership]] in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], with his brother and [[Earl T. Ricks]].<ref name="My Life">{{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Bill|title=My Life|publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2004|isbn=1-4000-3003-X}}</ref> The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ken|last=Gormley|author-link=Ken Gormley (academic)|title=The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr|publisher=[[Crown Publishers]]|location=New York|year=2010|isbn=978-0-307-40944-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/16 16–17]|url=https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/16}}</ref>
 
Although he immediately assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Clinton turned 15<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-President-Bill-Clinton/3|title=Oprah Talks to Bill Clinton|work=[[O, The Oprah Magazine]] |date=August 2004 |access-date=December 18, 2011}}</ref> that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward him.<ref name="My Life" /> Clinton has described his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother, [[Roger Clinton Jr.]] He threatened his stepfather with violence multiple times to protect them.<ref name="My Life" /><ref name="First in His Class">{{Cite book|last=Maraniss|first=David |author-link=David Maraniss |title=First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton|publisher=Touchstone|year=1996|isbn=0-684-81890-6|url=https://archive.org/details/firstinhisclass00davi}}</ref>
 
In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and [[Hot Springs High School (Arkansas)|Hot Springs High School]], where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician.<ref name="My Life" /> Clinton was in the chorus and played the [[tenor saxophone]], winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography ''[[My Life (Clinton autobiography)|My Life]]'':{{block indent|Sometime in my sixteenth year, I decided I wanted to be in public life as an elected official. I loved music and thought I could be very good, but I knew I would never be [[John Coltrane]] or [[Stan Getz]]. I was interested in medicine and thought I could be a fine doctor, but I knew I would never be [[Michael DeBakey]]. But I knew I could be great in public service.<ref name="My Life" />}}
 
Clinton began an interest in law at Hot Springs High, when he took up the challenge to argue the defense of the ancient [[Roman Senator|Roman senator]] [[Catiline]] in a mock trial in his Latin class.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/bill-clinton-facts_n_3497083.html | title=10 Things You Definitely Didn't Know About Bill Clinton | work=[[HuffPost|The Huffington Post]] | date=June 25, 2013 | first=Jimmy | last=Soni |author-link=Jimmy Soni}}</ref> After a vigorous defense that made use of his "budding rhetorical and political skills", he told the Latin teacher Elizabeth Buck it "made him realize that someday he would study law".<ref>{{cite book | title=First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton | first=David | last=Maraniss |author-link=David Maraniss | year=1996 | publisher=Touchstone | page=43}}</ref>
 
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]].<ref name="My Life" /><ref name="First in His Class" /> The other was watching [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s 1963 "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech on TV, which impressed him so much that he later memorized it.<ref>{{cite web | title=It All Began in a Place Called Hope (Archived whitehouse.gov Article) | publisher=[[The White House]] | url=http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/Hope.html | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719152125/http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/Hope.html | archive-date=July 19, 2011 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
 
==College and law school years==
 
===Georgetown University===
 
[[File:Clinton at Georgetown 1967.jpg|thumb|upright|Clinton ran for president of the [[Georgetown University Student Association|Student Council]] while attending the School of Foreign Service at [[Georgetown University]].]]
 
With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the [[School of Foreign Service]] at [[Georgetown University]] in Washington, D.C., receiving a [[List of tagged degrees|Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service]] degree in 1968. Georgetown was the only school where Clinton applied.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kiefer |first1=Francine |title=Clinton: The Early Years |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0529/052998.us.us.3.html |access-date=April 9, 2021 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=May 29, 1998}}</ref>
 
In 1964 and 1965, Clinton won elections for [[class president]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert E. Levin|title=Bill Clinton: The Inside Story|url=https://archive.org/details/billclinton00robe|url-access=registration|year=1992|publisher=SP Books|isbn=978-1-56171-177-2|pages=xxiv–xxv}}</ref> From 1964 to 1967, he was an intern and then a clerk in the office of Arkansas Senator [[J. William Fulbright]].<ref name="My Life" /> While in college, he became a brother of service fraternity [[Alpha Phi Omega]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.apo.org/leadershipdevelopment | title=About Leadership | publisher=APO.org | access-date=April 7, 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101064634/http://apo.org/Leadershipdevelopment | archive-date=January 1, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> and was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]]. Clinton was also a member of the [[DeMolay International|Order of DeMolay]],<ref>[https://demolay.org/project/william-j-clinton/ DeMolay – Hall Of Fame » William Clinton], quote: "Clinton was initiated into Hot Springs Chapter in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1961, where he served as Master Councilor. He received the Chevalier in 1964, and the Legion of Honor in 1979. Clinton was inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame on May 1, 1988."<!--older: {{cite web|url=http://www.demolay.org/aboutdemolay/halloffame_bio.php?hofid=18 |title=Bill Clinton Inducted May 1, 1988 |publisher=DeMolay |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208010814/http://www.demolay.org/aboutdemolay/halloffame_bio.php?hofid=18 |archive-date=December 8, 2010 }}-->{{unreliable source?|date=April 2019}}</ref> a youth group affiliated with [[Freemasonry]], but he never became a Freemason. He is a member of [[Kappa Kappa Psi]] honorary band fraternity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kkpsi.org/prominentmembers.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110716182330/http://www.kkpsi.org/prominentmembers.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |title=Prominent Members |publisher=Kappa Kappa Psi |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref>
 
===Oxford===
 
Upon graduating from Georgetown in 1968, Clinton won a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to [[University College, Oxford]], where he initially read for a [[B.Phil.]] in [[Philosophy, Politics, and Economics|philosophy, politics, and economics]] but transferred to a [[B.Litt.]] in politics and, ultimately, a B.Phil. in politics.<ref name="Hoffman">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-bill-clinton-we-knew-at-oxford-apart-from-smoking-dope-and-not-inhaling-what-else-did-he-learn-1556769.html|title=The Bill Clinton we knew at Oxford: Apart from smoking dope (and not inhaling), what else did he learn over here? College friends share their memories with Matthew Hoffman|first=Matthew|last=Hoffman|date=October 11, 1992|work=The Independent|access-date=August 24, 2017|archive-date=June 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623195343/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-bill-clinton-we-knew-at-oxford-apart-from-smoking-dope-and-not-inhaling-what-else-did-he-learn-1556769.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Clinton did not expect to return for the second year because of the draft and so he switched programs; this type of activity was common among other Rhodes Scholars from his cohort. He had received an offer to study at [[Yale Law School]], [[Yale University]], and so he left early to return to the United States and did not receive a degree from Oxford.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="Dowd">{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/09/world/oxford-journal-whereas-he-is-an-old-boy-if-a-young-chief-honor-him.html | title=Oxford Journal; Whereas, He Is an Old Boy, If a Young Chief, Honor Him | last=Dowd | first=Maureen | author-link=Maureen Dowd | work=The New York Times | date=June 9, 1994 | access-date=July 17, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Hitch-22: A Memoir | first=Christopher | last=Hitchens |author-link=Christopher Hitchens | chapter=Chris or Christopher? | pages=106–107 | publisher=Atlantic books | location= London | isbn= 978-1-84354-922-2| date=December 4, 2010 }}</ref>
 
During his time at Oxford, Clinton befriended fellow American Rhodes Scholar Frank Aller. In 1969, Aller received a [[Draft lottery (1969)|draft]] letter that mandated deployment to the [[Vietnam War]]. Aller's 1971 suicide had an influential impact on Clinton.<ref name="Hoffman"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/22/magazine/most-likely-to-succeed.html|title=Most Likely to Succeed|first=Alessandra|last=Stanley |author-link=Alessandra Stanley |date=November 22, 1992|work=The New York Times}}</ref> British writer and feminist [[Sara Maitland]] said of Clinton, "I remember Bill and Frank Aller taking me to a pub in Walton Street in the summer term of 1969 and talking to me about the Vietnam War. I knew nothing about it, and when Frank began to describe the napalming of civilians I began to cry. Bill said that feeling bad wasn't good enough. That was the first time I encountered the idea that liberal sensitivities weren't enough and you had to do something about such things".<ref name="Hoffman"/> Clinton was a member of the [[Oxford University Men's Basketball|Oxford University Basketball Club]] and also played for Oxford University's [[rugby union]] team.<ref>{{cite book | title=Rugby Union for Dummies |first1=Nick | last1=Cain |first2=Greg | last2=Growden |author2-link=Greg Growden |name-list-style=amp | chapter=21: Ten Peculiar Facts about Rugby | page=297 | edition=2 | publisher=John Wiley and Sons | location= [[Chichester]], England | isbn=978-0-470-03537-5|year=2006 }}</ref>
 
While Clinton was president in 1994, he received an honorary degree and a fellowship from the [[University of Oxford]], specifically for being "a doughty and tireless champion of the cause of world peace", having "a powerful collaborator in his wife," and for winning "general applause for his achievement of resolving the gridlock that prevented an agreed budget".<ref name="Dowd"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/doctor-without-a-thesis-bill-clinton-gets-an-oxford-degree-today-but-jonathan-eyals-verdict-on-his-1421189.html|title=Doctor without a thesis: Bill Clinton gets an Oxford degree today, but Jonathan Eyal's verdict on his term's work is: a disaster|first=Jonathan|last=Eyal|date=June 8, 1994|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=August 24, 2017|archive-date=June 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623193859/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/doctor-without-a-thesis-bill-clinton-gets-an-oxford-degree-today-but-jonathan-eyals-verdict-on-his-1421189.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
===Vietnam War opposition and draft controversy===
 
During the Vietnam War, Clinton received educational draft deferments while he was in England in 1968 and 1969.<ref>{{cite book|author=Neil A. Hamilton|title=Presidents: A Biographical Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfbt5NXvF64C&pg=PA366|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0816-2|page=366}}</ref> While at Oxford, he participated in [[Opposition to the Vietnam War|Vietnam War protests]] and organized a [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam]] event in October 1969.<ref name="My Life" /> He was planning to attend law school in the U.S. and knew he might lose his deferment. Clinton tried unsuccessfully to obtain positions in the [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] and the [[Air Force Officer Training School|Air Force officer candidate school]], and he then made arrangements to join the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC) program at the [[University of Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven M. Gillon|title=The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-U2IzI2r5YC|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-532278-1|page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mikkelson|first=David|date=January 6, 2003|title=Was Bill Clinton a 'Felonious Draft Dodger'?|url= https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-draft-pardon/|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=Snopes|language=en}}</ref>
 
He subsequently decided not to join the ROTC, saying in a letter to the officer in charge of the program that he opposed the war, but did not think it was honorable to use ROTC, National Guard, or Reserve service to avoid serving in Vietnam. He further stated that because he opposed the war, he would not volunteer to serve in uniform, but would subject himself to the draft, and would serve if selected only as a way "to maintain my political viability within the system".<ref>{{cite news | first=Bill | last=Clinton | agency=The Associated Press | title=The 1992 Campaign; A Letter By Clinton On His Draft Deferment: 'A War I Opposed And Despised' | work=The New York Times | date=February 13, 1992 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/13/us/1992-campaign-letter-clinton-his-draft-deferment-war-opposed-despised.html | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref> Clinton registered for the draft and received a high number (311), meaning that those whose birthdays had been drawn as numbers{{nbsp}}1 to 310 would be [[Draft lottery (1969)|drafted]] before him, making it unlikely he would be called up. (In fact, the highest number drafted was 195.)<ref>{{cite news |last=Lauter |first=David |date=February 13, 1992 |title=Clinton Releases '69 Letter on ROTC and Draft Status |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1992-02-13/news/mn-2993_1_vietnam-war/2 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles}}</ref>
 
[[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] Eugene Holmes, the Army officer who had been involved with Clinton's ROTC application, suspected that Clinton attempted to manipulate the situation to avoid the draft and avoid serving in uniform. He issued a [[notarize]]d statement during the 1992 presidential campaign:{{block indent|I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator Fulbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to the [[ROTC]] program&nbsp;... I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and get a new draft classification.<ref name="Morris1999">{{cite book | last=Morris | first=Roger | title=Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vq96BQV5lF4C&pg=PA100| date=April 25, 1999 | publisher=Regnery Publishing | isbn=978-0-89526-302-5 | page=100}}</ref>}}
 
During the 1992 campaign, it was revealed that Clinton's uncle had attempted to secure him a position in the [[United States Navy Reserve|Navy Reserve]], which would have prevented him from being deployed to Vietnam. This effort was unsuccessful and Clinton said in 1992 that he had been unaware of it until then.<ref>{{cite news | url =http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/skeletons/draft.shtml | title = Clinton's Draft Deferrment | publisher=CNN |year= 1997 | access-date = June 19, 2014 }}</ref> Although legal, Clinton's actions with respect to the draft and deciding whether to serve in the military were criticized during his first presidential campaign by conservatives and some Vietnam veterans, some of whom charged that he had used Fulbright's influence to avoid military service.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/etc/draftletter.html | title=Bill Clinton's Draft Letter | work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]] | publisher=PBS | date=November 23, 1991 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last=Frammolino | first=Ralph | url =http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-06/news/mn-447_1_draft-board | title = ROTC Officer Unaware of Draft Notice: Clinton: The man whose action kept the future governor in school says he was not told of 1969 induction letter. Draft board insists none was sent | work=Los Angeles Times | date=April 6, 1992 | access-date = January 6, 2013 }}</ref> Clinton's 1992 campaign manager, [[James Carville]], successfully argued that Clinton's letter in which he declined to join the ROTC should be made public, insisting that voters, many of whom had also opposed the Vietnam War, would understand and appreciate his position.<ref>Public Broadcasting System, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/interviews/carville.html Frontline: Interview with James Carville], 2000.</ref>
 
===Law school===
 
After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and earned a [[Juris Doctor]] (J.D.) degree in 1973.<ref name="My Life" /><ref name="First in His Class" /> In 1971, he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham, in the [[Lillian Goldman Law Library|Yale Law Library]]; she was a class year ahead of him.<ref name="My Life" /><ref name="HRCBio">{{cite web | url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/about/first-ladies/hillaryclinton | work=[[whitehouse.gov]] | title=Hillary Rodham Clinton | via=[[NARA|National Archives]] | access-date=August 26, 2011}}</ref> They began dating and were soon inseparable. After only about a month, Clinton postponed his summer plans to be a coordinator for the [[George McGovern]] [[George McGovern presidential campaign, 1972|campaign]] for the [[1972 United States presidential election]] in order to move in with her in California.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.nysun.com/national/clintons-berkeley-summer-of-love/66982 | title=The Clintons' Berkeley Summer of Love | first=Josh | last=Gerstein | work=The New York Sun | date=November 26, 2007 | access-date=May 9, 2009}}</ref> The couple continued [[cohabitating|living together]] in New Haven when they returned to law school.<ref name="nys-rad">{{Cite news |url=http://www.nysun.com/national/hillary-clintons-radical-summer/66933/ |title=Hillary Clinton's Radical Summer |first=Josh | last=Gerstein |work=The New York Sun |date=November 26, 2007}}</ref>
 
Clinton eventually [[1972 United States presidential election in Texas#McGovern campaign|moved to Texas with Rodham in 1972]] to take a job leading McGovern's effort there. He spent considerable time in [[Dallas]], at the campaign's local headquarters on Lemmon Avenue, where he had an office. Clinton worked with future two-term [[List of mayors of Dallas|mayor of Dallas]] [[Ron Kirk]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Medley|first1=Jasmine|title=William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center and the Clinton School of Public Service|url=http://nasje.org/william-jefferson-clinton-presidential-center-and-the-clinton-school-of-public-service/|publisher=National Association of State Judicial Educators|access-date=November 22, 2016}}</ref> future [[List of Governors of Texas|governor of Texas]] [[Ann Richards]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Slater|first1=Wayne|title=Texas stumping in '72 helped shape Clinton's campaign|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/03/01/from-the-archives-lone-star-stumping-gig-in-72-race-helped-shape-hillary-clintons-08-bid |newspaper=Dallas Morning News |date=December 16, 2007 |access-date=November 22, 2016}}</ref> and then unknown television director and filmmaker [[Steven Spielberg]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Felsenthal|first1=Carol|title=George McGovern and Bill Clinton: the State of the Friendship|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-felsenthal/george-mcgovern-and-bill_b_98845.html  |work=The Huffington Post |date=May 7, 2008 |access-date=November 22, 2016}}</ref>
 
==Governor of Arkansas (1979–1981, 1983–1992)==
{{Further|Electoral history of Bill Clinton}}
[[File:Arkansas Governor Election Results by County, 1978.svg|left|upright=.6|thumb|Results of the 1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election. Clinton won the counties in blue.]]
 
After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton returned to Arkansas and became a law professor at the University of Arkansas. In 1974, he ran for the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. Running in the conservative [[Arkansas's 3rd congressional district|3rd district]] against incumbent Republican [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]], Clinton's campaign was bolstered by the anti-Republican and anti-incumbent mood resulting from the [[Watergate scandal]]. Hammerschmidt, who had received 77 percent of the vote in 1972, defeated Clinton by only a 52&nbsp;percent to 48&nbsp;percent margin. In 1976, Clinton ran for [[Arkansas Attorney General|Arkansas attorney general]]. With only minor opposition in the primary and no opposition at all in the general election,<ref name=AllPolitics1>{{cite news|url=http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/political.career.shtml |publisher=CNN |title=Bill Clinton Political Career |year=1997 |access-date=August 30, 2011 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020920104113/http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/political.career.shtml |archive-date=September 20, 2002 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Clinton was elected.<ref name="First in His Class" />
 
[[File:Bill Clinton 1978.jpg|thumb|Newly elected [[Governor of Arkansas]] Bill Clinton meets with President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1978, fifteen years before assuming the nation's highest office.]]
 
In 1978, Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary. At just 31 years old, he was one of the youngest gubernatorial candidates in the state's history. Clinton was elected [[Governor of Arkansas]] in [[1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election|1978]], having defeated the Republican candidate [[Lynn Lowe]], a farmer from [[Texarkana, Arkansas|Texarkana]]. Clinton was only 32 years old when he took office, the youngest governor in the country at the time and the second youngest governor in the history of Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=95|title=Bill Clinton (1946–) |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |access-date=September 15, 2018}}</ref> Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called the "Boy Governor".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/opinion/12wed4.html | title=Bill and Hillary Clinton's Pitch in Iowa: 'I Love the '90s' | newspaper=The New York Times | first=Adam | last=Cohen | date=December 12, 2007 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Boy Clinton: The Political Biography | author=R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. | publisher=Eagle Publishing | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLSJ5oJG3fcC&pg=PA236| isbn=978-0-89526-439-8 | year=1996|page=236}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/27/us/little-rock-hopes-clinton-presidency-will-put-its-dogpatch-image-to-rest.html | title=Little Rock Hopes Clinton Presidency Will Put Its Dogpatch Image to Rest | first=Michael | last=Kelly | work=The New York Times | date=November 27, 1992 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> He worked on educational reform and directed the maintenance of Arkansas's roads, with wife Hillary leading a successful committee on urban health care reform. However, his term included an unpopular motor vehicle tax and citizens' anger over the escape of Cuban refugees (from the [[Mariel boatlift]]) detained in [[Fort Chaffee]] in 1980. Monroe Schwarzlose, of [[Kingsland, Arkansas|Kingsland]] in [[Cleveland County, Arkansas|Cleveland County]], polled 31&nbsp;percent of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Some suggested Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat by Republican challenger [[Frank D. White]] in the general election that year. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.<ref name="First in His Class" />
 
Clinton joined friend [[Bruce Lindsey]]'s Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Clinton Timeline |author=Jonathan W. Nicholsen |url=http://www.timeline-help.com/bill-clinton-timeline.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20111013012755/http://www.timeline-help.com/bill-clinton-timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |publisher=Timeline Help |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref> In 1982, he was elected governor a second time and kept the office for ten years. Effective with the 1986 election, Arkansas had changed its gubernatorial term of office from two to four years. During his term, he helped transform Arkansas's economy and improved the state's educational system.<ref name=pendleton /> For [[senior citizen]]s, he removed the [[sales tax]] from medications and increased the home property-tax exemption.<ref name="The Natural" /> He became a leading figure among the [[New Democrats]], a group of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] who advocated welfare reform, smaller government, and other policies not supported by liberals. Formally organized as the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] (DLC), the New Democrats argued that in light of President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[1984 United States presidential election|landslide victory in 1984]], the Democratic Party needed to adopt a more centrist political stance in order to succeed at the national level.<ref name="The Natural">{{Cite book | last=Klein | first=Joe | title=The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton | url=https://archive.org/details/naturalmisunders00klei| url-access=registration | publisher=Doubleday | year=2002 | isbn=0-7679-1412-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=173&contentid=252794 |title=Bill Clinton, New Democrat |publisher=DLC |date=July 25, 2004 |access-date=August 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309143615/http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=173&contentid=252794 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 }}</ref> Clinton delivered the [[Democratic response to the State of the Union address|Democratic response]] to Reagan's [[1985 State of the Union Address]] and served as chair of the [[National Governors Association]] from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas.<ref name="First in His Class" />
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton walking in the Cross Hall (cropped).jpg|thumb|Governor and Mrs. Clinton attend the Dinner Honoring the Nation's Governors in the White House with President Ronald Reagan and first lady [[Nancy Reagan]], 1987.]]
In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority of his gubernatorial administration. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee was chaired by Clinton's wife Hillary, who was also an attorney as well as the chair of the [[Legal Services Corporation]]. The committee transformed Arkansas's education system. Proposed reforms included more spending for schools (supported by a sales-tax increase), better opportunities for gifted children, vocational education, higher teachers' salaries, more course variety, and compulsory teacher competency exams. The reforms passed in September 1983 after Clinton called a special [[Arkansas General Assembly|legislative session]]—the longest in Arkansas history.<ref name=pendleton>{{cite news|last1=Pendleton|first1=Scott | title=Governor Gets High Marks for Public Education Reforms | url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0721/21062.html | work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] | date=July 21, 1992}}</ref> Many have considered this the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Natural" /> He defeated four Republican candidates for governor: Lowe (1978), White (1982 and 1986), [[Jonesboro, Arkansas|Jonesboro]] businessmen [[Woody Freeman]] (1984), and [[Sheffield Nelson]] of Little Rock (1990).<ref name=AllPolitics1 />
 
Also in the 1980s, the Clintons' personal and business affairs included transactions that became the basis of the [[Whitewater controversy]] investigation, which later dogged his presidential administration.<ref name="Clinton Wars">{{Cite book | last=Blumenthal | first=Sidney | title=The Clinton Wars | publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | edition=1st | year=2003 | isbn= 0-374-12502-3}}</ref> After extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Survivor">{{Cite book | last= Harris | first=John F. | title=The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House | publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks | year=2006 | edition=1st | isbn= 0-375-76084-9}}</ref>
 
According to some sources, Clinton was a [[Capital punishment in the United States|death penalty]] opponent in his early years, but he eventually switched positions.<ref name="mbsrgd" /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bill_clintons_death_penalty_waffle_ | title=Bill Clinton's Death Penalty Waffle—and Why It's Good News for Execution's Foes | first=Alexander | last=Nguyen | date=July 14, 2000 | work=[[The American Prospect]] | access-date=August 30, 2010 | quote=In his early days, Clinton opposed the death penalty. And while he and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton were both teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School, she wrote an appellate brief that helped save a mentally retarded man from execution. "Clinton was against the death penalty," says Arkansas attorney Jeff Rosenzweig, who, like Clinton, grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. "He told me so." | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205011359/http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bill_clintons_death_penalty_waffle_ | archive-date=December 5, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref> However he might have felt previously, by 1992, Clinton was insisting that Democrats "should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent".<ref name="Hartman2015">{{cite book|last=Hartman|first=Andrew|title=A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fW__BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|year=2015|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-25464-7|page=121}}</ref> During Clinton's final term as governor, [[Capital punishment in Arkansas|Arkansas performed its first executions]] since 1964 (the death penalty had been reinstated in 1976).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/reinstatement-of-the-death-penalty.html | title=Reinstatement of the Death Penalty}}</ref> As Governor, he oversaw the [[List of people executed in Arkansas|first four executions carried out]] by the state of Arkansas since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1976: one by [[electric chair]] and three by [[lethal injection]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database?filters%5Bstate%5D=Arkansas|title=Execution Database &#124; Death Penalty Information Center|work=[[Death Penalty Information Center]]|access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> To draw attention to his stance on capital punishment, Clinton flew home to Arkansas mid-campaign in 1992, in order to affirm in person that the controversial execution of [[Ricky Ray Rector]], would go forward as scheduled.<ref>"THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Death Penalty; Arkansas Execution Raises Questions on Governor's Politics." By Peter Applebome January 25, 1992. ''The New York Times''. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/us/1992-campaign-death-penalty-arkansas-execution-raises-questions-governor-s.html. Retrieved March 11, 2021.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Soss|first1=Joe|last2=Langbein|first2=Laura|last3=Metelko|first3=Alan R.|title=Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?|journal=The Journal of Politics|date=September 27, 2001|volume=65|issue=2|page=399|doi=10.1111/1468-2508.t01-2-00006|s2cid=38112237|language=en}}</ref>
 
=== 1988 Democratic presidential primaries ===
 
In 1987, the media speculated that Clinton would enter the presidential race after incumbent [[Governor of New York|New York governor]] [[Mario Cuomo]] declined to run and Democratic front-runner [[Gary Hart]] withdrew owing to revelations of multiple marital infidelities.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.history.com/news/gary-hart-scandal-front-runner |title = How Gary Hart's Sex Scandal Betrayed His Character}}</ref> Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for the potential candidacy of Hillary for governor, initially favored—but ultimately vetoed—by the First Lady).<ref name=autogenerated1>[[David Maraniss]], ''First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton'' (New York: Random House, 1996; {{ISBN|978-0-684-81890-0}}).</ref> For the nomination, Clinton endorsed [[Governor of Massachusetts|Massachusetts governor]] [[Michael Dukakis]]. He gave the nationally televised opening night address at the [[1988 Democratic National Convention]], but his speech, which was 33 minutes long and twice the length it was expected to be, was criticized for being too long<ref>{{Cite news | last=Church | first=George J. | title=Cover: Is Bill Clinton For Real? | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974739,00.html | work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=January 27, 1992 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> and poorly delivered.<ref>{{Cite news | last=Kornacki | first=Steve | title=When Bill Clinton died onstage | url=https://www.salon.com/2012/07/30/when_bill_clinton_died_on_stage/ | work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] | date=July 30, 2012 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> Clinton presented himself both as a moderate and as a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, and he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991.<ref name="The Natural" /><ref name="The Choice">{{Cite book | last=Woodward | first=Bob | author-link=Bob Woodward | title=The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=2005 | isbn= 0-7432-8514-X}}</ref>
 
==Presidency (1993–2001)==
 
{{Main|Presidency of Bill Clinton}}
{{for timeline|Timeline of the Bill Clinton presidency}}
 
Clinton's "third way" of moderate liberalism built up the nation's fiscal health and put the nation on a firm footing abroad amid globalization and the development of anti-American terrorist organizations.<ref>David Palmer,  "'What Might Have Been'--Bill Clinton and American Political Power." ''Australasian Journal of American Studies'' (2005): 38-58.</ref>
 
During his presidency, [[Presidency of Bill Clinton#Legislation and programs|Clinton advocated for a wide variety of legislation and programs]], most of which were enacted into law or implemented by the executive branch. His policies, particularly the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] and [[welfare reform]], have been attributed to a [[centrism|centrist]] [[Third Way]] philosophy of governance.<ref>{{cite news | last=Safire | first=William | author-link=William Safire | title=Essay; Looking Beyond Peace | work=The New York Times | date=December 6, 1993 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/06/opinion/essay-looking-beyond-peace.html | access-date=October 29, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Duffy|first1=Michael |last2=Barrett |first2=Laurence I. |last3=Blackman |first3=Ann |last4=Carney |first4=James | title=Secrets Of Success | work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=November 29, 1993 | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979697,00.html | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> His policy of [[fiscal conservatism]] helped to reduce deficits on budgetary matters.<ref name=wp070914>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091402451.html | title=Greenspan Is Critical Of Bush in Memoir | first=Bob | last=Woodward | author-link=Bob Woodward | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=September 15, 2007 | access-date=January 9, 2014}}</ref><ref name=bbc010115>{{cite news | author=Steve Schifferes | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1110165.stm | title=Bill Clinton's economic legacy | work=[[BBC News]] | date=January 15, 2001 | access-date=January 9, 2014}}</ref> Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/02/AR2008020202521.html | title=Bill Clinton's Legacy | first=Peter| last=Baker| work=The Washington Post | date=February 3, 2008 | access-date=July 13, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/bill-clinton | title=Bill Clinton | publisher=History.com| access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=NYTExpansion>{{cite news| title=The Battle of the Decades; Reaganomics vs. Clintonomics Is a Central Issue in 2000| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/08/business/the-battle-of-the-decades-reaganomics-vs-clintonomics-is-a-central-issue-in-2000.html| last=Stevenson| first=Richard| newspaper=The New York Times| date=February 8, 2000| access-date=March 15, 2011}}</ref>
 
The [[Congressional Budget Office]] reported budget surpluses of $69&nbsp;billion in 1998, $126&nbsp;billion in 1999, and $236&nbsp;billion in 2000,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43904 |title=Revenues, Outlays, Deficits, Surpluses, and Debt Held by the Public, 1968 to 2007, in Billions of Dollars |publisher=Congressional Budget Office |date=September 2008 |format=PDF |access-date=July 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208082112/http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43904 |archive-date=February 8, 2013 }}</ref> during the last three years of Clinton's presidency.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton | title=The Budget and Deficit Under Clinton | publisher=FactCheck.org | access-date=August 17, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110728091132/http://factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton/| archive-date=July 28, 2011 | url-status=live| date=February 3, 2008 }}</ref> Over the years of the recorded surplus, the gross national debt rose each year. At the end of the fiscal year (September 30) for each of the years a surplus was recorded, The U.S. treasury reported a gross debt of $5.413&nbsp;trillion in 1997, $5.526&nbsp;trillion in 1998, $5.656&nbsp;trillion in 1999, and $5.674&nbsp;trillion in 2000.<ref>{{cite web | title=Historical Debt Outstanding—Annual 1950–1999 | url=https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm | publisher=[[TreasuryDirect]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Historical Debt Outstanding—Annual 2000–2015 | url=https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm | publisher=TreasuryDirect}}</ref> Over the same period, the Office of Management and Budget reported an end of year (December 31) gross debt of $5.369&nbsp;trillion in 1997, $5.478&nbsp;trillion in 1998, $5.606 in 1999, and $5.629&nbsp;trillion in 2000.<ref>{{cite web | title=Fiscal Year 2013 Historical Tables | url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2013-TAB/pdf/BUDGET-2013-TAB.pdf | publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office]]}}</ref> At the end of his presidency, the Clintons moved to 15 Old House Lane in [[Chappaqua, New York]], in order to satisfy a residency requirement for his wife to win election as a U.S. Senator from New York.
 
===1992 presidential campaign===
 
{{Further|1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1992 United States presidential election|Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign}}
 
In the first primary contest, the [[Iowa caucuses|Iowa Caucus]], Clinton finished a distant third to Iowa senator [[Tom Harkin]]. During the campaign for the [[New Hampshire primary]], reports surfaced that Clinton had engaged in an extramarital affair with [[Gennifer Flowers]]. Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts senator [[Paul Tsongas]] in the New Hampshire polls.<ref name="First in His Class" /> Following [[Super Bowl XXVI]], Clinton and his wife Hillary went on ''[[60 Minutes]]'' to rebuff the charges. Their television appearance was a calculated risk, but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the [[1992 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire primary]], but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. News outlets labeled him "The Comeback Kid" for earning a firm second-place finish.<ref>{{cite news |first=Amy |last=Herstek |url=https://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/11/clinton.nh/index.html |title=Clinton thanks New Hampshire for making him the 'Comeback Kid' |date=January 11, 2001 |publisher=CNN |access-date=February 22, 2020 }}</ref>
 
Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the [[Southern United States|Southern primaries]] on [[Super Tuesday]] gave Clinton a sizable delegate lead. However, former California governor [[Jerry Brown]] was scoring victories and Clinton had yet to win a significant contest outside his native South.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Choice" /> With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted New York, which had many delegates. He scored a resounding victory in New York City, shedding his image as a regional candidate.<ref name="The Choice" /> Having been transformed into the consensus candidate, he secured the Democratic Party nomination, finishing with a victory in Jerry Brown's home state of California.<ref name="First in His Class" />
 
[[File:Clinton family.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Clintons in a [[White House]] Christmas portrait]]
During the campaign, questions of [[conflict of interest]] regarding state business and the politically powerful [[Rose Law Firm]], at which Hillary Rodham Clinton was a partner, arose. Clinton argued the questions were moot because all transactions with the state had been deducted before determining Hillary's firm pay.<ref name="My Life" /><ref>{{Cite news | last=Ifill | first=Gwen | title=Hillary Clinton Defends Her Conduct in Law Firm | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/us/the-1992-campaign-hillary-clinton-defends-her-conduct-in-law-firm.html | date=March 17, 1992 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref> Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that, with Hillary, voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one".<ref>{{Cite news | last1=MacGillis | first1=Alec |last2=Kornblut |first2=Anne E. | title=Hillary Clinton Embraces Her Husband's Legacy | work=The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102588.html | page=A1 | date=December 21, 2007 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>
 
Clinton was still the governor of Arkansas while campaigning for U.S. president, and he returned to his home state to see that [[Ricky Ray Rector]] would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to both Arkansas state law and Federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate cannot be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was framed in an article for ''[[The New York Times]]'' as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.<ref name="mbsrgd">[[George Stephanopoulos]], ''All Too Human: A Political Education'', 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-316-92919-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last=Applebome | first=Peter | title=Arkansas Execution Raises Questions on Governor's Politics | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/us/1992-campaign-death-penalty-arkansas-execution-raises-questions-governor-s.html | work=The New York Times | date=January 25, 1992 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>
 
Bush's [[United States presidential approval rating|approval ratings]] were around 80&nbsp;percent during the [[Gulf War]], and he was described as unbeatable. When Bush compromised with Democrats to try to lower Federal deficits, he reneged on his [[Read my lips: no new taxes|promise not to raise taxes]], which hurt his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep.<ref name="The Choice" /> By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to just slightly over 40&nbsp;percent.<ref name="The Choice" /><ref>{{Cite news | title=How the Presidents Stack Up: A look at U.S. presidents' job-approval ratings | work=The Wall Street Journal | year=2006 | url=https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html | access-date=October 30, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081025015927/http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html| archive-date= October 25, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> Finally, conservatives were previously united by anti-communism, but with the end of the Cold War, the party lacked a uniting issue. When [[Pat Buchanan]] and [[Pat Robertson]] addressed Christian themes at the [[1992 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]]—with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform—many moderates were alienated.<ref>{{cite document | last=Le Beau | first=Bryan | title=The Political Mobilization of the New Christian Right | date=December 10, 1998 | publisher=[[Creighton University]] | url=http://are.as.wvu.edu/lebeau1.htm | access-date=December 1, 2006 }}</ref> Clinton then pointed to his moderate, "New Democrat" record as governor of Arkansas, though some on the more liberal side of the party remained suspicious.<ref>{{Cite news | last=Walker | first=Martin | title=Tough love child of Kennedy | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1992/jan/06/usa.martinwalker | location=London | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=January 6, 1992 |access-date=October 12, 2007}}</ref> Many Democrats who had supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their support to Clinton.<ref name=BBConthisday>{{cite news | title=On this day (November 4) in 1992: Clinton beats Bush to the White House | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/4/newsid_3659000/3659498.stm | date=November 4, 1992 | access-date=October 31, 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081218141055/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/4/newsid_3659000/3659498.stm| archive-date= December 18, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> Clinton and his running mate, [[Al Gore]], toured the country during the final weeks of the campaign, shoring up support and pledging a "new beginning".<ref name=BBConthisday />
 
On March 26, 1992, during a Democratic [[Fundraising|fund raiser]] of the presidential campaign, [[Robert Rafsky]] confronted then Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas and asked what he was going to do about [[AIDS]], to which Clinton replied, "I feel your pain."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.thinkprogress.org/the-future-of-gay-parents-on-television-378cc67a76b5/|title=The Future of Gay Parents On Television|work=ThinkProgress|first=Alyssa|last=Rosenberg|date=November 1, 2012}}</ref> The televised exchange led to AIDS becoming an issue in the 1992 presidential election. On April 4, then candidate Clinton met with members of [[ACT UP]] and other leading AIDS advocates to discuss his AIDS agenda and agreed to make a major AIDS policy speech, to have people with HIV speak to the [[Democratic National Convention|Democratic Convention]], and to sign onto the [[AIDS United]] Action five point plan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://actupny.org/campaign96/rafsky-clinton.html|title=The ACT UP Historical Archive: Bob Rafsky Confronts Candidate Bill Clinton, 1992|website=actupny.org}}</ref>
 
[[File:ElectoralCollege1992.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|1992 electoral vote results]]
Clinton won the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]] (370 electoral votes) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (168 electoral votes) and billionaire [[populism|populist]] [[Ross Perot]] (zero electoral votes), who ran as an independent on a platform that focused on domestic issues. Bush's steep decline in public approval was a significant part of Clinton's success.<ref name=BBConthisday /> Clinton's victory in the election ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House and twenty of the previous twenty-four years. The election gave Democrats full control of the [[United States Congress]],<ref name="whitehouse.gov bio" /> the first time one party controlled both the executive and legislative branches since Democrats held the [[96th United States Congress]] during the [[presidency of Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm | title=Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present | publisher=United States Senate | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110718045714/https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm| archive-date= July 18, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history |title=House History |publisher=United States House of Representatives |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026183800/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/ |archive-date=October 26, 2011 }}</ref>
 
According to [[Seymour Martin Lipset]], the 1992 election had several unique characteristics. Voters felt that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed Bush. A rare event was the a strong third-party candidate. Liberals launched a backlash against 12 years of a conservative White House. The chief factor was Clinton's uniting his party, and winning over a number of heterogeneous groups.<ref>Seymour Martin Lipset, "The significance of the 1992 election." ''PS: Political Science and Politics'' 26.1 (1993): 7-16 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/419496 online]</ref>
 
===First term (1993–1997)===
 
{{Listen
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{{Quote box | width=25em | bgcolor=#c6dbf7 | align=right | quote="Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." | source=Inaugural address, January 20, 1993.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/clinton1.asp | first=Bill | last=Clinton | title=First Inaugural Address of William J. Clinton; January 20, 1993 | publisher=[[Yale Law School]] | date=January 20, 1993 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>}}
 
Clinton was [[First inauguration of Bill Clinton|inaugurated]] as the 42nd president of the United States on January 20, 1993. Clinton was physically exhausted of the time, and had an inexperienced staff. His high levels of public support dropped in the first few weeks, as he made a series of embarrassing mistakes. His first choice for attorney general had not paid her taxes on babysitters and was forced to withdraw. The second appointee also withdrew for the same reason. Clinton had repeatedly promised to encourage gays in the military service, despite what he knew to be the strong opposition of the military leadership. He tried anyway, and was publicly opposed by the top generals, and forced by Congress to a compromise position of "[[Don't ask, don't tell]]" whereby gays could serve if and only if they kept it secret.<ref>Elizabeth Drew, ''On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency'' (1994), pp. 36–56.</ref>  He devised a $16 billion stimulus package primarily to aid inner-city programs desired by liberals, but it was defeated by a Republican filibuster in the Senate.<ref>Drew, pp 114–122.</ref> His popularity at the 100 day mark of his term was the lowest of any president at that point.<ref>Stanley A. Renshon, ed., ''The Clinton Presidency: Campaigning, Governing, and the Psychology of Leadership'' (1995), p. 138.</ref>
Public opinion did support one liberal program, and Clinton signed the [[Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993]], which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. This action had bipartisan support,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=1&vote=00011 | title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 103rd Congress—1st Session | publisher=United States Senate | access-date= August 30, 2011}}</ref> and was popular with the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.protectfamilyleave.org/pdf/030608_ncpfl_fmla_national_survey.pdf |title=New Nationwide Poll Shows Strong Support for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) |publisher=Protect Family Leave |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227065806/http://www.protectfamilyleave.org/pdf/030608_ncpfl_fmla_national_survey.pdf |archive-date=December 27, 2011 }}</ref>
 
Two days after taking office, on January 22, 1993—the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''—Clinton reversed restrictions on domestic and international [[family planning]] programs that had been imposed by Reagan and Bush.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sharon L. Camp|chapter=The Politics of U.S. Population Assistance|title=Beyond the Numbers: A Reader on Population, Consumption and the Environment|editor=Laurie Ann Mazur|page=130}}</ref> Clinton said abortion should be kept "safe, legal, and rare"—a slogan that had been suggested by political scientist [[Samuel L. Popkin]] and first used by Clinton in December 1991, while campaigning.<ref>Amy Sullivan, ''The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap'' (Simon & Schuster: 2008), pp. 91–92.</ref> During the eight years of the Clinton administration, the abortion rate declined by 18 percent.<ref>Sullivan, ''The Party Faithful'', pp. 236–237.</ref>
 
On February 15, 1993, Clinton made his first address to the nation, announcing his plan to raise taxes to close a [[budget deficit]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/15/us/white-house-hones-all-out-campaign-to-sell-sacrifice.html | title=White House Hones All-Out Campaign to Sell Sacrifice | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 15, 1993 | author=Richard L. Burke | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Two days later, in a nationally televised address to a [[joint session of Congress]], Clinton unveiled his economic plan. The plan focused on reducing the deficit rather than on cutting taxes for the middle class, which had been high on his campaign agenda.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/cron | title=The Clinton Years: Chronology | work=[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]] | access-date=June 13, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502012813/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/cron/| archive-date=May 2, 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref> Clinton's advisers pressured him to raise taxes, based on the theory that a smaller federal budget deficit would reduce bond interest rates.<ref>{{cite book | last=Woodward | first=Bob | author-link=Bob Woodward | title=Maestro | url=https://archive.org/details/maestrogreenspan00wood | url-access=registration | publisher=Simon & Schuster | location=New York | year=2000 | page=[https://archive.org/details/maestrogreenspan00wood/page/116 116]}}</ref>
 
President Clinton's attorney general [[Janet Reno]] authorized the FBI's use of armored vehicles to deploy tear gas into the buildings of the Branch Davidian community near Waco, Texas, in hopes of ending a [[Waco siege|51 day siege]]. During the operation on April 19, 1993, the buildings caught fire and 75 of the residents died, including 24 children. The raid had originally been planned by the Bush administration; Clinton had played no role.<ref>Mollie Dickenson, "A Bipartisan Disaster" ''New York Times'' August 3, 1995, p. A25</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://theconversation.com/waco-the-siege-25-years-on-94324| author=Andrew Crome| title=Waco: the siege 25 years on| publisher=The Conversation| date=April 19, 2018}}</ref>
 
On May 19, 1993, Clinton fired seven employees of the White House Travel Office. This caused the [[White House travel office controversy]] even though the travel office staff served at the pleasure of the president and could be [[At-will employment|dismissed without cause]]. The White House responded to the controversy by claiming that the firings were done in response to financial improprieties that had been revealed by a brief FBI investigation.<ref>{{cite book | first=Hillary | last=Clinton | author-link=Hillary Clinton | title=Living History | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=2003 | isbn=0-7432-2224-5 | page=[https://archive.org/details/livinghistory00clin/page/n189 172]| title-link=Living History (book) }}</ref> Critics contended that the firings had been done to allow friends of the Clintons to take over the travel business and the involvement of the FBI was unwarranted.<ref>{{cite book | first=Ken | last=Gormley | author-link=Ken Gormley (academic) | title=The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr | publisher=[[Crown Publishers]] | location=New York | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-307-40944-7 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/70 70–71] | url=https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/70 }}</ref>
 
In August, Clinton signed the [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993]], which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for 15{{nbsp}}million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90&nbsp;percent of small businesses,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/080393-presidential-press-conference-in-nevada.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022455/http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/080393-presidential-press-conference-in-nevada.htm | archive-date=September 27, 2007 | title=Presidential Press Conference in Nevada | date=August 3, 1993 | first=Bill | last=Clinton}}</ref> and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2&nbsp;percent of taxpayers. Additionally, it mandated that the budget be balanced over many years through the implementation of spending restraints.<ref>{{cite web | first=Bill | last=Clinton | url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/219941 | title=William J. Clinton: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu | date=January 25, 1994 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>
 
[[File:Bill Clinton Al Gore.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Clinton and Vice President [[Al Gore]] on the South Lawn, August 10, 1993]]
 
On September 22, 1993, Clinton made a major speech to Congress regarding [[Clinton health care plan|a health care reform plan]]; the program aimed at achieving universal coverage through a national health care plan. This was one of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda and resulted from a task force headed by Hillary Clinton. The plan was well received in political circles, but it was eventually doomed by well-organized lobby opposition from conservatives, the [[American Medical Association]], and the health insurance industry. However, Clinton biographer [[John F. Harris]] said the program failed because of a lack of coordination within the White House.<ref name="The Survivor" /> Despite the Democratic majority in Congress, the effort to create a national health care system ultimately died when compromise legislation by [[George J. Mitchell]] failed to gain a majority of support in August 1994. The failure of the bill was the first major legislative defeat of the Clinton administration.<ref name="The Natural" /><ref name="The Survivor" />
 
In November 1993, [[David Hale (Whitewater)|David Hale]]—the source of criminal allegations against Bill Clinton in the Whitewater controversy—alleged that while governor of Arkansas, Clinton pressured Hale to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, the Clintons' partner in the Whitewater land deal.<ref name="salon031798">{{cite news|first1=Jonathan | last1=Broder |author2-link=Murray Waas |first2=Murray | last2=Waas | url=http://www.salon.com/news/1998/03/cov_17news.html | title=The Road To Hale | work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] | date=March 17, 1998 | access-date=August 25, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616194202/http://salon.com/news/1998/03/cov_17news.html | archive-date=June 16, 2006 }}</ref> A [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] investigation resulted in convictions against the McDougals for their role in the Whitewater project, but the Clintons themselves were never charged, and Clinton maintains his and his wife's innocence in the affair.
 
On November 30, 1993, Clinton signed into law the [[Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act|Brady Bill]], which mandated federal [[background check]]s on people who purchase firearms in the United States. The law also imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the [[National Instant Criminal Background Check System|NICS system]] was implemented in 1998. He also expanded the [[Earned Income Tax Credit]], a subsidy for low-income workers.<ref name="The Survivor" />
 
In December of the same year, allegations by Arkansas state troopers [[Larry Patterson]] and Roger Perry were first reported by [[David Brock]] in ''[[The American Spectator]].'' In the affair later known as "[[Troopergate (Bill Clinton)|Troopergate]]", the officers alleged that they had arranged sexual liaisons for Clinton back when he was governor of Arkansas. The story mentioned a woman named ''Paula'', a reference to [[Paula Jones]]. Brock later apologized to Clinton, saying the article was politically motivated "bad journalism", and that "the troopers were greedy and had slimy motives".<ref name="apology">{{Cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/10/brocks.remorse | title=Reporter Apologizes For Clinton Sex Article | publisher=CNN | date=March 10, 1998 | first=Jonathan | last=Karl | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614124146/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/10/brocks.remorse/| archive-date=June 14, 2008}}</ref>
 
[[File:Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat at the White House 1993-09-13.jpg|thumb|[[Yitzhak Rabin]], Clinton and [[Yasser Arafat]] during the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993]]
 
That month, Clinton implemented a Department of Defense directive known as "[[Don't Ask, Don't Tell]]", which allowed gay men and women to serve in the armed services provided they kept their sexual preferences a secret. The Act forbade the military from inquiring about an individual's sexual orientation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Feder |first1=Jody | title="Don't Ask, Don't Tell": A Legal Analysis | publisher=DIANE Publishing | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4379-2208-0}}</ref> The policy was developed as a compromise after Clinton's proposal to allow gays to serve openly in the military met staunch opposition from prominent Congressional Republicans and Democrats, including senators [[John McCain]] (R-AZ) and [[Sam Nunn]] (D-GA). According to [[David Mixner]], Clinton's support for the compromise led to a heated dispute with Vice President Al Gore, who felt that "the President should lift the ban&nbsp;... even though [his executive order] was sure to be overridden by the Congress".<ref name="Mixner2009">{{cite book | last=Mixner | first=David | title=Stranger Among Friends | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Jeg2X025UgC| date=November 25, 2009 | publisher=Random House Publishing Group | isbn=978-0-307-42958-2 | pages=495–497}}</ref> Some gay-rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise to get votes and contributions.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stranger Among Friends—book reviews |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n11_v28/ai_18855826 |newspaper=[[Washington Monthly]] |first=John | last=Cloud |date=November 1996 |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826114431/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n11_v28/ai_18855826/ |archive-date=August 26, 2011 }}</ref> Their position was that Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting that President [[Harry S. Truman]] used executive order to racially desegregate the armed forces. Clinton's defenders argued that an executive order might have prompted the Senate to write the exclusion of gays into law, potentially making it harder to integrate the military in the future.<ref name="The Natural" /> Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton criticized the way the policy was implemented, saying he did not think any serious person could say it was not "out of whack".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://archives.cnn.com/1999/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/11/clinton.gays.military/index.html | title=President seeks better implementation of 'don't ask, don't tell' | date=December 11, 1999 | publisher=CNN | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> The policy remained controversial, and was finally [[Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010|repealed in 2011]], removing open sexual orientation as a reason for dismissal from the armed forces.<ref>{{cite news | title=Obama certifies end of military's gay ban | agency=[[Reuters]] | work=[[NBC News]] | date=July 22, 2011 | url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43859711 | access-date=September 7, 2011}}</ref>
 
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On January 1, 1994, Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law.<ref name=NAFTA>{{cite journal|author1=Don C. Livingston |author2=Kenneth A. Wink | title=The Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the U.S. House of Representatives: Presidential Leadership or Presidential Luck? | journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly | volume=27 | year=1997}}</ref> Throughout his first year in office, Clinton consistently supported ratification of the treaty by the U.S. Senate. Clinton and most of his allies in the Democratic Leadership Committee strongly supported free trade measures; there remained, however, strong disagreement within the party. Opposition came chiefly from anti-trade Republicans, protectionist Democrats and supporters of Ross Perot. The bill passed the house with 234 votes against 200 opposed (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor; 156 Democrats, 43 Republicans, and one independent against). The treaty was then ratified by the Senate and signed into law by the president.<ref name=NAFTA />
 
The [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act|Omnibus Crime Bill]], which Clinton signed into law in September 1994,<ref>{{cite web | title=HR 3355—Omnibus Crime Bill | url=https://votesmart.org/bill/2666/8428/omnibus-crime-bill | publisher=votesmart.org | access-date=September 12, 2015}}</ref> made many changes to U.S. crime and law enforcement legislation including the expansion of the death penalty to include crimes not resulting in death, such as running a large-scale drug enterprise. During Clinton's re-election campaign he said, "My 1994 crime bill expanded the death penalty for drug kingpins, murderers of federal law enforcement officers, and nearly 60 additional categories of violent felons."<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Clinton |date=February 25, 2015 |url=http://www.4to40.com/biographies-for-kids/bill-clinton/ |publisher=4to40.com |access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> It also included a subsection of [[Federal Assault Weapons Ban|assault weapons ban]] for a ten-year period.<ref>Jeffrey A. Roth and Christopher S. Koper, "Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994–96". U.S. Department of Justice/National Institute of Justice, ''Research in Brief'' (Mar. 1999); available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/173405.pdf</ref>
 
On October 21, 1994, the Clinton administration launched the first official White House website, [[whitehouse.gov]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/html/White_House_Home.html | title=Welcome to the White House | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606203244/http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/html/White_House_Home.html | archive-date=June 6, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm | title=The Clinton White House Web Site | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722064216/http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm| archive-date=July 22, 2011 | url-status=dead}}</ref> The site was followed with three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://clinton5.nara.gov/index.html | title=Welcome to the White House | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723135626/http://clinton5.nara.gov/index.html | archive-date=July 23, 2011 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | first=Robert | last=Longley | url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm | title=The Clinton White House Web Site: Part 2: Preserving the Clinton White House Web Site | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722064216/http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm| archive-date=July 22, 2011 | url-status=dead}}</ref> The White House website was part of a wider movement of the Clinton administration toward web-based communication. According to Robert Longley, "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On July 17, 1996, Clinton issued Executive Order 13011—Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to utilize information technology fully to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public."<ref>{{cite web | first=Robert | last=Longley | url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201a.htm | title=The Clinton White House Web Site: Part 1: Perhaps the most important Web site in American history | publisher=About.com | access-date=June 6, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118024833/http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201a.htm | archive-date=January 18, 2017 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
After two years of Democratic Party control, the Democrats lost control of Congress to the Republicans in the [[1994 United States House of Representatives elections|mid-term elections in 1994]], for the first time in forty years.<ref>{{cite web | last=Hulsey | first=Byron | title=The Altered Terrain of American Politics (Review of Do Elections Matter?) | url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1463 | date=November 27, 1997 | access-date=October 29, 2008}}</ref>
 
A speech delivered by President Bill Clinton at the December 6, 1995 [[White House Conference]] on HIV/AIDS projected that a cure for AIDS and a vaccine to prevent further infection would be developed. The President focused on his administration's accomplishments and efforts related to the [[epidemic]], including an accelerated drug-approval process. He also condemned [[homophobia]] and discrimination against people with [[HIV]]. Clinton announced three new initiatives: creating a special working group to coordinate AIDS research throughout the [[Federal government]]; convening public health experts to develop an action plan that integrates HIV prevention with substance abuse prevention; and launching a new effort by the [[Justice Department]] to ensure that health care facilities provide equal access to people with HIV and AIDS.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Activists at gathering plead with Clinton to take the lead |journal=AIDS Policy & Law |date=December 29, 1995 |volume=10 |issue=22 |pages=1, 10 |pmid=11362952 }}</ref>
 
[[File:Coat of Arms of Bill Clinton.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Clinton's coat of arms, granted by the [[Chief Herald of Ireland]] in 1995]]
 
The [[White House FBI files controversy]] of June 1996 arose concerning improper access by the White House to [[FBI]] security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone, head of the White House Office of Personnel Security, improperly requested, and received from the FBI, background report files without asking permission of the subject individuals; many of these were employees of former Republican administrations.<ref>{{cite web|first=Robert | last=Ray |author-link=Robert Ray (prosecutor) |url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/icreport/marceca/sec1-2.pdf |title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel&nbsp;... of the Investigation In Re: Anthony Marceca |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |date=March 16, 2000 |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In March 2000, Independent Counsel [[Robert Ray (prosecutor)|Robert Ray]] determined there was no credible evidence of any crime. Ray's report further stated, "there was no substantial and credible evidence that any senior White House official was involved" in seeking the files.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/28/clinton.filegate |title=Independent counsel: No evidence to warrant prosecution against first lady in 'filegate' |publisher=CNN |date=July 28, 2000 |access-date=April 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529015957/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/28/clinton.filegate/ |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
On September 21, 1996, Clinton signed into law the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] (DOMA), which defined marriage for federal purposes as the legal union of one man and one woman; the legislation allowed individual states to refuse to recognize gay marriages that were performed in other states.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-104publ199 | publisher=United States Government Printing Office | title=PUBLIC LAW 104–199—DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT}}</ref> [[Paul Yandura]], speaking for the White House gay and lesbian liaison office, said Clinton's signing DOMA "was a political decision that they made at the time of a re-election". In defense of his actions, Clinton has said that DOMA was intended to "head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states", a possibility he described as highly likely in the context of a "very reactionary Congress".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/bill-clinton-doma-2012-3/ | work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] | first=Frank | last=Rich | title=Bill Clinton's shifting justifications for signing the Defense of Marriage Act | date=February 26, 2012}}</ref> Administration spokesman [[Richard Socarides]] said, "the alternatives we knew were going to be far worse, and it was time to move on and get the president re-elected."<ref name=metroweekly>{{cite news | url=https://www.metroweekly.com/2011/09/becoming-law/ | work=[[Metro Weekly]] | first=Chris | last=Geidner | title=Becoming Law | date=September 29, 2011}}</ref> Clinton himself said DOMA was something "which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for Bush up, I think it's obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/bill-clinton-doma-2012-3/ | title=Bill Clinton's Justifications for Signing DOMA—New York Magazine | work=New York | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> Others were more critical. The veteran gay rights and gay marriage activist [[Evan Wolfson]] has called these claims "historic revisionism".<ref name=metroweekly /> In a July 2, 2011, editorial ''The New York Times'' opined, "The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 as an election-year wedge issue, signed by President Bill Clinton in one of his worst policy moments."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/opinion/sunday/03sun1.html | work=The New York Times | title=Unfinished Business: The Defense of Marriage Act | date=July 2, 2011 | department=Editorial}}</ref> Ultimately, in [[United States v. Windsor]], the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in June 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-court-ruled-on-doma-and-prop-8 | title=How The Court Ruled on DOMA and Prop. 8 | first=Richard | last=Socarides | date=June 26, 2013 | work=[[The New Yorker]] | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>
 
Despite DOMA, Clinton was the first president to select openly gay persons for administrative positions,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/ac399.html | title=ClintonGore Accomplishments: Gay and Lesbian Americans | publisher=Clinton2.nara.gov | access-date=September 12, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319132707/http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/ac399.html | archive-date=March 19, 2013 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> and he is generally credited as being the first president to publicly champion gay rights.<ref name="newyorker.com">{{cite web | last=Socarides | first=Richard | url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-bill-clinton-signed-the-defense-of-marriage-act | title=Why Bill Clinton Signed the Defense of Marriage Act | work=The New Yorker | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> During his presidency, Clinton issued two substantially controversial executive orders on behalf of gay rights, the first lifting the ban on security clearances for LGBT federal employees<ref>Volsky, Igor. (August 5, 1995) [http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/08/05/288942/clinton-issued-order-letting-gays-get-security-clearances-16-years-ago-today/?mobile=nc Clinton Issued Order Letting Gays Get Security Clearances 16 Years Ago Today] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326175219/http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/08/05/288942/clinton-issued-order-letting-gays-get-security-clearances-16-years-ago-today/?mobile=nc |date=March 26, 2014 }}</ref> and the second outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in the federal civilian workforce.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/29/us/clinton-grants-gay-workers-job-protection.html | title=Clinton Grants Gay Workers Job Protection | work=The New York Times | date=May 29, 1998 | access-date=September 12, 2013}}</ref> Under Clinton's leadership, federal funding for HIV/AIDS research, prevention and treatment more than doubled.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://archive.hhs.gov/news/press/2000pres/00fsaids.html | title=2000.12.01: (Fact Sheet) Clinton Administration Record on HIV/AIDS | publisher=Archive.hhs.gov | access-date=September 12, 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930185839/http://archive.hhs.gov/news/press/2000pres/00fsaids.html | archive-date=September 30, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Clinton also pushed for passing hate crimes laws for gays and for the private sector [[Employment Non-Discrimination Act]], which, buoyed by his lobbying, failed to pass the Senate by a single vote in 1996.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/104-1996/s281 | title=S. 2056 (104th): Employment Nondiscrimination Act of 1996 (On Passage of the Bill) | publisher=Govtrack.us | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> Advocacy for these issues, paired with the politically unpopular nature of the gay rights movement at the time, led to enthusiastic support for Clinton's election and reelection by the [[Human Rights Campaign]].<ref name="newyorker.com" /> Clinton came out for gay marriage in July 2009<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/bill-clinton-backs-same-sex-marriage/ | title=Bill Clinton Backs Same-Sex Marriage | magazine=[[The Nation]] | date=July 14, 2009 | access-date=February 22, 2020| last1=Tracey | first1=Michael }}</ref> and urged the Supreme Court to overturn DOMA in 2013.<ref>{{cite news | last=Clinton | first=Bill | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bill-clinton-its-time-to-overturn-doma/2013/03/07/fc184408-8747-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html | title=It's time to overturn DOMA | work=The Washington Post | date=March 7, 2013 | access-date=September 12, 2013}}</ref> He was later honored by [[GLAAD]] for his prior pro-gay stances and his reversal on DOMA.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/entertainment/glaad-honours-bill-clinton-2013042206 | work=[[3 News NZ]] | title=GLAAD honours Bill Clinton| date=April 22, 2013}}</ref>
 
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| quote = "When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web&nbsp;... Now even [[Socks (cat)|my cat]] has its own page."
| source = Bill Clinton's announcement of [[Next Generation Internet Program|Next Generation Internet initiative]], October 1996.<ref name="NetValley">{{cite news | first=Gregory | last=Gromov | url=http://www.netvalley.com | title=History of the Internet and World Wide Web | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720213401/http://www.netvalley.com/| archive-date=July 20, 2011 <!-- DASHBot -->| url-status=live}}</ref>
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The [[1996 United States campaign finance controversy]] was an alleged effort by [[China]] to influence the domestic policies of the United States, before and during the Clinton administration, and involved the fundraising practices of the administration itself.<ref name="wsjchinagate">{{cite news |title=China Was Bill Clinton's Russia |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-was-bill-clintons-russia-1488585526 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 3, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Not All Foreign-Influence Scandals Are Created Equal |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/07/chinese-illegally-donated-bill-clinton-reelection-campaign-media-downplayed/ |work=[[National Review]] |date=July 16, 2017}}</ref> Despite the evidence,<ref name="wsjchinagate"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Findings Link Clinton Allies to Chinese Intelligence |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/02/10/findings-link-clinton-allies-to-chinese-intelligence/87265d5d-7452-41f2-ad2f-aa4abe7e579e/?noredirect=on |work=The Washington Post|first=Bob|last=Woodward|author-link=Bob Woodward |date=February 10, 1998}}</ref> the [[Government of China|Chinese government]] denied all accusations.<ref name=embassy>{{cite news|first1=Bob | last1=Woodward |first2=Brian | last2=Duffy | author-link1=Bob Woodward | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/china1.htm | title=Chinese Embassy Role In Contributions Probed | work=[[The Washington Post]] | date=February 13, 1997 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref>
 
As part of a 1996 initiative to curb [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigration]], Clinton signed the [[Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996|Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act]] (IIRIRA) on September 30, 1996. Appointed by Clinton,<ref>{{cite news | author=Louis Freedberg | url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-WASHINGTON-New-Limits-In-Works-on-3031581.php | title=New Limits In Works on Immigration / Powerful commission focusing on families of legal entrants | newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] | date=June 2, 1995 | access-date=February 22, 2020 }}</ref> the [[History of laws concerning immigration and naturalization in the United States#1990s|U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform]] recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800,000 people a year to about 550,000.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jones Jr.|first=Plummer Alston | year=2004 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmSKvXN2a1IC&pg=PA153 | title=Still Struggling for Equality: American public library services with minorities | publisher=Libraries Unlimited | page=154 | isbn=1-59158-243-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/08/us/clinton-embraces-a-proposal-to-cut-immigration-by-a-third.html | title=Clinton Embraces a Proposal To Cut Immigration by a Third | first=Robert | last=Pear | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 8, 1995 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref>
 
[[Ken Gormley (academic)|Ken Gormley]], author of ''The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr'', reveals in his book that Clinton narrowly escaped possible assassination in the Philippines in November 1996. During his visit to the [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]] (APEC) forum in Manila, while he was on his way to meet with a senior member of the Philippine government, Clinton was saved from danger minutes before his motorcade was scheduled to drive over a bridge charged with a timed improvised explosive device (IED).<ref name="youtube.com">{{cite AV media |last1=Discovery TV | title=Clinton Assassination Attempt—Secret Service Secrets | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvhldq-OHK0 | via=YouTube | access-date=March 29, 2015}}</ref> According to officials, the IED was large enough to "blow up the entire presidential motorcade".<ref name="Crown Publishing Group">{{cite book|last1=Gormley|first1=Ken | title=The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr | date=February 1, 2011 | publisher=Crown Publishing Group | isbn=978-0-307-40945-4 | page=800}}</ref> Details of the plot were revealed to Gormley by [[Lewis C. Merletti]], former member of the presidential protection detail and Director of the [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]]. Intelligence officers intercepted a radio transmission indicating there was a wedding cake under a bridge.<ref name="youtube.com" /> This alerted Merletti and others as Clinton's motorcade was scheduled to drive over a major bridge in downtown Manila.<ref name="Crown Publishing Group" /> Once more, the word "wedding" was the code name used by a terrorist group for a past assassination attempt.<ref name="Crown Publishing Group" /> Merletti wanted to reroute the motorcade, but the alternate route would add forty-five minutes to the drive time. Clinton was very angry, as he was already late for the meeting, but following the advice of the secret service possibly saved his life. Two other bombs had been discovered in Manila earlier in the week so the threat level that day was high.<ref>{{cite news|last1=N.A. | title=Bombs Found As Manila Readies For APEC Summit | work=[[The Seattle Times]]}}</ref> Security personnel at the Manila International Airport uncovered several grenades and a timing device in a travel bag.<ref name="Explosives Found Near Summit Site">{{cite news|last1=N.A. | title=Explosives Found Near Summit Site | agency=Associated Press | work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Officials also discovered a bomb near a major U.S. naval base.<ref name="Explosives Found Near Summit Site" /> The president was scheduled to visit both these locations later in the week. An intense investigation took place into the events in Manila and it was discovered that the group behind the bridge bomb was a Saudi terrorist group in Afghanistan known as [[al-Qaeda]] and the plot was masterminded by [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name="Crown Publishing Group" /> Until recently, this thwarted assassination attempt was never made public and remained top secret. Only top members of the U.S. intelligence community were aware of these events.<ref name="Crown Publishing Group" />
 
===1996 presidential election===
[[File:ElectoralCollege1996.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|1996 electoral vote results]]
 
In the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 presidential election]], Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2 percent of the popular vote over Republican [[Bob Dole]] (40.7 percent of the popular vote) and [[Reform Party of the United States of America|Reform]] candidate Ross Perot (8.4 percent of the popular vote). Clinton received 379 of the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes. He became the first Democratic incumbent since [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] to be elected to a second term and the first Democrat since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to be elected president more than once.<ref name="Clinton@2">{{Cite book | last=Jones | first=Charles O. | title=The Presidency in a Separated System | url=https://archive.org/details/presidencysepara00jone | url-access=limited | publisher=[[The Brookings Institution]] | year=2005 | page=[https://archive.org/details/presidencysepara00jone/page/n336 318]}}</ref>
 
===Second term (1997–2001)===
 
In the January 1997, State of the Union address, Clinton proposed a new initiative to provide health coverage to up to five million children. Senators [[Ted Kennedy]]—a Democrat—and [[Orrin Hatch]]—a Republican—teamed up with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her staff in 1997, and succeeded in passing legislation forming the [[State Children's Health Insurance Program]] (SCHIP), the largest (successful) health care reform in the years of the Clinton Presidency. That year, Hillary Clinton shepherded through Congress the [[Adoption and Safe Families Act]] and two years later she succeeded in helping pass the [[Foster Care Independence Act]]. Bill Clinton negotiated the passage of the [[Balanced Budget Act of 1997]] by the Republican Congress. In October 1997, he announced he was getting hearing aids, due to hearing loss attributed to his age, and his time spent as a musician in his youth.<ref>{{cite news | last=Shogren | first=Elizabeth | title=Clinton to Get Hearing Aids for Both Ears | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-04-mn-39089-story.html | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=October 4, 1997 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> In 1999, he signed into law the Financial Services Modernization Act also known as the [[Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act]], which repealed the part of the [[Glass–Steagall Act]] that had prohibited a bank from offering a full range of [[Investment banking|investment]], [[commercial bank]]ing, and insurance services since its enactment in 1933.<ref>{{cite news | title=Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 | url=https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gramm_leach_bliley_act | publisher=Federal Reserve History | access-date=February 22, 2020 }}</ref>
 
====Impeachment and acquittal====
 
{{Main|Impeachment of Bill Clinton|Impeachment trial of Bill Clinton}}
[[File:Senate in session.jpg|thumb|Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999]]
 
After [[Impeachment inquiry against Bill Clinton|a House inquiry]], Clinton was [[impeachment|impeached]] on December 19, 1998, by the House of Representatives. The House voted 228–206 to impeach him for perjury to a [[grand jury]]<ref name=ai>{{cite web | author = Miller, Lorraine C. | title = Final vote results for roll call 543 | publisher = Office of the Clerk | date = December 19, 1998 | url = http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll543.xml | access-date = April 20, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100106230404/http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll543.xml | archive-date = January 6, 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> and voted 221–212 to impeach him for obstruction of justice.<ref name=aiii>{{cite web | author = Miller, Lorraine C. | title = Final vote results for roll call 545 | publisher = Office of the Clerk | date = December 19, 1998 | url = http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll545.xml | access-date = April 20, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100302015416/http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll545.xml | archive-date = March 2, 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> Clinton was only the second U.S. president (after [[Andrew Johnson]]) to be impeached.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-clinton-impeached|title=President Clinton impeached|work=This Day in History {{!}} December 19|publisher=HISTORY|access-date=December 12, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-have-presidents-been-impeached-for-these-were-the-articles-of-impeachment-johnson-nixon-and-clinton/|title=What have presidents been impeached for? These were the articles of impeachment for Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton|work=CBS News |language=en-US|access-date=December 12, 2019}}</ref> Impeachment proceedings were based on allegations that Clinton had illegally lied about and covered up his relationship with 22-year-old White House (and later [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]) employee [[Monica Lewinsky]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Time Line | date=September 13, 1998 | page=A32 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/timeline.htm | work=The Washington Post | access-date=January 20, 2007}}</ref> After the [[Starr Report]] was submitted to the House providing what it termed "substantial and credible information that President Clinton Committed Acts that May Constitute Grounds for an Impeachment",<ref>{{cite book | title=The Starr Report: The Findings of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr on President Clinton and the Lewinsky Affair | year=1998 | isbn=1-891620-24-X | url=https://archive.org/details/starrreportfindi00star }}</ref> the House began impeachment hearings against Clinton before the [[United States midterm election|mid-term elections]]. To hold impeachment proceedings, the Republican leadership called a [[lame-duck session]] in December 1998.
 
[[File:Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.jpg|thumb|Future president [[Donald Trump]] and Clinton shaking hands at [[Trump Tower (Manhattan)|Trump Tower]], June 2000]]
While the [[House Judiciary Committee]] hearings ended in a straight party-line vote, there was lively debate on the House floor. The two charges passed in the House (largely with Republican support, but with a handful of Democratic votes as well) were for perjury and obstruction of justice. The perjury charge arose from Clinton's testimony before a grand jury that had been convened to investigate perjury he may have committed in his sworn deposition during ''[[Clinton v. Jones|Jones v. Clinton]],'' Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/pjones.htm | title=Case Closed | first=Dan | last=Froomkin | work=The Washington Post | date=August 26, 1999 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> The obstruction charge was based on his actions to conceal his relationship with Lewinsky before and after that deposition.
 
The Senate later acquitted Clinton of both charges.<ref name=senvoteai>{{cite web | author=Senate LIS | title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 106th Congress—1st Session: vote number 17—Guilty or Not Guilty (Art I, Articles of Impeachment v. President W. J. Clinton) | publisher=United States Senate | date=February 12, 1999 | url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00017 |access-date =February 22, 2020}}</ref> The Senate refused to meet to hold an impeachment trial before the end of the old term, so the trial was held over until the next Congress. Clinton was represented by Washington law firm [[Williams & Connolly]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Clinton impeached | work=BBC News | date=December 19, 1998 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/clinton_under_fire/latest_news/238784.stm | access-date=October 29, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211142909/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/clinton_under_fire/latest_news/238784.stm | archive-date=December 11, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> The Senate finished a twenty-one-day trial on February 12, 1999, with the vote of 55 not guilty/45 guilty on the perjury charge<ref name=senvoteai /> and 50 not guilty/50 guilty on the obstruction of justice charge.<ref name="washingtonpostimpeachment">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-impeachment/senate-acquits-president-clinton/ | title=The Senate Acquits President Clinton | work=The Washington Post | date=February 13, 1999 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> Both votes fell short of the constitutional two-thirds majority requirement to convict and remove an officeholder. The final vote was generally along party lines, with no Democrats voting guilty, and only a handful of Republicans voting not guilty.<ref name=senvoteai />
 
On January 19, 2001, Clinton's law license was suspended for five years after he acknowledged to an Arkansas circuit court that he had engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in the ''Jones'' case.<ref name="arkcomm">{{cite court |litigants=Neal v. Clinton |opinion=Civ. No. 2000-5677 |pinpoint=Agreed Order of Discipline |court=Ark. Cir. Ct. |year=2001 |url=https://courts.arkansas.gov/sites/default/files/opc_opinions_59 |quote=Mr. Clinton admits and acknowledges&nbsp;... that his discovery responses interfered with the conduct of the ''Jones'' case by causing the court and counsel for the parties to expend unnecessary time, effort, and resources |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826214725/https://www.arcourts.gov/sites/default/files/opc_opinions_59 |archive-date=August 26, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="wsj01plea">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB980120797221261327|title=Bill cops a plea|author=<!--No by-line.-->|date=January 22, 2001|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
 
====Pardons and commutations ====
 
Clinton [[Bill Clinton pardon controversy|issued]] 141 pardons and 36 commutations on his last day in office on January 20, 2001.<ref name="The Survivor" /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010120/aponline135239_000.htm | title=Clinton Pardon's List | agency=[[Associated Press]] | work=[[The Washington Post]] | date=January 20, 2001 | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-date=January 15, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115053709/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010120/aponline135239_000.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> Controversy surrounded [[Marc Rich]] and allegations that Hillary Clinton's brother, [[Hugh Edwin Rodham|Hugh Rodham]], accepted payments in return for influencing the president's decision-making regarding the pardons.<ref>{{cite news | title=Clinton pardons: Cast of characters | work=BBC News | date=February 22, 2001 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1184118.stm | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Federal prosecutor [[Mary Jo White]] was appointed to investigate the pardon of Rich. She was later replaced by then-Republican [[James Comey]]. The investigation found no wrongdoing on Clinton's part.<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/james-comey-fbi-bill-clinton-233808</ref> Clinton also pardoned 4 defendants in the [[Whitewater Scandal]], [[Chris Wade (real estate broker)|Chris Wade]], [[Susan McDougal]], [[Stephen Smith (Whitewater)|Stephen Smith]], and [[Robert W. Palmer]]. All of whom had ties to Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite web|last=News|first=A. B. C.|title=Clinton Pardons McDougal, Hearst, Others|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122001&page=1|access-date=2021-08-11|website=ABC News|language=en}}</ref> Former Clinton [[HUD Secretary]] [[Henry Cisneros]], who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, was also among Clinton’s pardons.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stout|first=David|date=2001-01-20|title=Clinton Pardons McDougal, Cisneros|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/20/politics/clinton-pardons-mcdougal-cisneros.html|access-date=2021-08-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
 
==== Campaign finance controversies ====
{{Further information|Lincoln Bedroom for contributors controversy|1996 United States campaign finance controversy}}
In February 1997 it was discovered upon documents being released by the [[Clinton Administration]] that 938 people had stayed at the white house and that 821 of them had made donations to the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and got the opportunity to stay in the Lincoln bedroom as a result of the donations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AllPolitics - White House Sleepovers - Feb. 25, 1997|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/02/25/clinton.money/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref><ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{Cite web|title=Washingtonpost.com: Campaign Finance Special Report|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/lincoln.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> Some donors included [[Steven Spielberg]], [[Tom Hanks]], [[Jane Fonda]], and [[Judy Collins]]. Top donors also got golf games and morning jogs with Clinton as a result of the contributions.<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/> [[Janet Reno]] was called on to investigate the matter by [[Trent Lott]], but she refused.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AllPolitics - Reno Resisting Pressure - Feb. 27, 1997|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/02/27/fundraising/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref>
 
In 1996, it was found that several Chinese foreigners made contributions to Clinton’s reelection campaign and the [[Democratic National Committee]] with the backing of the [[People's Republic of China]]. Some of them also attempted to donate to Clinton’s defense fund.<ref>{{Cite web|title=washingtonpost.com: Campaign Finance Key Player – Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/players/trie.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> This violated United States law forbidding non-American citizens from making campaign contributions. Clinton and [[Al Gore]] also allegedly met with the foreign donors.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AllPolitics - Fund-Raising Flap - Cast of Characters|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/infocus/fundraising.flap/characters.html|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-05-24|title=Chinese Aerospace Official Denies Giving To Democrats - May 21, 1998|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524033516/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/21/china.money/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=web.archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2006-08-05|title=Fund-raiser Charlie Trie pleads guilty under plea agreement - May 21, 1999|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060805092557/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/05/21/trie/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=web.archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-04-23|title=AllPolitics - A Chinese Spy? - May 12, 1997|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423050727/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/05/12/chinese.donor/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=web.archive.org}}</ref> A republican investigation led by [[Fred Thompson]] found that Clinton was targeted by the Chinese government. However, Democratic senator [[Joe Lieberman]] and [[John Glenn]] said that the evidence showed that china only targeted congressional elections and not presidential elections.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Washingtonpost.com: Campaign Finance Special Report|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/cf072097.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref>
 
===Military and foreign affairs===
 
{{Further|Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration}}
[[File:President Clinton talks with Col. Paul Fletcher, USAF.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Colonel (United States)|Col.]] [[Paul J. Fletcher|Paul Fletcher]], [[United States Air Force|USAF]] and Clinton speak before boarding [[Air Force One]], November 4, 1999.]]
 
====Somalia====
 
The [[Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Battle of Mogadishu]] occurred in [[Somalia]] in 1993. During the operation, [[MH-60 Black Hawk|two U.S. helicopters]] were shot down by [[rocket-propelled grenade]] attacks to their [[tail rotor]]s, trapping soldiers behind enemy lines. This resulted in an urban battle that killed 18 American soldiers, wounded 73 others, and one was taken prisoner. There were many more Somali casualties. Some of the American bodies were dragged through the streets—a spectacle broadcast on television news programs. In response, U.S. forces were withdrawn from Somalia and later conflicts were approached with fewer soldiers on the ground.<ref>{{cite news |title=The people killed them. Chopped them up. I consider myself lucky |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1993/oct/09/usa |work=The Guardian |date=October 9, 1993}}</ref><ref>Cori Elizabeth Dauber, "The shot seen 'round the world': The impact of the images of Mogadishu on American military operations." ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 4.4 (2001): 653-687 [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cori_Dauber/publication/236815694_The_Shot_Seen_%27Round_the_World_The_Impact_of_the_Images_of_Mogadishu_on_American_Military_Operations/links/576941a708ae2d7145ba7bbe.pdf online].</ref>
 
====Rwanda====
In April 1994, [[Rwandan genocide|genocide]] broke out in [[Rwanda]]. Intelligence reports indicate that Clinton was aware a "final solution to eliminate all Tutsis" was underway, long before the administration publicly used the word "genocide".<ref>{{cite news|last=Carrol|first=Rory|title=US chose to ignore Rwandan genocide|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/31/usa.rwanda|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=April 1, 2004|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228191139/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/31/usa.rwanda|archive-date=December 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=[[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] |title=Secretary [of State Warren Christopher]'s Morning Summary |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB117/Rw23.pdf |date=April 26, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |title=National Intelligence Daily |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB117/Rw34.pdf |date=April 23, 1994}}</ref> Fearing a reprisal of the events in Somalia the previous year, Clinton chose not to intervene.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ambush in Mogadishu: Transcript |publisher=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ambush/etc/script.html |access-date=October 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506142008/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ambush/etc/script.html |archive-date=May 6, 2009 |url-status=live  }}</ref> President Clinton has referred to the failure of the U.S. government to intervene in the genocide as one of his main foreign policy failings, saying "I don't think we could have ended the violence, but I think we could have cut it down. And I regret it."<ref>{{cite news|last=Chozick|first=Amy|title=In Africa, Bill Clinton Toils for a Charitable Legacy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/us/politics/in-africa-bill-clinton-works-to-leave-a-charitable-legacy.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 4, 2012 |access-date=October 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022022004/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/us/politics/in-africa-bill-clinton-works-to-leave-a-charitable-legacy.html?pagewanted=all|archive-date=October 22, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
====Bosnia and Herzegovina====
 
[[File:President Clinton meeting with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in Tuzla, Bosnia - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|right|Clinton meeting with Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina [[Alija Izetbegović]] in [[Tuzla]], Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 22, 1997.]]
 
In 1995, U.S. and [[NATO]] aircraft [[1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina|bombed Bosnian Serb targets]] to halt attacks on U.N. safe zones and pressure them into a peace accord that would end the [[Bosnian war]]. Clinton deployed U.S. peacekeepers to Bosnia in late 1995, to uphold the subsequent [[Dayton Agreement]].<ref>Halberstam, 2001, pp 349–60.</ref>
 
====Irish peace talks====
 
In 1992, before his presidency, Clinton proposed sending a peace envoy to [[Northern Ireland]], but this was dropped to avoid tensions with the [[Government of the United Kingdom|UK government]]. In 1994, Clinton angered London by granting a visa to [[Gerry Adams]], leader of [[Sinn Féin]], the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]]'s political arm. In November 1995, Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit [[Northern Ireland]], seeing both the divided communities of [[Belfast]] and later famously shaking Adams' hand, 14 months into an IRA ceasefire during [[the Troubles]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/30/newsid_4459000/4459860.stm|title=1995: Clinton kindles hope in Northern Ireland|date=November 30, 1995 |language=en-GB |access-date=December 12, 2019}}</ref> Despite [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]] criticism, Clinton used this as a way to negotiate an end to the violent conflict with London, Dublin, the paramilitaries and the other groups. Clinton went on to play a key role in the [[Northern Ireland peace process|peace talks]], which eventually led to the [[Good Friday Agreement]] in 1998.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1065913.stm|title=Clinton: His role in Northern Ireland|date=December 11, 2000 |language=en-GB |access-date=December 12, 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin 1994.jpg|thumb|right|Clinton plays the saxophone presented to him by Russian president [[Boris Yeltsin]] at a private dinner in Russia, January 13, 1994]]
 
====Iran====
 
In February 1996, the Clinton administration agreed to pay Iran US$131.8{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|131.8|1996|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) in settlement to discontinue a case brought by Iran in 1989 against the U.S. in the [[International Court of Justice]] after the shooting down of [[Iran Air Flight 655]] by the U.S. Navy [[guided missile cruiser]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/07/the-vincennes-downing-of-iran-air-flight-655-the-united-states-tried-to-cover-up-its-own-destruction-of-a-passenger-plane.html | title=America's Flight 17 | work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|first=Fred|last=Kaplan | date=July 23, 2014}}</ref>
 
====Osama bin Laden====
 
Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the U.S. government during the presidency of Bill Clinton (and continued to be until [[Death of Osama bin Laden|bin Laden's death in 2011]]).<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html | title=Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden | publisher=CNN | date=September 24, 2006 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Despite claims by [[Mansoor Ijaz]] and Sudanese officials that the Sudanese government had offered to arrest and extradite bin Laden, and that U.S. authorities rejected each offer,<ref name="articles.latimes.com">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-05-oe-ijaz05-story.html | title=Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastisize | work=Los Angeles Times | date=December 5, 2001 | access-date=February 22, 2020 | first=Mansoor | last=Ijaz}}</ref> the [[9/11 Commission Report]] stated that "we have not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_5.pdf | title=Staff Statement No. 5 | publisher=9/11 Commission | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>
 
In response to a 1996 State Department warning about bin Laden<ref>{{cite news | last=Lichtblau | first=Eric | title=State Dept. Says It Warned About bin Laden in 1996 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/world/asia/state-dept-says-it-warned-about-bin-laden-in-1996.html | work=The New York Times | date=August 17, 2005 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> and the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa]] by al-Qaeda (which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans), Clinton ordered several military missions to capture or kill bin Laden, all of which were unsuccessful. In August 1998, Clinton [[Operation Infinite Reach|ordered cruise missile strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan]], targeting the [[Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory]] in Sudan, which was suspected of assisting bin Laden in making chemical weapons, and bin Laden's terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web | first=John | last=Pike | url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/bgm-109-operation.htm | title=BGM-109 Tomahawk—Smart Weapons | publisher=Globalsecurity.org | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref>
 
====Kosovo====
 
[[File:President Clinton greets the crowd at Spangdahlem Air Base.jpg|thumb|left|Clinton greets Air Force personnel at [[Spangdahlem Air Base]], May 5, 1999.]]
 
In the midst of a brutal crackdown on [[Kosovo Liberation Army|ethnic Albanian separatists]] in the province of [[Kosovo]] by the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], Clinton authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces in a NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, named [[Operation Allied Force]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clines |first1=Francis X. |title=NATO Opens Broad Barrage Against Serbs as Clinton Denounces 'Brutal Repression' |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/032599kosovo-rdp.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 25, 1999}}</ref> The stated reasoning behind the intervention was to stop the [[ethnic cleansing]] (and what the Clinton administration labeled [[genocide]])<ref>{{cite web|last=Cohen |first=William |date=April 7, 1999 |url=https://archive.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=582 |title=Secretary Cohen's Press Conference at NATO Headquarters |access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Clinton |first=Bill |date=August 30, 2011 |url=http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/06/1999-06-25-press-conference-by-the-president.html |title=Press Conference by the President |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006054609/http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/06/1999-06-25-press-conference-by-the-president.html |archive-date=October 6, 2006 }}</ref> of Albanians by Yugoslav anti-guerilla military units. General [[Wesley Clark]] was [[Supreme Allied Commander Europe|Supreme Allied Commander of NATO]] and oversaw the mission. With [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244]], the bombing campaign ended on June 10, 1999. The resolution placed Kosovo under UN administration and authorized a [[Kosovo Force|peacekeeping force]] to be deployed to the region.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm | title=Resolution 1244 (1999) | date=June 10, 1999 | publisher=NATO | access-date=August 17, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135857/http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm| archive-date= June 29, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> NATO announced its soldiers all survived combat,<ref name="roblect">{{cite web | first=Adam | last=Roberts | url=https://lisd.princeton.edu/sites/lisd2017/files/Roberts_Lecture.pdf | title=The Impact of the Laws of War in Contemporary Conflicts (PDF) | date=April 10, 2003 | publisher=Princeton University | access-date=February 22, 2020 | archive-date=February 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223022737/https://lisd.princeton.edu/sites/lisd2017/files/Roberts_Lecture.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> though two died in an [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|Apache helicopter]] crash.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/335709.stm | title=Two die in Apache crash | work=BBC News | date=May 5, 1999 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> Journalists in the popular press criticized genocide statements by the Clinton administration as false and greatly exaggerated.<ref>{{cite web | last=Pilger | first=John | date=September 4, 2000 | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/151946 | title=US and British officials told us that at least 100,000 were murdered in Kosovo. A year later, fewer than 3,000 bodies have been found | work=[[New Statesman]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first1=Daniel | last1=Pearl |first2=Robert | last2=Block | date=December 31, 1999 | url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB946593838546941319 | title=Despite Tales, the War in Kosovo Was Savage, but Wasn't Genocide | work=The Wall Street Journal | page= A1}}</ref> Prior to the bombing campaign on March 24, 1999, common estimates showed that the number of civilians killed in the over year long [[Kosovo war|conflict in Kosovo]] had approximately been 1,800, of which were primarily Albanians but also Serbs and that there was no evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Layne |first1=Christopher |last2=Schwarz |first2=Benjamin |title=Was It A Mistake? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-03/26/081r-032600-idx.html |work=The Washington Post |date=March 26, 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cockburn |first1=Alexander |title=Where's the Evidence of Genocide of Kosovar Albanians? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-29-me-27493-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 29, 1999}}</ref> In a post-war inquiry, the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] noted "the patterns of the expulsions and the vast increase in lootings, killings, rape, kidnappings and pillage once the NATO air war began on March 24".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |title=Monitors' Reports Provide Chronicle of Kosovo Terror |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/05/world/monitors-reports-provide-chronicle-of-kosovo-terror.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> In 2001, the [[United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo|U.N.-supervised]] [[Judiciary of Kosovo|Supreme Court of Kosovo]] ruled that genocide (the [[genocidal intent|intent to destroy]] a people) did not take place, but recognized "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments" with the intention being the forceful departure of the Albanian population.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1530781.stm | title=Kosovo assault 'was not genocide' | work=BBC News | date=September 7, 2001 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> The term "ethnic cleansing" was used as an alternative to "genocide" to denote not just ethnically motivated murder but also displacement, though critics charge there is little difference.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | author=George J. Andreopoulos | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ethnic-cleansing | title=Ethnic Cleansing | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> [[Slobodan Milošević]], the president of Yugoslavia at the time of the atrocities, was [[Trial of Slobodan Milošević|eventually brought to trial]] before the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] in [[the Hague]] on charges including [[crimes against humanity]] and war crimes for his role in the war.<ref name="Milosevic Charges">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1402790.stm#kosovo | title=The charges against Milosevic | work=BBC News | date=March 11, 2006 | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> He died in 2006, before the completion of the trial.<ref name="Milosevic Charges" /><ref>{{cite news | title=Milosevic's war crimes trial a 4-year marathon | publisher=CNN | date=March 11, 2006 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/11/milosevic.trial/ | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref>
 
====Iraq====
 
In Clinton's [[1998 State of the Union Address]], he warned Congress that Iraqi dictator [[Saddam Hussein]] was building an arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.<ref>{{cite press release | title=Text of President Clinton's 1998 State of the Union Address | date=January 27, 1998 | first=Bill | last=Clinton | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/states/docs/sou98.htm | work=The Washington Post | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref>
 
[[File:Video Recording of Photo Opportunity at Camp David - NARA - 6037428.ogv|thumb|Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]], President Clinton and Palestinian leader [[Yasser Arafat]] at [[Camp David]], July 2000]]
 
Clinton signed the [[Iraq Liberation Act of 1998]] on October 31, 1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq, though it explicitly stated it did not provide for direct intervention on the part of American military forces.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/libera.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218092435/http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/libera.htm | archive-date=February 18, 2007 | title=Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, H.R.4655, One Hundred Fifth Congress of United States of America at Second Session | publisher=Library of Congress | access-date=February 18, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-bill/4655 | title=H.R.4655—Iraq Liberation Act of 1998| date=October 31, 1998}}</ref> The administration then launched a four-day bombing campaign named [[Operation Desert Fox]], lasting from December 16 to 19, 1998. At the end of this operation Clinton announced that "So long as Saddam remains in power, he will remain a threat to his people, his region, and the world. With our allies, we must pursue a strategy to contain him and to constrain his weapons of mass destruction program, while working toward the day Iraq has a government willing to live at peace with its people and with its neighbors."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/225872 | title=Address to the Nation on Completion of Military Strikes in Iraq | publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu | date=December 19, 1998 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> American and British aircraft in the Iraq no-fly zones attacked hostile Iraqi air defenses 166 times in 1999 and 78 times in 2000.<ref>{{cite web | first=John | last=Pike | url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/southern_watch.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009174722/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/southern_watch.htm | archive-date=October 9, 2007 | title=Operation Southern Watch | access-date=July 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first=John | last=Pike | url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/northern_watch.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009174419/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/northern_watch.htm | archive-date=October 9, 2007 | title=Operation Northern Watch | access-date=July 22, 2013}}</ref>
 
====China====
 
{{See also|1996 United States campaign finance controversy}}
[[File:Clinton and jiang.jpg|thumb|Clinton and Chinese president [[Jiang Zemin]] holding a joint press conference at the White House, October 29, 1997]]
 
On October 10, 2000, Clinton signed into law the [[U.S.–China Relations Act of 2000]], which granted [[permanent normal trade relations]] (PNTR) trade status to China.<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith |first=Matt |url=http://cgi.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/10/10/clinton.pntr |title=Clinton signs China trade bill |publisher=CNN |date=October 10, 2000 |access-date=July 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714142523/http://cgi.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/10/10/clinton.pntr/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> The president asserted that free trade would gradually open China to democratic reform.<ref>{{cite book | author=Peter B. Levy | year=2002 | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl00levy| url-access=registration | title=Encyclopedia of the Clinton Presidency | page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl00levy/page/57 57] | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn=0-313-31294-X}}</ref>
 
Relations were damaged briefly by the [[United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade|American bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade]] in May 1999. Clinton apologized for the bombing, stating it was accidental.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://congressionalresearch.com/RS20547/document.php |title = Chinese Embassy Bombing In Belgrade: Compensation Issues |publisher = Congressional Research Service }}</ref>
 
The [[United States–China Relations Act of 2000|U.S.–China Relations Act of 2000]] granted China [[permanent normal trade relations]] (NTR) status (previously called [[most favoured nation]] (MFN)) when China becomes a full member of the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), ending annual review and approval of NTR. The Act was signed into law on October 10, 2000 by Clinton.<ref>{{cite news |title=Waking the Sleeping Dragon |url=https://slate.com/business/2016/09/when-china-joined-the-wto-it-kick-started-the-chinese-economy-and-roused-a-giant.html |work=Slate |date=September 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Was Letting China Into the WTO a Mistake? |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-04-02/was-letting-china-wto-mistake |work=Foreign Affairs |date=April 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Normalizing Trade Relations With China Was a Mistake |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/06/normalizing-trade-relations-with-china-was-a-mistake/562403/ |work=The Atlantic |date=June 8, 2018}}</ref> President Clinton in 2000 pushed Congress to approve the U.S.-China trade agreement and China's accession to the WTO, saying that more trade with China would advance America's economic interests: "Economically, this agreement is the equivalent of a one-way street. It requires China to open its markets—with a fifth of the world's population, potentially the biggest markets in the world—to both our products and services in unprecedented new ways," said Clinton.<ref>[https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/Full_Text_of_Clintons_Speech_on_China_Trade_Bi.htm "Text of Clinton's Speech on China Trade Bill"], Federal News Service, March 9, 2000</ref>
 
==== Al-Shifa factory controversy ====
{{Further information|Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory}}
On August 20, 1998, Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes on a pharmaceutical factory in [[Sudan]], the strike killed 1 and wounded 11 others.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CNN - U.S. missiles pound targets in Afghanistan, Sudan - August 21, 1998|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/20/us.strikes.02/|access-date=2021-08-12|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref> Clinton alleged reason for the strike was that the factory was allegedly manufacturing or selling nerve gas. However, U.S. officials later said there was no evidence of the factory being involved in such activities.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lacey|first=Marc|date=2005-10-20|title=Look at the Place! Sudan Says, 'Say Sorry,' but U.S. Won't|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/world/africa/look-at-the-place-sudan-says-say-sorry-but-us-wont.html|access-date=2021-08-12|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As a result of the strikes, Sudan was left with no supplies of [[Chloroquine]] which was used to treat malaria. The lack of Chloroquine led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-06-14|title=United States Terrorism in the Sudan (by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed) - Media Monitors Network|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614024139/http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq16.html|access-date=2021-08-12|website=web.archive.org}}</ref>
 
====Israeli-Palestinian conflict====
 
After initial successes such as the [[Oslo Accords]] of the early 1990s, which also led to the [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]] in 1994 and the [[Wye River Memorandum]] in October 1998, Clinton attempted an effort to end the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]. He brought Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]] and Palestinian Authority chairman [[Yasser Arafat]] together at [[Camp David]] for the [[2000 Camp David Summit|Camp David Summit]] in July 2000, which lasted 14 days.<ref name="The Survivor" /> Following the failures of the peace talks, Clinton said Arafat had "missed the opportunity" to facilitate a "just and lasting peace". In his autobiography, Clinton blames Arafat for the collapse of the summit.<ref name="My Life" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last=Shyovitz | first=David | encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library | url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/cd2000art.html | title=Camp David 2000 | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719031905/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/cd2000art.html| archive-date=July 19, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> Following another attempt in December 2000 at [[Bolling Air Force Base]], in which the president offered the [[The Clinton Parameters|Clinton Parameters]], the situation broke down completely after the end of the [[Taba Summit]] and with the start of the [[Second Intifada]].<ref name="The Survivor" />
 
===Judicial appointments===
 
{{Main|Bill Clinton Supreme Court candidates|List of federal judges appointed by Bill Clinton}}
[[File:Announcement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as Nominee for Associate Supreme Court Justice at the White House - NARA - 131493870.jpg|thumb|[[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] accepting her nomination to the Supreme Court from President Clinton, 1993]]
 
Clinton appointed two justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]: [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] in 1993<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx | title=Biographies of Current Justices of the Supreme Court | publisher=Supreme Court | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721063602/https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx| archive-date=July 21, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Stephen Breyer]] in 1994.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://law.onecle.com/ussc/justices/512usxi-appointment-of-justice-breyer.html | title=Appointment and swearing in of Justice Breyer, 1994 | publisher=Law.onecle.com | date=September 30, 1994 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>
 
Clinton was the first president in history to appoint more women and minority judges than white male judges to the federal courts.<ref name="Scherer, p. 85">{{cite book|author=Nancy Scherer|title=Scoring Points: Politicians, Activists, and the Lower Federal Court Appointment Process|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=2005|page=85}}</ref> In his eight years in office, 11.6% of Clinton's court of appeals nominees and 17.4% of his district court nominees were black; 32.8% of his court of appeals nominees and 28.5% of his district court nominees were women.<ref name="Scherer, p. 85"/>
 
==Public opinion==
 
[[File:Clinton approval rating.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Clinton's [[United States presidential approval rating|approval ratings]] throughout his presidential career (Roper Center)]]
Throughout Clinton's first term, his job approval rating fluctuated in the 40s and 50s. In his second term, his rating consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm | title=Bill Clinton: Job Ratings | publisher=Pollingreport.com | access-date=August 17, 2011}}</ref> After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/20/impeachment.poll | title=Clinton's approval rating up in wake of impeachment | publisher=CNN | date=December 20, 1998 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> According to a [[CBS News]]/''New York Times'' poll, Clinton left office with an approval rating of 68&nbsp;percent, which matched those of Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/07/opinion/polls/main621632.shtml | title=A Look Back at the Polls | work=[[CBS News]] | first=Bootie | last=Cosgrove-Mather | date=June 7, 2004 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Clinton's average [[Gallup Organization|Gallup poll]] approval rating for his last quarter in office was 61%, the highest final quarter rating any president has received for fifty years.<ref name="Jan2001Gallup">David W. Moore, [http://www.gallup.com/poll/2125/clinton-leaves-office-mixed-public-reaction.aspx Clinton Leaves Office With Mixed Public Reaction], Gallup Organization (January 12, 2001).</ref> Forty-seven percent of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters.<ref name="Jan2001Gallup" />
 
As he was leaving office, a CNN/''[[USA Today]]''/Gallup poll revealed that 45&nbsp;percent of Americans said they would miss him; 55&nbsp;percent thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life"; 68&nbsp;percent thought he would be remembered more for his "involvement in personal scandal" than for "his accomplishments"; and 58&nbsp;percent answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?"<ref name="Jan2001Gallup" /> The same percentage said he would be remembered as either "outstanding" or "above average" as a president, while 22&nbsp;percent said he would be remembered as "below average" or "poor".<ref name="Jan2001Gallup" /> [[ABC News]] characterized public consensus on Clinton as, "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics—and he's done a heck of a good job."<ref name=langer>{{cite web| url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=120952| title=Poll: Clinton Legacy Mixed| work=ABC News| date=January 17, 2001| first=Gary | last=Langer | access-date=January 19, 2013}}</ref>
 
{{Image frame|align=right|width=440|caption=Public opinion of Bill Clinton (Gallup)<ref>{{cite web |title=Favorability: People in the News |date=October 12, 2007 |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/1618/Favorability-People-News.aspx |publisher=Gallup, Inc. |access-date=August 27, 2018 |language=en-us}}</ref>|content=
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'''William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton''' (born '''William Jefferson Blythe III'''; August 19, 1946) is an American politician and humanitarian activist. He was the 42nd [[president of the United States]] from 1993 to 2001. Before he was president, Clinton was the [[governor]] of [[Arkansas]] from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, as well as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979.  
 
In May 2006, a CNN poll comparing Clinton's job performance with that of his successor, George W. Bush, found that a strong majority of respondents said Clinton outperformed Bush in six different areas questioned.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/12/bush.clinton.poll/index.html | title=Poll: Clinton outperformed Bush | publisher=CNN | date=May 15, 2006 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Gallup polls in 2007 and 2011 showed that Clinton was regarded by 13 percent of Americans as the greatest president in U.S. history.<ref>Lydia Saad, [http://www.gallup.com/poll/26608/lincoln-resumes-position-americans-toprated-president.aspx Lincoln Resumes Position as Americans' Top-Rated President: Reagan and Clinton lead among members of their respective parties], Gallup (February 19, 2007).</ref><ref>Frank Newport, [Americans Say Reagan Is the Greatest U.S. President: Lincoln and Clinton next on the list; Washington fifth], Gallup (February 18, 2011).</ref>
 
In 2014, 18 percent of respondents in a [[Quinnipiac University Polling Institute]] poll of American voters regarded Clinton as the best president since World War II, making him the third most popular among postwar presidents, behind John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.<ref name="Q Poll">[http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2056 Obama Is First As Worst President Since WWII, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Voters Say Romney Would Have Been Better], Quinnipiac University (July 2, 2014).</ref> The same poll showed that just 3% of American voters regarded Clinton as the worst president since World War II.<ref name="Q Poll" />
 
A 2015 poll by ''[[The Washington Post]]'' asked 162 scholars of the [[American Political Science Association]] to rank all the U.S. presidents in order of greatness. According to their findings, Clinton ranked eighth overall, with a rating of 70 percent.<ref>{{cite news | first1=Brandon | last1=Rottinghaus | first2=Justin | last2=Vaughn | title=New ranking of U.S. presidents puts Lincoln at No. 1, Obama at 18; Kennedy judged most overrated | work=The Washington Post | date=February 16, 2015 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/16/new-ranking-of-u-s-presidents-puts-lincoln-1-obama-18-kennedy-judged-most-over-rated/ | access-date=March 24, 2015}}</ref>
 
==Public image==
{{Main|Public image of Bill Clinton}}
[[File:Bill Clinton 1995 im Parlament in London.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Clinton addressing the British parliament on November 29, 1995]]
[[File:Photograph of President William Jefferson Clinton Greeting People in a Large Crowd at a "Get Out the Vote" Rally in Los Angeles, California, 11 02 2000.jpg|thumb|Clinton at a Democratic "[[Get out the vote]]" rally in Los Angeles, California, on November 2, 2000]]
 
Clinton was the first [[baby boomers|baby boomer]] president.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sandalow |first=Marc |title=Clinton Era Marked by Scandal, Prosperity: 1st Baby Boomer in White House Changed Notions of Presidency |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 14, 2001 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/14/MN71509.DTL |access-date=October 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611162047/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2001%2F01%2F14%2FMN71509.DTL |archive-date=June 11, 2008 }}</ref> Authors Martin Walker and [[Bob Woodward]] stated that Clinton's innovative use of [[sound bite]]-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning were a major factor in his high public approval ratings.<ref>Martin Walker, ''Clinton: the President they deserve'', Fourth Estate 1999</ref><ref>Bob Woodward, ''The choice: how Clinton won'', Touchstone 1996, {{ISBN|0-684-81308-4}}</ref> When Clinton played the saxophone on ''[[The Arsenio Hall Show]]'', he was described by some religious conservatives as "the MTV president".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bresler |first=Robert J. |title=The Muddled Meaning of the 2000 Election |newspaper=USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education) |date=January 2001 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2668_129/ai_69698398 |access-date=January 2, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206194943/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2668_129/ai_69698398 |archive-date=February 6, 2008 }}</ref> Opponents sometimes referred to him as "Slick Willie", a nickname which was first applied to him in 1980 by ''Pine Bluff Commercial'' journalist [[Paul Greenberg (journalist)|Paul Greenberg]];<ref name=mafadgreenberg>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice/bill/greenberg.html American Frontline:Stories of Bill]. Retrieved May 4, 2015</ref> Greenberg believed that Clinton was abandoning the progressive policies of previous Arkansas Governors such as [[Winthrop Rockefeller]], [[Dale Bumpers]] and [[David Pryor]].<ref name=mafadgreenberg /> The claim "Slick Willie" would last throughout his presidency.<ref name=WaPoNickname>{{Cite news| title = It's Come To This: A Nickname That's Proven Hard to Slip | last = Mérida| first = Kevin| date = December 20, 1998 | work=The Washington Post | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/slick122098.htm}}</ref>  His folksy manner led him to be [[List of nicknames of United States Presidents|nicknamed]] [[Bubba]], especially in the South.<ref>{{cite news | first1=Charles | last1=Hurt | first2=Carl | last2=Campanile | url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/item_QmEh4WrpgVtGtmVB4prTtI | title=Rudy Bops Bubba | work= New York Post | date=June 27, 2007 | access-date=August 23, 2012}}</ref> Since 2000, he has frequently been referred to as "The Big Dog" or "Big Dog".<ref>{{cite news | last=Dowd | first=Maureen | author-link=Maureen Dowd | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/22/opinion/liberties-dare-speak-his-name.html | title=Liberties; Dare Speak His Name | work= The New York Times | date=October 22, 2000 | access-date=August 23, 2012 | quote="They're going to have to let the big dog run."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first1=Jim | last1=Rutenberg |first2=Kate | last2=Zernike | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21clinton.html | title=Bill Clinton Stumps for Obama | work= The New York Times | date=September 20, 2010 | access-date=August 23, 2012 | quote=The Big Dog, as he is known among those in the tight world of Clinton associates&nbsp;...}}</ref> His prominent role in campaigning for President Obama during the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 presidential election]] and his widely publicized speech at the [[2012 Democratic National Convention]], where he officially nominated Obama and criticized Republican nominee [[Mitt Romney]] and Republican policies in detail, earned him the nickname "Explainer-in-Chief".<ref>{{cite news | author=McDuffee, Allen | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/bill-clintons-dnc-speech-as-explainer-in-chief-it-takes-some-brass-and-more-am-briefing/2012/09/06/088a467a-f821-11e1-8b93-c4f4ab1c8d13_blog.html | title=Bill Clinton's DNC speech as 'explainer in chief,' 'it takes some brass,' and more [AM Briefing] | work= The Washington Post | date = September 6, 2012 | access-date=January 25, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Poniewozik, James | url=http://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/06/the-morning-after-obama-turns-to-bill-clinton-explainer-in-chief | title=The Morning After: Obama Turns to Bill Clinton, Explainer-in-Chief | work= [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=September 6, 2012 | access-date=January 25, 2013}}</ref>
 
Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and insisted that the improvement of race relations would be a major theme of his presidency.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122950.html | title=A Conversation With President Bill Clinton on Race in America Today | publisher=[[Center for American Progress]] | date=July 16, 2004 | access-date= August 30, 2011}}</ref> In 1998, [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureate [[Toni Morrison]] called Clinton "the first Black president", saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, [[McDonald's]]-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas".<ref name=MorrisonNewYorker>{{cite web | last=Morrison | first=Toni | author-link=Toni Morrison | title=Clinton as the first black president | work=The New Yorker | date=October 1998 | url=http://ontology.buffalo.edu./smith/clinton/morrison.html | access-date=December 1, 2006| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061021020246/http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/clinton/morrison.html| archive-date= October 21, 2006 | url-status=live}}</ref> Morrison noted that Clinton's sex life was scrutinized more than his career accomplishments, and she compared this to the stereotyping and [[double standard]]s that, she said, blacks typically endure.<ref name=MorrisonNewYorker /> Many viewed this comparison as unfair and disparaging both to Clinton and to the African-American community at large.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Coates|first1=Ta-Nehisi|title=It Was No Compliment to Call Bill Clinton 'The First Black President'|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/08/toni-morrison-wasnt-giving-bill-clinton-a-compliment/402517/ |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=August 27, 2015 |access-date=October 21, 2016}}</ref> Clinton, a [[Baptist]],<ref>Sullivan, ''The Party Faithful'', p. 101.</ref> has been open about his faith.<ref>Sullivan, ''The Party Faithful'', p. 9.</ref>
 
==Sexual misconduct and sexual assault allegations==
 
{{Main|Bill Clinton sexual misconduct allegations}}
[[File:Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky on February 28, 1997 A3e06420664168d9466c84c3e31ccc2f.jpg|thumb|Clinton and [[Monica Lewinsky]] on February 28, 1997]]
 
Several women have publicly accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct, including rape, harassment, and sexual assault. Additionally, some commentators have characterized Clinton's sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky as predatory or non-consensual, despite the fact that Lewinsky called the relationship consensual at the time. These allegations have been revisited and lent more credence in 2018, in light of the [[Me Too movement|#MeToo movement]], with many commentators and Democratic leaders now saying Clinton should have been compelled to resign after the Lewinsky affair.<ref name="hallmark1">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abuse-allegations-have-revived-scrutiny-of-bill-clinton--and-divided-democrats/2017/11/17/3d1711c8-cba4-11e7-b244-2d22ac912500_story.html|title=Abuse allegations have revived scrutiny of Bill Clinton—and divided Democrats|first1=Karen|last1=Tumulty|first2=Katie|last2=Mettler|date=November 17, 2017 |work=The Washington Post |access-date=November 19, 2017 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119050428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abuse-allegations-have-revived-scrutiny-of-bill-clinton--and-divided-democrats/2017/11/17/3d1711c8-cba4-11e7-b244-2d22ac912500_story.html|archive-date=November 19, 2017}}</ref><ref name="mccoy1">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/reckoning-with-bill-clintons-sex-crimes/545729|title=Bill Clinton: A Reckoning|first=Caitlin|last=Flanagan|website=The Atlantic|date=November 13, 2017|access-date=November 19, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118231945/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/reckoning-with-bill-clintons-sex-crimes/545729/|archive-date=November 18, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/17/politics/kirsten-gillibrand-bill-clinton-democrats/index.html|title=Should Democrats turn their backs on Bill Clinton?|first=Z. Byron|last=Wolf|publisher=CNN|date=November 17, 2017|access-date=November 19, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119055217/https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/11/17/politics/kirsten-gillibrand-bill-clinton-democrats/index.html|archive-date=November 19, 2017}}</ref>
 
In 1994, Paula Jones initiated a [[Clinton v. Jones|sexual harassment lawsuit]] against Clinton, claiming he had made unwanted advances towards her in 1991; Clinton denied the allegations. In April 1998, the case was initially dismissed by Judge [[Susan Webber Wright]] on the grounds that it lacked legal merit.<ref name="JO#$">{{Cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/02/clinton.jones.reax | title=Clinton Welcomes Jones Decision; Appeal Likely | date=April 2, 1998 | publisher=CNN | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Jones appealed Webber Wright's ruling, and her suit gained traction following Clinton's admission to having an affair with Monica Lewinsky in August 1998.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jonesappeal073198.htm | title=Text of Jones's Appeal |date = July 31, 1998 | work=The Washington Post | access-date=August 25, 2010}}</ref> In 1998, lawyers for Paula Jones released court documents that alleged a pattern of sexual harassment by Clinton when he was Governor of Arkansas. [[Robert S. Bennett]], Clinton's main lawyer for the case, called the filing "a pack of lies" and "an organized campaign to smear the President of the United States" funded by Clinton's political enemies.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Francis X. | last=Clines | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/14/us/testing-president-accuser-jones-lawyers-issue-files-alleging-clinton-pattern.html | title=Testing of a President: The Accuser; Jones Lawyers Issue Files Alleging Clinton Pattern of Harassment of Women | work=The New York Times | date=March 14, 1998 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Clinton later agreed to an out-of-court settlement and paid Jones $850,000.<ref name="CO">{{Cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/18/jones | title=Appeals court ponders Paula Jones settlement | date=November 18, 1998 | publisher=CNN | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Bennett said the president made the settlement only so he could end the lawsuit for good and move on with his life.<ref name=clqc>{{cite news | first=Peter | last=Baker | title=Clinton Settles Paula Jones Lawsuit for $850,000 | date=November 14, 1998 | url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jones111498.htm | work =The Washington Post | access-date = October 27, 2011}}</ref> During the deposition for the Jones lawsuit, which was held at the White House,<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/13/jones.v.clinton.docs/clinton | title=Deposition of William Jefferson Clinton, January 17, 1998 | publisher=CNN | date=March 13, 1998 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Clinton [[Clinton–Lewinsky scandal|denied having sexual relations]] with Monica Lewinsky—a denial that became the basis for an impeachment charge of perjury.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | chapter=Lewinsky scandal | title=The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | publisher=Columbia University Press | year=2008 | chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Lewinsky_scandal.aspx | access-date=February 9, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618062707/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Lewinsky_scandal.aspx | archive-date=June 18, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
 
In 1998, [[Kathleen Willey]] alleged that Clinton had [[groping|groped]] her in a hallway in 1993. An independent counsel determined Willey gave "false information" to the FBI, inconsistent with sworn testimony related to the Jones allegation.<ref name=wilo9r>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/23/time/willey.html | title=The Lives Of Kathleen Willey | publisher=CNN | date= March 30, 1998 | access-date =September 11, 2011}}</ref> On March 19, 1998, Julie Hiatt Steele, a friend of Willey, released an [[affidavit]], accusing the former White House aide of asking her to lie to corroborate Ms. Willey's account of being sexually groped by Clinton in the Oval Office.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/19/us/friend-accuses-willey-of-plea-for-her-to-lie.html | title=Friend Accuses Willey for Plea to her to Lie | author=John M. Broder | work=The New York Times | date=March 19, 1998 | access-date=February 15, 2014}}</ref> An attempt by Kenneth Starr to prosecute Steele for making false statements and obstructing justice ended in a mistrial and Starr declined to seek a retrial after Steele sought an investigation against the former Independent Counsel for prosecutorial misconduct.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl00levy| url-access=registration| title=Encyclopedia of the Clinton Presidency | first=Peter | last=Levy | pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl00levy/page/328 328]–329 | date=November 30, 2001 | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn=978-0-313-31294-6}}</ref> [[Linda Tripp]]'s grand jury testimony also differed from Willey's claims regarding inappropriate sexual advances.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/news/1999/01/22newsa.html |title=Stalking the president |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=January 1999 |access-date=February 15, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129133049/http://www.salon.com/news/1999/01/22newsa.html |archive-date=January 29, 2011 }}</ref>
 
Also in 1998, [[Juanita Broaddrick]] alleged that Clinton had raped her in the spring of 1978, although she said she did not remember the exact date.<ref name=CapitalHillBlueWebArchive1>{{cite web | url=http://www.capitolhillblue.com/Feb1999/022599/datelinetranscript022599.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216043650/http://www.capitolhillblue.com/Feb1999/022599/datelinetranscript022599.htm | archive-date=February 16, 2006 | title=Full Transcript of NBC Dateline report on Juanita Broaddrick | date=February 1999}}</ref> To support her charge, Broaddrick notes that she told multiple witnesses in 1978 she had been raped by Clinton, something these witnesses also state in interviews to the press.<ref name="vox.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/1/6/10722580/bill-clinton-juanita-broaddrick|title=The rape allegation against Bill Clinton, explained|first=Dylan|last=Matthews|work=Vox|date=January 6, 2016}}</ref> Broaddrick had earlier filed an affidavit denying any "unwelcome sexual advances" and later repeated the denial in a sworn deposition.<ref name="CapitalHillBlueWebArchive1"/> In a 1998 NBC interview wherein she detailed the alleged rape, Broaddrick said she had denied (under oath) being raped only to avoid testifying about the ordeal publicly.<ref name="CapitalHillBlueWebArchive1"/>
 
The Lewinsky scandal has had an enduring impact on Clinton's legacy, beyond his impeachment in 1998.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/us/politics/bill-clinton-elections-democrats.html|title = No One Wants to Campaign With Bill Clinton Anymore|date = November 2, 2018|work = [[The New York Times]]|last = Lerer|first = Lisa}}</ref> In the wake of the #MeToo movement (which shed light on the widespread prevalence of [[sexual assault]] and [[Sexual harassment|harassment]], especially in the workplace), various commentators and Democratic political leaders, as well as Lewinsky herself, have revisited their view that the Lewinsky affair was consensual, and instead characterized it as an abuse of power or harassment, in light of the power differential between a president and a 22-year old intern. In 2018, Clinton was asked in several interviews about whether he should have resigned, and he said he had made the right decision in not resigning.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/clinton-i-wouldn-t-have-done-anything-differently-lewinsky-affair-n879721|title=Bill Clinton: I wouldn't have done anything differently with Lewinsky affair|work=NBC News|first=Adam|last=Edelman|date=June 4, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2018}}</ref> During the [[2018 U.S. election|2018 Congressional elections]], ''The New York Times'' alleged that having no Democratic candidate for office asking Clinton to campaign with them was a change that attributed to the revised understanding of the Lewinsky scandal.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> However, former DNC interim chair [[Donna Brazile]] previously urged Clinton in November 2017 to campaign during the 2018 midterm elections, in spite of New York U.S. senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]]'s recent criticism of the Lewinsky scandal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theintercept.com/2017/11/22/donna-brazile-bill-clinton-campaign-trail-democrats/|title=Donna Brazile: Bill Clinton Should Hit The Campaign Trail For Democrats In 2018|first=Nicholas|last=Ballasy|publisher=The Intercept|date=November 27, 2017|access-date=December 25, 2020}}</ref>
 
==Post-presidency (2001–present)==
 
{{Main|Post-presidency of Bill Clinton}}
[[File:FEMA - 14697 - Photograph by Ed Edahl taken on 09-05-2005 in Texas.jpg|thumb|Clinton greets a [[Hurricane Katrina]] evacuee, September 5, 2005. In the background, second from the right, is then-Senator [[Barack Obama]].]]
 
Bill Clinton has continued to be active in public life since leaving office in 2001, giving speeches, fundraising, and founding charitable organizations,<ref>{{cite news | first=Josh | last=Gerstein | title=Clinton Eligible, Once Again, To Practice Law | work=[[The New York Sun]] | date=January 17, 2006 | url=http://www.nysun.com/article/25965?page_no=2 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> and has spoken in prime time at every Democratic National Convention.<ref>{{cite news | last1=Corasaniti | first1=Nick | last2=Williams | first2=Josh | title=Bill Clinton's Democratic Convention Speeches | work=The New York Times | date=September 5, 2012 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/05/us/politics/clinton-dnc-speeches.html | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref>
 
===Activities until 2008 campaign===
 
In 2002, Clinton warned that pre-emptive military action against Iraq would have unwelcome consequences,<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/02/ip.00.html | title=House Passes Resolution Authorizing Use of Force in Iraq; New Jerssy Supreme Court Hears Argument For, Against New Democrat on Ballot | publisher=CNN | date=October 2, 2002 | access-date=August 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/clinton-urges-caution-over-iraq-as-bush-is-granted-war-powers-607775.html |work=The Independent |location=London |first=Andrew | last=Grice |date=October 3, 2002 |title=Clinton urges caution over Iraq as Bush is granted war powers |access-date=August 30, 2011 | quote="A pre-emptive action today, however well justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future."<br /><br />As someone who had ordered military action before, he said: "I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die."  | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821084326/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/clinton-urges-caution-over-iraq-as-bush-is-granted-war-powers-607775.html |archive-date=August 21, 2011 }}</ref> and later claimed to have opposed the Iraq War from the start (though some dispute this).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/bill_clinton_says_he_opposed_iraq_war_from_start | title=Bill Clinton Says He Opposed Iraq War from Start (UPDATED) | publisher=Outside The Beltway | date=November 28, 2007 | access-date=September 12, 2013}}</ref> In 2005, Clinton criticized the Bush administration for its handling of emissions control, while speaking at the [[United Nations Climate Change conference]] in Montreal.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4515898.stm | title=Last-minute climate deals reached | work=BBC News | date=December 10, 2005 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref>
 
The [[William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]], was dedicated in 2004.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4021201.stm | title=Clinton Library open for business | work=BBC News | date=November 18, 2004 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Clinton released a best-selling autobiography, ''[[My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography)|My Life]]'', in 2004.<ref>{{Cite news | last=Glaister | first=Dan | title=Oprah Winfrey book deal tops Clinton's $12&nbsp;m | date=May 22, 2006 | work=The Guardian | location=London | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/22/books.media | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> In 2007, he released ''[[Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World]]'', which also became a [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller]] and garnered positive reviews.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/bestseller/0923besthardnonfiction.html | title=Best Sellers | date = September 23, 2007 | work=The New York Times | access-date=September 18, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130510044404/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/bestseller/0923besthardnonfiction.html| archive-date=May 10, 2013| url-status=live}}</ref>
 
[[File:Bush and Clinton.jpg|thumb|Former president George H. W. Bush and Clinton in the White House Library, January 2005]]
In the aftermath of the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|2004 Asian tsunami]], [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|U.N. secretary-general]] [[Kofi Annan]] appointed Clinton to head a relief effort.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6894871 | title=Clinton to be U.N.'s envoy on tsunami relief | date=February 1, 2005 | agency=Associated Press | work = NBC News | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> After [[Hurricane Katrina]], Clinton joined with fellow former president George H. W. Bush to establish the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund in January 2005, and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund in October of that year.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/recipient_2006.html | title=2006 Philadelphia Liberty Medal Award | publisher=Constitutioncenter.org | access-date=August 26, 2011}}</ref> As part of the tsunami effort, these two ex-presidents appeared in a [[Super Bowl XXXIX]] pre-game show,<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39788-2005Jan26.html | title=Senior Bush, Clinton to Appear at Super Bowl | work=The Washington Post | first=Mark | last=Maske | date=January 27, 2005 | access-date=April 26, 2010}}</ref> and traveled to the affected areas.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4281627.stm | title=Bush, Clinton end tsunami visit | work=BBC News | date=February 21, 2005 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> They also spoke together at the funeral of [[Boris Yeltsin]] in April 2007.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268092,00.html | title=Former Presidents Bush, Clinton Represent U.S. at Boris Yeltsin's Funeral | publisher=Fox News | date=April 24, 2007 | access-date=May 10, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208142544/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268092,00.html | archive-date=December 8, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
 
Based on his philanthropic worldview,<ref>{{cite web|first=Jon | last=Meacham |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/12/20/planetary-problem-solver.html |title=Planetary Problem Solver |work=[[Newsweek]] |date=December 20, 2009 |access-date=September 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816140119/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/12/20/planetary-problem-solver.html |archive-date=August 16, 2011 }}</ref> Clinton created the [[William J. Clinton Foundation]] to address issues of global importance. This foundation includes the Clinton Foundation HIV and AIDS Initiative (CHAI), which strives to combat that disease, and has worked with the Australian government toward that end. The [[Clinton Foundation|Clinton Global Initiative]] (CGI), begun by the Clinton Foundation in 2005, attempts to address world problems such as global [[public health]], poverty alleviation and religious and [[ethnic conflict]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org |title=Clinton Global Initiative |publisher=[[Clinton Foundation|Clinton Global Initiative]] |date=June 19, 2011 |access-date=August 17, 2011 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20110807000555/http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ |archive-date=August 7, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2005, Clinton announced through his foundation an agreement with manufacturers to stop selling sugared drinks in schools.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/05/03/383279.html | title=William J. Clinton Foundation announces agreement to reduce junk food in schools | publisher=Comcast.net | access-date=August 25, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501105724/http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=%2F2006%2F05%2F03%2F383279.html | archive-date=May 1, 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Clinton's foundation joined with the [[Large Cities Climate Leadership Group]] in 2006 to improve cooperation among those cities, and he met with foreign leaders to promote this initiative.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/080106-nr-cf-cci-pr-president-clinton-launches-clinton-climate-initiative.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022059/http://www.clintonfoundation.org/080106-nr-cf-cci-pr-president-clinton-launches-clinton-climate-initiative.htm | archive-date=September 27, 2007 | title=Clinton Foundation and Climate Partnership, Press Release | date=August 1, 2006}}</ref> The foundation has received donations from many governments all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East.<ref name="theage.com.au">{{Cite news | first1=Peter | last1=Baker | first2=Anne | last2=Davies | date=November 18, 2008 | url=http://www.theage.com.au/world/obama-team-turns-scrutiny-on-bill-clinton-20081117-692j.html | title=Obama team turns scrutiny on Bill Clinton | work=The Age | location=Melbourne | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> In 2008, Foundation director [[Inder Singh (philanthropist)|Inder Singh]] announced deals to reduce the price of anti-malaria drugs by 30&nbsp;percent in developing nations.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08233/905462-114.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131140152/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08233/905462-114.stm |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2010 |title=Young man combines expertise in economics and social issues at Clinton Foundation |first=Pohla | last=Smith |date=August 20, 2008 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref> Clinton also spoke in favor of [[California Proposition 87 (2006)|California Proposition 87]] on [[energy development|alternative energy]], which was voted down.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Peach | last=Indravudh | title=Clinton backs Prop. 87 | date=October 15, 2006 | work=Daily Bruin | publisher=[[UCLA]] | url=http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2006/10/clinton-backs-prop-87 | access-date=August 31, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108163926/http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2006/10/clinton-backs-prop-87 | archive-date=November 8, 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
In the early 2000s, Clinton took flights on [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s private jet in connection with Clinton Foundation work.<ref name=McDonald>{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Scott |title=Bill Clinton says he didn't know about Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking crimes |url=https://www.newsweek.com/bill-clinton-says-he-didnt-know-about-jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-sex-trafficking-crimes-1448171 |work=Newsweek |date=July 8, 2019 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gold |first1=Michael |title=Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein: How Are They Connected? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/nyregion/bill-clinton-jeffrey-epstein.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 9, 2019 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref> Years later, Epstein was convicted on sex trafficking charges. Clinton's office released a statement in 2019 saying, "President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York. In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took four trips on Jeffrey Epstein's airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation. Staff, supporters of the Foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of every trip. ... He's not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade."<ref name=McDonald/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Moye |first1=David |title=Bill Clinton Denies Knowing Anything About Jeffrey Epstein's 'Terrible Crimes' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-clinton-jeffrey-epstein-statement_n_5d23c6c6e4b0cfb595fad85a |work=HuffPost |date=July 8, 2019 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Arciga |first=Julia |title=Bill Clinton: I Flew With Jeffrey Epstein but Knew 'Nothing' About 'Terrible Crimes' |work=The Daily Beast |date=July 9, 2019}}</ref>
 
===2008 presidential election===
 
[[File:Bill Clinton 2008 DNC (01) (cropped1).jpg|thumb|Clinton speaking at the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]]]]
 
During the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2008|2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign]], Clinton vigorously advocated on behalf of his wife, Hillary. Through speaking engagements and fundraisers, he was able to raise $10&nbsp;million toward her campaign.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/30/bill-clinton-2007-speech-haul-tops-10-million | title=Bill Clinton 2007 speech haul tops $10&nbsp;million | first=Robert | last=Yoon | date=July 30, 2008 | publisher=CNN | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Some worried that as an ex-president, he was too active on the trail, too negative to Clinton rival Barack Obama, and alienating his supporters at home and abroad.<ref name="CBS-Tarnish">{{Cite news | author=Vaughn Ververs | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/26/politics/main3755521.shtml | title=Analysis: Bill Clinton's Lost Legacy | work=CBS News | date= January 26, 2008 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Many were especially critical of him following his remarks in the South Carolina primary, which Obama won. Later in the 2008 primaries, there was some infighting between Bill and Hillary's staffs, especially in Pennsylvania.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/politics/08recon.html | title=The Long Road to a Clinton Exit | work=The New York Times | author=Peter Baker |author2=Jim Rutenberg | date=June 8, 2008 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> Considering Bill's remarks, many thought he could not rally Hillary supporters behind Obama after Obama won the primary.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/08/06/a-catharsis-in-denver.html | date=August 6, 2008 | work=Newsweek | first=Jonathan | last=Alter | title=A Catharsis in Denver? | access-date=September 11, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110110248/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/08/06/a-catharsis-in-denver.html | archive-date=November 10, 2011 }}</ref> Such remarks lead to apprehension that the party would be split to the detriment of Obama's election. Fears were allayed August 27, 2008, when Clinton enthusiastically endorsed Obama at the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]], saying all his experience as president assures him that Obama is "ready to lead".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/bill_clinton_vouches_for_obama.html |title=Bill Clinton vouches for Obama: now 'ready to lead'. |date=August 28, 2008 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |first=Lynn | last=Sweet |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017063638/http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/bill_clinton_vouches_for_obama.html |archive-date=October 17, 2011 }}</ref> After Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was over, Bill Clinton continued to raise funds to help pay off her campaign debt.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/24/clinton-turns-husbands-charity-retire-campaign-debt | title=Clinton Turns to Husband's Charity to Retire Campaign Debt | publisher=Fox News | date=December 24, 2008 | access-date=August 31, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216041228/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/24/clinton-turns-husbands-charity-retire-campaign-debt/ | archive-date=February 16, 2012 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004883-503544.html | title=Bill Clinton Raffles Himself to Pay Hillary's Campaign Debt | work=CBS News | date=May 13, 2010 | first=Stephanie | last=Condon | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref>
 
===After the 2008 election===
<gallery heights="160" widths="200" class="center" mode="packed">
File:Obama and Bill Clinton.jpg|Clinton with then-President [[Barack Obama]] and Senior Advisor [[Valerie Jarrett]] in July 2010
File:Prime Minister Modi meets Bill and Hillary Clinton.jpg|Clinton, his wife [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary]], and Indian Prime Minister [[Narendra Modi]] in New York City on September 29, 2014
</gallery>
 
In 2009, Clinton travelled to North Korea on behalf of two American journalists [[2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea|imprisoned]] there. [[Euna Lee]] and [[Laura Ling]] had been imprisoned for illegally entering the country from China.<ref name=BBCDPRK>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8182716.stm | title=Bill Clinton meets N Korea leader | work=BBC News | date=August 4, 2009 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> [[Jimmy Carter]] had made a similar visit in 1994.<ref name=BBCDPRK /> After Clinton met with North Korean leader [[Kim Jong-il]], Kim issued a pardon.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8184583.stm | title=North Korea pardons US reporters | work=BBC News | date=August 4, 2009 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | first1=Mark | last1=Landler | first2=Peter | last2=Baker | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/world/asia/06korea.html | title=Bill Clinton and Journalists in Emotional Return to U.S. | work=The New York Times | date=August 5, 2009 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref>
 
Since then, Clinton has been assigned many other diplomatic missions. He was named United Nations [[Special Envoy of the Secretary-General|Special Envoy]] to Haiti in 2009 following a series of hurricanes which caused $1&nbsp;billion in damages.<ref name="haiti">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8056762.stm | title=Bill Clinton to be UN Haiti envoy | work=BBC News | date=May 19, 2009 | access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Clinton organized a conference with the Inter-American Development Bank, where a new industrial park was discussed in an effort to "build back better".<ref name="Sontag">{{cite news |author=Deborah Sontag |title=Earthquake Relief Where Haiti Wasn't Broken |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/world/americas/earthquake-relief-where-haiti-wasnt-broken.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 5, 2012 |access-date=August 24, 2019}}</ref> In response to the [[2010 Haiti earthquake]], U.S. president Barack Obama announced that Clinton and George W. Bush would coordinate efforts to raise funds for Haiti's recovery.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/16/presidents-clinton-bush-lead-effort-to-raise-funds-for-haiti | title=Presidents Clinton, Bush lead effort to raise funds for Haiti | publisher=CNN | date=January 16, 2010 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> Funds began pouring into Haiti, which led to funding becoming available for Caracol Industrial Park in a part of the country unaffected by the earthquake. While Hillary Clinton was in South Korea, she and [[Cheryl Mills]] worked to convince SAE-A, a large apparel subcontractor, to invest in Haiti despite the company's deep concerns about plans to raise the minimum wage. In the summer of 2010, the South Korean company signed a contract at the U.S. State Department, ensuring that the new industrial park would have a key tenant.<ref name="Sontag"/> In 2010, Clinton announced support of, and delivered the keynote address for, the inauguration of [[NTR plc|NTR]], Ireland's first environmental foundation.<ref>{{cite news | title=Clinton backs NTR's environment foundation | work=[[Irish Independent]] | url=http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/clinton-backs-ntrs-environment-foundation-2089592.html | first=Emmet | last=Oliver | date=March 5, 2010 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=President Bill Clinton Delivers Keynote Address | publisher=NTR Foundation | date=March 4, 2010 | url=http://www.ntr-foundation.org/news/article/president-bill-clinton-delivers-keynote-address1 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> At the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Clinton gave a widely praised speech nominating Barack Obama.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/opinion/opinion-roundup-clinton/index.html | title =Bill Clinton brings it for Obama | publisher =CNN | date =September 6, 2012}}</ref>
 
===2016 presidential election===
<gallery heights="160" widths="200" class="center" mode="packed">
File:Bill Clinton (25881799091).jpg|Clinton campaigning at an election rally for his wife Hillary who was running for President of the United States, 2016
File:Bill + Winnie (29235726381).jpg|Clinton holding a dog on the campaign trail in [[New York City]]. Photo by [[Adam Schultz]]
File:Bill Clinton DNC July 2016.jpg|Clinton speaking at the [[2016 Democratic National Convention]]
</gallery>
 
During the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential election]], Clinton again encouraged voters to support Hillary, and made appearances speaking on the campaign trail.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.wwaytv3.com/2016/10/26/bill-clinton-rallies-for-hillary-in-wilmington/ | title=Bill Clinton Rallies for Hillary in Wilmington | publisher=WWAY News | date=October 26, 2016 | access-date=February 2, 2017}}</ref> In a series of tweets, then-President-elect [[Donald Trump]] criticized his ability to get people out to vote.<ref name="CBS">{{Cite news | author=Rebecca Shabad | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-goes-after-bill-clinton-hillary-clinton/ | title=Trump goes after Bill Clinton over post-election comments | work=CBS News | date= December 20, 2016 | access-date=February 2, 2017}}</ref> Clinton served as a member of the electoral college for the state of New York.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mahoney|first=Bill|title=Electoral delegate Bill Clinton: 'Never cast a vote I was prouder of'|url=https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/12/electoral-delegate-bill-clinton-never-cast-a-vote-i-was-prouder-of-108194|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=Politico PRO|language=en}}</ref> He voted for the Democratic ticket consisting of his wife Hillary and her running-mate [[Tim Kaine]].


===After the 2016 election===
He took office at the end of the [[Cold War]]. Clinton was the first president from the baby boom generation. He was 46 years old when he was elected and the third youngest president. He was [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeached in 1998]] for lying about his sexual relationship with [[Monica Lewinsky]]. Clinton was the second president to be impeached.  
[[File:The Funeral of President George H.W. Bush (31265099837).jpg|thumb|The [[Death and state funeral of George H. W. Bush|state funeral of George H. W. Bush]] in December 2018]]
On September 7, 2017, Clinton partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama to work with [[One America Appeal]] to help the victims of [[Hurricane Harvey]] and [[Hurricane Irma]] in the [[Gulf Coast of the United States|Gulf Coast]] and [[Texas]] communities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/349993-former-presidents-add-irma-recovery-to-fundraising-appeal|title=Former presidents fundraise for Irma disaster relief|last=Shelbourne|first=Mallory|date=September 10, 2017|work=The Hill|access-date=September 11, 2017}}</ref>


On September 1, 2018, Clinton, his wife, and the former U.S. Presidents [[Barack Obama]], and [[George W. Bush]] and their spouses attended the funeral of [[Sen. John McCain]] of [[Arizona]] at the [[Washington National Cathedral]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] Then-President [[Donald Trump]] did not attend the service. In 2019, he attended the [[Death and state funeral of George H. W. Bush|funeral of his former political opponent]] [[George H. W. Bush]] with his wife Hillary Clinton, and former Presidents [[Barack Obama]], [[George W. Bush]], [[Jimmy Carter]], and then-President [[Donald Trump]] and their spouses.  
He is married to [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham Clinton]], who was the 67th [[United States Secretary of State]] from 2009 to 2013, [[United States Senate|U.S. senator]] from [[New York (state)|New York]] from 2001 to 2009, and the Democratic nominee for president in the [[United States presidential election, 2016|2016 U.S. presidential election]].


In [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]], Clinton again served as a member of the United States Electoral College from New York, casting his vote for the successful Democratic ticket of [[Joe Biden]] and [[Kamala Harris]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Electoral College members from New York, 2020 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Electoral_College_members_from_New_York,_2020 |website=Ballotpedia |access-date=January 2, 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Jon |title=Clintons cast first ballots as New York Electoral College votes for Joe Biden |url=https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2020/12/14/new-york-electoral-college-vote-joe-biden-clinton/6538629002/ |website=Democrat and Chronicle |access-date=January 2, 2021 |date=December 14, 2020}}</ref> The Clintons attended [[Inauguration of Joe Biden|Biden's inauguration]] on January 20, 2021, alongside [[George W. Bush]], [[Laura Bush]], [[Barack Obama]] and [[Michelle Obama]].
==Early years==


===Post-presidential health concerns===
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III at Julia Chester Hospital in [[Hope, Arkansas]]. His biological father, William Jefferson Blythe. Jr, died in a car accident, three months before Clinton was born. His mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley was a Nurse anesthetist. He took the last name Clinton because it was his stepfather, Roger Clinton, Sr.'s name. Clinton grew up in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]]. In high school, Clinton played the [[saxophone]]. Clinton went to college at [[Georgetown University]]. During his college years, Clinton worked under several politicians. He later went to [[Oxford University]] and [[Yale University|Yale Law School]]. Clinton did not fight in the [[Vietnam War]] because he was in the [[ROTC]] for a short time.<ref>{{cite book| last = Morris| first = Roger| title = Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Vq96BQV5lF4C&pg=PA96| accessdate = August 6, 2009| date = April 25, 1999| publisher = Regnery Publishing| isbn = 978-0-89526-302-5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Metcalf| first = Geoffrey M.| title = In the Arena: Geoff Metcalf Interviews with Doers of Deeds| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lPp-R0HYbt0C&pg=PA562| accessdate = August 6, 2009| date = November 28, 2002| publisher = iUniverse| isbn = 978-0-595-25752-2 }}</ref>


In September 2004, Clinton underwent quadruple bypass surgery.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8511817.stm | work=BBC News | title=Bill Clinton 'in good spirits' after heart procedure | date=February 12, 2010 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> In March 2005, he again underwent surgery, this time for a partially collapsed lung.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7127096 | title=Clinton surgery called successful | agency=Associated Press | work=NBC News | date=March 10, 2005 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> On February 11, 2010, he was rushed to [[Columbia University Irving Medical Center|New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital]] in Manhattan after complaining of chest pains, and he had two [[coronary stent]]s implanted in his heart.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /><ref>{{Cite news | first=Mark | last=Egan | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-clinton-idUSTRE61A5L020100211 | title=Bill Clinton in good spirits after heart procedure | work=Reuters | date=February 11, 2010 | access-date=September 11, 2011 | archive-date=July 26, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726194837/http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/11/us-clinton-idUSTRE61A5L020100211 | url-status=live }}</ref> After this procedure, Clinton adopted a plant-based whole foods ([[vegan]]) diet, which had been recommended by doctors [[Dean Ornish]] and [[Caldwell Esselstyn]].<ref name="cnn2011">{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/index.html | title=From omnivore to vegan: The dietary education of Bill Clinton | author=David S. Martin | date=August 18, 2011 | publisher=CNN | access-date=September 17, 2012}}</ref> However, he has since incorporated fish and lean proteins at the suggestion of [[Mark Hyman (doctor)|Dr. Mark Hyman]], a proponent of the [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] ethos of [[functional medicine]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Heasman|first=Chris|date=April 16, 2018|title=This Is What Hillary Clinton Eats|url=https://www.mashed.com/118104/hillary-clinton-eats/|access-date=February 18, 2021|website=Mashed.com|language=en-US}}</ref> As a result, he is no longer a strict vegan.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brodwin|first=Erin|title=What the author of 'Eat Fat, Get Thin' eats — and avoids — every day|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/eat-fat-get-thin-diet-clintons-doctor-2017-5|access-date=February 18, 2021|website=Business Insider}}</ref>
==Before being President==
Clinton married [[Hillary Rodham Clinton|Hillary Rodham]] in 1975. In 1980, their daughter, [[Chelsea Clinton]], was born.


===Wealth===
After law school, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976 and governor of Arkansas in 1978. At 32, he was the youngest governor in the country at that time. Clinton was governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1993. Clinton was known for being a "New Democrat" while governor. During his time as governor, Clinton changed the state's school system. There was also a scandal called Whitewater during Clinton's term.


The Clintons incurred several million dollars in legal bills during his presidency, which were paid off four years after he left office.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clintons-pay-off-legal-bills | title=Clintons Pay Off Legal Bills | date=June 14, 2005 | access-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref> Bill and Hillary Clinton have each earned millions of dollars from book publishing.<ref name="NYT-2008-04-05">{{cite news | last=McIntire | first=Mike | title=Clintons made $109 Million in Last 8 Years | date=April 5, 2008 | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/us/politics/05clintons.html}}</ref> In 2016, ''[[Forbes]]'' reported Bill and Hillary Clinton made about $240{{nbsp}}million in the 15{{nbsp}}years from January 2001, to December 2015, (mostly from paid speeches, business consulting and book-writing).<ref>{{cite news | last=Alexander | first=Dan | title=How Bill And Hillary Clinton Made $240 Million In The Last 15 Years | work=Forbes | date=November 8, 2016 | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2016/11/08/how-bill-house-hillary-clinton-made-240-million-how-much-earnings-rich-white/ | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref> Also in 2016, [[CNN]] reported the Clintons combined to receive more than $153{{nbsp}}million in paid speeches from 2001 until spring 2015.<ref name="CNN-2006-02-06">{{cite web | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/index.html | title=$153 million in Bill and Hillary Clinton speaking fees, documented |first=Robert | last=Yoon |publisher=CNN | date=February 6, 2016 | access-date= February 7, 2016}}</ref> In May 2015, ''[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]'' reported that Bill and Hillary Clinton have made more than $25{{nbsp}}million in speaking fees since the start of 2014, and that Hillary Clinton also made $5{{nbsp}}million or more from her book, ''[[Hard Choices]]'', during the same time period.<ref>Ben Kamisar, [http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/242291-clintons-made-more-than-25-million-in-speaking-fees-since Clintons earned more than $25 million for speeches since 2014] (May 15, 2015), ''[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]''</ref> In July 2014, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that at the end of 2012, the Clintons were worth between $5{{nbsp}}million and $25.5{{nbsp}}million, and that in 2012 (the last year they were required to disclose the information) the Clintons made between $16 and $17{{nbsp}}million, mostly from speaking fees earned by the former president.<ref>{{cite news | last1=Mullins | first1=Brody | last2=Nicholas | first2=Peter | last3=Ballhaus | first3=Rebecca | title=The Bill and Hillary Clinton Money Machine Taps Corporate Cash | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=July 1, 2014 | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bill-and-hillary-clinton-money-machine-taps-corporate-cash-1404268205 | access-date=July 30, 2019 | url-access=subscription}}</ref> Clinton earned more than $104{{nbsp}}million from paid speeches between 2001 and 2012.<ref name="bloomberg.com">{{cite web|last1=Epstein|first1=Jennifer | title=Clinton Family Speeches Netted as Much as $26 Million for Foundation | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-22/clinton-foundation-discloses-speech-fees | publisher=Bloomberg News | access-date=May 23, 2015}}</ref> In June 2014, ABC News and ''The Washington Post'' reported that Bill Clinton has made more than $100{{nbsp}}million giving paid speeches since leaving public office, and in 2008, ''The New York Times'' reported that the Clintons' income tax returns<ref>(linked in the NYT article)</ref> show they made $109{{nbsp}}million in the eight years from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2007, including almost $92{{nbsp}}million from his speaking and book-writing.<ref name="NYT-2008-04-05" /><ref name="washingtonpost-2014-06-26">{{cite news | first1=Philip | last1=Rucker | first2=Tom | last2=Hamburger | first3=Alexander | last3=Becker | title=How the Clintons went from 'dead broke' to rich, with $104.9 million for ex-president's speaking fees | work=The Washington Post | date=June 26, 2014 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-clintons-went-from-dead-broke-to-rich-bill-earned-1049-million-for-speeches/2014/06/26/8fa0b372-fd3a-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref><ref name="ABC-News-2014-06-09">[https://gma.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-defends-high-dollar-speaking-fees-113922185--abc-news-topstories.html Hillary Clinton Defends High-Dollar Speaking Fees] (June 9, 2014), ''[[ABC News]]'' and ''[[Good Morning America]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2008/11/17/bills-500000-kuwait-lecture.html Bill's $500,000 Kuwait Lecture] (November 17, 2008), ''[[The Daily Beast]]''</ref>
==Presidency==
In the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]], he beat Republican [[George H. W. Bush]]. During the early part of Clinton's first term, he put in place a tax code which would increase taxes on the rich.
[[File:Bill Clinton taking the oath of office, 1993.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The [[First inauguration of Bill Clinton]], January 1993]]
In 1994, during Clinton's first term in office, the [[United States Congress|Congress]] switched to a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] majority. However, Clinton still beat Republican [[Bob Dole]] in the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 election]].


Bill Clinton has given dozens of paid speeches each year since leaving office in 2001, mostly to corporations and philanthropic groups in North America and Europe; he often earned $100,000 to $300,000 per speech.<ref name="CNN-2006-02-06" /><ref>Josh Gerstein, ''Clinton Eligible, Once Again, To Practice Law'', New York Sun, January 17, 2006, downloaded from [http://www.nysun.com/article/25965?page_no=2 N.Y. Sun article].</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/us/politics/10clinton.html | title=Bill Clinton Ponders a Role as First Gentleman | work=The New York Times | first=Patrick | last=Healy | date=May 10, 2007 | access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Daniel |last=Bentley |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2300374.ece |title=Forty Million Dollar Bill, Independent, 2007 |work=The Independent |location=London |date=February 24, 2007 |access-date=May 22, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015064614/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2300374.ece |archive-date=October 15, 2007 }}</ref> Russian investment bank with ties to the Kremlin paid Clinton $500,000 for a speech in [[Moscow]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=1|title=Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal|first1=Jo|last1=Becker|first2=Mike|last2=McIntire|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 23, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/clinton-foundation-received-millions-uranium-132500796.html|first1=Colin|last1=Campbell|first2=Pamela|last2=Engel|title=The Clinton Foundation received millions from investors as Putin took over 20% of US uranium deposits|date=April 23, 2015|website=Yahoo! Finance}}</ref> Hillary Clinton said she and Bill came out of the White House financially "broke" and in debt, especially due to large legal fees incurred during their years in the White House. "We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea's education." She added, "Bill has worked really hard&nbsp;... we had to pay off all our debts&nbsp;... he had to make double the money because of, obviously, taxes; and then pay off the debts, and get us houses, and take care of family members."<ref name="ABC-News-2014-06-09" />
The Republicans defeated Clinton's proposal for the U.S. government to adopt universal health care. The Republicans proposed many new ideas to Congress to limit the size of government such as requiring the budget to be balanced and to stop people from abusing the welfare system.


== Ministry ==
Clinton was sued by [[Paula Jones]] for sexual harassment, but the lawsuit was officially dismissed after Jones failed to prove damages. This made him the first sitting United States president to be sued.<ref>{{cite news |last =Baker |first =Peter |title=Clinton Settles Paula Jones Lawsuit for $850,000 |newspaper =Washington Post |date =November 14, 1998 |url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jones111498.htm |accessdate =February 23, 2016  |quote=The case . . . made him the first president ever interrogated under oath as a defendant in a civil lawsuit. . .}}</ref>
In 2007, with [[Jimmy Carter]], he founded the New Baptist Covenant Baptist organization.<ref>Alan Cooperman, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2007/01/21/carter-clinton-seek-to-bring-together-moderate-baptists-span-classbankheadexiles-from-conservative-group-targetedspan/2044354e-264d-4577-8120-03d491375775/ Carter, Clinton Seek To Bring Together Moderate Baptists Exiles From Conservative Group Targeted], washingtonpost.com, USA, January 21, 2007</ref>


== Personal life ==
President Clinton was accused of wrongdoing by the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] in December 1998 during the [[Lewinsky scandal|Monica Lewinsky scandal]] and was [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeached]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/clinton_under_fire/latest_news/238784.stm |title=Latest news &#124; Clinton impeached |publisher=BBC News |date=December 19, 1998 |accessdate=2010-08-14}}</ref> Although he lied that they did not engage in sexual activity, he was found to have done nothing wrong by the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] in February 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/impeach021399.htm |title=Special Report: Clinton Accused |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=February 13, 1999 |accessdate=2010-08-14}}</ref>
At the age of 10, he was baptized at Park Place [[Baptist]] Church in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]] and remained a member of a Baptist church.<ref>Philip Yancey, [https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1994/april-25/riddle-of-bill-clintons-faith.html The Riddle of Bill Clinton’s Faith], christianitytoday.com, USA, April 25, 1994</ref>


In 1975, he married [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he met while studying at [[Yale University]]. They had [[Chelsea Clinton]], their only daughter.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bill-Clinton Bill Clinton], britannica.com, USA, retrieved April 30, 2021</ref>
The country faced few challenges during his term. The [[Cold War]] was over and there was very little need for the U.S. military to get involved in the world's affairs, so defense spending was significantly lowered. The economy was doing very well during his term, though there is a debate whether the economy was well because of Clinton's policies or because of the Republicans' policies.


==Honors and recognition==
The decade ended with it being the first time the United States did not have to borrow money to pay for its budget. Clinton left office in 2001 with high approval ratings and was succeeded by [[George W. Bush]].


{{Main|List of honors and awards received by Bill Clinton}}
==Post-presidency==
After his presidency, he wrote some books and traveled around the world helping out the United States. He is married to former US Secretary of State [[Hillary Rodham Clinton|Hillary Clinton]] and now lives in [[New York (state)|New York]]. He has written ''My Life'', a book about his life, and several other books. Clinton has received two [[Grammy Awards]], both for books he read on tape. He is now the U.N.'s envoy to [[Haiti]]. He also became a [[Veganism|vegan]].<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite web|last=Conason|first=Joe|title=Bill Clinton Reveals How He Became a Vegan|url=https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-08-2013/bill-clinton-vegan.html|access-date=2022-09-29|website=AARP|language=english}}</ref>


Various colleges and universities have awarded Clinton honorary degrees, including [[Legum Doctor|Doctorate of Law]] degrees<ref>{{cite web | url=http://faccoun.unc.edu/awards/honorary-degrees | title=Honorary Degrees | year=1993 | publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Faculty Governance | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tulane.edu/newwave/cornerpics/051906_grads.html |title=President Bill Clinton with an honorary doctorate of law |publisher=Tulane University |date=May 19, 2006 |access-date=August 31, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808192350/http://www.tulane.edu/newwave/cornerpics/051906_grads.html |archive-date=August 8, 2011 }}</ref> and [[Doctor of Humane Letters]] degrees.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=45649 | title=Clinton to address graduates, Honorary doctorate will be bestowed | publisher=RIT News, Rochester Institute of Technology | date=May 18, 2007 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> He is an honorary fellow of University College, Oxford, which he attended as a [[Rhodes Scholar]], although he did not complete his studies there.<ref>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Hoffman |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-bill-clinton-we-knew-at-oxford-apart-from-smoking-dope-and-not-inhaling-what-else-did-he-learn-1556769.html |title=The Bill Clinton we knew at Oxford: Apart from smoking dope (and not inhaling), what else did he learn over here? College friends share their memories with Matthew Hoffman |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=October 27, 2016 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623195343/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-bill-clinton-we-knew-at-oxford-apart-from-smoking-dope-and-not-inhaling-what-else-did-he-learn-1556769.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/honorary-fellows |title=www.univ.ox.ac.uk |publisher=University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313140432/http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/honorary-fellows |archive-date=March 13, 2016 }}</ref> Schools have been named for Clinton,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.compton.k12.ca.us/www/schoolsites/showschool.aspx?id=13900 | title=Clinton Elementary | publisher=Compton Unified School District | access-date=August 31, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927162333/http://www.compton.k12.ca.us/www/schoolsites/showschool.aspx?id=13900 | archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lausd.net/Clinton_MS | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719002854/http://www.lausd.net/Clinton_MS/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 19, 2011 | title=William Jefferson Clinton Middle School | publisher=Los Angeles Unified School District | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.clintonschool.uasys.edu | title=Clinton School of Public service | publisher=University of Arkansas | access-date=August 31, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720063224/http://clintonschool.uasys.edu/ | archive-date=July 20, 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and statues have been built to pay him homage.<ref name=WJCstatue>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8336789.stm | title=Kosovo unveils Clinton's statue | work=BBC News | date=November 1, 2009 | access-date=November 2, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091102101327/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8336789.stm| archive-date= November 2, 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-serbia-kosovo-clinton-idUSL2316200920070523 | title=Kosovo to honor Bill Clinton with statue | work=Reuters | date=May 23, 2007 | access-date=September 11, 2011 | archive-date=August 5, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805022616/http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/05/23/us-serbia-kosovo-clinton-idUSL2316200920070523 | url-status=live }}</ref> U.S. states where he has been honored include Missouri,<ref name="DeMolay-1">{{cite web|url=http://www.demolay.org/aboutdemolay/halloffame.php |title=DeMolay Hall of Fame |publisher=DeMolay International |access-date=August 25, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100905133239/http://www.demolay.org/aboutdemolay/halloffame.php |archive-date=September 5, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Arkansas,<ref>{{Cite news | last=Purdum | first=Todd S. | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/17/us/campaign-season-another-first-for-clinton.html | title=Campaign Season; Another First for Clinton | work=The New York Times | date=October 17, 2002 | access-date=August 6, 2009}}</ref> Kentucky,<ref name="HOOKC">{{cite web | url=http://kycolonels.org/index.cgi?id=54 | title=Colonels website | publisher=Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels | access-date=December 21, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625033818/http://kycolonels.org/index.cgi?id=54 | archive-date=June 25, 2009 }}</ref> and New York.<ref>{{cite news | last=Dunlap | first=David | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/nyregion/23rebuild.html | title=Pataki Offers Peek at 9/11 Memorial Progress | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 23, 2004 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> He was presented with the [[Medal for Distinguished Public Service]] by [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[William Cohen]] in 2001.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.defense.gov/photos/newsphoto.aspx?newsphotoid=3174 | title=Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen presents the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service to President Bill Clinton in a ceremonial farewell at Fort Myer, Va., on Jan. 5, 2001. | publisher=U.S. Department of Defense | access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref> The [[Clinton Presidential Center]] was opened in Little Rock, Arkansas, in his honor on December 5, 2001.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/28/us/dinner-for-a-presidential-library-contributions-welcome.html | title=Dinner for a Presidential Library, Contributions Welcome | date=June 28, 1999 | last=Van Natta Jr. | first=Don | work=The New York Times | access-date=December 17, 2009}}</ref>
In 2013, Clinton started following [[Buddhist]] [[meditation]] to help him relax.<ref name="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183101/Bill-Clinton-turns-art-Buddhist-meditation-relax.html">{{cite web | url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183101/Bill-Clinton-turns-art-Buddhist-meditation-relax.html | title=Chill Bill: Clinton turns to the art of Buddhist meditation to relax | website=[[Daily Mail]] | date=August 3, 2012 | accessdate=March 6, 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Bill clinton medal of freedom.jpg|thumb|1x1px]]
He has been honored in various other ways, in countries that include the Czech Republic,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://old.hrad.cz/kpr/rady/rbl_lide_uk.html | title=List of Individuals Awarded the Order of the White Lion | publisher=Old.hrad.cz | date=October 13, 2005 | access-date=August 6, 2009}}</ref> Papua New Guinea,<ref>{{Cite news | title=It's now 'Chief' Bill Clinton | work=United Press International | date=December 3, 2006 | url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2006/12/03/Its-now-Chief-Bill-Clinton/UPI-99431165188768 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> Germany,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.karlspreis.de/index.php?id=12&doc=42 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206203817/http://www.karlspreis.de/index.php?id=12&doc=42 | archive-date=February 6, 2008 | title=International Prize of the city of Aachen (German)}}</ref> and Kosovo.<ref name=WJCstatue /> The Republic of Kosovo, in gratitude for his help during the [[Kosovo War]], renamed a major street in the capital city of [[Pristina]] as [[Bill Clinton Boulevard]] and added a monumental Clinton statue.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/statue-watch-bill-clinton-edition | title=Statue Watch: Bill Clinton Edition | first=Mike | last=Nizza | date=May 23, 2007 | work=The New York Times | access-date=October 8, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/world/europe/17kosovo.html | title=Kosovo Struggles to Forge an Identity | first=Dan | last=Bilefsky | date=December 17, 2007 | work = [[The New York Times]] | access-date=October 8, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/world/europe/09iht-kosovo.1.8653760.html | title=Kosovo: Forging an identity on eve of new era | first=Dan | last=Bilefsky | date=December 9, 2007 | work = [[The New York Times]] | access-date=October 8, 2012}}</ref>


Clinton was selected as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{'s}} "[[Time Person of the Year|Man of the Year]]" in 1992,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19930104,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070530071708/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19930104,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 30, 2007 | title=Bill Clinton, Man of the Year | newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | author=Elizabeth P. Valk | date=January 4, 1993 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> and again in 1998, along with [[Ken Starr]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19981228,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114194210/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19981228,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 14, 2007 | title=Kenneth Starr & Bill Clinton, Men of the Year | newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Nancy | last=Gibbs | date=December 28, 1998 | access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref> From a poll conducted of the American people in December 1999, Clinton was among eighteen included in [[Gallup's List of Widely Admired People]] of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Gallup Poll 1999 | url = https://archive.org/details/galluppollcumula0000gall | url-access = registration | publisher=Scholarly Resources Inc | year = 1999 | location = Wilmington, Del. | pages = [https://archive.org/details/galluppollcumula0000gall/page/248 248–249]}}</ref> He was honored with a [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children]], a J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding,<ref>{{Cite news| url =http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-506513 | title=President Bill Clinton Biography | author=AmericaLive | publisher=CNN |date =October 22, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151004095341/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-506513|archive-date=October 4, 2015}}</ref> a [[TED (conference)|TED]] Prize (named for the confluence of technology, entertainment and design),<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tedblog.typepad.com/tedblog/2007/04/2007_ted_prize__2.html | title=2007 TED Prize winner Bill Clinton on TEDTalks | publisher=TED Blog | date=April 4, 2007 | access-date=August 31, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728122424/http://tedblog.typepad.com/tedblog/2007/04/2007_ted_prize__2.html | archive-date=July 28, 2011 }}</ref> and was named as an Honorary [[GLAAD Media Award]] recipient for his work as an advocate for the LGBT community.<ref name="24-GLAAD-LA">{{cite web | url=http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/losangeles | title=24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards—Los Angeles | publisher=[[GLAAD]] | access-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref> Bill Clinton accepted an honorary membership into the Golden Key International Honour Society, along with other notables such as Bill Ford, Desmond Tutu, and Elie Wiesel. Golden Key International Honour Society is the world's largest international collegiate honor society for graduate and undergraduate students, and has strong relationships with over 400 universities around the world.
On November 20, 2013, he was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President [[Barack Obama]].


In 2011, President [[Michel Martelly]] of Haiti awarded Clinton with the [[National Order of Honour and Merit]] to the rank of Grand Cross "for his various initiatives in Haiti and especially his high contribution to the reconstruction of the country after the earthquake of January 12, 2010". Clinton declared at the ceremony that "in the United States of America, I really don't believe former American presidents need awards anymore, but I am very honored by this one, I love Haiti, and I believe in its promise".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-3429-haiti-social-bill-clinton-receives-the-national-order-of-honor-and-merit-to-the-rank-grand-cross-gold-plated.html |title=Haiti—Social: Bill Clinton receives the National Order of Honor and Merit to the rank Grand Cross gold plated |editor=Press |date=July 22, 2011 |publisher=Haiti Libre |access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref>
On October 12, 2021, Clinton was hospitalized with [[sepsis]] in [[Irvine, California]].<ref>{{cite news|url = https://thehill.com/homenews/news/576882-bill-clinton-hospitalized-with-sepsis|title = Bill Clinton hospitalized with sepsis|work = [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|date = October 14, 2021|accessdate = October 14, 2021|last = Choi|first = Joseph}}</ref>
 
U.S. president Barack Obama awarded Clinton the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] on November 20, 2013.<ref name="Medal of Honor">{{cite news |first1=David |last1=Jackson  | title=Obama awards Medal of Freedom to Clinton, Oprah, others | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/20/obama-clinton-oprah-winfrey-dean-smith-ernie-banks/3650113 | work=[[USA Today]]| date=November 20, 2013 | access-date=November 20, 2013}}</ref>
 
<gallery heights="300" widths="240" class="center" mode="nolines">
File:William S. Cohen presents President Clinton the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.jpg|[[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[William Cohen|Cohen]] presents President Clinton the DoD Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
File:Bill Clinton Statue in Ballybunion.JPG|Bill Clinton statue in [[Ballybunion]], erected to commemorate his 1998 golfing visit
File:Bill Clinton statue.jpg|Bill Clinton statue in [[Pristina]], the capital of Kosovo
File:Bill clinton medal of freedom.jpg|Former President Bill Clinton is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then president Barack Obama.
</gallery>
 
==Electoral history==
{{Main|Electoral history of Bill Clinton}}
 
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! Year
! Office
! Jurisdiction
! colspan=2 style="width: 18%;" | Democratic
! colspan=2 style="width: 15%;" | Republican
! colspan=2 style="width: 18%;" | Other
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1974
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas 3rd congressional district
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| Bill Clinton
| style="background:#ccf;"| 48%
| style="background:#fcc;"| '''John Paul Hammerschmidt'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| '''52%''' || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1976
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas Attorney General
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"|
| style="background:#fcc;"| Unopposed
| style="background:#fcc;"| || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1978
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''63%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Lynn Lowe
| style="background:#fcc;"| 37% || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1980
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| Bill Clinton
| style="background:#ccf;"| 48%
| style="background:#fcc;"| '''Frank White'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| '''52%''' || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1982
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''55%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Frank White
| style="background:#fcc;"| 45% || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1984
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''63%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Woody Freeman
| style="background:#fcc;"| 37% || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1986
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''64%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Frank White
| style="background:#fcc;"| 36% || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1990
| style="text-align: left;" | Governor of Arkansas
| style="text-align: left;" | Arkansas
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''57%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Sheffield Nelson
| style="background:#fcc;"| 42% || ||
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1992
| style="text-align: left;" | President of the United States
| style="text-align: left;" | United States of America
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''43%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| George H. W. Bush
| style="background:#fcc;"| 37%
| style="background:#ffc; white-space:nowrap;"| Ross Perot (I)
| style="background:#ffc;"| 19%
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | 1996
| style="text-align: left;" | President of the United States
| style="text-align: left;" | United States of America
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''Bill Clinton'''
| style="background:#ccf;"| '''49%'''
| style="background:#fcc;"| Bob Dole
| style="background:#fcc;"| 41%
| style="background:#fcf; white-space:nowrap;"| Ross Perot (Reform)
| style="background:#fcf;"| 8%
|}
 
==Authored books==
 
* {{Cite book| publisher = Three Rivers Press| isbn = 978-0-8129-2193-9| title = Putting People First: How We Can All Change America| location = New York| date = September 12, 1992| url = https://archive.org/details/puttingpeoplefir00clin}}
* {{cite book | title=Between Hope and History | year=1996 | publisher=Times Books | location=New York | isbn=978-0-8129-2913-3| title-link=Between Hope and History }}
* {{cite book | title=My Life | year=2004 | publisher=Vintage Books | location=New York | isbn=978-1-4000-3003-3 | edition=1st| title-link=My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography) }}
* {{cite book | title=Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World | year=2007 | publisher=Knopf | location=New York | isbn=978-0-307-26674-3 | edition=1st| title-link=Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World }}
* {{cite book|title = Back to Work (book) | year=2011 | publisher=Knopf | location=New York | isbn = 978-0-307-95975-1 | edition=1st| title-link=Back to Work (book) }}
* {{cite book|title = The President Is Missing |year =2018 | publisher = Knopf | isbn = 978-0-316-41269-8 | edition=1st|title-link =The President Is Missing (novel) }}
*{{cite book|title = The President's Daughter |year =2021 | publisher = Knopf | isbn = 978-0-316-54071-1 | edition=1st|title-link = }}
 
==Recordings==
 
Bill Clinton is one of the narrators on ''[[Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf]]'', a 2003 recording of [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s ''Peter and the Wolf'' performed by the [[Russian National Orchestra]], on [[Pentatone (record label)|Pentatone]], together with [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and [[Sophia Loren]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Wolf Tracks |url=https://russiannationalorchestra.org/recordings/wolf-tracks/ |website=Russian National Orchestra |access-date=August 1, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> This garnered Clinton the [[46th Annual Grammy Awards|2003 Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children|Best Spoken Word Album for Children]].<ref name=GRAMMY>{{cite web |title=Bill Clinton |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/bill-clinton/1590 |website=GRAMMY.com |access-date=August 1, 2020 |language=en |date=November 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Grammy Award Winners |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/music/08grammy-list.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 1, 2020}}</ref>
The [[audiobook]] edition of his autobiography, [[My Life (Clinton autobiography)|''My Life'']], read by Clinton himself, won the [[47th Annual Grammy Awards|2005 Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album|Best Spoken Word Album]]<ref name=GRAMMY/> as well as the [[Audie Award]] as the Audiobook of the Year.<ref>{{cite web |title=2005 Audie Awards® - APA |url=https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2005-audies |website=www.audiopub.org |publisher=[[Audio Publishers Association]] |access-date=August 1, 2020}}</ref>
 
Clinton has two more Grammy nominations for his audiobooks: ''[[Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World]]'' in [[50th Annual Grammy Awards|2007]] and ''[[Back to Work (book)|Back to Work]]'' in [[55th Annual Grammy Awards|2012]].<ref name=GRAMMY/>
 
==See also==
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order & add a short description [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
* [[Clinton family]]
* [[Clinton School of Public Service]]
* [[Efforts to impeach Bill Clinton]]
* [[Gun control policy of the Clinton Administration]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States by previous experience]]
<!-- PLEASE KEEP ENTRIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. -->


==References==
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
 
==Further reading==
 
{{Main|Bibliography of Bill Clinton}}
 
===Primary sources===
 
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Clinton, Bill. (with [[Al Gore]]). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070621005829/http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/22/4f/40.pdf Science in the National Interest].'' Washington, D.C.: The White House, August 1994.
* --- (with Al Gore). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080316091133/http://www.gcrio.org/USCCAP/toc.html The Climate Change Action Plan].'' Washington, D.C.: The White House, October 1993.
* [[Taylor Branch]] ''The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President.'' (2009) Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|978-1-4165-4333-6}}
* ''Official Congressional Record Impeachment Set:&nbsp;... Containing the Procedures for Implementing the Articles of Impeachment and the Proceedings of the Impeachment Trial of President William Jefferson Clinton.'' Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1999.
* ''Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton.'' Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1994–2002.
* [[S. Daniel Abraham]] ''[[Peace Is Possible]]'', foreword by Bill Clinton
{{Refend}}
 
===Popular books===
 
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Peter Baker ''The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-684-86813-X}}
* [[James Bovard]] ''Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-312-23082-6}}
* [[Joe Conason]] and [[Gene Lyons]] ''The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton'' (2003) {{ISBN|0-312-27319-3}}
* [[Elizabeth Drew]] ''On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency'' (1994) {{ISBN|0-671-87147-1}}
* [[David Gergen]] ''Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership.'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-684-82663-1}}
* [[Nigel Hamilton (author)|Nigel Hamilton]] ''Bill Clinton: An American Journey'' (2003) {{ISBN|0-375-50610-1}}
* [[Christopher Hitchens]] ''No One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton'' (1999) {{ISBN|1-85984-736-6}}
* [[Michael Isikoff]] ''Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story'' (1999) {{ISBN|0-609-60393-0}}
* [[Mark Katz (speechwriter)|Mark Katz]] ''Clinton and Me: A Real-Life Political Comedy'' (2004) {{ISBN|978-0-7868-6949-7}}
* [[David Maraniss]] ''The Clinton Enigma: A Four and a Half Minute Speech Reveals This President's Entire Life'' (1998) {{ISBN|0-684-86296-4}}
* [[Dick Morris]] with Eileen McGann ''Because He Could'' (2004) {{ISBN|0-06-078415-6}}
* [[Richard Posner|Richard A. Posner]] ''An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton'' (1999) {{ISBN|0-674-00080-3}}
* Mark J. Rozell ''The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-87840-777-4}}
* Timperlake, Edward, and William C. Triplett II ''Year of the Rat: How Bill Clinton Compromised U.S. Security for Chinese Cash''. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1998. {{ISBN|0-89526-333-5}}
* Michael Waldman ''POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words That Defined the Clinton Presidency'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-7432-0020-9}}
* Ivory Tower Publishing Company. Achievements of the Clinton Administration: the Complete Legislative and Executive. (1995) {{ISBN|0-88032-748-0}}
{{Refend}}
 
===Scholarly studies===
 
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Campbell, Colin, and Bert A. Rockman, eds. ''The Clinton Legacy'' (Chatham House Pub, 2000)
* Cohen; Jeffrey E. "The Polls: Change and Stability in Public Assessments of Personal Traits, Bill Clinton, 1993–99" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 31, 2001
* Cronin, Thomas E. and Michael A. Genovese; "President Clinton and Character Questions" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' Vol. 28, 1998
* Davis; John. "The Evolution of American Grand Strategy and the War on Terrorism: Clinton and Bush Perspectives" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 3, 2003
* Dumbrell, John. "Was there a Clinton doctrine? President Clinton's foreign policy reconsidered". ''Diplomacy and Statecraft'' 13.2 (2002): 43–56.
* Edwards; George C. "Bill Clinton and His Crisis of Governance" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 28, 1998
* Fisher; Patrick. "Clinton's Greatest Legislative Achievement? the Success of the 1993 Budget Reconciliation Bill" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 1, 2001
* Glad; Betty. "Evaluating Presidential Character" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 28, 1998
* Halberstam, David. ''War in a time of peace: Bush, Clinton, and the generals'' (Simon and Schuster, 2001). [https://archive.org/details/warintimeofpeace00halb online]
* Harris, John F. ''The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House'' (2006). [https://archive.org/details/survivorbillclin00harr online]
* Head, Simon. [http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/01/30/clinton-system-donor-machine-2016-election/ The Clinton System] (January 30, 2016), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''
* Hyland, William G. ''Clinton's World: Remaking American Foreign Policy'' (1999) {{ISBN|0-275-96396-9}}
* Jewett, Aubrey W. and Marc D. Turetzky; "Stability and Change in President Clinton's Foreign Policy Beliefs, 1993–96" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 28, 1998
* {{citation|last=Kim|first=Claire Jean|title=Managing the Racial Breach: Clinton, Black-White Polarization, and the Race Initiative|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=117|issue=1|pages=55–79|doi=10.2307/798094|jstor=798094|year=2002|ref=none}}
* Laham, Nicholas, ''A Lost Cause: Bill Clinton's Campaign for National Health Insurance'' (1996)
* Lanoue, David J. and Craig F. Emmert; "Voting in the Glare of the Spotlight: Representatives' Votes on the Impeachment of President Clinton" ''Polity'', Vol. 32, 1999
* Levy, Peter B. ''Encyclopedia of the Clinton presidency'' (Greenwood, 2002) [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl00levy online]
* Maurer; Paul J. "Media Feeding Frenzies: Press Behavior during Two Clinton Scandals" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 29, 1999
*  Nesmith, Bruce F., and Paul J. Quirk, "Triangulation: Position and Leadership in Clinton’s Domestic Policy." in ''42: Inside the Presidency of Bill Clinton'' edited by Michael Nelson at al. (Cornell UP, 2016) pp.&nbsp;46–76.
* Nie; Martin A. "'It's the Environment, Stupid!': Clinton and the Environment" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 27, 1997 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27551699 in JSTOR]
* O'Connor; Brendon. "Policies, Principles, and Polls: Bill Clinton's Third Way Welfare Politics 1992–1996" ''The Australian Journal of Politics and History'', Vol. 48, 2002
* Palmer, David. "'What Might Have Been'--Bill Clinton and American Political Power." ''Australasian Journal of American Studies'' (2005): 38–58. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41416024 online]
* Renshon; Stanley A. ''The Clinton Presidency: Campaigning, Governing, and the Psychology of Leadership'' Westview Press, 1995
* Renshon; Stanley A. "The Polls: The Public's Response to the Clinton Scandals, Part 1: Inconsistent Theories, Contradictory Evidence" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 32, 2002
* Romano, Flavio. ''Clinton and Blair: the political economy of the third way'' (Routledge, 2007)
* Rushefsky, Mark E. and Kant Patel. ''Politics, Power & Policy Making: The Case of Health Care Reform in the 1990s'' (1998) {{ISBN|1-56324-956-1}}
* Schantz, Harvey L. ''Politics in an Era of Divided Government: Elections and Governance in the Second Clinton Administration'' (2001) {{ISBN|0-8153-3583-0}}
* Troy, Gill. ''The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s'' (2015)
* Walt, Stephen M. "Two Cheers for Clinton's Foreign Policy" ''Foreign Affairs'' 79#2 (2000), pp.&nbsp;63–79 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049641 online].
* Warshaw, Shirley Anne. ''The Clinton Years'' (Infobase Publishing, 2009)
* White, Mark, ed. ''The Presidency of Bill Clinton: The Legacy of a New Domestic and Foreign Policy'' (I.B.Tauris, 2012)
 
{{Refend}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=Clinton|b=no|s=Author:William Jefferson Clinton|v=no}}
{{wikiquote|Bill Clinton}}
 
{{commons|Bill Clinton}}
===Official===
* [http://www.bill-clinton-peace.blogspot.com/ Photos of Bill Clinton's actions to bring peace to the Middle East]
* [http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ Presidential Library & Museum]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html Bill Clinton's White House biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117205048/http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html |date=2009-01-17 }}
* [http://www.clintonfoundation.org/ Clinton Foundation]
* [https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/william-j-clinton/ White House biography]
* [https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/Hope.html Archived White House website]
 
===Interviews, speeches, and statements===
* {{C-SPAN|Bill Clinton}}
* {{TED speaker}}
* [http://millercenter.org/president/speeches#clinton Full audio of a number of Clinton speeches] [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]
* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/A-0027/menu.html Oral History Interview with Bill Clinton] from [http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/ Oral Histories of the American South], June 1974
* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/18/060918fa_fact1 "The Wanderer"], a profile from ''[[The New Yorker]]'', September 2006
 
===Media coverage===
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{New York Times topic|people/c/bill_clinton}}
 
===Other===
* {{Curlie|Society/History/By_Region/North_America/United_States/Presidents/Clinton%2C_William_Jefferson/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070504050918/http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/clinton Extensive essays on Bill Clinton] and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?151639-1/life-portrait-bill-clinton "Life Portrait of Bill Clinton"], from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Presidents: Life Portraits]]'', December 20, 1999
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/clinton/player/ ''Clinton'']&nbsp;an ''[[American Experience]]'' documentary
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=3565}}
* [https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/04/04/clinton-bush-heavyweight-orig.cnn 1992 election episode in CNN's Race for the White House]


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