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Former U.S. president Bill Clinton signs books during an appearance in Toronto.
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INDEPTH: CLINTON
William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton:
42nd president of the United States
CBC News Online | March 10, 2005
Bill Clinton at a glance
- Born Aug. 19, 1946, Hope, Ark.
- Son of William Jefferson Blythe II and Virginia Kelley
- Blythe died in an auto accident three months before his
son's birth.
- Boy named William Jefferson Blythe III.
- Mother later married Roger Clinton, an alcoholic. Bill
mainly raised by maternal grandmother.
- At age 15 he changed his named to William Jefferson Clinton.
President Clinton, followed
by Vice-President Al Gore arrive in the presidential
inaugural reviewing stand in front of the White House,
Jan. 20, 1997. (AP Photo) |
- In 1963, he met and shook hands with President John Kennedy
during a student group visit to the White House.
- Graduated in 1968 from Georgetown University with a degree
in international relations.
- Received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University that
year, and received draft deferment.
- Graduated from Yale Law School in 1973.
- Joined University of Arkansas School of Law and taught
until 1976.
- In 1975, married fellow Yale law grad Hillary Rodham.
- In 1976, elected attorney general of Arkansas. He was
also Arkansas campaign manager for Jimmy Carter's run for
the presidency.
- Elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, defeated for re-election
in 1980, regained office in 1982, – called "The Comeback
Kid" – and served three additional terms.
- Daughter Chelsea born in 1980.
- In 1990, he founded the Democratic Leadership Council,
aimed at shifting the party to the centre.
- In 1992, Clinton stood for president of the U.S, with
Al Gore as candidate for vice-president, during a campaign
with controversies over Clinton's extra-marital affairs
and Vietnam draft status. Clinton successfully campaigned
by saying the U.S. economy had stagnated under Republican
rule.
- Won the presidency with 43 per cent of the popular vote,
compared to 38 per cent for President George H. W. Bush
and 19 per cent for Ross Perot.
- Underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 after suffering chest pains and shortness of breath.
- Six months later, in March 2005, he had another operation to remove fluid and scar tissue from his left chest cavity in a procedure often necessary after quadruple bypass surgery.
First Term
President Clinton delivers his inaugural
address after taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 1993.
(AP Photo) |
Clinton's first time was marked with both failure and success.
He lost on issues such as permitting gay men and lesbians to
serve openly in the military and reforming health care. He was
successful in reducing the deficit, pushing the ratification
of the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiating the
Dayton Peace Accords for the Balkans and the Oslo peace agreement
between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
In 1994, the Republicans gained control of the House and Senate,
increasing opposition to Clinton's policy.
It was in Clinton's first term that a special prosecutor named
Kenneth Starr, a conservative Republican, was named to investigate
a land deal in Arkansas that allegedly involved both Bill and
Hilary Clinton. The probe became known as the Whitewater scandal,
named after the development that was to take place on the Arkansas
land.
In 1996, Clinton ran for re-election against Republican Bob
Dole. Clinton won with 48 per cent of the popular vote, with
Dole getting 41 per cent and Perot 8.5 per cent.
Second Term
Supreme Court Chief Justice William
Rehnquist administers the presidential oath to President
Clinton as first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter
Chelsea look on, Jan. 20, 1997 on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo)
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Clinton began his second term with a victory, an agreement with
Congress that promised a balanced budget by 2002. But he then
failed to get authorization to get "fast track" authority to
negotiate trade agreements. He was able to expand NATO to include
some of the countries among the old Soviet satellite nations
in Eastern Europe.
Growing scandal dominated Clinton's second term. There was an
investigation of fund-raising for the 1996 election and the
Whitewater land probe kept growing. In January 1998, there were
new allegations that Clinton had an affair with a White House
intern named Monica Lewinsky. That, too, became part of the
Starr investigation. Starr's report said Clinton had lied before
a grand jury about the affair, obstructed justice and abused
presidential power.
The House of Representatives began its own investigation and,
in December 1998, along party lines, voted to impeach Clinton,
making him the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.
Days before the vote, Clinton had ordered air raids on Iraq,
bringing Republican accusations that he was trying to divert
attention from the impeachment.
Clinton was tried by the Senate in January 1999 and was acquitted.
Starr left the Whitewater special investigation and his successor,
Robert Ray, came to the conclusion there was insufficient evidence
to show any criminal wrongdoing by the Clintons.
In international affairs, Clinton successfully supported the
peace process in Northern Ireland, kept trying to negotiate
a Middle East peace agreement and visited Vietnam to promote
reconciliation.
In 1999, NATO forces led by the U.S. waged a three-month campaign
against Yugoslavia after attacks on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
In 2000, Hilary Rodham Clinton ran successfully for the Senate
in New York, becoming the first U.S. first lady to hold public
office.
In his last days in office, Clinton signed the treaty for the
International Criminal Court, a move later repudiated by his
successor, George W. Bush, and landed in new controversy as
he granted some last-minute pardons as he left office.
At that time, polls showed that 65 per cent of the public approved
of his performance as president but only 41 per cent approved
of Clinton personally.
Private Citizen
After Clinton left completed his term, he opened an office in
Harlem, went on a speaking tour and signed a contract with publisher
Alfred A. Knopf for his autobiography for a reported $10 million
US. On Sept. 6, 2004, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery after suffering chest pains and shortness of breath. He spent only four days in hospital. When he recovered fully, he went on a trip to countries around the Indian Ocean as part of a campaign to help tsunami victims.
On March 10, 2005, he underwent surgery again, this time to remove fluid and scar tissue from his left chest cavity. The procedure, called a decortication, was considered low risk. Doctors deemed the surgery a success and said the operation is occasionally necessary after quadruple bypass surgery. Clinton was walking more than six kilometres a day before he had the procedure and was considered to be in good health.
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| MEDIA: |
Aug. 5, 2004:
 The National's Peter Mansbridge speaks with former U.S. president Bill Clinton (Runs 21:44)
 The Current's Adrian Harewood interviews Bill Clinton (Runs 18:20)
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