Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton
42nd President of the United States
In office January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
Vice President	Al Gore
Preceded by	George H. W. Bush
Succeeded by	George W. Bush
40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas
In office January 11, 1983 – December 12, 1992
Lieutenant	Winston Bryant Jim Tucker
Preceded by	Frank White
Succeeded by	Jim Tucker
In office January 9, 1979 – January 19, 1981
Lieutenant	Joe Purcell
Preceded by	Joe Purcell (Acting)
Succeeded by	Frank White
50th Attorney General of Arkansas
In office January 3, 1977 – January 9, 1979
Governor	David Pryor Joe Purcell (Acting)
Preceded by	Jim Tucker
Succeeded by	Steve Clark
Personal details
Born	William Jefferson Blythe III August 19, 1946 (1946-08-19) Hope, Arkansas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Hillary Rodham (1975-present)
Children	1; Chelsea
Alma mater	Georgetown University (B.S.) University College, Oxford Yale University (J.D.)
Religion	Baptist
Signature
Website	Clinton Presidential Library

William Jefferson Clinton (born on August 19, 1946 as William Jefferson Blythe III), better known as Bill Clinton, is an American lawyer who was the 42nd President of the United States. He served from 1993 to 2001. He was 46 years old when he was elected. His major opponents were George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole. Clinton was the first president from the post-World War II baby boom generation and was the third youngest president in the U.S. He is a Democrat. Before he was president, Clinton was governor of Arkansas.

Early years

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe in Hope, Arkansas. His biological father, William Jefferson Blythe (1918-1946) died in a car accident, three months before Clinton was born. His mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley (1923-1994) 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 Law School. Clinton did not fight in the Vietnam War because he was in the ROTC for a short time.

Before being President

Clinton married Hillary Rodham in 1975. In 1980, their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was born.

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 served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1993. Clinton was known for being a "New Democrat" while governor. During, Clinton changed the state's school system. There was also a scandal called Whitewater during Clinton's term.

Presidency

During the early part of Clinton's first term, he put in place a tax code which would increase taxes on the rich and decrease taxes on the poor.

In 1994, during Clinton's first term in office, the Congress switched to a Republican majority. However, Clinton still beat Republican Bob Dole in the 1996 election.

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.

President Clinton was accused of wrongdoing by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 1998 during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Although he lied that they did not engage in sexual activity, he was found to have done nothing wrong by the U.S. Senate in February 1999.

The country faced very 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.

The decade ended with the being the first time the United States did not have to borrow money to pay for its budget. Clinton left office with high approval ratings.

After The Presidency

After his presidency, he wrote some books and travelled around the world helping out the United States. He is married to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and now lives in 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 vegetarian.

In 2013, Clinton started following Buddhist meditation.

Other websites

• Photos of Bill Clinton's actions to bring peace to the Middle East
• Bill Clinton's White House biography