Bill Clinton (#42): The Comeback Kid
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1946-1964
Hope, Arkansas
The Boy from Hope
Born William Jefferson Blythe III in 1946 in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a car accident, Clinton was raised by his grandparents and later by his mother and an alcoholic stepfather. Despite a turbulent home life, he was a star student and musician. A 1963 handshake with President Kennedy at a Boys Nation event in the Rose Garden set the course of his life.
1976-1992
Little Rock, Arkansas
Boy Governor
Clinton attended Georgetown, won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, and graduated from Yale Law School, where he met Hillary Rodham. He became Arkansas attorney general at 30 and governor at 32--the youngest in the nation. Voted out after one term, he won it back two years later, earning his first "Comeback Kid" nickname. He served as governor for 12 years, building a reputation as a centrist reformer.
1991-1992
United States
The 1992 Campaign
Clinton survived scandal after scandal during the 1992 primaries--draft dodging allegations, marital infidelity, and charges of marijuana use. Each time, he came back. He played saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show, connected with voters like no politician since JFK, and hammered the message: "It's the economy, stupid." He defeated incumbent George H.W. Bush to become the 42nd president at 46.
1993-2000
United States
The Roaring Nineties
Clinton presided over the longest peacetime economic expansion in American history. The economy added 22.7 million jobs, unemployment dropped to 3.9%, and the stock market tripled. His 1993 deficit reduction plan--passed without a single Republican vote--helped turn record deficits into record surpluses. By 2000, the government was running a $236 billion surplus.
1993-1996
Washington, D.C.
Triangulation
Clinton governed as a "New Democrat," triangulating between liberal and conservative positions. He signed welfare reform, requiring work in exchange for benefits--infuriating the left but fulfilling his promise to "end welfare as we know it." He signed NAFTA, expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, and put 100,000 new police officers on the streets through the 1994 crime bill.
1995-2000
Dayton, Ohio & Worldwide
Peacemaker Abroad
Clinton brokered the 1995 Dayton Accords, ending the Bosnian War and the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II. He expanded NATO eastward, intervened in Kosovo to stop ethnic cleansing, and pushed for peace in Northern Ireland, where the Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence. He also pursued Middle East peace, coming agonizingly close at Camp David in 2000.
1998-1999
Washington, D.C.
Impeachment
Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 1999. Throughout the ordeal, his approval ratings remained above 60%--the public separated their judgment of his character from their assessment of his job performance.
2001-Present
New York & Worldwide
The Post-Presidential Years
Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating--the highest of any departing president since Eisenhower. Through the Clinton Foundation, he tackled global health, climate change, and economic development. He and George H.W. Bush, once fierce rivals, became close friends and raised billions for disaster relief together. Clinton remains one of the most sought-after voices in the Democratic Party.
The Comeback Kid
Bill Clinton was a president of enormous talent and enormous flaws. He connected with ordinary Americans like few leaders before him, presided over an era of peace and prosperity, and proved that a kid from a broken home in small-town Arkansas could reach the highest office in the land. His story is quintessentially American--brilliant, messy, and always coming back for more.
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