\n\n N\/A\n <\/td>\n | \n N\/A\n <\/td>\n | \n N\/A\n <\/td>\n | \n N\/A\n <\/td>\n | \n N\/A\n <\/td>\n | \n N\/A\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\nBefore Fame<\/h2>\nHe endured a tragic and often abusive childhood with an alcoholic step-father. He received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from\u00a0Georgetown University<\/b>, then went on to study at\u00a0University of Oxford<\/b>\u00a0as a Rhodes Scholar before attending\u00a0Yale<\/b>\u00a0Law School.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/i> Biography<\/h2>\n<\/i> Biography Timeline<\/h2>\n\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1946<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. 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 Dell Cassidy (later Virginia Kelley). 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. 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. At a time when the southern United States was racially segregated, Clinton’s grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races. In 1950, Bill’s mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton Sr., who co-owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with his brother and Earl T. Ricks. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1963<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n 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. 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1964<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n In 1964 and 1965, Clinton won elections for class president. From 1964 to 1967, he was an intern and then a clerk in the office of Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright. While in college, he became a brother of service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Clinton was also a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth group affiliated with Freemasonry, but he never became a Freemason. He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band fraternity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1968<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree in 1968.<\/p>\n 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 but transferred to a B.Litt. in politics and, ultimately, a B.Phil. in politics. Clinton did not expect to return for the second year because of the draft and 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, but he left early to return to the United States and did not receive a degree from Oxford.<\/p>\n During the Vietnam War, Clinton received educational draft deferments while he was in England in 1968 and 1969. While at Oxford, he participated in Vietnam War protests and organized a Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam event in October 1969. 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 or Air Force, and he then made arrangements to join the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Arkansas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1969<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n During his time at Oxford, Clinton befriended fellow American Rhodes Scholar Frank Aller. In 1969, Aller received a draft letter that mandated deployment to the Vietnam War. Aller’s 1971 suicide had an influential impact on Clinton. 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”. Clinton was a member of the Oxford University Basketball Club and also played for Oxford University’s rugby union team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1972<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Clinton eventually 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 mayor of Dallas Ron Kirk, future governor of Texas Ann Richards, and then unknown television director (and future filmmaker) Steven Spielberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1973<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1973. In 1971, he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham, in the Yale Law Library; she was a class year ahead of him. 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 campaign for the 1972 United States presidential election in order to move in with her in California. The couple continued living together in New Haven when they returned to law school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1974<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n 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 House of Representatives. Running in a conservative 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 percent to 48 percent margin. In 1976, Clinton ran for Arkansas attorney general. With only minor opposition in the primary and no opposition at all in the general election, Clinton was elected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1975<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Bill married Hillary on October 11, 1975, and their only child, Chelsea, was born on February 27, 1980.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1978<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n 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, having defeated the Republican candidate Lynn Lowe, a farmer from 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. Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called the “Boy Governor”. 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 in Cleveland County, polled 31 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1980<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n As the first baby boomer president, Clinton was the first chief executive since Calvin Coolidge who was not alive during World War II. 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. When Clinton played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show, he was described by some religious conservatives as “the MTV president”. 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; Greenberg believed that Clinton was abandoning the progressive policies of previous Arkansas Governors such as Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers and David Pryor. The claim “Slick Willie” would last throughout his presidency. Standing at a height of 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), Clinton is tied with four others as the fifth-tallest president in the nation’s history. His folksy manner led him to be nicknamed Bubba, especially in the South. Since 2000, he has frequently been referred to as “The Big Dog” or “Big Dog”. His prominent role in campaigning for President Obama during the 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”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1982<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Clinton joined friend Bruce Lindsey’s Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings. 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. For senior citizens, he removed the sales tax from medications and increased the home property-tax exemption. He became a leading figure among the New Democrats, a group of 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 landslide victory in 1984, the Democratic Party needed to adopt a more centrist political stance in order to succeed at the national level. Clinton delivered the 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1983<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n 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 legislative session\u2014the longest in Arkansas history. Many have considered this the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship. He defeated four Republican candidates for governor: Lowe (1978), White (1982 and 1986), Jonesboro businessmen Woody Freeman (1984), and Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock (1990).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1987<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n In 1987, the media speculated that Clinton would enter the presidential race after incumbent New York governor Mario Cuomo declined to run and Democratic front-runner Gary Hart withdrew owing to revelations of multiple marital infidelities. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for the potential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton for governor, initially favored\u2014but ultimately vetoed\u2014by the First Lady). For the nomination, Clinton endorsed 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 and poorly delivered. 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1988<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n According to some sources, Clinton was a death penalty opponent in his early years, but he eventually switched positions. During Clinton’s term, Arkansas performed its first executions since 1964 (the death penalty had been reinstated in 1976). As Governor, he oversaw four executions: one by electric chair and three by lethal injection. Later, Clinton was the first president to pardon a death-row inmate since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n |