interesting facts  
William Clinton promised a brighter tomorrow and focused on the national economy. 

quote  
"We are clearly stronger as a nation when we use the full talents of all of our people, regardless of race or religious faith, national origin or sexual orientation, gender or disability." 

Clinton's 2nd Inaugural Address (RealAudio) (AU)

biography  
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV on Aug. 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark., a small town near the Texas-Oklahoma border. His father, an automobile-parts salesman, died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. When Bill was 2 years old his mother, Virginia Cassidy, went to nursing school in New Orleans, La. She sent Bill to live with his grandparents, Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who ran a grocery store in Hope.  

His mother returned to Hope when Bill was 4, and three years later she married Roger Clinton, an automobile dealer, who moved the family to Hot Springs, Ark. There Bill and his younger half brother, Roger, Jr., attended public schools. The family attended a Baptist church. His mother often engaged Bill in political discussions and encouraged his ambitions.  

Growing up had its difficulties, however, because his stepfather was an alcoholic who sometimes beat his mother. Virginia and Roger divorced but soon remarried, when Bill was 15. As a gesture to help hold the family together, Bill had his last name legally changed to Clinton.  

Bill participated in many activities, including student government, at Hot Springs High School. In the summer of 1963 he was elected a senator of the American Legion Boys Nation and was sent to Washington, D.C. There he met President John F. Kennedy, his political hero.  

He turned down a music scholarship to Louisiana State University in favor of attending Georgetown University. While pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in international studies he worked for Democratic Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who became an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War. Clinton's own opposition to the war grew as he attended hearings and clipped newspapers.  

Like his mentor, Fulbright, Clinton won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University (see Rhodes, Cecil). During his two years at Oxford Clinton's opposition to the Vietnam War came into conflict with his political aspirations. When he received a draft notice in 1969 he enrolled in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Arkansas Law School. He made himself available for the draft but was never called up because he received a high number in the draft lottery held that year. 

In the fall of 1970 Clinton entered Yale Law School. While at Yale he met Hillary Rodham, a Wellesley College graduate from suburban Chicago. Together they worked for George McGovern's presidential campaign during the summer and fall of 1972. The following year they graduated from law school. Clinton returned to Arkansas to teach at the University of Arkansas School of Law, while Rodham went briefly to Washington, where she worked for the House staff during the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The two were married in 1975. It also expanded the Clintons' household; in 1980, their daughter, Chelsea, was born. 

Clinton was elected Arkansas attorney general in 1976, then went on to win the governorship in 1978. He lost in his try for a second term,. but he regained the office four years later and served as governor until 1992. That year Clinton defeated George Bush and third-party candidate Ross Perot for the Presidency. 

Clinton and his running mate, Tennessee's Senator Albert Gore, Jr., then 44, represented a new generation in American political leadership. For the first time in 12 years both the White House and Congress were held by the same party. 

In domestic affairs, Clinton signed into law measures to revitalize the economy and renew the American community. To boost living standards and create jobs, he won Congressional approval of a massive deficit reduction plan, a barrier-breaking trade agreement with Mexico, aid to Russia, and tax cuts for small businesses and the working poor. He also signed the Brady Bill, which required a waiting period for gun purchases. 

Other initiatives included the national service law to put Americans to work restoring their communities; the Family and Medical Leave Act to protect the jobs of parents who must care for sick children; reform of public education with the adoption of his GOALS 2000 bill; a new national health care plan and welfare reform; and a get-tough program against crime and violence. 

The recovering U. S. economy and a tour of Europe ending in a Moscow summit buoyed Clinton's leadership at the end of his first year. In his 1994 State of the Union Address he declared that the Nation "is growing stronger, but it must be stronger still."