U. S. Presidents
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
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| Originally named William Jefferson Blythe IV (b. Aug. 19, 1946, Hope, Ark.), president of the United States (1993-2001).
He directed the presidential campaign of Democratic candidate George McGovern (1972) in Texas and that of Jimmy Carter (1976) in Arkansas, and in 1974 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected attorney general of Arkansas in 1976, and in 1978 he was elected governor, becoming at age 32 the youngest governor the nation had seen in 40 years. He failed in his reelection bid in 1980 but regained the governor's office in 1982, after which he was successively reelected three more times by substantial margins. He won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992 and went on to win the presidential election that November, defeating Republican incumbent George Bush. In 1993 he obtained narrow congressional approval of legislation designed to reduce the continuing large budget deficit through a combination of increased taxes on the wealthy and cuts in government programs. On Nov. 5, 1996, he became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win reelection, defeating Republican nominee Bob Dole. On Dec. 19, 1998, the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against Clinton but he was acquitted by the Senate in January 1999. |