Bill Clinton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| William Jefferson Clinton | |
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| In office January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 |
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| Vice President | Albert A. Gore, Jr. |
| Preceded by | George H. W. Bush |
| Succeeded by | George W. Bush |
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42nd Governor of Arkansas
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| In office January 11, 1983 – December 12, 1992 |
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| Lieutenant | Winston Bryant (1983-1991) Jim Guy Tucker (1991-1992) |
| Preceded by | Frank D. White |
| Succeeded by | Jim Guy Tucker |
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40th Governor of Arkansas
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| In office January 9, 1979 – January 19, 1981 |
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| Lieutenant | Joe Purcell |
| Preceded by | Joe Purcell (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Frank D. White |
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| In office 1977 – 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Jim Guy Tucker |
| Succeeded by | Steve Clark |
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| Born | August 19, 1946 Hope, Arkansas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Hillary Rodham Clinton |
| Children | Chelsea Clinton |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University University College, Oxford Yale Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Religion | Southern Baptist |
| Signature |  |
| Website | William J. Clinton Presidential Library |
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946)[1] was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president, older only than Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. He became president at the end of the Cold War, and as he was born in the period after World War II, is known as the first Baby Boomer president.[2] He is the husband of New York Senator and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton was described as a New Democrat and was largely known for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president.[3] His policies, on issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform, have been described as "centrist."[4][5] Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus.[6][7] Based on Congressional accounting rules, at the end of his presidency Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion. On the heels of a failed attempt at health care reform with a Democratic Congress, for the first time in forty years, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives.[8] In his second term he was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury and obstruction of justice,[9] but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and completed his term.[10]
Clinton left office with an approval rating at 65%, the highest end of office rating of any President since World War II.[11] Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. To promote and address international causes, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming, he created the William J. Clinton Foundation. In 2004, he released his autobiography, My Life.
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Early life
William Jefferson Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas. His birth name was William Jefferson Blythe III. Clinton's father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in a car accident three months before Bill was born.[1] Following his birth, in order to study nursing, his mother Virginia Dell Cassidy (1923-1994), traveled to New Orleans, leaving Clinton in Hope with grandparents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and operated a small grocery store.[12] At a time when the Southern United States was segregated, Clinton's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races.[13] In 1950, Clinton's mother returned from nursing school and shortly thereafter married Roger Clinton, who together with his brother owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas.[14] The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.
Although he assumed use of it, it was not until Billy (as he was known then) turned fourteen that he formally adopted his stepfather's surname of Clinton. Clinton says he remembers his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and, at times, his half-brother, Roger, Jr.[14][15]
Education
In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and Hot Springs High School - where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician.[16] He was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography My Life:
| “ | (…) Sometime in my sixteenth year I decided I wanted to be in public life as an elected official. I loved music and thought I could be very good, but I knew I would never be John Coltrane or Stan Getz. I was interested in medicine and thought I could be a fine doctor, but I knew I would never be Michael DeBakey. But I knew I could be great in public service.[17] | ” |
In 1963, two influential moments in Clinton's life contributed to his decision to become a public figure. One was his visit to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy, as a Boys Nation senator.[14][15] The other was listening to Martin Luther King's 1963 I Have a Dream speech (he memorized Dr. King's words).[18]
With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (B.S.F.S.) degree in 1968. He spent the summer of 1967, the summer before his senior year, working as an intern for Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright.[14] While in college he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[19] Clinton was also a member of Youth Order of DeMolay, but he never actually became a Freemason.[20] He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi's National Honorary Band Fraternity, Inc.
Upon graduation he won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford where he studied Government.[15] He developed an interest in rugby union, playing at Oxford and later for the Little Rock Rugby club in Arkansas. While at Oxford he also participated in Vietnam War protests, including organizing an October 1969 Moratorium event.[14] In later life he admitted to smoking cannabis at the university, but claimed that he "never inhaled".[15]
After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1973.[15] While at Yale, he began dating law student Hillary Rodham who was a year ahead of him. They married in 1975 and their only child, Chelsea, was born in 1980.
Early political career
Leader of Texas McGovern Presidential Campaign of 1972
During Yale, Clinton took a job with the McGovern campaign and was assigned to lead McGovern's effort in Texas. He spent considerable time in Dallas, Texas, at the McGovern campaign's local headquarters on Lemmon Avenue where he had an office. There, Clinton worked with Ron Kirk, who was later elected mayor of Dallas twice, future governor of Texas Ann Richards, and film director and producer Steven Spielberg.
Governor of Arkansas
After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton returned to Arkansas and became a University of Arkansas law professor. A year later, he ran for the House of Representatives in 1974. The incumbent, John Paul Hammerschmidt, defeated Clinton with 52% of the vote. In 1976, without opposition in the general election, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas.[15]
- Further information: Arkansas gubernatorial election, 1978
In 1978, at thirty two, Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas, making him the youngest governor in the country. He worked on educational reform and Arkansas's roads, but 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. In the 1980 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Monroe Schwarzlose of Kingsland in Cleveland County, polled 31% of the vote against Clinton. Some suggested that Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat in the general election that year by Republican challenger Frank D. White. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.[15]
- Further information: Arkansas gubernatorial election, 1980
Following his defeat, Clinton joined friend's Bruce Lindsey's law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings, though he spent most of the next two years working on his re-election campaign. In 1982, Clinton reclaimed his old job as governor and kept it for another ten years, helping Arkansas transform its economy and significantly improving the state's educational system. He became a leading figure among the New Democrats.[21] The New Democrats, organized within the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) were a branch of the Democratic Party that called for welfare reform and smaller government, a policy supported by both Democrats and Republicans. He served as Chair of the National Governors Association from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas.[15]
Clinton made economic growth, job creation and educational improvement high priorities. For senior citizens, he removed the sales tax from medicine and increased the home property tax exemption. Clinton was responsible for some state educational improvement programs, notably more spending for schools, rising opportunities for gifted children, an increase in vocational education, and raising of teachers' salaries.[15][21]
Clinton's Governorship answered conservative criticism, but personal and business transactions made by the Clintons during this period became the basis of the Whitewater investigation, which dogged his later presidential administration.[22] After very extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas.[15][23]
Democratic Presidential Primaries of 1988
In 1987 there was media speculation Clinton would enter the race after then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo declined to run and Democratic front-runner Gary Hart withdrew owing to revelations of marital infidelity. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor.[15] For the nomination, Clinton endorsed Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. However, he gave the opening night address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, which was nationally-televised, but it was criticized for length.[24] Presenting himself as a moderate and a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991.[21][25]
Democratic Presidential Primaries of 1992
- Further information: Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1992
Due to his youthful appearance he was often called the "Boy Governor." Clinton was the early favorite for the nomination. Clinton garnered the support of many superdelegates before the first nominating contests. [15]
In the first contest, the Iowa caucus, he finished a very distant third to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. During the campaign for the New Hampshire Primary reports of an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers surfaced. As Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas in the New Hampshire polls,[15] following the Super Bowl, Clinton and his wife Hillary went on 60 Minutes to refute the charges.
"The Comeback Kid"
Their television appearance was a calculated risk but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the New Hampshire primary, but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. On election night, Clinton labeled himself "The Comeback Kid." He ended leading New Hampshire by a large percentage. However, Tsongas picked up little or no momentum from his victory.[15]
Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the Southern primaries gave Clinton a sizable delegate lead. However, former California Governor Jerry Brown was scoring victories and Clinton had yet to win a significant contest outside of his native South.[15][25]
With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted the New York primary, which contained a large number of delegates. He scored a resounding victory in New York City and won, shedding his image as a regional candidate.[25] Having been transformed into the consensus candidate, he secured the Democratic Party nomination, finishing with a victory in Jerry Brown's home state of California.[15]
Presidential Election
- See also: Bill Clinton presidential campaign, 1992
Clinton won the 1992 presidential election (43.0% of the vote) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (37.4% of the vote) and billionaire populist H. Ross Perot, who ran as an independent (18.9% of the vote) on a platform focusing on domestic issues; a significant part of Clinton's success was Bush's steep decline in public approval. Because Bush's approval ratings were in the 80% range during the Persian Gulf conflict, he was described as "unbeatable." However, when Bush compromised with Democrats in an attempt to lower Federal deficits, he reneged on his promise not to raise taxes, hurting his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep.[25] By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to slightly over 40%.[26][27] Finally, conservatives were previously united by anti-communism, but with the end of the Cold War, the party lacked a uniting issue. When Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson addressed Christian themes at the Republican National Convention, with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform, many moderates were alienated. [28] Clinton then pointed to his moderate, "New Democrat" record as governor of Arkansas, though some on the more liberal side of the party remained suspicious.[29] Many Democrats who supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their allegiance to Clinton.[30]
His election ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House, and twenty of the previous twenty four years. The election gave Democrats full control of the United States Congress.[1] Clinton was the first president to enjoy this windfall since Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.
However, during the campaign questions of conflict of interest regarding state business and the politically powerful Rose Law Firm, at which Hillary Rodham Clinton was a partner, arose.[31] Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one".[32]
Presidency, 1993–2001
First term, 1993–1997
Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. In his inaugural address he declared:
| “ | Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.[33] | ” |
Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. While this action was popular, Clinton's attempt to fulfill another campaign promise of allowing openly homosexual men and women to serve in the armed forces garnered criticism from the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and from the right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate, Congress implemented the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, stating as long as homosexuals keep their sexuality secret, they may serve in the military. Some gay rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise to get votes and contributions.[34][35] These advocates feel Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting President Harry Truman used executive order to racially desegregate the armed forces. Clinton's defenders argue an executive order might have prompted the Democratic Senate to write the exclusion of gays into law, potentially making it harder to integrate the military in the future.[21] Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton said he did not think any serious person could say the way the policy was being implemented was not "out of whack."[36]
The Clinton-Gore administration launched the first official White House website on 21 October 1994.[37][38] It was followed by three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000.[39][40] The White House website was part of a wider movement of the Clinton administration toward web-based communication. According to Robert Longley, "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On 17 July 1996, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13011 - Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to fully utilize information technology to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public."[41]
Also in 1993, Clinton controversially supported ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement by the U.S. Senate. Clinton, along with most of his Democratic Leadership Committee allies, strongly supported free trade measures; there remained, however, strong intra-party disagreement. Opposition chiefly came from anti-trade Republicans, protectionist Democrats and supporters of Ross Perot. The bill passed the house with 234 votes against 200 opposed (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor, 156 Democrats, 43 Republicans, and 1 independent against). The treaty was then ratified by the Senate and signed into law by the President on 1 January 1994.[42]
Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. He also expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, a subsidy for low income workers.[23]
One of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda was the result of a taskforce headed by Hillary Clinton, which was a health care reform plan aimed at achieving universal coverage via a national healthcare plan. Though initially well-received in political circles, it was ultimately doomed by well-organized opposition from conservatives, the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. However, John F. Harris, a biographer of Clinton's, states the program failed because of a lack of co-ordination within the White House.[23] Despite his party holding a majority in Congress, the effort to create a national healthcare system ultimately died under heavy public pressure. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.[21][23]
Two months later, after two years of Democratic Party control, the Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections in 1994, for the first time in forty years.
In August 1993, Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for fifteen million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses,[43] and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers.[44] Additionally, through the implementation of spending restraints, it mandated the budget be balanced over a number of years.
Second term, 1997–2001
In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2% of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (40.7% of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4% of the popular vote), becoming the first Democrat to win presidential reelection since Franklin Roosevelt. The Republicans lost a few seats in the House and gained a few in the Senate, but overall retained control of the Congress. Clinton received 379, or over 70% of the Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.
On January 21, 1998, the media and prominent Republicans[45] raised controversy over Clinton's relationship with a young White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, resulting in the Lewinsky scandal.[23] In a lame duck session after the 1998 elections, for the belief Clinton lied about his relationship with Lewinsky in a sworn deposition in the Paula Jones law suit, the Republican-controlled House voted to impeach Clinton. The following year, the Republican-controlled Senate voted to acquit Clinton and he remained in office to complete his term.[46]
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, enacted by Clinton on October 21, 1998, served as the first significant amendment to the Copyright Act since 1976. The DMCA extended the protection of intellectual property to outlaw reverse engineering of digital protection. It also provided a framework for sound recording copyright owners and recording artists to seek public performance royalties under statute, which proved to be a landmark achievement for the recording industry.[47]
Two notable military events occurred during Clinton's second term. In Clinton's State of the Union Address, Clinton warned Congress of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's pursuit of nuclear weapons:
| “ | Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire gulf war. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission. I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, "You cannot defy the will of the world," and when I say to him, "You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.[48] | ” |
To weaken Saddam Hussein's grip of power, Clinton signed H.R. 4655 into law on October 31, 1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq, though it explicitly stated it did not speak to the use of American military forces.[49][50] The administration then launched a four-day bombing campaign named Operation Desert Fox, lasting from December 16 to December 19, 1998.
To stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide[51][52] of Albanians by nationalist Serbians in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Clinton authorized the use of American troops in a 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, named Operation Allied Force. General Wesley Clark was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and oversaw the mission. With United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, the bombing campaign ended on June 10, 1999. The resolution placed Kosovo under UN administration and authorized a peacekeeping force.[53] NATO claimed to have suffered zero combat deaths,[54] and two deaths from an Apache helicopter crash.[55] Opinions in the popular press criticized pre-war genocide claims by the Clinton administration as greatly exaggerated.[56][57] A U.N. Court ruled genocide did not take place, although it did recognize, "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments".[58] The term "ethnic cleansing" was used as an alternative to "genocide" to denote not just ethnically motivated murder but also displacement, though critics charge there is no difference.[59] Slobodan Milošević, the President of Yugoslavia at the time, was eventually charged with the "murders of about 600 individually identified ethnic Albanians" and "crimes against humanity."[60]
After initial successes such as the Oslo accords of the early-1990s, Clinton attempted to address the Arab-Israeli conflict. Clinton brought Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat together at Camp David.[23] However, Barak and Arafat could not find common ground, and the negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful.[23] The situation broke down completely with the start of the Second Intifada.
In November 2000, Clinton became the first president to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.[61] Clinton remained popular with the public throughout his two terms as President, ending his presidential career with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-term approval rating of any President since Dwight D. Eisenhower.[62] Clinton also oversaw a boom of the U.S. economy. Under Clinton, the United States had a projected federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.[63]
Legislation and programs
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Major legislation signed
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Major legislation vetoed
Proposals not passed by Congress Initiatives
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Supreme Court appointments
Clinton appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court:
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993
- Stephen Breyer - 1994[64]
Public approval
Clinton's job approval rating ranged from 36% in mid-1993 to 64% in late-1993 and early-1994.[65] In his second term, his rating was consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s.[66] After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point at 73% approval. [67] He finished with an approval rating of 68%, which was higher than that of any other departing president since polling began more than seventy years earlier.
As he was leaving office, a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll revealed only 45% said they'd miss him. While 55% thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life", 68% thought he'd be remembered for his "involvement in personal scandal", and 58% answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?". 47% of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters. 47% said he would be remembered as either "outstanding" or "above average" as a president while 22% said he would be remembered as "below average" or "poor".[68]
The Gallup Organization published a poll in February 2007 asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Clinton came in fourth place, capturing 13% of the vote. In a 2006 Quinnipiac University poll asking respondents to name the best president since World War II, Clinton ranked 3% behind Ronald Reagan to place second with 25% of the vote. However, in the same poll, when respondents were asked to name the worst president since World War II, Clinton placed 1% behind Nixon and 18% behind George W. Bush to come in third with 16% of the vote.[69]
In May 2006, a CNN poll comparing Clinton's job performance with that of his successor, George W. Bush, found that a strong majority of respondents said Clinton outperformed Bush in six different areas questioned.[70] ABC News characterized public consensus on Clinton as, "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics — and he's done a heck of a good job."[71]
Public image
As the first Baby Boomer president, Clinton was the first president in a half-century not to have been shaped by World War II. Authors Martin Walker and Bob Woodward state Clinton's innovative use of soundbite-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning was major for his high public approval ratings. [72][73] When Clinton played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show, Clinton was sometimes described by religious conservatives as "the MTV president."[74]
Clinton was very popular among African Americans. In 1998, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison called Clinton "the first Black president," saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas," and comparing Clinton's sex life, scrutinized despite his career accomplishments, to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure,[75] yet noted that she has "no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race."[76] Clinton made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency.[77]
Standing over 6'2" tall (1.88 m), Clinton was one of the tallest U.S. Presidents in the nation's history.[78][79]
Post-presidential career
Public speaking and campaigning
In his speaking engagements around the world, Clinton comments on contemporary politics.[80][81] One notable theme is his advocacy of multilateral solutions to problems facing the world. Clinton's opened his personal office in the Harlem section of New York City.[82]
After the Clintons moved to Chappaqua, New York, in the northern suburbs of New York City, at the end of his Presidency, he assisted his wife, Hillary Clinton, in her campaign for office as Senator from New York.[83] In the 2002 elections Clinton campaigned for a number of Democratic candidates for the Senate.[84]
On July 26, 2004, Clinton spoke for the fifth consecutive time at the Democratic National Convention, praising candidate John Kerry. He said of President George W. Bush's depiction of Kerry, "strength and wisdom are not opposing values." Despite Clinton's speech, the post-convention bounce to Kerry's poll numbers was less than was hoped for.[85]
Mostly to corporations and philanthropic groups in North America and Europe, Clinton has given dozens of paid speeches each year, earning $100,000 to $300,000 per speech.[86] According to his wife’s Senate ethics reports, he earned more than $30 million in speaking from 2001 to 2005.[87] In 2007, it is estimated he amassed around $40 million from speaking.[88]
In April 2007, Clinton made his first visit to new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 45-minute meeting, called at Clinton's request, touched on a host of topics, including disease, war, famine and poverty in Africa, especially in the Darfur region. The Middle East, the conflict in Iraq, and Iran's nuclear standoff with the U.N. were on the agenda, as well as HIV/AIDS.[89]
He was the opening speaker at the Ontario Economic Summit held on November 13, 2007 in which he addressed people on various subjects including Canada's role in Afghanistan, environmentalism and access to healthcare.[90]
William J. Clinton Presidential Center
Clinton dedicated his presidential library, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, which has the largest archives of any presidential library, in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 18, 2004.[91] Under rainy skies, Clinton received words of praise from former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, as well as from the current president, George W. Bush. He was also treated to a musical rendition from Bono and The Edge from U2, who expressed their gratitude at Clinton's efforts to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict during his presidency.[92] The Clinton facility received a $10 million dollar donation from the royal family of Saudi Arabia.[93]
Published work
In 2004, Clinton released a personal autobiography, My Life. The book was published by the Knopf Publishing Group at Random House on June 22, 2004. According to the publisher, for single day non-fiction book sales, the book set a worldwide record.[94] Later released as an audio book, total sales were in excess of 400,000 copies. As a writer's fee, he received U.S. $12 million in advance.[95]
In September 2007, he released, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, which became a bestseller.[96] The book is about citizen activism and the role of public charity and public service in the modern world.[97] The audiobook version was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.
William Clinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation promotes and provides for a number of humanitarian causes. Within the foundation, the Clinton Foundation HIV and AIDS Initiative (CHAI) strives to make treatment for HIV/AIDS more affordable and to implement large-scale integrated care, treatment, and prevention programs. While in Sydney to attend a Global Business Forum, Clinton signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of his presidential foundation with the Australian government to promote HIV/AIDS programs in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), funded by the Clinton Foundation, was inaugurated September 15-September 17, 2005 in New York City to coincide with the 2005 World Summit. The focus areas of the initiative include attempts to address world problems such as global public health, poverty alleviation and religious and ethnic conflict.[98]
On May 3, 2005, Clinton announced through the William J. Clinton Foundation an agreement by major soft drink manufacturers to stop selling sugared sodas and juice drinks in public primary and secondary schools.[99]
Relations with George H. W. Bush
In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, Clinton established, with fellow former-President George H. W. Bush, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund, for which they were awarded the 2006 Philadelphia Liberty Medal on October 5, 2006.[100] They spoke together at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin.[101]
President George W. Bush, to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, named Clinton and George H. W. Bush to lead a nationwide campaign on January 3, 2005. On February 1, 2005, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan selected Clinton to head the United Nations earthquake and tsunami relief and reconstruction effort.[102]
Five days later, to raise money for relief through the USA Freedom Corps, Clinton and Bush appeared on the Fox Super Bowl XXXIX pre-game show.[103] Thirteen days later, to see the relief efforts, they traveled to the affected areas.[104]
On August 31, 2005, following the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Clinton worked with George H. W. Bush to coordinate private relief donations, similar to their Indian Ocean tsunami campaign.[105]
Environment
On August 1, 2006, to create the Clinton Foundation Climate Change Initiative (CCI), the William J. Clinton Foundation entered into a partnership with the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, agreeing to provide resources to allow the participating cities to enter into an energy-saving product purchasing consortium and to provide technical and communications support.[106]
On December 9, 2005, speaking at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, Clinton publicly criticized the Bush administration for its handling of emissions control. To promote initiatives concerning the environment, Clinton twice visited the University of California, Los Angeles in 2006. First, to advertise the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, he met with Tony Blair, Ken Livingstone, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Gavin Newsom on August 1, 2006. On October 13, 2006, he spoke in favor of California Proposition 87 on alternative energy, which was voted down.[107]
Personal health
On September 2, 2004, Clinton had an episode of angina and was evaluated at Northern Westchester Hospital. It was determined he did not suffer a coronary infarction, and he was sent home, returning the following day for angiography, which disclosed multiple vessel coronary artery disease. He was transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where he underwent a successful quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on September 6, 2004. The medical team stated, had he not had surgery, he would have likely suffered a massive heart attack within a few months.[108] As a result of his open-heart surgery, he underwent a follow-up surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid from his left chest cavity on March 10, 2005.[109] He has since recovered.
Honors and accolades
The President of the Czech Republic awarded Clinton the First Class with Collar Chain of the Order of the White Lion In 1998. [110]
From a poll conducted of the American people in December 1999, Clinton was among eighteen included in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th century.
Clinton received the 2000 International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen (a prestigious European prize),[111] 2004 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for narrating the Russian National Orchestra's album Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf (along with Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren) and 2005 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for My Life, 2005 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding,[112] and 2007 TED Prize (named for the confluence of technology, entertainment and design).[113] On October 17, 2002, Clinton became the first white person to be inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.[114]
He received an honorary doctorate of laws from Tulane University in New Orleans (along with George H. W. Bush),[115] and also from the University of Michigan.[116] He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Pace University's Lubin School of Business,[117] from Rochester Institute of Technology,[118] and from Knox College.[119]
On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named Clinton and the other living former presidents (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center. In 2005, the University of Arkansas System opened the Clinton School of Public Service on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center.[120]
On December 3, 2006, Clinton was made an honorary chief and Grand Companion of the