Vince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| File:Vince foster.jpg Vince Foster | |
| Born | January 15, 1945 |
| Died | July 20, 1993 (aged 48) |
| Occupation | Deputy White House counsel |
| Spouse | Lisa Foster |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | Vince Foster's journal |
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. (January 15, 1945–July 20, 1993) was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first term of President Bill Clinton, and also a law partner and intimate personal acquaintance of Hillary Rodham Clinton. His death was ruled a suicide by multiple official investigations, but remains a subject of interest among conspiracy theorists.
Early life and education
Foster was born in Hope, Arkansas, where he was a childhood neighbor and friend of Bill Clinton for his first eight years until Clinton moved away. He graduated from Hope High School in 1963.[1] He attended Davidson College, graduating in 1967.[1] After starting at Vanderbilt University Law School, he transferred to the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he was managing editor of the law review[2] and graduated first in his class in 1971.[1] Additionally he scored the highest in his class on the Arkansas bar exam.[3]
Foster married Elizabeth Brader in 1968.[1]
Arkansas lawyer
After law school Foster joined the venerable Rose Law Firm in Arkansas,[4] and within two years was made partner,[2] one of only nine in the firm at the time.[5] He was the head of the Arkansas Bar Association committee that oversaw legal aid, and as such worked with legal aid clinic worker Hillary Rodham in successfully overcoming an unreasonably measuring requirement for indigent clients.[4] Foster then initiated the hiring of Rodham at Rose Law Firm, where she became its first ever female associate[4] (and later partner); Foster and fellow partner Webster Hubbell were instrumental in overcoming the reluctance of other partners to hire a woman.[5]
Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoirs call Foster "one of the best lawyers I've ever known," and compared him in style and substance to Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch role in the classic 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird.[4] Writer Carl Bernstein has described Foster as "tall, with impeccable manners and a formal mien...elegant in perfectly tailored suits, and soft-spoken to the point of taciturnity."[5]
Foster practiced mostly corporate law,[6] eventually earning nearly $300,000 a year.[6] By the time Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Vince Foster was at the pinnacle of the Arkansas legal establishment,[7] having received the Outstanding Lawyer Award from the Arkansas Bar Association,[2], while being described as the "soul" of Rose Law Firm[2] and soon being named one of "The Best Lawyers in America."[2]
White House Counsel
After Clinton's election, Foster joined his White House staff. The Foster residence was on Cambridge Place in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.[8]
Foster had difficulty making the transition to life and politics in Washington.[7] He found his involvement in vetting new presidential appointments during the transition period to be causing him depression and anxiety,[7] and he blamed himself for the failed Zoe Baird nomination.[7] He handled the Clintons' Madison Guaranty paperwork[citation needed] and several Whitewater-related tax returns as Deputy White House counsel.[9] Foster was the target of several hostile Wall Street Journal editorials in June and July 1993,[7] with titles such as "Who is Vincent Foster?"[6] He was also quite upset over the White House travel office controversy and the possibility of a congressional hearing over it.[7] Disliking the public spotlight[6] and suffering from weight loss and extensive sleeplessness,[7] he considered resigning his position but feared a personal humiliation upon returning to Arkansas.[7]
Death
Wrestling with clinical depression, Foster was prescribed the mild sleeping aid/anti-anxiety pill Trazodone over the phone by his doctor, though he only had taken a few before he died. The next day, Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park, a federal park in Virginia. He was found with a gun in his hand and gunshot residue on that hand. An autopsy determined that he was shot in the mouth and no other wounds were found on his body. A suicide note of sorts, actually a draft of a resignation letter, was found torn into 27 pieces in his briefcase, a list of complaints specifically stating "The Wall Street Journal editors lie without consequence"[1] and complaining "I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport."
His funeral Mass was held at the Cathedral of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Little Rock. Bill Clinton gave an emotional eulogy in which he recalled their boyhood times together and quoted a line from Leon Russell's "A Song for You": "I love you in a place that has no space and time."[10] Foster was buried in Memory Gardens Cemetery in his hometown of Hope. Foster was 48 years old and left behind a widow, Lisa, and three adult children: Vince III, Laura, and Brugh.
Subsequent investigations
There have been three official investigations into Foster's death, all of which concluded that he committed suicide.[11]
The first was by the United States Park Police, in whose jurisdiction the original investigation fell. Due to Foster's position in the White House, the Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted in the investigation. Investigations by a coroner and Independent Counsel Robert B. Fiske also concluded that Foster had committed suicide. Conspiracy theories of a cover-up still persisted. After a three-year investigation, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr[12][13] released a report also concluding that the death was a suicide.
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d "Vince Foster", Rotten Library biography. Accessed July 25, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e "TRIBUTE TO VINCENT FOSTER, JR.", Congressional Record, July 29, 1993.
- ^ "Vince Foster: One of the Best and Brightest". Retrieved 2006-05-02.
- ^ a b c d Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History, Simon & Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0-7432-2224-5, pp. 78-81.
- ^ a b c Carl Bernstein, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Knopf, ISBN 0375407669. pp. 128-131.
- ^ a b c d Jason DeParle, " A Life Undone: Portrait of a White House Aide Ensnared by His Perfectionism", The New York Times, August 22, 1993. Accessed July 29, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h David Von Drehle and Howard Schneider, "Foster's Death a Suicide", The Washington Post, July 1, 1994. Accessed July 28, 2007.
- ^ "Vince Foster Home". Retrieved 2006-05-02.
- ^ Jeff Gerth and Stephen Labaton, " Whitewater Papers Cast Doubt on Clinton Account of a Tax Underpayment", The New York Times, August 6, 1995. Accessed April 30, 2007.
- ^ Jason DeParle, " President Returns Home To Bury Boyhood Friend", The New York Times, July 24, 1993. Accessed July 28, 2007.
- ^ Office of the Independent Counsel. "Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr." October 10, 1997
- ^ Full text of the report on the 1993 death of White House counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr., compiled by Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
- ^ Report: Starr Rules Out Foul Play In Foster Death CNN February 23, 1997
Books
- Brock, David. "Blinded by the Right : The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative." (Three Rivers Press, 2003)
- Clinton, Bill (2005). "My Life." Vintage Publishing. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
- Conason, Joe. and Lyons, Gene. "The Hunting of the President : The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton." (St. Martin's Griffin, 2001)
- Dan Moldea. "A Washington Tragedy : How the Death of Vincent Foster Ignited a Political Firestorm" (Regnery Publishing, Inc, 1998)
- Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose. "The Secret Life of Bill Clinton", Regenery Publishing, 1999. ISBN-13:978-0895264084.
External links
- The Official Foster Report (This version is the full report except the appendix.)
- Rotten.com biography
- Frontline: Once Upon a Time in Arkansas: Vince Foster's journal
- Foster Report posted by the Washington Post
- CNN Report
- Conspiracy theory changed course of Clinton presidency Peter Baker, Washington Post July 20,1998