Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Blythe III (born August 19, 1946), who legally changed his surname to Clinton, is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from January 20, 1993, to January 20, 2001. Born in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his biological father's death in an automobile accident, Clinton adopted his stepfather's surname and was raised primarily by his mother. After attending Georgetown University, serving as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and earning a law degree from Yale, he entered politics as Arkansas attorney general before becoming the state's youngest governor in over four decades, serving non-consecutive terms from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992.

As president, Clinton presided over sustained economic growth, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs, the lowest unemployment rate in three decades, and the first federal budget surpluses since the 1960s, alongside welfare reform that reduced caseloads through work requirements and time limits. His administration expanded trade via agreements like NAFTA and pursued foreign policy interventions, such as NATO's bombing campaign in Kosovo, while facing criticism for responses to events including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 embassy attacks in Africa.

Clinton's tenure was defined by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including a relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky that led to his 1998 impeachment by the House on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; the Senate acquitted him in 1999. Following his presidency, he established the William J. Clinton Foundation in 2001 to address global challenges like HIV/AIDS prevention and climate change, while engaging in public speaking, memoir writing, and Democratic Party advocacy. His post-presidency association with financier Jeffrey Epstein drew scrutiny, including a February 2026 deposition before the House Oversight Committee where he denied wrongdoing and witnessing Epstein's abuses, though no charges were filed against him.

William Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father, William Jefferson Blythe II, died in an automobile accident. His mother, Virginia Dell Cassidy Blythe, a nurse, had married Blythe II shortly before his death, leaving her to raise the child alone initially.

With Virginia pursuing nursing studies in New Orleans, Louisiana, Blythe spent his first four years primarily under the care of his maternal grandparents, Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, in their home in Hope, which they had purchased in 1938. The Cassidys owned a small grocery store outside Hope, where Eldridge instilled values of fairness and respect toward all customers, regardless of race—a lesson that influenced his grandson amid the segregated South. Edith emphasized education, teaching him to read before kindergarten. Eldridge died in 1957, after the family had relocated.

In 1950, Virginia married Roger Clinton, an automobile salesman and heavy drinker whose family owned a car dealership. The family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, around 1953 when Blythe was seven, settling into a home at 1011 Park Avenue amid the resort town's gambling and vice economy. Roger Clinton's alcoholism led to physical abuse of Virginia, prompting young Bill—then using his birth name—to intervene on one occasion, after which Roger threatened him. At age 15, in 1961 or 1962, he formally adopted the surname Clinton. The couple had a son, Roger Jr., in 1956.

In high school at Hot Springs High School, Clinton was an active musician. He played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. He also performed for two years in a jazz trio called The 3 Kings alongside Randy Goodrum, who later became a successful professional pianist and songwriter.