William Clinton

1946-

American Politician

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV, in Hope Arkansas, on August 19, 1946. In 1964, Clinton began college at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. While studying at Georgetown, Clinton worked part-time for Senator Fulbright of Arkansas. Upon graduating in 1968, with a degree in International Relations, Clinton received a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University.

After his return to the United States, Clinton entered Yale University Law School, where he met his wife Hillary Rodham, whom he married in 1975. After graduating from Yale, Clinton returned to Arkansas, where he briefly taught law at the University of Arkansas. In 1974, Clinton ran for Congress. He lost, but garnered 48.5% of the vote. In 1976, Clinton successfully ran for the position of State Attorney General. In 1978, he defeated four other contenders to become the Democratic candidate for Governor of Arkansas and become the nation's youngest governor since 1938.

After two turbulent years in office, Clinton was defeated when he ran for re-election. In 1982, he succeeded in returning to the governor's mansion and remained as governor for the next ten years. During his tenure as governor, Clinton emphasized education reform in Arkansas.

Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992, on a platform that stressed domestic issues. He has been a strong supporter of free trade, successfully passing the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the arena of foreign affairs, Clinton was a key force in efforts to halt the ethnic cleansing begun in the province of Kosovo, leading a NATO force to victory there.

He was also a pivotal figure in the negotiations leading to the Wye Agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinians in 1997. Those efforts were later somewhat stymied by a combination of terror actions taken against Iisrael and the perceived intransigence of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Clinton has pushed for the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel in the wake of the election of a new Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, in 1999.