Bill Clinton

==Early life and career==
[[File:President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site May 2018 3 (Bill Clinton Birthplace).jpg|thumb|left|Clinton's [[President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site|birthplace]] home in [[Hope, Arkansas]]]]

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in [[Hope, Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.eircom.net/%257Eseanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm |title=Directory of Irish Genealogy: American Presidents with Irish Ancestors |publisher=Homepage.eircom.net |date=March 23, 2004 |access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> He is the son of [[William Jefferson Blythe Jr.]], a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and [[Virginia Clinton Kelley|Virginia Dell Cassidy]] (later Virginia Kelley).<ref name="whitehouse.gov bio">{{cite web |title=Biography of William J. Clinton |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/about/presidents/williamjclinton |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref> His parents had married on September 4, 1943, but this union later proved to be bigamous, as Blythe was still married to his fourth wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/21/us/clinton-reported-to-have-a-brother-he-never-met.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 21, 1993|first=Edmund L.|last=Andrews |author-link=Edmund L. Andrews |title=Clinton Reported to Have A Brother He Never Met}}</ref> Virginia traveled to [[New Orleans]] to study nursing soon after Bill was born, leaving him in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store.<ref name="My Life" /> At a time when the southern United States was [[Racial segregation in the United States|racially segregated]], Clinton's grandparents sold goods on [[credit (finance)|credit]] to people of all races.<ref name="My Life" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Chafe |first=William H. |author-link=William Chafe |date=2012 |title=Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtSjqGxPkM0C&pg=PA11 |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |page=11 |isbn=978-0-8090-9465-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Landres |editor1-first=J. Shawn |editor-link=Shawn Landres |date=1992 |title=Bill Clinton: The Inside Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63OGMhI5ISgC&pg=PA5 |location=New York |publisher=S.P.I. Books |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-1-5617-1177-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Takiff |first=Michael |date=2010 |title=A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those who Know Him |url=https://archive.org/details/complicatedmanl00taki |url-access=registration |location=New Haven, Conn. |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/complicatedmanl00taki/page/4 4] |isbn=978-0-3001-2130-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |editor1-last=Flanagan |editor1-first=Sylvia P. |date=September 8, 1997 |title=First Black Food Stamp Chief has Ties to President Clinton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3j8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 |magazine=Jet |location=Chicago |publisher=John N. Johnson |page=10}}</ref> In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married [[Roger Clinton Sr.]], who co-owned an [[Car dealership|automobile dealership]] in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], with his brother and [[Earl T. Ricks]].<ref name="My Life">{{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Bill|title=My Life|publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2004|isbn=978-1-4000-3003-3}}</ref> The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ken|last=Gormley|author-link=Ken Gormley (academic)|title=The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr|publisher=[[Crown Publishers]]|location=New York|year=2010|isbn=978-0-307-40944-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/16 16–17]|url=https://archive.org/details/deathofamericanv00gorm/page/16}}</ref>

Although he immediately assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Clinton turned 15<ref name="Oprah Talks to Bill Clinton">{{cite web |url=http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-President-Bill-Clinton/3|title=Oprah Talks to Bill Clinton|work=[[O, The Oprah Magazine]] |date=August 2004 |access-date=December 18, 2011}}</ref> that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward him.<ref name="My Life" /> Clinton has described his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother, [[Roger Clinton Jr.]] The physical abuse only ceased after a then-14-year-old Bill challenged his stepfather to "stand and face" him, though the verbal/emotional abuse continued.<ref name="First in His Class">{{Cite book|last=Maraniss|first=David |author-link=David Maraniss |title=First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton|publisher=Touchstone|page=40|year=1996|isbn=978-0-684-81890-0|url=https://archive.org/details/firstinhisclass00davi}}</ref> Bill would eventually forgive Roger Sr. for his abusive actions near the latter's death.<ref name="Holmes">{{cite book |last=Holmes |first=David|title=The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents. From Truman to Obama |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year= 2012 |page=148 |isbn=9780820338620}}</ref><ref name="Levin">{{cite book |last=Levin |first=Robert | title=Bill Clinton. The Inside Story|publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1992 |page=52 |isbn=9781561711772}}</ref>

In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and the [[School segregation in the United States|segregated]] [[Hot Springs High School (Arkansas)|Hot Springs High School]], where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician.<ref name="My Life" /> Clinton was in the chorus and played the [[tenor saxophone]], winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. While in high school, Clinton performed for two years in a jazz trio, [[3 Kings (jazz trio)|The 3 Kings]], with [[Randy Goodrum]], who became a successful professional pianist.<ref>{{cite book | last =Levin | first =Robert | authorlink = | title =  Bill Clinton: The Inside Story| publisher =S.P.I. Books | series = | volume = | edition = | date =1992 | location = | pages = 26–29| language = | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=63OGMhI5ISgC&dq=Randy+Goodrum+Bill+Clinton&pg=PA26 | doi = | id = | isbn =9781561711772 | quote=}}</ref>

In 1961, Clinton became a member of the Hot Springs Chapter of the [[DeMolay International|Order of DeMolay]], a youth group affiliated with [[Freemasonry]], but he never became a Freemason.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Clinton's Hometown Homepage |url=https://www.hotspringsar.com/info/clinton/ |website=www.hotspringsar.com |access-date=October 19, 2022 |location=Hot Springs, Arkansas}}</ref> He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography ''[[My Life (Clinton autobiography)|My Life]]'':{{block indent|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.<ref name="My Life" />}}

[[File:Bill Clinton in 1963 Old Gold Book.jpg|thumb|upright|Clinton in [[Hot Springs High School (Arkansas)|Hot Springs High School]]'s 1963 yearbook]]
Clinton began an interest in law at Hot Springs High, when he took up the challenge to argue the defense of the ancient [[Roman Senator|Roman senator]] [[Catiline]] in a mock trial in his Latin class.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/bill-clinton-facts_n_3497083.html | title=10 Things You Definitely Didn't Know About Bill Clinton | work=[[HuffPost|The Huffington Post]] | date=June 25, 2013 | first=Jimmy | last=Soni |author-link=Jimmy Soni}}</ref> After a vigorous defense that made use of his "budding rhetorical and political skills", he told the Latin teacher Elizabeth Buck it "made him realize that someday he would study law".<ref>{{cite book | title=First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton | first=David | last=Maraniss |author-link=David Maraniss | year=1996 | publisher=Touchstone | page=43}}</ref>

Clinton has identified two influential moments in his life, both occurring in 1963, that contributed to his decision to become a public figure. One was his visit as a [[Boys Nation]] senator to the [[White House]] to meet President [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref name="First in His Class" /> The other was watching [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s 1963 "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech on TV, which impressed him so much that he later memorized it.<ref>{{cite web | title=It All Began in a Place Called Hope (Archived whitehouse.gov Article) | publisher=[[The White House]] | url=http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/Hope.html | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719152125/http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/Hope.html | archive-date=July 19, 2011 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>