Bill Clinton

==Governor of Arkansas (1979–1981, 1983–1992)==
{{Main|Governorships of Bill Clinton}}

[[File:Bill Clinton 1978.jpg|thumb|Newly elected [[Governor of Arkansas]] Bill Clinton meets with President [[Jimmy Carter]], 1978.]]

In 1978, Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary. At just 31 years old, he was one of the youngest gubernatorial candidates in the state's history. Clinton was elected [[governor of Arkansas]] in [[1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election|1978]], having defeated the Republican candidate [[Lynn Lowe]], a farmer from [[Texarkana, Arkansas|Texarkana]]. Clinton was only 32 years old when he took office, the youngest governor in the country at the time and the second youngest governor in the history of Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=95|title=Bill Clinton (1946–) |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |access-date=September 15, 2018}}</ref> Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called the "Boy Governor".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/opinion/12wed4.html | title=Bill and Hillary Clinton's Pitch in Iowa: 'I Love the '90s' | newspaper=The New York Times | first=Adam | last=Cohen | date=December 12, 2007 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Boy Clinton: The Political Biography | author=R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. | publisher=Eagle Publishing | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLSJ5oJG3fcC&pg=PA236| isbn=978-0-89526-439-8 | year=1996|page=236}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/27/us/little-rock-hopes-clinton-presidency-will-put-its-dogpatch-image-to-rest.html | title=Little Rock Hopes Clinton Presidency Will Put Its Dogpatch Image to Rest | first=Michael | last=Kelly | work=The New York Times | date=November 27, 1992 | access-date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> He worked on educational reform and directed the maintenance of Arkansas's roads, with wife Hillary leading a successful committee on urban health care reform. However, 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. Monroe Schwarzlose, of [[Kingsland, Arkansas|Kingsland]] in [[Cleveland County, Arkansas|Cleveland County]], polled 31&nbsp;percent of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Some suggested Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat by Republican challenger [[Frank D. White]] in the general election that year. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.<ref name="First in His Class" />

Clinton joined friend [[Bruce Lindsey]]'s Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Clinton Timeline |author=Jonathan W. Nicholsen |url=http://www.timeline-help.com/bill-clinton-timeline.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20111013012755/http://www.timeline-help.com/bill-clinton-timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |publisher=Timeline Help |access-date=August 30, 2011 }}</ref> In 1982, he was elected governor a second time and kept the office for ten years. Effective with the 1986 election, Arkansas had changed its gubernatorial term of office from two to four years. During his term, he helped transform Arkansas's economy and improved the state's educational system.<ref name=pendleton /> For [[senior citizen]]s, he removed the [[sales tax]] from medications and increased the home property-tax exemption.<ref name="The Natural" /> He became a leading figure among the [[New Democrats (United States)|New Democrats]], a group of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] who advocated welfare reform, smaller government, and other policies not supported by liberals. Formally organized as the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] (DLC), the New Democrats argued that in light of President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[1984 United States presidential election|landslide victory in 1984]], the Democratic Party needed to adopt a more centrist political stance in order to succeed at the national level.<ref name="The Natural">{{Cite book | last=Klein | first=Joe | title=The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton | url=https://archive.org/details/naturalmisunders00klei| url-access=registration | publisher=Doubleday | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-7679-1412-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=173&contentid=252794 |title=Bill Clinton, New Democrat |publisher=DLC |date=July 25, 2004 |access-date=August 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309143615/http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=173&contentid=252794 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 }}</ref> Clinton delivered the [[Democratic response to the State of the Union address|Democratic response]] to Reagan's [[1985 State of the Union Address]] and served as chair of the [[National Governors Association]] from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas.<ref name="First in His Class" />
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton walking in the Cross Hall (cropped).jpg|thumb|Governor and Mrs. Clinton attend the Dinner Honoring the Nation's Governors in the White House with President Ronald Reagan and first lady [[Nancy Reagan]], 1987.]]
In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority of his gubernatorial administration. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee was chaired by Clinton's wife Hillary, who was also an attorney as well as the chair of the [[Legal Services Corporation]]. The committee transformed Arkansas's education system. Proposed reforms included more spending for schools (supported by a sales-tax increase), better opportunities for gifted children, vocational education, higher teachers' salaries, more course variety, and compulsory teacher competency exams. The reforms passed in September 1983 after Clinton called a special [[Arkansas General Assembly|legislative session]]—the longest in Arkansas history.<ref name=pendleton>{{cite news|last1=Pendleton|first1=Scott | title=Governor Gets High Marks for Public Education Reforms | url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0721/21062.html | work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] | date=July 21, 1992}}</ref> Many have considered this the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Natural" /> He defeated four Republican candidates for governor: Lowe (1978), White (1982 and 1986), [[Jonesboro, Arkansas|Jonesboro]] businessmen [[Woody Freeman]] (1984), and [[Sheffield Nelson]] of Little Rock (1990).<ref name=AllPolitics1 />

Also in the 1980s, the Clintons' personal and business affairs included transactions that became the basis of the [[Whitewater controversy]] investigation, which later dogged his presidential administration.<ref name="Clinton Wars">{{Cite book | last=Blumenthal | first=Sidney | title=The Clinton Wars | publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | edition=1st | year=2003 | isbn= 978-0-374-12502-8}}</ref> After extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Survivor">{{Cite book | last= Harris | first=John F. | title=The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House | publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks | year=2006 | edition=1st | isbn= 978-0-375-76084-6}}</ref>

According to some sources, Clinton was a [[Capital punishment in the United States|death penalty]] opponent in his early years, but he eventually switched positions.<ref name="mbsrgd" /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bill_clintons_death_penalty_waffle_ | title=Bill Clinton's Death Penalty Waffle—and Why It's Good News for Execution's Foes | first=Alexander | last=Nguyen | date=July 14, 2000 | work=[[The American Prospect]] | access-date=August 30, 2010 | quote=In his early days, Clinton opposed the death penalty. And while he and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton were both teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School, she wrote an appellate brief that helped save a mentally retarded man from execution. "Clinton was against the death penalty," says Arkansas attorney Jeff Rosenzweig, who, like Clinton, grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. "He told me so." | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205011359/http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bill_clintons_death_penalty_waffle_ | archive-date=December 5, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref> However he might have felt previously, by 1992, Clinton was insisting that Democrats "should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent".<ref name="Hartman2015">{{cite book|last=Hartman|first=Andrew|title=A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fW__BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|year=2015|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-25464-7|page=121}}</ref> During Clinton's final term as governor, [[Capital punishment in Arkansas|Arkansas performed its first executions]] since 1964 (the death penalty had been reinstated in 1976).<ref>{{cite web |title=Reinstatement of the Death Penalty |url=https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/reinstatement-of-the-death-penalty.html |website=Findlaw |access-date=November 24, 2022}}</ref> As Governor, he oversaw the [[List of people executed in Arkansas|first four executions carried out]] by the state of Arkansas since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1976: one by [[electric chair]] and three by [[lethal injection]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database?filters%5Bstate%5D=Arkansas|title=Execution Database &#124; Death Penalty Information Center|work=[[Death Penalty Information Center]]|access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> To draw attention to his stance on capital punishment, Clinton flew home to Arkansas mid-campaign in 1992, in order to affirm in person that the controversial execution of [[Ricky Ray Rector]], would go forward as scheduled.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Applebome |first1=Peter |title=The 1992 Campaign: Death Penalty; Arkansas Execution Raises Questions on Governor's Politics |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/us/1992-campaign-death-penalty-arkansas-execution-raises-questions-governor-s.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 24, 2022 |date=January 25, 1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Soss|first1=Joe|last2=Langbein|first2=Laura|last3=Metelko|first3=Alan R.|title=Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?|journal=The Journal of Politics|date=September 27, 2001|volume=65|issue=2|page=399|doi=10.1111/1468-2508.t01-2-00006|s2cid=38112237}}</ref>

===1988 Democratic presidential primaries===
[[File:Bill Clinton 1986.jpg|thumb|upright|Clinton in 1986.]]
In 1987, the media speculated that Clinton would enter the presidential race. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for the potential candidacy of Hillary for governor, initially favored—but ultimately vetoed—by the First Lady).<ref name=autogenerated1>[[David Maraniss]], ''First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton'' (New York: Random House, 1996; {{ISBN|978-0-684-81890-0}}).</ref> For the nomination, Clinton endorsed [[Governor of Massachusetts|Massachusetts governor]] [[Michael Dukakis]]. He gave the nationally televised opening night address at the [[1988 Democratic National Convention]], but his speech, which was 33 minutes long and twice the length it was expected to be, was criticized for being too long.<ref>{{Cite magazine | last=Church | first=George J. | title=Cover: Is Bill Clinton For Real? | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974739,00.html | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=January 27, 1992 | access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> Clinton presented himself both as a moderate and as a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, and he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991.<ref name="The Natural" /><ref name="The Choice">{{Cite book | last=Woodward | first=Bob | author-link=Bob Woodward | title=The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=2005 | isbn= 978-0-7432-8514-8}}</ref>

===1992 United States presidential election===
{{Main|Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign|1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1992 United States presidential election}}

In the first primary contest, the [[Iowa caucuses|Iowa Caucus]], Clinton finished a distant third to Iowa senator [[Tom Harkin]]. During the campaign for the [[New Hampshire primary]], reports surfaced that Clinton had engaged in an extramarital affair with [[Gennifer Flowers]]. Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts senator [[Paul Tsongas]] in the New Hampshire polls.<ref name="First in His Class" /> Following [[Super Bowl XXVI]], Clinton and his wife Hillary went on ''[[60 Minutes]]'' to rebuff the charges.<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 27, 2021|title=The women of 'Impeachment' explained: Hillary Clinton and Bill's infidelity|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-10-27/impeachment-american-crime-story-hillary-clinton-edie-falco|access-date=October 30, 2021|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Their television appearance was a calculated risk, but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the [[1992 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire primary]], but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. News outlets labeled him "The Comeback Kid" for earning a firm second-place finish.<ref>{{cite news |first=Amy |last=Herstek |url=https://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/11/clinton.nh/index.html |title=Clinton thanks New Hampshire for making him the 'Comeback Kid' |date=January 11, 2001 |agency=CNN|access-date=February 22, 2020 }}</ref>

Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the [[Southern United States|Southern primaries]] on [[Super Tuesday]] 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 his native South.<ref name="First in His Class" /><ref name="The Choice" /> With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted New York, which had many delegates. He scored a resounding victory in New York City, shedding his image as a regional candidate.<ref name="The Choice" /> 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.<ref name="First in His Class" />

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. Clinton argued the questions were moot because all transactions with the state had been deducted before determining Hillary's firm pay.<ref>{{Cite news | last=Ifill | first=Gwen | title=Hillary Clinton Defends Her Conduct in Law Firm | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/us/the-1992-campaign-hillary-clinton-defends-her-conduct-in-law-firm.html | date=March 17, 1992 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref> Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that, with Hillary, voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one".<ref>{{Cite news | last1=MacGillis | first1=Alec |last2=Kornblut |first2=Anne E. | title=Hillary Clinton Embraces Her Husband's Legacy | newspaper=The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102588.html | page=A1 | date=December 21, 2007 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>

Clinton was still the governor of Arkansas while campaigning for U.S. president, and he returned to his home state to see that [[Ricky Ray Rector]] would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to both Arkansas state law and federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate cannot be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was framed in an article for ''[[The New York Times]]'' as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.<ref name="mbsrgd">[[George Stephanopoulos]], ''All Too Human: A Political Education'', 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-316-92919-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last=Applebome | first=Peter | title=Arkansas Execution Raises Questions on Governor's Politics | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/us/1992-campaign-death-penalty-arkansas-execution-raises-questions-governor-s.html | work=The New York Times | date=January 25, 1992 | access-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>

Bush's [[United States presidential approval rating|approval ratings]] were around 80&nbsp;percent during the [[Gulf War]], and he was described as unbeatable. When Bush compromised with Democrats to try to lower federal deficits, he reneged on his [[Read my lips: no new taxes|promise not to raise taxes]], which hurt his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep.<ref name="The Choice" /> By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to just slightly over 40&nbsp;percent.<ref name="The Choice" /><ref>{{Cite news | title=How the Presidents Stack Up: A look at U.S. presidents' job-approval ratings | work=The Wall Street Journal | year=2006 | url=https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html | access-date=October 30, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081025015927/http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html| archive-date= October 25, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> 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 [[1992 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]]—with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform—many moderates were alienated.<ref>{{cite web | last=Le Beau | first=Bryan | title=The Political Mobilization of the New Christian Right | date=December 10, 1998 | publisher=[[Creighton University]] | url=http://are.as.wvu.edu/lebeau1.htm | access-date=December 1, 2006 | archive-date=December 6, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206022453/http://are.as.wvu.edu/lebeau1.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news | last=Walker | first=Martin | title=Tough love child of Kennedy | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1992/jan/06/usa.martinwalker | location=London | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=January 6, 1992 |access-date=October 12, 2007}}</ref> Many Democrats who had supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their support to Clinton.<ref name=BBConthisday>{{cite news | title=On this day (November 4) in 1992: Clinton beats Bush to the White House | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/4/newsid_3659000/3659498.stm | date=November 4, 1992 | access-date=October 31, 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081218141055/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/4/newsid_3659000/3659498.stm| archive-date= December 18, 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> Clinton and his running mate, [[Al Gore]], toured the country during the final weeks of the campaign, shoring up support and pledging a "new beginning".<ref name=BBConthisday />

On March 26, 1992, during a Democratic [[Fundraising|fund raiser]] of the presidential campaign, [[Robert Rafsky]] confronted then Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas and asked what he was going to do about [[AIDS]], to which Clinton replied, "I feel your pain".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.thinkprogress.org/the-future-of-gay-parents-on-television-378cc67a76b5/|title=The Future of Gay Parents On Television|work=ThinkProgress|first=Alyssa|last=Rosenberg|date=November 1, 2012}}</ref> The televised exchange led to AIDS becoming an issue in the 1992 presidential election. On April 4, then candidate Clinton met with members of [[ACT UP]] and other leading AIDS advocates to discuss his AIDS agenda and agreed to make a major AIDS policy speech, to have people with HIV speak to the [[Democratic National Convention|Democratic Convention]], and to sign onto the [[AIDS United]] Action five point plan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://actupny.org/campaign96/rafsky-clinton.html|title=The ACT UP Historical Archive: Bob Rafsky Confronts Candidate Bill Clinton, 1992|website=actupny.org}}</ref>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1992.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|1992 electoral vote results. Clinton won 370–168.]]
Clinton won the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]] (370 electoral votes) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (168 electoral votes) and billionaire [[populism|populist]] [[Ross Perot]] (zero electoral votes), who ran as an independent on a platform that focused on domestic issues. Bush's steep decline in public approval was a significant part of Clinton's success.<ref name=BBConthisday /> Clinton's victory in the 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]],<ref name="whitehouse.gov bio" /> the first time one party controlled both the executive and legislative branches since Democrats held the [[96th United States Congress]] during the [[presidency of Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm | title=Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present | publisher=United States Senate | access-date=August 30, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110718045714/https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm| archive-date= July 18, 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history |title=House History |publisher=United States House of Representatives |access-date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026183800/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/ |archive-date=October 26, 2011 }}</ref>

According to [[Seymour Martin Lipset]], the 1992 election had several unique characteristics. Voters felt that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed Bush. A rare event was the presence of a strong third-party candidate. Liberals launched a backlash against 12 years of a conservative White House. The chief factor was Clinton's uniting his party, and winning over a number of heterogeneous groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lipset |first1=Seymour Martin |title=The Significance of the 1992 Election |journal=PS: Political Science and Politics |date=1993 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=7–16 |doi=10.2307/419496 |jstor=419496 |s2cid=227288247 }}</ref>