Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

Template:TOCnestleft William "Bill" Jefferson Clinton (born August 19, 1946) was the 42^nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to the current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

Early Life

President Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. When he was four years old, his mother wed Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. In high school, he took the family name.

He excelled as a student and as a saxophone player and once considered becoming a professional musician. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. The encounter led him to enter a life of public service.

Clinton was graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973, and entered politics in Arkansas.

Governor of Arkansas

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1973, Clinton became a professor at the University of Arkansas. In 1974 he ran for the House of Representatives for Arakansas, but was defeated by the incumbent, John Paul Hammerschmidt. In 1976, he was elected Arkansas Attorney General. In 1978 Clinton ran for governor of Arkansas, defeating Lynn Lowe and becoming the youngest governor in the country at age thirty-two. He served as governor until 1992.

Bernard Rapoport connection

As Texas swung from a Democratic stronghold to an increasingly Republican and conservative state, marxist leaning businessman Bernard Rapoport continued to support liberal Democrats and their causes, both with his money and his extensive national political connections. His contributions to George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign put Mr. Rapoport on one of President Richard M. Nixon’s enemies lists; contributions to the presidential campaigns of both Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton helped nourish a 40-year friendship. Mr. Clinton was scheduled to deliver a eulogy at a memorial service in May 2012, in Washington DC.

From 1974 onward, Rapoport donated to every one of Bill Clinton's campaigns and served as fundraiser for both presidential bids.

Presidential appointment

On March 18 1994 President Clinton appointed Susan Hammer, Fu Tong-Hsu, Bernard Rapoport, Jack Sheinkman and Paula Stern to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Sheinbaum connection

Betty Sheinbaum and Stanley Sheinbaum are as close as the progressive Westside comes to a first couple. (She’s Jack Warner’s daughter, and he’s a former economics professor turned anti-Vietnam War and civil liberties activist.) Their light-filled Brentwood Park living room has hosted generations of liberal Democratic politicians and progressive foreign leaders. Some of Bill Clinton's first introductions to Hollywood occurred there.”

Bill Clinton to this day will recall that Sheinbaum was among the first who leant support to his fledgling run for the presidency.

Presidential appointment

On March 23 1994 President Clinton appointed Stanley Sheinbaum, Roger Hilsman and Robert Shamansky to the National Security Education Board.

President of the USA

Clinton won the 1992 presidential election (43.0% of the vote) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (37.4% of the vote) and billionaire populist Ross Perot, who ran as an independent (18.9% of the vote) on a platform focusing on domestic issues. He was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993.

Impeachment

In 1995, 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky was hired to work as an intern at the White House during Clinton's first term, and began a personal relationship with him, the details of which she later confided to her friend and Defense department co-worker Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded their telephone conversations.

On Jan. 26, 1998, Clinton made a public statement regarding his alleged relationship with Lewinsky, during which he stated:

"Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you."

However on August 17, 1998, Clinton admitted in a taped grand jury testimony that he had had an "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky. That evening he gave a nationally televised statement admitting his relationship with Lewinsky which was "not appropriate".

Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, and acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. The two charges passed in the House (largely on the basis of Republican support but with a handful of Democratic votes as well) were for perjury and obstruction of justice. The perjury charge arose from Clinton's testimony about his relationship to Monica Lewinsky during a sexual harassment lawsuit (later dismissed, appealed and settled for $850,000) by Lewinsky's former colleague, Linda Tripp.

The Senate concluded a twenty-one day trial on February 12, 1999, with the vote on both counts falling short of the Constitutional two-thirds majority requirement to convict and remove an office holder. The final vote was generally along party lines, with no Democrats voting guilty. Some Republicans voted not guilty for both charges. On the perjury charge, fifty-five senators voted to acquit, including ten Republicans, and forty-five voted to convict; on the obstruction charge the Senate voted 50-50.

New Democrat Coalition

The New Democrat Coalition was founded in 1997 by Representatives Cal Dooley (California), James P. Moran (Virginia) and Timothy Roemer (Indiana) as a congressional affiliate of the avowedly centrist Democratic Leadership Council, whose members, including former President Bill Clinton, call themselves "New Democrats." In November 2012, the New Democrat Coalition announced the election of its new leadership team. New Dems elected Rep. Ron Kind (WI-03) as the Chair and re-elected Reps. Jim Himes (CT-04), Rick Larsen (WA-02), and Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) as Vice Chairs and added Rep. Gerry Connolly (VA-11) as a Vice Chair.

Iran lobby

Kirsten Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran Lobby’s Hassan Nemazee. Namazee was Hillary Clinton’s national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and John Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an Iranian American Political Action Committee trustee and had helped set up the organization.

Bill Clinton had nominated Hassan Nemazee as the US ambassador to Argentina when he had only been a citizen for two years. A "spoilsport Senate" didn’t allow Clinton to make a member of the Iran Lobby into a US ambassador, but Nemazee remained a steady presence on the Democrat fundraising circuit.

Nemazee had donated to Gillibrand and had also kicked in money to help the Al Franken Recount Fund "scour all the cemeteries for freshly dead votes", as well as to Barbara Boxer, who also came out for the Iran nuke deal. Boxer had also received money more directly from IAPAC.

Campus Progress Conference

Emira Woods, Matthew Yglesias, Fellow, Center for American Progress, Reuben Brigety, Director, Sustainable Security Program, Center for American Progress, Jamie Fly, Executive Director, The Foreign Policy Initiative and Heather Hurlburt, Executive Director, National Security Network were speakers on the Threat Assessment: How the U.S. and the global community should deal with terrorism, rogue states, and nuclear proliferation panel at the Campus Progress Conference held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., July 8, 2009.

Other speakers at the conference included President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Van Jones, former Special Advisor for Green Jobs, White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Conference on Progressive Governance for the 21st Century

President Clinton delivered remarks at a dinner for the conference on Progressive Governance for the 21st Century, in Florence Italy, November 1999.

The summit began on former U.S. President Bill Clinton's initiative in 1999.

Progressive Governance Conference, 2008

Romano Prodi, David Miliband, Gordon Brown, Bill Clinton

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former U.S. President Bill Clinton sit down for the first working session of the Progressive Governance Summit on April 5, 2008 in Hertfordshire, England. The summit will this year address globalisation, climate change and poverty with over 300 delegates attending.

President Bill Clinton at GPF Brussels 2009

Bill Clinton addresses the Forum

Progressives from all over the world are getting together in Brussels on April 2-3, 2009 at the Global Progressive Forum to discuss how to create a better globalization for people.

The Global Progressive Forum brings together politicians, trade unions, NGOs and progressive representatives of international organizations. Participants confirmed to date include President Bill Clinton, Pascal Lamy, Howard Dean, Barney Frank, Helen Clark, [Antonio Guterres], Vandana Shiva, Salima Ghezali, Susan George, Zwelinzima Vavi, Aminata Traore, Chico Whitaker and many more. The challenges are finding new answers to the global crisis – including economic and financial crisis, food crisis and climate and energy crisis – and stepping up efforts to work together to reshape globalization.

Key moments include

• Opening event at 15.00 on Thursday 2 April with President Bill Clinton
• Workshop 1: Progressive politics in Globalization at 16.00 on Thursday 2 April with Howard Dean
• Workshop 10: A New direction for capitalism at 9.00 on Friday 3 April with Pascal Lamy and Barney Frank
• ‘Time for a Global New Deal’ at 12.00 on Friday 3 April: Signing of declaration for a better globalization with high level politicians, trade unionists and NGO representatives and outstanding international personalities.

The Global Progressive Forum is timed to coincide with the G20 meeting in London and the NATO anniversary events in Strasbourg.

Some 2,000 participants are expected over the two days including many PES activists and young progressives from all over Europe as well as trade unionists, NGOs and students.

15.00-16.15 Opening Event (Hemicycle)

• President Bill Clinton, President of the US, Chair of the Global Clinton Initiative and Clinton Foundation
• Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the PES, former Prime Minister of Denmark
• Josep Borrell, Chair of the Global Progressive Forum, Chair of the Development committee of the European Parliament
• Martin Schulz, President of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament
• Sharan Burrow, ITUC President, Australia

Party of European Socialists

PES Homepage

In the wake of the economic crisis, the PES joined Europeans for Financial Reform (EFFR), a coalition of NGOs, foundations and civil society actors that demand a stronger regulation of financial markets. In order to push for such a regulation world-wide, EFFR cooperates with its US partner Americans for Financial Reform.

The PES also maintains regular contact with US Democrats and over the years we have worked together in the fields of Nuclear nonproliferation, climate change and globalization. Former US President Bill Clinton was one of the key speakers in the 3rd World Conference of the Global Progressive Forum (GPF, a common initiative by the PES, the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies to address the negative aspects of globalization).

Philanthropy

Upon completing his second term as President of the USA, Clinton dedicated himself to philanthropy and continued public service, particularly through the William J. Clinton Foundation.

William J. Clinton Foundation

Clinton is the founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation which promotes and provides for a number of humanitarian causes. The foundation has focused on supporting AIDS awareness campaigns and making treatment for HIV/AIDS more affordable. Receiving funding from a number of foreign governments, the foundation also seeks to address such problems as global public health, climate change, poverty alleviations and religious and ethnic conflict.

Humanitarian Action

In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton joined with former President Bush to help with relief and recovery following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, and to lead a nationwide fundraising effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also served as U.N. Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery from 2005 to 2007.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

In November 20113, Bill Clinton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Anniversary of King march

A march and rally marking the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington on Capitol Hill, beginning a day of events recalling the historic 1963 civil-rights demonstration.

The march along a 1.6-mile route downtown will pass several buildings with significance for the civil-rights era, including the Justice Department, U.S. Courthouse, Department of Labor and Washington Monument. The procession, to be led by a restored 1960s-era bus like that used by civil-rights activists the Freedom Riders, is expected to draw upward of 100,000 participants. The original march, which demanded jobs and equal rights for blacks, drew about 250,000.

The route ends about midday at the Lincoln Memorial, where President Barack Obama will speak while standing in the same spot on the memorial steps where Rev. King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, a stirring vision of equality, exactly five decades ago. Mr. Obama will cap two hours of official speeches between 1 and 3 p.m.

Wednesday's speakers include former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as civil-rights protest hero Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the only surviving speaker from the original 1963 event. D.C.

Mayor Vincent Gray also will speak. Other congressional speakers include Reps. Joaquin Castro (D., Texas), Marcia Fudge (D., Ohio), Donna Edwards (D., Md.) and Angus King (I., Maine).

External links

• Clinton's biography with the White House
• William J. Clinton Foundation website

References

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