Mabel Lawder

b. 2 July 1899
     Mabel Lawder was born on 2 July 1899. She was the daughter of Alfred Lawder and Gertie Logan Barber.

Jacob Mackey Dunham1

b. 7 May 1824, d. 12 June 1907
     Jacob Mackey Dunham was born on 7 May 1824 at Berkeley Co., VA (Now WV).1 He was the son of Jacob Dunham and Catherine Goodnight.1 Jacob Mackey Dunham married Louise Eliza Stroup on 21 July 1853 at Tipton Co., IN.1 Jacob Mackey Dunham died on 12 June 1907 at Okmulgee Co., OK, at age 83.1

Child of Jacob Mackey Dunham and Louise Eliza Stroup

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

George W. Armour1

b. 1849, d. after 12 September 1890
     George W. Armour was born in 1849 at Duncan Falls, Muskingum Co., OH.1 He married Nancy Ann Childress, daughter of John Milton Childress and Nancy Conyers, on 12 November 1871 at Canton, MO.1 George W. Armour died after 12 September 1890.1 He was buried at Wyaconda Cemetery, Canton, MO.1

Child of George W. Armour and Nancy Ann Childress

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

John Milton Childress1

b. 18 January 1816, d. 15 March 1866
     John Milton Childress was born on 18 January 1816 at Falmouth, Pendleton Co., KY.1 He was the son of John P. Childress and Catherine Ament.1 John Milton Childress married Nancy Conyers on 1 September 1839 at Waterloo, Clark Co., MO.1 John Milton Childress died on 15 March 1866 at Canton, MO, at age 50.1

John M. and Nancy C. "Childers" were enumerated in the 1850 District 19, Clark Co., MO, federal census. He was a farmer, age 34, she was 26. Children in the household were Newton 10, Edna 8, Sarah C. 7, Robert H. 3, and Nancy A. 1. Also in the household was Cassel Wage 16.

Child of John Milton Childress and Nancy Conyers

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Christopher Columbus Clark1

b. 1846, d. 11 January 1937
     Christopher Columbus Clark was born in 1846 at MO.1 He married Susan C. Overall, daughter of George Washington Overall and Louisiana Duvall, on 6 January 1870 at Nelson Co., KY.1 Christopher Columbus Clark died on 11 January 1937.1

Child of Christopher Columbus Clark and Susan C. Overall

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Hannah (?)1

b. circa 1758, d. 1826
     Hannah (?) was born circa 1758.1 She married Samuel Dunham, son of Jonathan Dunham and Mary Smith, in 1775.1 Hannah (?) died in 1826 at Butler Co., OH.1

Child of Hannah (?) and Samuel Dunham

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

George Washington Overall1

b. 4 July 1820, d. 9 January 1871
     George Washington Overall was born on 4 July 1820 at Bullitt Co., KY.1 He was the son of Robert Overall and Annie Browning.1 George Washington Overall married Louisiana Duvall, daughter of Gabriel Duvall and Mary Grable, on 21 December 1841 at Nelson Co., KY.1 George Washington Overall died on 9 January 1871 at Nelson Co., KY, at age 50.1

George and Lucy were enumerated in the District 1, Nelson Co., KY, federal census. He was a farmer, age 30, she was 25. Children in the household were I. 7, Wm. 6, M. 4, M. 3, and Susan 1.

Child of George Washington Overall and Louisiana Duvall

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Catherine Ament1

d. before August 1834
     Catherine Ament was the daughter of Phillip Ament and Maria Elisabeth Schmidt.1 Catherine Ament married John P. Childress on 16 August 1810 at Bourbon Co., KY.1 Catherine Ament died before August 1834.1

Child of Catherine Ament and John P. Childress

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Annie Browning1

b. 1780, d. after 1820
     Annie Browning was born in 1780 at Culpeper Co., VA.1 She was the daughter of James Browning and Susannah Hickman.1 Annie Browning married Robert Overall, son of John Overall and Frances Whitledge, on 12 March 1801.1 Annie Browning died after 1820.1

Child of Annie Browning and Robert Overall

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Mary Smith1

b. 27 December 1717, d. 1791
     Mary Smith was born on 27 December 1717.1 She was the daughter of Shubael Smith and Prudence FitzRandolph.1 Mary Smith married Jonathan Dunham, son of Benjamin Dunham and Mary Rolph.1 Mary Smith died in 1791.1

Child of Mary Smith and Jonathan Dunham

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Maria Elisabeth Schmidt1

b. October 1757
     Maria Elisabeth Schmidt was born in October 1757 at York Co., PA.1 She married Phillip Ament on 14 September 1779 at York Co., PA.1

Child of Maria Elisabeth Schmidt and Phillip Ament

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Louis Griswold Frankau1

b. 18 February 1916, d. January 1973
     Louis Griswold Frankau was born on 18 February 1916 at PA.1,2 He was the son of Louis Griswold Frankau and Mary Anna Parker.1 Louis Griswold Frankau married Margaret Elizabeth Wardrop. Louis Griswold Frankau died in January 1973 at age 56.2

Citations

  1. [S39] 1920 Federal Census, unknown repository address.
  2. [S182] Social Security Death Index (on-line), Ancestry.com, SSDI, Ancestry.com, SSAN 166-05-1172.

Frances Whitledge1

b. 27 October 1732, d. 5 December 1816
     Frances Whitledge was born on 27 October 1732 at VA.1 She was the daughter of William Whitledge and Frances Overall.1 Frances Whitledge married John Overall, son of John Overall and Mary Elliott.1 Frances Whitledge died on 5 December 1816 at Bullitt Co., KY, at age 84.1

Child of Frances Whitledge and John Overall

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Joseph Griswold Frankau

b. circa 1912
     Joseph Griswold Frankau was born circa 1912.1 He was the son of Louis Griswold Frankau and Mary Anna Parker.

Citations

  1. [S39] 1920 Federal Census, unknown repository address.

Susannah Hickman1

b. circa 1745, d. before 1833
     Susannah Hickman was born circa 1745 at Culpeper Co., VA.1 She was the daughter of James Hickman and Hannah Lewis.1 Susannah Hickman married James Browning.1 Susannah Hickman died before 1833 at Harrison Co., KY.1

Child of Susannah Hickman and James Browning

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Mary Rolph1

b. 1681
     Mary Rolph was born in 1681 at Woodbridge, NJ.1,2 She was the daughter of John Rolph and Mary Sculliard.1,2 Mary Rolph married Benjamin Dunham, son of Jonathan Singletary and Mary Bloomfield, circa 1706.1

Child of Mary Rolph and Benjamin Dunham

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com
  2. [S677] Gary Boyd Roberts, "New England Ancestors: Barack Obama."

Prudence FitzRandolph1

b. 20 August 1696, d. 12 September 1766
     Prudence FitzRandolph was born on 20 August 1696 at Woodbridge, NJ.1 She was the daughter of Samuel FitzRandolph and Mary Jones.1 Prudence FitzRandolph married Shubael Smith, son of Samuel Smith and Elizabeth Peirce, in 1716.1 Prudence FitzRandolph died on 12 September 1766 at Woodbridge, NJ, at age 70.1

Children of Prudence FitzRandolph and Shubael Smith

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Alexander Barber1

b. 1811, d. 1848
     Alexander Barber was born in 1811 at Ellis Grove, Randolph Co., IL.1 He was the son of Alexander Barber and Nancy Dennis.1 Alexander Barber married Jinsey Crain.2 Alexander Barber married Caroline Harrison.2 Alexander Barber died in 1848.3

Child of Alexander Barber and Caroline Harrison

Citations

  1. [S298] Donald S. Barber, Thomas Barber 2nd Ed, page 124.
  2. [S298] Donald S. Barber, Thomas Barber 2nd Ed, page 230.
  3. [S298] Donald S. Barber, Thomas Barber 2nd Ed, pages 124, 230.

Frances Overall1

b. 22 August 1716, d. after 1745
     Frances Overall was born on 22 August 1716.1 She married William Whitledge, son of Thomas Whitledge and Sybil Harrison, on 27 October 1732 at King George Co., VA.1 Frances Overall died after 1745.1

Child of Frances Overall and William Whitledge

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Hannah Lewis1

b. 6 October 1722, d. 4 June 1822
     Hannah Lewis was born on 6 October 1722 at Hanover Co., VA.1 She was the daughter of David Lewis and Anne Terrell. Hannah Lewis married James Hickman, son of Edwin Hickman and Eleanor Elliott, on 14 March 1743/44 at Albemarle Co., VA.1 Hannah Lewis died on 4 June 1822 at Clark Co., KY, at age 99.1

Child of Hannah Lewis and James Hickman

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Alexander Barber1

b. 22 April 1842, d. 1917
     Alexander Barber was born on 22 April 1842 at near Campbell Hill, Jackson Co., IL.1 He was the son of Alexander Barber and Caroline Harrison.1 Alexander Barber married Theodocia McCormack on 11 November 1869.1 Alexander Barber died in 1917 at Edwardsville, Madison Co., IL.

Child of Alexander Barber and Theodocia McCormack

Citations

  1. [S298] Donald S. Barber, Thomas Barber 2nd Ed, page 230.
  2. [S298] Donald S. Barber, Thomas Barber 2nd Ed, page 231.

Mary Grable1

b. 13 October 1791, d. 6 August 1868
     Mary Grable was born on 13 October 1791 at KY.1 She married Gabriel Duvall, son of John Miles Duvall and Anne Roselle Philomena Tarleton, on 9 August 1814 at Nelson Co., KY.1 Mary Grable died on 6 August 1868 at Nelson Co., KY, at age 76.1

Child of Mary Grable and Gabriel Duvall

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Alfred Lawder

     Alfred Lawder married Gertie Logan Barber, daughter of Alexander Barber and Theodocia McCormack, in 1896.

Child of Alfred Lawder and Gertie Logan Barber

Marion Woodruff1

b. 28 July 1872
     Marion Woodruff was born on 28 July 1872 at Cape Vincent, Jefferson Co., NY.1 She married Charles Spencer Holcombe, son of Silas Wright Holcombe and Elizabeth Vilas, on 30 September 1896.1

Children of Marion Woodruff and Charles Spencer Holcombe

Citations

  1. [S663] Mary A. Elliott, Thompson Genealogy, page 290.

Marion Elizabeth Holcombe1

b. 16 September 1903
     Marion Elizabeth Holcombe was born on 16 September 1903 at Cape Vincent, Jefferson Co., NY.1 She was the daughter of Charles Spencer Holcombe and Marion Woodruff.1

Citations

  1. [S663] Mary A. Elliott, Thompson Genealogy, page 290.

Susan Ament1

b. 12 October 1800, d. 18 May 1831
     Susan Ament was born on 12 October 1800 at Bourbon Co., KY.1 She was the daughter of Phillip Ament.1 Susan Ament married John Huffman on 12 March 1816 at Bourbon Co., KY.1 Susan Ament died on 18 May 1831 at Bourbon Co., KY, at age 30.1

Child of Susan Ament and John Huffman

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 94.
  2. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 93.

Richard Fox Jr.1

b. circa 1679
     Richard Fox Jr. was born circa 1679.1 He married Lydia Colt, daughter of John Colt Sr. and Hester Edwards, in March 1704/5 at Glastonbury, Hartford Co., CT.1

Citations

  1. [S662] Gale Ion Harris, "John Colt."

Mary Elizabeth Perrin1

b. 27 June 1826, d. 12 July 1916
     Mary Elizabeth Perrin was born on 27 June 1826 at Russellville, KY.1 She married John Huffman Jr., son of John Huffman and Susan Ament, circa 1848 at probably Collin Co., TX.1 Mary Elizabeth Perrin died on 12 July 1916 at Merkel, TX, at age 90.1

Child of Mary Elizabeth Perrin and John Huffman Jr.

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 93.

Ruth Ament Huffman1

b. 10 December 1854, d. 13 February 1936
     Ruth Ament Huffman was born on 10 December 1854 at near Rowlett, TX.1 She was the daughter of John Huffman Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Perrin.1 Ruth Ament Huffman married Joseph Wilson Baines on 12 September 1869 at Roweltt, TX.1 Ruth Ament Huffman died on 13 February 1936 at San Antonio, Bexar Co., TX, at age 81.1

Child of Ruth Ament Huffman and Joseph Wilson Baines

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 93.

John Sparks1

d. 8 April 1710
     John Sparks married Dorothy Colt, daughter of John Colt Sr. and Hester Edwards, before 4 November 1694.1 John Sparks died on 8 April 1710 at East Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.1

Citations

  1. [S662] Gale Ion Harris, "John Colt."

Rebekah Baines1

b. 26 June 1881, d. 12 September 1958
     Rebekah Baines was born on 26 June 1881 at McKinney, Collin Co., TX.1 She was the daughter of Joseph Wilson Baines and Ruth Ament Huffman.1 Rebekah Baines married Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. on 20 August 1907 at Fredericksburg, TX.1 Rebekah Baines died on 12 September 1958 at Austin, Travis Co., TX, at age 77.1

Child of Rebekah Baines and Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr.

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 93.

Margaret Hitchcock1

b. 25 May 1741, d. 20 March 1820
     Margaret Hitchcock was born on 25 May 1741 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 She was the daughter of Samuel Hitchcock and Ruth Stebbins.1 Margaret Hitchcock married Richard Falley Jr. on 14 January 1762 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 Margaret Hitchcock died on 20 March 1820 at Volney (now Fulton), NY, at age 78.1

Child of Margaret Hitchcock and Richard Falley Jr.

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 51.

John P. Childress1

b. 3 March 1787, d. 1870
     John P. Childress was born on 3 March 1787 at Amherst Co., VA.1 He married Catherine Ament, daughter of Phillip Ament and Maria Elisabeth Schmidt, on 16 August 1810 at Bourbon Co., KY.1 John P. Childress died in 1870 at Pendleton Co., KY.1

Child of John P. Childress and Catherine Ament

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Ruth Stebbins1

b. 16 October 1722, d. 20 February 1775
     Ruth Stebbins was born on 16 October 1722 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 She married Samuel Hitchcock, son of John Hitchcock Jr. and Mary Ball, on 11 June 1738 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 Ruth Stebbins died on 20 February 1775 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA, at age 52.1

Child of Ruth Stebbins and Samuel Hitchcock

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 51.

Samuel Dunham1

b. 11 May 1742, d. 18 February 1824
     Samuel Dunham was born on 11 May 1742 at Woodbridge, NJ.1 He was the son of Jonathan Dunham and Mary Smith.1 Samuel Dunham married Hannah (?) in 1775.1 Samuel Dunham died on 18 February 1824 at Berkeley Co., VA (Now WV), at age 81.1

Child of Samuel Dunham and Hannah (?)

Citations

  1. [S661] Wargs: Barack Obama, online http://www.wargs.com

Mary Ball1

b. 12 July 1673, d. 14 October 1760
     Mary Ball was born on 12 July 1673 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 She was the daughter of Samuel Ball and Mary Graves.2 Mary Ball married John Hitchcock Jr. on 24 September 1691 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.1 Mary Ball died on 14 October 1760 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA, at age 87.1

Child of Mary Ball and John Hitchcock Jr.

Citations

  1. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 51.
  2. [S95] Gary Boyd Roberts, Presidents 1995 Edition, page 52.

President William Jefferson Clinton1

b. 19 August 1946
     President William Jefferson Clinton was also known as William Jefferson Blythe IV. He was born on 19 August 1946 at Hope, AR.1 He married Hillary Diane Rodham, daughter of Hugh Ellsworth Rodham and Dorothy Emma Howell, on 11 October 1975 at Fayetteville, Washington Co., AR.1

Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office. He was the third-youngest president, only older than Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy when he went into office. He became president at the end of the Cold War, and as he was born in the period after World War II, is known as the first Baby Boomer president.

Clinton was described as a New Democrat and was largely known for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president. His policies, on issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform, have been described as "centrist." Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus. Based on Congressional accounting rules, at the end of his presidency Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion. On the heels of a failed attempt at health care reform with a Democratic Congress, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. Two years later, he was re-elected and became the first member of the Democratic Party since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term as president. Later he was impeached for obstruction of justice, but was subsequently acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

Clinton left office with an approval rating at 66%, the highest end of office rating of any president since World War II. Since then, he has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. Clinton created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming.

In 2004, he released his autobiography, My Life, and more recently has been involved in his wife Hillary's 2008 presidential campaign and in that of President Barack Obama.

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. Following his birth, in order to study nursing, his mother Virginia Dell Cassidy (1923-1994), traveled to New Orleans, leaving Bill in Hope with grandparents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and operated a small grocery store. At a time when the Southern United States were racially segregated, Bill's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all racial groups. In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and shortly thereafter married Roger Clinton, who together with his brother owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.

Although he assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Billy (as he was known then) turned fourteen that he formally adopted the surname Clinton, partially as a gesture toward his stepfather. Clinton says he remembers his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and, at times, his half-brother, Roger, Jr. Clinton intervened multiple times with the threat of violence to protect them.

In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and Hot Springs High School - where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician. He was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography My Life:

“ (…) 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. ”

Clinton attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., receiving a degree in 1968, during which he ran for President of the Student Council.In 1963, two influential moments in Clinton's life contributed to his decision to become a public figure. One was his visit to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy, as a Boys Nation senator. The other was listening to Martin Luther King's 1963 I Have a Dream speech (he memorized Dr. King's words).

With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (B.S.F.S.) degree in 1968. He spent the summer of 1967, the summer before his senior year, working as an intern for Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright. While in college he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Clinton was also a member of Youth Order of DeMolay, but he never actually became a Freemason. He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi's National Honorary Band Fraternity, Inc.

Upon graduation he won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford where he studied Government (the Oxford course known as 'PPE'). He developed an interest in rugby union, playing at Oxford and later for the Little Rock Rugby club in Arkansas. While at Oxford he also participated in Vietnam War protests, including organizing an October 1969 Moratorium event. In later life he admitted to smoking cannabis at the university, but claimed that he "never inhaled".

After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1973. While at Yale, he began dating law student Hillary Rodham who was a year ahead of him. They married in 1975 and their only child, Chelsea, was born in 1980.

During Yale, Clinton took a job with the McGovern campaign and was assigned to lead McGovern's effort in Texas. He spent considerable time in Dallas, Texas, at the McGovern campaign's local headquarters on Lemmon Avenue where he had an office. There, Clinton worked with Ron Kirk, who was later elected mayor of Dallas twice, future governor of Texas Ann Richards, and then unknown television director (and future filmmaker) Steven Spielberg.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton returned to Arkansas and became a professor at the University of Arkansas. A year later, he ran for the House of Representatives in 1974. The incumbent, John Paul Hammerschmidt, defeated Clinton by a 52% to 48% margin. Without opposition in the general election, Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976.

Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978, making him the youngest governor in the country at age thirty-two. He worked on educational reform and 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 in Cleveland County, polled 31% of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Some suggested Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat in the general election that year by Republican challenger Frank D. White. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.

Clinton joined friend's Bruce Lindsey's law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings, though he spent most of the next two years working on his re-election campaign. Clinton was again elected governor and kept his job for ten years. He helped Arkansas transform its economy and significantly improve the state's educational system. He became a leading figure among the New Democrats. The New Democrats, organized within the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) were a branch of the Democratic Party that called for welfare reform and smaller government, a policy supported by both Democrats and Republicans. He served as Chair of the National Governors Association from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas.

Clinton made economic growth, job creation and educational improvement high priorities. For senior citizens, he removed the sales tax from medicine and increased the home property tax exemption.

In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee, chaired by Clinton's wife, attorney and Legal Services Corporation chair Hillary Rodham Clinton, succeeded in reforming the education system, transforming it from the worst in the nation, into one of the best. This has been considered by many the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship. Clinton and the committee were responsible for state educational improvement programs, notably more spending for schools, rising opportunities for gifted children, an increase in vocational education, raising of teachers' salaries, inclusion of a wider variety of courses, and mandatory teacher testing for aspiring educators.

The Clinton's personal and business affairs during the 1980s included transactions which became the basis of the Whitewater investigation, which dogged his later presidential administration. After extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas.

In 1987 there was media speculation Clinton would enter the race after then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo declined to run and Democratic front-runner Gary Hart withdrew owing to revelations of marital infidelity. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for the potential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton for governor, initially favored, but ultimately vetoed, by the First Lady). For the nomination, Clinton endorsed Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. However, he gave the opening night address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, which was nationally televised, but it was criticized for length. Presenting himself as a moderate and a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991.

Due to his youthful appearance he was often called the "Boy Governor". In the first contest, the Iowa caucus, he finished a very distant third to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. During the campaign for the New Hampshire Primary reports of an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers surfaced. As Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas in the New Hampshire polls, following the Super Bowl, Clinton and his wife Hillary went on 60 Minutes to refute the charges. Their television appearance was a calculated risk but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the New Hampshire primary, but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. On election night, Clinton labeled himself "The Comeback Kid". He ended leading New Hampshire by a large percentage. However, Tsongas picked up little or no momentum from his victory.

Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the Southern primaries 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 of his native South.

With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted the New York primary, which contained a large number of delegates. He scored a resounding victory in New York City and won, shedding his image as a regional candidate. 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.

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; a significant part of Clinton's success was Bush's steep decline in public approval. Because Bush's approval ratings were in the 80% range during the Gulf War, he was described as "unbeatable." However, when Bush compromised with Democrats in an attempt to lower Federal deficits, he reneged on his promise not to raise taxes, hurting his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep. By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to slightly over 40%. 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 Republican National Convention, with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform, many moderates were alienated. 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. Many Democrats who supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their allegiance to Clinton.

His 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. It was the first time this had occurred since the Jimmy Carter presidency in the late 1970s.

However, 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 maintained questions were moot because all transactions with the state were deducted prior to determining Hillary's firm pay. Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that, with Hillary, voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one".

Citations

  1. [S651] Wargs: Hillary Clinton, online http://www.wargs.com/political/rodham.html