42nd President of the United States of America

Clinton was the first Democrat to serve two full terms as president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, though he is the first president since John Kennedy to have never achieved a majority of the popular vote. His election ended an era in which the Republican Party had controlled the presidency for 12 consecutive years, and for 20 of the previous 24 years. That election also brought the Democrats full control of the political branches of the federal government, including both houses of U.S. Congress as well as the presidency, for the first time since the administration of the last Democratic president, Jimmy Carter.

The most important item on Clinton’s legislative agenda, however, was a complex health care reform plan, the result of a taskforce headed by Hillary Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage. Though initially well-received, it was ultimately doomed by well-organized opposition from conservatives and the health insurance industry. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton’s administration.

After two years of Democratic party control under Clinton’s leadership, the mid-term elections in 1994 proved disastrous for the Democrats. They lost control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years, in large part due to stalled legislation, including a failed attempt to create a comprehensive health care system under a plan developed by the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton was re-elected receiving 49.2% of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (40.7% of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4% of the popular vote), while the Republicans retained control of the Congress losing but a few seats. Clinton developed a close working relationship with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, when he was elected in 1997. In 1999, through Clinton’s and the Congress’s efforts, the United States had a projected federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe, III in Hope, Arkansas and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was named after his father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., a travelling salesman who had been killed in a car accident in Scott County, Missouri between the towns of Sikeston and Morley three months before his son was born. His mother, born Virginia Dell Cassidy (1923–1994), remarried in 1950 to Roger Clinton. Billy, as he was called, was raised by his mother and stepfather, using the last name “Clinton” throughout elementary school, but not formally changing it until he was 14. Clinton grew up in a traditional nuclear, albeit blended, family; however, according to Clinton, his stepfather was a gambler and alcoholic who regularly abused Clinton’s mother, and sometimes Clinton’s half-brother Roger, Jr.. Clinton was an excellent student and talented saxophonist. He even thought of dedicating his life to music, but a visit to the White House of President John F. Kennedy led him to pursue a career in politics.