Born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, Clinton realized his interest in becoming in public service very early when he was 17-year-old and met then US president John F. Kennedy by being a part of a delegation. He served as an American president for two terms. First, from 1993 to 1997 and second, from 1997 to 2001.
He was hailed as “New Democrat”. He left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating that is the highest of any U.S. president since World War II. He has continually received high scores in the historical rankings of U.S. presidents. Under his tenure, the US economy continued to grow at a good rate and he very well maintained all his military and foreign relations.
Clinton was born 3 months after the death of his father who was a travelling salesman and died in a road accident. His mother later studied Nursing and became an anesthetist while his grandparents raised him. He assumed and officially adopted the surname of his 2nd step-father.
‘I have a dream’ a speech by Martin Luther King Jr in 1963 was the second influential incident after meeting John F. Kennedy, that inspired him to be in public service. He explained his interest in his autobiography in the following words-
“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.”
Being good at studies, Clinton was also interested in music and used to play the saxophone. After high school, he received scholarships for both music and academics. He attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree in 1968.
Clinton was the opposer of the Vietnam War. While he was at Oxford, he participated in Vietnam War protests and organized a Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam event in October 1969.
He applied to join the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Arkansas in 1969. But then, decided not to join the ROTC. He stated his reason in a letter to the officer in charge of the program saying that he opposed the war, but did not think it was honorable to use ROTC, National Guard, or Reserve service to avoid serving in Vietnam.
This controversy chased him during his 1992 presidential campaign. Then, Clinton's 1992 campaign manager, James Carville came to his rescue and argued that Clinton's letter in which he declined to join the ROTC should be made public, and insisted that the two had also opposed the Vietnam War, will understand and appreciate Clinton’s position.
After ending his tenure as president, Clinton has continued to be active in public life. He has been giving speeches, fundraising, and founding charitable organizations and has spoken in prime time at every Democratic National Convention. His wife Hillary Clinton, whom he married in 1975, has been active in Politics and she was the candidate for the Democratic Party in the 2016 US Elections against Donald Trump.
