William Jefferson Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe in Hope, Arkansas on August 19, 1946. His biological father died in a car accident just three months before his birth. His mother remarried Roger Clinton when Bill was four, after which he took his stepfather’s name.

Clinton attended high school in Hot Springs, Arkansas and excelled as a saxophone player. He wanted to be a professional musician until, while serving as a Boys Nation delegate, he met President John F. Kennedy in the Rose Garden at the White House, where his political aspirations catalyzed.

Clinton graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 before earning a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. He went on to receive a degree in law from Yale in 1973 before entering Arkansas politics. He lost his first campaign to become a congressman in the third district of Arkansas in 1974. Read the rest of this entry »