Everything about Bill Clinton totally explained
First term, 1993–1997
Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd
President of the United States on
January 20,
1993. In his inaugural address he declared:
Legislative agenda
Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed the
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. While this action was popular, Clinton's attempt to fulfill another campaign promise of allowing openly
homosexual men and women to serve in the armed forces garnered criticism from the left (for being too tentative in promoting
gay rights) and from the right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate, Congress implemented the "
Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, stating as long as homosexuals keep their sexuality secret, they may serve in the military. Some gay rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise to get votes and contributions. These advocates feel Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting President
Harry Truman used executive order to racially desegregate the armed forces. Clinton's defenders argue an executive order might have prompted the Democratic Senate to write the exclusion of gays into law, potentially making it harder to integrate the military in the future. Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton said he didn't think any serious person could say the way the policy was being implemented wasn't "out of whack."
The Clinton administration launched the first official
White House website on
October 21,
1994. It was followed by three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000. The White House website was part of a wider movement of the Clinton administration toward web-based communication. According to Robert Longley, "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On
17 July 1996, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13011 - Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to fully utilize information technology to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public."
Also in 1993, Clinton controversially supported ratification of the
North American Free Trade Agreement by the U.S. Senate. Clinton, along with most of his Democratic Leadership Committee allies, strongly supported free trade measures; there remained, however, strong intra-party disagreement. Opposition chiefly came from anti-trade Republicans, protectionist Democrats and supporters of
Ross Perot. The bill passed the house with 234 votes against 200 opposed (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor, 156 Democrats, 43 Republicans, and 1 independent against). The treaty was then ratified by the Senate and signed into law by the President on
1 January 1994.
Clinton signed the
Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. He also expanded the
Earned Income Tax Credit, a subsidy for low income workers.
One of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda was the result of a taskforce headed by
Hillary Clinton, which was
a health care reform plan aimed at achieving universal coverage via a national healthcare plan. Though initially well-received in political circles, it was ultimately doomed by well-organized opposition from conservatives, the
American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. However,
John F. Harris, a biographer of Clinton's, states the program failed because of a lack of co-ordination within the
White House. Despite his party holding a majority in Congress, the effort to create a national healthcare system ultimately died under heavy public pressure. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.
Two months later, after two years of Democratic Party control, the Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress in the
mid-term elections in 1994, for the first time in forty years.
In August 1993, Clinton signed the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for fifteen million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses, and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers. Additionally, through the implementation of spending restraints, it mandated the budget be balanced over a number of years.
Travelgate controversy
When several longtime employees of the White House Travel Office were fired, the White House travel office controversy began on
May 19,
1993. A
whistleblower's letter, written during the previous administration, triggered an FBI investigation, which revealed evidence of financial malfeasance. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr investigated the firings and found no evidence of wrongdoing on the Clintons' part.
The White House FBI files controversy of June 1996 arose around improper access to
FBI security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone, head of the White House Office of Personnel Security, improperly requested, and received from the FBI, background report files without asking permission of the subject individuals; many of these were employees of former Republican administrations. In March 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray determined that there was no credible evidence of any criminal activity. Ray's report further stated "there was no substantial and credible evidence that any senior White House official was involved" in seeking the files.
Death penalty
The application of the federal death penalty was expanded to include crimes not resulting in death, such as running a large-scale drug enterprise by Clinton’s 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill. During Clinton's re-election campaign he said, "
My 1994 crime bill expanded the death penalty for drug kingpins, murderers of federal law enforcement officers, and nearly 60 additional categories of violent felons."
While campaigning for U.S. President, then-Governor Clinton returned to Arkansas to see that
Ricky Ray Rector would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but didn't understand the concept of death. According to Arkansas state and Federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate can't be executed. The courts disagreed with the claim of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was framed in a
New York Times article as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.
According to some sources Clinton during his earlier years was a death penalty opponent, who switched positions. Totally he oversaw four executions (one by
electric chair and three by
lethal injection). However, Clinton was the first president to pardon a death row inmate since the federal death penalty was reintroduced in 1988. Federal executions were resumed under his successor
George W. Bush.
Second term, 1997–2001
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), becoming the first Democrat to win presidential reelection since Franklin Roosevelt. The Republicans lost a few seats in the House and gained a few in the Senate, but overall retained control of the Congress. Clinton received 379, or over 70% of the
Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.
Lewinsky scandal
On
January 21,
1998, the media and prominent Republicans raised controversy over Clinton's relationship with a young White House intern named
Monica Lewinsky, resulting in the
Lewinsky scandal. In a
lame duck session after the 1998 elections, for the belief Clinton lied about his relationship with Lewinsky in a sworn
deposition in the
Paula Jones law suit, the Republican-controlled House
voted to impeach Clinton. The following year, the Republican-controlled Senate voted to acquit Clinton and he remained in office to complete his term.
Impeachment and trial in the Senate
In 1998, as a result of allegations he lied during grand jury testimony regarding his testimony during the Paula Jones civil deposition, the House of Representatives
impeached Clinton, making him the second U.S. president to be impeached after
Andrew Johnson). The House held no serious impeachment hearings before the 1998
mid-term elections. Though the mid-term elections held in November 1998 were at the 6-year point in an 8-year presidency (a time in the electoral cycle where the party holding the White House usually loses Congressional seats) the Democratic Party gained several seats. To hold impeachment proceedings, the Republican leadership called a
lame duck session in December 1998.
While the
House Judiciary Committee hearings were perfunctory and ended in a straight party line vote, there was lively debate on the House floor. 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) brought by former Arkansas-state employee
Paula Jones. The obstruction charge was based on his actions during the subsequent investigation of that testimony. The Senate later voted to acquit Clinton on both charges. Like Andrew Johnson, the only other American president to be impeached, Bill Clinton completed his term in office.
The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, enacted by Clinton on
October 21,
1998, served as the first significant amendment to the
Copyright Act since 1976. The DMCA extended the protection of
intellectual property to outlaw
reverse engineering of digital protection. It also provided a framework for
sound recording copyright owners and recording artists to seek public performance royalties under statute, which proved to be a landmark achievement for the recording industry.
Military and foreign events
Two notable military events occurred during Clinton's second term. In Clinton's
State of the Union Address, Clinton warned Congress of Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein's pursuit of nuclear weapons:
October 31,
1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq, though it explicitly stated it didn't speak to the use of American military forces. The administration then launched a four-day bombing campaign named
Operation Desert Fox, lasting from
December 16 to
December 19,
1998.
To stop the
ethnic cleansing and
genocide of
Albanians by nationalist
Serbians in the former
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Clinton authorized the use of American troops in a 1999
NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, named
Operation Allied Force.
General Wesley Clark was
Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and oversaw the mission. With
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, the bombing campaign ended on
June 10,
1999. The resolution placed Kosovo under
UN administration and authorized a
peacekeeping force. NATO claimed to have suffered zero combat deaths, and two deaths from an
Apache helicopter crash. Opinions in the popular press criticized pre-war genocide claims by the Clinton administration as greatly exaggerated. A U.N. Court ruled genocide didn't take place, although it did recognize, "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments". The term "ethnic cleansing" was used as an alternative to "genocide" to denote not just ethnically motivated murder but also displacement, though critics charge there's no difference.
Slobodan Milošević, the President of Yugoslavia at the time, was eventually charged with the "murders of about 600 individually identified ethnic Albanians" and "crimes against humanity."
After initial successes such as the
Oslo accords of the early-1990s, Clinton attempted to address the
Arab-Israeli conflict. Clinton brought Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat together at
Camp David. However, Barak and Arafat couldn't find common ground, and the
negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful. The situation broke down completely with the start of the
Second Intifada.
In November 2000, Clinton became the first president to visit
Vietnam since the end of the
Vietnam War. Clinton remained popular with the public throughout his two terms as President, ending his presidential career with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-term approval rating of any President since
Dwight D. Eisenhower. Clinton also oversaw a boom of the U.S. economy. Under Clinton, the United States had a projected federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.
Whitewater controversy
Law license suspension
In a separate case, Clinton's Arkansas law license was suspended for five years, and he was ordered to pay $25,000 in fines to Arkansas state's bar officials. The agreement came on the condition that Whitewater prosecutors wouldn't pursue federal
perjury charges against him. In October 2001, Clinton was suspended by the Supreme Court and, facing disbarment from that court, Clinton resigned from the Supreme Court bar in November.
Pardons and campaign finance
On his last day in office (
January 20,
2001), Clinton issued 141 pardons and 36 commutations. Most of the controversy surrounded
Marc Rich and allegations that Hillary Clinton's brother,
Hugh Rodham, accepted payments in return for influencing the president's decision-making regarding the pardons. Some of Clinton's pardons remain a point of controversy.
The 1996
United States campaign finance controversy was an alleged effort by the
People's Republic of China (PRC) to influence the domestic policies of the United States, prior to and during the Clinton administration and also involved the fundraising practices of the administration itself.
Legislation and programs
Major legislation signed
Major legislation vetoed
national budget
H.R. 1833, partial birth abortion ban
Twice vetoed welfare reform before signing
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Congress overrode the veto, however, to enact the bill into law.
Proposals not passed by Congress
Health care reform
Campaign finance reform (1993)
Initiatives
Tried to get Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian National Authority, to agree to a final settlement agreement.
Initiated the Don't ask, don't tell policy toward gays in the military, 1993.
Reversed a ban on senior Sinn Féin politicians entering the U.S.
Proposed a national challenge to end the racial divide in America, the One America Initiative.
Supreme Court appointments
Clinton appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993
Stephen Breyer - 1994
Public approval
Clinton's job approval rating ranged from 36% in mid-1993 to 64% in late-1993 and early-1994. In his second term, his rating was consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s. After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point at 73% approval. He finished with an approval rating of 68%, which was higher than that of any other departing president since polling began more than seventy years earlier.
As he was leaving office, a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll revealed only 45% said they'd miss him. While 55% thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life", 68% thought he'd be remembered for his "involvement in personal scandal", and 58% answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?". 47% of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters. 47% said he'd be remembered as either "outstanding" or "above average" as a president while 22% said he'd be remembered as "below average" or "poor".
The Gallup Organization published a poll in February 2007 asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Clinton came in fourth place, capturing 13% of the vote. In a 2006 Quinnipiac University poll asking respondents to name the best president since World War II, Clinton ranked 3% behind Ronald Reagan to place second with 25% of the vote. However, in the same poll, when respondents were asked to name the worst president since World War II, Clinton placed 1% behind Nixon and 18% behind George W. Bush to come in third with 16% of the vote.
In May 2006, a CNN poll comparing Clinton's job performance with that of his successor, George W. Bush, found that a strong majority of respondents said Clinton outperformed Bush in six different areas questioned. ABC News characterized public consensus on Clinton as, "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics — and he's done a heck of a good job."
Public image
As the first Baby Boomer president, Clinton was the first president in a half-century not to have been shaped by World War II. Authors Martin Walker and Bob Woodward state Clinton's innovative use of soundbite-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning was major for his high public approval ratings. When Clinton played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show, Clinton was sometimes described by religious conservatives as "the MTV president."
Clinton was very popular among African Americans. In 1998, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison called Clinton "the first Black president," saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas," and comparing Clinton's sex life, scrutinized despite his career accomplishments, to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure, yet noted that she's "no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race." Clinton made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency.
Standing over 6'2" tall (1.88 m), Clinton was one of the tallest U.S. Presidents in the nation's history.
Sexual misconduct allegations
For alleged misconduct during his governorship, Paula Jones brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton while he was president. During the depositions for this lawsuit, Clinton denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky — a denial that became the basis for the impeachment charge of perjury. In the aftermath of the failed impeachment trial, and without agreeing to Jones' allegation or offering an apology, Clinton settled a lawsuit by Jones. In 1998, Kathleen Willey alleged Clinton sexually assaulted her four years previously. In 1998, Juanita Broaddrick alleged she was raped by Clinton some twenty years previously. The claims by Willey and Broaddrick were never brought before a court. The independent counsel determined Willey gave "false information" to the FBI and inconsistent sworn testimony related to the Jones allegation. Broaddrick's only sworn testimony about Clinton was a previous denial of any harassment by Clinton. Four other women – Gennifer Flowers, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Sally Perdue and Dolly Kyle Browning – have claimed to have had adulterous sexual relations with Clinton during or before his service as governor.
Post-presidential career
Public speaking and campaigning
In his speaking engagements around the world, Clinton comments on contemporary politics. One notable theme is his advocacy of multilateral solutions to problems facing the world. Clinton's opened his personal office in the Harlem section of New York City.
After the Clintons moved to Chappaqua, New York, in the northern suburbs of New York City, at the end of his Presidency, he assisted his wife, Hillary Clinton, in her campaign for office as Senator from New York. In the 2002 elections Clinton campaigned for a number of Democratic candidates for the Senate.
On July 26, 2004, Clinton spoke for the fifth consecutive time at the Democratic National Convention, praising candidate John Kerry. He said of President George W. Bush's depiction of Kerry, "strength and wisdom are not opposing values." Despite Clinton's speech, the post-convention bounce to Kerry's poll numbers was less than was hoped for.
Mostly to corporations and philanthropic groups in North America and Europe, Clinton has given dozens of paid speeches each year, earning $100,000 to $300,000 per speech. According to his wife’s Senate ethics reports, he earned more than $30 million in speaking from 2001 to 2005. In 2007, it's estimated he amassed around $40 million from speaking.
In April 2007, Clinton made his first visit to new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 45-minute meeting, called at Clinton's request, touched on a host of topics, including disease, war, famine and poverty in Africa, especially in the Darfur region. The Middle East, the conflict in Iraq, and Iran's nuclear standoff with the U.N. were on the agenda, as well as HIV/AIDS.
He was the opening speaker at the Ontario Economic Summit held on November 13, 2007 in which he addressed people on various subjects including Canada's role in Afghanistan, environmentalism and access to healthcare.
Clinton served as one of the organizers for the New Baptist Covenant alongside former President Jimmy Carter and other Baptist leaders. This effort sought to bring various Baptists in America together, especially across racial lines, to discuss issues that unite them. Clinton spoke at the January 2008 celebration in Atlanta, GA.
William J. Clinton Presidential Center
Clinton dedicated his presidential library, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, which has the largest archives of any presidential library, in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 18, 2004. Under rainy skies, Clinton received words of praise from former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, as well as from the current president, George W. Bush. He was also treated to a musical rendition from Bono and The Edge from U2, who expressed their gratitude at Clinton's efforts to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict during his presidency. The Clinton facility received a $10 million dollar donation from the royal family of Saudi Arabia.
Published work
In 2004, Clinton released a personal autobiography, My Life. The book was published by the Knopf Publishing Group at Random House on June 22, 2004. According to the publisher, for single day non-fiction book sales, the book set a worldwide record. Later released as an audio book, total sales were in excess of 400,000 copies. As a writer's fee, he received U.S. $12 million in advance.
In September 2007, he released,, which became a bestseller. The book is about citizen activism and the role of public charity and public service in the modern world. The audiobook version was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.
William Clinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation promotes and provides for a number of humanitarian causes. Within the foundation, the Clinton Foundation HIV and AIDS Initiative (CHAI) strives to make treatment for HIV/AIDS more affordable and to implement large-scale integrated care, treatment, and prevention programs. While in Sydney to attend a Global Business Forum, Clinton signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of his presidential foundation with the Australian government to promote HIV/AIDS programs in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), funded by the Clinton Foundation, was inaugurated September 15-September 17, 2005 in New York City to coincide with the 2005 World Summit. The focus areas of the initiative include attempts to address world problems such as global public health, poverty alleviation and religious and ethnic conflict.
On May 3, 2005, Clinton announced through the William J. Clinton Foundation an agreement by major soft drink manufacturers to stop selling sugared sodas and juice drinks in public primary and secondary schools.
Relations with George H. W. Bush
In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, Clinton established, with fellow former-President George H. W. Bush, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund, for which they were awarded the 2006 Philadelphia Liberty Medal on October 5, 2006. They spoke together at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin.
President George W. Bush, to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, named Clinton and George H. W. Bush to lead a nationwide campaign on January 3 2005. On February 1, 2005, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan selected Clinton to head the United Nations earthquake and tsunami relief and reconstruction effort.
Five days later, to raise money for relief through the USA Freedom Corps, Clinton and Bush appeared on the Fox Super Bowl XXXIX pre-game show. Thirteen days later, to see the relief efforts, they traveled to the affected areas.
On August 31, 2005, following the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Clinton worked with George H. W. Bush to coordinate private relief donations, similar to their Indian Ocean tsunami campaign.
Environment
On August 1, 2006, to create the Clinton Foundation Climate Change Initiative (CCI), the William J. Clinton Foundation entered into a partnership with the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, agreeing to provide resources to allow the participating cities to enter into an energy-saving product purchasing consortium and to provide technical and communications support.
On December 9, 2005, speaking at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, Clinton publicly criticized the Bush administration for its handling of emissions control. To promote initiatives concerning the environment, Clinton twice visited the University of California, Los Angeles in 2006. First, to advertise the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, he met with Tony Blair, Ken Livingstone, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Gavin Newsom on August 1, 2006. On October 13, 2006, he spoke in favor of California Proposition 87 on alternative energy, which was voted down.
Personal health
On September 2, 2004, Clinton had an episode of angina and was evaluated at Northern Westchester Hospital. It was determined he didn't suffer a coronary infarction, and he was sent home, returning the following day for angiography, which disclosed multiple vessel coronary artery disease. He was transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where he underwent a successful quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on September 6, 2004. The medical team stated, had he not had surgery, he'd have likely suffered a massive heart attack within a few months. As a result of his open-heart surgery, he underwent a follow-up surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid from his left chest cavity on March 10, 2005. He has since recovered.
2008 election involvement
In the course of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Clinton vigorously advocated on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton, leading some observers and party members to question the appropriateness of his role in view of his status as a former president. Some felt that Clinton was overshadowing his wife in the campaign, with her presidential rival Barack Obama complaining that he sometimes "did not know which Clinton he was running against."
Top Democratic Party officials, including Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a declared Clinton supporter, asked Clinton to tone down his attacks on Obama following the bitterly contested Nevada caucus, suggesting that Clinton could be damaging his own political capital and global stature. Some commentators even accused the former president of "playing the race card" against Obama, who is half-black, by suggesting he'd understand if South Carolina's African Americans naturally would vote for the black candidate, but rejected suggestions that America wasn't ready for a black President. Many felt that by alienating black voters who had once overwhelmingly supported the Clintons, Clinton had tarnished his legacy as the so-called "first black president." In particular, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) suggested that Clinton's vocal attacks on Obama could damage the former President's legacy.
Following his wife's disappointing defeat in South Carolina, Clinton again made headlines when he appeared to undermine and racialize Obama's victory by comparing it to Jesse Jackson's failed 1984 bid for the Presidency. Some observers suggested that the controversial comments fueled Sen. Ted Kennedy's decision to endorse Sen. Obama for the Presidency. Clinton attracted further controversy with a series of attacks against Obama that many independents and former Clinton supporters felt to be unfair. While some believed the attacks might eventually pay off, others felt they'd damage Hillary Clinton's presidential prospects and alienate Democratic voters in the general election.Former President Bill Clinton defended his role in the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2008 in South Carolina, disputing claims he made race a campaign issue.
Honors and accolades
The President of the Czech Republic awarded Clinton the First Class with Collar Chain of the Order of the White Lion In 1998.
From a poll conducted of the American people in December 1999, Clinton was among eighteen included in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th century.
Clinton received the 2000 International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen (a prestigious European prize), 2004 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for narrating the Russian National Orchestra's album Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf (along with Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren) and 2005 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for My Life, 2005 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, and 2007 TED Prize (named for the confluence of technology, entertainment and design). On October 17, 2002, Clinton became the first white person to be inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
He received an honorary doctorate of laws from Tulane University in New Orleans (along with George H. W. Bush), and also from the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Pace University's Lubin School of Business, from Rochester Institute of Technology, and from Knox College.
On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named Clinton and the other living former presidents (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center. In 2005, the University of Arkansas System opened the Clinton School of Public Service on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center.
On December 3, 2006, Clinton was made an honorary chief and Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu by Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare. Clinton was awarded the honor for his "outstanding leadership for the good of mankind during two terms as U.S. president" and his commitment to the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other health challenges in developing countries.
On June 2, 2007, Clinton, along with former president George H. Bush, received the International Freedom Conductor Award, for their help with the fund raising following the tsunami that devastated South Asia in 2004. On June 13, 2007, Clinton was honored by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria alongside eight multinational-companies—HBO, Chevron Corporation, Standard Chartered plc, Eli Lilly & Company, Eskom Holdings Ltd, Marathon Oil Corporation, Coca-Cola, and Abbott—for his work to defeat HIV/AIDS.
In Europe, Bill Clinton remains popular, especially in a large part of the Balkans and in Ireland. In Priština, Kosovo, a five-story picture of the former president was permanently engraved into the side of the tallest building in the province as a token of gratitude for Clinton's support during the crisis in Kosovo. A statue of Clinton was also built and a road was named Clinton Boulevard.
Electoral history
Gallery
Image:Clintonchirac.jpg|Clinton with Jacques Chirac outside Élysée Palace.
Image:Clinton Hashimoto 1996.jpg|Clinton meets Ryutaro Hashimoto at the Akasaka Palace.
Image:Clinton and jiang.jpg|Clinton and Jiang Zemin
Image:Bill Clinton Kim Dae-Jung.jpg|Clinton (left) with Kim Dae-jung at APEC meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, on September 12, 1999
Image:Clinton_Set_One_9_Reflective.jpg|Clinton speaking to California Democratic Convention Delegates at San Jose, California on March 31, 2008.
Image:Bill Clinton closeup at dedication of WWII memorial, May 2004.jpg|Clinton walking along the National Mall on his way to the dedication ceremonies for the National World War II Memorial, May 2004
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