Bill Clinton Biography

Fast Facts

• Along with wife Hillary, he has both founded and been involved with numerous charities for a widespread number of causes, including such foundations as the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Clinton Foundation
• In 2007 he donated the saxophone he played at his own inauguration ceremony to the American Jazz Museum, which is located in the famed 18th and Vine district of Kansas City, Mo
• Made headlines in 2008 by taking on a key negotiating role with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il over the imprisonment of two U․S․ journalists, Lisa Ling and Una Lee, resulting in a pardon for both
• After graduating from Georgetown University's Edmund A․ Walsh School of Foreign Service with a bachelor of science degree in foreign service, he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University
• Graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1973 from Yale Law School, where he also met fellow student and future wife Hillary Rodham in 1971
• He adopted the last name of his stepfather, Roger Clinton, while attending high school
• Following health concerns over his dietary habits and family's medical history after receiving two coronary stent implants in 2010, he chose to become a vegan and has since credited this change for keeping him healthy
• As a representative of the Boys Nation, he visited the White House and met President John F․ Kennedy in the Rose Garden, a moment he would later recall as one of the most significant in his life
• Born just three months after a fatal car accident that killed his father, Bill was partly raised by his grandparents while his mother attended nursing school in New Orleans
• His re-election in 1996 was highly notable at the time, as he was the first Democratic president to be elected to a full second term since Franklin D․ Roosevelt, a span of more than six decades
• Once considered pursuing a career in music due to his proficient ability to play the saxophone, a talent he would go on to showcase during an episode of "The Arsenio Hall Show" while campaigning in 1992