President Bill Clinton :: William Jefferson Clinton Essays

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in the small town of Hope, Arkansas. He was named after his father, William Jefferson Blythe II, who had been killed in a car accident just three months before his son's birth. Needing a way to support herself and her new child, Bill Clinton's mother, Virginia Cassidy Blythe, moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, to study nursing. Bill Clinton stayed with his mother's parents in Hope. There his grandparents, Eldrigde and Edith Cassidy, taught him strong values and beliefs such as "equality among all and discrimination to none". This was a lesson Bill never forgot. His mother returned from New Orleans with a nursing degree in 1950, when her son was four year old. Later that same year, she married an automobile salesman named Roger Clinton. When Bill was seven years old, the family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas for it offered a better employment opportunities. Roger received a higher paying job as a service ma nager for his brother's car dealer-ship and Virginia discovered a job as a nurse anesthetist. In 1956, Bill Clinton's half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., was born. When his brother was old enough to enter school, young Bill had his last name legally altered from Blythe to Clinton. Clinton's life continued and during his High school years he was awestruck by two successful leaders, John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was inspired by them so much that thrived on fulfilling their dreams. He raised money and organized charity events, but most of all he learned how to work with people and the concept of being a good citizen. In his spare time, he endulged himself in literature and played a saxophone. He loved music, and each summer he would attend a band camp in the Ozark Mountains. His hard work paid off when he became top saxophone player at his school and won first chair in state band. Bill Clinton recognized that although college would be expensive, it would give him the education he needed to accomplish his goals. His hard work in school, combined with his music ability, earned him many academic and music scholarships. With the aid of those scholarships and loans from the government, he was able to attend Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He chose George town because it had an excellent foreign service program and it was located in the nations capital.