His birth name was William Jefferson Blythe IV, born AUGUST 19, 1946.
At age 15, he took his stepfather's name Clinton.
Speaking of his years growing up, Bill Clinton addressed the National Prayer Breakfast, February 4, 1993:
"The
first time I ever saw Billy Graham...he came in the 1950's, in the
heat of all our racial trouble, to Arkansas to have a crusade.
And
the white citizens council tried to get him, because of the tensions
of the moment, to agree to segregate his crusade...He said, 'If I have
to do that, I'm not coming.'
And
I remember I got a Sunday school teacher in my church - and I was
about 11 years old - to take me 50 miles to Little Rock so I could hear
a man preach who was trying to live by what he said.
And then I
remember, for a good while thereafter, trying to send a little bit of
my allowance to the Billy Graham crusade because of the impression he
made on me."
A graduate of Georgetown University, he was a Fulbright Scholar before becoming Governor of Arkansas.
In
a 1992 three way Presidential race, populist Ross Perot pulled enough
votes from incumbent George H.W. Bush to allow Bill Clinton to be
elected with only 43 percent of the vote.
As the 42nd U.S. President, Bill Clinton was the 3rd youngest President.
In
1996, he signed a Republican sponsored welfare reform bill which helped
people get off of welfare and balanced the Federal Budget for the first
time in nearly 30 years, resulting in an historic budget surplus not
seen since.
On September 21, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA):
"I have long opposed governmental recognition of same-gender marriages and this legislation is consistent with that position."
The Defense of Marriage Act stated:
"The
word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman
as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of
the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."
In 1997,
President Clinton signed into effect the Taxpayer Relief Act which
stimulated the economy by giving the largest capital gains tax cut in
U.S. history.
In 1998, he became the 2nd president to be
impeached, charged with perjury and obstruction of justice regarding
his cover up of an affair with Monica Lewinsky.
President Bill Clinton, June 29, 1993, spoke regarding Independence Day:
"The
Declaration of Independence...delineated the very idea of America,
that individual rights are derived not from the generosity of the
government, but from the hand of the Almighty."
At an Interfaith Breakfast, President Bill Clinton remarked August 30, 1993:
"I bought a book on vacation called '
The Culture of Disbelief'
by Stephen Carter, a professor...at the Yale Law School. He is himself a
committed Christian, very dedicated to the religious freedoms of all
people of faith, of any faith, in the United States.
And the
subtitle of the book is 'How American Law and Politics Trivialize
Religious Devotion.' And I would urge you all to read it from whatever
political as well as religious spectrum you have...
Sometimes I
think the environment in which we operate is entirely too secular. The
fact that we have freedom of religion doesn't mean we need to try to
have freedom from religion.
It doesn't mean that those of us who
have faith shouldn't frankly admit that we are animated by the faith,
that we try to live by it, and that it does affect what we feel, what we
think, and what we do."
President Clinton stated in a Christmas radio address, December 25, 1993:
"Today
Christians celebrate God's love for humanity made real in the birth of
Christ in a manger almost 2,000 years ago. The humble circumstances of
His birth, the example of His life, the power of His teachings inspire
us to love and to care for our fellow men and women."
In his Hanukkah Message, Bill Clinton stated on December 20, 1997:
"The
coming year will mark the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel,
where the story of the first Hanukkah took place so many centuries
ago...
From the days of the ancient Maccabees down to our present
time, tyrants have sought to deny people the free expression of their
faith and the right to live according to their own conscience and
convictions.
Hanukkah symbolizes the heroic struggle of all who
seek to defeat such oppression and the miracles that come to those full
of faith and courage."
Get your own copy of the best-selling America's God and Country Encyclopedia of QuotationsAt James Madison High School, July 12, 1995, President Bill Clinton stated:
"The First Amendment does not require students to leave their religion at the schoolhouse door...
It is especially important that parents feel confident that their children can practice religion...
We need to make it easier and more acceptable for people to express and to celebrate their faith..."
Bill Clinton continued:
"If
students can wear T-shirts advertising sports teams, rock groups or
politicians, they can also wear T-shirts that promote religion..
.Religion is too important to our history and our heritage for us to keep it out of our schools...
Nothing
in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free
zones or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the
schoolhouse door..."
President Clinton concluded:
"Government's schools also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day."
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