WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON

William Jefferson Clinton was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. The encounter led him to enter a life of public service. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973, and shortly thereafter entered politics in Arkansas.

He was defeated in his campaign for Congress in Arkansas's Third District in 1974. The next year he married Hillary Rodham, a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. In 1980, Chelsea, their only child, was born. Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976, and won the governorship in 1978. After losing a bid for a second term, he regained the office four years later, and served until his 1992 bid for the Presidency of the United States.

Elected President of the United States in 1992, and again in 1996, President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. Under his leadership, the United States enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. President Clinton’s core values of building community, creating opportunity, and demanding responsibility resulted in unprecedented progress for America, including moving the nation from record deficits to record surpluses; the creation of over 22 million jobs—more than any other administration; low levels of unemployment, poverty and crime; and the highest homeownership and college enrollment rates in history.

President Clinton’s accomplishments in the White House include increasing investment in education, providing tax relief for working families, helping millions of Americans move from welfare to work, expanding access to technology, encouraging investment in underserved communities, protecting the environment, countering the threat of terrorism and promoting peace and strengthening democracy around the world. His Administration’s economic policies fostered the largest peacetime economic expansion in history. President Clinton previously served as the Governor of Arkansas, chairman of the National Governors’ Association and Attorney General of Arkansas. As former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, he is one of the original architects and leading advocates of the Third Way movement.

Since 2001, President Clinton has dedicated himself to philanthropy and continued public service through the William J. Clinton Foundation.  The Foundation is focused on pressing challenges at home and abroad, and is committed to practical and measurable solutions to address them.  In six short years, the Foundation has grown from a single office with 12 full time employees in Harlem in New York City, to a global nongovernmental organization, with over 700 staff and volunteers in 25 nations.  Its initiatives focus on four critical areas: health security, with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS; economic empowerment; leadership development and citizen service; and racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation.

Following the 2002 Barcelona AIDS Conference, President Clinton began the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) to assist countries in implementing large-scale, integrated, care, treatment and prevention programs that will turn the tide on the epidemic.  CHAI has brought AIDS care and treatment to more than 750,000 people living with AIDS in more than 65 countries around the world.  Foundation staff partner work on the ground in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to develop operational business plans to scale-up care and treatment.

President Clinton and the American Heart Association partnered in May 2005 to create a new generation of healthy Americans by addressing the leading public health threat of childhood obesity.  The Alliance’s overall effort targets four key areas to spark change and encourage healthier lifestyles for young people: industry, schools, healthcare professionals and kids.  The Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program is providing hands-on technical assistance to 230 schools across 13 states.  In 2006, the Alliance reached voluntary agreements with major beverage and snack food companies to sell more nutritious products in schools.  In the United States, President Clinton also works through the Clinton Foundation Urban Enterprise Initiative to help small businesses acquire the tools they need to compete in the ever-changing urban marketplace.

In September 2005, President Clinton hosted the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). CGI is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. At an annual meeting each September, CGI members are asked to sign a written agreement, detailing their commitment to take action in one of four focus areas.  The meeting is designed to stimulate practical ideas that result in direct and immediate action.  Attendees who do not make or keep their commitment are not invited to attend future meetings.  More than 570 commitments have been made since 2005 to improve the lives of people on 6 continents.

In the summer of 2006, President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation partnered with philanthropist Tom Hunter and the Hunter Foundation to launch the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI). Originally a commitment made by Sir Tom Hunter at the CGI 2005 annual meeting, CHDI is investing $100 million over 10 years in Africa to work with national governments in developing holistic frameworks to support economic development through food security, clean water, sanitation and quality health care. CHDI is currently at work in Rwanda and Malawi, at the invitation of the countries’ governments, to increase the productivity of the countries’ agriculture sectors, remove barriers to cost-effective trade, expand access to clean water and sanitation, and strengthen rural hospitals.

Building on his long-term commitment to preserving the environment, President Clinton launched the Clinton Climate Initiative in August 2006, with the mission of applying the Foundation’s business-oriented approach to the fight against climate change in practical, measurable, and significant ways.  In its first phase, CCI is working with the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group – a network of 40 of the largest cities in the world – to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

President Clinton has dedicated himself to several humanitarian efforts outside of his Foundation’s activities.  Following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, President Clinton and former President Bush led a nationwide fundraising effort and established the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to assist survivors in the rebuilding effort. This campaign was the second collaboration for the former presidents, the first being their work on relief and recovery following the Indian Ocean tsunami. President Clinton also served as the United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery for two years following the 2004 tsunami.