My Life
William J. Clinton’s book My Life begins with his birth and ends after he finishes his eight years as our country’s President. He did not come from a wealthy background, like so many other presidents, but developed an early interest in politics while attending college at Georgetown and later Oxford. Then when he started working for Senator J. William Fulbright, he got his first taste of campaigning techniques.
In 1975 he married Hillary Rodham and several years later became Attorney General of Arkansas. In 1980 their daughter Chelsea was born and in 1978, he became governor of the state.
Clinton’s presidential campaign didn’t begin until 1992, but after he defeated George H. W. Bush, his victory was short-lived. Soon the Republican Party, especially the right wing, was making accusations against him and Hillary in what became known as the Whitewater investigation. The Republicans wanted the White House back, so they attempted to make everyone think Clinton had done something wrong.
The appointment of Ken Starr as the independent counsel to conduct the investigation only made things worse. Clinton explained that Starr was only "independent of me...but was closely tied to my political enemies." Starr used this new power to help Paula Jones in her lawsuit against Bill Clinton, to retaliate against anyone who criticized himself, and to "prosecute those who refused to lie for him."
Then in Clinton’s second term as President, the Monica Lewinsky scandal only gave Starr more to go on. The Republicans wanted the President impeached, but Starr’s final report to congress failed to support that. Clinton observed that the report mentioned sex more than 500 times, but at the same time it mentioned Whitewater only twice.
In this autobiography, Clinton blames himself harshly for misleading the country as well as his family about his relationship with Monica.
Most of the leaders of other countries were against the impeachment. Nelson Mandela wanted to "tell the American people what I think about what the congress is doing to you." At the same time, many Americans felt that Clinton was a President who fulfilled his promises, and that’s what mattered.
Clinton enjoyed his last year in office, but he had mixed feelings about the outcome of the election in 2000. He was glad to have Hillary win a seat in the senate but questioned the outcome of the Bush/Gore race for president. He knew that to anti-abortion and anti-gay voters, other issues did not seem to matter. But when the problem of the correct Florida vote went to the Supreme Court, Clinton called it a very dark day because "five Republican justices stripped thousands of their fellow Americans of their votes, just because they could."
Clinton’s book fills 957 pages and has two different sections with photographs. My Life was published in 2004.