BILL CLINTON: Biography Bill Clinton Biography Bill Clinton, 46, is the nation's longest serving governor and is the second person in Arkansas history to be elected to five terms as governor. Clinton was rated the most effective governor in the country by his fellow governors in a June 1991 Newsweek survey. Clinton's ideas for welfare reform and educational improvements have been nationally recognized. He played a major role in drafting the National Educational Goals announced by President Bush in his 1990 State of the Union address and served as co-chair of the President's Education Summit in 1989 And, in 1988, Clinton led a major effort by the nation's governor's to restructure national welfare laws and to secure Congressional and White House approval of the Family Support Act. The Act changed the welfare system to require that welfare recipients work towards independence through education, training and work. It was based on a proposal the National Governor's Association adopted in 1987 during Clinton's term as chairman. Through Clinton's leadership, Arkansas has led all surrounding states in job growth for several years and also has been nationally recognized for its education improvements and efforts towards combating teen pregnancy. During the 1991 legislative session, Clinton worked with the Arkansas Legislature to enact one of the most sweeping legislative programs in the state's history. Major education, health and environmental packages, a highway program, tougher child abuse and domestic abuse laws, and tax cuts of low and middle Arkansans were among legislation passed. Clinton is a former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (1990-91), the National Governors' Association (1986-1987), the Education Commission of the States (1986-1987) and the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission (1988-90). He co-chaired the NGA Task Force on Healthcare from 1990-91. Clinton, a fifth-generation Arkansan, was born William Jefferson Blythe IV in Hope, Arkansas, on August 19th, 1946, two months after his father died in a traffic accident. When Clinton was four years old, his mother married Roger Clinton, a car dealer from Hot Springs. Clinton married Hillary Rodham, whom he met while at Yale, in 1975. They have a daughter, Chelsea, a student in the Little Rock public school system. Clinton is an avid reader, enjoys golf, and plays the saxophone. BORN: August 19, 1946, Hope AR MARTIAL STATUS: married (Hillary in 1975) RELIGION: Baptist EDUCATION: Georgetown Univ, BS, FS 1968 Rhodes Scholar, Oxford Univ., 1968-70 Yale Univ., JD 1973 POLITICAL & GOV'T POSITIONS: 1972 George McGovern campaign worker 1974 Democratic Nominee for US House of Reps. 1975 Chairman Housing Development Corp. 1976-78 Arkansas Attorney General 1978-80 Governor of Arkansas, lost in 1980 1982-PR Governor of Arkansas, term expires Jan. 1995 BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS: 1973-76 Professor of Law, Univ. of Ark. At Fayetteville 1973-76 Attorney, private practice 1981-82 Attorney, Wright, Lindsay & Jennings, Little Rock