Today we’re talking about the 42nd president of the United States William Jefferson Clinton but you might know him better as bill Bill Clinton was born on August 19 1946 in Hope Arkansas he developed an interest in politics early in his life and achieved political success much younger than many of his counterparts Clinton became the Democratic governor of Arkansas in 1978 when he was just 32 years old which made him the youngest governor in the country although he lost his re-election campaign in 1980 he was again elected governor of Arkansas in 1982 and held the office for the next 10 years Clinton married future presidential candidate Hillary Rodham in 1975 and their daughter Chelsea was born in 1980 in 1992 Clinton defeated Republican incumbent George Bush becoming the first a Democratic president in 12 years he was elected for a second term in 1996 in 1998 Clinton was impeached with the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to false testimony he gave about the affair he had with White House intern Monica Lewinsky this testimony occurred during a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones Clinton was acquitted of the charges by the Senate in 1999 despite the scandals that occurred while he was the President Clinton left office with an approval rating of 68 percent which is the highest end of office approval rating of any US president since World War two okay enough with the background let’s get to the 15 things you didn’t know about Bill Clinton
No. 1
Bill never met his real father bill was named after his father William Jefferson blight but he never actually met him sadly his father died in a car wreck three months before bill was born bill kept his father’s last name until the age of 15 when he took on his stepfathers last name of Clinton
No. 2
He is vegan bill had a health there in 2010 when he underwent emergency heart surgery he made some changes in his life as a result including adopting a vegan diet although he often claims to be vegan who does admit that he eats fish once in a while and occasionally strays from the strict diet but he says he might not be around today if he had not become vegans
No. 3
His 1967 Mustang is one of his all-time favorite possessions it’s widely known that US presidents are not allowed to drive themselves around and this was one of the most difficult adjustments for bill he has said that the hardest thing to leave behind when moving to the White House was his ice blue 1967 Mustang convertible the car was purchased by a stepfather in 1972 and eventually became Bill’s prized possession the car is now on display at the Museum of automobiles in Morrilton Arkansas
No. 4
He pardoned his stepbrothers crimes as president bill was given the power to pardon people of their crimes wiping offences away as if they never happened other presidents have used this power sometimes controversial II President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon for his role in Watergate Andrew Johnson pardoned thousands of former Confederate officials after the Civil War President Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning who leaks thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks Clinton pardoned a total of 450 people in his time in office but 140 of these were pardoned on his last day in office in what became known as pardon gate among those pardoned on his last day was his stepbrother Roger Clinton Roger had already served his entire sentence for cocaine possession but the pardon wiped the crime from this record
No. 5
Bill is known to smoke the most expensive cigars in the world Gurkha is known as the rolls-royce of cigars their finest cigars sell for over $1,000 apiece and a box of cigars could cost up to $30,000 Bill Clinton is one of Gurkhas famous clients along with Matthew McConaughey they only make about 20,000 boxes of their finest cigars every year and there’s a three-year waiting list but she can be sure bill doesn’t have to wait that long
No. 6
He has two Grammy Awards Bill Clinton actually has more Grammy Awards than Snoop Dog’s Tupac Guns and Roses Queen Diana Ross Bob Marley Janis Joplin and Katy Perry combined while none of the previously mentioned artists has ever received a Grammy Clinton has been awarded to in 2004 he received the Grammy Award for Best spoken word album for children for narrating the Russian national orchestras album called wolf tracks and Peter and the wolf and the following year he was honored again with the Grammy Award for Best spoken word album for reading his autobiography called my life
No. 7
Bill met John F Kennedy when he was 16 years old in July of 1963 when Bill was 16 years old he had the chance to take a trip to Washington DC as a delegate in the American Legion civics program called boys nation and he jumped at the opportunity as a part of the trip the group visited the White House Rose Garden where bill remembers elbowing his way to the front of the crowd so that he could meet President John F Kennedy the two shook hands and a picture was captured at the moment bill says that handshake was what inspired him to lead a life of public service just four months after their encounter JFK was assassinated
No. 8
He only applied to one college bill was an excellent student in high school but even the best students usually applied to at least one safety school this was not the case for Bill he was drawn to Washington DC so he decided to apply to the prestigious Georgetown University and fortunately he was accepted he earned a Bachelor of Science in foreign service in 1968 and earned a coveted scholarship to Oxford University where he attended one year before returning to the United States to get his law degree from Yale
No. 9
He became friends with Steven Spielberg while in college when Bill was studying law at Yale University he volunteered to help with George McGovern’s presidential campaign in 1972 along with his girlfriend Hillary he met another young volunteer Steven Spielberg and the two became friends they’ve been close ever since
No. 10
He eats apples whole bill loves eating apples but he doesn’t eat them the way most people do he eats every part of the Apple including the stem core and seeds if you have more refined tastes when it comes to fruit click on the top right hand corner watch our video about the top 10 most expensive fruits in the world
No. 11
He was the first president who sent an email in the White House email was actually invented in 1972 but did not come into wide use until the early 1990s on November 7th 1998 Bill Clinton was the first president to send him email in the White House but he didn’t send it to anyone on earth the note where the email was actually sent in response to an email received by astronaut John Glenn who was on the Space Shuttle in orbit at the time Clinton claims to have only sent a total of two emails while he was president the other was to troops in the Adriatic
No. 12
His White House code name was Eagle you’re probably aware that the United States Secret Service assigns code names to US presidents first lady’s and other prominent figures the Secret Service typically gives all members of the presidential family code names that begin with the same letter Bills code name was eagle Hillary’s was evergreen and Chelsey’s was energy President Obama’s code name was renegade while Michelle’s was Renaissance Donald Trump’s code name is mogul and Melania is muse
No. 14
He was allergic to his white house pet socks the cat was one of the most popular White House pets in history the count was actually a stray that jumped into the arms of Chelsea as she was leaving the home of her piano teacher when Bill was the governor of Arkansas the cat became the family pet and moved with them to the White House despite the fact that Bill is allergic to cat dander bill is also allergic to chocolate and flour
No. 14
Hillary rejected his first two marriage proposals Bill and Hillary met in 1970 at Yale University after Hillary saw Bill eyeing her up in the library she introduced herself and the two soon started dating when Hillary graduated from Law School bill took her on a trip to Europe and proposed to her at a lake near London however she rejected his proposal saying no not now this did not seem to deter bill as he proposed again a year later but the answer was still no some time later bill was taking Hilary to the airport when they passed by a red brick house for sale and Hillary remarked that it was cute when he picked her up from the airport after returning from her trip he told her he had bought a house and that she should marry him because he didn’t want to live there alone this time she said yes
No. 15
Bill and Hillary got married in their living room October 11th 1975 Bill and Hillary were married in the living room of their house that bill bought in Fayetteville Arkansas bill was 29 and Hillary was 27 only 15 of their closest friends and family attended the private ceremony they then had a reception with a few hundred guests in their backyard
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