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102-484: Lisa Williamson (born 1964), known as Sister Souljah , is an American author, activist, rapper, and film producer. She gained significant attention in 1992, when Bill Clinton , running as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States , criticized her remarks about race in the United States. The incident was the basis for the phrase " Sister Souljah moment ", referring generally to

204-483: A 51 day siege . During the operation on April 19, 1993, the buildings caught fire and 75 of the residents died, including 24 children. The raid had originally been planned by the Bush administration; Clinton had played no role. Howard Beach racial incident Three local teenagers, Jon Lester, Scott Kern, and Jason Ladone, were convicted of manslaughter for the death of Griffith. A fourth assailant, Michael Pirone,

306-414: A Bachelor of Science in foreign service degree in 1968. Georgetown was the only university where Clinton applied. In 1964 and 1965, Clinton won elections for class president . From 1964 to 1967, he was an intern and then a clerk in the office of Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright . While in college, he became a brother of service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa . He

408-499: A centrist Third Way philosophy of governance. His policy of fiscal conservatism helped to reduce deficits on budgetary matters. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. The Congressional Budget Office reported budget surpluses of $ 69 billion in 1998, $ 126 billion in 1999, and $ 236 billion in 2000, during the last three years of Clinton's presidency. Over

510-531: A revolution , of reading." As of March 2016, Souljah was on the New York Times Bestseller List three times. The Coldest Winter Ever was widely acclaimed for making the second wave of the genre known as street literature more popular. About this, Souljah said: I'm a college graduate, and if I read something like Romeo and Juliet , I'm reading about a gang fight, I'm reading about young love, young sex, longing. I'm reading

612-518: A 52 percent to 48 percent margin. In 1976, Clinton ran for Arkansas attorney general . Defeating the secretary of state and the deputy attorney general in the Democratic primary, Clinton was elected with no opposition at all in the general election, as no Republican had run for the office. In 1978, Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary. At just 31 years old, he was one of

714-513: A centrist " Third Way " political philosophy , became known as a New Democrat . Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas . He graduated from Georgetown University in 1968, and later from Yale Law School , where he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham . After graduating from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and won election as state attorney general, followed by two non-consecutive tenures as Arkansas governor . As governor, he overhauled

816-597: A child, were named in his honor, as "Michael Griffith Street". Jason Ladone, then 29, was released from prison in April 2000 after serving 10 years, and later became a city employee. He was arrested again in June 2006, on drug charges. In May 2001, Jon Lester was released and deported back to the United Kingdom where he studied electrical engineering and started his own business. He died on August 14, 2017, at age 48 in

918-496: A dual major in American History and African Studies . She became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and wrote for the school newspaper. One of her noted campus initiatives was spearheading a campaign to bring Jesse Jackson to Rutgers to speak against the university's controversial investments in apartheid South Africa at the time, when disinvestment from South Africa was a heated political issue. Sister Souljah

1020-475: A firm second-place finish. Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the Southern primaries on Super Tuesday gave Clinton a sizable delegate lead. However, former California governor Jerry Brown was scoring victories and Clinton had yet to win a significant contest outside his native South. With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted New York, which had many delegates. He scored

1122-444: A grand jury on February 9, 1987, including the original three charged in the case. Their original indictments had been dismissed after the witnesses refused to cooperate in the case. A little over a year after the death of Griffith, and after 12 days of jury deliberations, the three main defendants, Kern, Lester and Ladone, were convicted on December 21, 1987, of second-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault . Michael Pirone, 18,

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1224-561: A jazz trio, The 3 Kings , with Randy Goodrum , who became a successful professional pianist. In 1961, Clinton became a member of the Hot Springs Chapter of the Order of DeMolay , a youth group affiliated with Freemasonry , but he never became a Freemason. He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography My Life : Clinton began an interest in law at Hot Springs High, when he took up

1326-575: A law professor at the University of Arkansas . In 1974, he ran for the House of Representatives . Running in the conservative 3rd district against incumbent Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt , Clinton's campaign was bolstered by the anti-Republican and anti-incumbent mood resulting from the Watergate scandal . Hammerschmidt, who had received 77 percent of the vote in 1972, defeated Clinton by only

1428-694: A leading figure among the New Democrats , a group of Democrats who advocated welfare reform, smaller government, and other policies not supported by liberals. Formally organized as the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the New Democrats argued that in light of President Ronald Reagan 's landslide victory in 1984 , the Democratic Party needed to adopt a more centrist political stance in order to succeed at

1530-666: A moderate and as a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, and he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991. In the first primary contest, the Iowa Caucus , Clinton finished a distant third to Iowa senator Tom Harkin . During the campaign for the New Hampshire primary , reports surfaced that Clinton had engaged in an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers . Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas in

1632-586: A motivating force behind a number of hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing major youth events, programs and summer camps with musicians such as Lauryn Hill , Doug E. Fresh , and Sean "Diddy" Combs . Souljah was heavily involved with rallies against racial discrimination, police brutality and the lack of proper education for urban and underrepresented youths. She went on to hold several concerts and protests in New York City, which were supported by many prominent rappers. Souljah

1734-417: A police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to both Arkansas state law and federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate cannot be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for

1836-458: A politician's calculated public repudiation of an extreme person, statement, group, or position associated with the politician's own party. Sister Souljah was born in the Bronx, New York . She recounts in her memoir No Disrespect that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare for some years. At the age of 10, she moved with her family to the suburb of Englewood, New Jersey , a suburb with

1938-734: A promise he failed to keep. By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to just slightly over 40 percent. Finally, conservatives were previously united by anti-communism, but with the end of the Cold War, the party lacked a uniting issue. When Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson addressed Christian themes at the Republican National Convention —with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform—many moderates were alienated. Clinton then pointed to his moderate, "New Democrat" record as governor of Arkansas, though some on

2040-638: A public figure. One was his visit as a Boys Nation senator to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy . The other was watching Martin Luther King Jr. 's 1963 " I Have a Dream " speech on TV, which impressed him so much that he later memorized it. With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving

2142-472: A resounding victory in New York City, shedding his image as a regional candidate. Having been transformed into the consensus candidate, he secured the Democratic Party nomination, finishing with a victory in Jerry Brown's home state of California. During the campaign, questions of conflict of interest regarding state business and the politically powerful Rose Law Firm , at which Hillary Rodham Clinton

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2244-541: A special legislative session —the longest in Arkansas history. Many have considered this the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship. He defeated four Republican candidates for governor: Lowe (1978), White (1982 and 1986), Jonesboro businessmen Woody Freeman (1984), and Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock (1990). Also in the 1980s, the Clintons' personal and business affairs included transactions that became

2346-658: A squad car before interrogating him for several hours. The next morning, police chief Benjamin Ward reprimanded the officers for their treatment of Sandiford. New York mayor Edward Koch compared the attack on the men to a lynching . Black civil-rights activist Al Sharpton organized several protests in Howard Beach and nearby neighborhoods. Ministers Floyd Flake and Herbert Daughtry and activist Sonny Carson urged boycotts of white-owned businesses and pizzerias. During protests, mostly black marchers carried signs comparing

2448-471: A strong African-American presence. Englewood is also home to other famous black artists such as George Benson , Eddie Murphy , and Regina Belle . There she attended Dwight Morrow High School . Souljah disliked what American students were being taught in school systems across the country. She felt that the school systems intentionally left out the African origins of civilization. In addition, she criticized

2550-482: A suspected suicide. He left behind a wife and three children. Scott Kern was released from prison in 2002, the last of the three main perpetrators to be released. In 2005, the Griffith case was brought back to the public's attention after another racial attack in Howard Beach. A black man, Glenn Moore, was beaten severely with a metal baseball bat by Nicholas Minucci. Minucci was convicted of hate crimes in 2006, and

2652-399: Is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band fraternity. Upon graduating from Georgetown in 1968, Clinton won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford , where he initially read for a B.Phil. in philosophy, politics, and economics but transferred to a B.Litt. in politics and, ultimately, a B.Phil. in politics. Clinton did not expect to return for the second year because of

2754-495: Is married to Mike Rich. They have a son. Bill Clinton [REDACTED] William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe ; born August 19, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party , he previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. Clinton, whose policies reflected

2856-511: The 1992 Los Angeles riots conducted May 13, 1992, she was quoted in The Washington Post as saying, "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" The quotation was later reproduced in the media, and she was widely criticized. Presidential candidate Bill Clinton publicly criticized that statement and Jesse Jackson for allowing her to be on his Rainbow Coalition. The incident resulted in

2958-492: The AIDS United Action five point plan. Clinton won the 1992 presidential election (370 electoral votes) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (168 electoral votes) and billionaire populist Ross Perot (zero electoral votes), who ran as an independent on a platform that focused on domestic issues. Bush's steep decline in public approval was a significant part of Clinton's success. Clinton's victory in

3060-723: The American Legion 's Constitutional Oratory Contest, for which she received a scholarship to attend Cornell University 's Advanced Summer Program. In her college years she traveled widely, visiting Britain , France, Spain, Portugal , Finland , and Russia. Her education was reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical center in Mtepa Tepa, a village located in Zimbabwe , and assisted refugee children from Mozambique . She also traveled to South Africa and Zambia . She graduated from Rutgers University with

3162-937: The George McGovern campaign for the 1972 United States presidential election in order to move in with her in California. The couple continued living together in New Haven when they returned to law school. Clinton eventually moved to Texas with Rodham in 1972 to take a job leading McGovern's effort there. He spent considerable time in Dallas , at the campaign's local headquarters on Lemmon Avenue, where he had an office. Clinton worked with future two-term mayor of Dallas Ron Kirk , future governor of Texas Ann Richards , and then unknown television director and filmmaker Steven Spielberg . After graduating from Yale Law School , Clinton returned to Arkansas and became

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3264-809: The North American Free Trade Agreement and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act but failed to pass his plan for national health care reform . Starting in the mid-1990s, he began an ideological evolution as he became much more conservative in his domestic policy, advocating for and signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act , the State Children's Health Insurance Program and financial deregulation measures. He appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to

3366-716: The Oslo I Accord and Camp David Summit to advance the Israeli–Palestinian peace process , and assisted the Northern Ireland peace process . Clinton won re-election in the 1996 election , defeating Republican nominee Bob Dole and Reform Party nominee Perot. His second term was dominated by the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal , which began in 1995, when he had a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky . In January 1998, news of

3468-595: The Senate , where he was acquitted on both charges. During the last three years of Clinton's presidency, the Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus—the first such surplus since 1969. Clinton left office in 2001 with the joint-highest approval rating of any U.S. president. His presidency ranks among the middle to upper tier in historical rankings of U.S. presidents . However, his personal conduct and misconduct allegations have made him

3570-772: The U.S. Supreme Court . In foreign policy, Clinton ordered U.S. military intervention in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars , eventually signing the Dayton Peace agreement . He also called for the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe and many former Warsaw Pact members joined NATO during his presidency. Clinton's foreign policy in the Middle East saw him sign the Iraq Liberation Act which gave aid to groups against Saddam Hussein . He also participated in

3672-612: The Vietnam War . Aller's 1971 suicide had an influential impact on Clinton. British writer and feminist Sara Maitland said of Clinton, "I remember Bill and Frank Aller taking me to a pub in Walton Street in the summer term of 1969 and talking to me about the Vietnam War. I knew nothing about it, and when Frank began to describe the napalming of civilians I began to cry. Bill said that feeling bad wasn't good enough. That

3774-621: The "Boy Governor". He worked on educational reform and directed the maintenance of Arkansas's roads, with wife Hillary leading a successful committee on urban health care reform. However, his term included an unpopular motor vehicle tax and citizens' anger over the escape of Cuban refugees (from the Mariel boatlift ) detained in Fort Chaffee in 1980. Monroe Schwarzlose, of Kingsland in Cleveland County , polled 31 percent of

3876-706: The 1989 killing of black teenager Yusuf Hawkins in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn by a gang of white youths. During the credits of the 1989 Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing Lee dedicated the film to the family of Michael Griffith and the families of five black people who were killed by police officers: Eleanor Bumpurs , Arthur Miller Jr., Edmund Perry , Yvonne Smallwood and Michael Stewart . In 1999, six blocks of Pacific Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn , where Griffith had lived as

3978-447: The 1992 election had several unique characteristics. Voters felt that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed Bush. A rare event was the presence of a strong third-party candidate. Liberals launched a backlash against 12 years of a conservative White House. The chief factor was Clinton's uniting his party, and winning over a number of heterogeneous groups. Clinton's " third way " of moderate liberalism built up

4080-492: The Meaning of Love . , was released on April 12, 2011. A third Midnight novel, A Moment of Silence , was published on November 10, 2015. As of March 2016, it had sold over 2 million copies. This novel follows the main character, Midnight, as he attempts to reclaim his innocence and his identity while in prison. Another spinoff, A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story , originally scheduled for October 23, 2012,

4182-749: The Netflix series Orange Is the New Black . She also contributes occasional pieces for Essence Magazine , and has written for The New Yorker . As a community activist, Souljah organized a number of service programs. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University , she developed and financed the African Youth Survival Camp for children of homeless families, a six-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield , North Carolina. This program ran for more than three years. She has been

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4284-518: The New Hampshire polls. Following Super Bowl XXVI , Clinton and his wife Hillary went on 60 Minutes to rebuff the charges. Their television appearance was a calculated risk, but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the New Hampshire primary , but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. News outlets labeled him "The Comeback Kid" for earning

4386-472: The Vietnam War, would understand and appreciate his position. After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1973. In 1971, he met his future wife, Hillary Rodham, in the Yale Law Library ; she was a class year ahead of him. They began dating and were soon inseparable. After only about a month, Clinton postponed his summer plans to be a coordinator for

4488-452: The absence of a comprehensive curriculum of African-American history, which she felt that all students, black and white, needed to learn and understand in order to be properly educated. She felt that she was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high school and high school left out black history, art, and culture. She commented: "I supplemented my education in the white American school system by reading African history, which

4590-560: The affair made tabloid headlines. This scandal escalated throughout the year, culminating in December when Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives , becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson . The two impeachment articles that the House passed were centered around perjury and Clinton using the powers of the presidency to commit obstruction of justice. In 1999, Clinton's impeachment trial began in

4692-483: The basis of the Whitewater controversy investigation, which later dogged his presidential administration. After extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas. According to some sources, Clinton was a death penalty opponent in his early years, but he eventually switched positions. However he might have felt previously, by 1992, Clinton

4794-525: The car that struck Griffith, 24-year-old Dominick Blum, was not charged with any crime. The Griffith family, as well as Cedric Sandiford, retained the services of Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason , two attorneys who would become involved in the Tawana Brawley hoax the following year. Maddox raised the ire of the NYPD and Commissioner Benjamin Ward by accusing them of trying to cover up facts in

4896-455: The case and aid the defendants. After witnesses repeatedly refused to cooperate with Queens district attorney John J. Santucci , then-governor Mario Cuomo appointed Charles Hynes as special prosecutor to handle the Griffith case on January 13, 1987. The move came after pressure from black leaders on Cuomo to dismiss Santucci, who was seen as too partial to the defendants to prosecute the case effectively. Twelve defendants were indicted by

4998-658: The cause of world peace", having "a powerful collaborator in his wife", and for winning "general applause for his achievement of resolving the gridlock that prevented an agreed budget". During the Vietnam War, Clinton received educational draft deferments while he was in England in 1968 and 1969. While at Oxford, he participated in Vietnam War protests and organized a Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam event in October 1969. He

5100-480: The challenge to argue the defense of the ancient Roman senator Catiline in a mock trial in his Latin class. After a vigorous defense that made use of his "budding rhetorical and political skills", he told the Latin teacher Elizabeth Buck it "made him realize that someday he would study law". Clinton has identified two influential moments in his life, both occurring in 1963, that contributed to his decision to become

5202-616: The controversial execution of Ricky Ray Rector , would go forward as scheduled. During his time as governor in the 1980s, Arkansas was the center of a drug smuggling operation through Mena Airport . CIA agent Barry Seal allegedly imported three to five billion dollars worth of cocaine through the airport, and the operation was linked to the Iran–Contra affair . Clinton was accused of knowing about this operation, although nothing could be proven against him. Journalist Sam Smith tied him to various questionable business dealings. Clinton

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5304-512: The draft and avoid serving in uniform. He issued a notarized statement during the 1992 presidential campaign: During the 1992 campaign, it was revealed that Clinton's uncle had attempted to secure him a position in the Navy Reserve , which would have prevented him from being deployed to Vietnam. This effort was unsuccessful and Clinton said in 1992 that he had been unaware of it until then. Although legal, Clinton's actions with respect to

5406-501: The draft and deciding whether to serve in the military were criticized during his first presidential campaign by conservatives and some Vietnam veterans, some of whom charged that he had used Fulbright's influence to avoid military service. Clinton's 1992 campaign manager, James Carville , successfully argued that Clinton's letter in which he declined to join the ROTC should be made public, insisting that voters, many of whom had also opposed

5508-461: The draft and received a high number (311), meaning that those whose birthdays had been drawn as numbers   1 to 310 would be drafted before him, making it unlikely he would be called up. (In fact, the highest number drafted was 195.) Colonel Eugene Holmes, the Army officer who had been involved with Clinton's ROTC application, suspected that Clinton attempted to manipulate the situation to avoid

5610-430: The draft and so he switched programs; this type of activity was common among other Rhodes Scholars from his cohort. He had received an offer to study at Yale Law School , and so he left early to return to the United States and did not receive a degree from Oxford. During his time at Oxford, Clinton befriended fellow American Rhodes Scholar Frank Aller. In 1969, Aller received a draft letter that mandated deployment to

5712-418: The eight years of the Clinton administration, the abortion rate declined by 18 percent. On February 15, 1993, Clinton made his first address to the nation, announcing his plan to raise taxes to close a budget deficit . Two days later, in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress , Clinton unveiled his economic plan. The plan focused on reducing the deficit rather than on cutting taxes for

5814-595: The election ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House and twenty of the previous twenty-four years. The election gave Democrats full control of the United States Congress , the first time one party controlled both the executive and legislative branches since Democrats held the 96th United States Congress during the presidency of Jimmy Carter . According to Seymour Martin Lipset ,

5916-529: The end of his presidency, the Clintons moved to 15 Old House Lane in Chappaqua, New York , in order to quell political worries about his wife's residency for election as a U.S. Senator from New York. "Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." Inaugural address, January 20, 1993. After his presidential transition , Clinton

6018-502: The execution was framed in an article for The New York Times as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations. Bush's approval ratings were around 80 percent during the Gulf War , and he was described as unbeatable. When Bush compromised with Democrats to try to lower federal deficits, he reneged on his promise not to raise taxes , which hurt his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making

6120-412: The latter's death. In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and the segregated Hot Springs High School , where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician. Clinton was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone , winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. While in high school, Clinton performed for two years in

6222-492: The men reached the New Park Pizzeria near the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard and 157th Avenue. After a rest and a meal, the men left the pizzeria at 12:40 a.m. and were confronted by a larger group of white youths led by 17-year-old John Lester and 16-year-old Jason Ladone. The group were armed with tire irons, baseball bats, and tree limbs. The group of white youths attacked Griffith and Sandiford outside

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6324-409: The middle class, which had been high on his campaign agenda. Clinton's advisers pressured him to raise taxes, based on the theory that a smaller federal budget deficit would reduce bond interest rates. President Clinton's attorney general Janet Reno authorized the FBI's use of armored vehicles to deploy tear gas into the buildings of the Branch Davidian community near Waco, Texas, in hopes of ending

6426-487: The more liberal side of the party remained suspicious. Many Democrats who had supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their support to Clinton. Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore , toured the country during the final weeks of the campaign, shoring up support and pledging a "new beginning". On March 26, 1992, during a Democratic fund raiser of the presidential campaign, Robert Rafsky confronted then Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas and asked what he

6528-436: The nation's fiscal health and put the nation on a firm footing abroad amid globalization and the development of anti-American terrorist organizations. During his presidency, Clinton advocated for a wide variety of legislation and programs , most of which were enacted into law or implemented by the executive branch. His policies, particularly the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform , have been attributed to

6630-406: The national level. Clinton delivered the Democratic response to Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address and served as chair of the National Governors Association from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas. In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority of his gubernatorial administration. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee

6732-540: The neighborhood to South Africa during apartheid , while white residents displayed signs reading " Niggers Go Home", " White Power ", and "Bring Back Slavery ". Griffith's death provoked strong outrage and immediate condemnation by mayor Edward Koch, who referred to the case as the "No. 1 case in the city". Two days after the event, on December 22, three local youths, Lester and Ladone, along with Scott Kern, 18; all students at John Adams High School , were arrested and charged with second-degree murder . The driver of

6834-414: The neighborhoods of Broad Channel and Far Rockaway . As Sylvester, the owner of the car, remained behind, the other three men walked about three miles north to the mostly white neighborhood of Howard Beach to find a pay phone . After entering Howard Beach, the three men were accosted by a group of white residents, who yelled racial slurs and told them to leave the neighborhood. By 12:30 a.m. ,

6936-430: The officer in charge of the program that he opposed the war, but did not think it was honorable to use ROTC, National Guard, or Reserve service to avoid serving in Vietnam. He further stated that because he opposed the war, he would not volunteer to serve in uniform, but would subject himself to the draft, and would serve if selected only as a way "to maintain my political viability within the system". Clinton registered for

7038-468: The phrase " Sister Souljah moment " being coined to describe a politician's public repudiation of extremist views that are perceived to have some association with the politician's own faction or party. In 1994, Sister Souljah published a memoir titled No Disrespect . In 1999, she made her debut as a novelist with The Coldest Winter Ever . Souljah said that she was the pioneer for starting "a renaissance , or what Chuck D of Public Enemy would call

7140-491: The pizzeria, while Grimes escaped after brandishing a knife. The youths chased the men, and Sandiford and Griffith were seriously beaten. While fleeing the attack, Griffith ran onto the nearby Belt Parkway where he was struck and killed by a motorist. His body was found on the highway at 1:03 a.m. When police found Sandiford walking west on the highway, they brought him to the site of Griffith's body and, without providing medical attention, searched him and placed him in

7242-447: The potential candidacy of Hillary for governor, initially favored—but ultimately vetoed—by the First Lady). For the nomination, Clinton endorsed Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis . He gave the nationally televised opening night address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention , but his speech, which was 33 minutes long and twice the length it was expected to be, was criticized for being too long. Clinton presented himself both as

7344-405: The racist murder at Howard Beach , the racially motivated murder of Yusuf Hawkins , and more. Souljah appeared on several tracks as a featured guest with the hip-hop group Public Enemy , and she became a full member of the group when Professor Griff was forced to leave after making anti-Semitic remarks. In 1992, she released her only album, 360 Degrees of Power . During an interview on

7446-477: The same reason. Clinton had repeatedly promised to encourage gays in the military service, despite what he knew to be the strong opposition of the military leadership. He tried anyway, and was publicly opposed by the top generals, and forced by Congress to a compromise position of " Don't ask, don't tell " whereby gays could serve if and only if they kept it secret. He devised a $ 16-billion stimulus package primarily to aid inner-city programs desired by liberals, but it

7548-684: The same themes that I'm writing in my books. So if somebody comes along and says, "Yours is street literature"—what was Shakespeare 's?" A sequel of the novel, Life After Death, was published in March 2021. Midnight: A Gangster Love Story , originally scheduled for October 14, 2008, was published on November 4, 2008. It tells the backstory of Midnight, a character first introduced in The Coldest Winter Ever . It entered The New York Times bestseller list at No. 7 its first week of publication. The sequel to Midnight , Midnight and

7650-599: The state's education system and served as chairman of the National Governors Association . Clinton was elected president in the 1992 election , defeating the incumbent Republican Party president George H. W. Bush and the independent businessman Ross Perot . He became the first president to be born in the Baby Boomer generation. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. He signed into law

7752-778: The subject of substantial scrutiny. Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the Clinton Foundation to address international causes such as the prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. In 2009, he was named the United Nations special envoy to Haiti . After the 2010 Haiti earthquake , Clinton founded the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund with George W. Bush and Barack Obama . He has remained active in Democratic Party politics, campaigning for his wife's 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns . Clinton

7854-517: The vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Some suggested Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat by Republican challenger Frank D. White in the general election that year. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history. After leaving office in January 1981, Clinton joined friend Bruce Lindsey 's Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings. In 1982, he

7956-611: The years of the recorded surplus, the gross national debt rose each year. At the end of the fiscal year (September 30) for each of the years a surplus was recorded, the U.S. Treasury reported a gross debt of $ 5.413 trillion in 1997, $ 5.526 trillion in 1998, $ 5.656 trillion in 1999, and $ 5.674 trillion in 2000. Over the same period, the Office of Management and Budget reported an end of year (December 31) gross debt of $ 5.369 trillion in 1997, $ 5.478 trillion in 1998, $ 5.606 in 1999, and $ 5.629 trillion in 2000. At

8058-474: The youngest gubernatorial candidates in the state's history. Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas in 1978 , having defeated the Republican candidate Lynn Lowe , a farmer from Texarkana . Clinton was only 32 years old when he took office, the youngest governor in the country at the time and the second youngest governor in the history of Arkansas. Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called

8160-401: Was inaugurated as the 42nd president of the United States on January 20, 1993. Clinton was physically exhausted at the time, and had an inexperienced staff. His high levels of public support dropped in the first few weeks, as he made a series of mistakes. His first choice for attorney general had not paid her taxes on babysitters and was forced to withdraw. The second appointee also withdrew for

8262-407: Was a member of Our Lady of Charity Catholic Church in Crown Heights , Brooklyn . Late on the night of Friday, December 19, 1986, four black men, Michael Griffith, 23; Cedric Sandiford, 36; Curtis Sylvester and Timothy Grimes, both 20, were traveling from Brooklyn to Queens to pick up Griffith's paycheck, when their car, a 1976 Buick , broke down on a deserted stretch of Cross Bay Boulevard near

8364-473: Was a partner, arose. Clinton argued the questions were moot because all transactions with the state had been deducted before determining Hillary's firm pay. Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that, with Hillary, voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one". Clinton was still the governor of Arkansas while campaigning for U.S. president, and he returned to his home state to see that Ricky Ray Rector would be executed. After killing

8466-611: Was accused of serious sexual misconduct in Arkansas, including allegations of using the Arkansas State Police to gain access to women ( Troopergate affair ). The killing of Don Henry and Kevin Ives in 1987 started various conspiracy theories that accused Clinton and the Arkansas state authorities of covering up the crime. In 1987, the media speculated that Clinton would enter the presidential race. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for

8568-590: Was acquitted. Ultimately nine people would be convicted on a variety of charges related to Griffith's death. On January 22, 1988, Jon Lester was sentenced to ten to thirty years' imprisonment. On February 5, Scott Kern was sentenced to six to eighteen years' imprisonment, and on February 11, 1988, Jason Ladone received a sentence of five to fifteen years' imprisonment. The other defendants were convicted of lesser charges; most were sentenced to community service . Subsequent race-related crimes in New York city included

8670-463: Was acquitted. Griffith's death heightened racial tensions in New York City and was the second of three highly publicized, racially motivated killings of black men by white mobs in New York City in the 1980s. The other victims were Willie Turks in 1982 and Yusef Hawkins in 1989. Griffith was born in 1963. He immigrated to the United States from Trinidad with his family in 1973. He

8772-402: Was also accused by Gennifer Flowers to have used cocaine as governor and his half-brother Roger was sentenced to prison in 1985 for possession and smuggling of cocaine, but was later pardoned by his brother after serving his sentence. During his time in Arkansas, there were also other scandals such as the Whitewater controversy involving the Clintons' real estate dealings, and Bill Clinton

8874-617: Was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas . He is the son of William Jefferson Blythe Jr. , a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and Virginia Dell Cassidy (later Virginia Kelley). Blythe had initially survived the crash, but drowned in a drainage ditch. His parents had married on September 4, 1943, but this union later proved to be bigamous, as Blythe

8976-612: Was chaired by Clinton's wife Hillary, who was also an attorney as well as the chair of the Legal Services Corporation . The committee transformed Arkansas's education system. Proposed reforms included more spending for schools (supported by a sales-tax increase), better opportunities for gifted children, vocational education, higher teachers' salaries, more course variety, and compulsory teacher competency exams. The reforms passed in September 1983 after Clinton called

9078-526: Was defeated by a Republican filibuster in the Senate. His popularity at the 100 day mark of his term was the lowest of any president at that point. Public opinion did support one liberal program, and Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 , which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. This action had bipartisan support, and

9180-408: Was elected governor a second time and kept the office for ten years. Effective with the 1986 election, Arkansas had changed its gubernatorial term of office from two to four years. During his term, he helped transform Arkansas's economy and improved the state's educational system. For senior citizens , he removed the sales tax from medications and increased the home property-tax exemption. He became

9282-486: Was going to do about AIDS , to which Clinton replied, "I feel your pain". The televised exchange led to AIDS becoming an issue in the 1992 presidential election. On April 4, then candidate Clinton met with members of ACT UP and other leading AIDS advocates to discuss his AIDS agenda and agreed to make a major AIDS policy speech, to have people with HIV speak to the Democratic Convention , and to sign onto

9384-577: Was insisting that Democrats "should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent". During Clinton's final term as governor, Arkansas performed its first executions since 1964 (the death penalty had been reinstated in 1976). As Governor, he oversaw the first four executions carried out by the state of Arkansas since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1976: one by electric chair and three by lethal injection . To draw attention to his stance on capital punishment, Clinton flew home to Arkansas mid-campaign in 1992, in order to affirm in person that

9486-429: Was intentionally left out of the curriculum of American students." From 1978 to 1981 she attended Dwight Morrow High School , which had a relatively even distribution of black, Latino, and Jewish student enrollment and a majority-black administration during the time of her studies. She was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives. Souljah was also the recipient of several honors during her teenage years. She won

9588-467: Was not until Clinton turned 15 that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward him. Clinton has described his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr. The physical abuse only ceased after a then-14-year-old Bill challenged his stepfather to "stand and face" him, though the verbal/emotional abuse continued. Bill would eventually forgive Roger Sr. for his abusive actions near

9690-644: Was offered a job by Reverend Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. She spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp, a six-week summer sleepaway camp in Enfield, North Carolina . She also became the organizer of the National African Youth-Student Alliance and outspoken voice against racially motivated violence in cases such as

9792-622: Was part of the Rutgers Coalition for Divestment, which successfully prompted the Rutgers University administration to divest US$ 3.6 million in its financial holding companies doing business in that country. Sister Souljah and students across the state of New Jersey also organized a successful campaign to get the state of New Jersey to divest more than US$ 1 billion of its financial holdings in apartheid-era South Africa. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she

9894-584: Was planning to attend law school in the U.S. and knew he might lose his deferment. Clinton tried unsuccessfully to obtain positions in the National Guard and the Air Force officer candidate school , and he then made arrangements to join the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Arkansas . He subsequently decided not to join the ROTC, saying in a letter to

9996-540: Was popular with the public. Two days after taking office, on January 22, 1993—the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade —Clinton reversed restrictions on domestic and international family planning programs that had been imposed by Reagan and Bush. Clinton said abortion should be kept "safe, legal, and rare"—a slogan that had been suggested by political scientist Samuel L. Popkin and first used by Clinton in December 1991, while campaigning. During

10098-454: Was published January 29, 2013. All of Souljah's novels deal with universal themes of faith, love, and integrity. Most of her novels have become popular among the prison population, with her books being available in many prison libraries. Due to this, she has worked in tandem with Black and Nobel, a Web site that ships books, magazines, and DVDs to prisons nationwide. Her work has also been referenced multiple times in popular culture, including on

10200-780: Was still married to his fourth wife. Virginia traveled to New Orleans to study nursing soon after Bill was born, leaving him in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store. At a time when the southern United States was racially segregated , Clinton's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races. In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton Sr. , who co-owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas , with his brother and Earl T. Ricks . The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950. Although he immediately assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it

10302-425: Was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc. for seven years. It is a non-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean "Diddy" Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment . Daddy's House educates and prepares people ages ten to sixteen to be in control of their academic, cultural and financial lives. The students progressing through the program earn support to travel throughout the world. Sister Souljah

10404-546: Was the first time I encountered the idea that liberal sensitivities weren't enough and you had to do something about such things". Clinton was a member of the Oxford University Basketball Club and also played for Oxford University's rugby union team. While Clinton was president in 1994, he received an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree and a fellowship from the University of Oxford , specifically for being "a doughty and tireless champion of

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