Bill Clinton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bill Clinton - Essay Example Clinton woke himself up on Sunday mornings, wore his best clothes then walked to Park Place Baptist Church, which was half a mile away from his home to attend services alone. Gospel music performed by the church choir was among the important influencing factors to Clinton’s love for the church, which also inspired him to start playing the jazz saxophone. By the time Clinton was through with his high school education, he had developed his skills in playing jazz saxophone where many recognized him as the best saxophonist in the city (Finkelman and Wallenstein 80). Clinton went to Hot Springs High School, which was a segregated high school for the whites where he became a stellar student in addition to being an integral member of the school’s jazz band. Clinton went to the Arkansas Boys State in 1963 and was successfully elected the Arkansas representative to the American Legion's Boys Nation. Each representative had a chance to meet the USA president which gave him an opp ortunity through an invitation to meet the then President John F. Kennedy. As a result of the photo shoot the young Bill Clinton had shaking hands with President Kennedy; the photograph has since become an iconic image signifying a passing of the leadership baton between generations of modern Democratic leadership (Benson 11). His political nature having taken roots in his high school years, Clinton instantly entered university politics at the Georgetown University being elected president of his freshman and sophomore classes but later lost the election for student body president in his junior year. Clinton then shifted his focus from campus politics to his work as a clerk for the Foreign Relations Committee, which at the time was under Senator Fulbright (Benson 19). Clinton’s immediate availability to take the Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford University he had won while at Georgetown University became uncertain shortly after his arrival in Oxford as he was required back t o Arkansas when he received a draft notice. To ensure he attends Oxford, Clinton enrolled in the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas Law School to avoid military service, but did not attend law school that fall, as he returned to Oxford to take up his scholarship (Benson 27). It was while attending the Yale Law School after seeing out his Rhodes scholarship, that Clinton met Hillary Rodham, a bright young woman whose political objectives were in harmony with those of Clinton (Finkelman and Wallenstein 80). The Clintons moved to Arkansas after their graduation, where Bill took up a teaching position at the University of Arkansas but since his heart was in politics, he right away entered the world of politics. His first shot at an elective seat after graduating from Yale was in 1974 when he faced the Republican incumbent U.S. House of Representatives John Paul Hammer Schmidt in an election Clinton lost. Clinton lost the election in by a small margin to the surprise of many mark ing his stature as the fast rising political star of the Arkansas Democratic Party. Clinton was to feature again the election campaigns two years later this time getting elected the state attorney general a position he held until 1978 when he ran for the governor’s position defeating Republican Lynn Lowe to become one of the youngest governors in American history at 32 years of age (Gaines 16). Having secured his