Bill Clinton

In 1992 he defeated incumbent George H. W. Bush and independent Ross Perot to become the first Baby Boomer president. His two terms coincided with the longest peacetime economic expansion in modern American history, the creation of more than 22 million jobs, the first federal budget surpluses in decades, welfare reform, and major foreign-policy interventions in the Balkans and Northern Ireland. At the same time, his presidency was marked by the failure of comprehensive health-care reform, the 1994 Republican midterm landslide, and the personal scandals that culminated in his impeachment by the House of Representatives and acquittal by the Senate.

Written as part of a series of presidential biographies, this volume offers a balanced, chronological account of Clinton’s life, political evolution, policy achievements, and enduring controversies. It examines how a gifted politician who repeatedly recovered from setbacks shaped the Democratic Party, navigated the post-Cold War world, and left a complex legacy that continues to be debated.