But the economy was not doing much to help his chances. The United States went through a serious recession that lasted eight months, from July nineteen ninety to March nineteen ninety-one. Unemployment rose to the highest level in years. At the same time, the federal government was deeply in debt after years of borrowing.

Bush was a Republican. Democrats saw his falling popularity as a good opportunity to retake the White House. They placed their hopes on William Jefferson Clinton. At the time, he was the young governor of the southern state of Arkansas. He was gaining national attention by talking about issues like education.

(MUSIC)

Bill Clinton was born on August nineteenth, nineteen forty-six, in the small town of Hope, Arkansas. His name at birth was William Jefferson Blythe. His father, also named William Jefferson Blythe, was a traveling salesman. He died in a car accident three months before his son was born.

At the age of two, the boy was sent to live with his grandparents while his mother, Virginia Blythe, studied to become a nurse.

She married a man named Roger Clinton when her son was four. The family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas. When he was fifteen, William Jefferson Blythe legally changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton.

His stepfather drank too much, and was sometimes abusive to him, his mother and his stepbrother, Roger junior. But Bill Clinton did well in school. He also developed a strong early interest in politics and ran for student offices in high school.