President Bill Clinton

A young Billy Blythe on his third birthday.

Clinton Foundation

Quick Facts

Significance:

42nd President of the United States

Place of Birth:

Hope, Arkansas

Date of Birth:

August 19, 1946

On August 19, 1946, William (Bill) Jefferson Blythe III was born to Virginia Cassidy Blythe. William was named after his father, William Blythe II, who tragically passed away in a car accident three months prior. Young Bill would later grow up to become William Jefferson Clinton, and become the 42nd president of the United States. 

Bill was born in the city of Hope, Arkansas, but would later move to Hot Springs, Arkansas after his mother married Roger Clinton. While the time Bill spent in Hope as a child was brief compared to his time in Hot Springs, this home laid the foundation for who he would later become.  

"...my grandparents and my mother always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them. Most children will make it if they have just one person who makes them feel that way. I had three." — Presient Bill Clinton

Bill was raised jointly by his mother and maternal grandparents for the first several years of his life. His grandmother, Edith Grisham, worked as an LVN in the city of Hope. In her spare time, she would begin to teach young Bill how to read and write. She understood the value that education had, and worked to instill that understanding into her grandson. Bill was able to begin reading by the age of three, thanks to Edith's efforts.  

Bill's grandfather, Eldridge, owned a grocery store in Hope. Hope was still mostly segragated at the time of Bill's birth, but Eldridge would serve anyone who shopped at his store regardless of their race or background. These ideals were taught to Bill as a child, and they played a major role in the policies and decisions that he would make as President.  

"My grandfather just had a grade-school education. But in that country store he taught me more about equality in the eyes of the Lord than all my professors at Georgetown, more about the intrinsic worth of every individual than all the philosophers at Oxford; and he taught me more about the need for equal justice than all the jurists at Yale Law School." — President Bill Clinton

Bill grew up in small town in southern Arkansas, and was raised by his mother and her family. The people in that family, and the desire Bill had to learn more about people, helped this young boy grow into a president of the United States.