Mood:
loudTopic: Politics
That's right, I'm reading Bill Clinton's biography "My Life." Not only is this the first presidential biography I've ever read, it's also the longest at a whopping 957 pages. For that reason, I'm breaking up my posts about it into three pieces—I know you're all dying to hear about it!
PAGES 1-330—Clinton dedicated his book: "To my mother, who gave me a love of life. To Hillary, who gave me a life of life. To Chelsea, who gave joy and meaning to all. And to the memory of my grandfather, who taught me to look up to people others looked down on, because we're not so different afterall."
I'm normally not a big reader of introductions or prologues, but for some reason I read this one and was impressed by it. Clinton explains that all his life he's wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book. "Whether I'm a good man is, of course, for God to judge...As for the great book, who knows? It sure is a good story."
So far, he's right. I've had this book on my shelf since 2004 and have been intimidated by it ever since. I thought it would be overwhelming or boring, but it's neither. So far, it's pretty good.
Like most biographies, this one begins at Clinton's birth. Only we quickly learn that he was born to a single mother, a widow, and Clinton is not his last name—it was Blythe. Clinton's father was in a car accident and drowned at 28 years old, while his pregnant wife was home alone.
Clinton spent many moments of his younger life tracing the memories of his father, finding out the good and bad—including three previous wives and at least two additional children.
"My father left me with the feeling that I had to live for two people, and that if I did it well enough, somehow I could make up for the life he should have had. And his memory infused me, at a younger age then most, with a sense of my own mortality."
I was surprised to learn that Clinton spent some of his younger years in New Orleans. His mother did nursing training at Charity Hospital there. While she was gone, he was raised by his grandparents, but went on visits to NOLA by train.
In chapter three, we meet Roger Clinton—where Bill got his name. Roger is described as the bad boy of his family, enjoying drinks and parties. "Mother liked Roger because he was fun, paid attention to me, and was generous. He paid for her to come home to see me several times when she was in New Orleans, and he probably paid for the train trips Mamaw and I took to see mother."
Bill's mom married Roger and Bill started calling him daddy and himself Billy Clinton. But soon enough, there were problems. "Roger Clinton really loved me and he loved mother, but he couldn't ever quite break free of the shadows of self-doubt, the phony security of binge drinking and adolescent partying, and the isolation from and verbal abuse of mother that kept him from becoming the man he might have been. " So far, the book has mentioned a handful of instances where Bill has had to step in on a physical or verbal fight between his mother and father due to alcohol abuse.
In 1956, Bill's brother Roger was born—something his mother and father thought would save their marriage. "He had been drinking for the last few months, and instead of making him happy and responsible, the birth of his only son prompted him to run back to the bottle."
During this time, Bill enjoyed reading and watching television, but he especially liked movies—Elvis movies. His interest in music grew, as he was involved in the school band playing saxophone.
In 1962, Bill's mother packed up her children and left her husband. Five days later, she filed for divorce. However, Roger Clinton was desperate to get his family back, often following them or parking outside their house for days. It wasn't long after the divorce was final that Bill's mother decided to remarry him.
The first 300 pages of this book saw Clinton through school, even as he studied for awhile in Oxford. During the war, Clinton was threatened several times with being drafted, although he never was. He talks some about the women he dated through school, but said he was worried about his problem with commitment.
Then, he met Hillary. They met at Yale Law, where Bill often made a fool out of himself trying to impress her. Their relationship seems to have been a whirlwind, taking trips together early on and moving in together before marriage (gasp!).
At this point in the book, Roger Clinton has been busted for cocaine and Clinton is in his second-term as governor of Arkansas. In many events throughout the book, he'll explain the event and then say "later, when I was President, I did this because of this..."
I'm looking forward to the next 300 pages!
