Born in Hope, Arkansas in 1946, Bill Clinton grew up poor, struggling to keep his stepfather, Roger Clinton, from abusing his mother Virginia. In 1963, when John F. Kennedy had been in office for two years, Clinton was chosen as a member of American Legion Boys' Nation, a leadership conference held in Washington DC. Boys' Nation and Girls' Nation were brought to the White House to meet the President, and it was then that the now-famous picture of Clinton shaking Kennedy's hand was taken.

With the help of government loans, Clinton was able to attend Georgetown University, which he chose because of the caliber of its foreign service program. Clinton's first internship was for Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright; after college, Clinton received a two-year Rhodes scholarship for study at Oxford University. When he returned to the U.S., he entered Yale Law School, taking time off to campaign for George McGovern in the 1972 Presidential election.

Law degree in hand, Clinton went back to his home state in 1973 to teach law at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Although the next year Clinton lost the race for Congress, he won the campaign for Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976. In 1978, Clinton became the youngest governor in Arkansas history. Except for a defeat in 1980 (after which he was re-elected in 1982), he held the post until he was elected President of the United States in 1992, defeating incumbent George Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot.