| Synopsis: |
In the summer of 1963, a 16-year-old visitor to the White House shook hands with America's popular, youthful, and charismatic president, John F. Kennedy. Three decades later that visitor, William Jefferson Clinton, would himself be elected president. And like Kennedy, Bill Clinton was blessed with extraordinary political gifts: a keen intellect, a winning personality, an ability to inspire. But unlike Kennedy, the son of wealthy and prominent parents, Bill Clinton started life in humble circumstances. For his first four years he was raised by a single mother (his father had died before Bill's birth) in the small Arkansas town of Hope. Problems emerged after his mother remarried: Bill's stepfather, alcoholic and prone to jealous rages, terrorized the family with his abuse. Yet through it all Bill thrived, excelling in academics and music and, after meeting President Kennedy, charting a course in politics for himself. This book chronicles the fascinating childhood of America's 42nd president. |