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In the twenty-three years since leaving the White House, former President Bill Clinton has worked to reshape his political life from a public servant and elected official to that of a private citizen seeking to advance the promise of America, at a time when, in his words, “Two Americas…with very different histories” was emerging.
In his new book, “Citizen: My Life After the White House” (to be published Tuesday by Knopf), Clinton reflects on the post-presidencies of other business leaders, from John Quincy Adams to Jimmy Carter, and how he himself is determined to “live in the present and for the present.” ‘future”.
Read an excerpt below and Don’t miss Tracy Smith’s interview with Bill Clinton on “CBS Sunday Morning” on November 17!
“Citizen: My Life After the White House” by Bill Clinton
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On January 21, 2001, after twenty-five years in politics and elections, eight of them as president, I was a private citizen again. I often joked that for a few weeks I was lost every time I walked into a room because no one was playing a song to mark my arrival. “Hail to the Chief” was now my successor’s anthem. I had loved being president, but I favored the two-term limit and was determined not to spend a day wishing I still had the job. I wanted to live in the present and for the future. Except on rare occasions, I have kept this promise to myself, even though it became much more difficult after the 2016 election, even more so after the outbreak of the coronavirus, the murder of George Floyd, the attack on January 6 2021 against our Capitol and the inventive efforts of right-wing culture warriors to find new ways to stoke grievances without sensible plans to make things better for themselves and for all of us.
The years after arriving in the White House are different for every former president. In 2001, I was only fifty-four years old, with plenty of energy, useful experience, and contacts from my political years that could and should be put to public service as a private citizen.
So how should a former president do this? Many of my predecessors made a real difference in their time, refuting John Quincy Adams’ famous maxim that “there is nothing more pathetic in life than a former president.” Adams himself served sixteen years in Congress, including two with Abraham Lincoln, where he led the fight against slavery in the House. He also represented the captive African Mende people aboard the Amistad in the Supreme Court, securing their release before they could be sold into slavery. Theodore Roosevelt founded a new party and ran for president, finishing second in 1912, the only third-party candidate to do so. William Howard Taft became chief justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover led an effort to modernize and reorganize the federal civil service under President Harry Truman. And Jimmy Carter built a remarkable record with his foundation, eliminating the scourge of Guinea worm in Africa, overseeing elections in difficult places and becoming, alongside Rosalynn, the face of Habitat for Humanity.
Even though Hillary was now a member of the Senate, I was always impressed by the impact she had working with non-governmental organizations, starting with the Children’s Defense Fund. And I had learned a lot during our years in the White House watching her work with civil society groups in Africa, Northern Ireland, India and elsewhere.
So I decided to create a foundation with a flexible but clear mission: to maximize the benefits and minimize the burdens of our new century in the United States and around the world. I was excited about the possibilities and hoped I could do it.
Meanwhile, I had a more immediate agenda. I wanted to support Hillary, who had just begun her service as a senator from New York, and Chelsea, just months after graduating from Stanford, so that they could remain in public life if they wanted to. and be financially secure if I did. I wouldn’t live long, which, given my family history, seemed likely. To accomplish this and pay my large legal bills accrued during the Whitewater investigations and impeachment proceedings, I had to start making money, something I had never been interested in before. As governor of Arkansas, I made $35,000 until voters raised it to $60,000 a few months before I left office. As president, I made $200,000 and paid most of our family’s expenses with that money, largely because that job provided excellent public housing!
By the time I left office, I had thought a lot about how to increase opportunities and reduce problems related to our interdependence. We have had to create more equitably shared prosperity, take on more shared responsibilities, and build more communities in which our differences are respected, but our common humanity matters more.
But the America I worked in had changed in many ways since I first entered politics in the 1970s, and even in the short time since I left the White House. Two Americas emerged with very different histories. We believe that our diversity makes us stronger and better able to achieve shared prosperity through shared opportunities and responsibilities and equal treatment in our local, state and national communities. The other believes that they are engaged in a battle for all that has been lost to our increasing diversity and economic stagnation, primarily in more rural areas. They feel they have lost control of our economy, our social order and our culture. They are determined not to lose control of our politics and to use politics to regain control of the other three.
I still believe that we all do better when we work together. In such a polarized environment, that means you have to be willing to work with people who don’t think like you, as well as those who think like you. Almost always, cooperation trumps conflict, and when you have to stand your ground, it’s wise to leave the door open for reconciliation. This ability to do this distinguishes great leaders. Think of Nelson Mandela who placed in his cabinet the leaders of the parties that had imprisoned him for twenty-seven years, or Yitzhak Rabin who kept the peace process alive while acts of terror claimed the lives of innocent citizens and finally took theirs.
Following this path is a challenge, even in less violent times. My family has faced many very personal attacks that have not only hurt us, but have hurt the country by distracting from the real debate: how to best address our shared challenges. When things got tough, I tried to imagine that I was one of those big inflatable toys of the cartoon characters Baby Huey or Casper the Friendly Ghost – they were big favorites with the kids when I was at school. ‘primary school. You could knock them over and they always bounced right back. To survive in politics, this is what you have to do over and over again. Perhaps we should start producing these bouncy characters again, as representatives of happy warriors crossing our great divide. People could keep them at home and at work, starting and ending each workday by knocking them over and smiling when they bounce back. This could clear our heads and help us get back into the construction and cooperation business.
A life in public service can be deeply rewarding if you accept that in the constant ebb and flow of history there are no permanent victories or defeats, and never forget that every life is a story which, whatever the time and circumstances, deserves to be seen. and heard.
As I entered this new chapter in my life, I knew I would keep score like I always have: Are people better off when you quit than when you started? Do our children have a better future? Are we coming together instead of falling apart?
This book is the story of the more than twenty-three years since I left the White House, told largely through the stories of other people who changed my life as I tried to help change the them, of those who supported me, including those I loved and lost and the mistakes I made along the way.
I am very grateful that with the help of my family, friends new and old, wonderful staff and the endurance of my curiosity, energy and ability to work, I was able to live a life full of new experiences and new ways to help and empower people as a private citizen while finding true joy in our small but big family. I loved cheering for Hillary as a senator, secretary of state, presidential candidate in 2008 and 2016, and watching in awe at the life Chelsea built through her work in the private sector, in academia, at the Clinton Foundation and Clinton University. Health Access Initiative, with the books she authored, and her family life with Marc, whom I love and admire. Chelsea says she and Marc teach their children to “be brave and kind.” It shows. I love being their grandfather and I’m so happy that Chelsea and Marc welcome Hillary and me to be involved in their lives.
When this book comes out, I will be seventy-eight years old – the oldest person in my family since my maternal great-grandparents, straight out of American Gothic, were in their late seventies years. But I continue to think and dream about how people can live better together, and I always want to help them get there. I can’t sit still and I can’t go back. So, like many people do every day, I aim to surprise myself by trying. This is the true American way.
Excerpted from “Citizen: My Life After the White House” by Bill Clinton, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2024 by Bill Clinton. All rights reserved. No part of this extract may be reproduced or reprinted without written permission of the publisher.
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