Whether you love him or hate him, there's no arguing that William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, has been one of the country's most influential and (occasionally) controversial figures for the past few decades. And although he's been out of the White House for a while, he's still a national and international player thanks to his charity work. The Big Dog' turned 64 on August 19th and willbeblowingout the candlesat a gala party in the Hamptons on Sunday.
To join in the celebration, here are a few details you might not know about him.
1. While a student at Oxford University, Clinton played rugby, one of the roughest contact sports around. (Helmet? Who needs a helmet?) His interest in the sport was mostly casual--unlike another presidential rugby player, George W. Bush, who was on the first team at Yale.
2. While he was still in Yale Law School, Clinton began working for Sen. George McGoverns 1972 presidential campaign. He spent several months in the campaigns Dallas office, where he met a television director named Steven Spielberg. In 2007, Spielberg, by then one of Hollywoods most powerful figures, backed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
3. He escaped an assassination attempt in the Philippines in 1996, according to the book The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr. The books author, Michael Gormley, said a former Secret Service official told him later that agents had intercepted a message about a bridge and a wedding -- the code word then used for an assassination. The agents rerouted Clintons motorcade shortly before it crossed a bridge, and later found a bomb under the structure.
4. His highest approval rating was 77 percent in 1999 just after his impeachment proceedings on charges that he had lied about his involvement with that woman -- Monica Lewinsky. (The impeachment proceedings got underway in January, 1999, when Chief Justice William Rehnquist rang the opening bell by saying, Fight fair.)5. He collaborated with Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev ... on a record. Specifically, The Russian National Orchestras Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf. The two leaders won a Grammy in 2004 for it, in the category of Best Spoken Word Album for Children. The third big name on the record: Sophia Loren. She got a Grammy, too. View Photos of Bill Clinton6. A passionate saxophonist and music lover, Clinton has released two CDs of his favorite songs, including Harlem Nocturne (David Sanborn); My Funny Valentine (Miles Davis), Take My Hand, Precious Lord (Mahalia Jackson) and Chelsea Morning (Judy Collins). Yes, thats where they got the name Chelsea.7. Besides the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, a library thats described as housing the largest archival collection in Presidential history, theres a Clinton Museum Store a few blocks away where you can buy items like an I Miss Bill T shirt ($10), or a miniature replica of a 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign bus ($5). And remember Hillarys infamous statement about choosing to follow her profession rather than staying home and baking cookies? The museum store has Bills Favorite Cookie Mix for $5.95. Youll have to bake it yourself, though.
8. He may be traveling this month to Fayetteville to the house where he and Hillary were married in 1975, according to Kate Johnson, director of the Clinton House Museum (not to be confused with Little Rocks Clinton Museum Store, in item #7). If he does go there, hell probably remember his 1975 wedding, when Hillary wore a $53 dress she got on a last-minute trip to Dillards, and how Chelseas wedding dress was so much more expensive (an estimated $20,000).9. Clintons first dance with his daughter at her wedding in July was to the Frank Sinatra ballad The Way You Look Tonight. As he guided Chelsea around the floor, his chin reportedly began quivering and a tear came down his cheek. There wasnt a dry eye in the house, a guest told The Daily Beast.10. Before the infidelities, personal scandals, political battles, and private conflicts, Clinton, while a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, told a female friend: "Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that." View Photos of Bill Clinton
