Chris has a master's degree in history and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado.
We tend to see presidents as such national figures that we sometimes forget that they have home states. In fact, many presidents were pretty active in those states before taking to the national stage. One great example is Bill Clinton. Clinton was the President of the United States from 1993-2001, but before that, he was the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas.
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Bill Clinton was a young, politically motivated lawyer when he joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas. Shortly after, he proceeded to run for the House of Representatives. He lost that race, but was soon elected attorney general and gained a name for himself in that position. Then, in 1978 he ran for the position of governor. Smart, charismatic, and popular, Clinton won the election by a sizable majority. He was 32 at the time, making him the youngest governor in the United States.
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Clinton stepped into office with the enthusiasm of an inexperienced politician. He tackled education and healthcare reform, working closely with his wife (and fellow lawyer/politician) Hillary. Despite some early successes, however, Clinton revealed his youth by blundering into some major issues during his first term as governor.
He convinced the legislature to support an expensive highway development program, which in turn raised taxes and cost him significant political support. He also mishandled a riot of Cuban refugees in Arkansas' Fort Chaffee. Arkansas' governors held terms of 2 years at the time, and in 1980 Clinton's opponent showed videos of rioting Cubans and complained about vehicle and license taxes. Clinton lost the election and left office in 1981.
Bill Clinton wasn't ready to call it quits, however. He publically acknowledged the mistakes he had made, gained back the trust of the Arkansas people, and managed to win back the governor's office in 1982. Clinton's second term as governor began in 1983. He wouldn't leave that office until 1992, winning reelection 3 more times.
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Clinton came back into office with a strong focus on education, again working closely with Hillary to develop higher standards for the state. When the state Supreme Court overturned the state's existing educational financing system, Clinton went before the legislature and introduced a set of new laws and policies. Most of these laws, along with a moderate tax increase to pay for education reform, were adopted.
Education was just one area of success for Governor Clinton. Governing one of the nation's poorest states, he promoted economic reform by changing banking laws, providing tax incentives to Arkansas businesses, and encouraging new tech industries. Arkansas became one of the top states in job creation, even if the average income remained low. Part of the inequity was racial; Arkansas had historically denied positions of power to African Americans, and Clinton worked hard to open up access to government jobs to black citizens of the state.
Aware of the role that public perception had played in both his removal and return to office, Bill Clinton put lots of effort into managing public opinion during his time as governor. It's been said that he ran his entire governorship like a political campaign, running constant polls to evaluate the public response and maintaining an active marketing campaign to increase support for his policies.
Eventually, Clinton's focus started to turn more toward gaining national recognition. In 1986 he became the chairman of the National Governors Association. He then started taking a larger role in the national policies of the Democratic Party and became recognized for his leadership skills. Still charismatic and well spoken, Clinton became seen as an obvious potential candidate for the 1988 presidential election.
However, he missed out on that opportunity, instead giving a long speech in support of Michael Dukakis at the Democratic National Convention. Critics quickly attacked the speech for being dry and boring, which hurt Clinton's reputation as a governor and a leading Democrat. Clinton made up for both by lightheartedly mocking his own speech on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Again, his ability to quickly recognize his mistakes put him back in good graces with his constituents.
After being re-elected as governor in 1990 and promising to serve out the entire term (which had been changed to four years), Clinton decided to run for President of the United States in 1992. Immediately, accusations emerged implicating him in having extramarital affairs while serving as governor. Clinton was able to move past those and entered the 1992 election with a wide breadth of popular support. The rest is history for another discussion.
Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States, but before that was the Governor of Arkansas. Clinton was first elected to this office in 1978 at the age of 32. His first term had some successes but also some public failures, and he lost his re-election vote in 1980. Never deterred, he admitted his mistakes and won back the office in the 1982 election, holding it for the next decade.
Clinton focused heavily on education and economic reforms, both of which helped propel him to national fame. In 1992 he put that popularity to use and ran for President of the United States, promising to bring the economic and educational growth in Arkansas to the rest of the nation.
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