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When asked, "In your opinion, what will Bill Clinton be remembered for?" a majority of Americans cite some aspect of the former President's relationship with the White House intern, and a plurality mention her by name. Washington, D.C. — Despite the fact that Monica Lewinsky's name is only mentioned two times in the new Clinton Presidential Center, a majority of Americans think of her or her affair with Bill Clinton when they reflect on the most memorable events of the Clinton Administration, according to a recent national poll of 800 adults. Respondents were asked to reveal what they thought Bill...

Elusive building, like the man Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004 By John Brummett I agree with Hillary Clinton when she says her husband's new presidential library in Little Rock reflects him perfectly. But I see it and him differently from the way she sees them. She says the structure represents Bill in that it is open, expansive and full of light. She's correct as far as that goes. But the library mirrors him in a more substantive way: What you make of it depends on your angle. From the Interstate 30 bridge over the Arkansas River the structure looks for all...

INDEPENDENCE, Mo., Nov. 23 - That legendary sign "The Buck Stops Here" gets prominent display at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library, along with a cautionary disclaimer that it is "unclear how long it sat" on Truman's Oval Office desk. But the sign, and its appearance here, provide a bracing contrast to the sensations inspired by the new William J. Clinton Presidential Center, 400 miles away in Little Rock, Ark. Some similarities might be expected. Both William Jefferson Clinton and Harry S. Truman were Democratic presidents sometimes facing hostile Republican-dominated Congresses; both were born without inheritance or distinguished lineage; both...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 19 - With its sleek horizontal form hovering at the edge of the Arkansas River, the new William J. Clinton Presidential Center has been called by promoters a "bridge to the 21st century," a trite allusion to one of the former president's favorite themes. Locals snicker that it looks like an enormous double-wide trailer. Actually, its best elements fall somewhere between those two extremes. Designed by James Polshek and Richard Olcott of the New York-based firm Polshek Partnership, the library has moments of genuine architectural power. Its sleek cantilevered form thrusts out aggressively toward the river,...

...“We’ve got to take the country back,” Clinton mused, “beginning right here with this little bit of blue in a sea of red.” Thousands braved a driving rain in Little Rock to celebrate the opening Thursday of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. Locals think the rectangular building looks like a double-wide trailer on stilts, but architecture critics, a snobby bunch, give it rave reviews. Clinton wanted a building bathed in light and transparent, an apt metaphor for a president whose public and private life was laid bare before the public. He noted that the London Economist called the futuristic...

(KRT) - Our quiz today is a multiple-choice question: What does Bill Clinton want? (A) To guide Democrats out of the deep woods. (B) To help heal the nation's bitter divisions. (C) To pave the way for President Hillary. The correct answer is all of the above - and none of the above. What Bubba really wants is vindication. Everything else, including Hillary in the Oval Office, is just a means to his end game of getting back on top again. It's all about one more comeback. It ain't gonna happen. Clinton's presiding over the opening of his $165 million...

When Hillary Clinton runs for president, she may have to face her own version of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth - in the form of her husband's accusers, the women the Clintons have been trying to erase from the national memory of Bill's presidency. Reacting to Sen. Clinton's efforts to use the opening of her husband's presidential library last week as a springboard for her campaign, star impeachment witness Kathleen Willey told NewsMax, "I have some words of advice for the former first lady. Remember the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." Willey said she was struck by the fact that...

Clinton did a masterful job putting the art of governance into a broader perspective last week at the dedication of his remarkable library in Little Rock. Typically, The Natural performed this feat while winging it, instead of trying to read a prepared speech in a driving rainstorm. In just a few minutes of oratory while the rain plastered down his hair, the former president managed to say more of consequence than any other political figure has blabbered since the latest ugly election season mercifully ended. Instead of new thinking or deep thinking, politicians have mostly been positioning themselves, thinking narrowly....

Somebody is conspicuous by her absence in Little Rock THE six-year-old Billy Clinton received only satisfactory marks for arithmetic, reading, spelling and writing. But High Noon was already his favourite film and, using crayons, he could produce a picture of the final shoot-out. This and much more can be learnt from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, a sparkling $165 million (£88.7 million) glass and steel container dubbed “trailer home chic”, which is to be dedicated today and officially opens tomorrow. In among its 80 million pieces of paper, 2 million photographs and 77,000 objects and artefacts,...

On November 21, William J. Bennett, conservative author and nationally syndicated radio host, falsely claimed six times that former President Bill Clinton committed "perjury" or a "felony" for lying under oath. Bennett appeared on FOX Broadcasting Company's FOX News Sunday opposite Robert B. Reich, former Clinton administration Labor secretary, to discuss Clinton's legacy three days after the November 18 opening of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. As Media Matters for America has noted, the Senate acquitted Clinton on both articles of impeachment, one of which was perjury. In order for a lie under oath to amount to...

2. THE CLINTON LIBRARY It was definitely Not Hot in Little Rock, Arkansas, on that wet and chilly day in mid-November when the worshipful Friends of Bill -- the rich, the famous, the powerful, the crooked, and the self-deluded -- descended on the sleepy southern city to join other dignitaries in the garish, over-the-top dedication of the newly erected Clinton Presidential Center. With a torrential rain gushing down, it was as if the heavens themselves had opened up in a fury over the obscene celebration going on down below, casting a deliberate pall over the whole nauseating display of hubris,...

During ABC's hour-long Primetime Special Edition promotion of the opening of the Clinton Library, titled, "Bill Clinton: A Place in History," Peter Jennings trumpeted his record as "full of accomplishment" and touted how he's "hugely popular in other parts of the world." But Clinton lectured Jennings on ABC's bias against him. Jennings had told the former President how a survey of historians had ranked him highly in some areas, but that "they gave you a 41st on moral authority." That prompted Clinton to launch into a rant against Ken Starr and the historians, but he maintained that "I don't really...

New Yorker and ex-President Bill Clinton formally opened his presidential library this week in Arkansas. An historic occasion, the affair was decidedly bipartisan, with President Bush as well as former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter present. These library-dedication ceremonies are meant to focus on the highlights of a presidency and sidestep the areas that could be deemed controversial. For example, of the 14 exhibit areas, only one is devoted to the at-times sordid impeachment saga. And that, of course, is placed in an achingly familiar context — Clinton as victim. [snip] So the mind boggles to learn...

If you were watching cable yesterday, you'd have thought that the capital had been moved to Little Rock. The media can't resist a gathering of presidents, and never could resist a story line involving Bill Clinton (remember his hospital-bed advice to John Kerry?). Especially when his wife (who's also making the TV rounds, including Larry King and Greta Van Susteren) may run for his old job. But I don't remember anything like all this live coverage when Bush 41 opened his library, do you? And the ex-prez got an hour with Peter Jennings on "PrimeTime" last night. (Fox seemed to...

November 19, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton savored warm tributes from three presidents at his library dedication yesterday, while he tipped his hat to wife Hillary — whom he called the family member with the real power. Bill Clinton, speaking outside the $165 million Little Rock, Ark., building to a rain-soaked crowd of nearly 30,000, said he was honored by the attention and hoped the Clinton Presidential Center would make Americans think about his eight years in office.

Little Rock, Ark., may have a new $165 million presidential library. But the sleepy, grits-fed city barely has enough hotel rooms for the celebs who've come to pay homage to Bill Clinton. Early yesterday, Jordan's Queen Noor was due to check into a Comfort Inn miles from the ceremonial action. The lowly volunteer who gave up her room for the queen was planning to "knock on the door and ask her if I could have the shampoo - just so I could take a look at her." Democratic Party planners spoiled the volunteer's dream when they saw where the queen...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Bill Clinton (news - web sites), America's first baby boomer president, opened his library Thursday with a rock 'n' roll gala that hailed the $165 million glass-and-steel museum as "a gift to the future by a man who always believed in the future." AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Clinton Library Opening Despite a steady, bone-chilling rain, nearly 30,000 people joined a celebration that included tributes from President Bush (news - web sites), his father and former President Carter. Rock stars Bono and The Edge of the band U2 performed a three-song set before Clinton spoke to...

In honor of the first Democrat to win two terms as president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, members of many of the nation's past and present first families celebrated the life and political talents of Bill Clinton on Thursday as they dedicated his library here in a chilly, rain-drenched ceremony on the banks of the Arkansas River. "Welcome to my rainy library dedication," a hatless Mr. Clinton said somewhat wistfully to a crowd of 30,000, most of them hidden under umbrellas. Bucking himself up, he said his late mother would have reminded him that "rain is liquid sunshine." The ceremony, held...

You have asked that I discuss some memories of President Clinton and my relationship with him. There are several that immediately come to mind. First, I remember being on the last Arkansas Traveler trip of the 1992 election. We had gone to the state of Kansas and returned to Little Rock on the night before the 1992 election. My wife, Susan Turner Purvis, also a Hope native, picked me up as we arrived back into town and told me I absolutely had to see this scene in downtown Little Rock. I remember driving into downtown Little Rock at night and...

A FIERCE storm blowing in from Texas rained mercilessly on Bill Clinton’s parade yesterday. The crowning moment of the former President’s efforts to shape his legacy was all but washed away as 25,000 people huddled and shivered in the driving rain that accompanied the dedication of his $165 million (£90 million) presidential library. Mr Clinton looked crestfallen as the Presidents Bush, senior and junior, President Carter, a large train of diplomats and politicians from around the world and a crowd larger than most Arkansas towns were soaked. When Bono and The Edge from U2 opened their brief headlining set with...