All language subtitles for (2012) American Experience. Bill Clinton. I The Comeback Kid.eng

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We interrupt your
regular program

for quite
an extraordinary moment

in the history
of the United States.

A short while ago, President
Clinton's staff came to tell us

that he was going to come
to the Rose Garden now

and make some remarks.

Peter, the president
will make another attempt

to say he's sorry
about what he's caused.

Bill Clinton had come
into office

with notions
of an heroic presidency,

to inscribe his name in history
alongside FDR and JFK.

Good afternoon.

But on the afternoon
of December 11, 1998,

he came to the Rose Garden
of the White House

to apologize
to the American people.

I am profoundly sorry
for all I have done wrong

in words and deeds.

I never should have misled
the country, the Congress,

my friends, or my family.

Quite simply,
I gave in to my shame.

It's almost as if all of this
was just too easy for him.

It's almost as if he had
to set up these barriers

that he could then leap across,
or stagger across,

but get across
in any event, always.

I'm going to give you
this election back.

And if you'll give it to me,
I won't be like George Bush.

I'll never forget who gave me
a second chance

and I'll be there for you
till the last dog dies.

And I want you to remember that.

How many second chances, right?

How many second chances
does any one person deserve?

Clinton's view is
as many second chances

as a person is willing
to try to take.

You know, I mean,
as many times as you fail,

don't you deserve the chance
to redeem yourself?

Isn't history loaded with people
who have fallen and gotten up,

and fallen and gotten up,
and fallen and gotten up

and done great things?

We will together build a bridge
to the 21st century

wide enough and strong enough to
take us to America's best days.

Will you do that?

There's a stick-to-itiveness
about him

that's just phenomenal.

An abiding belief that if he
can just have enough time,

he can win over
just about anybody.

The central repetitive theme
of Bill Clinton's life

is loss and recovery.

Never count him out

because, always,
he will find his way back.

I end tonight where
it all began for me.

I still believe in a place
called Hope.

Where does it come from?

The unwillingness
to quit on himself,

on the things he believed in,
on the people he cared about?

He disappoints them every time
on some level,

but he always gets up
and tries to make it better.

You know, what else can you ask
from a sinner?

Success, misjudgment,

in some cases catastrophe,
followed by comeback.

That resilience is central
to who he is as a politician.

I think it's central
to who he is as a man.

He would emerge

from the political backwaters
of Arkansas...

"like a country tornado,"
one newspaper wrote...

A political natural unlike
anyone had seen in a generation.

But in the winter of 1992,

as Bill Clinton began
campaigning for president

in New Hampshire,
he was still a relative unknown,

eager to win over voters
and his young campaign staff.

It was just so clear

that he was exceptionally
talented politician

from the kind of get-go.

How do you get the ideas
we develop in America

in the manufacturing jobs here?

There are literally...

His ability to adapt,
his ability to walk into a room,

to size up an issue,
to understand...

I've never seen a candidate,
I've never seen a human being

who, with the most
limited briefing,

can understand the dimensions,
the parameters,

the nuances of everything

of any kind of a policy
or political problem.

In a primary field crowded
with Democratic candidates,

Clinton's determination
and skill

quickly distinguished him
from his rivals.

Throughout New Hampshire...

In union halls, truck stops
and diners...

Clinton heard stories
of depressed wages

and vanishing jobs,
as the state and the nation

struggled to emerge
from a recession.

Ten years ago, we had the
highest wages in the world.

Now we're tenth,
and we're dropping.

What else do you think
we ought to do?

He knew these people,
knew what they were thinking,

knew their concerns, and felt
that government in Washington,

in large measure, was just not
addressing those concerns.

The mostly white,
working-class voters

Clinton met in New Hampshire,

like those in his own state
of Arkansas,

had been fleeing the
Democratic Party for years.

Bill Clinton knew that Democrats

were not going to regain
the presidency

until they re-established
a connection

with these middle-class
and lower-middle-class voters

who had been attracted
for various reasons

to Republican politicians
and to conservative ideas.

For nearly a decade,

as he rose through the ranks
of Democratic politics,

Clinton had been
honing a message

to win back these so-called
"Reagan Democrats."

The entire thrust of the
traditional Democratic Party

was based on entitlements
and endowments.

They would bestow money
on people.

Bill Clinton's
incredibly bold idea

was to change the grant
to a transaction...

"We'll give you something,
but we demand something back."

The way he would phrase it is,
"We'll give you opportunity

but you have to take
responsibility."

If you want the right
to receive welfare benefits,

you have to assume the
responsibility to get educated,

to have job training, and to go
to work if you can do it...

When he went out and said,

"We need opportunity for all,

but responsibility
from all Americans,"

that was different from what
Democrats had been saying.

Preaching his "New Democrat"
message in New Hampshire,

Clinton began to catch fire.

People say I'm not
a real Democrat

and I say I'm against brain-dead
politics in both parties.

By mid-January,
he'd pulled ahead

of his strongest competitors
and into the lead.

Then, with just weeks to go,
it all seemed to fall apart.

Democratic presidential
candidate Bill Clinton

is again denying a report
of an extra-marital affair.

The report is in the Star,
the supermarket tabloid.

The first time I heard of
Gennifer Flowers was a rumor.

I mean, the rumors of him
messing around were out there.

And the stories were out there.

And it was something that
his handlers talked about.

You know, "How are we going
to deal with this

if it actually happens?"

I would like to introduce my
client to you, Gennifer Flowers.

At first, nobody was really
that worried about it.

But then the woman appeared.

And not only did
the woman appear,

but she was a lounge singer.

And everybody thought,
"Oh yeah, absolutely."

And she had tapes.

I didn't think it would start
this quickly.

But I think, Bill,
you're being naïve

if you think that these other
shows like A Current Affair...

I expect them to come
looking into it

and interview you and
everything, but I just think

that if everybody is on record
denying it, you got no problem.

At first, Clinton's response
to the scandal was evasive...

She did call me, I never
initiated any calls to her,

and whenever she called me she
basically wanted reassurance...

There was this growing sense
and skepticism in the press

that this guy was just
a big phony.

I mean, he was too slick.

He was too smooth, and he would
lawyer answers to questions.

I said... that's not true.

Even if your name gets used,
in the absence of proof,

nobody can prove you're guilty,
don't worry about it.

The press called him
"Slick Willie," and it stuck.

The general thinking was that
he was dead.

Politicians didn't survive
this thing.

As many began
to abandon Clinton,

one person rose strongly
to his defense.

Bill Clinton is a smart guy,
a very smart guy.

But he will tell you

that Hillary is much smarter
than he is.

She's much tougher than he is.

She is more of a pragmatist.

If Clinton is a dreamer,
Hillary is Miss Reality.

She raised him up, and said,

"Look, get that pity
out of your body

"and all that defeatism
out of your back

"and let's deal with this issue,

and let's move on
to the next issue."

At the height of the scandal,

millions tuned in to see Bill
Clinton answer questions

on the CBS program 60 Minutes.

But it was Hillary
who stole the show.

You know, I'm not sitting here,
some little woman,

standing by my man
like Tammy Wynette.

I'm sitting here because
I love him and I respect him

and I honor what
he's been through,

and what we've been
through together,

and you know, if that's
not enough for people,

then heck, don't vote for him!

By praising him, defending him,
attacking the press,

she brought Clinton back
from the dead.

How do you think
it went, Governor?

You think you answered
the questions?

We did our best
and we feel good about it.

The American people
are the judges now,

we're going to let them judge.

So you can see why he was
so attached to her,

because she had the power
to save him.

The partnership of Bill Clinton
and Hillary Rodham

began at Yale Law School
in 1971.

Clinton was fresh
from a Rhodes scholarship

at Oxford University in England

and already planning
a career in politics.

Bill loved to discuss issues.

He loved to be at the center
of discussions.

He, in a way, loved to perform.

He wasn't a great student.

He didn't care
about being a student;

he was not there
for being a student.

He was there
to make connections.

Hillary was so much more
obviously intellectual.

Her power was so much more
disciplined than his.

She was a leader.

She was a doer.200

As many began
to abandon Clinton,

one person rose strongly
to his defense.

Bill Clinton is a smart guy,
a very smart guy.

But he will tell you

that Hillary is much smarter
than he is.

She's much tougher than he is.

She is more of a pragmatist.

If Clinton is a dreamer,
Hillary is Miss Reality.

She raised him up, and said,

"Look, get that pity
out of your body

"and all that defeatism
out of your back

"and let's deal with this issue,

and let's move on
to the next issue."

At the height of the scandal,

millions tuned in to see Bill
Clinton answer questions

on the CBS program 60 Minutes.

But it was Hillary
who stole the show.

You know, I'm not sitting here,
some little woman,

standing by my man
like Tammy Wynette.

I'm sitting here because
I love him and I respect him

and I honor what
he's been through,

and what we've been
through together,

and you know, if that's
not enough for people,

then heck, don't vote for him!

By praising him, defending him,
attacking the press,

she brought Clinton back
from the dead.

How do you think
it went, Governor?

You think you answered
the questions?

We did our best
and we feel good about it.

The American people
are the judges now,

we're going to let them judge.

So you can see why he was
so attached to her,

because she had the power
to save him.

The partnership of Bill Clinton
and Hillary Rodham

began at Yale Law School
in 1971.

Clinton was fresh
from a Rhodes scholarship

at Oxford University in England

and already planning
a career in politics.

Bill loved to discuss issues.

He loved to be at the center
of discussions.

He, in a way, loved to perform.

He wasn't a great student.

He didn't care
about being a student;

he was not there
for being a student.

He was there
to make connections.

Hillary was so much more
obviously intellectual.

Her power was so much more
disciplined than his.

She was a leader.

She was a doer.

Bill eyed Hillary for weeks
before the two finally met

during one of his rare visits
to the library.

He was totally blown away

by how confident
and challenging she was.

Here he is, this tall,
gorgeously handsome hick

with Elvis sideburns
and high-water pants.

She's the one
who crosses the room,

holds out her hand and says,

"If you're going to keep
staring at me

"and I'm going to keep
looking back at you,

we better get to know
each other."

Bill Clinton, who always
had lots of girlfriends,

looked at Hillary and said,

"I've never had a girlfriend
like that.

"I can't believe
that somebody as smart

and as virtuous as Hillary,
that she wants to be with me."

Hillary looked at Bill Clinton...

Outgoing, popular, successful...
And thinks,

"I can't believe that somebody
like that wants to be with me."

And I think they're both
kind of mystified

that the other person
is attracted to them.

Hillary graduated from Yale
in 1973

and soon landed a coveted job
in Washington

with the House committee
investigating

the Watergate scandal.

One night, she said she wanted
to introduce me to somebody

who's going to come up to visit
her the next day, I think.

She says, "His name is
Bill Clinton."

I said, "Oh, you know,
what does he do?"

She said, "Well, he graduated
Yale Law School

and he's from Arkansas, and he's
going back to Arkansas."

I said, "Oh, well, that's fine.

What law firm is he going to?"

She said, "Oh, no, no, he's not
going to go to a law firm.

He's thinking
of running for office."

I said, "He just graduated
Yale Law School.

What's he thinking
of running for?"

"Running for Congress."

I said, "Well, it's kind
of premature.

How old is he, 26, 27?"

She said, "Oh, no, no, he's
going to run for Congress

"and he thinks he's going to win
and I think he's going to win.

"In fact, Bernie, he's going
to go past Congress.

"He's going to be a senator
or a governor.

He's going to be president
of the United States."

That Bill Clinton would make
politics his life's work

had never been in doubt
to anyone who knew him.

William Jefferson Clinton

was born in Hope, Arkansas,
on August 19, 1946.

His mother, Virginia Cassidy,
was a nurse,

outgoing and vivacious;

his father, Bill Blythe,
a charming traveling salesman

whom he would never know.

When Virginia
was six months pregnant,

her husband's car flipped over
on a rain-slicked highway.

The accident killed him.

"My father left me
with the feeling

that I had to live for two
people," Clinton would write.

"If I did well enough,

somehow I could make up for
the life he should have had."

Four years after
her husband's death,

Virginia married a raffish Buick
salesman named Roger Clinton.

The couple moved
with six-year-old Billy

to Roger's hometown,
Hot Springs, Arkansas.

If Hope was a sleepy
Baptist town,

Hot Springs was the opposite...

A rollicking resort, attracting
people from across the country

to its mineral pools
and gambling parlors.

Outwardly, Clinton enjoyed

a happy small-town
American childhood.

But inside his gabled house
on Park Avenue,

he was leading a far more
turbulent life.

His parents' relationship
had deteriorated

into serial affairs

and screaming matches
that reverberated

through the thin walls.

As Roger Clinton descended
into alcoholism,

he grew more and more violent,

beating Virginia in front
of Bill and young Roger, Jr.

My life was "full of uncertainty
and anger,"

Clinton would recall,

"and a dread
of ever-looming violence."

Most of his buddies had no clue.

They saw Bill Clinton
as a happy-go-lucky guy.

They didn't see the turmoil that
was raging within that family.

He decided to pretend
it didn't exist.

To pretend that everything
was all right.

To go to church, you know,
with his Bible under his arm

and be sunny and energetic
and positive

and simply not accept it.

With fierce enthusiasm,

Clinton threw himself into
his life outside his home.

Hot Springs High had never seen
anything like him.

National Merit Scholar
semifinalist,

first chair
in the Arkansas State Band,

student government leader.

By his senior year,
he held so many honors

that the principal barred him

from running
for class president.

Bill Clinton
always found himself

trying to redeem
and rescue his family.

Part of doing that is to sort of
put yourself in the position

of rescuing not just your
family, but everybody,

including yourself,
by doing good.

By the early 1960s,

Bill Clinton's generation
had a new hero.

President John F. Kennedy's
youth and charisma

reached all the way to Arkansas

and sparked the teenager's
idealism

with a call to public service.

Ask not what your country
can do for you,

ask what you can do
for your country.

We loved living in a time
when JFK was president.

He was so young, he made
public service seem accessible,

so if we had ever
entertained thoughts

of a life in public service,

he made it seem
all the more possible.

In 1963, Bill Clinton traveled
to Washington

as a delegate to Boys Nation,

a program for aspiring
future leaders.

During a visit
to the White House,

he rushed to the front of the
line to shake his idol's hand.

It's a moment that is just
emblazoned in your mind.

To have a president
of the United States

look you in the eye,
take your hand, speak to you...

the world stops.

Bill said to me, "We will never
forget that, will we?

We will never forget that."

A decade later,
after leaving Arkansas

to study at Georgetown,
Oxford and Yale,

Clinton returned home

to begin his own long march
to the White House.

Bill Clinton went back
to Arkansas for politics,

pure and simple.

He knew the people there,
and he was of that place.

He could see
his political future

and that he was destined
for something much larger

than Hot Springs or Arkansas.

In his first political race
at age 28,

Clinton took on a conservative
Republican congressman

named John Paul Hammerschmidt.

I know that I can
make a big difference

for our district
and for our people

if I can have the opportunity
to serve them in Congress.

Few gave Clinton
a chance to compete.

People are saying,
"Hey, he's smart,

"but why does this guy
want to be a congressman?

"He's too young, he hasn't
been elected to anything,

he doesn't know
what he's really doing."

It wasn't just his inexperience;

many worried that
in his time away,

Clinton had lost touch
with Arkansas and its values.

There always has been with him
a suspicion

that this guy is not
to be trusted.

"This guy's too liberal for us."

And he encountered that.

But, initially in Arkansas,

he just totally overpowered it
with his charm,

with his political skill,

with his ability
to connect and relate.

In this small state, politics
is art and it's entertainment.

And he was the best we had seen.

♪ There's a fellow here
been talking some ♪

♪ About being
our next congressman ♪

♪ He's a new man,
Bill Clinton is his name... ♪

For weeks on end,

Clinton drove the back roads
of northwest Arkansas

sleeping on couches,
waking up at dawn

to catch the shift-change
at nearby factories.

♪ Bill Clinton's ready,
he's fed up, too ♪

♪ He's a lot like me,
he's a lot like you... ♪

He's got an extra battery.

After about four or five days
with him,

I was ready to go home.

I had all the fun I could stand,
and he would just keep going.

We might stop
at a service station

or a restaurant or whatever.

He would want to meet the cooks.

He would go back in the kitchen
and meet everybody back there.

He would not leave a place,
I think,

where he had not met everyone.

As Bill Clinton campaigned
for Congress,

Hillary Rodham left her
high-powered job in Washington

and decided to follow him
to Arkansas.

She could have had lots of jobs
in Washington.

Instead she elects to go,
not even to Little Rock,

but Fayetteville, Arkansas?

You know, her friends thought
she was absolutely mad.

"He's just a country lawyer.

What do you see in him?"

When Hillary arrived
in Arkansas...

A Chicago-born feminist
in the Deep South...

She felt unwelcomed
by Bill's campaign staff.

I said, "Look, you know, we got
enough problems here as it is."

She comes in here and I say,

"I don't mind her being on the
inside doing everything she does

because she's sharp as a tack."

But I said, "Taking her out
on the road,"

I said, "that's going to create
a little bit of a question."

And he said, "Why?"

And I said, "Well,
she's got outcroppings

"of where she grew up in Chicago

and her parents all came
from Pennsylvania."

I said, "You know, she's never
really overcome all of that

to get involved in what we're
doing here in Arkansas."

To make matters worse,

Hillary had to deal
with Bill's constant womanizing.

I mean you got to understand,
at one time,

there was at least 25 women
per day coming through there

trying to find him.

And I'd tell them he's out
on the road, you know,

and they'd get out the door.

But Lord, it was bad.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

He draws women in

and they are literally
mesmerized by this man.

It was absolutely like
fly to honey.

And he needed that.

He needed that kind
of adoration.

I don't think there's any
question that Hillary was hurt,

whether it was me
or anyone else.

Despite Bill's infidelities,

Hillary decided

to stay in Arkansas

and dedicate herself

to their mutual goals.

A common sense of commitment
to social justice,

of working on improving
the lives of families,

of being concerned
about the disenfranchised.

But ultimately all along,
thinking about going to the top.

There's no question
that there's a sense

of the possibilities
being unlimited.

The highest you can achieve,
obviously,

is to be president
and first lady.

On October 11, 1975, the couple
wed in a simple ceremony

in their living room.

Most of the people I know

who have been around the
Clintons for a long time

come to the conclusion
that I've come to.

The two of them are in love.

Walter Lippmann,
the great columnist, said,

"Love endures when the lovers
love not just each other,

but love many things together."

That, I think, is the essence
of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

They had a common love,
which is for politics,

for the game.

They love it.

It's their life.

With Hillary firmly behind him,

there was no stopping
Bill Clinton.

Though he narrowly lost
his congressional bid,

he had positioned himself
as a rising star.

The morning after he lost that
congressional race in 1974,

he was out in the town square,
shaking hands again.

Every Democratic figure
in the state knew

that he was the next big figure
in Arkansas politics.

Two years later, he was easily
elected attorney general.

I think the governor
of this state ought to be...

Two years after that,
he ran for governor,

brimming with youthful
confidence and ambition.

I'm Bill Clinton, and one of the
reasons I want to be governor

is to make sure that every child
in this state

has a chance
to go to kindergarten.

Clinton won with more than
60% of the vote.

I believe that
if you and I together

can practice what we preach
about government,

I know that you and I together

want to do what is right
for our people.

In the late 1970s,

most of Arkansas was poor
and undeveloped.

Bill Clinton was determined
to turn that around.

Not much had been done
for 150 years in Arkansas.

Spending on education,
per capita income,

our highway system was one
of the worst in the country.

So Bill Clinton comes in
and he has all these ideas.

He's going to transform
the state at once.

Feeling, as he recalled, "an
urgent sense to do everything,"

Clinton and his staff

took on entrenched interests
in Arkansas.

He created new regulations,
revamped rural health care,

reorganized school districts
and took on utilities.

Most ambitious of all was a
project to fix Arkansas roads.

It was paid for by a steep hike
in taxes on car licenses

and was a political disaster.

Every month,
1/12 of the people of Arkansas

went down to the courthouse
to get their...

renew their license plates
for the following year,

and instead of being $19,
it was $36.

That became extremely unpopular,

and he realized that late
in the election of 1980.

He'd go early in the morning
to a factory gate

and all these guys refused
to shake his hand.

They said, "No,
you raised my truck tag,

and I'm not going
to vote for you."

After one term,
Clinton ran for reelection

against an obscure Republican
businessman named Frank White,

who pounded away at Clinton's
youth and arrogance.

He tells you he can create
jobs... he's never had a job!

To Clinton's dismay,
White's tactic worked.

I regret that I will not have
two more years

to serve as governor,
because I have loved it.

I have probably loved it
as much as any person

who ever had this office.

Since he was a teenager,

Bill Clinton had prepared
himself to be president.

Now, just 34, with his new baby
Chelsea to support,

he feared his political career
might already be over.

He took it incredibly hard.

He knew those folks
and he thought they loved him,

and it turned out they didn't.

He was totally out of sorts.

And when you see him, he wants
to talk about one thing.

"What'd I do wrong?"

Hillary was as devastated
by that defeat as Bill was

and as determined to make amends
and figure out a way back.

I mean, here she had devoted
her life and given up a lot

to go out to Arkansas
for their rise together.

And at this very early age,

it seemed like
it was all vulnerable.

So she was not going
to allow that to happen.

Hillary traded in her thick
glasses for contact lenses

and her unkempt hair
for a fashionable blonde bob.

To quiet some of her critics,

she took her husband's
last name.

Frustrated by what she regarded
as poor advice,

she took over her husband's
reelection campaign.

Hillary was the mastermind
in that comeback.

Most of his people advised him
at the time,

"Don't run again,
wait two years."

Hillary says, "You can come back
and you can do it again."

He didn't trust himself
as much as he trusted her.

Determined never to lose again,

Clinton studied the results of
his defeat precinct by precinct.

He resolved to win back
every, single one.

The crowd has waited,
they're ready to celebrate.

It's been a long two years.

If victory is ours tonight,

I have been given something
that few people get in life:

a second chance to serve
the people of Arkansas.

Clinton had learned
from his mistakes.

Rather than take on
every problem in Arkansas

with his second term,

he narrowed his focus
to a single issue

that he knew would serve the
people and his political future:

education.

I still believe that
until we have a system

which guarantees competence
in basic learning skills,

we will never be able
to prepare our people

for higher level
of achievements.

I don't care what else we do.

It's a winning issue.

The people are willing
to go that way.

And it's something we can get
done if we focus on that.

He has settled on the strategy.

Now, who's the right person?

Who's my point person?

Hillary.

We know it's a huge task,

but we're very optimistic

that we're going to be able to
make a substantial improvement

in what our students receive.

She went from town to town
all over Arkansas

and met with civic groups
and PTAs and school groups

and talked about
what they wanted to do

about improving schools
in Arkansas.

By the time it was over,

I think she was one of the most
popular people in the state.

One legislator popped up
at a hearing one day and said,

"We elected the wrong Clinton."

It just resurrected him.

He needed a success and it made
him the education governor

at a time when education was
a vital issue in the country.

And he was able to use that to
open all kinds of doors for him.

Over the next few years, Clinton
began to catch the attention

of the media and national
Democratic leaders

desperate to find a candidate

who could loosen Republicans'
grip on the presidency.

He would spend a huge amount
of time

meeting with, impressing and
charming his fellow governors

and other elected officials.

And after a day
and a night with him,

talking about philosophy
and politics,

you came away
with the impression

this was the smartest guy
in the class,

and that essentially if you were
going to have a president,

it probably should be this guy.

In 1987, during his fourth term
as Arkansas governor,

Bill Clinton was finally ready
to leap onto the national stage

with a long-shot run
for the presidency.

In July, he summoned the
national media to Little Rock

for the big announcement.

Then, abruptly, he sent them
home with hardly an explanation.

I need some family time,
I need some personal time.

Behind the scenes,

an old weakness had come back
to haunt him.

Just the day
before the press conference,

when he was going to announce
that he was going to run,

Betsey Wright, his ferociously
protective campaign manager,

sat him down with a list
of names of women

and went through
one after the other:

how many times,
where did you meet her,

how likely is she to talk?

For each name, he said,
"Oh, she'll never say anything."

And Betsey Wright said,
"But you don't know that.

"You don't understand,
on a national scale,

"people will investigate... your
opponents will investigate it.

The media will investigate it."

"The problem is, we're
not just talking about you.

"We're talking about
your wife, Hillary;

we're talking about
your child, Chelsea."

She said,
"I don't think you can run."

I mean, it just became clear
that night

it was not the time
for him to do it.

It just was not the time.

He felt for quite a while

that that probably was the last
real chance he would ever have

to run for president.

That was it, it was over.

You know, where would he go

now that he wasn't
going to run for president?

What could he do in the future?

I think that,
over the next few months,

that became a tough time
for them.

With Hillary and Bill's
mutual dream in tatters,

thanks to his extramarital
affairs,

their relationship hit
rock bottom.

It did put into question
their whole marriage.

And it was very unnerving
to Hillary

because she had put
everything on the line

for him to pursue
the presidency.

And if he had
too much of a record

of reckless behavior to do that,

then what had she been doing
for the last 15 years?

It is now time to place
the name in nomination

for president of the United
States, Michael Dukakis.

Just when it seemed things
couldn't get worse,

Clinton was asked
to give the speech

nominating Michael Dukakis at
the 1988 Democratic convention.

I'm honored to be here tonight

to nominate my friend
Michael Dukakis

for president
of the United States.

That piece was supposed to be
the set piece

to launch him
on the national stage,

and it turned out
to be something

that almost killed his career
before it got started.

And I'd like to talk a little
about Mike Dukakis, the man...

The speech was going on
and on and on.

Mike's old-fashioned, all right.

He's the kind of man who plays
it straight and keeps his word.

We want Mike!

The crowd was just
getting restless.

And we said,
"Oh, man, we dead," right?

He was going by the script that
the Dukakis folks has approved.

And he has to carry it out.

Now, I want you all to calm down

so I can tell
the rest of the country

why they should want Mike.

Of course, the famous thing was
when he said,

"In conclusion," he got a round
of applause, finally.

In closing...

Linda, my wife, and I
are at our house

and we're looking on
in disbelief.

Sometime in the wee hours,
Linda wakes me up, and she says,

"Look, he's got to go on the
Carson show to make this right."

My first question is,
"How are you?"

I'm fine.

I watched the speech,

and as a performer, I kind of
felt for you in a way.

What happened?

It just didn't work, I mean,

I don't know,
what can I tell you?

I really... my sole goal
was achieved, however.

I wanted so badly to make
Michael Dukakis look great

and I succeeded beyond
my wildest expectations.

In an instant,
he had turned it around,

because the next day, papers
were full of good things

and had kind things
to say about him.

And so it erased
almost all of it in one day

and made him more visible
than he had ever been.

It's tenor sax you play, right?

That's right.

We're going to play
a short song.

He recovers better

than anybody I have ever known.

It's extraordinary.

I mean, he can have horrible
things crash down upon his head,

but he crawls out from under it
and keeps on going.

Bill and Hillary Clinton
were back on the map.

Having faced a crossroads

in their personal
and political lives,

they decided that whatever the
costs, they would stay together

and continue to pursue the goal
they'd shared for 20 years:

the presidency
of the United States.

Four years later,
in the snows of New Hampshire,

Clinton held a comfortable lead
in the Democratic primary.

With the Gennifer Flowers
scandal behind him,

he was campaigning with the
confidence of a frontrunner.

"Unless a second shoe drops
to indicate he's a liar,"

declared the New York Times,

"Clinton has emerged
more clearly

as the Democrats'
likely nominee."

But just 12 days
before the primary,

the second shoe
not only dropped,

it nearly shattered
the campaign.

An old letter had surfaced,

written by Bill Clinton
more than 20 years earlier

when facing the possibility
of being drafted

to fight in Vietnam.

In the letter, Clinton thanked
his local ROTC commander,

Colonel Eugene Holmes,
for "saving me from the draft."

Though he never took
the deferment,

Clinton's letter sounded to many

like the confession
of a draft dodger

and sparked a second round of
attacks against his character.

The Friday story in the
Wall Street Journal appears

about the ROTC
and Colonel Holmes

and the polling numbers
just started collapsing.

Governor, are you
a draft dodger?

Did you burn your draft card?

No, I had a lock-cinch
four-year deferment.

I gave it up
after less than two months

because I didn't think
it was right.

I went back into the draft,
then this lottery came along.

I got a high number
and I wasn't called.

Stan Greenberg, our pollster,
came in and said,

"The bottom's fallen out."

You know, we dropped
18 points in a weekend

and we didn't have
that many points to start with.

Of course I've had some problems
in the polls.

All I've been asked about
by the press

are a woman I didn't sleep with
and a draft I didn't dodge.

I think a lot of us thought,
you know, "This is over."

But I mean, Clinton...
Clinton, he never flinched.

You know, he willed himself
back into that race.

How you doing?
I need your help!

For the next week, Clinton
campaigned 20 hours a day,

pushing himself to the limits
of his endurance.

We have to reject
the political philosophy

that gripped this country
in the 1980s...

With only days left,
his voice ragged,

Clinton spoke at an Elks Lodge
in Dover, New Hampshire.

These were Yankees who had been
really beaten down

by the loss of
manufacturing jobs

in that part of the country,

and they didn't seem to have
other opportunities.

I'll tell you something,

I'm going to give you
this election back,

and if you'll give it to me,
I won't be like George Bush.

I'll never forget who gave me
a second chance

and I'll be there for you
till the last dog dies.

And I want you to remember that.

"I'll be there for you
till the last dog dies."

And we knew we'd seen

one of those astonishing
political performances.

I don't promise you a miracle,
I promise you a movement.

Let's take our country back,
and see this country win again.

Thank you very much
and God bless you!

How many second chances, right?

How many second chances
does any one person deserve?

Clinton's view is
as many second chances

as a person is willing
to try to take.

You know, I mean,
as many times as you fail,

don't you deserve the chance
to redeem yourself?

Isn't history loaded with people

who have fallen and gotten up,
and fallen and gotten up,

and fallen and gotten up,
and done great things?

You know, who's to say?

Bill Clinton.

You've definitely
got my support.

Thank you.

I need you tomorrow, thanks.

On Feb. 18,

the voters of New Hampshire
went to the polls.

Despite the one-two punch of
Gennifer Flowers and the draft,

Clinton finished a strong second

behind former Massachusetts
senator Paul Tsongas.

Let me say that while
the evening is young...

and we don't know yet
what the final tally will be,

I think we know enough
to say with some certainty

that New Hampshire tonight

has made Bill Clinton
the "Comeback Kid."

In the weeks to come,

Clinton rolled up primary
victory after primary victory.

In Florida, in Tennessee,
in Mississippi...

In early June, he surpassed
the number of delegates needed

for the Democratic nomination by
winning the California primary.

The election for America's
future begins tomorrow.

It is not about me,
it's about all of you.

Even though he's winning
voters over

and winning these primaries
with bigger and bigger margins,

the news coverage, you know,
for the general electorate,

is one of a politician

you would never make president
of the United States.

You could not possibly
trust this guy.

The polls would ask the question
whether he has the honesty

and character to be president.

The numbers got worse
and worse and worse.

Now we reached a point where we
said, "We can't just allow that

"to be the narrative
through to the convention.

Let's restore
the sense of trust."

A team of top campaign aides

planned a complete overhaul
of Clinton's image,

culminating in a nostalgic film

shown during the Democratic
National Convention in New York.

It was called "A Man From Hope."

I was born in a little town
called Hope, Arkansas,

three months
after my father died.

I remember living
in that old two-story house

where I lived
with my grandparents...

The film, I think,
brought people back,

"Okay, here's who this guy is.

"Here's what we're really about,

and we really have
a strong candidate."

My fellow Americans,

I end tonight where
it all began for me.

I still believe
in a place called hope.

God bless you,
and God bless America.

With a rock anthem
from the 1970s

as the campaign theme song,

Clinton staffers positioned
their candidate

as the young, dynamic face
of a new generation.

To complete the image,

Clinton chose
as his running mate

the youthful senator
from Tennessee, Al Gore.

It turned the conventional
wisdom on its head.

He believed you don't
dilute your message,

you put a big underline
and exclamation point

and this is a new generation,
new ideas,

a new Democratic party.

Totally energized the general
election campaign.

♪ Don't stop thinking
about tomorrow ♪

♪ Don't stop,
it will soon be here... ♪

Heading into the fall,

Clinton had surged ahead
of President George H.W. Bush

and third-party candidate
Ross Perot.

With the economy
still faltering,

Clinton had found his issue
and his voice.

The crowd that's running
Washington today

has had 12 years
to test their economic theory,

and it's failed.

The decisive event came
in mid-October,

at the second presidential
debate in Richmond, Virginia,

when Clinton turned
a question from the audience

into a defining
political moment.

A woman stood up
and asked a question

that was on a lot
of people's minds.

How has the national debt

personally affected
each of your lives?

And if it hasn't,
how can you honestly find

a cure for the economic problems
of the common people

if you have no experience
in what's ailing them?

And President Bush said,

"I don't get it,
I don't get the question."

Are you suggesting
that if somebody has means

that the national debt
doesn't affect them?

I'm not sure I get it.

Help me with the question
and I'll try to answer it.

Clinton understood
that she wasn't talking

about the deficit or the debt.

What she was talking about
was the economy.

And the recession.

And the body language

was absolutely crucial
at that point.

He took two steps toward her.

Tell me how it's
affected you again?

You know people who've lost
their jobs and lost their homes.

Uh-huh.

Well, I'll tell you
how it's affected me.

I see people in my state,
middle-class people,

their taxes have gone up
in Washington

and their services
have gone down

while the wealthy
have gotten tax cuts.

I have seen what's happened
in this last four years

when, in my state,
when people lose their jobs,

there's a good chance I'll know
them by their names.

That was giving
the American public

precisely what they wanted
at that point.

They had this brilliant
foreign policy president.

What they needed was someone
who cared about them

and who was as scared
about the economy as they were.

And in that moment,
he encapsulated that.

I think what we have to do is
invest in American jobs,

American education.

He was on his way to winning.

But that was the deal closer.

He closed the deal.

Like a marathon runner
nearing the finish line,

Clinton spent the final 24 hours
of the campaign

in an all-out sprint,
touching down in nine states.

His voice gone, he could
only wave at adoring crowds.

Sometime during the course
of this half hour,

the man who liked to call
himself the "Comeback Kid,"

Bill Clinton of a town called
Hope in Arkansas,

will be projected the winner

of the presidential candidacy
of 1992.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton

and Chelsea Clinton.

My fellow Americans,

on this day,

with high hopes and brave
hearts, in massive numbers,

the American people have voted
to make a new beginning.

There was this joy and buoyancy

and he had so much promise
about him.

Those of us who believed
in Bill Clinton, and I did,

had a sense of,
"Wow, this is going to be

really, really good
for the country."

After 20 years of thrilling
highs and gut-wrenching falls,

Bill and Hillary had at last
achieved their highest goal.

But if they had won
the presidency,

the Clintons had yet
to win over the country.

And in this moment of triumph,

few could imagine
the turmoil that lay ahead.

He got 43% of the vote, but
none of us thought about that.

To us, it felt like a landslide.

Clinton believed
in a strong government;

he wanted to be a big president.

He revered Kennedy,
he revered Roosevelt,

he thought
about the heroic presidents

and he wanted to use
the presidency that way.

But the country was turning away
from government,

it was skeptical
that government could work,

and there were these roiling
undercurrents of anger

that we knew were there,

but we didn't realize how they
could quickly consume even us.