The Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas and the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia are partners in making the William Jefferson Clinton Oral History Project interviews available to a global audience through their respective websites.
The interviews in this section were conducted in partnership with the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and cover Clinton’s time in Arkansas politics, from his first failed run for Congress to his time as governor of the state from 1979-1981 and 1983-1992. They provide valuable context to the political environment that then Governor Clinton navigated: a changing Democratic Party and a nascent Republican insurgency; the transformation and modernization of state government; and how Clinton’s time in office set the stage for his emergence onto the national stage, culminating with his successful run for the presidency in 1992.
The people interviewed here, which include longtime Clinton staffers, friends, advisors, and even pronounced political opponents, offer a vivid firsthand portrait of Clinton’s time as governor, and the state’s key political, economic, and cultural shifts across the last decades of the twentieth century.
Betsey Wright conducted most of the interviews for this project. Wright is a legendary figure in Arkansas politics, having served as chief of staff for Governor Clinton and as co-chair of Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Ernie Dumas and Michael Haddigan, both noted Arkansas reporters, also conducted interviews for the project.
To see interviews related to Clinton’s childhood and early life, please visit the William Jefferson Clinton Oral History Project – The Hope and Hot Springs Years project on the Pryor Center website.
To see interviews related to Clinton’s time as president, please visit the Miller Center’s Wiliam J. Clinton Presidential History Project page, available on the Miller Center website.
Bill Clinton during his time as Governor of Arkansas, ca. 1992
© Library of Congress
