William Jefferson Clinton (born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to the Presidency, he was the 40th Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and the state's 42nd Governor from 1983 to 1992. Before that, he served as Arkansas Attorney General from 1977 to 1979.
Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992, defeating George H. W. Bush. At age 46, he was the third-youngest president. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history and signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. After failing to pass national health care reform, the Democratic House was ousted when the Republican Party won control of the Congress in 1994, for the first time in 40 years. Two years later, in 1996, Clinton became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected to a second term. Clinton passed welfare reform and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing health coverage for millions of children.
In 1998, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, for perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice during a lawsuit against him, both related to a scandal involving White House (and later Department of Defense) employee Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in 1999 and served his complete term of office. Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. President since World War II.