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President Clinton's Hometown
Hot Springs National Park is proud to have been the boyhood hometown of President Bill Clinton. President Clinton credits the world-famous resort city as being responsible for the early educational experiences that led him to a career in public service first as Arkansas Attorney General, then Governor of Arkansas, and ultimately the 42nd President of the United States. In commemoration of President Bill Clinton, Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission issued a series of very popular Clinton trading cards. Each Clinton trading card that was issued became a collector item due to the fact they are limited in quantity and go very fast to all the President Clinton fans around the world. From Hope to Hot SpringsWilliam Jefferson Clinton moved to Hot Springs when
he was a second grader from his birthplace in Hope,
Arkansas, with his mother, the late Mrs. Virginia Kelley,
who was a retired licensed certified registered nurse
Virginia Blythe married Hot Springs native Roger Clinton in 1950, and later Bill took the surname that he carries today. In 1953 the Clintons moved to Hot Springs and Bill enrolled in St. John's Catholic School. Even then the nuns recognized in the boy a spark that led them to predict that he was one day "going to be president." Teachers, Friends & Family
Bill Clinton credits the outstanding teachers of the Hot Springs schools with having an important influence on his life, and many of them have been ardent campaigners in his behalf as his political star was rising. Friends from those days still recall that young Clinton became personal friends with many of his teachers and credits them with helping form his lifelong commitment to educational reform. Student Leader & MusicianBill Clinton, once enrolled in the Hot Springs Public Schools, attended Ramble Elementary School, where he began acquiring the education and leadership experiences that helped instill in him the qualities that have led him to political success. 
At Hot Springs High School, Bill Clinton was an active student politician as well as a leader in the school's activities. He was Band Major and was active in the Beta Club, National Honor Society and chorus. He also was active in the Hot Springs Key Club and the Order of DeMolay. He became an all-state saxophone player during that time, a talent he gleefully displayed on television shows such as "The Tonight Show" and "The Arsenio Hall Show." The Proudest Moment
In 1963 he was a Hot Springs High School delegate to Boys State, where he was elected as Arkansas' delegate to Boys Nation. While attending Boys Nation in Washington, D.C., Mr. Clinton had an experience that set him on the road to political greatness: He shook hands with President John F. Kennedy. A photograph of that meeting, only four months before President Kennedy was assassinated, is one of President Clinton's proudest possessions. From Hot Springs to the WorldBill Clinton attended Park Place Baptist Church in Hot Springs and formed close and lasting relationships with Hot Springs classmates and civic leaders. Bill Clinton's education and active youth in Hot
Springs gave him the back-ground and experiences that
enabled him to gain admission to Georgetown University
and later saw him become a Rhodes Scholar and a Yale
Law School graduate. Clinton Trading Cards
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anesthetist. Young Bill's father, William Jefferson
Blythe III, had been killed in an automobile accident
before Bill was born, so Virginia Blythe carried the
responsibility of raising him as a single mother. 
