“I still believe in a place called Hope.”
President Bill Clinton
“President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site (NHS) was established in December 2010. It includes the Birthplace Home, a visitor center (located in an adjacent historic home) and the Virginia Clinton Kelley Memorial Garden.” – NPS
“On August 19, 1946, Virginia Cassidy Blythe gave birth to her son, William Jefferson Blythe III, named for his father who was killed in a car accident three months before he was born. Young Billy Blythe grew up to become William Jefferson Clinton – the 42nd president of the United States.” – National Park Service (NPS)
“He and his mother lived with her parents in this house in Hope, Arkansas, where the future president spent the first four years of his life. Growing up in Hope, he embraced the values of this small town. Here he learned early lessons in the importance of family, education and racial equality – lessons that served him well in his public life and led him on a path to the nation’s highest office.” – NPS
“Our house was just a block away from a railroad underpass, which then was made of rough, tar-coated timbers. I liked to climb the timbers, listen to the trains rattle overhead, and wonder where they were going and whether I would ever go there.”
President Bill Clinton
“The interior of this modest home invites you to experience the house as Clinton did as a small child. See the stairs he hurried down on Christmas morning and the playing cards tacked to the kitchen window.”
“In this house, I learned to walk and talk. I learned to pray. I learned to read and I learned to count by number cards my grandparents tacked on the kitchen window.”
President Bill Clinton
When we visited in October 2021 the National Park Service still required masks in buildings and restricted access to some spaces due to Covid-19. The upstairs rooms were blocked off and tours were limited at this National Historic Site. However, the park rangers took pictures of the spaces and spoke to us about the upstairs rooms.
“When his mother married Roger Clinton in 1950, the young family moved across town to a house on 13th Street. In 1953, they moved to Roger Clinton’s hometown, Hot Springs, Arkansas – 90 miles away. Clinton often returned to Hope to visit his grandparents for holidays and summer vacation.” – NPS
“Although Bill went by the name of Clinton from the time his mother remarried, Roger Clinton never formally adopted him. When his younger brother, Roger Cassidy Clinton, started school, Bill legally changed his name to Clinton.” – NPS
“…my grandparents and my mother always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them. Most children will make it if they have just one person who makes them feel that way. I had three.”
President Bill Clinton
Thank you for this interesting early childhood history of our 42nd President of the USA. I did not know his father died from a car accident when he was only 3 months old! From Hope Arkansas to the White House…anything is possible!