Official name	Nairobi
Settlement type	City
Image shield	Ncc logo (1).gif
Pushpin map	Kenya
Map caption	Location of Nairobi
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	KE
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision type1	Region
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name
Subdivision name1	Nairobi region
Subdivision name2	Nairobi County
Established title	Founded
Established date	1899
Parts type	Constituencies of Nairobi
P1	Makadara
P2	Kamukunji
P3	Starehe
P4	Langata
P5	Dagoretti
P6	Westlands
P7	Kasarani
P8	Embakasi
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Cllr. George Aladwa, interim Mayor
Area total km2	696
Population as of	2009
Population note
Population total	3,138,295
Population density km2	4509
Population demonym	Nairobian
Area code	020
Twin1	Denver, Colorado
Twin1 country	USA
Timezone	EAT
Utc offset	+3
Elevation ft	5450
Elevation m	1661
Website	http://www.nairobicity.go.ke }}

Nairobi () is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nyirobi'', which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs. The people of Nairobi are popularly nicknamed 'Nairobians'.

Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.

Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 2009 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 3,138,295 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 12th largest city in Africa, including the population of its suburbs.

Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to thousands of Kenyan businesses and over 100 major international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the main coordinating and headquarters for the UN in Africa & Middle East, the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa and second oldest exchange.It is ranked 4th in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. The Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.

History

The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as ''Enkare Nairobi'', meaning "place of cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.

In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.

Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality. In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:

The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them. After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.

After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.

The United States Embassy, then located in downtown Nairobi, was bombed in August, 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.

Geography

The city is located at and occupies .

Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong Hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.

The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi County. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure. Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters at Gigiri suburb in the north, a distance of about . The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the , Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.

Climate

At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Köppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year is from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .

There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.

Districts and Neighborhoods

Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west and north-central of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided during the colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Spring Valley, Loresho, Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Hurlingham, Runda, Kitisuru, Nyari, Kyuna, Lower Kabete, Westlands and Highridge, although Kangemi, Kawangware and Dagoretti are lower income areas close to these affluent suburbs. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most lower-middle and upper middle income neighborhoods are located in the north-central areas such as Highridge, Parklands, Ngara, Pangani and areas to the southwest and southeast of the metropolitan area near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The most notable ones include Avenue Park, Fedha, Pipeline, Donholm, Greenfields, Nyayo, Taasia, Baraka, Nairobi West, Madaraka, Siwaka, South B, South C, Mugoya, Riverbank, Hazina, Buru Buru, Uhuru, Harambee Civil Servants', Akiba, Kimathi, Pioneer, and Koma Rock to the center-east and Kasarani to northeast area among others. The low and lower income estates are located mainly in far eastern Nairobi. These include, Umoja, Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Kitengela suburb, though located further southeast, Ongata Rongai and Kiserian further southwest and Ngong /Embulbul suburbs to the far west are considered part of the Greater Nairobi Metropolitan area . Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".

Parks and gardens

Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. Much of the city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (''Freedom'' in Swahili language) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted the 62-storey headquarters of his party, the Kenya African National Union, situated in the park. However, the park was saved following a campaign by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Nairobi Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.

Administrative divisions

The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative County/Region.

The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan regions. The county is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into "districts" until 2007, when three districts were created.In 2010,along with the new constitution,Nairobi was renamed a County.

Nairobi County has eight constituencies. Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.

Divisions

thumb|Co-operative Bank of Kenya headquartersNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen and Langata.

Division	! Locations
! Central
! Dagoretti	Kawangware Kenyatta/Golf Club Mutuini Riruta Uthiru/Ruthmitu Waithaka
! Embakasi
! Kasarani
! Kibera	Karen Kibera Laini Saba Langata Mugumoini Nairobi West Sera Ngombe
! Makadara	Makadara Makongeni Maringo [[Mukuru Nyayo
! Pumwani	Bahati Eastleigh North Eastleigh South Kamukunji Pumwani
! Westlands	Highridge Kangemi Kilimani Kitisuru Lavington, Nairobi

Economy

Nairobi is home to the [[Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).

Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organizations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca-Cola, Airtel and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.

Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.

Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.

Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.

Central business district and skyline

Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.

A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.

In 2011, the city was considered to be about 4 million residents. A large beautification project took place in the Central Business District, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.

Nairobi downtown area or central business district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.

Upper Hill

Today, many businesses are considering relocating and /or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District area. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is located, approximately from the Central Business District and Westlands, which is also about the same distance, away from the city centre.

Companies that have moved from the Central Business District to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca-Cola began construction of their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill at Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the Central Business District. The International Finance Corporation - part of the World Bank Group focused on private sector development - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.

To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a company from the Middle East interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.

{| style="background:none;"

See also:List of tallest buildings in Nairobi

|+ Nairobi's tallest skyscrapers | Times Tower || | Teleposta Towers || | Kenyatta International Conference Centre || | NSSF Building || | I&M Bank Tower || | Government Office Conference Hall || | Nyayo House || | Rahimtulla Tower || |}

Society and culture

Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.

By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and parts of, what is now, Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.

Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.

Nairobi has three informal nicknames. The first is ''"The Green City in the Sun"'', which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the ''"Safari Capital of the World"'', which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism. The third is "Nairobbery", due to the high crime rate.

There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walks of life, mostly for their theatres.

Literature and film

thumb|Nairobi Cinema''Kwani?'' is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.

Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.

Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is ''Out of Africa''. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).

In 1985, ''Out of Africa'' was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.

Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.

Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was ''The Constant Gardener'' (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.

Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up until the early 90s there were only a few film theatres and the repertoire was limited. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.

Music

Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.

In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success. Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.

More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip-hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua Cali, Nonini and Nameless. Record labels include Ogopa DJs and Calif Records.

Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi include Wyclef Jean, Shaggy, Akon, Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder, Alaine, Ja Rule and Morgan Heritage.

Sport

Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi and generally in Kenya is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.

Coca-Cola National Stadium formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000. This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.

Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.

Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.

There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi. The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya.

Tourism

Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions, giraffes, and black rhinos. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi Safari Walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi National Park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.

Nairobi is home to several museums, sites and monuments. The Nairobi National Museum is the country's National Museum and largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts portraying Kenya's rich heritage through history, nature, culture and contemporary art. It also includes the full remains of a homo erectus popularly known as the Turkana boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Gallery, Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum located in the affluent Karen suburb. Uhuru Gardens, a national monument and the largest memorial park in Kenya, is also the place where the first Kenyan flag was raised at independence. It is located along Langata road near the Wilson Airport.

Nairobi is nicknamed the ''Safari Capital of the World'', and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency Hotel), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, Nairobi Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel. Other newer ones nearing completion include the Crowne Plaza Hotel Nairobi in Upper Hill area, and others located along Mombasa Highway.

Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Hotel's Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people.

Shopping malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre (Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall (Westlands), ABC Place (Westlands), The Village Market (Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre (Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza (Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre (Karen), and T-Mall (Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores throughout the city.

The Nairobi Java House is a popular coffee house and restaurant chain with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's Mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre and the Nairobi National Museum.

Places of interest

Transport

Airports

Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. Recently, the airport was upgraded by the world aviation regulatory body, ICAO, and major plans are underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic and to cater for direct flights to far flung destinations such as the United States and Canada. Also, a debate is underway in government for a plan to add add a second runway at the airport. However, this idea has not yet been ratified and approved by the Cabinet of the Kenya government.

Wilson Airport is a smaller and busy general aviation airport located in a south-central suburb of Nairobi. It handles small aircraft that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East, Central and North-east African destinations.

Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.

Matatu

Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi. Matatus, which technically means, "thirty cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus, and matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes, as owners would paint their matatu with various colorful decorations, such as their favourite football team or hip hop artist. More recently, some have even painted Barack Obama's face on their vehicle. They are notorious for their poor safety records, which are a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers are pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximize profits for their operator. Due to the intense competition between matutus, many are equipped with powerful sound systems and television screens in order to attract more customers.

However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to . In December 2010, the Government embarked on a policy to phase out matatus as a means of public transport. Consequently no new matatus are licensed to operate from January 2011 while the current ones will be allowed to live out their lifespan.

Buses

Buses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M buses are painted purple while the KBS buses are painted blue.

Companies such as; Easy Coach, Akamba, Crown Bus, Coast Bus, Modern Coast, Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash Poa run scheduled buses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.

Smartbus

Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates buses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus.

Trains

Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated at Nairobi railway station, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines. This proposal was passed early January and there will be construction for the first commuter light rail project north of Sub-Saharan Africa. rail link to the airport is planned. Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.

Taxi

Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and buses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.

Roads

Nairobi is served by highways that link Mombasa to Kampala (Uganda), Arusha (Tanzania). These are earmarked to ease the daily motor traffic within and surrounding the metro area. However, driving in Nairobi is chaotic. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.

Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A104) etc.

Nairobi is currently undergoing major road constructions in order to update its infrastructure network. The new systems of roads, flyovers and bridges would cut outrageous traffic levels caused the inability of the current infrastructure to cope with the soaring economic growth in the past few years. It is also a major component of Kenya's Vision 2030 and Nairobi Metropolis plans. Most roads now, though are well lit and surfaced with adequate signage.

Media

Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the ''Daily Nation'' and ''The Standard''. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. There are also a number of prominent radio stations located in Kenya's capital including KISS 100, Capital FM, East FM, Kameme FM, Metro FM and Family FM among others.

Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.

Housing

There is wide variety regarding standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are average and poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.

Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). The slums cover two square kilometres and are on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being ''The Constant Gardener''.

Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.

Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.

To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is ''Greenpark'', at Athi River town, from Nairobi's Central Business District. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed to families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most of the city's middle class and includes South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock, Donholm, , and others.

Population

Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 4.1%. It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2025.

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These data fit remarkably closely (r^2 = 0.9994) to a logistic curve with t(0) = 1900, P(0)=8500, r = 0.059 and K = 8 000 000. This suggests a current (2011) growth rate of 3.5% (the CIA estimate of 4.5% cited above would have been true in 2005). According to this curve, the population of the city will reach 5 million in 2025, and will be below 4 million in 2015.

Kibera Slum

The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 170,000 people, was thought to be Africa's second largest slum. However recent census results have shown that Kibera is indeed much smaller than originally thought.

Most of Kibera slum residents live in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. Persons living with HIV in the slum are many, as are AIDS cases. Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. Clean water is scarce and therefore diseases caused by related poor hygiene are prevalent. A great majority of people living in the slum lack access to healthcare.

The Government is addressing the problem, having initiated a programme to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartments, and relocating the residents to these new buildings upon completion. The apartments are being built in phases in line with the Government's budgetary allocations, and a few apartments in phase 1 of the project have already been occupied.

Crime

Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most crimes, however, occur around the poor neighbourhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.

In 2006, crime decreased in the city, due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.

Education

The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.

Higher Education

Nairobi is home to several universities.

The University of Nairobi is the largest and oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students. Kenyatta University is situated from Nairobi on the Nairobi – Thika dual carriageway on 1100 acres of land. The university was chartered in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine, environmental studies, engineering, law, business, agriculture and economics. It has a student body of about 32,000 the bulk of whom (17,000) are in the main (Kahawa) campus. Currently it is one of the fastest growing public universities.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is a public university near Nairobi, Kenya. It is situated in Juja, 36 kilometres northeast of Nairobi, along Nairobi-Thika Highway. It offers courses in Agriculture, Engineering, Science, Architecture and Building sciences. The university has a strong research interest in the areas of biotechnology and engineering.

Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.

United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya. It is located in a quiet west side location of Kasarani area north-central Nairobi opposite the Safari Park Hotel.

Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.

In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a health sciences teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.

The University of Eastern Africa, Baraton (UEAB), located in Eldoret Kenya. It offers various degrees in a number of graduate and undergraduate programs in the fields of Business, the Humanities, Agriculture, Technology, Health Sciences and Education. Baraton University was the first private University to receive a Charter granted by the republic of Kenya on March 28, 1991. The University is also a member of the Inter-University Council for East Africa, The Association of Commonwealth Universities, and the Association of African Universities.

The Catholic University of Eastern Africa located in Langata suburb, obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.

The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.

Sister cities

Denver, Colorado (1975)

Image gallery

See also

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

References

External links

The City Council of Nairobi (official website)

National Museums of Kenya (official website)

The Nairobi Social Audit Report

; News

Daily Nation

The Standard

; Travel

NairobiKenya.com

Category:Provincial capitals in Kenya Category:Capitals in Africa Category:Populated places established in 1899 Category:Provinces of Kenya Category:Populated places in Nairobi Province

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name	Jim Cramer
birth date	February 10, 1955
birth place	Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, U.S.
birth name	James J. Cramer
occupation	Television personality, author
years active	1978–present
networth	US$50–100 million, as of October 2005 (self-proclaimed)
known for	Hosting ''Mad Money''Chairman of TheStreet.com, Inc.
residence	Summit, New Jersey
alma mater	Harvard College (B.A.)Harvard Law School (J.D.) }}

James "Jim" J. Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality, a former hedge fund manager, and a best-selling author. Cramer is the host of CNBC's ''Mad Money'' and a co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com, Inc.

Family

Cramer married Karen Backfisch-Olufsen, a trader with Steinhardt's firm in 1988, and lives in Summit, New Jersey.

Early years

Cramer was born to Jewish parents in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. One of his first jobs was selling ice cream at Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Phillies games. Cramer went to Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County.

Biography

Education and early career

Cramer graduated ''magna cum laude'' from Harvard College with a B.A. in government.

He began his involvement with journalism in college, working for ''The Harvard Crimson'', and rising to become its president. After graduation, Cramer worked in several entry-level reporting jobs. Dating back to March 1, 1978, Cramer worked for the ''Tallahassee Democrat'' in Tallahassee, Florida, where he covered the Ted Bundy murders. The then-executive editor, Richard Oppel, says "[Cramer] was like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story." He then worked as a journalist for ''The Los Angeles Herald Examiner''. Around this time, his apartment was robbed by a stalker and he was left with nothing more than his car and the things in it; he lived out of it for about nine months. He also worked for Governor Jerry Brown.

Cramer was one of the first reporters at ''American Lawyer''. Cramer later earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. During his years at Harvard Law School, Cramer worked as a research assistant for Alan Dershowitz. He assisted Dershowitz's campaign to acquit alleged murderer Claus von Bülow despite the fact that Cramer admitted to himself that von Bülow was "supremely guilty". His plans to become a prosecutor were dashed when he was denied employment with the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, headed at the time by Rudy Giuliani, because his law school grades were not good enough. Cramer was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985, but his Bar status is currently listed as "suspended."

Investing

Cramer started investing in the stock market during his time at law school. Cramer began promoting his holdings by leaving stock picks on his answering machine, impressing ''The New Republic'' owner Martin Peretz, who gave him $500,000 to invest; Cramer earned Peretz $150,000 in two years.

His track record helped Cramer obtain employment in 1984 as a stock broker with Goldman Sachs' Private Wealth Management division. Cramer's success in this position led him to found his own hedge fund, Cramer & Co. (later Cramer, Berkowitz, & Co.), in 1987. The fund operated out of the offices of hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt's Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and early investors included Eliot Spitzer (a Harvard classmate, one of his oldest friends, and former Governor of New York), Brill, and Peretz.

During Cramer's tenure of the fund, from 1988–2000, he had one year of negative returns, in 1998, the year of the 1998 Russian financial crisis. It finished down 2–3% for the year, and did not charge a management fee that year to their clients. The following year in 1999 the fund returned 47%, and in 2000 28%, beating the S&P 500 by 38 percentage points. Cramer retired from his hedge fund in 2001, finishing with a 24% average annual return over 14 years and having "routinely [taken] home $10 million a year and more." The fund was taken over by his former partner Jeff Berkowitz after Cramer's retirement. During that time, he was also an "editor at large" for Smart Money magazine, and was accused of unethically combining his investing and reporting activities when he bought more of stocks that he recommended just before the recommendation article came out, contributing to a $2 million personal gain.

In 1996, Cramer co-founded TheStreet.com, Inc. with ''The New Republic'' editor Martin Peretz, one of his hedge fund's original clients. Cramer is currently a market commentator and adviser to the TheStreet.com, and is its second largest shareholder. Cramer also manages a charitable trust stock portfolio which is tied to TheStreet.com through a paid subscription service called the Action Alerts ''PLUS'' Portfolio.

Cramer currently works on a new project as part of TheStreet.com called MainStreet.com. An earlier project, TheRoad.com, was not successful.

Cramer claimed to be worth $50 to $100 million in October 2005. In 2009, Cramer received earnings of $461,276 from TheStreet.com.

Television personality

The cable television program ''Mad Money with Jim Cramer'' first aired on CNBC in 2005. According to CNBC's Web site in an article titled, "Mad Money Manifesto" by Jim Cramer, the show's mission statement and Cramer's job

"...is not to tell you what to think, but to teach you how to think about the market like a pro. This show is not about picking stocks. It's not about giving you tips that will make you money overnight – tips are for waiters. Our mission is educational, to teach you how to analyze stocks and the market through the prism of events."

To provide viewers with "the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to be a better investor," ''Mad Money'' features many segments, including: The ''Lightning Round'', ''Game Plan'', ''Execution Decision'', ''Off the Charts'', ''Sell Block'', ''Market Marshmallows'', ''Outrage of the Day'', ''Mad Bull Disease'', ''Am I Diversified'', and ''Mad Mail''.

After being a frequent guest commentator on CNBC in the late 1990s, Cramer co-hosted CNBC shows ''America Now'' and ''Kudlow & Cramer'' with Lawrence Kudlow in the early 2000s.

Cramer hosted a one-hour radio show, ''Jim Cramer's Real Money'', until December 2006. "Take the money and run" by the Steve Miller Band was the opening intro to each of his radio shows. The show was similar to his ''Mad Money'' TV show. He also guest-hosted in the slot caused by the cancellation of ''Imus in the Morning'' (MSNBC and WFAN/Westwood One) in May 2007.

On November 13, 2005, Dan Rather did a sit-down interview with Cramer on ''60 Minutes''. Among the topics of discussion were Cramer's past at his hedge fund; for example, his violent temper, and what finally led him to come to his senses and "calm down." Footage of Cramer at his family home with his daughters and wife was also included. On November 15, 2005, Cramer mentioned on his program that he received hundreds of e-mails after his ''60 Minutes'' interview. This report was taped before Cramer's radio show, ''Smart Money with Jim Cramer'' moved to WOR and became syndicated under the CBS Radio banner.

In 2005, Cramer appeared as himself in two episodes of the television series ''Arrested Development''. He appeared to first announce that he had upgraded Bluth Company stock to a "Don't Buy" from a "Triple Sell", and then to say that the stock was not a "Don't Buy" anymore, but a "Risky".

Cramer has also made appearances on NBC's ''Today'', ''NBC Nightly News'', ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', ESPN Classic's ''Cheap Seats'', NBC's ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'', Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ABC's ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' and NBC's ''The Apprentice (U.S. Season 7)'' called "The Celebrity Apprentice".

Cramer also appeared in the 2008 motion picture ''Iron Man'' spoofing Stark Industries on his show ''Mad Money''. and appears in the movie ''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''. He also claims to have consulted for the original Wall Street movie by telling the filmmakers how he would get through to Gordon Gekko.

On March 12, 2009, Jon Stewart interviewed Cramer on The Daily Show.

On November 3, 2009, Cramer appeared on the ''Martha Stewart'' Show to promote his new book,''Getting Back to Even''. While baking wholewheat bread, he stated that it is a great time to invest in real estate and that he has recently purchased the Debary Inn in Summit, NJ.

In 2010, Cramer spent Passover in Israel. He is an active member of the Jewish Community and strong supporter of Israel. “Israel is a democracy, one of the great democracies of all time,” Cramer said.

As of March 2011, Cramer recommends gold, "I think you can see $1,550 (an ounce) very quickly and $2,000 within the next 18 months. I think between 10 and 20 percent of your portfolio should be gold."

Selected controversies

Fox News Channel lawsuit

In 2000, Cramer settled a lawsuit with Fox News Channel in which Fox had claimed Cramer reneged on a deal to produce a show for them. Their conflict began when Fox complained that Cramer promoted TheStreet.com's stock on the air.

Market manipulation

In March 2007, a December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" webcast stirred controversy after it appeared on YouTube.com. In the video, Cramer described activities used by hedge fund managers to manipulate stock prices – some of debatable legality and others illegal. He described how he could push stocks higher or lower with as little as $5 million in capital when he was running his hedge fund. Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund...When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures." He also encouraged hedge funds to engage in this type of activity because it is "a very quick way to make money".

Cramer stated that everything he did was legal, but that illegal activity is common in the hedge fund industry as well. He also stated that some hedge fund managers spread false rumors to drive a stock down: "What's important when you are in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view, that it's important to create a new truth, to develop a fiction." Cramer described a variety of tactics that hedge fund managers use to affect a stock's price. Cramer said that one strategy to keep a stock price down is to spread false rumors to reporters he described as "the Pisanis of the world". The comment was a reference to CNBC correspondent Bob Pisani, who reports from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. "You have to use these guys," said Cramer. He also discussed giving information to "the bozo reporter from The Wall Street Journal" to get an article published. Cramer said this practice, although illegal, is easy to do "because the SEC doesn't understand it." During the interview Cramer referred to himself as a "banking class hero."

SEC subpoena

In February 2006, an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into allegations of collusion between short-sellers and a stock research firm led to the serving of subpoenas to TheStreet.com and Cramer, as well as journalists for Dow Jones and Marketwatch.com. The SEC then began to back away from the subpoenas, indicating it had no intention of enforcing them after lawyers for Dow Jones said they would not comply. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox rebuked the SEC's staff attorneys for filing subpoenas on two Dow Jones reporters without first consulting him or the other top commissioners. Cox issued a statement saying neither he nor any of the SEC's four other commissioners were aware of the subpoenas, which he called "highly unusual."

The allegations had been raised publicly and in a lawsuit against Gradient by Overstock.com chief executive Patrick M. Byrne. In May 2007, it was revealed that the SEC had subpoenaed Byrne in May 2006, in connection with an investigation of the company.

Performance of stock picks

Cramer is the founder, former owner and Senior Partner of Cramer Berkowitz, a hedge fund where Cramer reported a compounded annual "rate of return of 24% after all fees for 15 years" at Cramer Berkowitz. He retired from his hedge fund in 2001, where he finished with a self reported 36% return in 2001.

On September 15, 2008, Cramer invited Robert Steel, the CEO of Wachovia on his show, ''Mad Money'', in order to recommend the stock to potential investors. Cramer agreed with the CEO that the company was fundamentally sound and that the ratio of good loans to bad loans was low. Cramer would recommend the stock to his viewers before Citi announced their intentions to acquire Wachovia's banking operations. Cramer stated that Wachovia was part of the "Fortress Five" in relation to having a fortress balance sheet stating "It's now the 'Fortress Five'... thanks to the leadership of Bob Steele, who I believe will be able to split WB into a good bank and a bad bank, and lead it much higher... Now that the stock was up today a couple of smackers... have a little pullback... knowing this market, you're going to get one." On Monday, September 29, Wachovia's share prices dropped over 95% in the pre-market and over 80% in market hours following news of a possible Citi acquisition. Prior to this, Cramer had stated, "This is run by Bob Steel. He's as close as we're going to get to a great banker. I think he's going to make this a great company. " Eventually, Wells Fargo would purchase Wachovia for $15.1 billion in an all stock deal leaving Wachovia shareholders with 0.1991 shares of Wells Fargo for every share of Wachovia stock, resulting in a large decline in stockholder value. In 2008, Wachovia shares declined 88 percent.

On August 3, 2007, Cramer made a plea (some call a rant) for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to cut interest rates supposedly because of comments he was getting from investment banks, and their concern about adjustable-rate mortgage borrowers increasing loan rates.

On July 8, 2008, in an article on TheStreet.com entitled, "Look At The Facts" Cramer said, "The losses are increasing, the auction-rate preferreds are now biting, the mortgage implode-a-meter now measures how many home-builders are going under."

On "Hardball with Chris Matthews" for September 19, 2008, Cramer stated "It's not too late to be on the pom-pom...the sideline" in regards to home teaser loans. Cramer spoke again on the Today Show on October 6, 2008, suggesting to investors, "Whatever money you need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market."

On September 22, 2008, ''Wall Street Journal'' best-selling author Eric Tyson, criticized Cramer's stock picks and his performance in general.

An August 20, 2007, article in Barrons stated that within the select time frame of the previous two years, "his picks haven't beaten the market. Over the past two years, viewers holding Cramer's stocks would be up 12% while the Dow rose 22% and the S&P 500 16%." CNBC disputed the magazine's findings. In a February 9, 2009, story, Barrons further reported that betting against Cramer's Buy recommendations using options in the short term could yield 25% in the initial month.

On September 28, 2009, Cramer told subscribers to buy CIT. One month later the company went bankrupt.

Action Alerts charitable trust

In the timeframe of 2002 until May 2009 the performance of Cramer's charitable trust ''"Action Alerts PLUS"'' outpaced the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000; while the charitable trust accumulated a return of 31.75%, the S&P 500 had a return of 18.75% and the Russell 2000 has a return of 22.51%. On an annual basis, the trust outperformed the S&P 500 by 7.35% and the Russell 2000 Index by 3.33%.

CNBC does not permit Cramer to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on CNBC for the trust for five days following the broadcast. Whenever Cramer is acting within his portfolio or important news about his stocks occur he sends out e-mails to his paying subscribers on TheStreet.com. Whenever mentioning a stock that he holds in his portfolio, he is required to disclose that he owns shares of such company on his CNBC show.

Bear Stearns recommendation

On the March 11, 2008, episode of Cramer's show ''Mad Money'', a viewer named Peter submitted the question "Should I be worried about Bear Stearns in terms of liquidity and get my money out of there?" Cramer responded "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they're more likely to be ''taken over''. Don't move your money from Bear." In other words, the caller wanted to know if it was possible that the liquidity crisis at Bear was so bad, that the viewer would be unable to get his money out of his Bear Stearns account if it went under. On March 17, 2008, Cramer claimed he meant the latter explanation, rather than the previous one. Cramer states he was not recommending the common stock but allaying concerns about the account holder's liquidity held in a Bear Stearns brokerage account. Cramer later wrote about the incident: "I did tell an emailer that his deposit in his account at Bear Stearns was safe, but through a clever sound bite, (Jon) Stewart, and subsequently (Frank) Rich—neither of whom have bothered to listen to the context of the pulled quote—pass off the notion of account safety as an out-and-out buy recommendation. The absurdity astounds me. If you called Mad Money and asked me about Citigroup, I would tell you that the common stock might be worthless, but I would never tell you to pull your money out of the bank because I was worried about its solvency. Your money is safe in Citi as I said it was in Bear. The fact that I was right rankles me even more."

Michael Lewis, a journalist for the U.K.-based Evening Standard news Web site, states that TheStreet.com listed Bear Stearns as a "Buy" at $62 per share on March 11, 2008, which was the same day as the caller's question and a day before the collapse of Bear Stearns. However, TheStreet.com--the web site quote that shows the ratings history for actual changes that Cramer makes—indicates that Cramer changed Bear Stearns rating to a "Sell" on February 5, 2008. On his March 12, 2009 appearance on the Daily Show, Cramer admitted he made mistakes on his Bear Stearns calls.

Cramer's responses to criticism

The White House

On March 2, 2009, Cramer drew the attention of some critics after his evaluation of President Obama’s spending plans and the administration’s handling of the banking crisis. Cramer’s name came up on March 3 during a White House press briefing after Cramer said that Obama was responsible for “the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president.” An offended White House shot back. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "If you turn on a certain program it's geared to a very small audience. I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to make some of the statements." When pressed further by NBC's Tom Costello, Gibbs said, "You can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the backup for those are, too."

On March 5, 2009, Cramer responded to the White House. He said, "Huh? Backup? Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in health care companies, tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people."

Cramer questioned criticism he received which he explained makes him "uncomfortable being in the crosshairs of columnists and comedians I enjoy." Cramer asked, "So, why after toiling in the cable wilderness for four years with Mad Money am I the target of the wrath of the Obama clan, and the darling, albeit surely momentary, of the Obama-critics? After all, my criticism of Obama's handling of the economic crisis is a lot less pointed than my withering August 2007 'They Know Nothing' meltdown against Ben Bernanke and the previous administration's handling of the economic crisis."

Frank Rich

Referring to March 8, 2009, charges leveled against Cramer by ''New York Times'' columnist Frank Rich, Cramer said that he does not understand how Obama and his staff plan to raise taxes, institute cap-and-trade limitations and rework the health-care system all during a recession. The article says: "It isn’t that Cramer disagrees with Obama’s vision for the country – he even agrees with taxing the rich – but now is not the time to put those plans into action. The president needs to solve our housing, employment and financial problems, and only then turn his attention to health care and changing the mortgage deduction."

Jon Stewart

On March 12, 2009, Cramer appeared on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. Stewart reiterated earlier claims regarding the CNBC host's "silly and/or embarrassing and/or stupid financial observations." Moreover, he claimed CNBC shirked its journalistic duty by believing corporate lies, rather than being an investigative "powerful tool of illumination." For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but acknowledged that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse: "We all should have seen it more."

Stewart also discussed how short-selling was detrimental to the markets and investors. Cramer admitted to Stewart that short-selling was detrimental, stated his opposition to it, and claimed that he had never engaged in it, which contradicts earlier statements in which he described going short while managing a hedge fund. In a December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" webcast Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund...When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures." He said, "I will say this: I am trying to expose this stuff, exactly what you guys do, and I've been trying to get the regulators to look at it." However, Stewart played several video clips from 2006 where Cramer discussed the spreading of false rumors to drive down stock prices and encouraged short-selling by hedge funds as a means to generate returns. At one point in a clip from December 22, 2006 he said, "I would encourage anyone in a hedge fund to do it." He called it a very quick way to make money and very satisfying. He continued, "By the way, no one else in the world would ever admit that, but I don't care, and again, I'm not gonna say it on TV." Stewart responded, "I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer." Cramer again admitted that he can do better, and that he should try to change. The interview ended when Stewart pointedly suggested: “Maybe we can remove the ‘financial expert’ and the ‘In Cramer We Trust’ and start getting back to fundamentals on the reporting, as well, and I can go back to making fart noises and funny faces.” Cramer responded: “I think we make that deal right here.”

Response to criticism for his Wachovia call

On March 9, 2009, during a segment on ''Mad Money'', Cramer said Frank Rich "chastised me for endorsing Wachovia's stock after then-CEO Bob Steel came onto Mad Money and spoke positively about the bank." After the bank collapsed, Cramer reminded viewers that he is the first person to admit when wrong. Cramer mentioned, "Look, I was taken in, the guy pantsed me. I made a mistake. The SEC is investigating Steel's appearance on the show for truthfulness, though. I made a mistake, but they're investigating him to see if he lied. Bigger issue. Sometimes you just get had."

Cramer apologized both on ''Mad Money'' and on the ''Today Show'' for promoting Steel.

Response to pundits

"The pundits," Cramer explained on March 9, 2009, in a MainStreet article, "who haven't paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me." Cramer said the pundits "won't engage in the merits of, say, favoring Tier 1 capital for the banks vs. common equity, or forbearing on the banks to work the situation out over time because the banks can be profitable if we have some patience. They just attack me." Cramer suggested, "It's time to get serious. It's time to take the issue from the pundits and from the left and right, and put it where it belongs: serious non-ideological debate to put out the real firestorm, the collapse of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street and the ensuing Great Wealth Destruction for all."

Bibliography

''Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even'' ISBN 978-1439158012

''Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)'' ISBN 978-1416558859

''Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich'' ISBN 1-4165-3790-2

''Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World'' ISBN 0-7432-2489-2

''Confessions of a Street Addict'' ISBN 0-7432-2487-6

''You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper'' ISBN 0-7432-4690-X

Notes

References

External links

Biographies

Jim Cramer biography on CNBC.com

Jim Cramer biography on TheStreet.com

Notable Cramer sources

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer Madcap Recap

Mad Money TV show recapped Nightly Verbatim Recaps

TheStreet.com, Cramer's investment website.

Stockpickr Stock market social networking site.

Articles written by Jim Cramer on MainStreet.com

In the Money, continued, ''Balance Sheet'', article about Cramer and other law alumni, from the online ''Harvard Law Bulletin''

Betting on the Market – PBS Frontline interview with Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer's Picks at Seeking Alpha

''To The Moon''

Maxim: Ask Jim Cramer, Maxim's interview with Cramer, and Top 2 Chinese Stocks Right Now

''Time's'' 100 Most Influential People of 2009 – Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer on the Iraqi Dinar – on DinarProfits.com

Bear Stearns Recommendation

The Bear Stearns Recommendation – on CNBC

Category:1955 births Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American columnists Category:American finance and investment writers Category:American infotainers Category:American investors Category:American Jews Category:American money managers Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television personalities Category:American business journalists Category:Goldman Sachs people Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:The Harvard Crimson people Category:Hedge fund managers Category:Living people Category:New York lawyers Category:People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Summit, New Jersey

ja:ジム・クレイマー uk:Джим Крамер

Name	Bill Clinton
Office	42nd President of the United States
Vicepresident	Al Gore
Term start	January 20, 1993
Term end	January 20, 2001
Predecessor	George H. W. Bush
Successor	George W. Bush
Order2	40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas
Lieutenant2	Winston BryantJim Tucker
Term start2	January 11, 1983
Term end2	December 12, 1992
Predecessor2	Frank White
Successor2	Jim Tucker
Lieutenant3	Joe Purcell
Term start3	January 9, 1979
Term end3	January 19, 1981
Predecessor3	Joe Purcell (Acting)
Successor3	Frank White
Office4	50th Attorney General of Arkansas
Governor4	David PryorJoe Purcell (Acting)
Term start4	January 3, 1977
Term end4	January 9, 1979
Predecessor4	Jim Tucker
Successor4	Steve Clark
Birth date	August 19, 1946
Birth place	Hope, Arkansas, U.S.
Party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Hillary Rodham (m. 1975)
Children	Chelsea (b. 1980)
Alma mater	Georgetown University University College, OxfordYale Law School
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Baptist
Signature	Signature of Bill Clinton.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Website	Clinton Presidential Library }}

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he was Governor of the state of Arkansas. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Some of his policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform, have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance, while on other issues his stance was left-of-center.

Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas where he grew to become both a student leader and a skilled musician. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University where he was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend University College, Oxford. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has served as the United States Secretary of State since January 21, 2009 and was the Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Both Clintons received law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.

As President, Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. The Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus between the years 1998 and 2000, during the last three years of Clinton's presidency. After a failed attempt at health care reform by the Clinton administration, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 1994, for the first time in forty years. Two years later, in 1996, Clinton was re-elected and became the first member of the Democratic Party since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term as president. Later he was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in a scandal involving a White House intern, but was acquitted by the U.S. Senate 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. Since then, he has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. Based on his philanthropic worldview, Clinton created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. In 2004, he released his autobiography ''My Life'', and was involved in his wife Hillary's 2008 presidential campaign and subsequently in that of President Barack Obama. In 2009, he was named United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Clinton teamed with George W. Bush to form the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

Early life and career

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe, III, at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. His mother Virginia Dell Cassidy (1923–1994) traveled to New Orleans to study nursing soon after he was born. She left Bill in Hope with grandparents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and operated a small grocery store. At a time when the Southern United States was racially segregated, Bill's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races. In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton, Sr., who owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas with his brother. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.

Although he assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Billy (as he was known then) turned fourteen that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward his stepfather. Clinton says he remembers his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half brother, Roger Clinton, Jr., to the point where he intervened multiple times with the threat of violence to protect them.

In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. John's Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and Hot Springs High School – where he was an active student leader, avid reader, and musician. Fellow students included the late watercolorist and sculptor, Tonya Bailey. He was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band's saxophone section. He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography ''My Life'':

Clinton has named two influential moments in his life that contributed to his decision to become a public figure, both occurring in 1963. One was his visit as a Boys Nation senator to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy. The other was listening to Martin Luther King's 1963 ''I Have a Dream'' speech, which impressed him enough that he later memorized it.

College and law school years

With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (B.S.) degree in 1968. He spent the summer of 1967, the summer before his senior year, interning for Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright. While in college, he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Clinton was also a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth group affiliated with Freemasonry, but he never became a Freemason. He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band fraternity.

Upon graduation, he won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, though because he had switched programs and had left early for Yale University, he did not receive a degree there. He developed an interest in rugby union, playing at Oxford and later for the Little Rock Rugby club in Arkansas. While at Oxford he also participated in Vietnam War protests, including organizing an October 1969 Moratorium event.

Clinton's political opponents charge that to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War during his college years, he used the political influence of a U.S. Senator, who employed him as an aide. Col. Eugene Holmes, an Army officer who was involved in Clinton's case, issued a notarized statement during the 1992 presidential campaign: "I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator Fullbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to the ROTC program... I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and get a new draft classification." Although legal, Clinton's actions were criticized by conservatives and some Vietnam veterans during his presidential campaign in 1992.

After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1973. In a Yale library in 1971 he met fellow law student Hillary Rodham, who was a year ahead of him. They began dating and soon were inseparable. After only about a month, Clinton proposed to Rodham and postponed his plans to be a coordinator for the McGovern campaign for the 1972 United States presidential election in order to move in with her in California. They later married on October 11, 1975, and their only child, Chelsea, was born on February 27, 1980.

Clinton did eventually move to Texas with Rodham to take a job leading McGovern's effort there in 1972. He spent considerable time in Dallas, at the campaign's local headquarters on Lemmon Avenue, where he had an office. There, Clinton worked with future two-term mayor of Dallas, Ron Kirk, future governor of Texas, Ann Richards, and then unknown television director (and future filmmaker), Steven Spielberg.

Political career 1978–1992

Governor of Arkansas

After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton returned to Arkansas and became a law professor at the University of Arkansas. A year later, he ran for the House of Representatives in 1974. The incumbent, Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt, defeated Clinton in the general election by a 52% to 48% margin. With only minor opposition in the primary and no opposition at all in the general election, Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976.

Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978, having defeated the Republican candidate Lynn Lowe, a farmer from Texarkana. He became the youngest governor in the country at 32. Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called the "Boy Governor", a referrent that continues to be used to refer to him during his gubernatorial era on occasion. He worked on educational reform and Arkansas's roads, with wife Hillary leading a successful committee on urban health care reform. However, his term included an unpopular motor vehicle tax and citizens' anger over the escape of Cuban refugees (from the Mariel boatlift) detained in Fort Chaffee in 1980. Monroe Schwarzlose of Kingsland in Cleveland County, polled 31% of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of 1980. Some suggested Schwarzlose's unexpected voter turnout foreshadowed Clinton's defeat in the general election that year by Republican challenger Frank D. White. As Clinton once joked, he was the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.

Clinton joined friend Bruce Lindsey's Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings. In 1982, he was again elected governor and kept this job for ten years. He helped Arkansas transform its economy and significantly improve the state's educational system. He became a leading figure among the New Democrats. The New Democrats, organized as the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), were a branch of the Democratic Party that called for welfare reform and smaller government, a policy supported by both Democrats and Republicans. He gave the Democratic response to President Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address and served as Chair of the National Governors Association from 1986 to 1987, bringing him to an audience beyond Arkansas. Clinton made economic growth, job creation and educational improvement high priorities. For senior citizens, he removed the sales tax from medications and increased the home property-tax exemption.

In the early 1980s, Clinton made reform of the Arkansas education system a top priority. The Arkansas Education Standards Committee, chaired by Clinton's wife, attorney and Legal Services Corporation chair Hillary Rodham Clinton, succeeded in reforming the education system, transforming it from the worst in the nation into one of the best. Many have considered this the greatest achievement of the Clinton governorship. Clinton and the committee were responsible for state educational improvement programs, notably more spending for schools, rising opportunities for gifted children, an increase in vocational education, raising of teachers' salaries, inclusion of a wider variety of courses, and mandatory teacher testing for aspiring educators. He defeated four Republican candidates for governor: Lowe (1978), White (1982 and 1986), and businessmen Woody Freeman of Jonesboro, (1984) and Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock (1990).

The Clintons' personal and business affairs during the 1980s included transactions that became the basis of the Whitewater investigation that dogged his later presidential administration. After extensive investigation over several years, no indictments were made against the Clintons related to the years in Arkansas.

According to some sources, Clinton was in his early years a death penalty opponent who switched positions. During Clinton's term, Arkansas performed its first executions since 1964 (the death penalty was re-enacted on March 23, 1973). As Governor, he oversaw four executions: one by electric chair and three by lethal injection. Later, as president, Clinton was the first President to pardon a death-row inmate since the federal death penalty was reintroduced in 1988.

Democratic presidential primaries of 1988

In 1987, there was media speculation Clinton would enter the race after then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo declined to run and Democratic front-runner Gary Hart withdrew owing to revelations of marital infidelity. Clinton decided to remain as Arkansas governor (following consideration for the potential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton for governor, initially favored – but ultimately vetoed – by the First Lady). For the nomination, Clinton endorsed Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. He gave the nationally televised opening night address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, which at 33 minutes was criticized for being too long. Presenting himself as a moderate and a member of the New Democrat wing of the Democratic Party, he headed the moderate Democratic Leadership Council in 1990 and 1991.

1992 presidential campaign

In the first primary contest, the Iowa caucus, Clinton finished a distant third to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. During the campaign for the New Hampshire primary, reports of an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers surfaced. As Clinton fell far behind former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas in the New Hampshire polls, following Super Bowl XXVI, Clinton and his wife Hillary went on ''60 Minutes'' to rebuff the charges. Their television appearance was a calculated risk, but Clinton regained several delegates. He finished second to Tsongas in the New Hampshire primary, but after trailing badly in the polls and coming within single digits of winning, the media viewed it as a victory. News outlets labeled him "The Comeback Kid" for earning a firm second-place finish.

Winning the big prizes of Florida and Texas and many of the Southern primaries on Super Tuesday gave Clinton a sizable delegate lead. However, former California Governor Jerry Brown was scoring victories and Clinton had yet to win a significant contest outside his native South. With no major Southern state remaining, Clinton targeted New York, which had many delegates. He scored a resounding victory in New York City, shedding his image as a regional candidate. Having been transformed into the consensus candidate, he secured the Democratic Party nomination, finishing with a victory in Jerry Brown's home state of California.

During the campaign, questions of conflict of interest regarding state business and the politically powerful Rose Law Firm, at which Hillary Rodham Clinton was a partner, arose. Clinton argued the questions were moot because all transactions with the state had been deducted before determining Hillary's firm pay. Further concern arose when Bill Clinton announced that, with Hillary, voters would be getting two presidents "for the price of one".

While campaigning for U.S. President, the then Governor Clinton returned to Arkansas to see that Ricky Ray Rector would be executed. After killing a police officer and a civilian, Rector shot himself in the head, leading to what his lawyers said was a state where he could still talk but did not understand the idea of death. According to Arkansas state and Federal law, a seriously mentally impaired inmate cannot be executed. The courts disagreed with the allegation of grave mental impairment and allowed the execution. Clinton's return to Arkansas for the execution was framed in a ''The New York Times'' article as a possible political move to counter "soft on crime" accusations.

Because Bush's approval ratings were in the 80% range during the Gulf War, he was described as unbeatable. However, when Bush compromised with Democrats to try to lower Federal deficits, he reneged on his promise not to raise taxes, hurting his approval rating. Clinton repeatedly condemned Bush for making a promise he failed to keep. By election time, the economy was souring and Bush saw his approval rating plummet to just slightly over 40%. Finally, conservatives were previously united by anti-communism, but with the end of the Cold War, the party lacked a uniting issue. When Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson addressed Christian themes at the Republican National Convention – with Bush criticizing Democrats for omitting God from their platform – many moderates were alienated. Clinton then pointed to his moderate, "New Democrat" record as governor of Arkansas, though some on the more liberal side of the party remained suspicious. Many Democrats who had supported Ronald Reagan and Bush in previous elections switched their support to Clinton. Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore, toured the country during the final weeks of the campaign, shoring up support and pledging a "new beginning".

Clinton won the 1992 presidential election (43.0% of the vote) against Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush (37.4% of the vote) and billionaire populist Ross Perot, who ran as an independent (18.9% of the vote) on a platform focusing on domestic issues; a significant part of Clinton's success was Bush's steep decline in public approval. Clinton's election ended twelve years of Republican rule of the White House and twenty of the previous twenty-four years. The election gave Democrats full control of the United States Congress. It was the first time this had occurred since Democrats controlled the 95th United States Congress during the Jimmy Carter presidency in the late 1970s.

Presidency, 1993–2001

During his presidency, Clinton advocated for a wide variety of legislation and programs, much of which was enacted into law or was implemented by the executive branch. Some of his policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform, have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance, while on other issues his stance was left-of-center. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. The Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus between the years 1998 and 2000, during the last three years of Clinton's presidency. At the end of his presidency, Clinton moved to New York and helped his wife win eleection to the U.S. Senate there.

First term, 1993–1997

Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 on February 5, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. This action had bipartisan support, and proved quite popular with the general public.

On February 15, 1993, Clinton made his first address to the nation, announcing his plan to raise taxes to cap the budget deficit. Two days later, in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, Clinton unveiled his economic plan. The plan focused on reducing the deficit rather than on cutting taxes for the middle class, which had been high on his campaign agenda. Clinton's advisers pressured him to raise taxes on the theory that a smaller federal budget deficit would reduce bond interest rates.

On May 19, 1993, Clinton fired seven employees of the White House Travel Office, causing a controversy even though the Travel Office staff served at the pleasure of the President and could be dismissed without cause. The White House responded to the controversy by claiming the firings were done because of financial improprieties that had been revealed by a brief FBI investigation. Critics contended the firings had been done to allow friends of the Clintons to take over the travel business and that the involvement of the FBI was unwarranted.

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Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 in August of that year, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for fifteen million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses, and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers. Additionally, through the implementation of spending restraints, it mandated the budget be balanced over a number of years.

Clinton made a major speech to Congress regarding a health care reform plan on September 22, 1993, aimed at achieving universal coverage through a national health care plan. This was one of the most prominent items on Clinton's legislative agenda, and resulted from a task force headed by Hillary Clinton. Though at first well received in political circles, it was eventually doomed by well-organized opposition from conservatives, the American Medical Association, and the health insurance industry. However, John F. Harris, a biographer of Clinton's, states the program failed because of a lack of coordination within the White House. Despite the Democratic majority in Congress, the effort to create a national health care system ultimately died when compromise legislation by George J. Mitchell failed to gain a majority of support in August of 1994. It was the first major legislative defeat of Clinton's administration.

In November of 1993, David Hale, the source of criminal allegations against Bill Clinton in the Whitewater affair, alleged that Clinton, while governor of Arkansas, pressured him to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, the partner of the Clintons in the Whitewater land deal. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation did result in convictions against the McDougals for their role in the Whitewater project, but the Clintons themselves were never charged, and Clinton maintains innocence in the affair.

Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law on November 30, 1993, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. He also expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, a subsidy for low-income workers.

In December of that year, allegations by Arkansas state troopers Larry Patterson and Roger Perry were first reported by David Brock in the American Spectator. Later known as Troopergate, the allegations by these men were that they arranged sexual liaisons for Bill Clinton back when he was governor of Arkansas. The story mentioned a woman named ''Paula'', a reference to Paula Jones. Brock later apologized to Clinton, saying the article was politically motivated "bad journalism" and that "the troopers were greedy and had slimy motives."

That same month, Clinton implementing a Department of Defense directive known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", which allowed gay men and women to serve in the armed services provided they kept their sexuality a secret, and forbade the military from inquiring about an individual's sexual orientation. This move garnered criticism from the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and from the right (who opposed any effort to allow gays to serve). Some gay-rights advocates criticized Clinton for not going far enough and accused him of making his campaign promise to get votes and contributions. Their position was that Clinton should have integrated the military by executive order, noting that President Harry Truman used executive order to racially desegregate the armed forces. Clinton's defenders argue that an executive order might have prompted the Senate to write the exclusion of gays into law, potentially making it harder to integrate the military in the future. Later in his presidency, in 1999, Clinton criticized the way the policy was implemented, saying he did not think any serious person could say it was not "out of whack."

On January 1, 1994, Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law. Througout his first year in office, Clinton consistently supported ratification of the treaty by the U.S. Senate. Clinton and most of his allies in the Democratic Leadership Committee strongly supported free trade measures; there remained, however, strong disagreement within the party. Opposition came chiefly from anti-trade Republicans, protectionist Democrats and supporters of Ross Perot. The bill passed the house with 234 votes against 200 opposed (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor; 156 Democrats, 43 Republicans, and 1 independent against). The treaty was then ratified by the Senate and signed into law by the President.

Clinton's 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill made many changes to U.S. law, including the expansion of the death penalty to include crimes not resulting in death, such as running a large-scale drug enterprise. During Clinton's re-election campaign he said, "My 1994 crime bill expanded the death penalty for drug kingpins, murderers of federal law enforcement officers, and nearly 60 additional categories of violent felons."

The Clinton administration also launched the first official White House website, whitehouse.gov, on October 21, 1994. It was followed by three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000. The White House website was part of a wider movement of the Clinton administration toward web-based communication. According to Robert Longley, "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On July 17, 1996, Clinton issued Executive Order 13011 - Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to utilize information technology fully to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public."

After two years of Democratic Party control, the Democrats lost control of Congress in the mid-term elections in 1994, for the first time in forty years.

Law professor Ken Gromley's book ''The Death of American Virtue'' reveals that Clinton escaped a 1996 assassination attempt in the Philippines by terrorists working for Osama bin Laden. During his visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila in 1996, he was saved shortly before his car was due to drive over a bridge where a bomb had been planted. Gromley said he was told the details of the bomb plot by Louis Merletti, a former director of the Secret Service. Clinton was scheduled to visit a local politician in central Manila, when secret service officers intercepted a message suggesting that an attack was imminent. A transmission used the words "bridge" and "wedding", supposedly a terrorist's code words for assassination. The motorcade was re-routed and the US agents later discovered a bomb planted under the bridge. The report said the subsequent US investigation into the plot "revealed that it was masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden". Gromley said, "It remained top secret except to select members of the US intelligence community. At the time, there were media reports about the discovery of two bombs, one at Manila airport and another at the venue for the leaders' meeting".

The White House FBI files controversy of June 1996 arose concerning improper access by the White House to FBI security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone, head of the White House Office of Personnel Security, improperly requested, and received from the FBI, background report files without asking permission of the subject individuals; many of these were employees of former Republican administrations. In March 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray determined that there was no credible evidence of any crime. Ray's report further stated, "there was no substantial and credible evidence that any senior White House official was involved" in seeking the files.

As part of a 1996 initiative to curb illegal immigration, Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) on September 30, 1996. Appointed by Clinton, the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800,000 people a year to about 550,000.

The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to influence the domestic policies of the United States, before and during the Clinton administration, and involved the fundraising practices of the administration itself. The Chinese government denied all accusations.

Second term, 1997–2001

In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2% of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (40.7% of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4% of the popular vote), becoming the first Democratic incumbent since Lyndon Johnson to be elected to a second term and the first Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to be elected President more than once. The Republicans lost a few seats in the House and gained a few in the Senate, but retained control of both houses of the 105th United States Congress. Clinton received 379, or over 70% of the Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.

An the January 1997 State of the Union address, Clinton proposed a new initiative to provide coverage to up to five million children. Senators Ted Kennedy – a Democrat – and Orrin Hatch – a Republican – teamed up with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her staff in 1997, and succeeded in passing legislation forming the Children's Health Insurance Program, the largest (successful) health care reform in the years of the Clinton Presidency. That year, Hillary Clinton shepherded through Congress the Adoption and Safe Families Act and two years later she succeeded in helping pass the Foster Care Independence Act.

In a lame-duck session of Congress after the 1998 elections, the House voted to impeach Clinton, based on the results of the Lewinsky scandal. This made Clinton only the second U.S. president to be impeached (the first being Andrew Johnson). Impeachment procedings were based on allegations that Clinton had lied about his relationship with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky in a sworn deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit. After the Starr Report was submitted to the House providing what it termed "substantial and credible information that President Clinton Committed Acts that May Constitute Grounds for an Impeachment", the House began impeachment hearings against Clinton before the mid-term elections. Although the mid-term elections held in November 1998 were at the 6-year point in an 8-year presidency (a time in the electoral cycle where the party holding the White House usually loses Congressional seats), the Democratic Party gained several seats. To hold impeachment proceedings, the Republican leadership called a lame-duck session in December 1998.

While the House Judiciary Committee hearings ended in a straight party-line vote, there was lively debate on the House floor. The two charges passed in the House (largely with Republican support, but with a handful of Democratic votes as well) were for perjury and obstruction of justice. The perjury charge arose from Clinton's testimony about his relationship to Lewinsky during a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. The obstruction charge was based on his actions during the subsequent investigation of that testimony.

The Senate later voted to acquit Clinton on both charges. The Senate refused to meet to hold an impeachment trial before the end of the old term, so the trial was held over until the next Congress. Clinton was represented by Washington law firm Williams & Connolly. The Senate finished a twenty-one-day trial on February 12, 1999, with the vote on both counts falling short of the Constitutional two-thirds majority requirement to convict and remove an officeholder. The final vote was generally along party lines, with no Democrats voting guilty, and only a handful of Republicans voting not guilty.

Clinton controversially issued 141 pardons and 36 commutations on his last day in office on January 20, 2001. Most of the controversy surrounded Marc Rich and allegations that Hillary Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, accepted payments in return for influencing the president's decision-making regarding the pardons. Some of Clinton's pardons remain a point of controversy.

Military and foreign events

Many military events occurred during Clinton's presidency. The Battle of Mogadishu also occurred in Somalia in 1993. During the operation, two U.S. helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenade attacks to their tail rotors, trapping soldiers behind enemy lines. This resulted in an urban battle that killed 18 American soldiers, wounded 73 others, and one was taken prisoner. There were many more Somali casualties. Some of the American bodies were dragged through the streets – a spectacle broadcast on television news programs. In response, U.S. forces were withdrawn from Somalia and later conflicts were approached with fewer soldiers on the ground.

In 1995, U.S. and NATO aircraft attacked Bosnian Serb targets to halt attacks on U.N. safe zones and to pressure them into a peace accord. Clinton deployed U.S. peacekeepers to Bosnia in late 1995, to uphold the subsequent Dayton Agreement.

Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government from the presidency of Bill Clinton until bin Laden's death in 2011. It has been asserted by Mansoor Ijaz that in 1996 while the Clinton Administration had begun pursuit of the policy, the Sudanese government allegedly offered to arrest and extradite Bin Laden as well as to provide the United States detailed intelligence information about growing militant organizations in the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas, and that U.S. authorities allegedly rejected each offer, despite knowing of bin Laden's involvement in bombings on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. However, the 9/11 Commission found that although "former Sudanese officials claim that Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to the United States", "we have not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim." In 1998, two years after the warning, the Clinton administration ordered several military missions to capture or kill bin Laden that failed.

In response to the 1998 al-Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed a dozen Americans and hundreds of Africans, Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. First was a Sudanese Pharmecutical company suspected of assisting Osama Bin Laden in making chemical weapons. The second was Bin Laden's terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Clinton was subsequently criticized when it turned out that a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan (originally alleged to be a chemical warfare plant) had been destroyed.

To stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Albanians by nationalist Serbians in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's province of Kosovo, Clinton authorized the use of American troops in a NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, named Operation Allied Force. General Wesley Clark was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and oversaw the mission. With United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, the bombing campaign ended on June 10, 1999. The resolution placed Kosovo under UN administration and authorized a peacekeeping force. NATO announced that its forces had suffered zero combat deaths, and two deaths from an Apache helicopter crash. Opinions in the popular press criticized pre-war genocide statements by the Clinton administration as greatly exaggerated. A U.N. Court ruled genocide did not take place, but recognized, "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments". The term "ethnic cleansing" was used as an alternative to "genocide" to denote not just ethnically motivated murder but also displacement, though critics charge there is no difference. Slobodan Milošević, the President of Yugoslavia at the time, was eventually charged with the "murders of about 600 individually identified ethnic Albanians" and "crimes against humanity."

In Clinton's 1998 State of the Union Address, he warned Congress of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's possible pursuit of nuclear weapons: }}

To weaken Saddam Hussein's grip of power, Clinton signed H.R. 4655 into law on October 31, 1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq, though it explicitly stated it did not speak to the use of American military forces. The administration then launched a four-day bombing campaign named Operation Desert Fox, lasting from December 16 to December 19, 1998. For the last two years of Clinton's presidency, U.S. aircraft routinely attacked hostile Iraqi anti-air installations inside the Iraqi no-fly zones.

Clinton's November 2000 visit to Vietnam was the first by a U.S. President since the end of the Vietnam War. Clinton remained popular with the public throughout his two terms as President, ending his presidential career with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-term approval rating of any President since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Further, the Clinton administration signed over 270 trade liberalization pacts with other countries during its tenure. On October 10, 2000, Clinton signed into law the U.S.–China Relations Act of 2000, which granted permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) trade status to People's Republic of China. The president asserted that free trade would gradually open China to democratic reform. Clinton also oversaw a boom of the U.S. economy. Under Clinton, the United States had a projected federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.

After initial successes such as the Oslo accords of the early 1990s, Clinton attempted to address the Arab-Israeli conflict. Clinton brought Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat together at Camp David. Following the peace talk failures, Clinton stated Arafat "missed the opportunity" to facilitate a "just and lasting peace." In his autobiography, Clinton blames Arafat for the collapse of the summit. The situation broke down completely with the start of the Second Intifada.

Judicial appointments

Clinton appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg – 1993 Stephen Breyer – 1994

Along with his two Supreme Court appointments, Clinton appointed 66 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 305 judges to the United States district courts. His 373 judicial appointments is second in American history, behind Ronald Reagan's. Clinton also experienced a number of judicial appointment controversies, as 69 nominees to federal judgeships were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. In all, 84% of his nominees were confirmed.

Public opinion

Clinton's job approval rating fluctuated in the 40s and 50s throughout his first term. In his second term, his rating consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s. After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point. He finished with an approval rating of 68%, which matched those of Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era.

As he was leaving office, a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll revealed 45% said they would miss him. While 55% thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life", 68% thought he would be remembered for his "involvement in personal scandal", and 58% answered "No" to the question "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?". Forty-seven percent of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters. The same percentage said he would be remembered as either "outstanding" or "above average" as a president, while 22% said he would be remembered as "below average" or "poor".

The Gallup Organization published a poll in February 2007, asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Clinton came in fourth place, capturing 13% of the vote. In a 2006 Quinnipiac University poll asking respondents to name the best president since World War II, Clinton ranked 3% behind Ronald Reagan to place second with 25% of the vote. However, in the same poll, when respondents were asked to name the worst president since World War II, Clinton placed 1% behind Richard Nixon and 18% behind George W. Bush to come in third with 16% of the vote.

In May 2006, a CNN poll comparing Clinton's job performance with that of his successor, George W. Bush, found that a strong majority of respondents said Clinton outperformed Bush in six different areas questioned. ABC News characterized public consensus on Clinton as, "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics and he's done a heck of a good job." Clinton's 66% Gallup Poll approval rating was also the highest Gallup approval rating of any postwar President leaving office, three points ahead of Reagan.

In March 2010, a Newsmax/Zogby poll asking Americans which of the current living former presidents they think is best equipped to deal with the problems the country faces today, found that a wide margin of respondents would pick Bill Clinton. Clinton received 41% of the vote, while former President George W. Bush received 15%, former President George H. W. Bush received 7%, and former President Jimmy Carter received 5%. Although 26% chose "none", and 5% were not sure, Clinton maintained the highest percentage.

Public image

As the first baby boomer president, Clinton was the first president in a half-century not to have been alive during World War II. Authors Martin Walker and Bob Woodward state Clinton's innovative use of sound bite-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning was a major factor in his high public approval ratings. When Clinton played the saxophone on ''The Arsenio Hall Show'', he was described by some religious conservatives as "the MTV president." Opponents sometimes referred to him as "Slick Willie", a nickname first applied while he was governor of Arkansas and lasting throughout his presidency. Standing at a height of (1.88 m), Clinton is tied with five others as the fourth-tallest president in the nation's history. His folksy manner led him to be nicknamed "Bubba", especially in the Southern U.S.

Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency. In 1998, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison in The New Yorker called Clinton "the first Black president", saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas". Noting that Clinton's sex life was scrutinized more than his career accomplishments, Morrison compared this to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure.

Sexual misconduct allegations

Throughout his career, Clinton has been subject to various allegations of sexual misconduct, though he as only admitted extramarital relationships with Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers. For alleged misconduct during his governorship, Paula Jones brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton while he was president. The case was initially dismissed, but Jones appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During the deposition for the Jones lawsuit, which was held at the White House, Clinton denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky a denial that became the basis for the impeachment charge of perjury. On November 18, 1998, Clinton agreed to an out-of-court settlement, and agreed to pay Jones and her attorneys a sum of $850,000.00. Clinton denies ever engaging in a sexual affair with her. Gennifer Flowers, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Sally Perdue, and Dolly Kyle Browning each have reported having adulterous sexual relations with Clinton during or before his service as governor. Gracen later apologized to Hillary Clinton.

His ability to survive multiple scandals and maintain high approval ratings led to a nickname of "Teflon Bill", in imitation of Ronald Reagan's nickname "Teflon Ron".

Post-presidential career

Bill Clinton continues to be active in public life, giving speeches, fundraising, and founding charitable organizations. Altogether, Clinton has spoken at the last six Democratic National Conventions, dating to 1988.

Activities up until 2008 campaign

In 2002, Clinton warned that pre-emptive military action against Iraq would have unwelcome consequences. In 2005, Clinton criticized the Bush administration for its handling of emissions control, while speaking at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas was dedicated in 2004. Clinton released a best-selling autobiography, ''My Life'' in 2004. In 2007, he released ''Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World'', which also became a bestseller and garnered positive reviews.

In the aftermath of the 2005 Asian tsunami, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Clinton to head a relief effort. After Hurricane Katrina, Clinton joined with fellow former President George H. W. Bush to establish the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund in January of 2005, and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund in October of that year. As part of the tsunami effort, these two ex-presidents appeared in a Super Bowl XXXIX pre-game show, and traveled to the affected areas. They also spoke together at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin in 2007.

Based on his philanthropic worldview, Clinton created the William J. Clinton Foundation to address issues of global importance. This foundation includes the Clinton Foundation HIV and AIDS Initiative (CHAI), which strives to combat that disease, and has worked with the Australian government toward that end. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), begun by the Clinton Foundation in 2005, attempts to address world problems such as global public health, poverty alleviation and religious and ethnic conflict. In 2005, Clinton announced through his foundation an agreement with manufacturers to stop selling sugared drinks in schools. Clinton's foundation joined with the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group in 2006 to improve cooperation among those cities, and he met with foreign leaders to promote this initiative. The foundation has received donations from a number of governments all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East. In 2008, Foundation director Inder Singh announced that deals to reduce the price of anti-malaria drugs by 30% in developing nations. Clinton also spoke in favor of California Proposition 87 on alternative energy, which was voted down.

2008 presidential election

During the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Clinton vigorously advocated on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton. Through speaking engagements and fundraisers, he was able to raise $10 million toward her campaign. Some worried that as an ex-president, he was too active on the trail, too negative to Clinton rival Barack Obama, and alienating his supporters at home and abroad. Many were especially critical of him following his remarks in the South Carolina primary, which Obama won. Later in the 2008 primaries, there was some infighting between Bill and Hillary's staffs, especially in Pennsylvania. Considering Bill's remarks, many thought that he could not rally Hillary supporters behind Obama after Obama won the primary. Such remarks lead to apprehension that the party would be split to the detriment of Obama's election. Fears were allayed August 27, 2008, when Clinton enthusiastically endorsed Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, saying that all his experience as president assures him that Obama is "ready to lead". After Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was over, Bill Clinton continued to raise funds to help pay off her campaign debt.

After the 2008 election

In 2009, Clinton travelled to North Korea on behalf of two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea. Euna Lee and Laura Ling had been imprisoned for illegally entering the country from China. Jimmy Carter had made a similar visit in 1994. After Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Kim issued a pardon.

Since then, Clinton has been assigned a number of other diplomatic missions. He was named United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti in 2009. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Clinton and George W. Bush would coordinate efforts to raise funds for Haiti's recovery. Clinton continues to visit Haiti to witness the inauguration of refugee villages, and to raise funds for victims of the earthquake. In 2010, Clinton announced support of, and delivered the keynote address for, the inauguration of NTR, Ireland's first ever environmental foundation.

Post-presidential health concerns

In September 2004, Clinton received a quadruple bypass surgery. In March 2005, he underwent surgery for a partially-collapsed lung. On February 11, 2010, he was rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City after complaining of chest pains, and had two coronary stents implanted in his heart. It has been widely reported that Clinton has become a vegan for health reasons, but he still occasionally eats fish.

Honors and accolades

Clinton has received many honorary degrees, including Doctorate of Law degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Tulane University, and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Schools have been named for him, and statues do homage him. The Clinton Presidential Center was opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in his honor on December 5, 2001. He has been honored in various other ways, in countries that include the Czech Republic, New Guinea, Germany, and Kosovo. U.S. states where he has been honored include Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and New York. He was presented with the Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 2001.

In 1993, Clinton was selected as Time magazine's "Man of the Year", and again in 1998, along with Ken Starr. From a poll conducted of the American people in December 1999, Clinton was among eighteen included in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th century. He has been honored with a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, a J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, a TED Prize (named for the confluence of technology, entertainment and design), and many other awards and honors.

References

Further reading

Primary sources

Clinton, Bill. (with Al Gore). ''Science in the National Interest.'' Washington, D.C.: The White House, August 1994.

--- (with Al Gore). ''The Climate Change Action Plan.'' Washington, D.C.: The White House, October 1993.

Taylor Branch ''The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President.'' (2009) Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416543336

''Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton.'' Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1994-2002.

S. Daniel Abraham ''Peace is Possible'', foreword by Bill Clinton

Popular books

Peter Baker ''The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton'' (2000) ISBN 0-684-86813-X

James Bovard ''Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years'' (2000) ISBN 0-312-23082-6

Joe Conason and Gene Lyons ''The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton'' (2003) ISBN 0-312-27319-3

Elizabeth Drew ''On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency'' (1994) ISBN 0-671-87147-1

David Gergen ''Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership.'' (2000) ISBN 0-684-82663-1

Nigel Hamilton ''Bill Clinton: An American Journey'' (2003) ISBN 0-375-50610-1

Christopher Hitchens ''No One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton'' (1999) ISBN 1-85984-736-6

Michael Isikoff ''Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story'' (1999) ISBN 0-609-60393-0

Mark Katz ''Clinton and Me: A Real-Life Political Comedy'' (2004) ISBN 978-0-7868-6949-7

David Maraniss ''The Clinton Enigma: A Four and a Half Minute Speech Reveals This President's Entire Life'' (1998) ISBN 0-684-86296-4

Dick Morris with Eileen McGann ''Because He Could'' (2004) ISBN 0-06-078415-6

Richard A. Posner ''An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton'' (1999) ISBN 0-674-00080-3

Mark J. Rozell ''The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government'' (2000) ISBN 0-87840-777-4

Michael Waldman ''POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words That Defined the Clinton Presidency'' (2000) ISBN 0-7432-0020-9

Ivory Tower Publishing Company. Achievements of the Clinton Administration: the Complete Legislative and Executive. (1995) ISBN 0-88032-748-0

Academic studies

Cohen; Jeffrey E. "The Polls: Change and Stability in Public Assessments of Personal Traits, Bill Clinton, 1993–99" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 31, 2001

Cronin, Thomas E. and Michael A. Genovese; "President Clinton and Character Questions" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' Vol. 28, 1998

Davis; John. "The Evolution of American Grand Strategy and the War on Terrorism: Clinton and Bush Perspectives" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 3, 2003

Edwards; George C. "Bill Clinton and His Crisis of Governance" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly,'' Vol. 28, 1998

Fisher; Patrick. "Clinton's Greatest Legislative Achievement? the Success of the 1993 Budget Reconciliation Bill" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 1, 2001

Glad; Betty. "Evaluating Presidential Character" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 28, 1998

William G. Hyland. ''Clinton's World: Remaking American Foreign Policy'' (1999) ISBN 0-275-96396-9

Jewett, Aubrey W. and Marc D. Turetzky; " Stability and Change in President Clinton's Foreign Policy Beliefs, 1993–96" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 28, 1998

Johnson, Fard. "Politics, Propaganda and Public Opinion: The Influence of Race and Class on the 1993–1994 Health Care Reform Debate", 2004. ISBN 1-4116-6345-4

Laham, Nicholas, ''A Lost Cause: Bill Clinton's Campaign for National Health Insurance'' (1996)

Lanoue, David J. and Craig F. Emmert; "Voting in the Glare of the Spotlight: Representatives' Votes on the Impeachment of President Clinton" ''Polity'', Vol. 32, 1999

Maurer; Paul J. "Media Feeding Frenzies: Press Behavior during Two Clinton Scandals" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly,'' Vol. 29, 1999

Nie; Martin A. It's the Environment, Stupid!': Clinton and the Environment" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 27, 1997

O'Connor; Brendon. "Policies, Principles, and Polls: Bill Clinton's Third Way Welfare Politics 1992–1996" ''The Australian Journal of Politics and History'', Vol. 48, 2002

Poveda; Tony G. "Clinton, Crime, and the Justice Department" ''Social Justice'', Vol. 21, 1994

Renshon; Stanley A. ''The Clinton Presidency: Campaigning, Governing, and the Psychology of Leadership'' Westview Press, 1995

Renshon; Stanley A. "The Polls: The Public's Response to the Clinton Scandals, Part 1: Inconsistent Theories, Contradictory Evidence" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 32, 2002

Rushefsky, Mark E. and Kant Patel. ''Politics, Power & Policy Making: The Case of Health Care Reform in the 1990s'' (1998) ISBN 1-56324-956-1

Schantz, Harvey L. ''Politics in an Era of Divided Government: Elections and Governance in the Second Clinton Administration'' (2001) ISBN 0-8153-3583-0

Wattenberg; Martin P. "The Democrats' Decline in the House during the Clinton Presidency: An Analysis of Partisan Swings" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Vol. 29, 1999

Wattier; Mark J. "The Clinton Factor: The Effects of Clinton's Personal Image in 2000 Presidential Primaries and in the General Election" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 4, 2004

Smithers, Luken J. "The Miracle Whip"

External links

;Official

White House biography

Clinton Presidential Materials Project Press releases and speech transcripts from the administration.

Clinton School of Public Service

;Organizations

William J. Clinton Foundation official website

;Books and movies

;Interviews, speeches and statements

Oral History Interview with Bill Clinton from Oral Histories of the American South

President Clinton: The Youtube Interview

Full audio of a number of Clinton speeches via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)

''The Wanderer'' Profile in ''The New Yorker'', September 2006, the most extensive interview post-presidency

;Media coverage

;Other

Extensive essays on Bill Clinton and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs

Armigerous American Presidents Series article from the American Heraldry Society.

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