PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. "BILL" CLINTON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/05/1998 - HFSID 275350

PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. "BILL" CLINTON

The 42nd U.S. President pens this letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller in which he refers to his speech at the 1998 MIT graduation ceremonies, signed in black ink




Autograph Letter Signed: "Bill" in black ink, as 42nd U.S. President. One page. 6¾x8¾. Place: Washington, District of Columbia. Date: June 5, 1998. Written on official White House stationery. Addressed to:  Senator Jay Rockefeller. In full: "Dear Jay, I did my best on the E-rate at MIT. Hope it helps. Sincerely, Bill". Bill Clinton, born William Jefferson Blythe III in Hope, Arkansas in 1946, was Governor of Arkansas (1979-1981, 1983-1992) and the first Democrat reelected President since FDR. The only elected U.S. President to be impeached (Andrew Johnson was impeached, but he had not been elected to the office), on February 12, 1999, President Clinton was acquitted on both articles of impeachment brought against him: charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton's popularity stood at 67% at the end of his trial, however. Obviously, many Americans were willing to overlook his personal failings in an era of peace and prosperity. His accomplishments in office included a waiting period for gun purchases (the Brady Law), the Family and Medical Leave Act, the North American Free Trade Agreement, welfare reform and balancing of the federal budget. Clinton had previously co-written (with Al Gore) Putting People First (1992), and he would publish his successful autobiography, My Life, in 2004. As of 2015, William “Bill” Clinton has appeared 52 times in the cover of TIME Magazine since 1992, sharing the cover with former U.S. President George W. Bush in the July 23rd edition. On June 5, 1998, the date of this letter, President Clinton delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The primary theme of his speech was that the benefits of the Information Age must be extended to all citizens. To pursue this goal, he plugged the "E-rate" mentioned in the letter. He told the graduates: "But it is not enough to connect the classrooms. The services have to be accessed. You may have heard recently about something called the e-rate. It's the most crucial initiative we've launched to help connect our schools, our libraries, and our rural health centers to the Internet. Now some businesses have called on Congress to repeal the initiative. They say our nation cannot afford to provide discounts to these institutions of learning and health by raising a billion dollars or so a year from service charges on telecommunications companies -- something that was agreed to in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both Houses. I say we cannot afford not to have an e-rate. Thousands of poor schools and libraries and rural health centers are in desperate need of discounts. If we really believed that we all belong in the Information Age, then, at this sunlit moment of prosperity, we can't leave anyone behind in the dark. Every one of you who understands this I urge to support the e-rate." On December 18, 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton on two articles of impeachment, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. He was the first elected President to be impeached. (Andrew Johnson had succeeded to the office after President Lincoln's assassination.) The trial in the Senate Chamber, Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding, began on January 7, 1999, the date of this ticket. On February 12, 1999, President Clinton was found not guilty on both counts, 45-55 on the charge of perjury and 50-50 on obstruction of justice. (A two-thirds affirmative vote would have been necessary to remove the President from office.) Matted with unsigned ticket to the Impeachment Trial of the President of the United States. Stamped date of January 7,1999. 5½x2½, to an overall size of 9¼x12¾. Fine condition.