1950s
When Bill Clinton is 7, his family moves from Hope, Arkansas, to the long-time mob resort of Hot Springs, AR. Here Al Capone is said to have had permanent rights to suite 443 of the Arlington Hotel. Clinton’s stepfather is a gun-brandishing, alcoholic who loses his Buick franchise through mismanagement and his own pilfering. He physically abuses his family, including the young Bill. His mother is a heavy gambler with mob ties. According to FBI and local police officials, his Uncle Raymond — to whom young Bill turns for wisdom and support — is a colorful car dealer, slot machine owner and gambling operator, who thrives on the fault line of criminality (except when his house is firebombed). Uncle Raymond’s gambling operations are franchised by the Marcello organization of New Orleans.
1960s
A federal investigation concludes that Hot Springs has the largest illegal gambling operations in the United States.
Clinton goes to Georgetown University where he finds a mentor in Professor Carroll Quigley. Quigley writes: “That the two political parties should represent opposed ideals and policies. . . is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical . . .The policies that are vital and necessary for America are no longer subjects of significant disagreement, but are disputable only in detail, procedure, priority, or method. ”
Bill Clinton, according to several agency sources interviewed by biographer Roger Morris, works as a CIA informer while briefly and erratically a Rhodes Scholar in England. Although without visible means of support, he travels around Europe and the Soviet Union, staying at the ritziest hotel in Moscow. During this period the US government is using well educated assets such as Clinton as part of Operation Chaos, a major attempt to break student resistance to the war and the draft.
Bill Clinton and his friend Jim McDougal get a job in the office of Senator J. William Fulbright. The Washington Post will later write, “McDougal was interested in making money while Clinton was obsessed with political stature.”
After becoming involved in politics, Wellesley graduate Hillary Rodham orders her senior thesis sealed from public view.
1974
Uncle Raymond gets Bill Clinton a $10,000 loan and provides some free houses from which he can run his campaign for Congress. Raymond’s drinking buddy, druggist and backroom gambling operator, Gabe Crawford, offers his private plane. Clinton loses.
1976
Bill Clinton is elected attorney general of Arkansas.