Bill Clinton served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Click through the gallery to look back at moments from his life and career. 
Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas, on August 19, 1946. He is seen here the following year. 
A young Clinton shakes hands with President John F. Kennedy while other American Legion Boys Nation delegates look on during a trip to the White House in 1963. 
In 1974, Clinton ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives seat for Arkansas' Third Congressional District. 
Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas in 1978. He is seen here with civil rights activist Rosa Parks and first lady Rosalynn Carter in July 1979. 
Talk show host Arsenio Hall gestures approvingly as Clinton plays Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxophone during a taping of "The Arsenio Hall Show" in 1992. 
During his 1992 campaign for the presidency, Clinton and his Democratic running mate, Sen. Al Gore, tour a factory in Davenport, Iowa. 
Clinton debates President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate H. Ross Perot (not pictured) at Michigan State University in Lansing, on October 19, 1992. It was their third and final debate. 
From left, Hillary Clinton, Tipper Gore, Bill Clinton and Al Gore celebrate their successful bid for the White House from the Old State House in Little Rock, Arkansas, on November 4, 1992. Clinton won with 43% of the vote to Bush's 37% and Perot's 19%. 
The Clinton's cat, Socks, is photographed outside the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock on November 17, 1992. 
President Ronald Reagan presents Clinton with a jar of red, white and blue jelly beans in Los Angeles on November 27, 1992. Reagan said they kept him from smoking cigarettes. 
Clinton takes his morning jog through the National Mall in Washington on May 8, 1993. 
James Brady, the Reagan administration press secretary who was wounded during the 1981 assassination attempt, watches President Clinton sign the Brady Bill at the White House on November 30, 1993. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, ending a seven-year gun-control battle. 
From left, Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton attend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signing ceremony at the White House on September 14, 1993. 
Clinton calls on a reporter during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on March 24, 1994. The President said he would release his tax returns from the late-1970s to answer questions about his Whitewater investment. Six years later, independent counsel Robert Ray closed the Whitewater investigation, clearing the Clintons of any wrongdoing in the real estate scandal. 
Clinton rides in a 1967 Ford Mustang during a visit to the Charlotte, North Carolina, Motor Speedway on April 17, 1994. 
President Clinton gets a look at the person under the Clinton mask during a visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on September 2, 1996. 
White House intern Monica Lewinsky embraces President Clinton at a Democratic fund-raiser in Washington on October 23, 1996. 
Clinton gives a thumbs up to the first lady after being sworn in for a second term at his inauguration on January 20, 1997. 
Clinton tees off on the first hole at Farm Neck Golf Club during a visit to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts on August 22, 1997. 
Paula Jones, center, arrives at the office of a lawyer representing President Clinton in Washington on January 17, 1998. The former Arkansas state employee filed a federal civil lawsuit in 1994 accusing Clinton of making "persistent and continuous" unwanted sexual advances during a conference in 1991, when he was governor. The President agreed to an $850,000 settlement on November 13, 1998. 
President Clinton speaks about the Monica Lewinsky scandal at the White House on January 26, 1998, as First Lady Hillary Clinton looks on. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," he said. 
Members of the 105th Congress and guests fill the Senate chamber as President Clinton delivers his State of the Union address on January 27, 1998. 
Vice President Gore looks on as Clinton places an "0" on the board showing what the federal deficit will be after unveiling his balanced budget plan for 1999, during a ceremony at the White House on February 2, 1998. The President declared an end to "an era of exploding deficits," sent a $1.73 trillion budget to Congress that promised the first surplus in more than three decades. 
The Clintons, and their daughter Chelsea, center, depart the White House on August 18, 1998, with their dog Buddy on their way to a two-week vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Clinton gave a televised address a day before to the American people from the White House regarding his testimony earlier to a federal grand jury in which he admitted to an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. 
Clinton answers questions from reporters on December 17, 1998, before the start of a meeting with his foreign policy team, including National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, left, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and Vice President Al Gore at the White House. After a December 16 military strike on Iraq, Clinton warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein against threatening his neighbors. Clinton also indicated his determination to complete the operations that continued the next day with renewed bombing of Iraqi sites suspected of housing parts to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. 
The Clintons listen as House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt addresses the nation on December 19, 1998, at the White House after the House of Representatives voted to impeach the President on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to the Lewinsky scandal. A defiant Clinton rejected calls for his resignation following the House vote. 
Clinton pauses while reading a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House after the Senate voted to acquit him on February 12, 1999, in Washington. Clinton apologized for the actions that led to his impeachment, saying he was "profoundly sorry." 
Clinton meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, left and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on July 25, 2000, at Camp David at the end of a Mideast peace summit. The talks ended without an agreement. 
The President hugs Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea after delivering his speech to the Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 
Clinton leaves McDonald's after stopping for a crispy chicken sandwich, fries and a large Diet Coke following his passing of the symbolic torch as the leader of the Democratic Party to vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Gore in Monroe, Michigan, on August 15, 2000. 
Clinton speaks at a New York Senate fund-raiser on October 22, 2000, at the Bonnie Castle Resort in Alexandria Bay, New York. Clinton attended four fundraisers throughout New York state in support of his wife's Senate campaign. 
The former President and his wife pose with new President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush at the North Portico of the White House on January 20, 2001. The Clintons hosted the Bush's for coffee prior to the swearing in of Bush as the 43rd president. 
Clinton and daughter Chelsea wave before boarding his plane at Andrews Air Force Base as he leaves Washington following Bush's inauguration on January 20, 2001. Clinton was heading to his new home in Chappaqua, New York. 
Clinton cheers a group of saxophone players at the conclusion of a rally on July 30, 2001, at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem, New York. Harlem residents welcomed Clinton, who was moving into his new post-presidential office in the building. 
Employees and visitors watch from the balcony as Dr. Craig Smith, lower right, chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery listens to a reporter's question during a briefing about the status of Clinton's condition after quadruple bypass surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital on September 6, 2004. Clinton was hospitalized after suffering chest pains and shortness of breath. Doctors announce that some of Clinton's arteries had been blocked more than 90%. 
(From right) Clinton stands with his wife, daughter, President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter during the inauguration of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, on November 18, 2004. The library and museum includes some 76.8 million pages of paper documents, 1.85 million photographs and over 75,000 artifacts from Clinton's eight years in the White House. 
Clinton gestures as he explains to journalists that the baby being held was born just two days ago at Teureubeuh village refugee camp in Jantho, Indonesia, on May 20, 2005. Clinton visited the Indonesian ground zero of the tsunami disaster on a mission to galvanize the delivery of aid to areas still struggling to recover. Under heavy security, Clinton held talks with United Nations and government reconstruction officials at the main airport in the western province of Aceh, where more than 128,000 people lost their lives in December 2004. 
Clinton visits with Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Reliant Center adjacent to the Astrodome in Houston on September 5, 2005. That same day, former President George H.W. Bush and Clinton announced the formation of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. 
On January 12, 2006, in New York City, Clinton announces that an agreement was reached by the Clinton Foundation that will allow the sale of anti-retroviral drugs Efavirenz and Abacavir, as well as HIV tests, at a lower cost in developing countries. Anti-retroviral drugs and rapid tests were regarded as part of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. 
The former President addresses the Democratic National Convention on August 27, 2008, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Democrats made history on August 27, installing Barack Obama as the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party. A state-by-state roll-call vote was dramatically suspended when Hillary Clinton appeared on the floor of the convention and called for Obama to be nominated by acclamation. 
Journalist Laura Ling speaks in front of Euna Lee, former Vice President Gore and former President Clinton after Ling and Lee arrived in Burbank, California, on August 5, 2009, after being released by North Korean authorities. Ling and Lee, of San Francisco-based Current TV, were arrested by North Korea in March for illegally entering the country on the Chinese border. They were pardoned by President Kim Jong-Il after a meeting with Clinton. Ling and Lee had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. 
Clinton visits the General Hospital of Port-au-Prince on January 18, 2010, after a 7.0 earthquake sturck the country. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon placed Clinton in charge of overseeing aid and reconstruction efforts in Haiti on February 3, 2010. 
Bill Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, testifies with Clinton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on March 10, 2010. Gates and Clinton voiced their support for legislation that would increase funding for global health and outlined what they believe could be cost-effective ways to fight HIV/AIDS and poverty around the world. 
The former President walks his daughter Chelsea down the aisle during her wedding to Marc Mezvinsky at the Astor Courts Estate in Rhinebeck, New York, on July 31, 2010. 
Clinton welcomes President Barack Obama to the stage during a campaign rally on November 4, 2012, in Concord, New Hampshire. With only two days left until the presidential election, Obama and his opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, were stumping from one "swing state" to the next in a last-minute rush to persuade undecided voters. 
Clinton speaks to China's President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 18, 2013. 
President Obama awards Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the East Room of the White House on November 20, 2013. The medal is considered the nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. 
Bill de Blasio, right, is sworn in as New York City mayor by Clinton on the steps of City Hall in Lower Manhattan on January 1, 2014. With them are de Blasio's daughter Chiara, wife Chirlane and son Dante. 
Former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush share a laugh during an event launching the Presidential Leadership Scholars program at the Newseum in Washington on September 8, 2014. With the cooperation of the Clinton, Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson and George H. W. Bush presidential libraries and foundations, the new scholarship program will provide "motivated leaders across all sectors an opportunity to study presidential leadership and decision making and learn from key administration officials, practitioners and leading academics." 
Clinton watches a video at the opening plenary session of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 22, 2014, in New York. The annual meeting, established in 2005, convenes global leaders to discuss solutions to world problems. 
Hillary and Bill Clinton hold their granddaughter on September 27, 2014, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is the first child of their daughter, Chelsea.
- Bill Clinton will be in Arkansas on Monday to campaign for Democratic candidates
- The Arkansas trip will mark Clinton's biggest campaign push during this election
- This election could determine whether Democrats can hold onto major offices in Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas (CNN) -- Bill Clinton and James Lee Witt were walking through the kitchen at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs during a recent fundraiser when cooks and servers rushed to shake the former president's hand.
"We went up some stairs and a guy was standing there," recalled Witt, Clinton's former FEMA director who is now running for Congress. Clinton "said to him, 'You know, I met you here 35 years ago.' The guy said 'You sure did.'"
Clinton is drawing on his more than four decades of political experience as he returns home Monday to bolster Democrats who are fighting for survival. Arkansas, like other southern states, is increasingly dominated by Republicans and the November election could decide whether Democrats can hold onto any major office here.
That's where Clinton comes in.
He's launching his biggest push of the midterm campaign season in Arkansas -- a four-city, two-day swing of fundraisers and rallies.
Clinton is especially well positioned to help Democrats here. The Arkansas ballot reads like cards from his 1980's Rolodex.
Gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross was Clinton's driver during his 1982 run for governor.
Incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor, who was 11 when he first met Clinton and whose father, David, was a political mentor to the former president, is one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats. He will be at all four Clinton events.
CNN Poll: Key Arkansas Senate race a dead heat
"This is a very personal election cycle for President Clinton in Arkansas and he knows the districts down to the precincts," said Adrienne Elrod, an Arkansas native who cut her political teeth in the Clinton White House and now serves as Communications Director to Correct the Record, doing rapid response to criticism of Hillary Clinton.
Clinton: We bought the NRA's theory 
Two former presidents laugh it up 
Clinton: 'I could've killed' Bin Laden Witt first met Clinton when the former president was 27 and running an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Congress. The two supported each other through campaign after campaign.
"He is probably the best in the world," Witt said of Clinton's ability to inspire people to vote.
The former president has already shown a willingness to take on Republicans ahead of the midterms.
"A lot of these Republicans, they've spent all their time dissing the president and dumping on the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid," Clinton said at the Iowa Steak Fry last month. "If you look at them, half the time, they're not even running against their opponents. They're trying to get you to check your brain at the door, start foaming at the mouth, push some hot button. The last thing they want you to do is think."
Clinton will attend rallies and fundraisers Monday in Conway, at the University of Central Arkansas just outside of Little Rock and at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. On Tuesday, Clinton will headline events in Conway and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he and Hillary Clinton both taught law.
Clinton is useful to southern Democrats because he can go to parts of the country where President Obama cannot. A recent NBC News-Marist poll, for instance, shows Obama with a 31% approval rating in Arkansas.
When Clinton ran for president, he carried a number of southern states that eluded Obama, even as he won an historic 53% of the popular vote in 2008. But even Clinton, the native son, would struggle to put Arkansas in his column now.
Mitt Romney bested Obama by almost 24 percentage points in Arkansas in 2012. John McCain beat Obama by nearly 20 percentage points in 2008 and George W. Bush won out over John Kerry by just under 10 points in 2004.
The South is changing, and not in Democrats' favor.
He is doing his duty and building up chits, presumably for Hillary
Larry Sabato
"These states have been transformed in party terms. They are deeply red and that includes Arkansas," said Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Bill Clinton can have an effect in a Democratic primary, but much less in a general election. He is doing his duty and building up chits, presumably for Hillary."
Indeed, Clinton's visits appear to be as much about 2016 as they are about 2014.
Many Democrats think Hillary Clinton -- with her centrist roots and more hawkish stance on foreign policy -- may be competitive in some southern states in a general election.
"A lot of people believe Arkansas could potentially be in play in 2016 if Hillary Clinton decides to run so having Clinton allies in these statewide slots is important," said David Brock, a 1990s nemesis of the Clintons who has since become their chief defender by founding Correct the Record.
Hillary Clinton's 2014 campaign calendar gets booked
Clinton is playing his favorite role -- savior -- in this state where the races he's stumping for show just how close southern Democrats are to extinction.
Pryor leads Republican Rep. Tom Cotton by just two points with 7% of those surveyed still undecided, according to a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
In the governor's race, the same poll shows Ross trailing Republican Asa Hutchinson by two points with 11% still waiting to make up their mind.
Clinton's support for Ross is also a chance to pay back an old enemy. When he was a Reagan-appointed U.S. attorney, Hutchinson prosecuted Clinton's brother, Roger, on drug charges. Hutchinson later played a key role in Clinton's impeachment in the House of Representatives.
"There are scores to settle," said one Democratic operative with Arkansas ties.
Hillary Clinton's madcap media mob
NRA focuses on three major Senate races
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