page_title: Early life and career of Bill Clinton
section_title: Family
hierarchical_section_title: Early life and career of Bill Clinton / Early years / Family
caption_attribution_description: English: President Clinton practices with his saxophone in the newly decorated Music Room in the Residence
context_page_description: William Jefferson Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. Despite winning two elections with landslide margins in the Electoral College in 1992 and 1996, he failed to win a majority of the vote both times as there was a third party candidate, Ross Perot, who set numerous records for his performances in both elections. His childhood and young adulthood were spent in his home state of Arkansas, where he was born and raised. He served in multiple political offices in the state including as the state's Attorney General for two years and as Governor of Arkansas for a total of almost twelve nonconsecutive years.
context_section_description: Soon after Bill was born, Virginia traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to study nursing. She left her son in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store. At a time when the southern United States was racially segregated, Clinton'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 co-owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas with his brother and Earl T. Ricks. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.
  Although he immediately assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Clinton turned 15 that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward his stepfather. Clinton said that he remembered his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., to a point where he often had to threaten violence against Roger to protect them.
caption: Clinton with his saxophone at the White House in 1996. He began playing the saxophone in elementary school. At one point, Clinton considered pursuing a career in music.
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