William J. Clinton, born 1946

Forty-second president, 1993–2001

The first baby-boomer president, Bill Clinton came to national attention when, at age thirty-two, he emerged as one of the leading reform governors of the Democratic Party. During his presidency, he and his administration played a crucial part in curbing the massive federal spending deficits that had soared in the 1980s, even achieving a surplus in revenues for the first time since the 1960s.

Clinton established new organizations for free trade, including NAFTA, which eliminated tariffs and trade barriers between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. His other accomplishments included welfare reform and a successful U.S.-led NATO intervention in the Balkans. Proposals such as universal health care, however, failed.

Clinton’s denial of his sexual relationship with a White House intern, while under oath, led to his impeachment, but he was not convicted in the Senate trial. Despite the scandal, Clinton was successful in making the Democratic Party more centrist and better equipped to compete with Republicans.

Chuck Close begins all of his paintings with a photograph of his subject, in this case an image made during a photo session in August 2005 for a New York magazine cover. He then draws a grid on both the canvas and the photograph and uses the information contained in the photograph to create a series of abstract modules on the canvas.

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges that, in 2017, several women accused Chuck Close of sexual harassment, though no charges were brought against him. The museum recognizes the positive and negative impacts that individuals represented in our collections have had on history.

Lent by Ian and Annette Cumming