Clinton Proves Himself Most Likely To Succeed Attends School Reunion To Raise Funds For Campus
On a day aglow with memories, President Clinton returned Saturday to his old high school, where 33 years ago he was the golden boy who led the band, impressed the teachers and charmed the girls.
“You’ll always be our hometown hero,” a former classmate told Clinton as hundreds of middle-aged men and women swapped memories about Hot Springs High School.
It was a reunion of all former classes, intended to kick off a fund-raising campaign to transform the old school building into the William Jefferson Clinton Cultural Campus, a commercial arts center and Clinton museum. The sprawling, red-brick school, completed in 1914, graduated its last class in 1990.
The president said the person he missed most was his old principal, the late Johnnie Mae Mackey, a strict disciplinarian. When her students went into the Marine Corps, “it was a step down in discipline and order,” Clinton recalled with a laugh.
“Listen to me, son, you might make something of yourself,” Mackey was recalled as saying sternly.
The president welcomed a half-dozen cheerleaders from his old class onto stage. Dressed in flared skirts, bobby sox and saddle shoes, each woman got a big hug from Clinton as they led the crowd in the high school cheer. The president laughed with face in hands.
Back in 1964, Clinton graduated fourth in a class of 363 students. Teachers regarded him as a model youth, biographer David Maraniss wrote. Clinton was often let out of classes to speak to the Optimists or Elks or Heart Association about his now famous White House meeting with President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
It was obvious that the young Clinton was talented, competitive and ambitious. Signing Clinton’s yearbook, his guidance counselor wrote, “I know in a few years I shall read about you.” He also was popular with girls. Former classmate Carolyn Staley, who had a crush on Clinton then, told Maraniss that Clinton “had the eye for girls everywhere.”
Clinton said he didn’t think he was old enough to have a building named for him. “I thought you had to have at least one leg in the grave before they named anything for you. But if it helps raise another nickel, I accept and I thank you. I’m profoundly honored.”
He said he completely supported the idea of an arts center.
“One of the things that has most bothered me … is the dramatic decline in the offerings in the arts, in music and other performing arts, in the visual arts. We have so much evidence that children who have difficulties in their lives … do much better if they’re given access to a music program.
Visiting here from a four-day stay in Little Rock, the president first visited his aunt, Janet Clinton, who turned 86 a few days ago. Clinton said he invited her to the reunion but she declined, saying, “I don’t get along all that well, and I’ve heard you give a lot of speeches.”
Later, Clinton returned to Little Rock for a fund-raising reception for the state Democratic Party at the local baseball stadium.