Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is a former President of the United States of America.

Speech at Knox

Bill Clinton spoke at commencement June 2

Clinton spoke at the Class of 2007 commencement June 2 on the South Lawn of Old Main.

He talked a lot about the human genome project, mainly the finding that all human beings 99.9 percent the same genetically. He found great value in this concept and used it as an inspirational message about how to live with other human beings despite differences. He also used his friendship with former President George H.W. Bush and Nelson Mandela and a strange encounter with Rush Limbaugh as anecdotes.

He also mentioned his friendship with Knox trustee John Podesta, his former Chief of Staff, saying that he would do anything for him. This is why he came to speak at Knox, he said.

He left the stage after B.J. Hollars delivered his commencement address because he had other engagements.

He has a much larger head than one would have imagined.

Preparations

Bill Clinton is so important that, in preparation for his Commencement address, Facilities Services planted new sod to replace the patchy grass above the underground steam pipes on the South Lawn.

Relationship with Galesburg

Some people believe Bill Clinton indirectly killed Maytag in Galesburg by signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (also known as NAFTA) in 1994. But others, including some former Maytag workers, disagree.

External links

• 33 Months - Free Trade's Journey Through Galesburg the project of the Interactive Journalism class in the spring of 2007.

• Information about NAFTA from Wikipedia

• MP3 of Bill Clinton's commencement speech - June 2, 2007. The Register-Mail will not keep this link active for long, so downloading, rather than streaming, the file is a good idea.

• An audio/photo montage of the former president's speech. The Register-Mail will not keep this link active for long, so downloading, rather than streaming, the file is a good idea.