Master of His Game

REMEMBER Bill Clinton’s search for a legacy? His anxiety about his place in history was never far from his mind, but it reached a high point during his second term, when he sometimes lamented that he had not faced any crises to test his presidential mettle. “The first thing I had to start with was, you know, we don’t have a war,” he told the New York Times in December 1997. “We don’t have a depression, we don’t have a Cold War.”

Clinton would find his legacy the very next month, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal burst into public view. But now, in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington, the former president appears to be working to shape a new legacy as a leader in the fight against terrorism.

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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REMEMBER Bill Clinton’s search for a legacy? His anxiety about his place in history was never far from his mind, but it reached a high point during his second term, when he sometimes lamented that he had not faced any crises to test his presidential mettle. “The first thing I had to start with was, you know, we don’t have a war,” he told the New York Times in December 1997. “We don’t have a depression, we don’t have a Cold War.”

Clinton would find his legacy the very next month, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal burst into public view. But now, in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington, the former president appears to be working to shape a new legacy as a leader in the fight against terrorism.