Roger Clinton Sr. (July 23, 1908 – November 8, 1967) was an American car salesman. He was the first stepfather of former

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

.''My Life'', Bill Clinton, Random House, 2004, .

Early life

Roger Clinton was born in

Yell County, Arkansas Yell County is a county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,263. The county has two county seats, Dardanelle and Danville. Yell County is Arkansas's 42nd county, formed on December 5, 1840, from porti ...

, the son of Allen W. Clinton (August 26, 1880 – June 14, 1965) and Eula Cornwell (May 29, 1882 – October 10, 1975). Clinton was an owner of the local Buick dealership,''

My Life My Life may refer to: Autobiographies * ''Mein Leben'' (Wagner) (''My Life''), by Richard Wagner, 1870 * ''My Life'' (Clinton autobiography), by Bill Clinton, 2004 * ''My Life'' (Meir autobiography), by Golda Meir, 1973 * ''My Life'' (Mosley a ...

'', Three, p. 17. and "a handsome, hell-raising, twice-divorced man from Hot Springs, Arkansas". In 1950 he married Virginia Blythe, mother of the future president, whose first husband had died in a car crash in 1946, three months before the birth of their son Bill. Roger Clinton and his family lived at the south end of Hope. Eventually Clinton sold the Buick dealership and moved, with his family, to a four hundred-acre farm a few miles west of Hot Springs. After a year or so on the farm, around 1955, they moved into Hot Springs. In 1956, he and Virginia had their only child, Roger Clinton Jr., in Hot Springs. Roger and Virginia divorced in 1962, but remarried a few months later, after which his stepson took the surname Clinton. Roger Clinton was referred to as "Daddy" in

's presidential memoir ''

''.

Personal life

Though Bill loved his stepfather, Roger's

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

, and subsequent abuse of his mother and half-brother would lead to Bill's intervening on numerous occasions with physical force, each time resulting in his stepfather's arrest. Clinton was eventually reconciled with his stepson when Bill Clinton drove down from Georgetown on weekends to visit him at the Duke Medical Center in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, North Carolina, after he became ill.''

'', Eleven, p. 105. Roger's illness recurred later in the fall of 1967.''

'', Thirteen, pp. 112–113. After a period in the hospital, he requested to come home to die. Roger Clinton died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

aged 59 in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Roger 1908 births 1967 deaths American salespeople Family of Bill and Hillary Clinton People from Yell County, Arkansas Place of death missing Deaths from cancer in Arkansas