9 Revealing Photos of Bill Clinton

When former president Bill Clinton takes the podium in support of Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, it will be his sixth consecutive convention speech for the Dems. What is it about Slick Willie that makes him such a beguiling presence in center-left politics? We haven’t the words to explain his enduring appeal; but thanks to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, we do have the photographs:

1) It’s Howdy Doody time

William Jefferson Blythe, age five, 1952

2) Mastering the sax

Bill Blythe with a saxophone, celebrating his 12th birthday at his home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1958

3) The kings of Hot Springs

Bill and Roger Clinton with their dog, King, in front of their house on Park Avenue in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on Easter Sunday, 1962

4) Studying the law, fashionably

Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, in January 1972

5) Bill and Hillary: The Guess ad

Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham playing soccer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, during the summer of 1975

6) power couple

Bill and Hillary on their wedding day in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on October 11, 1975

7) Don’t. Stop. Thinking About Tomorrow.

Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in New York City, July 1992

8) pwning the Press corps

The Clintons’ cat, Socks, in the White House Press Briefing Room

9) Need a Friend? Get a dog

President Clinton with his dog, Buddy, in front of the White House