The First-Ever Clinton Campaign Started With an “Area Man” Headline

Plus: the first ever Clinton scandal!


Southwest Times Record; John Paul Hammerschmidt Papers, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville

Even the onetime leader of the free world was once just a lowly Area Man. That headline, from the Southwest (Arkansas) Times Record, heralded the inconspicuous start of Bubba’s political career, when he launched his first campaign in 1974, against Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt (R-Ark.) Clinton, at the time a law professor at the University of Arkansas, hoped to ride anti-Watergate sentiment to Congress in the state’s most conservative congressional district, but fell just short. It might have been for the best—he was elected the state’s attorney general two years later and, two years after that, became America’s youngest governor.

The newspaper clipping was included in Hammerschmidt’s personal and public papers at the University of Arkansas. Also in the collection: what appears to be the first ever anti-Clinton whisper campaign, from a former law student of Clinton’s who claimed the candidate had once lost a bunch of papers:

John Paul Hammerschmidt Papers, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville

Did Hillary know?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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