Whitewater investigation
The Whitewater investigation was a significant political controversy in the United States that began in the 1970s, centered around a real estate investment made by Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Whitewater Development Corporation, alongside James and Susan McDougal. The venture involved a purchase of 230 acres of land in Arkansas, which ultimately became problematic due to economic conditions that made selling the developed lots difficult. Over time, the Clintons incurred financial losses from this investment.
The situation escalated when Jim McDougal's related financial activities led to the collapse of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, prompting investigations that extended to the Clintons' involvement. Despite extensive scrutiny and the appointment of special prosecutors, including Kenneth Starr, the investigations largely failed to substantiate allegations of wrongdoing against the Clintons, aside from issues that emerged in the context of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The Whitewater inquiry and its associated investigations garnered significant media attention and were often viewed through a politically charged lens, influencing public perception and the Clinton administration's focus on policy matters. Ultimately, the Whitewater investigation did not result in any indictments against the Clintons, leaving a lasting impact on the political landscape of the time.
On this Page
Whitewater investigation
Identification An alleged real estate and financial scandal against President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary
The Whitewater investigation is sometimes used as a broad phrase to summarize all of the scandals that dogged the Clinton presidency, and it is perhaps the best known of the Clinton scandals except for the Lewinsky affair. While it is true that the entire investigation lasted throughout Clinton’s presidency, it is really a number of smaller interlocking investigations, nearly all of which turned out to be without any foundation in fact.
The Whitewater investigation was a U.S. political controversy based initially on a real estate investment Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton made during the 1970’s with James and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corporation while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. Jim McDougal approached the Clintons with a proposal to join he and his wife to buy 230 acres of undeveloped land along the south bank of the White River in Arkansas’s Ozark Mountains. The four borrowed about $200,000 to buy the land and transferred ownership to the Whitewater Development Corporation. By the time the lots were prepared for sale in late 1979, interest rates had reached 20 percent and most prospective buyers could not afford to buy such lots. Rather than take an immediate loss, the owners decided to build a model home and wait for more favorable market conditions. Over the next few years, James McDougal asked the Clintons for various payments for interest and other expenses that the Clintons did not question as passive partners. In the end, it is incontrovertible that the Clintons lost tens of thousands of dollars on their Whitewater investment.
Subsequently, McDougal bought Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan and engaged in some questionable transactions, which resulted in the collapse of the institution and McDougal’s subsequent conviction on federal charges associated with those transactions. The Resolution Trust Corporation’s law firm’s federal investigation into the Madison institution’s collapse found no wrongdoing on the part of the Clintons. Nonetheless, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed special prosecutor Robert Fiske to investigation the Whitewater matter. During his tenure, he was unable to find any wrongdoing during his investigation.
In August, 1994, a panel of three federal judges appointed Kenneth Starr as an independent counsel under the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994. Charges of hostile partisanship on the part of the panel and the independent counsel abounded but did not deter the aggressive prosecution by Starr, who carried the so-called Whitewater investigations into a wide variety of alleged wrongdoing on the part of the Clintons that were labeled Travelgate, Filegate, Vince Fostergate, Troopergate, and finally the Monica Lewinsky scandal. None of these investigations produced any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Clintons except for the Lewinsky matter, which was featured prominently in the Starr Report to Congress on the Whitewater investigation and resulted in the perjury and obstruction of justice charges that were the subject of the Clinton impeachment effort. After the impeachment effort failed to produce a conviction, Starr resigned as independent counsel. His replacement issued a final report stating that there was no evidence suitable for indictment in any aspect of the Whitewater investigation.
Impact
The Whitewater investigation and the other politically motivated allegations consumed a great deal of media attention during the Clinton years. Nearly all allegations were determined to be false. The politically charged atmosphere of the Clinton years undoubtedly limited the time President Clinton could devote to national problems and may have significantly limited his ability to make needed changes in national policy.
Bibliography
Brock, David. Blinded By the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003. Brock, as a reporter for the American Spectator, triggered the events that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Brock was a crucial actor in the “Arkansas Project” that attempted to find any allegation, true or not, with which to smear the Clintons until he became convinced that the cause he was espousing was essentially based on lies. In this book, Brock exposes effectively the poisonous political climate that Republican political activists, the right-wing press, and well-endowed “think tanks” created, giving support to Hillary Clinton’s assertion that she and her husband were targeted by a right-wing conspiracy.
Clinton, Bill. My Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Clinton’s skill as a communicator comes through clearly in making his autobiography one of the all-time great presidential autobiographies containing many valuable insights, despite being a self-serving document.
Clinton, Hillary Rodham. Living History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Clinton’s autobiography, while not quite as engaging as her husband’s, is still filled with valuable insights into the scandals that rocked the Clinton administration.
Gergen, Michael. Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership: Nixon to Clinton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. A sometime adviser to a number of recent U.S. presidents, Gergen combines his personal access with penetrating analysis of Bill Clinton and the politics and scandals of his era.
Maraniss, David. First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Maraniss is a Pulitzer-prize winning Washington Post reporter who has written a biography analyzing Clinton’s talents and flaws.
Morris, Dick. Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties. New York: Random House, 1997. As a pollster and political analyst for Clinton as governor and as president, Morris was in Clinton’s inner circle and acutely aware of many of the details of the Clinton scandals, which he shares in his critical but useful book.
Stephanopoulos, George. All Too Human: A Political Education. Boston: Little, Brown, 1999. As a former White House aide, Stephanopoulos had access to the Clinton inner circle, which he used to paint a sincere, but sometimes unflattering, portrait of both Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Toobin, Jeffrey. A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Toobin’s book is well researched, analytical, ably written, and offers fresh insights to the scandals associated with the Clinton presidency.