Thomas Jefferson Clinton started life deprived of a father who died before his birth and a mother away at nursing school . Raised by his grandmother , he could read and count by the age of three . He excelled all through school , winning honor after honor . Later he went to Georgetown , to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and to Harvard Law School . His first impression was that she looked like "an interesting woman," attractive but a bit forbidding, and he remembers staring at her for weeks. Returning to Arkansas , anxious to improve his backward state , he was elected governor at the age of 32 . He was defeated at the next election , but subsequently reelected four times . Clinton 's successes as governor include increased funding for schools and higher standards of education .
Thomas Jefferson Clinton started life deprived of a father who died before his birth and a mother away at nursing school . Raised by his grandmother , he could read and count by the age of three . He excelled all through school , winning honor after honor . Later he went to Georgetown , to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and to Harvard Law School . Returning to Arkansas , anxious to improve his backward state , he was elected governor at the age of 32 . He was defeated at the next election , but subsequently reelected four times . Clinton 's successes as governor include increased funding for schools and higher standards of education .