Today we will be continuing our series on the dark and sordid history of the Clinton administration for the young and perpetually uninformed. The man in this photograph is named Vince Foster. His story is the most convoluted and controversial in the entire Clinton saga. I plan to only report his story using the facts as they are known to us today. The readers will be allowed to extrapolate this data in any manner that they see fit.
Vince Foster was from Hope, Arkansas and was a childhood acquaintance of Bill Clinton. He eventually became a law partner and close personal friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton. When it came to friendship with the Clintons, a person didn’t get much closer than this. He was an extremely good and ethical lawyer by all accounts and he had become the head of the Arkansas Bar Association. He was a tall and elegant man. He was soft-spoken and extremely intellectual. Foster reluctantly agreed to leave his Little Rock office in 1993 and join the Clinton team as Deputy White House Counsel.
Vince Foster had no experience with politics and was not considered to be a “political animal.” His wife and family stayed behind in Little Rock. He was a lifelong friend of Hillary Clinton and he came to Washington D.C. in order to work by her side. Hillary Clinton rarely ever appointed men to work with her. When it came to appointing her own staff at the White House, she chose twenty-nine women and only one man. Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying once that she usually chooses to work with women because men can be “assholes.” Vince Foster was a man whom Hillary Clinton trusted deeply. Mrs. Clinton once described Foster as being like Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch – reserved, upright, and dependable. It was Vince Foster’s shoulder where Hillary Clinton rested her head and cried during her father’s funeral. Rumors swirled for years about a strong romantic link between the pair but this was always denied by both sides.
One of Vince Foster’s first White House jobs was to interpret and defend the Clinton’s tax returns regarding their controversial Whitewater land deal. Foster wrote in a private note to the President and his wife warning them that “this is a can of worms that you shouldn’t open.” He was also asked to look at the paperwork surrounding allegations that funds from the failed Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan had been illegally diverted to the Clinton campaign. This responsibility also caused Mr. Foster to have grave concern. Most upsetting to Vince Foster however, was the recent firing and public smearing of seven White House Travel Office employees. Foster felt a personally responsibility for this and feared a congressional investigation into his role. White House aide David Watkins quoted Foster as saying about this incident, “My God, what have we done?”
Vince Foster’s professional situation continued to deteriorate as time went on. Around the date of July 13th of 1993, Hillary Clinton held a meeting to discuss health care legislation when she suddenly humiliated and publicly ridiculed Foster in front of his peers. She reportedly told Vince Foster that he didn’t see the big picture. She told him that he would always be a little hick town lawyer who was obviously not ready for the big time. She blamed him for the previous improper vetting of failed political nominations and finished the rant by saying, “You are not protecting us… you have failed us.”
As the investigations circling the White House gathered from all sides, Vince Foster might have known that he could eventually be pressured into misleading congressional investigators under oath. He reportedly began to lose weight and became very quiet. A few days later on July 16th, Foster met his wife Lisa for dinner. He reportedly began to cry when his wife asked him if he felt trapped. He told her that he was done with the Clintons and was seriously thinking about resigning. Three days later, it was reported that he called his doctor who prescribed him an antidepressant. Throughout that next day, Hillary Clinton was desperately trying to reach Mr. Foster by phone. She asked her Chief of Staff on three separate occasions to have Vince Foster call her immediately. Vince Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park along the Potomac River that very same evening at 5:50 PM on July 20th, resting on a slope beside an old Civil War cannon. Within just a few hours, White House aide Craig Livingstone and many others were observed by secret service agents removing boxes from Vince Foster’s office.
A note was found soon after Vince Foster’s death. Some believed it to be a suicide note but it turned out to be a rough draft of a resignation letter. It was found torn into twenty-seven pieces in Foster’s briefcase. It included this statement: “The public will never believe the innocence of the Clintons and their loyal staff.” The letter ended with Vince Foster’s last known words, “I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport.”
Many rumors continue to swirl around Vince Foster’s death. His death was ruled as an act of suicide by the FBI and other official investigative bodies. However, many people believe that the circumstances surrounding Vince Foster’s death remain suspicious. Some people questioned just how little actual blood was discovered near the body. I do not intend to provide evidence today to either substantiate or refute those rumors. I can tell you that a bullet was never recovered from the scene of Vince Foster’s death. I can also report to you that a resignation letter eventually surfaced by Miguel Rodriguez, the lead investigator of the Office of Independent Counsel, which emphatically stated that Vince Foster had a second gunshot wound to his neck.
Given all of the information currently available to me, the only conclusion that I can reach with a fair degree of confidence is this one: If Vince Foster had never met Bill and Hillary Clinton… he would probably still be alive today.
