Webb Hubbell - Friends in High Places

Before the nation came to know them as the President and First Lady, Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were close friends of Webb Hubbell. Now Hubbell offers insight into how he and the Clintons climbed the political ranks from Arkansas to the White House.

Included in this book are intricate tales of Hubbells support of Bill Clinton in his tensest moments; his friendship with Hillary Rodham Clinton; the tragic death of Vince Foster; details of involvement in Whitewater; an inside look at the Justice Department and partnership with Janet Reno; and insights into famous personalities such as Mac McLarty, Bernie Nussbaum, Bruce Lindsey, Mickey Kantor, and George Stephanopoulos.

Hubbells friendship with the Clintons began when he and Hilary Rodham Clinton were partners at Little Rocks Rose Law Firm. Hubbell served as Mayor of Little Rock and later as chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court under Bill Clintons tenure as Governor of Arkansas. Joining the Clintons in the White House as associate attorney general, Hubbell became the third highest ranking member of the Justice Department. His political career ended, however, with the Whitewater scandal and his incarceration in federal prison.

Hubbell details the reasons for committing the crimes he assumes responsibility for. Now a conflicted soul struggling with the cynical maelstrom of power and politics, Hubbell comments on his resignation and prison sentence, and reflects on his old friends who have since isolated him from the White House.

The journey is Webbs, yet his recounting resonates with the humanity in us all: the love he shares with his wife and family, the grief over lost friends, and the humility when faced with calamity. In the end he faces the truth with a steadfastness seldom seen in Washington.

FRIENDSin HIGHPLACES

FRIENDSin HIGHPLACES

W EBB H UBBELL and THE C LINTONS JOURNEY from L ITTLE R OCK to W ASHINGTON DC

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Copyright 2015 by Webb Hubbell

FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION

Original Published as a hardcover by

William Morrow & Co, 1997

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data On File

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Beaufort Books
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Published in the United States by Beaufort Books

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Distributed by Midpoint Trade Books

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Printed in the United States of America

Interior design by Mark Karis

Cover Design by Michael Short

Suzy, Walter and Missy, Rebecca, Caroline and Kelley

Following the publication of my first novel, When Men Betray, Beaufort Books asked if they could publish an e-book version of my 1997 memoir, Friends in High Places. The prospect of editing and rewriting it with the hindsight of twenty years held a lot of appeal, so I set about acquiring the rights to the book from its original publisher. But after rereading if for the first time since 1997, I realized that changing it would be a mistake.

Friends in High Places was an honest recounting of my journey with the Clintons and many other friends from Little Rock to Washington, DC. It told a story of the many highs and lows of my life up to that point, but I am not the same man I was when Friends was published. It would be wrong to bring my different voice and twenty more years of mistakes and wisdom to Friends now.

For example, I have learned that no one likes to see themselves through anothers eyes, no matter how honest or flattering the portrayal. Believe me, I heard from several unhappy folks when Friends was first published. Its tempting to try to edit out all the offending language. but it would make for a very short book. I wrote about my life and events as I saw them at the time. I regret any pain this narrative may have caused. Today, I look back with the broader experience afforded by the passage of many years. I honestly intended no offense, but have learned from my mistake. I write only fiction now.

That said, I have gone through the book and tried to fix the many misspellings and errors that I didnt catch the first time and weeded out a few irrelevant anecdotes. I have also added a short epilogue (foreward). I concluded the 1997 edition by predicting Hillary Clinton would have a big impact on the national discourse. That statement surely cries out for a few words as she begins her second attempt to become the first female President of the United States. Personally, I think its high time to break the gender barriermaybe a woman will be able to bring sorely needed integrity back to our democracy.

In the first ten days, Washington had all but swallowed us whole. The inaugural celebrations were just a blur now, and the reality of grinding work had set in. The President was busy fighting the furor over gays in the military. The First Lady was caught up in health care reform. My old buddy Vince Foster, now the deputy White House counsel, was holed up with his boss, Bernie Nussbaum, trying to find an attorney general nominee who didnt have the nanny problem that had just sunk Zoe Baird. And over at Justicewhere I was suddenly the one permanent political employee in managementI was trying to get up to speed on all sorts of strange new subjects, such as HIV-infected Haitians at the Guantanamo military base in Cuba and A-12 Stealth fighters. It seemed as if every hour George Stephanopoulos was calling me to make sure the handful of Republican holdovers at Justice werent torpedoing the administration. More than once I told him everything was just fine.

I hadnt actually talked to Bill or Hillary since the President was sworn in. So when Hillary phoned on Monday, February 1, asking me to stop by the White House for an after-work drink, I was more than ready. I just hadnt figured out when the after-work part of the day was in this city.

Washington really sparkles on late winter afternoons, when the sky becomes a dark marbled haze to the west and all the monuments are lit up like diamonds. The artist Walter Anderson called that the magic hour. I hadnt seen the city much at that time of day since the inauguration. It was usually dark by the time I left the office, which gave the city a different mood.

I walked the six blocks from Justice to the White House and Vince was waiting for me at the southwest gate. It was great to see a friendly face. We shook hands and headed up the drive. I remember seeing the light burning on the south portico, and thinking, they really live here. I had been to the White House once before, over a decade ago when I was mayor of Little Rock and Jimmy Carter had invited some of the nations mayors. But that had been a working trip, a meeting with a lot of others in the public rooms. Now I was invited for a social call. My friends called this place home now.