The Museum From Hope Now Open

HOPE, Ark. — President Clinton dedicated as a private museum Friday the house in which he spent his early years, calling the home a testament to the American belief that anyone, no matter how modest his or her background, can grow up to become president.

In a sentimental speech laden with reminiscences of his childhood, the president told a chilled, rain-soaked crowd of about 400 that the simple two-story, white-frame structure “still holds very, very vivid memories for me.”

“In many ways, I know that all I am or ever will be came from here,” he said.

A brochure informs visitors that it was in the house at 117 S. Hervey St.--under the watchful eyes of his grandparents, Eldridge and Edith Cassidy--”that Bill Clinton spent his formative years, learning to walk, talk, laugh, play, read and pray.”

The young Clinton only lived in the house for four years before his mother, widowed before she gave birth to him, married local auto dealer Roger Clinton and the family resettled in Hot Springs, Ark. But the president repeatedly has said that he considers Hope his hometown.

In an earlier speech at the local airport, Clinton told a crowd of schoolchildren that his small-town roots instilled values that allowed him to succeed in life.

“A lot of what I learned that was good, that I took with me for the rest of my life, I learned back then,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you came from in life, it matters what you did with your life.”

Hope, a nondescript community of 10,000 people located 120 miles southwest of Little Rock, was known for little besides its annual August watermelon festival until Clinton launched his 1992 presidential campaign. Running in a year when much of the nation was mired in an economic slump, he began styling himself as “the man from Hope.”

“I still believe in a place called Hope,” he said wistfully in a campaign video first played at that year’s Democratic nominating convention.

Ever since Clinton won the election, Hope has been trying to capitalize on its links with the president. A private foundation has spent $1.5 million renovating the old house and the city has restored a railroad depot that was a backdrop for a magazine photo of Clinton.

“This is indeed the most historic day in our community,” declared Mayor Dennis Ramsey, unabashedly urging tourists to come visit the town. “We thank you for the statement you made in 1992,” he told the president. “It has opened many doors for us.”

The dedication ceremony occurred just a few days after the Arkansas House of Representatives rejected a bill that would have provided $500,000 in state money to help spruce up the old Clinton homestead.

The funds would have gone to build or expand an array of projects, including a 40-seat theater, computer room, boardroom, gift shop and director’s office. There already is a tourist center next to the Clinton home.

The vote came as a shock to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sandra Rodgers, a Democrat and a Hope native, who reportedly rushed from the chamber and wept, telling reporters: “If they want President Clinton to know that they don’t support him, that’s fine with me.”

And some of those attending the ceremony admitted that the scandal sparked by Clinton’s affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky remained on their minds.

Claire Wright, a local Democratic activist in the audience Friday, said that she was “anxious” about what the future holds for the president in the wake of the impeachment trial that stemmed from his efforts to conceal the Lewinsky relationship.

“We have a lot of animosity [against Clinton] around here,” she said. Still, the carefully selected hometown crowd was devoid of the kind of hecklers and critics that frequently have appeared at other Clinton political forays. “We’re just very excited about all this,” said a local resident who would not give her name.

According to local experts, Hope was founded in 1873 to accommodate the newly emerging Cairo & Fulton Railroad. It was named after Hope Loughborough, the 4-year-old daughter of one of the railroad’s executives.

Besides the house turned museum, Clinton also dedicated an accompanying garden named in honor of his mother, Virginia Kelley, who died in 1994.

Dedicating the museum was not the only stop on the president’s itinerary. Friday night, he spoke at a fund-raiser in Texarkana, Texas, for Rep. Max Sandlin (D-Texas). Outside the event, a gaggle of protesters greeted the president with signs and banners, including some that referred to the Lewinsky scandal. Tonight, he will attend a reception in Little Rock, Ark., for the Democratic National Committee.