Biography of Bill Clinton: Interpretation of Personality

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Table of Contents

Biography of Bill Clinton
Interpretation of personality from psychologists’ theories
Conclusion
References:

Biography of Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton, a young American president was elected twice as representative of a democrat in spite of all harsh criticism on his governmental fiscal policies, legal reforms, and foreign policies for Bosnia-Kosovo (stoppage of war of ethnicity) and personal scandals. He had been continuously victim of inexorable criticism of the Republican Party and ultimately he had to be humiliated due to an impeachment trial by the U.S Senate (American President FrontPage, 2008). From the very childhood, Bill Clinton dreamt of being President, who was born in 1946, educated in public schools in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

William Jefferson Blythe III, his late father was died in a traffic accident three months before his birth and his mother married Roger Clinton when he was four years old. His personality was groomed due to his excellence and brightness in education and he emerged as an intelligent student, saxophone player, scholar, politician, and president. Clinton was motivated to become a politician or president after first meeting with President John Kennedy as a delegate to Boys Nation at the high school level (Biography of William J. Clinton, 2008).

He had obsessive passions for politics, started to involve in politics from his student life at high school and later at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He joined the committee staff of Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1968 which helped to boost up his political career. He was elected as state attorney general in 1974. He was graduated from Yale Law School and joined the University of Arkansas as a Law lecturer. Clinton won the seat of the governor as the youngest politician at the age of thirty-two in 1978. In 1992, Clinton was nominated for the presidency of America by defeating President George H. W. Bush (American President FrontPage, 2008).

Clinton proclaimed to improve the sluggish economic growth of America, refurbishing crime laws, taxation, and job opportunities for welfare recipients, and reduction of military expenditures for domestic uses, reformed policies & legislation for abortion, environmental protection, educational prospects, equal employment, and national health insurance. Clinton had to face merciless attacks of Republicans as his conservative opponents ran aggressive campaigns against him in 1994 when his complex health care reform bill was rejected by Congress.

Clinton rejected to sign controversial budget bill, presented by the Republican-controlled Congress despite all federal governmental pressure, he remained resolute and influential to win the second term of presidency in 1996 (American President FrontPage, 2008).

Clinton administration had to face two drawbacks, firstly, his failure to approve the health care reform bill, secondly his impeachment trial by the House of Representatives due to his falsification of oath and scandalized affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. In 1998, he got success in the midterm elections due to his strong economical and prosperous policies to reduce deficits and evidently, he became a popular leader among the American people despite all his impeachment charges, consequently, the Senate failed to castigate the basis of impeachment allegations.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, his life partner had played a vital role to boost up his political career and she gained immense popularity after the rejection of his health care reform bill by Congress in the initial stage of his presidency and the Monica Lewinsky scandal (American President FrontPage, 2008).

Interpretation of personality from psychologists’ theories

Alfred Adler’s Concepts

Alfred Alder stresses upon the cultural heritage and family influences as major factors for behavioral or sentimental changes but an individual can modify his personality, affected by such influences in his own way, developing his own personal characteristics independently. Alder put forward a theory of “inferiority complex” is reparation for a sense of inferiority. In childhood, a person may learn how to recompense such emotions by shifting towards superiority in some specific area or by aggressive attitude or some detachment or withdrawal. He also lays emphasis upon the role of family position or birth order in the formation of child character (Crisp, 2008).

If we interpret the ego mechanisms of defense in Clinton’s personality, we come to know that it dominates his prominent lifestyle, habits, goals, foibles, accomplishments, and failures. His personal, physical, sentimental, and psychological development, parental and adult influences, social surroundings, genetics, and traumas are the main factors to develop such ego defenses. The defense of Repression is maybe forgettable or unforgettable in the context of individualistic feelings or ideas about separation and castration threats and such signals of anxiety are unnoticed.

As Clinton may recollect the shift at the age of four from his grandmother’s house to his mother’s new home with a stepfather, Roger but emotions of such separation were suppressed. According to the psychological point of view, such repressions have direct influences upon the style of his responses (Lowinger, 1999).

Sigmund Freud’s Concepts

Freud presents personality structure in three phases: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego which compose human complex behaviors. All these three essentials of personality structure should be well-balanced in order to maintain physical and psychological health. According to the psychoanalytic concept, the psychological conflict is intrinsic due to the influences of these main parts of personality, the Id, the Ego, and the Superego (Structure of Mind: Freud’s Id, Ego, & Superego, 2004). The Id (“It”) plays the role of the person as the part of the mind in an irrational or emotional way, demanding basic needs and feelings: “I want it and I want it all now”.

The Ego: (“I”) comprises the rational part of the mind to control normal functionality and maturity, developing awareness that “you can’t always get what you want” and giving a realistic approach in order to compromise with ID and the Superego. The Superego (“Over-I”) comprises the moral part of the mind, stressing upon the parental and societal or moral values (Structure of Mind: Freud’s Id, Ego, & Superego, 2004).

If we interpret the multi-faceted personality of Bill Clinton, there are three dimensions of developing personality, the self-identification or prehistoric features of the belligerent and immodest unconscious, the partial consciousness of egoism in the relation of the external factors surrounding the actual lifelike parents and society which are the main instrument to enhance pleasure or reduce sorrows; the role of superego or conscience which distinguishes between right and wrong, sense of being guilty (Lowinger, 1999). The conflict between the elemental factors of self-identification and egoistic social restraints creates apprehensiveness and fretfulness.

The conciliation is brought by the behavioral changes of the ego in the forms of defenses against self-identification and the superego. The formation of character has developed the effectiveness of these defenses according to the pre-designed silhouette of one’s personality. If this silhouette is developed on strong grounds, personality displays influential and healthy features while if there are some freak and fragile facets of an individual, he would be anxious, depressed, guilty or psyche or neurotic (Lowinger, 1999).

Denial is also a defense that influences the comprehensive ability how to recognize or distinguish the actual factors with strong refutation and there is no acknowledgment of visual and aural realities. Commonly Clinton refuted the experience of his step-father, Roger’s sexual harassment with his mother. According to some biographers, Clinton was abused but he repudiated this too. It was Clinton’s refusal of the criticisms by the voters and the press of his first term as governor which consequently caused his defeat at the polls after two years (Lowinger, 1999).

Karen Horney

Karen Horney presents the basic concepts about anxiety, infantile helplessness in a hostile world, coping with ten neurotic needs, moving toward, against, and away from people, and developing an idealized versus a real image of self. Horney also defines neurosis as a maladaptive or counterproductive style to establish a relationship. Such psychic people are desperate and dejected, having the desirability to seek out relationships to vent out their feelings of insecurity, anxiety, and neediness (Personality Synopsis, 2008).

According to the psychological theories, Clinton had been brought up in such a social setup where he felt lack of fatherhood, presence of strong women, lack of leadership, indecisiveness, fearfulness, ambivalence, aggressiveness, and lack of self-esteem or confidence. Bill Clinton’s sense of right and wrong via conscience or superego is reflected by his personal, family, and religious beliefs. That’s why Clinton’s super-ego always shows sublimation of infantile incestuous and murderous desires as a reaction to fearful feelings of castration or separation as retribution (Lowinger, 1999).

Bill Clinton’s sense of being guilty or effectiveness of superego is displayed how he felt guilty on not fulfilling public promises, his political manipulation, his extramarital affairs, and his feelings of anxiety or castigation by facing unsteady alcoholic stepfather in order to fight over his mother’s love and internal conflicts of his self-identification. He felt feelings of inferiority and guilt due to his real father’s death and was known by his stepfather’s name in school which weakened and disgraced him due to his father’s addiction to alcohol.

He tried to mold his personality in accordance with his ego-ideal models, John Kennedy and Arkansas Senator William Fulbright. He struggled hard to achieve success in his educational as well as political career by pleasing his mother, teachers, and public too in order to please his superego and to overcome his fears (Lowinger, 1999).

Abraham Maslow

Maslow demonstrates Motivation, Basic Concepts, Five Basic Needs (Place Satisfaction before Love, Esteem, and Self-Actualization) and Superior Personalities, Self-actualizing individuals. Maslow stresses the individualistic needs including the physiological needs, the safety and security needs, the love and belonging needs, the esteem needs which are instrumental in the formation of one’s character (Boeree, 2006). Bill Clinton displayed his feelings of insecurity, cravings for love, and self-esteem due to the parental and social influences upon him. His self-assertiveness and decisiveness were displayed while handlings the political affairs, governmental policies in spite of harsh criticism of his opponents, Congress and Republicans.

B.F Skinner

Skinner’s theories are famous especially “mutation behavior” and he explains how the internal processes of one’s personality are displayed in the form of behavioral changes. There is incoherence in his external and internal aspects of the personality. Skinner’s speculations about behaviorism are valuable for the formation of one’s character (Rozycki, 1999).

Clinton’s reactionary behavior against his political adversaries, his self-realization and self-assertion by overcoming his sense of inferiority (death of the real father, mother’s second marriage, lack of love and intimacy and security), his sense of superiority, maintained by his continuous struggle to fulfill his desires of being president, superior personality shows how some social factors and spiritual upheaval may affect someone’s behavior and he exposes impulsive reactions.

Conclusion

Bill Clinton was one of the popular political leaders and presidents of America due to his excellent handlings of international and national affairs. He got reputable status due to his extraordinary talents and became an intelligent student, scholar, music player, political leader, and president. But we find some psychological conflicts, flaws in his personality, being a superior leader if we interpret his personal characteristics, behaviors, lifestyle, and manners in the context of conceptual theories of famous psychologists and spiritual analysts, Alfred Adler, Sigmund Freud, Karen Horney, Abraham Maslow, and B.F Skinner, the complexity of his character, personality are displayed.

By reviewing all his biographical aspects, we conclude that his personality is very complicated, being the embodiment of inferiority and superiority complex and there are some social and parental factors too which have been involved in the formation of his character, cause of his success and failures in his political career.

References:

American President FrontPage, 2008, Bill Clinton Frontpage(A Life in Brief). Web.

Biography of William J. Clinton, 2008. Web.

Bem, Allen, Personality theories, development, growth, and diversity (5th ed ). Web.

Boeree, Dr. C. George, 2006 Abraham Maslow 1908-1970. Web.

Crisp, Tony, Alfred Adler – 1870-1937. Web.

Lowinger, Paul An excerpt from Bill Clinton Meets The Shrinks (Bill’s Character). Web.

Personality Synopsis, Chapter 5: Psychodynamic and Neo-Freudian Theories, Section 5: Karen Horney’s Feminine Psychology, 2008. Web.

Rozycki, Edward G. 1999, The Practice of Personhood in Psi, Keller’s Personalized System Of Instruction originally, presented 5-12-79 at a conference sponsored by The Center for Personalized Instruction, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Web.

Structure of Mind: Freud’s Id, Ego, & Superego. Web.

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