50 free Bill Clinton trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III in a town called Hope, played first-chair saxophone in the Arkansas state band, shook John F. Kennedy's hand at 16 and became the youngest governor in America at 32 — then lost the job two years later. He came back, as he usually did, and in 1992 ended twelve years of Republican control of the White House. These 50 questions cover the whole arc: Georgetown, Oxford and the Yale Law Library, the 1974 House race he lost, the 'Boy Governor' years, the Comeback Kid and The Arsenio Hall Show, two wins over Ross Perot, NAFTA, the Brady Bill, Don't Ask Don't Tell, the health care plan that failed, the budget surpluses, the Oslo Accords and Northern Ireland, impeachment and acquittal, and the post-presidency of memoirs, Grammys, heart surgery and Haiti. Socks the cat makes an appearance too. Easy questions cover the facts most people know; the hard tier asks about his draft number, his first chief of staff and the 1996 popular vote. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation that adds one more detail.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Bill Clinton was which number president of the United States?
42nd
He served from 1993 to 2001 and was the first president born into the Baby Boomer generation.
Q 02What office did Clinton hold in Arkansas from 1977 to 1979?
Attorney general
He then served two non-consecutive stretches as governor, 1979–81 and 1983–92.
Q 03What was Bill Clinton's surname at birth?
Blythe
His father, a traveling salesman, died in a car accident three months before he was born.
Q 04In which aptly named Arkansas town was Bill Clinton born?
Hope
He grew up partly in Hot Springs after his mother remarried.
Q 05At what age did Clinton formally adopt his stepfather's surname?
15
He had used the name Clinton since 1950, when his mother married Roger Clinton Sr.
Q 06Which instrument did Clinton play, winning first chair in the state band?
Saxophone
In high school he played in a jazz trio called The 3 Kings.
Q 07Which president did a teenage Clinton meet at the White House in 1963?
John F. Kennedy
He cites that Boys Nation visit and watching the 'I Have a Dream' speech as the two moments that set his path.
Q 08Clinton earned his bachelor's degree from which school in 1968?
Georgetown
It was the only university he applied to; he studied in the School of Foreign Service.
Q 09For which Arkansas senator did Clinton work as an intern and clerk in college?
J. William Fulbright
Critics later charged he used the senator's influence to avoid the Vietnam draft.
Q 10Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar at which Oxford college?
University
He left early for Yale Law School and never received an Oxford degree.
Q 11Where did Bill Clinton meet Hillary Rodham in 1971?
The Yale Law Library
She was a year ahead of him; within a month he had moved to California to live with her for the summer.
Q 12Clinton ran which presidential candidate's 1972 campaign effort in Texas?
George McGovern
In Dallas he worked alongside Ann Richards, Ron Kirk and an unknown filmmaker named Steven Spielberg.
Q 13What draft lottery number did Clinton receive?
311
The highest number actually drafted that year was 195.
Clinton's first run for office, a 1974 House race, ended in defeat to which incumbent?
Q 21Which independent candidate took a large share of the vote in 1992 but won no electoral votes?
Ross Perot
Clinton won 370 electoral votes to George H. W. Bush's 168.
Q 22How many electoral votes did Clinton win in 1992?
370
His win ended twelve years of Republican control of the White House.
Q 23Who was Clinton's vice president for both terms?
Al Gore
Gore narrowly lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush.
Q 24Zoë Baird and Kimba Wood, Clinton's first two Justice Dept picks, withdrew over what?
Paul Hammerschmidt
He lost 52–48 in a year when Watergate was dragging down Republicans everywhere else.
Q 15How old was Clinton when he took office as Arkansas governor in 1979?
32
He was the youngest governor in the country at the time, earning the nickname 'Boy Governor'.
Q 16Who defeated Clinton in his 1980 bid for re-election as governor?
Frank D. White
Clinton joked that the loss made him the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.
Q 17Clinton's 1988 Democratic convention speech was criticized for what?
Being far too long
At 33 minutes it ran twice its expected length; he was nominating Michael Dukakis.
Q 18What nickname did the media give Clinton after his second-place New Hampshire finish in 1992?
Comeback Kid
He had trailed Paul Tsongas badly after the Gennifer Flowers story broke, then came within single digits.
Q 19Which journalist first applied the nickname 'Slick Willie' to Clinton in 1980?
Paul Greenberg
Greenberg of the Pine Bluff Commercial felt Clinton was abandoning the progressive policies of earlier Arkansas governors.
Q 20On whose late-night show did Clinton famously play his horn in 1992?
Arsenio Hall
Some religious conservatives dubbed him 'the MTV president' afterward.
Undocumented nannies
Both had employed undocumented immigrants; Janet Reno became attorney general.
Q 25What was the name of the compromise policy on gay service members adopted in 1993?
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Clinton had wanted to lift the ban outright but was opposed by senators including John McCain and Sam Nunn.
Q 26What did the Brady Bill, signed in November 1993, require?
Background checks for gun buyers
It also imposed a five-day waiting period until the NICS system launched in 1998.
Q 27Which trade agreement did Clinton sign into law on January 1, 1994?
NAFTA
Opposition came from protectionist Democrats, anti-trade Republicans and Ross Perot supporters.
Q 28Who headed the task force behind Clinton's failed 1993 health care plan?
The First Lady
The plan died in August 1994, the administration's first major legislative defeat.
Q 29Which two justices did Clinton appoint to the Supreme Court?
Ginsburg and Breyer
Both served into the 2020s; Ginsburg was appointed in 1993 and Breyer in 1994.
Q 30In what year did Democrats lose control of Congress for the first time in forty years?
1994
The midterm rout pushed Clinton toward more conservative domestic policy, including welfare reform.