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Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American woman who was thrust into the public limelight after having a sexual affair with U.S. President Bill Clinton. Their affair started while Lewinsky was working as an intern at the White House in the mid-1990s. The affair's repercussions for President Clinton are often referred to as the Lewinsky scandal or "Monicagate." "Monicagate" has garnered Lewinsky much notoriety following the scandal.
Early life
Lewinsky was born in San Francisco, and grew up in Southern California on the west side of Los Angeles and in Beverly Hills. Her father was born in El Salvador but comes from a family of German Jewish immigrants, while her mother's family were Jewish immigrants from Russia. After transferring from community college, she graduated with a Psychology degree from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, in 1995. Afterward Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked at the White House during Clinton's first term.
Scandal
While working as a paid staffer at the Pentagon, the former White House intern had a short-term sexual relationship with the President. Clinton and Lewinsky both agreed that the relationship involved oral sex but not sexual intercourse. The news of this affair, and the resulting investigation, and impeachment, became known as the Lewinsky scandal.
Confidante Linda Tripp was secretly recording her telephone conversations with Lewinsky regarding the affair with Clinton. Later, after Lewinsky had submitted a false affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton and after Lewinsky had attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in the Jones case, Tripp gave the tapes to Kenneth Starr (Independent Counsel), and these tapes added to his ongoing investigation that previously concentrated on the Whitewater scandal to include investigating Lewinsky, Clinton and others for possible perjury and subornation of perjury in the Jones case. Ironically, it has been alleged that Tripp also tipped off the press to keep an eye on federal employee Jennifer Fitzgerald, who was said to have allegedly had an indiscreet affair with then-President George H. W. Bush; however, Tripp has publicly denied that allegation as "ludicrous" and "a complete fabrication." Tripp, after speaking with Lewinsky, reported her findings to right-wing literary agent Lucianne Goldberg.
Admissions
Lewinsky admitted that her relationship with Clinton involved oral sex, including oral-anal contact in the Oval Office. This was documented in the Starr report, which eventually led to President Clinton's impeachment trial on the allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice regarding the affair.
Clinton had previously been dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, most notably in regard to a relationship with singer and former Arkansas state employee Gennifer Flowers and an encounter with Arkansas state employee Paula Jones (née Corbin) in a Little Rock hotel room in which Jones claimed that Clinton had exposed himself to her. These affairs occurred during Clinton's term as Arkansas governor. Lewinsky's name actually surfaced during legal proceedings connected to the latter matter, when Jones' lawyers sought corroborating evidence of Clinton's conduct to substantiate Jones' allegations.
Clinton denied having had "a sexual affair," "sexual relations," or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky while under oath , and later claimed "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised clip from a White House news conference. The line later became a punchline for its technical verity but deceptive nature, based on one's definition of "sexual relations."
In addition, he stated "There is no sexual relationship" with Lewinsky, a statement which he later said was truthful depending on one's definition of "is." Under pressure from Starr, who Clinton learned had obtained from Lewinsky a blue dress with Clinton's semen stain, as well as testimony from Lewinsky that the president had used a cigar in a sexual manner with her, Clinton admitted on August 19, 1998, that he misled the American people and that he had had an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky. Clinton denied having committed perjury because, in his opinion, oral sex was not a sexual relation.
In addition, relying upon the definition of "sexual relations" as worded by Judge Susan Webber Wright, who was hearing the Paula Jones case, Clinton claimed that since certain acts were performed on him, not by him, he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally passive in their encounters. Clinton's lawyer would later explain that different people can remember the same events in different ways.
Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives but not convicted in the Senate, so he was not removed from office. Clinton saw his job approval ratings among the American people increase during and after the scandal. It has been suggested, however, that the moral questions raised by his actions tainted then-vice president Al Gore's campaign for the presidency in 2000.
The affair led to a period of cultural celebrity for Lewinsky; as an unlikely sex symbol, and as a younger-generation nexus of a political storm that was both lighthearted, and extremely serious at the same time. The neologism - "Lewinsky" - is now part of the American lexicon meaning a fellatio, though most Lewinsky references and jokes have long since cooled.
Many feminists considered the extensive attention to Lewinsky to be indication of widespread sexism. For her actions Lewinsky was extraordinarily famous during the last two years of the 1990s.
After the scandal
By her own account, Lewinsky survived the intense media attention by knitting. As of 2005 she runs her own business, selling her own brand of handbags. She was also the host of the short-lived reality television dating program called Mr. Personality (2003). Lewinsky currently studies an MSc in Social Psychology at the London School of Economics.
Lewinsky criticized Clinton's autobiography, My Life, saying, "He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied." She continued, "I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship" in the memoir, she said. "But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did though at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert," she was quoted as saying.
"That's not how it was. This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character."
The bombing of Iraq by the U.S. military at the height of the scandal led the Iraqi press to allege that Clinton ordered the bombings to try to distract the American public from his misconduct, calling it "Operation Monica".
References
- Monica's Story by Andrew Morton (Paperback 1999 Publisher: St. Marshal's Press ISBN 0312973624)
- One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism by Marvin L. Kalb
- Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the Public Interest (Sexual Cultures) by Lauren Berlant and Lisa Duggan
External links
- Starr Report: Nature of President Clinton's Relationship with Monica Lewinsky
- A Guide to the Monica Lewinsky Story, also: The Starr Report; Tripp Tapes; Articles of Impeachment; The "Stalker" Tale
- Monica Lewinsky profile in the Washington Post (January 24, 1998)
- Timeline from Washington Post
- Lewinsky profile in New York magazine, 2001
- Urban Dictionary defines the slang term "Lewinsky"
- Uncyclopedia on Monica Lewinsky