Thursday, 4:30 PM
In Worcester, Clinton returned to a city familiar after Lewinsky scandal
(Globe File Photo)
President Bill Clinton made his first public appearance in August 1998 in in Worcester after acknowledging on national television that he had "inappropriate" relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
When Bill Clinton swoops into Worcester today to stump for Democrat Deval Patrick, he returned to a city where he made two memorable visits during a tumultuous time in his presidency.
It was in Worcester on Aug. 27, 1998, that Clinton made his first public appearance after acknowledging on national television 10 days earlier that he had "inappropriate" relationship with Monica Lewinsky. More than a year later, he returned to console mourners in Worcester at a service for six slain city firefighters, telling thousands, "We grieve with you, and we will stay with you."
Today after he attended a rally for Patrick and Tim Murray in Worcester, Clinton will head to the Boston suburbs today to raise more than $1-million for the Democratic congressional campaigns.
In August of 1998, Clinton had sought refuge after the Lewinsky admission on Martha's Vineyard, where his outings were limited to what was described in the Globe at the time as "meals at private homes down long, private driveways."
"It was one of the all time low points, if not the all time low point, of his presidency," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "People were even speculating about his psychological state. Was he falling apart? Would he resign?"
Clinton then surfaced in Worcester to promote a school safety program. Despite some muted protests, the city greeted the president with cheering crowds that lined streets to wave at his limousine.
A Globe story published the next day read:
"Stepping out the door of his jet on the tarmac of the Worcester airport, Clinton beamed and waved to a crowd of schoolchildren who squealed and yelled in unison. Sunshine poured down from above, and Clinton's smile -- his entire demeanor -- seemed in sharp contrast to the melancholy surrounding his rare public outings on his Martha's Vineyard vacation.
"Indeed, Clinton seemed to like being in Worcester so much that he later made an unscheduled stop at Scano's, an Italian bakery and lunch shop, where he stripped off his coat, took up a booth in the corner and ordered what the proprietor described as 'a steak bomb, hold the cheese.' In the middle of what is supposed to be his summer vacation, he sat in the restaurant for more than 90 minutes talking with Worcester residents and the politicians who accompanied him."
In December of 1999, Clinton returned to the city under very different circumstances when some 20,000 mourners filled The Worcester Centrum for a memorial for six firefighters who died in the line of duty battling a warehouse fire. David Nyhan, a long-time columnist at the Globe, wrote in an op-ed that was published the next day that compared Clinton to Al Gore and other presidential hopefuls. The column was headlined: "Polished, battle-tested Clinton makes rivals look like minor leaguers."
"The president who traveled to Worcester yesterday to honor six fallen firefighters grew into the job these past seven years, crafting a persona and record that his enemies cannot diminish no matter how much they denounce and deny," wrote Nyhan, who retired from the Globe after 32 years and died in January 2005. "... The incumbent's well-advertised moral flaws notwithstanding, his leadership skills are apparent to all but the most obtuse critics."
At Worcester's DCU center today, Clinton took the stage for Patrick at a rally before several thousand people.
"He's back on top on in the Democratic Party," said Sabato of Clinton. "He is in more demand that George Bush is for the Republicans."
