--- title: DNC: Bill Clinton in Philadelphia and 4 Decades of Speeches description: See how the former President's convention speech-making has evolved over nearly four decades canonical: https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T20:35:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:26.713Z article:section: History og:title: Watch Bill Clinton Speak at Four Decades of Conventions og:description: See how the former President's convention speech-making has evolved. og:url: https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac78a412235bae7e/69889f2dcd1bba1c8e701a2d/dnc.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bill Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Bill Clinton Speak at Four Decades of Conventions twitter:description: See how the former President's convention speech-making has evolved. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac78a412235bae7e/69889f2dcd1bba1c8e701a2d/dnc.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Bill Clinton Speak at Four Decades of Democratic Conventions by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) Jul 26, 2016 8:35 PM UTC  Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 5, 2012. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 5, 2012.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) Jul 26, 2016 8:35 PM UTC When Bill Clinton[ takes to the stage ](https://www.demconvention.com/event-categories/july-26/)at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, it will mark the tenth consecutive DNC at which the former president has delivered a major address—an impressive run that tracks the evolution of nearly four decades of American politics, and makes him one of the most [prolific](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/09/05/a111905c-f771-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650%5Fstory.html#comments) speakers in party history. Clinton attended the DNC briefly in 1976, as both [he](https://books.google.com/books/about/My%5FLife.html?id=yB9CJTmiL54C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp%5Fread%5Fbutton#v=onepage&q=paris&f=false)—then on his way to becoming Arkansas’ Attorney General—and[ Hillary Clinton](https://books.google.com/books?id=H78s9ZbLXCIC&q=1976#v=snippet&q=1976&f=false) describe in their memoirs, on their way to a trip to Europe. When he returned in 1980, it was as the nation’s [youngest governor](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-06-09/page/55/) and the man chosen to speak for the Democratic Governors’ Association. Though he was scheduled for early in the night and wasn’t necessarily expected to make news, his [speech](https://books.google.com/books?id=5RpLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=august+14+1980+speech+bill+clinton&source=bl&ots=oO7QSerVcv&sig=nJG2ZOE62QQNv4n0iC6y1eP8tA0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZj%5FL3s4%5FOAhWF6YMKHTBQD1UQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=august%2014%201980%20speech%20bill%20clinton&f=false) urging the party not to ignore the appeal of Ronald Reagan would prove prescient. Clinton was unseated later that year by voters who TIME [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1982-11-15/page/38/) were “fed up with his national ambitions” but was reelected to the governorship in 1982\. So when he returned to the convention as a speaker in 1984, he was already the “Comeback Kid” that he would later [call](http://time.com/vault/issue/1992-03-02/page/25/) himself. (He received [positive](http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/20/us/for-future-stars-convention-is-an-audition-hall.html) reviews for that appearance.) In 1988, however, things didn’t go as well. TIME [dubbed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1988-08-01/page/22/) his address “The Speech That Would Not End,” noting that he “stuck with a 19-page snoozer of a nominating speech through signals from the chairman to stop, through a flashing red light and through index fingers drawn across the throat.” But the negative reviews of his appearance hurt his national momentum, but it was later [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1992-07-20/spread/34/) that the drubbing he received made Arkansans defensive and actually added to his popularity at home. ### Hillary and Bill Clinton’s Political Romance in Photos  Hillary and Bill Clinton have been married 40 years— much of it spent in the political spotlight. Here, Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton married at a small ceremony on Oct. 11, 1975 - present Courtesy William J. Clinton Presidential Library Courtesy William J. Clinton Presidential Library  Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Rodham hold their week-old baby Chelsea on March 5, 1980. Donald R. Broyles—AP  Former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton celebrate his victory in the Democratic runoff in Little Rock, Ark. on June 8, 1982. AP  Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton hugs his wife Hillary Clinton after she introduced him to well wishers at a downtown Chicago hotel, March 10, 1992. Ralf-Finn Hestoft—AP  Hillary Rodham Clinton sits on the lap of her husband, democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton left, as she jokes with vice presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, during a brief rest on their bus in Durham, N.C., on Oct. 26, 1992. Stephen Savoia—AP  Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton comforts his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton on the set of the news program '60 Minutes' after a stage light unexpectedly broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down on Jan. 26, 1992. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images  President Bill Clinton dances with First Lady Hillary Clinton on stage on Jan. 20, 1993 in Washington. Eleven inaugural balls were held on the same evening in honor of President Clinton's election. Diana Walker—Liaison/Getty Images  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton give each other a hug while playing golf at the Mink Meadows Golf Club on Martha's Vineyard Aug. 27,1993 in Massachusetts. J. David Ake—AFP/Getty Images  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton cut vegetables at the Covenant Baptist Church in Washington, on Nov. 24, 1993. Doug Mills—AP  President Bill Clinton bikes with his wife, Hillary Clinton, during their vacation on Martha's Vineyard in 1994. Evan Richman—The Boston Globe/Getty Images  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton drink Coca-Cola at Moscow's Coca-Cola refreshments plant on May 11, 1995. Greg Gibson—AP  President Bill Clinton puts an arm around his wife, Hillary Clinton, while watching Old Faithful erupt at Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., on Aug. 25, 1995\. The first family visited several Yellowstone sites while on vacation. Doug Mills—AP  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton share a moment during an East Room ceremony at the White House on July 17, 1996. Ron Edmonds—AP  President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton look at each other as they opened the White House Conference on Child Care Thursday Oct. 23, 1997 in the East Room of the White House. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visits President Bill Clinton on March 14, 1997 at Bethesda Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. after he underwent surgery on his knee. AP  First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, squeezes the chin of President Bill Clinton during the kick-off rally for The President's Summit in Philadelphia on April 27, 1997. Tim Shaffer—AP  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton dance on the beach of Megan Bay, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands shortly after taking a swim on Jan. 4, 1998. Paul J. Richards—AFP/Getty Images  First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton watches President Bill Clinton as he thanks Democratic members of the House of Representatives who voted against impeachment on Dec. 19, 1998, following the Lewinsky scandal. Susan Walsh—AP  President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton embrace during the New York State Senate luncheon on July 29, 2000 in New York City. Pablo Martinex Monsivais—AP  Senatorial candidate for New York and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton with husband President Bill Clinton pose for photos with the workers at Gianelli's Italian Sausages at the State Fair on Sept. 2, 2000 in Syracuse, N.Y. Tim Sloan—AFP/Getty Images  New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton smile after she won her second term, during a rally held by New York Democrats, in New York, on Nov. 7, 2006. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images  Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is hugged by her husband, former President Bill Clinton as he introduces her during a campaign rally in Louisville, Ky. on May 19, 2008. Elise Amendola—AP  Former President Bill Clinton and then Secretary of State-elect Hillary Clinton celebrate the beginning of the year 2009 during the ceremony to lower the Times Square New Year's Eve ball in Times Square on Jan. 1, 2009 in New York. Jemal Countess—Getty Images  Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband former U.S. president Bill Clinton embrace during a primary night event on June 7, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York after Hillary Clinton surpassed the number of delegates needed to become the democratic nominee. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images In 1992 and 1996, the situation was, of course, a bit different: Clinton was the candidate. In 1992, he drew positive reviews for a [speech](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25958) that TIME [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1992-07-27/page/16/) “adroitly pitched the Democratic tent in the middle-class backyard” and issued a [strong](http://time.com/vault/issue/1992-07-27/page/34/) challenge to incumbent President Bush: ”And so I say, George Bush, if you won’t use your power to help America, step aside. I will.” (Clinton was also helped by the fact that Ross Perot withdrew his candidacy from the race on the same day.) The second time around, his [speech ](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=53253)was used, per TIME’s [analysis](http://time.com/vault/issue/1996-09-09/spread/22/), “to reassert his role as Daddy-in-Chief” while listing the policy goals that would build what he called a “bridge to the future.” (Again, other news distracted voters that day, but it was bad news for Clinton this time around: his campaign strategist [Dick Morris](http://time.com/vault/issue/1996-09-02/page/1/) had been caught up in a [sex scandal](http://time.com/vault/issue/1996-09-09/spread/22/).) In 2000, he appeared on the first night of the convention to [praise](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/15/us/democrats-overview-clinton-opening-convention-says-gore-will-protect-legacy.html) his vice president Al Gore, who was then running for the White House—even though [Gore](http://time.com/vault/issue/2000-08-21/page/26/) was cautious about his association with the post-scandal president—and in 2004, Clinton’s speech supporting John Kerry was described as “[ringing](http://time.com/vault/issue/2004-09-13/page/73/).” In 2008, he pulled off the slightly awkward role of [supporting](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/us/politics/27text-clinton.html) Barack Obama, who had just beaten Hillary Clinton for the nomination—and he [repeated](http://reprised) that role, without the contentious primary, in 2012. Here, take a look back through Bill Clinton’s DNC highlight reel, as he prepares to add one more convention to his résumé. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/"},"headline":"Watch Bill Clinton Speak at Four Decades of Democratic Conventions","datePublished":"2016-07-26T20:35:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:26.713Z","description":"The former president's speech at the 2016 convention will be his tenth consecutive major address","url":"https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","politics","Bill Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac78a412235bae7e/69889f2dcd1bba1c8e701a2d/dnc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac78a412235bae7e/69889f2dcd1bba1c8e701a2d/dnc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Clinton","caption":"US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4422341/dnc-bill-clinton-videos-history/","name":"Watch Bill Clinton Speak at Four Decades of Democratic Conventions"}}]}] ```