Friends in High Places
Our Journey from Little Rock to Washington, D.C.,
by Webb Hubbell


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book is a different kind of biography, because the identity of the biographer is very relevant. Webb Hubbell was a personal friend of the Clintons, from Little Rock, and ended up convicted and imprisoned while serving in the Clinton adminstration. Hence this is a biography of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, from an insider's perspective, but also an autobiography of a fallen politician.

Webb Hubbell was the Mayor of Little Rock, Hillary's partner at the Rose Law Firm, appointed as an Arkansas Supreme Court Justice, and then served as Associate Attorney General in the Bill Clinton administration. While a partner at Rose Law, he embezzled money for personal debt, but did not get caught until years later, when he was serving as Associate Attorney General. He resigned and served 18 months in prison, then wrote this book. Hubbell is candid about his guilt, which makes me believe he is candid about Bill & Hillary as well.

There are no startling revelations in this book -- just a review of the Clinton's history in Arkansas and Washington from the perspective of a "Friend of Hillary" and "Friend of Bill". Hubbell was also a close friend of Vince Foster (who also was a Rose Law Firm member) and details his suicide from a friend's perspective too. Hubbell includes substantial auotbiography about his crime and aftermath, but we focus here on Bill and Hillary.

-- by Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, March 2008

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Civil Rights     Hillary Clinton: Raised issues of gender compensation gap at 1970s Rose Law.

Corporations     Hillary Clinton: 1970s: Potential conflict of interest when GM sued Arkansas.

Crime     Janet Reno: 1993: Waco resulted from protecting FBI's credibility.

Education     Bill Clinton: 1986 initiative: Good beginnings, Good schools, & Good jobs.

Families & Children     Hillary Clinton: Raised issues of maternity leave at 1980s Rose Law.

Government Reform     Bill Clinton: 1993: Considered firing all 95 US Attorneys.

Health Care     Hillary Clinton: Vince Foster's downturn when Hillary's task force got sued.

Principles & Values     Bill Clinton: 1986 initiative: Good beginnings, Good schools, & Good jobs.     Bill Clinton: 1987: Delayed presidential run to get their house in order.     Bill Clinton: OpEd: 1988 DNC speech fiasco was to not overshadow Dukakis.     Bill Clinton: 1991: Torn by promise not to run for president.     Bill Clinton: 1991: Urged by AR Sen. David Pryor to run for president.     David Pryor: 1991: Urged then-Gov. Bill Clinton to run for president.     Hillary Clinton: 1976: Got Rose Law Firm job via Vince Foster.     Hillary Clinton: 1977: At Rose Law, her strength was one-on-one discussion.     Hillary Clinton: Not aggressive, but not intimidated by anyone.     Hillary Clinton: 1988: Felt Dukakis "set up" failure of Bill's DNC speech.     Hillary Clinton: 1990: Considered running for AR Governor instead of Bill.     Hillary Clinton: 1992: Press questioned Rose Law Firm about Hillary.     Janet Reno: Has never met the right man, yet.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Bill Clinton David Pryor Hillary Clinton Janet Reno