FOSTER, JR (FAMOUS), VINCENT WALKER - Hempstead County, Arkansas | VINCENT WALKER FOSTER, JR (FAMOUS) - Arkansas Gravestone Photos

Vincent Walker FOSTER, JR (FAMOUS)

Memory Gardens (Hope) Cemetery
Hempstead County,
Arkansas

15 January 1945 – 20 July 1993

Deputy White House Counsel

Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was born in Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas to Alice Mae and Vincent W Foster. He was one of three children and for the first eight years of his life he was a neighbor and close friend of William Jefferson Clinton, our forty-second president. He graduated from Hope High School and attended Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. He started law school at Vanderbilt University and transferred to the University of Arkansas Law School after joining the Arkansas National Guard at the height of the Vietnam War. He graduated first in his class and scored the highest in his class on the bar exam. He married Elizabeth Braden and they had three children. In 1971 he joined the Rose Law Firm and became a partner three years later. He was instrumental in hiring their first ever female associate, Hillary Rodham Clinton who also became a partner. By the time Bill Clinton was elected president. Foster was recognized as one of “The Best Lawyers in America.” Foster reluctantly accepted an invitation to join Clinton’s White House staff. His wife and family remained in Arkansas and depression set in when he blamed himself for the failed nominations of Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, and Lani Guinier. Then the Travelgate scandal erupted and much of the blame fell on him and he was facing congressional hearings. He was losing weight, suffering insomnia, and considering resigning but fearing humiliation if he returned to Arkansas. His doctor prescribed Trazadone over the phone and the next day he was found dead in Fort Mercy Park from a gunshot wound to the head. A resignation letter, torn into twenty-seven pieces, was found in his brief case and was declared a suicide note. Three separate investigations declared the death a suicide but the controversy never went away and he became the most famous name in the long list of people associated with Bill Clinton who ended up dead.

Ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Foster (Accessed 12/13/08)

Contributed on 10/27/08 by tomtodd
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Record #: 87668

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Additional FOSTER, JR Surnames in HEMPSTEAD County

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Submitted: 10/27/08 • Approved: 12/14/08 • Last Updated: 8/13/12 • R87668-G0-S3

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