American Spectator

The Sayonara Kid

Honorary Bill

Apparently for Bill Clinton it isn't all about the money. Last week, the former president was due in Japan to receive an honorary degree from Nihon University's law school. But tragically, the daughter of a longtime friend from Arkansas was killed in a car crash and her funeral was to be held at the time that Clinton was due in Tokyo. Clinton respectfully withdrew from the Japan trip, citing the funeral as the cause for the cancellation. He also sent word to the school that a donation to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library would not be required. But you knew that he couldn't help himself, right?

"He asked that the honorary degree be sent along and that it would be placed in a position of honor when the library opened," says a teacher at the law school. "We had asked him for a video-taped greeting to the students and his many admirers here, because there had been great excitement about his visit and we knew many people would be saddened. But he declined."

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2001