Clinton Presidential Center - History

History

Bill Clinton took a great personal interest in the library's design and construction. Preliminary planning for the library (including the site choice) began in 1997, while groundbreaking for the complex occurred on December 5, 2001. Clinton spent numerous months determining the location for the center and choosing the architect for the project. Early estimates put the library's cost at about $125 million. In 2001, the Clinton Foundation hoped to gather $200 million in donations to cover project costs. In the end, the entire project cost $165 million in private funding, with an additional $11.5 million of land given by the city of Little Rock to construct and covers 152,000 square feet (14,100 m2) within a 28 acres (110,000 m2) park.

Fund-raising for the center was led by Terry McAuliffe, a friend of Clinton's who had also contributed heavily to the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1995. Clinton himself was prohibited by law from personally soliciting donations for the center, but he did host private events relating to the library. There were no other legal restrictions on donations, and the Clinton Foundation was able to accept unlimited private donations, all of which were tax deductible. Approximately $10 million of contributions came from Saudi Arabia. However, the Clinton Foundation declined to release a full donor list, similar to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (although the foundation later agreed to disclose the top 150 donors to the House Government Reform Committee). Donations exceeding $1 million were also given from various other foreign governments (such as Kuwait and Taiwan), as well as foreign individuals. Various American organizations also contributed millions of dollars to the foundation.