George Jefferson Dwire (June 6, 1923 – August 12, 1974) was an

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

small businessman and the third husband of Virginia Clinton Kelley, and a stepfather of former

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

and Roger Clinton Jr.Hillary Clinton,
Hillary Unbound
" ''TIME'' (Sunday, June 8, 2003).

Early life

He was born in Bodcaw, Arkansas. A veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Dwire was injured during a parachute jump and had later worked as a carpenter. He had worked his way through college as a hairdresser. Other occupations and avocations included playing football, teaching

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, building homes, and selling oil-well equipment and securities.

Marriage

Dwire, who had three daughters from a previous marriage, met Kelley when she patronized the

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas. Beauty treatments Massage for the body is a ...

he owned. They married on January 3, 1969, in

Hope, Arkansas Hope is a city in Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas, United States. Hope is the county seat of Hempstead County and the principal city of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Hempstead and Nevada counties. As of t ...

; the ceremony was performed by the Rev. John Miles, and Bill Clinton served as the best man. He also played and sang at the reception. Earlier, in August, Clinton had watched the Chicago Democratic convention on television with Dwire. Family and friends of the bride discouraged the union because Dwire was an ex-convict, having served nine months in prison in 1962 for stock fraud.

Dwire and the Clinton family

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, then Hillary Rodham, described Dwire as a "supportive ally" in her attempts to forge a relationship with Bill Clinton's mother while Rodham was dating the future president. He also counseled Clinton concerning the

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

, decisions involving which would become a major issue in his presidential campaign. Since Dwire and his new wife married later in life, the prospects of having children together were not favorable. At that time, Clarice Minner, their young babysitter and housekeeper, became pregnant with her second child. On October 12, 1969, with Virginia Dwire at her side as the anesthesiologist, she gave birth to a little girl. She named her daughter "Jeffrey" Lynn Smith as a sign of adoration to the couple.

Legacy

A 1967 Ford Mustang that he bought played a role in the 1992 presidential campaign and was a favorite nostalgia item of Bill Clinton. It is currently on display at the Museum of Automobiles in Arkansas. The Clinton family's housekeeper at the time, Clarice Minner Hay, who was expecting a child, had so much admiration for the family that she named her daughter after Jeff. Her child subsequently became Jeffrey Lynn Smith. Jeffrey went missing three weeks before Christmas in 1985 while walking home from school in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She was 15 years old. Jeff Dwire died due to complications from diabetes in 1974 at the age of 51.

References

External links

Missing: Jeffrey Lynn Smith
at

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''Out of Obscurity'' Pt 1 of 2-Rev
on

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