Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal [Hardcover]

Jim McDougal (Author), Curtis Wilkie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

An eye-opening account of the Arkansas years by President Clinton's legendary political and business mentor.

Until his recent death in federal prison, Jim McDougal was the irrepressible ghost of the Clintons' Arkansas past.

McDougal's knowledge of embarrassing real estate and banking deals, bribes, and obstructions of justice have long haunted the White House. Completed only days before his death and co-authored by veteran journalist Curtis Wilkie, Jim McDougal's vivid and irreverant self-portrait reveals the hidden intersections of politics and special interests in Arkansas and the betrayals that followed. It is the story of how ambitious men and women climbed out of rural obscurity and "how friendships break down and lives are ruined."

Mr. McDougal, an irascible and charming rogue to the end, never whines nor does he endeavor to exonerate himself. And, though image-shattering, there's no attempt to get Bill or Hillary Clinton, Jim Blair, Jim Guy Tucker, or the silenced Susan McDougal.

Arkansas Mischief is a Southern tragedy with lessons for us all.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It all seemed so uneventful: two couples on a double date, a hearty Southern meal of fried steak and turnip greens, jovial conversations about work, and the "casual" mention of a great business venture involving land on the White River. But these two couples were Bill and Hillary Clinton and their then-close friends Jim and Susan McDougal. The great business scheme was dubbed Whitewater, which snowballed into one of the great political scandals--or witch-hunts, depending on your point of view--of our time. Arkansas Mischief is the late Jim McDougal's autobiography, but inevitably the book will be devoured not for its strengths as a memoir but for its allegations of presidential misconduct. McDougal makes several new allegations against President Clinton, including one that he intended to fully pardon Susan McDougal for her Whitewater involvement, something the White House vigorously denies.

Is the book just a series of sensational untruths told by an embittered and disillusioned man? McDougal himself admits that he suffered from manic-depression, so can he be believed? The stories of political corruption are casually woven into the book's narrative and don't read like tabloid sleaze. Yet ultimately very few people know the actual truth, and the reader must draw his or her own conclusions. Regardless of the allegations' legitimacy, McDougal and his cowriter Curtis Wilkie have written an engaging and often witty memoir. A devoted Democrat from a young age, McDougal recalls how he "always thought every town should have one Republican, just as every town seemed to have one village idiot and one town drunk." The biography traces McDougal's rise as a Democratic campaigner and activist, opening our eyes to the unique and controversial workings of the Arkansas political scene of the past 50 years. Although McDougal died in prison before the release of his autobiography, Arkansas Mischief remains a lasting testament to an elusive yet endearing man whose revelations threatened to topple the president. --Naomi Gesinger

From Library Journal

McDougal, self-described political mentor of President Clinton, died recently of cardiac failure in prison at age 57, while serving a sentence for his "creative financing" activities as manager of the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan that funded the Whitewater real estate project. Although he suffered from alcoholism and depression, had two failed marriages, and died impoverished, McDougal emerges as a less-than-sympathetic wheeler-dealer who lost at the high-stakes games he played. He admits wrongdoing, but blames a vengeful Republican congressman for the harsh treatment his savings and loan received from federal bank examiners. Much of the book is spent portraying Arkansas's distinctive political/business environment, an unsavory saga much better told in Roger Morris's Partners in Power (LJ 8/96). McDougal claims Whitewater was a business deal in which the Clinton's did nothing wrong, but they perjured themselves afterward in federal testimony. Although he remembers Bill as a one-time friend, McDougal deplores Clinton's reputed affair with Susan, McDougal's former wife, and unleashes most of his contempt on Hillary for her alleged financial dealings at McDougal's expense. Although a "yellow dog" Democrat, McDougal offered to testify against the Clintons in the Whitewater investigation?an offer eagerly accepted. An optional purchase for public libraries.?Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805058087
• ISBN-13: 978-0805058086
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Clinton, Bill

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why Susan McDougal won't rat on "Slick Willie", June 17, 1998

By 

Junius E. Updyke (Bristol, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal (Hardcover)

While there are many reasons to recommend this excellent memoir of the "father" of Whitewater, just the answer to "Why Susan McDougal won't rat on "Slick Willie" is more than enough to recommend this one. I had long suspected something along these lines - now my suspicions have been confirmed!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author Wilkie produces important analysis of southern politi, April 20, 1999

By 

P. Wyrick ([e-mail]) (Charleston, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal (Hardcover)

Curtis Wilkie's name appears in smaller case type below that of Jim McDougal's on the cover, but there should be no doubt in any reader's mind that without Wilkie's dogged pursuit of the truth and his well-honed journalist's credentials this would be just another publisher's attempt to capitalize on the Clinton scandalmongering machine. Fortunately, Wilkie successfully navigates McDougal's obfuscations and produces a fascinating account of McDougal's sad life and role in one of the late-20th century's seminal political events. Required reading for anyone interested in southern-or national-politics.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arkansas Follies: or Hillary Does Arkansas, July 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal (Hardcover)

Jim MacDougal has writen a fascinating account of politics, logrolling, and back scratching in a one party Southern state. MacDougal, a fierce populist, detested Hilary's insider trading and other shakey deals that enriched the worst lady during the Reagan/Bush 80s that she castigates for its greed. He also recounts how Clinton's loss in the 1980 Governor's race made him resolve never to lose again and to do whatever it took to win. Thus we had the 1996 election and its campaign finance lawbreaking, orchestrated by Clinton, and carried out by the DNC. After reading this book one is left with the impression that some indictments should have been issued by Ken Starr out of the Little Rock Grand Jury. I think the co-author should look into MacDougal's death. Some inmates at the prison have claimed that he was denied medicine. He died in solitary confinement, ending up there because he couldn't urinate on demand for a drug test. Another FOB has taken the dirt nap.