Bill Clinton sent emails while president -- 2 of them!

Our 42nd president jumped on the internet wagon with the rest of us but didn't ride it for very long

Published February 17, 2011 9:40PM (EST)

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the funeral mass for R. Sargent Shriver at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Md., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011.  Shriver, an in-law of the Kennedys, and the first director of the Peace Corps, died Tuesday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen/Pool)  (AP)
Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the funeral mass for R. Sargent Shriver at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Md., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. Shriver, an in-law of the Kennedys, and the first director of the Peace Corps, died Tuesday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen/Pool) (AP)

Bill Clinton did many things while president. He enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement. He reformed the nation's welfare policy. He got impeached. He created a budget surplus. And then he left office with a higher approval rating than any president since World War II.

Bill Clinton did not send many emails during this period of time. In fact he sent only two, according to a surprise talk he gave at today's Wired for Change conference at the Ford Foundation in New York:

I sent a grand total of two emails as president: one to our troops in the Adriatic, and one to John Glenn when he was 77 years old in outer space. I figured it was OK if Congress subpoenaed those.

Here's the "electronic message" Bubba sent to John Glenn. It's now printed in a book.


By Adam Clark Estes

Adam Clark Estes blogs the news for Salon. Email him at ace@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @adamclarkestes

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