Existing comment:
Billy the Kid
1999
Bronze
Bill Clinton's presidency was tainted by sexual scandal and accusations of financial wrongdoing, but he was never convicted of a crime or removed from office. Investigated during his first term for financial irregularities linked to the "Whitewater" Arkansas land deal, he was impeached during his second term for obstructing justice and lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Oliphant's sculpture, created in the wake of Clinton's Senate trial, caricatures him as the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid (William Henry McCarty, Jr., 1859-1881).
The cocky pose and western garb are a near quotation of the only authenticated image of "The Kid" (ca. 1880) except that the holstered gun hangs in front and in Clinton's right hand is (in place of a steady rifle) a cigar -- in Oliphant's lexicon, a sign for Clinton's male predilections. Billy the Kid was believed to have shot nine people but was also considered sympathetic and likeable -- and forgivable by one governor of New Mexico. Clinton, who was accused by four women of sexual misconduct and admitted to two extramarital affairs, was given a pass, if not a pardon, by the Senate in 1999 and left office in 2001 with a 63% approval rating. |