Barbara Brown, a lecturer in political science, said it all started in May 1991, when the Illinois Democratic Party was planning a fund-raising dinner at SIUC.

Brown, then deputy-chair of the fundraising committee, suggested they invite Gov. Bill Clinton from Arkansas as the keynote speaker.

President Clinton had not yet decided to run for president as of that point, she said. He was still just thinking about it.

Brown said some members of the fund-raiser were somewhat skeptical because Clinton was not well known.

People upstate didn’t really know him, she said. But a lot of educators at SIUC did because of the educational reforms he had made.

Brown said the committee decided to ask Clinton, and he accepted the invitation for the dinner scheduled in early September.

As the summer passed, it became evident Clinton was a possible candidate for the 1992 presidential election.

Prior to the dinner, Clinton spent the day in Iowa trying to find out if he had enough support to run for the office, Brown said.

Even when he showed up at the dinner he hadn’t decided, she said.

Einar V. Dyhrkopp, the chairman of the dinner fund-raiser, said the night Clinton spoke went better than anyone had expected.

He had the crowd energized and the applause went on and on, he said. It took him an hour or better to get out of the building; everyone wanted to shake his hand.

Brown said after the speech, the crowd had no doubt that this was their man for president.

People were on their feet, and showing their support, she said. They made a list, and everyone was telling him they would work for him if he decided to run.

Brown said that was the night Bill Clinton made a monumental decision.

He was on a plane back to Little Rock, when he turned to his aide-Craig Smith, and told him that after that night he had no doubt that they could do it, and that he decided he was going to go for it, she said. Clinton decided that night, after the response he got from the crowd, he was not thinking about running anymore, but that he was going to run.

Every once in awhile, at Democratic functions, I’ll introduce myself and they will say You are the one that had the fund-raiser that influenced the president to run,’ she said.

SIUC holds a very important part in the history of the Clinton presidency, she said. Every time I talk to him he always asks about SIU.