Flower Power
A New Flower Blooms
In January 1992, an actress and model named Gennifer Flowers held a press conference in which she claimed to have had an extramarital affair with Bill Clinton, the Governor of Arkansas and frontrunner for the 1992 Democratic Presidential Nomination. She alleged that the affair took place years ago, and as proof, she motioned to a twelve year-old girl standing next to her at the podium. It was at that moment that Gennifer Flowers introduced her daughter, Melissa Flowers, to the world. And along with Melissa came Gennifer’s declaration that Clinton was the father.
The effects of the conference were immediate. Soon, the Flowers family was known throughout the United States, as the media descended upon the juicy story. No matter what the outlet, everyone from the television anchors at ABC to the publishers of the Washington Post all had the same question on their minds; could Melissa Flowers really be the daughter of Bill Clinton?
Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Governor Clinton’s campaign went into damage-control mode and assessed the situation. His entire staff entered into somewhat of a panic. Their candidate had had charges of infidelity leveled against him before, but Clinton had always managed to artfully dodge them. However, most of those previous accusations didn’t have the kind of teeth that this one potentially had. If the story was true, and Clinton had fathered a secret child out of wedlock, it would be a blow that the Governor could not hope to recover from. The campaign’s answer needed to be immediate and it needed to be effective.
Appearing in an interview on 60 Minutes, Bill Clinton sat down with his wife, Hillary, in an attempt to crush the story. In the interview Clinton denied having an affair with anyone and believed that Melissa Flowers was not his child. In response to the interview, Flowers’ attorney requested a paternity test to officially determine if the Governor was Melissa’s father.
Initially, Clinton was reluctant to take such a measure, out of fear of the outcome being that he actually was the father. However, news of the demand from the Flowers team was made public, and polls showed that a majority of Americans believed that Clinton should take the test. The ball was in Clinton’s court as the American people waited to see what the Presidential Candidate would do.