The Clinton tapes: late-night memories
But there’s little of Monica Lewinsky in this oral history based on private interviews at the White House

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin was once discovered drunkenly stumbling around outside the White House in his underpants, attempting to flag down a taxi to take him to buy fast food, according to his host on that 1995 visit to Washington, former US President Bill Clinton. Clinton's sozzled Kremlin counterpart told the Secret Service agents who found him that he wanted to get some pizza. The following night the Russian, who was notorious for drunkenness during his nine years in office, almost caused an international incident when he was mistaken for an intruder in the basement of Blair House, the accommodation used for foreign dignitaries visiting DC. Yeltsin, who died in 2007 aged 76, struggled with alcoholism throughout his term as president, which ended in 1999. His condition was first noticed in 1989 when the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that he had been publicly drunk during a visit to the US. In 1994 he left the Taoiseach Albert Reynolds waiting on the runway at Dublin airport as he was too intoxicated to leave his official plane to acknowledge the Irish leader. A visit to Stockholm in 1997 ended in chaos after Yeltsin started talking gibberish having consumed a glass of champagne, reportedly telling his audience that Swedish meatballs reminded him of Bjorn Borg's face. And he was forced to pull out of the 1999 funeral for King Hussein of Jordan at short notice, an absence often ascribed to alcohol. Clinton spilled the beans about the former Russian president during a series of 79 late-night interviews he gave the American historian Taylor Branch between 1993 and 2001, the year he left office. Branch was an old friend, with whom Bill and Hillary Clinton had once shared an apartment when they ran George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign in Texas. Clinton also passed unflattering judgment on the man who succeeded him, George W Bush, labeling him unqualified to be president. The recollections appear in a 700-page tome, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History, to be published next week in the US.
Readers who might assume no "oral history" of the Clinton years would be complete without Monica Lewinsky are likely be disappointed. Branch has admitted to feeling "squeamish" about bringing the subject up. And when he did, Clinton tended to give the boilerplate replies he was giving everyone else at the time.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The worst coral bleaching event breaks records
The Explainer Bleaching has now affected 84% of the world's coral reefs
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Nayib Bukele: the Salvadoran ally in Trump's deportation machine
In the Spotlight El Salvador's popular strongman rose to power promising to make his country safe
By David Faris
-
Magazine solutions - May 2, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 2, 2025
By The Week US
-
A running list of Trump's second-term national security controversies
In Depth Several scandals surrounding national security have rocked the Trump administration
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Jewish communities are wary of Trump's push to punish antisemitism
IN THE SPOTLIGHT While the White House expands its effort to criminalize actions it deems harmful to Jewish Americans, not everyone in those communities are on board with the president's purported assistance.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Is Elon Musk's DOGE job coming to an end?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Plummeting popularity, a stinging electoral defeat and Tesla's shrinking market share could be pulling the tech billionaire out of Trump's presidential orbit
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
WHCA rejects White House press seating grab
Speed Read The White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bid to control where journalists sit during press briefings
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Law firms: Caving to White House pressure
Feature Trump targets major law firms tied to his past investigations
By The Week US
-
JFK document dump is a bonanza for conspiracy theorists and historians alike
THE EXPLAINER The release of thousands of files on John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination offers scholars and skeptics a new look at one of the country's lowest moments
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
White House ignores judicial deportation blocks
Speed Read The Trump administration deports alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime law, defying a court order
By Peter Weber, The Week US