Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [392]
She summed up that day when the Starr Report was made public as one of the worst in a year filled with low points: “I was [beyond] humiliated and angry. I just felt violated.”
Back in Virginia, Alice Starr did her best to defend her husband’s work, letting her children and friends know that Ken was not the purveyor of smut that some accused him of being. “I talked to our kids,” said Alice. “I was surprised that [Congress] would ever let that information out on the Internet. And I hoped that they knew that their dad did not intend for that to happen.”
Alice was saddened for all parents who suddenly faced a hundred questions about explicit words and acts depicted in the report. “Of course, I was very upset. I have never read it, because I have no interest in it. I don’t read any of those kinds of books. I don’t like to watch those kinds of TV programs. And I just had no interest in it. I knew the synopsis of it. I knew generally what it was about. That’s all I needed.”
The publication of the Starr Report had turned the whole Starr family upside down. Ken and Alice’s oldest daughter, Carolyn, was suddenly being dragged through the mud in print. A freshman at Stanford, where Chelsea Clinton was also a student, Carolyn Starr was being portrayed by tabloids as a wild woman even though she was a mature, considerate young lady. One local California rag reported that “Carolyn had punched Chelsea Clinton in the nose and she had punched her out and they had gotten into an altercation.” Alice was contacted by the president and provost of Stanford, who reported that they had received “about fourteen different letters” threatening her daughter’s life and “threatening to rape her.” These threats were taken seriously enough that U.S. Marshals initiated round-the-clock protection for Carolyn, causing her parents further distress.
The sickest part about all this, in Alice Starr’s mind, was that her daughter was the last person on earth who would ever harbor ill feelings toward the president’s daughter. “She has never met Chelsea to this day,” Alice said. “Had my daughter ever met her, she would have given her a hug,” she added. “That’s the kind of person she is. She’s a very lovely, wonderful person and is very forgiving, very gracious, and never, ever would have held it against Chelsea. Nor would I hope Chelsea would have held it against Carolyn. I mean, this is something your parents were working on.”
The most distressing thing for the special prosecutor’s wife, however, was that so many Americans seemed to be reacting sympathetically toward Bill Clinton. “I guess I thought the public would be disgusted with our president,” she admitted, “and that’s not the way it happened.” Instead, many citizens seemed to be saying, Oh, naughty boy,” and then taking Ken Starr to task “for releasing the information.” This threw Alice for a loop. “I thought that there would be pretty much disgust and that he [Clinton] would be asked to resign.… I guess I thought members of his own party, the Joe Liebermans of the world, would think that Al Gore should be president and Bill Clinton should step down.”
On a personal note, Alice Starr was troubled that the Starr Report was coming to be viewed as her husband’s memoir rather than as a piece of work that he had been obligated to produce as part of his duties in public office. “And I’m a little embarrassed that people ask [Ken] to sign the Starr Report all the time. They want his autograph. And I think, ‘What a horrible thing to have to sign.’ People have it in their hand and want him to sign it. Well, he’s so nice, he doesn’t say no. But I am sure he’s embarrassed by it.”
From his increasingly lonely OIC office, Ken Starr had forwarded his son Randy a letter from a cowboy named “A.R.,” who had served as their guide one year during a family vacation to a dude ranch in Wyoming. The old cowboy had been kind enough to write during this time of trouble: “Ken, Alice, you two should pack your bags and come out here and let me take you riding and driving cattle through this beautiful country. I