Steve Jobs Biography: Apple CEO Gave President Clinton Advice on Lewinsky Scandal
Steve Jobs' influence is apparent by the amount of people one sees everyday entranced by their iPads or waiting in line for the next iPhone. However, when Jobs was not putting his stamp on modern culture through the latest gadgets, he was doling out advice to American presidents.
In Steve Jobs, the new biography by author Walter Isaacson, it is said that Jobs received a late night phone call from then-President Bill Clinton asking the tech guru what to do about the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Jobs answered the embattled president: "I don't know if you did it, but if so, you've got to tell the country."
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According to Isaacson, there was silence on the other end of the line. Whether or not Clinton took Jobs' advice depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is.
Jobs and Clinton had a close friendship, according to the new biography. In an interview with Time magazine shortly after Jobs' death, Clinton spoke warmly of the Apple co-founder.
"When my daughter was at Stanford he got in touch with me, and said, " 'It's hard to travel to see your child when you're President. I've got a place out in the country. You and Hillary can stay there and bring Chelsea and her friends there anytime you want to.' "
Clinton added: "He gave me a priceless gift: the opportunity to see my child while I was still a very public figure, so I'm highly biased in his favor. Plus, even I can work an iPad."
Jobs was also on friendly terms with President Barack Obama, although not as warm as Clinton, apparently.
Although he gave Obama an iPad before the scheduled release date, Jobs' politics had become more conservative, Isaacson writes, and Obama's economic policies frustrated him.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," Jobs warned Obama. According to The Huffington Post, Jobs urged the Obama administration to be more like China, where they have less "regulations and unnecessary costs," so businesses can flourish.
In China, where Apple manufactures most of its products, Jobs came under criticism for the way its factory workers in the country have been treated, with accusations of accidental poisoning due to cost-cutting measures, as reported earlier by The Christian Post, to harsh working conditions which led to several suicides.
