Editing Whitewater controversy (section)

===Origins of Whitewater Development Corporation===
[[Image:HillaryRodhamBillClintonLittleRockHouse1.jpg|thumb|left|The Clintons lived in this house in the [[Hillcrest, Little Rock, Arkansas|Hillcrest neighborhood]] of [[Little Rock]] from 1977 to 1979 while he was [[Arkansas Attorney General]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Clinton | first=Bill | author-link=Bill Clinton | title=[[My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography)|My Life]] | publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf Publishing Group]] | year=2004 | isbn=0-375-41457-6}} p. 244.</ref>]]

Bill Clinton had known Arkansas businessman and political figure Jim McDougal since 1968, and had made a previous real estate investment with him in 1977.<ref name="lh">[[Hillary Rodham Clinton]], ''[[Living History (book)|Living History]]''. [[Simon & Schuster]] (2003). {{ISBN|0-7432-2224-5}}. pp. 86–88.</ref> In the spring of 1978, McDougal proposed that the Clintons join him and his wife, Susan, in buying {{convert|230|acre}} of undeveloped land along the south bank of the [[White River (Arkansas)|White River]] near [[Flippin, Arkansas|Flippin]], Arkansas, in the [[Ozark Mountains]]. The goal was to subdivide the site into lots for [[vacation home]]s, intended for the many people coming south from Chicago and Detroit who were interested in low property taxes, fishing, rafting, and mountain scenery. The plan was to hold the property for a few years and then sell the lots at a profit.<ref name="lh"/>

The four borrowed $203,000 to buy the land and subsequently transferred ownership of it to the newly created Whitewater Development Corporation, in which all four participants had equal shares.<ref name="lh"/> Susan McDougal chose the name "Whitewater Estates" and their sales pitch was, "One weekend here and you'll never want to live anywhere else."<ref name="cnn070497">[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/infocus/whitewater/ak.roots.html "Arkansas Roots"], [[CNN.com]], July 4, 1997. Accessed August 26, 2007.</ref><ref name="encyclo-ic">Gerald S. Greenberg, ''Historical Encyclopedia of U.S. Independent Counsel Investigations'', Greenwood Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-313-30735-0}}. pp. 362–364.</ref><ref name="ray-ww-part-a">[[Robert Ray (prosecutor)|Robert Ray]], [http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/18may20041514/icreport.access.gpo.gov/final/v2a.pdf "Final Report of the Independent Counsel ''In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association''" – "The Clintons, The McDougals, and the Whitewater Development Company"], [[United States Government Printing Office]], January 5, 2001.</ref> The business was incorporated on June 18, 1979.