Editing Vince Foster (section)

===White House counsel===
After [[1992 United States presidential election|Clinton's 1992 election]], Foster joined Clinton's presidential transition team.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> Once Clinton was inaugurated, Foster joined his [[White House]] staff as [[Deputy White House Counsel]] in early 1993.<ref name="starr-bio" /> This was despite Foster's initial reluctance to leave his Little Rock life behind and come to Washington.<ref name="nykr-boyer" /><ref name="wapo-dvd" /> There he worked under the [[White House Counsel]], [[Bernard W. Nussbaum]], although Nussbaum would consider the pair to be "co-senior partners".<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> He was also joined with two other Rose Law Firm partners, [[William H. Kennedy, III]], who served as his associate counsel, and [[Webster Hubbell]], who became [[United States Associate Attorney General|Associate Attorney General]].<ref name="salon-rl">{{cite news | url=http://www.salon.com/1998/07/27/newsa_5/ | title=Victim of circumstance | first=Mollie | last=Dickenson | magazine=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] | date=July 27, 1998}}</ref> The Foster residence was a small rented house in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="wapo-dvd" />

Foster had difficulty making the transition to life and politics in Washington.<ref name="wapo070194" /> Unlike some other Clinton-associated figures, he had no experience with campaigns or electoral politics.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> His wife and youngest son were not with him, having stayed behind in Arkansas so the son could complete his senior year<!-- sources differ junior or senior but based on a WaPo quote, senior seems more likely--> of high school at [[Catholic High School for Boys (Little Rock, Arkansas)|Catholic High]] in Little Rock.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /><ref name="text" /> His initial role was in vetting potential administration appointees.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> As one subject of the vetting process later said, "I wondered why I was being interviewed by the guy who would be deputy counsel. Seemed his job was to find out how honest I was, and what level of ego I was bringing. It's a measure of how much the Clintons trusted him."<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> But Foster found this involvement in vetting appointments to be causing him [[depression (mood)|depression]] and [[anxiety (mood)|anxiety]].<ref name="wapo070194" /> In particular, he blamed himself for the failed [[Zoë Baird]] nomination;<ref name="wapo070194" /> he had thought that Baird had been justified in following her lawyer's advice regarding the payment of taxes on household employees, but he had failed to anticipate the political backlash that led to it becoming known as "[[Nannygate]]" and that blemished the early days of the administration.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> The equally unsuccessful [[Kimba Wood]] and [[Lani Guinier]] appointments were also under Foster's purview.<ref name="encyclo-ic" /> He had to resign from the Country Club of Little Rock once its all-white membership became a political issue for others in the administration.<ref name="wapo-dvd" />

As Deputy Counsel, Foster was also involved in a range of other matters, including preparation of [[executive order]]s, analyzing the legal effect of various policies, examining international treaties, discussing the ramifications of [[War Powers Resolution|authorizations for use of military force]], and authorizing expenditures within the White House.<ref name="wapo-dvd" /> Foster worked on placing the Clintons' financial holdings into a [[blind trust]].<ref name="wapo-dvd" />

He handled the Clintons' [[Madison Guaranty]] and [[Industrial Development Corporation]] paperwork<ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[PBS]]|location= WGBH educational foundation|work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/arkansas/docs/recs.html|title=Rose Law Firm billing records}}</ref> and also several [[Whitewater controversy|Whitewater]]-related [[Tax return (United States)|tax returns]].<ref name="nyt080695">[[Jeff Gerth]] and Stephen Labaton, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DB1631F935A3575BC0A963958260 "Whitewater Papers Cast Doubt on Clinton Account of a Tax Underpayment"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 6, 1995. Accessed April 30, 2007.</ref> He worked twelve-hour days, six or seven days a week, and although thin to begin with, began losing weight.<ref name="wapo-dvd"/><ref name="gormley"/>

On May 8, 1993, Foster gave the commencement address at the University of Arkansas Law School, his alma mater, and said:

{{blockquote|The reputation you develop for intellectual and ethical integrity will be your greatest asset or your worst enemy. You will be judged by your judgment. ... Treat every pleading, every brief, every contract, every letter, every daily task as if your career will be judged on it ... There is no victory, no advantage, no fee, no favor, which is worth even a blemish on your reputation for intellect and integrity. ... Dents to the reputation in the legal profession are irreparable.<ref name="text">{{cite book|author-first=Ronald W. | author-last=Maris|author2-first=Alan L. | author2-last=Berman|author3-first=Morton M. |author3-last=Silverman|title=Comprehensive Textbook of Suicidology|publisher=[[Guilford Press]]|year=2000|isbn=1-57230-541-X|pages=280–81}}</ref><ref name="wapo-dvd"/>}}

One faculty member listening to it recalled telling another that it was "the most depressing graduation speech I had ever heard, in both content and manner."<ref name="gormley"/> A friend of Foster's has said, "Look, it's just crazy, right? You get one dent and it can never be fixed? In Washington, you get them all the time. You get twenty dents and you go to the body shop. Vince couldn't see that, apparently."<ref name="wapo-dvd"/>