According to a number of sources, Clinton's fees -- several at $250,000 per speech and one at $350,000 -- are exceptional, even for entertainment stars. The information was described in congressional financial disclosure forms filed yesterday by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
The former president's year was remarkable for the number of engagements, the fees he received and the distances he traveled to share his thoughts, according to industry sources.
"There's no question he's the highest-paid speaker in the history of the lecture industry," said Don Walker, president of the Harry Walker Agency in New York, which handles Clinton's speaking arrangements.
Canada Stefl, president of KEY Speakers Bureau Inc., in Corona del Mar, Calif., which also handles many celebrities, said few big-name speakers fetch more than $100,000 per speech. She said she knew of none who gets more than $200,000, even abroad.
Former president Ronald Reagan created a stir in 1989, the year he left office, when he received $2 million for two 20-minute speeches sponsored by a Japanese communications firm. Former president George H.W. Bush also ran into controversy when he received an undisclosed sum for a series of speeches to followers of the wife of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church.
Stefl and Walker said they could think of no celebrity whose schedule was as extensive as Clinton's 2001 speaking tour. During some periods, he made speeches virtually every day, often in different countries on consecutive days.
During four days in April, Clinton spoke in Norway, Sweden, Austria and Poland, receiving a total of more than $600,000. In August, he made three speeches on successive days to different audiences from the same Japanese corporation, followed four days later by a speech in Brazil. He netted $700,000 for the four addresses.
His biggest single take was $350,000 for a speech to an association in Milan, Italy. His smallest fee was $28,100 to speak to the London School of Economics and Political Science.
His spokeswoman, Julia Payne, said Clinton made several dozen uncompensated speeches for causes such as combating AIDS, promoting civil rights and expanding music programs in schools. She said many paid speeches were made to help raise money for charitable causes.
The average fee for Clinton's 59 paid speeches in 2001 was more than $150,000.
Most of the speeches were made to companies and business-related groups in the United States, usually at $125,000 or $150,000 each. But some fees were higher, such as the $250,000 he received for a speech to New York-based Fortune Magazine Forum.
Others who paid to hear him included Oracle Corp., the Paris Golf & Country Club, Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., the El Paso Holocaust Museum and the British Broadcasting Corp.
The total of $9.2 million appeared to be more than enough to pay off the legal fees the Clintons owe to three law firms as a result of investigations and litigation during the former president's final years in office.
The Clintons reported paying more than $1.3 million in legal fees for themselves and former staffers last year, and estimated their remaining legal debts at between $1.75 million and $6.5 million. The estimates are imprecise because the congressional annual disclosure forms use broad ranges of figures.
Former presidents usually can keep their post-White House income confidential. But former president Clinton's income had to be made public because members of Congress must report their spouses' income as well as well as their own assets and earnings.
Clinton accepted only a fraction of the speaking invitations he received, Walker said.
Hillary Clinton reported receiving $2.85 million from the $8 million advance for her memoirs, which are due out next year. The Clintons also reported a blind trust with assets of $1 million to $5 million and deposit accounts of $5 million to $25 million.
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