Question: Former Arizona governor Fife Symington, a Republican, was pardoned by President Clinton for offenses involving his activities as a real-estate developer. Is he related to the late Stuart Symington of Missouri, who served in the Truman administration and was later a senator and 1960 presidential hopeful? Also, I have heard that Fife Symington once saved a young Bill Clinton from drowning. Is that true? – Frank Ferrari, Mesa, Ariz.
Answer: Yes on both counts. First, John Fife Symington III is a distant cousin of Stu, who served four terms in the Senate as a Democrat from 1953 through 1976. And second, when they were college students in the 1960s – Fife at Harvard, and Clinton at Georgetown – Symington saved Clinton at a beach party in Massachusetts, when young Bill was being pulled away by a strong tide.