1978 -- The Clintons and the McDougals borrow nearly $200,000 from Citizens Bank to buy scenic though remote land along the White River.

1978 -- Bill Clinton is elected governor of Arkansas.

1979 -- James McDougal joins Clinton's gubernatorial administration as an economic advisor.

1979 -- The Whitewater Development company is formed, with ownership shared between the Clintons and McDougals.

1980 -- McDougal quits his job with Clinton and buys a bank that he renames Madison Bank & Trust Co.

1980 -- Bill Clinton loses his re-election bid for governor.

1980 -- Hillary Clinton borrows $30,000 from Madison Bank to build a model home at Whitewater.

1982 -- The McDougals buy a savings and loan bank and rename it Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan.

1982 -- Bill Clinton wins back the governorship.

1985 -- Hillary Clinton meets with McDougal, and he agrees to pay a monthly retainer to the Rose firm.

1986 -- McDougal is forced to resign from Madison Guaranty.

1986 -- Hillary Clinton ends Rose's retainer agreement with Madison.

1989 -- Madison fails in March, costing the taxpayers $60 million.

1989 -- McDougal is indicted on charges relating to the Castle Grande, a Madison-funded real estate project Rose attorneys, including Hillary Clinton, worked on.

1990 -- McDougal is acquitted of the charges.

1991 -- Bill Clinton announces he is running for president.

1992 -- Bill Clinton is elected president.

1992 -- McDougal and Vince Foster, representing the Clintons, sign papers selling the Clintons' interest in Whitewater to McDougal for $1,000.

1992 -- Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, responding to pressure from the media, issues a statement that the Clintons did nothing improper with Whitewater dealings.

1993 -- Webster Hubbell, Hillary Clinton's former Rose Law partner and at the time a nominee to become assistant attorney general, removes several cardboard file boxes, including those relating to Whitewater, from the Rose firm and stores them in his Washington basement.

Jan. 1993 -- Bill Clinton is inaugurated.

July 20, 1993 -- Foster, at the time White House counsel, kills himself.

October 1993 -- RTC investigator Jean Lewis makes nine criminal referrals stemming from her investigation of Madison Guaranty, including one that names Clinton's 1985 gubernatorial campaign.

Dec. 23, 1993 -- President Clinton says he and Hillary Clinton will release all records pertaining to Whitewater.

Jan. 12, 1994 -- Facing mounting pressure, President Clinton requests a special prosecutor be appointed.

Jan. 20, 1994 -- Robert B. Fiske Jr., a New York attorney, is appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno as Whitewater special counsel.

Feb. 24, 1994 -- Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, who oversees the RTC, acknowledges to the Senate Banking Committee he gave White House officials a "heads-up" on the RTC Madison criminal referrals.

Feb. 25, 1994 -- Clinton aides George Stephanopoulos and Harold Ickes have a conference call with Altman to discuss RTC's choice of Republican lawyer Jay Stephens to head the Madison investigation.

Feb. 25, 1994 -- Altman recuses himself from the RTC investigation of Madison.

March 4, 1994 -- Six of President Clinton's senior White House aides are subpoenaed by the FBI to testify. Fiske later subpoenas 12 more officials.

March 22, 1994 -- David Hale, former municipal judge and owner of Capital Management Services, pleads guilty to two felony counts for defrauding the Small Business Administration. Hale implicates the president, saying Bill Clinton pressured him to make a $300,000 loan in 1986.

March 24, 1994 -- The House Banking Committee's top Republican, Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), gives a floor speech accusing the RTC of stonewalling on public documents, and says he has evidence of a coverup.

March 24, 1994 -- President Clinton goes on national TV to defend Whitewater business dealings.

April 22, 1994 -- Hillary Clinton holds press conference to address Whitewater concerns.

June 12, 1994 -- Fiske questions both Clintons under oath.

June 30, 1994 -- In a preliminary finding, Fiske rules Vincent Foster's death a suicide, and that White House-Treasury contacts had not broken any laws.

July 26, 1994 -- The House Banking Committee begins hearings on Whitewater.

July 29, 1994 -- The Senate Banking Committee begins Whitewater hearings.

Aug. 5, 1994 -- Three-judge federal panel replaces Fiske as independent counsel with former Bush Administration Solicitor General Kenneth Starr. No explanation is given for the change.

Aug. 29, 1994 -- Roger Altman resigns as deputy Treasury chief, after Senate hearings into White House-Treasury contacts reveal inconsistencies in his testimony.