William Jefferson Blythe Jr. to his short-lived second marriage to Minnie. Sharon Lee Blythe Pettijohn is the daughter of Wanetta and Blythe, and is still alive in 2016. Blythe and Wanetta were formally divorced three years later, in April 1944. They lost touch immediately afterwards; Wanetta, who eventually settled in Tucson, Arizona, had no inkling of Blythe's subsequent history until the presidential campaign of 1992 and the "Washington Post" story. Upon seeing old photographs of Bill Clinton's father flashed on TV, Wanetta "swears on a stack of Bibles ... that that was the man she was married to", said her son-in-law Bob Pettijohn, husband
Ernest Blythe County state." He was also Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1922 to 1932 and Vice-President of the Executive Council. Blythe was committed to keeping a balanced budget at all costs, which was not at all easy. The Irish Civil War had placed an enormous strain on the nascent Irish Free State, with public spending almost doubling during its course. As a result, Blythe was confronted with a projected budget of more than £8 million for the following year when the national debt already stood at £6 million. There was widespread criticism when he reduced old-age pensions from 10 shillings