The Clinton era ended for real last week, with neither a bang nor a whimper, but only a 2,090-page report. Robert Ray,
the last of three independent counsels on the Whitewater investigation, released his findings, closing an inquiry that came to dominate much of Bill Clinton's eight years in office. Mr. Clinton's defenders will argue that the entire investigation was a waste of more than $64 million in taxpayers' money. But we hope that Whitewater will be a permanent reminder to people who seek elective office that the best defense against any inquiry is to volunteer the truth.

Mr. Ray concluded that there was insufficient evidence to convict either the former president or his wife of any crimes relating to the failed Whitewater real estate development or to the web of shady dealings that sprang up around it. The wording amounted to a less-than-wholehearted acquittal. The Clintons' lawyer reasonably pointed out that Mr. Ray could also have
said that there was insufficient evidence to convict them of having "trapped fur-bearing mammals out of season or sold nuclear secrets to Liechtenstein." If an eight-year investigation fails to find any substantial evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the Clintons, the only fair response is to declare them cleared.

Questions about the Clintons, however, will probably continue to be raised as long as there are historians to study the
American presidency. Missing files, destroyed documents and unanswered queries still float around the history of the
former president and first lady. To accept their innocence is to marvel at what a mess they helped make for no good reason.

The Whitewater issue was first raised by The New York Times during the 1992 presidential campaign. The issue involved serious questions, and the investigation that followed led to plea agreements or convictions for more than a dozen people,
most of them with political or business ties to the Clintons. This page urged the Clintons to cooperate so often that it became the editorial version of shouting oneself hoarse. But their refusal to provide full and frank answers on matters like Mrs.
Clinton's mysteriously mobile billing records turned the case into a cottage industry of White House obfuscation. In time,
the inquiry grew to embrace charges of tampering with regulators and other questionable behavior. Eventually it came across the matter of Monica Lewinsky and taught us much more about the Clintons than we ever wanted or needed to know.

Some of their former associates have said the Clintons deliberately stonewalled because they believed that no matter how
much information they provided, more would always be demanded. They also complained that Republican conservatives
were out to get them. There were definitely many people who hated the Clintons. It is also true that the independent counsel's office, particularly under Kenneth Starr, showed a stupendous lack of concern for the need to keep the investigation under control and conclude it in a timely fashion.

For their part, the investigators argued that they could have moved faster if the White House had been cooperative. If the Clintons' strategy of denials and evasions was in fact a reaction to the behavior of their enemies, they gave the right wing
exactly what it wanted: a presidency discredited by the chief executive's inability to tell the truth.

The nation may never again see a president with Bill Clinton's natural political talents, his instinctive grasp of policy and his breadth of understanding of governmental issues. He was capable of being an extraordinary leader. The fact that he turned
out to be so much less is a tragedy, and the tragedy's first act was about Whitewater.