Transcripts For CSPAN3 First Ladies Influence And Image 20151130

Quite there is no prescription role model or book for being first lady. Futures created every day like she did many person first lady. She survived many scandals including her husbands impeachment. Her story is still being written. This firstg welcomes ladies. We had two journalists who know the clintons well. David merrin is the author of many books. To both of you. From 92. Rt with a clip one of those that is become emblematic of learning content. Stirring campaign when she talked how she might approach the worlds first lady. Those of us who try to make a of done the best i can to lead my life. I suppose we will be subject to that and i dont know what else to say. You know i suppose i could stay home and baked these that i decided to enter my profession. Were removing the idea that she will a very involved first lady. At the administration of the swallow all of . A lot toreally quite the american public. Etc. , six years to figure out how to do it. Once sheon to meet her let down her hair and i just dont know what to do anymore. Nothing i do were. From the very beginning they so they could get laces together. Eleanor was very active as a first lady to she was on her own track separate from roosevelt. The 2for1 was a reality area and Hillary Clinton was born in chicago is Hillary Diane rodham. Some you about her childhood. The significant thing was the way she saw herself was a star. Was sheer fantasies would sit on the lawn and dance in the time and imagine that god was beaming the sundown only her in the heavenly cameras following her every move. She made that a reality. But camerasavenly nonetheless. She meant happen. Scrantoner was born in worked in factories and mines. He made his way to chicago. Her mother was a traditional house. Like does this come from . I would not call her mother a traditional house like area she was strong and independent woman. Her father was a republican. 99 point 5 . It was a deep part of the midwest will class. He was very sheltered in that. Yet we saw them chosen. She had her father as he said the politics were where she thought she was. She was very strongly methodist. It started in the teenage years. Right progressive and challenging. Kids think about the rules of my. Even before she blossomed. Until the story in the book about the white ribbon kid. It takes him to chicago to tell other people live. Affected. Enormously thats she lives in a bubble and she wanted to know more about how the real world work. Her mother told me a significant start better childhood. Ridge,ey moved to park this is the social hierarchy ofyearold a little girl and cindy leader up every day. In the crying and monday mother said this house is no place for out thereu go back and you not federal over enough of hillary did. And boys were watching. She can make moments that now i can play with the boys. She alsoa had a High School Teacher who was very conservative it was in hunting for the other direction. Enough of the role he played in her life to my she did have some conservative teachers. I dont think the teacher had a found in and. It was a lot to have her thinking in that direction. I would not say that any teacher had more influence on her than the methodist church. Those are two key influence is. Her mother have important influence on her. She wondered have equilibrium. So she would constantly as an individual keep the ball. Her she also wanted to warn they abandon her. Glared agreed to give bill clinton the divorcing in the 1. 1 at one. The other amazing thing about she was reallys taken by the methodist minister who introduced her to Martin Luther king who here in chicago and she realized that there were no black people that she saw the last in park ridge. Realize up on it and the emancipation proclamation had not really been carried out. Her off, but was at wellesley she heard Martin Luther king and vinces shot. That was when she turned for me a good girl to a marcher. A real liberal. She graduated the next year area and that was the moment she turned into an activist. You can see her politics changing. The had a chicken to wellesley . She was a very smart student. She was at the top of her class. She lived in boston. Her parents around in a cadillac. It made her father furious though. When he realized it was a snobby eastern girls school. He never visited her there. The fascinating thing to me about hillary is that she wrote a number of letters to wrestle friends she had a fouryear identity crisis. He thoughts she had to select her identity and she laid them out and said will he be a pseudohippie . No. She read catcher in the right hated it. She said will maybe on misanthrope. Curator friend and sickening be herassionate misanthrope . Father taught her that any person of a motion was bad. So she decided she would help other people leave their best lives. She became president of the dent body lovely summer hearation did not want to from moderate republican. Even black man about entering work horse and going on because of it. We dontt up and said believe in this materialism and and fitness were looking for ecstatic it in his. For student body got up and gave him uproar of applause. The faculty was mortified. It got her into life magazine and she was obvious are area that asked her what was the most of setting grants of your 20s . And she said volume of with bill clinton. The sevare attracted you to him . She said he wasnt afraid of the paragraphieve that essence of the speech. Understands that activity. Things that are written. The thing that makes this Program Different and interesting or us are your westerns. We welcome in three different is to comment on cspan page there been quite a lively discussion going on about Hillary Clinton. And you can tweet us. Can use at cspan and a faculty ask austan by twitter . If you want to know whether or not hillary wanted to drop a college for mother . That you consider that . I dont remember reading that. She did go through your compression area there were a at of highborn Society Girls wellesley and that was not her bag at all. She did not feel too smart enough at the beginning. She was depressed. I think it was in her sophomore year she may. That he was wanting in your often actually dropping out. She get to yale . Someone who one have an active life of packing change to. Near or the. E or no got in a year clinton did. It as a way to make change. Law school is a very functionally active place during that time. The classes were the opposite of harvard law. She is considered harvard laws well. What was the environment or women and you lost . There werent very many. There were like ive asked. She was quite unique there. She has been everywhere. Lotdid not speak an awful about sexism or prejudice, she was just too darned smart. She and bill decided to enter case, sheesenting a did all the work and all writing and build in the presenting in a was going to presenting. Made a goodnew impression on one of the judges. Her for anred Impeachment Committee on richard nixon. They were together on the prize trial. The fellow loss is described him as a mockingbird. We have a clip from 1994 when she talked about how she and bill clinton met. He was standing out in the hallway and i know those moments when you click i was sitting there and i just started staring you know ii thought like the way he looks anything its november. He caught mine began staring back at means of area in the library not reading theory is actually surrounded by people are talking out in not talking back. Finally i thought this is ridiculous clip of my books down and i went up and i said. Keep looking at me and i like you you you will you at least know each others name. He said he couldnt remember his name. On billeeded to stumble clinton. He really wanted to go on about this . It was the last day last area last nearly everyone you occasionally saw each other and we both know that the last day. I was walking out the door and got there at the same time and where you going in assembling a register for my classes next year is it oh i need to do that so we walked together we stood talks endless line finally got to the line and the said hillary what are you going to take and i started the out and she said bill are you here you registered people always want to know what is a part of his relationship . What is it that a check to these two people so strongly to one another . Think in the case of hillary shes not been popular with boys. She liked big handsome hunks and here was this day camps and redhaired guy with elvis sideburns he was rough around the edges. Was coming after her after class like a hound dog. It really made her feel like a woman. That was a new experience for her. Then she found out properly and he was having a. And how she could really do something with this guy. You can really bring them up. Committeehe watergate her go out to little rock best friend said youre crazy. Relieving this fabulous room watching them where your online to be in politics she said bill clintons enemy president of they amanda berry and. An offensive casino that . And she said not yet. And bill clintons perspective a lot of people were interested in him. The reason was what she called one girl who have the guts to disable moffett will. They actually did have a lot of common area that have the same ambition. Of politics. Love their. As a spark she was head over heels for him. I think bill saw her as someone to. How long did it take from the first meeting to marriage . Out of the relationship progress . It was several years. What happened in between was quite fascinating. When bill was running for his first congressional race, his campaign was chaotic. Hillary dropped everything and about their campaign area. Girl that he was having a romance with out the side door. She came in and was going on this is a mass . She took over and that night they knew they were going to hillary was giving them started swearing and ,ursing and throwing things with the passivity of the boot in 1975 was running for congress. They also were law professors together at the mercy of our all. It sort of set the tone for the differences between them. Bill clinton was an easy professor who give everybody as that was because they will all be voters in hollande. Hillary was completely organize her classes were tough and one of the clintons being a law professor who wouldnt hillary. Talk about herbs. Case. Impeachments she described it as one of the most important experiences of her life. What was important about it antechamber while was a historical moment in American History area she was hired by john doerr who ran the staff because she met him at yale as a judge in the mock trial. They hold up in the russian hotel. Her job was actually not the a lot of the. Stuff is on the next and team her job was to look at the constitutionality of judgment. She learned a lot from watching them. Its really an examination of most of congress and the manipulation of power in the use of power. Of course that would have a significant effect on. We take you next to fayetteville in the house that bill clinton bought Hillary Rodham as he proposed and where they got married. Lets watch. This is where the clintons live in their professors and fayetteville. In fact hillarys first year teaching here goes record on this route to get there were and i saw how and hillary pointed the house and then execute house and builds earlier part of picture of earlier part about about your and said dream house yet to marry me live there because the calendar alone met was in fact the fourtime you propose and they got married. There were nine people at the wedding was a very allstar money. Mention of make no the fact that hillary was retaining her own name. When they told hillarys mother she cried. We have a replica of her wedding dress. She got it the night before the wedding it to learn for 53 off the rack. Was very humble beginnings. These asleep out here in the summers because they didnt have this isitioning area the clinton kitchen. The room in the house that definitely needed to be remodeled. They had the harvest called client is. Hillary never got. This formal dining room they actually used at Campaign Headquarters for his congressional campaigns. Theres a desk that sat in the middle the room that had a map of our saw an hillary and the idea to visit each county three times. Fayetteville was a place they thought they had arrived area they got married a house they theyrofessional jobs reached the plant over there to do a lot of things and cycles for my. Mindful of our times what i want to do is get mccarvers begin in your area and with james and open california area im loving this series. I was interested in the time. It Hillary Clinton agreed to force divorce and not aware it was 1989 when bill clinton had been got caught with the bimbo. He pulled back from running for hillary hadin and explored whether not she should run for governor of polls show that surely wasnt going to be getting many votes at all. He fell in love with another woman. This is not our bimbo or lounge thing. This actually professionals family was in arkansas and in politics. He asked hillary for divorce and ministerlted with her and came back and said no. This Affairs Going to end. That was the end of it. They never spoke of it again. It had an arrangement later. And your policy differences . Nuanced than major. Performing. Hillary her mentor was ethel marmon. He quit the administration. It was quite an intense. Between them. Birtht caller is from and. Is something she aspired to. She was the beginning she knew that would be president. She knew she had it that she had it in him and she wanted to be part of it. She wanted to be a star and in that era she else that was a good way to become a star self. Thank you weve had part a few young callers. Askedrabtree from twitter how influential is religion and her faith . She does not same as liberal or as vocal about it. I think more important to her she was a very moral methodist. A very buttoned up fruit in many ways. Socially conservative in behavior. Through some of the worst times. Bill clinton was a Baptist Hillary was a methodist. Hillary use religion more. Her motto is to the best you can area that was really sort of her. Dist motto. Good evening. Meredith are two icons. My question, in response to a caller last week with mrs. Bush whatnk the question was was the relationship between the two first ladies during the transition . I seem to remember that mrs. Is that i like to give both of your comments. After the informal sort the asked inse, mrs. Bush response to reporters questions do you have any advice for mrs. Clinton russian mark and bush said avoid the reporters like be way and if they quote you sure they heard you. I like to find out from both of you in terms of what Hillary Clinton i dont remember ever having much of common and that i would like to get your take on shetransition to mark certainly didnt avoid the reporters. Its interesting. Muchrogram taught them how bill clinton spoke. It was a tough campaign. Over time they became good friends. I had an experience with hillary early and 92. Was actually the day after she and bill had appeared on 60 minutes to address gennifer flowers. Hillary tapir south dakota where she would appear at a worker grossed. I was right next to hillary and i watched her not and i are that surprise. And then directing her press secretary to get bill on the phone. She went to the roast and then openness and envelope was handed to her shorts of owning came back while he mad. We got him plaintiff for the next half hour she laid out would be there battle plan for the rest of their time in the white house which was running up the republican attack machine because the now doing a character assassinations and running in the press. The second one was a really big mistake. She did shut the reporters off alienated them a great deal and she lied a lot of the time. In the press very early on stopped giving them glass halffull. She had decided that its she made a choice. The name of my book is hillarys choice. She would either rise with him or fall with him. She knew what she was getting and she never asked for otherwise. They had an unspoken agreement. Out that she wasnt angry at him but she was. With to spend a little bit of time with the arkansas years. Dave asked is how the local street hillary . Me use that as a jumping off on to say after a successful attorney general bed elected to five nonconsecutive terms as the governor of the state of arkansas area whats important about hillarys time . Lady . D she Service First in some ways the way she did as first lady benighted tape. He relied on her to help them with policies used. Honor to lead the effort to reform the Art School System arkansas was 49 only because of mississippi. She came in for the first lady two years into the governorship. As a result of that campaign i would argueas that all the bills closer hillary is also adaptable. After this first two years she learned how to work in arkansas. Thats very much order social and political keys. A lot of it had to do with image. Shed not given any thought to her ear and. Hippie she like a did not wear makeup. Her hair was not fixed. She really spruced up and pulled herself together and began to look more like an lady. She gave tease did more of this sort of first lady duties. Him wasthing she gave money. She was the breadwinner while he was making a paltry salary for many years. She made partner at the law firm three years after she was hired. Parallel to the obamas where she was the lawyer. Allowing them to pursue. Hillary from the moment they got together she knew what he was. In arkansas there were the seeds of things she would take to the white house. We should explain what decision she made them in and of becoming investigated. Whitewater investments and properties. Futures were all things that americans across the country would begin to hear about when they made it the white house. We talk about her involvement . Think the real story here is about the decision to allow a special prosecutor. That was a big debate between bill and hillary. To this day i dont think anyone knows. She was trying to make money. Investor got her to cattle futures and she made a big rocket. Husband was very sharp. The connection to the other people in little rock is how she got trouble with law firm records and actions involving mcdougal. Of wrath ofthe sort arkansas. Good evening. I like everyone. Thanks to cspan percent wonderful to communalism. Regarding the clintons and like the back to 1972 i believe he was in charge of the texas mcgovern campaign. Hillary and the historian also worked on that campaign in text. Thinkas the first foray i the two of them got together. Am i correct in that is to mark i think that i heard this and i wonder if its true or believe bill clinton set around thats in the course stroke of the robert dad to the airports and drop and said goodbye to them area that was the last that he was ever seen. Will get a response your questions. Performative with the you so. This is a very new kind of politics which they believed in. Mcgovern have the platforms they were interested in. They thought they were going to bring that new politics to larger america. They also met betsy write in that campaign she was furious with hillary for advancing his career is that of focusing on her own. She said to was much more interested in bill. They were running text. Because texas was a political mass of democrats. They thought that these two kids would be able to view diffuse some of that. In station most of the time minnesota. He was in austin running the campaign. Learned a lot during the campaign. The first thing you hillary move. D was how to that was the first of those many lessons over the next 20 years. The clintons increased the National Profile leading to the 92 president ial campaign. It was a doozy. Including the arrival of ross arroyo. That brought bill and hillary to the white house. Shortly after they arrived there was the announcement about health care. We have a clip to show you about dustin will demonstrate the intention of the first ladys involvement in health care. Toteful she is agreed to chair this task. I think in the coming months the American People will learn of our state did that we havent first lady of many talents but most of all can bring people together around complex and get thingsssues done. This is not a partisan issue this is not an ideological battle, it is a problem to be solved that affects all of us. Forward to not only working with you but to watching you craft the most important social policy that our nation will have confronted in many decades. A lot of people thought that i should not be making recommendations about what patient. Involved should not be in working with my husband asked me to work. The thought that that was somehow inappropriate. In supine the. I find that curious. Id like to know what goes on in front of the scene. The kind of person who believes you should say what you mean and take the consequences. My on twitter says what and why was the difference in Hillary Clintons health care veiling compared to obamacare . What was the difference . Time interesting at the each of those president s had control congress. But i would say one of the contradictions and hillarys damon is that you talk to us you like to be open up but one of the problems with that sector was it was so secretive. Congress did not feel they were part of it. Any sort of Major Initiative like the is a matter whos in control. So much antipathy toward the. Theres a lot of applications. Obama was able to fairly good through. How important was the appointment of Hillary Clinton in his trajectory . Hangover. Of how long hillary came out with a beautifully modulated voice. She speaks in paragraphs. But she never said im not an expert on she never showed any difference the people on this committee. What she said was i know i studied ive talked this is what we need to do. I think she got off on the wrong foot. Isy thought who is she . David said everything was in giants thing was dropped on the table. Then theopposition clintons just were way ahead of their time. She wasnt a public official. The republicans took control for the first time in several decades. I want to do a bill Clinton Presidency question now because thats our want to frame this. Republicans took over an investigation. Understand the defeat in 94 was to the clintons exactly like the defeat in 1980 when they lost the governorship. They were used to running every two years. Once they lose control of the they lose control of investigation. Will talk more about the charges in the investigation later on. One of the chance to make the connection between the decision of hillary to fight health care. There were other reasons why the republicans took over 90 Orbit Health Care was the declared. Other causes she was involved in were children and also womens issues. This brought her back. The public loved it. The concept was really hillarys. It was her former family values. Women can work in have a family at the same time and be productive. It takes pulling together. She was mocked for it by the press. But she was so popular on the her book became a big bestseller she was able to kind of rehabilitator self. Is it true that hillary won a grammy yes. Hillary clinton, white house you summit. Is involved on the policy side. She also called up the military on agent orange. Lets go to jason knight. Thanks so much. Not a question just a comment. She moved the issue of equality for the Gay Community to the front of american altaic. One signature way that she did that was with her his heart each before the Human Rights Council in geneva where she said gay rights are human rights. My knowledge, prior to her wit not had that someone who served at that level to take that stand. Im not leave that as a, because its far ahead in our story. Talking about her interest we have not talked about the child chelsea was born in 1980. A about their style of parenting and how they raised her. You can see when the got to the white house that they were protecting her. She wasnt part of the story. To say about the parenting. The were excellent parents challenger with knowledge in books. Became very much like parts of each of them. When you watch how they manage to give her something of a normal life in them public environment. I think of the renaissance weekends when it was the awkward years when she was in this kind of got the. She plied herself with confidence. She was devoted to her mother. Her father used to come home and have dinner with her when hillary was traveling. He had a saturday night date with chelsea. That was one of the things that was most heartbreaking for him when he went over the line with Monica Lewinsky, he and of loss chelsea for a while. 110 chelsea was asked what does your father do and he said she said he drinks coffee and talks on itself. Hillary clinton wrote a book about that she was. An invitation to the white house. Aboutw to be to comment her stewardship of the white house and how they used a politically to advance their goals . When you talk about her interest in the history and how she preserved it, she started americas treasures preservation. She did a lot of research. She found lost things and put them on display. Restored several rooms. As active as jack kennedy, but she was still pretty active. I dont have much about their entertaining and other having a big lawn parties but they did not use the white house nearly as much as the kennedys grave in animated the Cultural Center he was very busy doing other policy things. Bill clinton loved music. Much like Michelle Obama bringing musicians he did it as well. But they also turned it into somewhat of a sleepover place. A lot of donors would be rewarded with an item link and headroom. Broughtve to talk and brushstrokes about the investigations of legal troubles. Points, this is something brought up last week with barbara bush, a person talked about how she put the fear of the lord in the press and they would not get called back to the white house if they printed something that barbara bush was not in agreement with. Barbara bush new her husband had been having an affair and so did a number of the press, but they would not acknowledge that. Hillary clinton, she lied that she knew a lot of things. Why do you suppose the press and the public would be much more willing to accept the grandmotherly barbara bush, who was very steely, as opposed to Hillary Clinton who was quite a bit more vulnerable . I am not sure i understand the question. Hillary was furious that george bush reputedly had a gennifer, too. When i did an interview with Hillary Clinton, she interrupted and raised this issue that she had been sitting with the head of the atlanta newspaper and she brought this up. This woman said, why doesnt the media investigate george bushs gennifer . Hillary said they are just going , to circle the wagons because that is what the republicans do. She planted this in my tape recorder. When i wrote about it barbara , bush slammed back and said, how dare she talk about my husband that way. Hillary had to eat humble pie and she was depicted on the cover of the New York Post saying, well, shut my mouth. When she stepped off it was just before the new york primary. She and bill clinton arrived in albany for the last day before the primary. Bill clinton had to step in front of a very rare appearance apologizing for hillary. He did it with a slight smile on his face. Hillary was beside herself that they could get away with this kind of thing, but she couldnt. The story of the Clinton Administration was a story of investigations and scandals. And reactions to those. Let me show you a clip from 1994, early in their white house years. When hillary, at a news conference, talks about the level of trust. In the recent news reports about the first ladies future earnings and with all of these whitewater allegations, Many Americans are having a hard time with your credibility. How can you earn our trust back . Is there a fundamental distrust of the clintons . I hope not. That would be something i would regret very much. I do think we are transition figures. We do not fit easily into a lot of our preexisting categories. I think that having been independent, having made decisions, it is a little difficult for us as a country to make the transition of having a woman sitting in this house. I think that the standard to some extent, the expectations and the demands have changed. I am trying to find my way through it and trying to figure out how best to be true to myself and how to fulfill my responsibilities to my husband and daughter and the country. That is the famous pink suit press conference where she talked for several hours. She was embroiled in controversy at that point. What she said has a lot of merit to it. They were transitional figures. She was facing things that no first lady had done before. Some of it was part of the culture of the moment and some of it was selfinduced. You cannot really separate the two. They did many things that did not help them. It is also true that they were being judged in ways different than anybody before them. Especially hillary. I will show two more clips, 1998, where we see a transition from the beginning until the end of the year. January of 1998, lets watch. The story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. These past months have been a torturous process of coming to terms with what i did. I understand that accountability demands consequences and i am prepared to accept them. Painful of the condemnation of the congress it would pale in , comparison to the consequences of the pain i have caused my family. There is no greater agony. Quite a long year. What is important for people to know about that year . And again, we are putting this in the framework of Hillary Clinton as the first lady. A year elapsed before bill clinton was finally able to come clean. To hillary, and then to the country. That was a torturous year for both of them. She tried to change the story. It is about the right wing conspiracy, not about my husband. She did not know or allow herself to know that Monica Lewinsky was really a sexual relationship until bill clinton actually had to sit her down and tell her. And then she threw things at him and exploded. We saw how the family split apart and it was very tragic to watch. But for most of that year, she , was right in there fighting for him. The attorney working with them on that damage control, when they were sitting there preparing defense, the body language mustve been pretty hostile. He said, not at all. They were holding hands. They were totally affectionate. They were in this together. What you saw was when crisis , engulfed them, they would be like it was a war. They were in the foxhole together. Bombs were exploding all around and it was their battle buddy. It made them closer. What would also happen when things erupted, when she would turn into a lioness and sit down to make the battle plans, though bill clinton would reward her with affection, intimacy, more power. They were closer. That was when she got the closest to him. It was a loop. It was not all bad for hillary when things erupted. That is exactly right. There was the cycle to the relationship when one was up, the other would be down. It kept them together through all of this. In 1999, things fractured. The thing to remember is they stayed together. One of the ironies is the clintons have stayed together when families like the gores split apart. She is watching us from cleveland. I have been watching the series. I heard that Hillary Clinton garnered or earned a lot of loyalty in terms of people that work for her, and that is why there has been no tellall stories because she has earned that kind of loyalty. Does that speak to her genuineness . Her character . I would think that would be an admirable characteristic. Whether as first or as a possible president of the United States. I was fortunate enough to shake hands and meet them when he was running in 1992. That was quite a thrill. If you could speak to her character. We wanted to show you an interesting illustration. Just yesterday it speaks to these interrelationships that Hillary Clinton and bill clinton have forged throughout their many years of public life. It is called madame secretary of the universe. You can see her as the center of the sun. All the planets revolve around it. Both hillary and bill kept notes on people. Starting in college and law school. They had files. They would always room them are even if they were visiting a , military base one year and coming back the next year, they would know to ask did your wife have the baby yet . Even more important for hillary, the women she brought into her family. She would treat them almost like family members, really Pay Attention to their ups and downs and when they needed help. The loyalty that she showed to Anthony Weiners wife. That was very endearing, i think. Having a hillary land and wonderful women, really smart, supporting her and her loyalty to them has been important. There is a downside. Her chief of staff for a while she kept patty on as the campaign director. Patty was not ready for prime time. A lot of things went wrong because of her. It was killing to hillary to have to finally fire her. David meredith, we have about 20 minutes left and so much to cover. We left the story with bill clintons troubles, which led to his being a second president being impeached. Ironically, as his troubles were mounting Hillary Clinton was , considering a bid for the United States senate. She was successful. Will you talk about her decision to become a candidate . How did she pull that off . The last time we were on tv together, it was on meet the press in 1999 and tim asked us whether we thought hillary would ever run for office and we both said yes. The next day, the head of the Democratic Senate campaign committee, started talking about hillary running for the senate. I think she had her eye on that. Because of bill clintons troubles, she was frustrated in those last couple of years and was looking to go out on her own. They had risen together as far as they could for 25 years and now was her turn. I think that is the way that she felt. Even more about that, the very day the Impeachment Vote was taking place, bill clinton stopped in to say hello to her guests and hillary did not even look up. They did not want anything to do with them. Hillary did everything she good to line up the ducks. Now she was moving on and this was the biggest passage in her life. She said i want independence. , i have to have it. I can feel it when i can speak with my own voice. She was 53 years old. I do not think it will take another with the current generation, it will not take that long. To speak with their own voice. She had to wait that long and still had to wait a little bit longer after that. She started her campaign before she left the white house, moved to new york, started a whole new life. She began to move away and develop a separate channel. They never got divorced, but they found a way to cohabit in the universe. And still help each other. What distinguished her in terms of her eight years in the senate . She was very wellliked in the senate. I did not think you could point to any specific legislation, although early in her first term, 9 11 happened. She was the senator from new york where that took place. I think that the key issue that hurt her in 2008 was the vote in 2003 about invading iraq. She supported it. You could see the connection between being the connection between being a senator from new york were the twin towers were hit and her vote a couple of years later. One can make the case that the vote cost her the democratic nomination. Because, barack obama gave a strong speech opposing the iraq war won the progressive vote in iowa. From the time she had been considering the run for the senate, did she have her eye on the presidency . Our was that an evolution . She was asked in early 2000 if she thought when we would have a woman president. She said 2008. I heard her say that. Well, we did not have a woman president , but she tried as hard as she could to be she one. Thought she would be the one. Here is 2008 in new hampshire. This is a pretty familiar piece of video. It is not easy. I could not do it if i did not passionately believe it was the right thing to do. I have so many opportunities from this country and i do not want to see us fall backwards. [applause] why did that Campaign Fail . It was a mess. As tight as her white house operation was the campaign , itself had all of these different factions of hillary people and bill clinton people and a lot of disagreements and tactical errors. All of that had to do with it in terms of whether they were focused on caucus states. In the end, it always comes down to the candidates themselves. An interesting thing about that clip, is that it Shows Hillary at a point where barack obama is winning the emotion vote. His speeches, the energy that he had. Hillary is considered too much of a machine. There she is it was a little bit too late. Absolutely right, david. It was mark penn and bill clinton said, you cannot run as a woman. You have to run as a man. She had just lost in iowa, a terrible shock to her. She comes to new hampshire. There was just a small group of women who asked her how do you , do it day after day . That kind of got to her. It was hillary unplugged for once. You saw a little bit of being a human and a woman and then she got slammed for crying. She did not cry, she just choked up a little bit. There were men crying all over the place who are in politics and that time. Ida is in west palm beach, florida. Thank you for taking my call. We spoke when you had the series on jackie kennedy. I have a quick question. Does the panel feel she will run again for the presidency considering all of the scrutiny she went through the first time . If she does not run, is her health going to be a factor . Thank you for the series. She cannot not run unless she has a Serious Health problem. That would be the only reason to hold her back. She now has the former obama machine, project usa is that what it is called . Which is obamas people. She has ready for hillary, a grassroots operation that has raised almost a couple of million dollars. She cannot disappoint all of these people. Plus, the fact that she has always wanted it. She has had so much scrutiny and here we are scrutinizing her all over again. I think she is bulletproof on a lot of what has gone on. There were a lot of people who voted for barack obama. A couple of years after that were thinking, maybe hillary would have been a good president. Everything seems totally greased for her. History is never inevitable. Even though it looks like it will happen, i am counterintuitive enough to think Something Else might occur. In 2008, she dropped out of the president ial race and endorsed barack obama. Even though they too have had some tense times on the campaign trail in the months before that. She agreed to serve as the secretary of state. Was that a momentous decision . She came into that discussion with a strong negotiating position. She did not just accept right away. She said i have my own agenda. , i want to bring my vital voices to empower women and work for gender equality in countries around the world. She wanted to bring that into the state department as an official u. S. Policy. She said, if you can accept that, fine. And he agreed and she did do that. That may be her greatest legacy, and to have made progress for women and girls around the world. As she became the most traveled secretary of state, 112 countries, we had a caller earlier who commended her for her work on a gay rights. In fact, this particular clip of her testimony after the attack in benghazi will probably be most remembered for her tenure as secretary of state. We have no doubt they were terrorists. They were militants. They attacked us and they killed our people. But what was going on and why they were doing what they were doing we were misled that there were supposedly protests. That was not the facts. People could have known that within days. With all due respect, we had four dead americans. Was it because of a protest or guys out for a walk one night . What difference does it make . It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. Honestly, i will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is people were trying in real time to get to the best information. The ic has a process. You know, to be clear, from my perspective, it is less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice. And then maybe we will figure out what was going on in the meantime. That also was hillary unplugged. And a very different way. That is the hillary that people have seen in Campaign Meetings behind the scenes. She is angry. I dont think that is staged at all. That is the way she was feeling. I think there are some legitimate points that she was making. She said today that benghazi was her main regret as secretary of state. The fact that four people were killed on her watch. There is a lot to be determined about benghazi. The reporters i trust the most say that it is much more complicated than the republicans have tried to portray it. There is some responsibility of the Obama Administration and the state department. A lot of it is a money issue. Cutbacks on providing security for american outposts around the world have been severe. They did not have enough people. Hillary was very aware of taking care of people in the state department. Obviously, she did not think of libya as being a place that needed to be fortified in advance. If she couldve done anything important, that would have been its. The larger scheme of things, the quote of benghazi will be most remembered in the short term. That will be played over and over again. If she runs for president. In the course of history, people can say, what did she do a secretary of state . In terms of international diplomacy, you cannot point to that many accomplishments. But you can point to something that has been part of her from when she went to beijing as the first lady and spoke about womens rights. Going back to what that man said about gay rights and womens rights the larger impact that , Hillary Clinton has had on the world has to do with her speaking out so strongly about those issues. We have about five minutes left. We will take a call from springdale, arkansas. I am here. Why did hillary get so little coverage as secretary of state when under the Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice was in the news every day . That is a good question. Perhaps you know, david . You agree with that premise . I do not know what the difference would be between her and Condoleezza Rice except when Condoleezza Rice was there, we were dealing with wars one step removed from iraq and afghanistan. She was focusing on some other things. There were special diplomats dealing with those other things. One of the reasons she did not show any major accomplishments was because Foreign Policy was very much held tight by the white house. Hillary wanted Richard Holbrook as her deputy secretary of state. The Obama Administration did not agree because it would have put too much power in the state department. He was given afghanistan. Someone else was given israel. Hillary did not have a major brief. What she did mainly was to make friends and try to undo the damage that had been done by the Bush Administration in alienating allies and exacerbating enemies. President obama took over the presidency, it was the economy, all of the focus of that presidency was on the economy. There had to be someone running Foreign Policy that was someone that he was confident to do it. The press was paying attention was what going on domestically. Philadelphia. Will she win the presidency . Yes or no . David answered that earlier. I was hoping the packers would win the super bowl. It is the same thing as saying that. I am interested in the results, but i know no more than you or anyone else. On twitter does hillary have any interests or hobbies outside of politics . She seems singularly devoted to the political world . She is primarily she really does not like to exercise. She does not play any instruments. She says she cannot sing. I am not sure what else he likes to do. She does not like to do her hair, i can tell you that. She cannot do it herself and that is why she let it grow long. It took a lot of nudging by her hillary land pals to get her to cut her hair. Is bill a political ally or liability . Lets go back to their relationship, how is he saying himself now that it is her turn to seek the white house, how is he approaching this . You can go back to 2008. He was both a liability and a help. He loves being campaign manager. For all of his own campaigns, he was always both the candidate and campaign manager. He loves breaking down every precinct and county in iowa and new hampshire. He knows them all. He also understands and learned some lessons from 2008 that he has to be careful about what he says and how he affects her candidacy. It is both a liability in my experience of covering politics for several decades, he is the smartest politician i have ever met. We are just about out of time. As a closer, i wanted to ask you both, this has been a historical series about first ladies, we have women who are very much living and with us and writing their own stories. How should we put a capper on this story . What should people think about her . I think Hillary Clinton wanted to be helpful in advancing the security, the opportunity, and the impact of women and the protection of girls. You see that in every framework that she has operated in. Write to this day. I think that has been her greatest impact on the world. She and bill clinton have been in rehab for a long time. I think she has rehabilitated herself much more than he. He is probably depending on her to make the ultimate rehabilitation if and when she becomes president. We only skimmed the surface here. We did not talk about his heart attacks. In closing, what should people know about this woman . I think she is the bestknown woman in the world. She is an incredible story, whether you like her or dislike her and everybody has an opinion. I think she is a pioneer. She blazed a path for everyone to follow in terms of her political career and activism. She is a survivor, as is her husband. And together through all of the incredible ups and downs of their lives together and moving forward, she keeps going. 90 of life is just showing up, and she keeps showing up. Thank you very much for being here. We look at the life of Hillary Clinton. Thank you for your time. American history tv as featuring cspans original series, first ladies, influence and image at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on sunday struck the rest of this year. Next week, we look at laura bush. This is American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Abigail fillmore was the first first lady to work outside of the home, teaching at a private school. She successfully lobbied congress for funds to create the andt white house library, mrs. Eisenhower created fashion sensations. The color of pink was marketed as a specific color. Jackie kennedy was responsible for the creation of the White House Historical association and nancy reagan, as the young actress, saw her name mistakenly on the blacklist of suspected communist sympathizers is in the late 1940s. She appealed to the sag had Ronald Reagan for health for help and later became his wife. These stories and more featured in cspans book, first ladies. The book makes a great gift for the holidays. Giving readers a look into the personal lives of every first lady in American History. Stories of fascinating women and how their legacies resonate today. Originalis based on interviews from cspans first lady series. It has received numerous reviews, including this one from the president ial historian and author who said, cspan is a National Treasure and its series on americas first ladies is another reason why. Another quote. And James Hampton cook noted that cspans first ladies as an invaluable collection of rare insight. The book is available as a hardcover or ebook from your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. Order your copy today. Coming up next on American History tv, Texas University history professor talks about her current book project on the oregon trail. She provides background on the threats that people faced on the trail and explains how they dealt with death on the journey. Atinterviewed the professor the western History Association annual conference in portland, oregon, in october. This is about 20 minutes