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JAN-08-1996 10:13
415 391 0759 P.02/14
Newsweek
®
03
D 706288 $
01134
EXCLUSIVE: Excerpts
From Hillary Rodham Clinton's
New Book- And a Candid Interview
on the White House Scandals
Saint Sinner?
JAN-08-1996 10:14
415 391 0
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Long infused with missionary zeal, Hillary
Clinton is determined to do good as she sees it-at
virtually any cost. But will her campaign for
children be overshadowed by scandal?
BY MARTHA BRANT AND EVAN THOMAS
First
Fighter
ILLARY CLINTON SPENT NEW YEAR'S EVE IN A SAFE
H
place, a hotel ballroom in Hilton Head, S.C., sur-
rounded by a thousand soulmates sworn to secrecy.
She had come with her husband, for the 12th straight
year, to Renaissance Weekend to share and care with
people who believe in social uplift and the power of
ideas. For nearly an hour, she went on about her deepest concerns: pro-
viding economic opportunity for women throughout the world, protect-
ing New Deal and Great Society programs from rapacious Republicans,
saving children everywhere. She got 50 involved
ably asking about the latest revelations. Graceful-
that she seemed to almost forget to introduce her
ly, if not always completely. she answered, deny-
husband, whose speaking time had been cut back
ing any wrongdoing. She bridled only once, at the
to about half an hour before the toasts and hugs at
word "subpoena," as in: Will it take a subpoena to
midnight.
get her to testify before Sen. Al D'Amato's
A few days later. the First Lady was back in
Whitewater committee? "I'm not going to pre-
more forbidding territory: her home in Washing-
dict." she coolly demurred. Her smile returning.
ton, where news of ongoing White House scan-
she changed the subject back to saving children.
dals-Travelgate and Whitewater-dominated.
Hillary Clinton has enor-
A tireless
Sitting in the third-floor solarium of the White
mous self-control. She will
advocate, Mrs.
House Residence, she was pleasant and gracious
need it. Last week D'Amato
Clinton has never
with a couple of reporters from NEWSWEEK who
was brandishing Rose Law
been a traditional
had ostensibly come to talk to her about her new
Firm billing records-long
First Lady
book, "It Takes a Village." but who were predict-
under subpoena, but long
20 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15. 1996
415 391 0759 P.04/14
ADD
@
32
JAN-08-1996 10:14
JAN-08-1996
10:16
415 391 0759
P.05/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
'Be doers of the word and not hearers only' was
the familiar Methodist refrain of her childhood
missing-that detailed Mrs. Clinton's con-
sweet and homey how-to guide to child
Mrs. Clinton's immediate world is a mix
troversial work for Madison Guaranty, a
rearing. and partly a policy-wonk discus-
of fluff and hardball. To hear her aides talk,
failed Arkansas savings and loan connected
sion of seemingly every child-development
life in what they call "Hillaryland" is like
to Whitewater. This came just a day after a
program of the past three decades. Republi-
one big pajama party, albeit in the girls'
self-described "soul cleansing" memo from
cans will scoff at it: Supermom vying to
dorm of a progressive religious college in
a former White House staffer surfaced that
outdo the GOP as chief defender of family
the 1950s. The First Lady loves decorating
made it appear that the First Lady had
values. Actually, the book is a fair reflection
and dressing up, sometimes goofily. This
played a far more central role in Travelgate
of who Mrs. Clinton is and what she stands
Christmas, she was seen wandering around
than she had carlier acknowledged. "I just
for. It is closer to the "real Hillary" than all
wearing a necklace of flashing holiday
don't have any memory of that," she told
the familiar press cartoons.
lights. She enjoyed hanging a wreath with
NEWSWEEK (page 26).
The First Lady's social activism is not a
hyper-homemaker Martha Stewart "I wish
This week, as she kicks off her book tour,
pose; she is dead serious. Her code is
I could tell you she doesn't like that stuff,
Americans will once again be trying to
simple: "We are all here to help someone
but she does," says Verveer. To her staffers,
figure out who Hillary Clinton really is.
else," says Melanno Verveer, one of her top
she is corny and a "bit of a prude," says one.
After the collapse of her campaign to re-
aides. "She believes that to the core of her
Dressed in blue jeans and a ponytail after-
make the nation's health-care system. she
being." If Mrs. Clinton had lived in the 19th
hours at the White House, wearing her
was thought to have retreated into the role
century, she might have saved souls in Afri-
thick Coke-bottle glasses. she will use ex-
pressions like "Okey-dokey, artichokey,"
and ask, "What's up, buttercup?" She loves
to sing. though she can't carry a tune.
HE IS THE "BIG GIRL" IN THE
S
"Big House" in the affection-
ate jargon of her aides (almost
all of whom are female). Her
staff is the most faithful in
Washington. She fusses over
them. asking about their chil-
dren and their love lives and enjoying their
jokes with a loud horsy laugh. But she re-
veals less of herself. "I was raised not to
talk about myself," she has told aides. And
she is incredibly demanding. A perfection-
ist-but a computer illiterate-she will call
a staffer late at night to ask how to operate a
NEWSWERK
fax machine. She expects absolute loyalty.
and she gets it. Although her husband's staff
is notorious for its turnover, only two of
Mrs. Clinton's 16 staffers have left, one be-
cause her mother was sick. Her more easy-
going friends sometimes wonder how Hil-
lary could,be 50 close to Susan Thomases, a
tough-talking, take-no-prisoners New York
of a more traditional First Lady, visiting
ca. It is not a coinci-
After health care,
litigator. The short answer, they under-
hospitals and worrying about her hairdo. In
dence that she relish-
she became more
stand, is that Thomases would do "any"
truth, her hairstyles changed more than her
es traveling through
circumspect-
thing" for Hillary.
agenda. She is, and always has been, a mis-
the developing world,
but has never
But loyalty to Hillary Clinton can be cost-
sionary. Her all-consuming task is to do
proselytizing about
lacked a mission
ly. The Clintons built a bunker when they
good as she sees it, especially for children.
children's rights and
arrived in Washington, and the atmosphere
She has been called everything from "Saint
basking in the adoration of women.
of suspicion and fear-of the press, of Con-
Hillary" by her fans to the worst kind of
Understanding her sense of mission is
gress, and occasionally of Mrs. Clinton her-
sinner by her enemies, but in fact the two
critical to resolving the apparent paradoxes
self-wore down their closest aides. When
are not mutually exclusive. The same zeal
of her character and behavior. Hillary's do-
Hillary's best friend, deputy White House
that is so impressive in her fight for worthy
good energy can make her warm, open and
counsel Vincent Foster, shot himself six
causes can also lead her (at best) to be politi-
generous. It can also make her fierce, pro-
months into the new administration, he was
cally insensitive and (at worst) to be ruth-
tective and suspicious to the point of para-
agonizing over what he felt was his person-
less about getting her way.
noia. Above all, it makes her a fighter-"ar
al failure to ward off scandal. Since then,
Mrs. Clinton's latest vehicle is her book,
advocate," she calls herself-who will let
several of Mrs. Clinton's aides, including
which she will be flogging on an 11-city
nothing stop her, particularly not D'Amato
chief of staff Maggie Williams, have run up
media swing. "It Takes a Village" (the title
or vocal critics like the editorial writers of
hefty legal fees testifying before various in-
is taken from an African proverb) is partly a
The Wall Street Journal.
vestigators. They are uncomplaining. but
22 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15, 1996
not a few of their friends wonder why Mrs.
ist Church and Yale Law School. It is hard.
ilies breaking down
'There is no such
Clinton is allowing her aides to slowly
in a more selfish and secular time, to appre-
and children increas-
thing as other
twist. Why didn't she just throw open her
clate the fervent strain of social activism
ingly consigned to
people's
records and make herself available to in-
that ran through the midcentury, mid-
poverty, it is up to so-
children,' she Is
vestigators long ago if she has done nothing
American Methodist Church. "Be doers of
ciety to step in. That is
fond of saying
wrong (page 28)?
the word and not hearers only" was a famil-
a central message of
But the First Lady remains dismissive.
iar refrain in her parents' church in Park
her new book. She is sensitive that conser-
She thinks the persistent questions over
Ridge, Ill. For a nice suburban Chicago girl
vatives will translate the word "Village" in
Whitewater and Travelgate are a nuisance,
in the early '60s, that meant volunteering in
her title to mean "Big Government." She
to be ignored if at all possible. In the late fall
the inner city and baby-sitting for migrant
talks instead of a "partnership" between
of 1993, when the then White House coun-
workers. At Yale, her missionary impulse
government, churches and charities. But
selor David Corgen suggested turning over
turned grandiose. Ivy Loague grade grub-
she has a program for every problem. "The
all Whitewater documents to The Washing-
bers who wanted to practice corporate law
village can do its part to help [with child
ton Post to show that the White House had
on Wall Street went to Harvard; idealists
nutrition]. The U.S. Department of Agricul-
nothing to cover up, it was Mrs. Clinton
went to Yale, where they learned to use the
ture has started Team Nutrition." she
who said no. Some press accounts have
law as a tool of social reform. This spirit
writes. "The village can do much to give
speculated that she had something personal
was particularly intense in the Yale of the
parents the time they need to establish their
to hide. but her intransigence may be moré
early Hillary's Yale. It was liberal.
children's well-being in the first weeks and
basic: she truly believes she has more im-
high-minded and suffused with we-know-
months of life. The Family and Medical
portant things to do. If it is necessary to
best paternalism: only courts, not state leg-
Leave Act
stonewall to protect her larger purposes,
islatures. could be trusted to guarantce so-
While her policies are classically líberal.
then so be it.
cial justice.
her personal code is quite conservative. She
Mrs. Clinton's rightcousness may be
Throughout her political and legal career
thinks everyone should wait until the age of
softened by her girlish good humor, but its
Mrs. Clinton has lobbied for children's
21 before having sex. She believes divorce
roots run deep. Her zeal was shaped in
rights. "There is no such thing as other peo-
has been made too easy and that couples
large part by two institutions: the Method-
plo's children," she likes to say. With fam-
should stay together for the sake of the kids.
JANUARY 15, 1996 newsweek 23
JAN-08-1996 10:17
415 391 0759 P.07/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
'You can't accomplish anything in government
unless you win,' Hillary used to say at Wellesley
Her views on divorce were tested in a per-
than $35,000 a year.) To the outside world.
quiet First Lady. In
A dutiful
sonal way. To stay married, she relates in
her commodities trading- $1,000 invest-
many of the published
campaigner, she
her book, she sometimes had to "bite my
ment to make $100,000-looks suspiciously
accounts about Clin-
finds politics
tongue." She does not say about what, but
cozy. And the family's lost investment in
ton's presidency, Hil-
distasteful, but a
both she and her husband have acknowl-
the failed Whitewater land development
lary emerges as the
means to an end
edged rocky times in their marriage, appar-
has the smell of a sweet deal turned sour.
one who wants to
ently caused by reports of his philandering.
The Whitewater independent counsel,
strike back while her husband dithers. She
Still, Hillary stuck it out. In true Protestant
Kenneth Starr, may still uncover shady do-
agrees that she is generally the one in her
fashion, she says, she learned to will herself
ings by the First Lady. But Mrs. Clinton
family to "cut to the chasc." "I think that's
to be grateful for the blessings she did have.
seems unrepentant. Although she would
true for all women." she told NEWSWEEK.
And to make certain compromises. "You
never admit it, she may feel that she was
Still, in the past year, she has become
can't accomplish anything in government
relatively restrained in Little Rock, given
somewhat more circumspect. Michael Ler-
unless you win," Mrs. Clinton would say at
the temptations of her position and the cul-
ner, the editor of Tikkun Magazine, whose
Welleslcy, her undergraduate college. Poli-
ture of the place. For a governor's wife who
"polities of meaning" she embraced, thinks
tics are distasteful, but necessary. During
was also a senior partner in a politically
she has "backed away" from preaching val-
her husband's 1986 re-election campaign,
connected law firm, the opportunity for lu-
ues. Feminists watch Mrs. Clinton hanging
Mrs. Clinton writes that she told her
crative deals must have been huge.
wreaths with Martha Stewart and wonder
daughter, Chelsca: "You know, Daddy is
what happened to the woman who wanted
going to run for governor again. If he wins
ERTAINLY, HILLARY HAS
to work and not be a ceremonial First Lady.
we would keep living in this house, and he
"I miss her," says Gloria Steinem.
would keep trying to help people. But first
C
felt victimized by the
storm over Whitewater.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a close friend of Hil-
we have to have an election."
"Remind me." she asked
lary's, says her book "may be one of her ways
One compromise she won't make is to
an aide when the scandal
of saying 'I'm still here.' but more quietly. I
expose Chelsea to the limelight, despite the
began to grow after Fos-
think it's a decision on her part to be lower
obvious political benefits of showing off her
ter's death. "have I ever
key." But it doesn't mean that her internal
family. In the White House, the rule is
done anythingrig in my life?" She summed
sense of mission has dimmed. When she was
"don't even bring it up," says an aide. Mrs.
up the unfairness of it all with one of Chel-
handed the page proofs of her book after
Clinton's fierceness, as well as her pragma-
sea's favorite nursery rhymes: "As I was
struggling for many late nights to gel it right,
tism, shows when it comes to protecting her
standing in the street/As quiet as could be/A
her eyes welled up. She was overwhelmed
family. It has fallen mostly to Hillary to
great big ugly man came up/And tied his
with pride and determination. The Prom-
finance the Clintons' public service. (As
horse to me. 'There is an element of denial in
ised Land was in sight, if only the rest of us
governor, her husband never earned more
this self-pity. Mrs. Clinton has hardly been a
could see it clearly.
24 NKWSWEEK JANUARY 15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:18
415 391 0759 P.08/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
"The Ground Keeps Shifting'
Mrs. Clinton on ethics troubles, Vince Foster-and how she sees herself
AST WEEK, HILLARY
week worth of work. There is
was sent to me and that was the
had and always felt bad for kids I
L
Clinton sat down
no way that I think of an hour a
first time I knew it was there.
went to school with who
with NEWSWEEK to
week over 15 months as being a
seemed like really good kids
talk about her new
significant amount of work.
You never reviewed them at all?
who never had any luck. never
book. It was also her
No. Because it wasn't important
had any breaks at all. [They]
first extensive interview about
One area of confusion Is the doc-
tous. Maybe if we had been here
needed just a little bit of help
Whitewater and Travelgate in
uments in Foster's office after
for a couple of years, maybe if
from somebody-a teacher, a
more than a year. The night be-
his death. Were you concerned
we knew a little bit more about
coach. a minister. When I got to
fore. the White House had re-
about law enforcement having
what the possible conspiracies
college and law school, I began
leased a 1993 memo suggesting
unfettered access to them?
that could be spun might look
to study child development.
that Mrs. Clinton had ordered
No. No documents were taken
like, everybody would have
aídes to fire the White House
out of Vince Foster's office
That was a rough year [in
Travel Office-despite her
the night he died. And I
1993]: health care went
longstanding position that she
did not direct anyone to
down, Foster died. Was
had played an insignificant role
interfere with any investi-
this book a way to come out
in the flap.
gation into his death. I
of that?
don't know how best to
I didn't think about it that
NEWSWEEK: The memo says, "Fos-
convey the level of grief
way, but it gave me a lot of
ter regularly Informed me that
and shock and distress
time alone. A lot of times
the First Lady was concerned and
that I and other people felt
I'd be staring at the blank
desired action-the action de-
at the news. There was no
page trying to figure out
sired was the firing of the Travel
discussion of documents,
how I was going to put
Office staff."
or Whitewater, or any-
what I was feeling into
MRS. CUNTON: I just don't have any
thing like that. That was
readable English. Nine-
memory of that. What I do re-
not what any of us were
teen ninety-three was a
member is having a conversa-
thinking about.
personally very challeng-
tion with David Watkins, at
ing and difficult year, with
Vince Foster's suggestion, in
But there were documents
[the deaths of] my father
which Watkins told me that
here in the residence for
and Vince and my mother-
[the accounting firm] Peat Mar-
five days. Why were they
in-law. So I really did have
wick had begun its investigation
here if not to review them?
to summon up a lot of my
into the financial management
Because when I was in
own resources, and work
of the Travel Office. And I
Arkansas [at the time of
through many of the feel-
said, it looks like that's what
Foster's suicide] I was
ings that I had.
should be done.
called [and told] that
[White House counsel]
Do you see yourself as a
Do you feel that the Whitewater
Bernie Nussbaum was
pragmatist or an ideallst?
Investigation has become tar-
distributing the docu-
Gracious but cool, the First Lady speaks
I've always thought of my-
geted at you?
ments out of Vince's office.
self as a pragmatist be-
I don't know. It's been going on
There were personal docu-
tried to be more thoughtful or
cause a lot of what I believe we
a long time. We've tried to co-
ments of mine which I didn't
dispassionate in the heat of that
should do for one another is
operate in every way we can
even know Vince had. I was
moment.
very practical. As many kids as
because nobody would like this
asked what should be done with
possible [should] have as good a
matter over with more than I
them and I said, "Well, send
Are you thinking personally of
shot as possible, because I don't
would. But the ground keeps
them to our lawyers." And the
testifying at this point?
want [Chelsea] to be afraid to go
shifting about what it suppos-
decision was made that they
Well, I'm looking to continue to
to a city park with her kids
edly is about.
couldn't get sent over that day. I
cooperate.
when she gets older.
was asked if there were a place
There aren't any simple an-
In 1992 you said you had done
that they could be stored, and I
So you're waiting for a
swers. You can't say, "Oh, it's
"minimal" work for Madison. But
said, "I don't know, talk to some
subpoena?
the government's fault," and
recently, notes taken by Susan
of the people in the residence."
I'm not going to predict what
you can't say, "Oh, it's just these
Thomases say you had "numer-
And so they were locked up
might or might not happen.
irresponsible parents living in
ous conferences" on the subject.
there. It's difficult to keep track
the inner city." The responsibil-
How do you reconcile that?
of all the spider webs that are
Your friends talk about your
ity is spread all the way across
Based on the evidence that
spun and the theories and the
Methodism and Vale Law School
society. But the good news is
we've seen, the Rose Law Firm
innuendoes. Then they were
as important Influences on you.
there are things we can do right
represented Madison for about
picked up by our lawyer and ex-
How would you explain what mo-
now that could make a differ-
15 months. And over those 15
amined and then an index was
tivates you?
ence If we would start having
months I did about an hour a
made of them. And the index
I was always grateful for what I
that kind of conversation.
26 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:19
415 391 0759 P.09/14
Intriguing documents
pláce the First Lady ever
closer to the heart of the
'Clinton scandals'
BY MICHAEL ISIKOFF
AND MARK HOSENBALL
The billing records
In April '94, Hillary
took Whitewater
Cracks in
raise new questions
about whether Mrs.
questions-but
Clinton misled inves-
new ones are
tigators about her le-
surfacing In '96
gal work for James
McDougal, the Clinton ally and business
partner who ran Madison into the ground.
The thrift's collapse cost the taxpayers $60
the Wall
million; McDougal goes on trial in March
on related fraud charges. One big issue is a
Madison land deal with Arkansas busi-
nessman Seth Ward. father-in-law of Web-
ster Hubbell, the former Rose Law Firm
partner who was convicted last year of
HE WAY WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TOLD IT,
bilking clients. Federal investigators say
the land deal, part of a project called Castle
1
Carolyn Huber was rummaging through some
Grande, was a "sham" that contributed to
old boxes under a table in her East Wing office
Madison's demise. The billing records
show that Mrs. Clinton talked to Ward 14
when she spotted something odd-for stashed
times while the deal was being put togeth-
among the letters and memorabilia was a bun-
er. Last year Mrs. Clinton, under oath, told
federal regulators sho couldn't recall any-
dle of computer printouts. Huber's job at the
thing about the project. The notes in Fos-
White House is handling Bill and Hillary Clinton's personal
ter's handwriting are suggestive, too: con-
gressional investigators speculate that the
correspondence; before that, in Little Rock, she was office
printouts may have been among papers
they believe were removed from Foster's
manager at the Rose Law Firm when Hil-
that was central to Whitewater. Investiga-
office shortly after his death. White House
lary was a partner there. She realized in-
tors searched for these records for nearly
aides were unable to explain how the bill-
stantly the printouts were billing records
two years. Worse, the printouts were cov-
ing records wound up in Huber's office.
from the firm-and that this batch itemized
ered with the late Vince Foster's handwrit-
To the obvious delight of congressional
Mrs. Clinton's legal work for Madison
ing: it is Foster's suicide that lends
Republicans, the strange discovery of the
Cuaranty savings and loan, the failed thrift
Whitewater its aura of menace.
Rose Law Firm records was not the only
28 NEWSWEEK JANUARY15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:19
415 391 0759 P.10/14
embarrassment to the First Lady last week.
dals" may be hard to follow, but the theme
even when, in the panicky attempt at dam-
A day earlier White House officials re-
is increasingly obvious: year after year, her
age control after Foster's suicide, she
leased a memo written by David Watkins, a
friends seem to have been working over-
seemed to do the proper thing. That hap-
former Little Rock adman who until 1994
time to protect the First Lady. Watkins's
pened when his torn-up suicide note was
served as the White House's administrative
memo suggests that White House staffers
belatedly discovered by former White
chief. The memo was devastating. It
were less than accurate when they told
House counsel Bernard Nussbaum and two
charged that Mrs. Clinton was the driving
Congress Mrs. Clinton played "no role" in
aides. Nussbaum tried to show Mrs. Clin-
force in Travelgate, the abrupt firing of sev-
Travelgate. The Rose Law Firm records
ton the note-but according to sworn testi-
en career employees in the White House
reopen the issue of whether Mrs. Clinton
mony, she responded that "she did not un-
Travel Office in 1993. Watkins wrote that
was entirely candid when she said, in a
derstand why she had been brought into the
he and Thomas F. (Mack) McLarty, the for-
sworn response to federal regulators, that
room" and left without looking at it. Nuss-
mer White House chief of staff, "both knew
her work for Madison had been "minimal."
baum and the others omitted that fact in
there would be hell to pay if we failed to
Though no one accuses Mrs. Clinton of
subsequent interviews with the FBI.
take swift and decisive action in conformity
wrongdoing-and while White House offi-
In her NEWSWEEK interview, Mrs. Clin-
with the First Lady's wishes." What were
cials still insist there are no credible charges
ton denied directing any cover-up after
those wishes? Notes taken by another aide
against her staff-the legal morass is getting
Foster's death. She insisted the White
show that Susan Thomases Hillary Clin-
deeper. The Senate Whitewater committee
House has cooperated fully with White-
ton's friend and lawyer, bluntly warned
is considering asking for perjury charges
water investigators and again said her work
that "Hillary wants these people fired." As
against Susan Thomases and Maggie Wil-
for Madison Guaranty was not "signifi-
the news media reported at the time, a Clin-
liams, Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff, in con-
cant." The newly discovered billing records
lon friend named Harry Thomason was
nection with their testimony about the re-
broadly support her statements about the
part owner of an air-charter company that
moval of documents from Foster's office. A
amount of time she spent-though not nec-
coveted the White House travel business.
House committee has subpoenaed Watkins.
essarily the implication that the results
"Once this made it onto the First Lady's
Newsweek has learned that Watkins told
were minor. David Kendall. the Clintons'
agenda. Vince Foster became involved, and
the FBI in 1993 about a phone call concern-
lawyer. was asked by NEWSWEEK whether
he and Harry Thomason regularly in-
ing the Travel Office in which Mrs. Clinton
Mrs. Clinton needed to supplement her
formed me of her attention to the Travel
said "action needed to be taken immediately
previous testimony about her work for
Office situation," Watkins wrote.
to be certain that those not friendly to the
Madison. Kendall said he was reviewing
McDougal, Ward, Watkins, Thoma-
administration were removed and replaced
her sworn statements and would amend
son-and, tragically, Vince Foster. The
with trustworthy individuals."
them if necessary. The odds are he will
ever-expanding cast of characters in what
And White House lawyers failed to men-
have to do so-and that Hillary Clinton
Republicans now call "the Clinton scan-
tion Mrs. Clinton's peripheral involvement
faces tougher questions ahead.
THE ARKANSAS PLAYERS
The First Family's
James McDougal Madison's
Beverty Bassett Schaffer In-
owner and Clinton Whitewater
vestigators are interested in just
Troubled Circle
partner has said be gave Hillary
how much contact Mrs. Clinton
legal work at Bill's request.
had with this Arkansas regula-
Newly released records cast
tor-and appointee of Gover-
Though Mrs. Clinton has long said
doubt on her claim that the work
nor Clinton. Both women say it
she was only a peripheral figure in
was "minimal."
was insignificant.
Whitewater and the Travel Office
Susan McDougal An indicted
James Blair Hillary's adviser in
firings, new evidence undermines
ex-Arkansas judge, David Hale,
her cattle-futures killing. Blair
claims Bill Clinton pressured
also luaned McDongal $1,000 to
her claims. Congress and the spe-
him to make a small-business
buy the Clintons' share of
cial prosecutor are investigating. A
loan to McDougal's wife. A por-
Whitewater after the 1992 elec-
tion of this money ended up in
tion-and told him to shut up
guide to the cast of characters.
the Whitewater account.
about the land deal,
TRAVELGATE
WHITEWATER IN WASHINGTON
Vincent Foster Hillary's closest
Maggie Williams Chief of staff to
friend at Rose and a White
Mrs. Clinton, Williams's recol-
House lawyer, Foster helped
lections about what happened
tidy up Whitewater for the Clin-
to Foster's files after his death
tons. His suicide note suggests
don't square with what others
he was agonizing over Travel-
have tostified. Investigators are
gate on the day of his death.
pursuing the discrepancies.
Harry Thomason This
David Watkins The for-
old Arkansas friend
mer Clinton aide took
William Kennedy His note at a
Susan Thomases Hillary's pal
urged Hillary to clean
the fall for Travelgate
meeting of Clinton lawyers-
helped prepare the response to
out the office that han-
but wrote 8 memo, dis-
"Vacuum Rose law files"-is in-
the first reports about White-
dles presidential press
covered last week,
triguing investigators. The for-
water in '92. Her notes show
travel-and his air-
claiming the firings
mer White House attorney says
that Mrs. Clinton's connections
charter firm then bid
conformed with "the
he was referring to 8. gap in the
to McDougal were played down
for the travel business.
First Lady's wishes."
files, not a pending cover-up.
from the start.
LARRY
JANUARY 15. 1996 NEWSWEEK 29
JAN-08-1996 10:20
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In her new book, the First Lady
draws on her own sometimes
difficult experiences to explain
how all of us can help raise the
country's children
'It Takes V
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
Yet everywhere we look, children are under assault: from vio-
lence and neglect, from the breakup of families, from the tempta-
tions of alcohol, tobacco, sex, and drug abuse, from greed. material-
ism, and spiritual emptiness. These problems are not new, but in
HILDREN ARE NOT RUGGED
our time they have skyrocketed. Against this bleak backdrop, the
C
individualists. They depend on
struggle to raise strong children and to support families, emotional-
ly as well as practically, has become more fierce.
the adults they know and on
I have spent much of the past 25 years working to improve the
thousands more who make
lives of children. My work has taught me that they need more of our
time, energy, and resources. But no experience brought home the
decisions every day that affect
lesson as vividly as becoming a mother myself. When Chelsea
their well-being. All of us,
Victoria Clinton lay in my arms for the first time, I was over-
whelmed by the love and responsibility I felt for her.
whether we acknowledge it or not, are
Bill and I had wanted to start a family immediately after we
responsible for deciding whether our chil-
married, in 1975, but we were not having much luck. In 1979, we
scheduled an appointment to visit a fertility clinic right after a long-
dren are raised in a nation that doesn't just
awaited vacation. Lo and behold, I got pregnant during that vaca-
espouse family values but values families.
tion. (I have often remarked to my husband that we might have had
more children if we had taken more vacations!)
30
JAN-08-1996 10:21
415 391 0759 P.12/14
In Newark, N.J.,
our daily lives and fed us with her devotion,
reaching out
imagination, and great spirit. My parents also
to a favorite
had a lot of help from the village in raising my
constituency-
brothers and me. Grandparents, aunts, un-
schoolchildren
cles, and cousins all pitched in if illness or
some other misfortune strained the family.
And plenty of, other adults-from librarians to crossing guards to
Scout leaders-looked out for us.
Those who urge a return to the values of the 1950s are yearning
for the kind of family and neighborhood I grew up in and for the
feelings of togetherness they engendered. I understand that nostal-
gia. I feel it myself when the world seems too much to take. There
were many good things about our way of life back then. But our past
was not so picture-perfect. Ask African-American children who
grew up in a segregated society, or immigrants who struggled to
survive in sweatshops and tenements, or women whose life choices
were circumscribed and whose work was underpaid. Ask those
who grew up in the picture-perfect houses about the secrets and
desperation they sometimes concealed.
The longing for "the way things used to be" also obscures the
larger settings in which the family funds itself today, as it struggles
with broken homes, discrimination, economic downturns, urban-
ization, consumerism, and technology. Here are some of the chal-
lenges we face-and a few ways to overcome them.
On Divorce: The instability of American households today poses
great risks to the healthy development of children. The divorce rate
has been falling slowly, but for a high proportion of marriages, "till
BALPH KOUSE
death do us part" means "until the going gets rough." My strong
feelings about divorce have caused me to bite my tongue more than
a few times during my own marriage and to think instead about
what 1 could do to be a better wife and partner. My husband has
done the same.
I am not saying that there are not reasons for divorce. The abuse
and violence Bill's mother, Virginia Kelley. experienced is some-
thing no parent or child should endure. But people with children
need to ask what more they can do before they call it quits. When
children are involved, we should consider returning to mandatory
"cooling off" periods, with education and counseling.
illage'
On Pre-Natal Care: There I was, lying in my hospital bed, try-
ing desperately to figure out how to breast-feed. I had been trained
to study everything forward. backward, and upside down before
reaching a conclusion. It seemed to me I ought to be able to figure
this out. As I looked on in horror. Chelsea started to foam at the
nose. I thought she was strangling or having convulsions. Franti-
cally, I pushed every buzzer there was to push.
A nurse appeared promptly. She assessed the situation calmly.
Parents bear the first and primary responsibility for their sons
then, suppressing a smile, said, "It would help if you held her head
and daughters-to feed them, to sing them to sleep. to make
up a bit, like this." Chelsea was taking in my milk, but because of
countless daily decisions that determine whom they have the po-
the awkward way I held her, she was breathing it out of her nose!
tential to become. But children exist in the world as well. From the
Like many women, I had read books when I was pregnant-
moment they are born. they depend on a host of other "grown-
wonderful books filled with dos and don'ts about what babies need
ups"-grandparents, neighbors, teachers, ministers, employers.
in the first months and years to ensure the proper development of
political leaders, and untold others who touch their lives. Each of
their bodies, brains, and characters. But as every parent soon
us plays a part in every child's life. As an old African proverb says:
discovers, grasping concepts in the abstract and knowing what to
It takes a village to raise a child.
do with the baby in your hands are two radically different things.
I grew up in a family that looked like it was straight out of the
And as a nation, we are not paying enough attention to what ought
1950s television sitcom "Father Knows Best." Hugh Ellsworth
to be our highest priority: educating and empowering people to be
Rodham, my father, was a self-sufficient, tough-minded small-
the best parents possible. Education and empowerment start with
businessman who ran a plant that screen-printed and sold drapery
giving them the means and encouragement to plan pregnancy itself,
fabrics. He worked hard and never encountered a serious financial
so that they have the physical, financial, and emotional resources to
setback. But like many who came of age during the Great Depres-
support their children.
sion, he constantly worried that he might.
Openness about sexuality and availability of contraception in
My mother assumed an equally traditional role, providing the
most Western European countries are credited with lowering rates
unlimited affection and encouragement that smoothed our path
of unintended pregnancy and abortion. By contrast, more than 100
and balanced the pressures my father imposed. She organized
million women around the world still cannot obtain or are not
JANUARY 15, 1996 newsweek 31
JAN-08-1996 10:21
415 391 0759 P. 13/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
I understand the nostalgia for the America of the 1950s.
I feel it myself. But our past was not so picture-perfect
TB# WHITE HOUSE
using family planning services because they are poor, uneducated,
unable to. The sad fact is Americans have
At home In the
or lack access to care. Twenty million women seek unsafe abortions
never sufficiently valued the work of caring for
Chicago suburbs,
each year.
children. This is due in part to our nation's long
1955: Hillary (far
We may think our country is far from this end of the spectrum,
ambivalence about whether surrogate child
left), her parents
but statistics tell a different story. Two in five American teenage
care is acceptable. And Americans continue to
and brother Tony
girls become pregnant by age 20, and 1.5 million abortions are
be divided over what rule, if any, the federal
performed in America each year. It is a national shame that many
government should play in helping working parents pay for it.
Americans are more thoughtful about planning their weekend
entertainment than about planning their families.
On Intelligence and Education: Recent discoveries in neuro-
We also know that women who receive pre-natal care, especially
science, molecular biology, and psychology have given researchers
in the first trimester, are more likely to deliver healthy. full-term
a whole new understanding of when and how the human brain
babies, while women who do not receive adequate pre-natal care
develops. Above all, this new information makes clear that a child's
are more than twice as likely to give birth to babies weighing less
character and potential are not already determined at birth. Dr.
than five and a half pounds, the definition of "low birth weight."
Frederick Goodwin, former director of the National Institute of
Mental Health. cites studies in which children "at risk" for devel-
On Health Care and Day Care: There's probably no area of
opmental problems were exposed at an carly age to stimulating
our lives that better illustrates the connection between the village
environments. The children's IQ scores increased by as much as 20
and the individual and between mutual and personal responsibility
points. Bear this research in mind when you listen to those who
than health care. Today there are more than 10 million children,
argue that our nation cannot afford to implement comprehensive
most with working parents, who do not have health insurance. The
early education programs for disadvantaged children and their
rate will accelerate even more if Congress enacts proposed cut-
families. If we as a village decide not to help families develop their
backs in Medicaid.
children's brains, then at least let us admit that we are acting not on
Some families who can afford to pay for private insurance are
the evidence but according to a different agenda.
unable to find coverage. In Cleveland, Ohio, 1 met a couple who have
After a dozen years of involvement in education reform. I'm
two daughters with cystic fibrosis. The family could afford private
convinced that the biggest obstacles many students face are the low
insurance, but no one was willing to sell them a policy because of the
expectations we have of them and their schools. And nowhere is
girls' conditions. They repeated to me the words of one insurance
the partnership of parents and the rest of the village more crucial to
agent-words I will never forget. "What you don't understand," the
the schools than in the expectation that discipline and order are
agent told them. "is that we don't insure burning houses."
necessary for learning. I agree with those who advocate dress
I find this attitude deplorable. And if we are willing to write off
codes and even uniforms in some districts because they appear to
these children, whose will be next? Scientists will soon be able to
diminish the frictions caused by brand-name consumerism and
tell us which of Our genes predispose us to cancer or diabetes or
gang identification.
other serious diseases. Will those who carry such genes and the
And after so many years of working with and listening to Ameri-
children we pass them on to eventually be denied insurance, too?
can adolescents, I also don't believe they are ready for sex or its
If you want to open the floodgates of guilt and dissension any-
potential consequences-parenthood, abortion, sexually transmit-
where in America, start talking about child care. It is an issue that
led diseases-and I think we need to do everything in our power to
brings out all of our conflicted feelings about what parenthood
discourage sexual activity and encourage abstinence. This means
should be and about who should care for children when parents are
adult support, including the time it takes to organize gatherings for
kids, instead of turning them loose in malls, video arcades, or the
From "IT TAKES A VILLAGE And Other Lessons Children Teach
streets. Homes, schools, churches, and communities should pro-
Us," by Hillary Rodham Clinton. To be published by Simon &
vide havens for kids who want an alternative.
Schuster, Inc. Copyright © 1996 by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
These same entities have to pitch in when it comes to educating
32 newsweek JANUARY 15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:22
415 391 0759
P.14/14
For the sake of our children, let us use government,
as we have in the past, to further the common good
kids about sex. The available evidence does not support fears that
sa's orphanage in New Delhi-and were presented with frequent
direct discussion of sexual behavior increases sexual activity; rath-
opportunities to reflect on what it means to be an American. Many
eT, it suggests many adolescents become sexually active without
of the people we met told us how much they admired our country.
having had any formal sex education at all. And no matter how
When Americans are reminded of the bounty and protection we
great an effort adults make to convince young people to abstain,
enjoy, most of us are grateful. Our gratitude has its roots in a view
there will be some who are determined to embark on sexual
of government that dates back to the Pilgrims. In this view, govern-
experience. They need straight talk about contraception and sexu-
ment is an instrument both to promote the common good and to
ally transmitted diseases to help them deal responsibly with the
protect the individual's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
consequences of their actions.
I do wish we would all take a deep breath and remember that sex
happiness. By the 1980s, however, faced with mounting economic and social
has been around for a long. long time and we are all here because of
problems, Americans began to question the ability of government
it. It is an important part of who we are and how we live, and there
to solve them. Many began to believe government itself was
should be no shame in our children's curiosity about it. If we could
the problem. Even those of us who are mindful of the progress we
accept that, we could begin talking to children, as soon as they
have made through government recognize that there are limits to
could understand what we were saying. about the importance of
what it can do.
honoring their bodies and entering into relationships responsibly.
At present, the extreme anti-government position is the noisiest
one-or at least the one that gets the most attention from the media.
On Gender Stereotyping: The attempt to attach labels to our
Anti-government rhetoric appears to offer a vision of greater effi-
lives takes us backward. Whenever we pose women's options as an
ciency, self-reliance, and personal freedom. (For obvious reasons, it
"either/or" choice-most commonly between work and family-
also usually enjoys greater financial backing and better-organized
we do a disservice all around. In earlier generations, we lost artists,
support.) Unfortunately. this rhetoric argues against the excesses of
doctors, and engineers. My generation lost good mothers and
government but not against those of the marketplace, where there is
dedicated community volunteers among women who did not see
great power to disrupt the lives of workers, families, and communi-
a way to combine their work life with making a home or nurtur-
ties. It even argues against the basic protections government extends
ing a family.
to the well-being of individuals, families, and communities, without
I have had my own experiences with the power of stereotypes,
offering an alternative way of safeguarding them. In fact, its extreme
most notably when the response I gave to a reporter's question
case against government, often including intense personal attacks on
during the 1992 campaign led to the infamous cookies-and-tea
government officials and political leaders, is designed to advance
tempest. I had understood the question to refer to the ceremonial
narrow religious, political, and economic agendas.
role of a public official's spouse, and I replied that I had chosen to
For the sake of our children, we ought to
pursue my law practice while my husband was governor rather than
The first time she
call an end to false debates between values
stay home as an official hostess, serving cookies and tea to guests.
held Chelsea in
and policies. Both personal and mutual re-
Now, the fact is, I've made my share of cookies and served
her arms, Hillary
sponsibility are essential, and we should
hundreds of cups of tea. But I never thought that made me a good,
recalls, 'I was
work to strengthen them at all levels of soci-
bad, or indifferent mother, or a good or bad person. So it never
overwhelmed'
ety. Let us admit that some government pro-
occurred to me that my comment
grams and personnel are efficient
and effective, and others are not.
would be taken as insulting moth-
Let us acknowledge that when it
ers (I guess including my own!)
comes to the treatment of chil-
who choose to stay home with
their children full-time. Nor did it
dren. some individuals are evil,
occur to me that the next day's
neglectful. or incompetent, but
headlines would reduce me to an
others are trying to do the best
anti-family-"career woman."
they can against daunting odds
I learned from the episode that
and deserve the help only we-
when I am asked a question that
through our government-can
relates to me personally, my an-
provide. Let us use government,
swer may be measured by how
as we have in the past, to further
people feel about the choices
the common good.
they've made in their own lives.
Nothing is more important to
But the incident also highlight-
our shared future than the well-
ed the energy that is wasted on
being of children. For children
are at our core-not only as vul-
sniping over women's and men's
nerable beings in need of love
choices and on stereotyping.
and care but as a moral touch-
stone amidst the complexity and
IN THE SPRING OF 1995. CHEL-
sea and I traveled together
contentiousness of modern life.
through South Asia. As the moth-
Just as it takes a village to raise a
er of a teenager, I felt very lucky
child. it takes children to raise up
indeed that my 15-year-old was
a village to become all it should
willing to spend 10 days with me.
be. The village we build with
them in mind will be a better
We had an unforgettable time-
including a visit to Mother Tere-
place for us all.
january 15, 1996 newsweek 33
TOTAL P.14
JAN-08-1996 10:13
415 391 0759 P.02/14
Newsweek
®
lills
03
3
D 706288
01134
EXCLUSIVE: Excerpts
From Hillary Rodham Clinton's
New Book-And - a Candid Interview
on the White House Scandals
Saint
Sinner?
9661-80-NHC
10:14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Long infused with missionary zeal, Hillary
Clinton is determined to do good as she sees it-at
virtually any cost. But will her campaign for
children be overshadowed by scandal?
BY MARTHA BRANT AND EVAN THOMAS
First
Fighter
ILLARY CLINTON SPENT NEW YEAR'S EVE IN A SAFE
H
place, a hotel ballroom in Hilton Head, S.C., sur-
rounded by a thousand soulmates sworn to secrecy.
She had come with her husband, for the 12th straight
year, to Renaissance Weekend to share and care with
people who believe in social uplift and the power of
ideas. For nearly an hour, she went on about her deepest concerns: pro-
viding economic opportunity for women throughout the world, protect-
ing New Deal and Great Society programs from rapacious Republicans,
saving children everywhere. She got 50 involved
ably asking about the latest revelations. Graceful-
that she seemed to almost forget to introduce her
ly, if not always completely, she answered, deny-
husband, whose speaking time had been cut back
ing any wrongdoing. She bridled only once, at the
to about half an hour before the toasts and hugs at
word "subpoena," as in: Will it take a subpoena to
midnight.
get her to testify before Sen. Al D'Amato's
A few days later, the First Lady was back in
Whitewater committee? "I'm not going to pre-
more forbidding territory: her home in Washing-
dict," she coolly demurred. Her smile returning.
ton, where news of ongoing White House scan-
she changed the subject back to saving children.
dals-Travelgate and Whitewater-dominated.
Hillary Clinton has enor-
A tireless
Sitting in the third-floor solarium of the White
mous self-control. She will
advocate, Mrs.
House Residence, she was pleasant and gracious
need it. Last week D'Amato
Clinton has never
with a couple of reporters from Newsweek who
was brandishing Rose Law
been a traditional
had ostensibly come to talk to her about her new
Firm billing records-long
First Lady
book, "It Takes a Village," but who were predict-
under subpoena, but long
JEFF
20 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15. 1996
P.04/14
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E
THE
R THE the
JAN-08-1996 10:14
K
JAN-08-1996 10:16
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P.05/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
'Be doers of the word and not hearers only' was
the familiar Methodist refrain of her childhood
missing-that detailed Mrs. Clinton's con-
sweet and homey how-to guide to child
'Mrs. Clinton's immediate world is a mix
troversial work for Madison Guaranty, a
rearing. and partly a policy-wonk discus-
of fluff and hardball. To hear her aides talk,
failed Arkansas savings and loan connected
sion of seemingly every child-development
life in what they call "Hillaryland" is like
to Whitewater. This came just a day after a
program of the past three decades. Republi-
one big pajama party, albeit in the girls'
self-described "soul cleansing" memo from
cans will scoft at it: Supermom vying to
dorm of a progressive religious college in
a former White House staffer surfaced that
outdo the GOP as chief defender of family
the 1950s. The First Lady loves decorating
made it appear that the First Lady had
values. Actually. the book is a fair reflection
and dressing up, sometimes goofily. This
played a far more central role in Travelgate
of who Mrs. Clinton is and what she stands
Christmas, she was seen wandering around
than she had carlier acknowledged. "I just
for. It is closer to the "real Hillary" than all
wearing a necklace of flashing holiday
don't have any memory of that," she told
the familiar press cartoons.
lights. She enjoyed hanging a wreath with
Newsweek (page 26).
The First Lady's social activism is not a
hyper-homemaker Martha Stewart "I wish
This week, as she kicks off her book tour,
pose; she is dead serious. Her code is
I could tell you she doesn't like that stuff,
Americans will once again be trying to
simple: "We are all here to help someone
but she does," says Verveer. To her staffers,
figure out who Hillary Clinton really is.
else," says Melanne Verveer, one of her top
she is corny and a "bit of a prude," says one.
After the collapse of her campaign to re-
aides. "She believes that to the core of her
Dressed in blue jeans and a ponytail after-
make the nation's health-care system, she
being." If Mrs. Clinton had lived in the 19th
hours at the White House, wearing her
was thought to have retreated into the role
century, she might have saved souls in Afri-
thick Coke-bottle glasses, she will use ex-
pressions like "Okey-dokey, artichokey,"
and ask, "What's up, buttercup?" She loves
to sing, though she can't carry a tune.
HE IS THE "BIG GIRL" IN THE
S
"Big House" in the affection-
ate jargon of her aides (almost
all of whom are female). Her
staff is the most faithful in
Washington. She fusses over
them. asking about their chil-
dren and their love lives and enjoying their
jokes with a loud horsy laugh. But she re-
veals less of herself. "I was raised not to
talk about myself," she has told aides. And
she is incredibly demanding. A perfection-
ist-but a computer illiterate-she will call
a staffer late at night to ask how to operate a
fax machine. She expects absolute loyalty,
and she gets it. Although her husband's staff
is notorious for its turnover, only two of
FOR
Mrs. Clinton's 16 staffers have left, one be-
FICARA
cause her mother was sick. Her more easy-
going friends sometimes wonder how Hil-
KIRIN
lary could,be so close to Susan Thomases, a
tough-talking, take-no-prisoners New York
of a more traditional First Lady, visiting
ca. It is not a coinci-
After health care,
litigator. The short answer, they under-
hospitals and worrying about her hairdo. In
dence that she relish-
she became more
stand, is that Thomases would do "any"
truth, her hairstyles changed more than her
es traveling through
circumspect-
thing" for Hillary.
agenda. She is, and always has been, a mis-
the developing world,
but has never
But loyalty to Hillary Clinton can be cost-
sionary. Her all-consuming task is to do
proselytizing about
lacked a mission
ly. The Clintons built a bunker when they
good as she sees it, especially for children.
children's rights and
arrived in Washington, and the atmosphere
She has been called everything from "Saint
basking in the adoration of women.
of suspicion and the press, of Con-
Hillary" by her fans to the worst kind of
Understanding her sense of mission is
gress, and occasionally of Mrs. Clinton her-
sinner by her enemies, but in fact the two
critical to resolving the apparent paradoxes
self-wore down their closest aides. When
are not mutually exclusive. The same zeal
of her character and behavior. Hillary's do-
Hillary's best friend, deputy White House
that is so impressive in her fight for worthy
good energy can make her warm, open and
counsel Vincent Foster, shot himself six
causes can also lead her (at best) to be politi-
generous. It can also make her fierce. pro-
months into the new administration, he was
cally insensitive and (at worst) to be ruth-
tective and suspicious to the point of para-
agonizing over what he felt was his person-
less about getting her way.
noia. Above all, it makes her a fighter-"ar
al failure to ward off scandal. Since then,
Mrs. Clinton's latest vehicle is her book,
advocate," she calls herself-who will let
several of Mrs. Clinton's aides, including
which she will be flogging on an 11-city
nothing stop her, particularly not D'Amato
chief of staff Maggie Williams, have run up
media swing. "It Takes a Village" (the title
or vocal critics like the editorial writers of
hefty legal fees testifying before various in-
is taken from an African proverb) is partly a
The Wall Street Journal.
vestigators. They are uncomplaining. but
22 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15, 1996
not a few of their friends wonder why Mrs.
ist Church and Yale Law School. It is hard.
ilies breaking down
'There is no such
Clinton is allowing her aides to slowly
in a more selfish and secular time, to appre-
and children increas-
thing as other
twist. Why didn't she just throw open her
clate the fervent strain of social activism
ingly consigned to
people's
records and make herself available to in-
that ran through the midcentury, mid-
poverty, it is up to so-
children,' she Is
vestigators long ago if she has done nothing
American Methodist Church. "Be doers of
ciety to step in. That is
fond of saying
wrong (page 28)?
the word and not hearers only" was a famil-
a central message of
But the First Lady remains dismissive.
iar refrain in her parents' church in Park
her new book. She is sensitive that conser-
She thinks the persistent questions over
Ridge, III. For a nice suburban Chicago girl
vatives will translate the word "Village" in
Whitewater and Travelgate are a nuisance,
in the early '60s, that meant volunteering in
her title to mean "Big Covernment." She
to be ignored if at all possible. In the late fall
the inner city and baby-sitting for migrant
talks instead of a "partnership" between
of 1993, when the then White House coun-
workers. At Yale, her missionary impulse
government, churches and charities. But
selor David Cergen suggested turning over
turned grandiose. Ivy League grade grub-
she has a program for every problem. "The
all Whitewater documents to The Washing-
bers who wanted to practice corporate law
village can do its part to help [with child
ton Post to show that the White House had
on Wall Street went to Harvard; idealists
nutrition]. The U.S. Department of Agricul-
nothing to cover up, it was Mrs. Clinton
went to Yale, where they learned to use the
ture has started Team Nutrition." she
who said no. Some press accounts have
law as a tool of social reform. This spirit
writes. "The village can do much to give
speculated that she had something personal
was particularly intense in the Yale of the
parents the time they need to establish their
to hide. but her intransigence may be moré
early 1970s-Hillary's Yale. It was liberal.
children's well-being in the first weeks and
basic: she truly believes she has more im-
high-minded and suffused with we-know-
months of life. The Family and Medical
portant things to do. If it is necessary to
best paternalism: only courts, not state leg-
Leave Act
stonewall to protect her larger purposes,
islatures. could be trusted to guarantee so-
While her policies are classically liberal.
then so be it.
cial justice.
her personal code is quite conservative. She
Mrs. Clinton's rightcousness may be
Throughout her political and legal career
thinks everyone should wait until the age of
softened by her girlish good humor, but its
Mrs. Clinton has lobbied for children's
21 before having sex. She believes divorce
roots run deep. Her zeal was shaped in
rights. "There is no such thing as other peo-
has been made too easy and that couples
large part by two institutions: the Method-
ple's children," she likes to say. With fam-
should stay together for the sake of the kids.
JANUARY 15, 1996 NEWSWEEK 23
JAN-08-1996 10:17
415 391 0759 P.07/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
'You can't accomplish anything in government
unless you win,' Hillary used to say at Wellesley
Her views on divorce were tested in a per-
than $35,000 a year.) To the outside world,
quiet First Lady. In
A dutiful
sonal way. To stay married, she relates in
her commodities trading-- $1,000 invest-
many of the published
campaigner, she
her book, she sometimes had to "bite my
ment to make $100,000-looks suspiciously
accounts about Clin-
finds politics
tongue." She does not say about what, but
cozy. And the family's lost investment in
ton's presidency, Hil-
distasteful, but a
both she and her husband have acknowl-
the failed Whitewater land development
lary emerges as the
means to an end
edged rocky times in their marriage, appar-
has the smell of a sweet deal turned sour.
one who wants to
ently caused by reports of his philandering.
The Whitewater independent counsel,
strike back while her husband dithers. She
Still, Hillary stuck it out. In true Protestant
Kenneth Starr, may still uncover shady do-
agrees that she is generally the one in her
fashion, she says, she learned to will herself
ings by the First Lady But Mrs. Clinton
family to "cut to the chase." "I think that's
to be grateful for the blessings she did have.
seems unrepentant. Although she would
true for all women," she told Newsweek.
And to make certain compromises. "You
never admit it, she may feel that she was
Still, in the past year, she has become
can't accomplish anything in government
relatively restrained in Little Rock, given
somewhat more circumspect. Michael Ler-
unless you win," Mrs. Clinton would say at
the temptations of her position and the cul-
ner, the editor of Tikkun Magazine, whose
Wellesley, her undergraduate college. Poli-
ture of the place. For a governor's wife who
"polities of meaning" she embraced, thinks
tics are distasteful, but necessary. During
was also a senior partner in a politically
she has "backed away" from preaching val-
her husband's 1986 re-election campaign,
connected law firm, the opportunity for lu-
ues. Feminists watch Mrs. Clinton hanging
Mrs. Clinton writes that she told her
crative deals must have been huge.
wreaths with Martha Stewart and wonder
daughter, Chelsea: "You know, Daddy is
what happened to the woman who wanted
going to run for governor again. If he wins
ERTAINLY, HILLARY HAS
to work and not be a ceremonial First Lady.
we would keep living in this house, and he
"I miss her," says Gloria Steinem.
would keep trying to help people. But first
C
felt victimized by the
storm over Whitewater.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a close friend of Hil-
we have to have an election."
"Remind me." she asked
lary's, says her book "may be one of her ways
One compromise she won't make is to
an aide when the scandal
of saying 'I'm still here,' but more quietly. I
expose Chelsea to the limelight, despite the
began to grow after Fos-
think it's a decision on her part to be lower
obvious political benefits of showing off her
ter's death, "have I ever
key." But it doesn't mean that her internal
family. In the White House, the rule is
done anything right in my life?" She summed
sense of mission has dimmed. When she was
"don't even bring it up," says an aide. Mrs.
up the unfairness of it all with one of Chel-
handed the page proofs of her book after
Clinton's fierceness, as well as her pragma-
sea's favorite nursery rhymes: "As I was
struggling for many late nights to get it right,
tism, shows when it comes to protecting her
standing in the street/As quiet as could be/A
her eyes welled up. She was overwhelmed
family. It has fallen mostly to Hillary to
great big ugly man came up/And tied his
with pride and determination. The Prom-
finance the Clintons' public service. (As
horse to me. "There is an element of denial in
ised Land was in sight, if only the rest of us
governor, her husband never earned more
this self-pity. Mrs. Clinton has hardly been a
could see it clearly.
24 NEWSWEEK january 15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:18
415 391 0759
P.08/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
"The Ground Keeps Shifting'
Mrs. Clinton on ethics troubles, Vince Foster-and how she sees herself
AST WEEK, HILLARY
week worth of work. There is
was sent to me and that was the
had and always felt bad for kids I
L
Clinton sat down
no way that I think of an hour a
first time I knew it was there.
went to school with who
with NEWSWEEK to
week over 15 months as being a
seemed like really good kids
talk about her new
significant amount of work.
You never reviewed them at all?
who never had any luck, never
book. It was also her
No. Because it wasn't important
had any breaks at all. [They]
first extensive interview about
One area of confusion Is the doc-
tous. Maybe if we had been here
needed just a little bit of help
Whitewater and Travelgate in
uments in Foster's office after
for a couple of years, maybe if
from somebody-a teacher, a
more than a year. The night be-
his death. Were you concerned
we knew a little bit more about
coach, a minister. When I got to
fore. the White House had re-
about law enforcement having
what the possible conspiracies
college and law school, I began
leased a 1993 memo suggesting
unfettered access to them?
that could be spun might look
to study child development.
that Mrs. Clinton had ordered
No. No documents were taken
like, everybody would have
aides to fire the White House
out of Vince Foster's office
That was a rough year [in
Travel Office-despite her
the night he died. And I
1993]: health care went
longstanding position that she
did not direct anyone to
down, Foster died. Was
had played an insignificant role
interfere with any investi-
this book a way to come out
in the flap.
gation into his death. I
of that?
don't know how best to
I didn't think about it that
NEWSWEEK: The memo says, "Fos-
convey the level of grief
way, but it gave me a lot of
ter regularly informed me that
and shock and distress
time alone. A lot of times
the First Lady was concerned and
that I and other people felt
rd be staring at the blank
desired action-the action de-
at the news. There was no
page trying to figure out
sired was the firing of the Travel
discussion of documents,
how I was going to put
Office staff."
or Whitewater, or any-
what I was feeling into
MRS. CLINTON: I just don't have any
thing like that. That was
readable English. Nine-
memory of that. What I do re-
not what any of us were
teen ninety-three was a
member is having a conversa-
thinking about.
personally very challeng-
tion with David Watkins, at
ing and difficult year, with
Vince Foster's suggestion, in
But there were documents
[the deaths of] my father
which Watkins told me that
here in the residence for
and Vince and my mother-
[the accounting firm] Peat Mar-
five days. Why were they
in-law. So I really did have
wick had begun its investigation
here if not to review them?
to summon up a lot of my
into the financial management
Because when I was in
own resources, and work
of the Travel Office. And I
Arkansas [at the time of
through many of the feel-
said, it looks like that's what
Foster's suicide] I was
ings that I had.
should be done.
called [and told] that
[White House counsel]
Do you see yourself as a
Do you feel that the Whitewater
Bernie Nussbaum was
pragmatist or an ideallst?
Investigation has become tar-
distributing the docu-
Gracious but cool, the First Lady speaks
I've always thought of my-
geted at you?
ments out of Vince's office.
self as a pragmatist be-
I don't know. It's been going on
There were personal docu-
tried to be more thoughtful or
cause a lot of what I believe we
a long time. We've tried to co-
ments of mine which I didn't
dispassionate in the heat of that
should do for one another is
operate in every way we can
even know Vince had. I was
moment.
very practical. As many kids as
because nobody would like this
asked what should be done with
possible [should] have as good a
matter over with more than I
them and I said, "Well, send
Are you thinking personally of
shot as possible, because I don't
would. But the ground keeps
them to our lawyers." And the
testifying at this point?
want [Chelsea] to be afraid to go
shifting about what it suppos-
decision was made that they
Well, I'm looking to continue to
to a city park with her kids
edly is about.
couldn't get sent over that day. I
cooperate.
when she gets older.
was asked if there were a place
There aren't any simple an-
In 1992 you said you had done
that they could be stored, and I
So you're waiting for a
swers. You can't say, "Oh, it's
"minimal" work for Madison. But
said, "I don't know, talk to some
subpoena?
the government's fault," and
recently, notes taken by Susan
of the people in the residence."
I'm not going to predict what
you can't say, "Oh, it's just these
Thomases say you had "numer-
And so they were locked up
might or might not happen.
irresponsible parents living in
ous conferences" on the subject.
there. It's difficult to keep track
the inner city." The responsibil-
How do you reconcile that?
of all the spider webs that are
Your friends talk about your
ity is spread all the way across
Based on the evidence that
spun and the theories and the
Methodism and Yale Law School
society. But the good news is
we've seen. the Rose Law Firm
innuendoes. Then they were
as important Influences on you.
there are things we can do right
represented Madison for about
picked up by our lawyer and ex-
How would you explain what mo-
now that could make a differ-
15 months. And over those 15
amined and then an index was
tivates you?
ence If we would start having
months I did about an hour a
made of them. And the index
I was always grateful for what I
that kind of conversation.
26 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15, 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:19
415 391 0759
P.09/14
Intriguing documents
place the First Lady ever
closer to the heart of the
'Clinton scandals'
BY MICHAEL ISIKOFF
AND MARK HOSENBALL
The billing records
in April '94, Hillary
took Whitewater
Cracks in
raise new questions
about whether Mrs.
questions-but
Clinton misled inves-
new ones are
tigators about her le-
surfacing In '96
gal work for James
McDougal, the Clinton ally and business
partner who ran Madison into the ground.
The thrift's collapse cost the taxpayers $60
the Wall
million; McDougal goes on trial in March
on related fraud charges. One big issue is a
Madison land deal with Arkansas busi-
nessman Seth Ward. father-in-law of Web-
ster Hubbell, the former Rose Law Firm
partner who was convicted last year of
HE WAY WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TOLD IT,
bilking clients. Federal investigators say
the land deal, part of a project called Castle
1
Carolyn Huber was rummaging through some
Grande, was a "sham" that contributed to
old boxes under a table in her East Wing office
Madison's demise. The billing records
show that Mrs. Clinton talked to Ward 14
when she spotted something odd-for stashed
times while the deal was being put togeth-
among the letters and memorabilia was a bun-
er. Last year Mrs. Clinton, under oath. told
federal regulators she couldn't recall any-
dle of computer printouts. Huber's job at the
thing about the project. The notes in Fos-
White House is handling Bill and Hillary Clinton's personal
ter's handwriting are suggestive, too: con-
gressional investigators speculate that the
correspondence; before that, in Little Rock, she was office
printouts may have been among papers
they believe were removed from Foster's
manager at the Rose Law Firm when Hil-
that was central to Whitewater. Investiga-
office shortly after his death. White House
lary was a partner there. She realized in-
tors searched for these records for nearly
aides were unable to explain how the bill-
stantly the printouts were billing records
two years. Worse, the printouts were cov-
ing records wound up in Huber's office.
from the firm-and that this batch itemized
ered with the late Vince Foster's handwrit-
To the obvious delight of congressional
Mrs. Clinton's legal work for Madison
ing: it is Foster's suicide that lends
Republicans, the strange discovery of the
Cuaranty savings and loan, the failed thrift
Whitewater ito aura of menace.
Rose Law Firm records was not the only
28 NEWSWEEK JANUARY 15. 1996
JAN-08-1996 10:19
415 391 0759
P.10/14
embarrassment to the First Lady last week.
dals" may be hard to follow, but the theme
even when, in the panicky attempt at dam-
A day earlier White House officials re-
is increasingly obvious: year after year, her
age control after Foster's suicide, she
leased a memo written by David Watkins, a
friends seem to have been working over-
seemed to do the proper thing. That hap-
former Little Rock adman who until 1994
time to protect the First Lady. Watkins's
pened when his torn-up suicide note was
served as the White House's administrative
memo suggests that White House staffers
belatedly discovered by former White
chief. The memo was devastating. It
were less than accurate when they told
House counsel Bernard Nussbaum and two
charged that Mrs. Clinton was the driving
Congress Mrs. Clinton played "no role" in
aides. Nussbaum tried to show Mrs. Clin-
force in Travelgate, the abrupt firing of sev-
Travelgate. The Rose Law Firm records
ton the note-but according to sworn testi-
en career employees in the White House
reopen the issue of whether Mrs. Clinton
mony, she responded that "she did not un-
Travel Office in 1993. Watkins wrote that
was entirely candid when she said, in a
derstand why she had been brought into the
he and Thomas F. (Mack) McLarty, the for-
sworn response to federal regulators, that
room" and left without looking at it. Nuss-
mer White House chief of staff, "both knew
her work for Madison had been "minimal."
baum and the others omitted that fact in
there would be hell to pay if we failed to
Though no one accuses Mrs. Clinton of
subsequent interviews with the FBL
take swift and decisive action in conformity
wrongdoing-and while White House offi-
In her NEWSWEEK interview, Mrs. Clin-
with the First Lady's wishes." What were
cials still insist there are no credible charges
ton denied directing any cover-up after
those wishes? Notes taken by another aide
against her staff-the legal morass is getting
Foster's death. She insisted the White
show that Susan Thomases, Hillary Clin-
deeper. The Senate Whitewater committee
House has cooperated fully with White-
ton's friend and lawyer, bluntly warned
is considering asking for perjury charges
water investigators and again said her work
that "Hillary wants these people fired." As
against Susan Thomases and Maggie Wil-
for Madison Guaranty was not "signifi-
the news media reported at the time, a Clin-
liams, Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff, in con-
cant." The newly discovered billing records
lon friend named Harry Thomason was
nection with their testimony about the re-
broadly support her statements about the
part owner of an air-charter company that
moval of documents from Foster's office. A
amount of time she spent-though not nec-
coveted the White House travel business.
House committee has subpoenaed Watkins.
essarily the implication that the results
"Once this made it onto the First Lady's
NEWSWEEK has learned that Watkins told
were minor. David Kendall, the Clintons'
agenda. Vince Foster became involved, and
the FBI in 1993 about a phone call concern-
lawyer, was asked by NEWSWEEK whether
he and Harry Thomason regularly in-
ing the Travel Office in which Mrs. Clinton
Mrs. Clinton needed to supplement her
formed me of her attention to the Travel
said "action needed to be taken immediately
previous testimony about her work for
Office situation," Watkins wrote.
to be certain that those not friendly to the
Madison. Kendall said he was reviewing
McDougal, Ward, Watkins, Thoma-
administration were removed and replaced
her sworn statements and would amend
son-and, tragically, Vince Foster. The
with trustworthy individuals."
them if necessary. The odds are he will
ever-expanding cast of characters in what
And White House lawyers failed to men-
have to do so-and that Hillary Clinton
Republicans now call "the Clinton scan-
tion Mrs. Clinton's peripheral involvement
faces tougher questions ahead.
THE ARKANSAS PLAYERS
The First Family's
James McDougal Madison's
Beverly Bassett Schaffer In-
owner and Clinton Whitewater
vestigators are interested in just
Troubled Circle
partner has said he gave Hillary
how much contact Mrs. Clinton
legal work at Bill's request.
had with this Arkansas regula-
Newly released records cast
tor-and appointee of Gover-
Though Mrs. Clinton has long said
doubt on her claim that the work
nor Clinton. Both women say it
she was only a peripheral figure in
was "minimal."
was insignificant.
Whitewater and the Travel Office
Susan McDougal An indicted
James Blair Hillary's adviser in
firings, new evidence undermines
ex-Arkansas judge. David Hale.
her cattle-futures killing. Blair
claims Bill Clinton pressured
also loaned McDougal $1,000 to
her claims. Congress and the spe-
him to make a small-business
buy the Clintons' share of
cial prosecutor are investigating. A
loan to McDougal's wife. A por-
Whitewater after the 1992 elec-
tion of this money ended up in
tion-and told him to shut up
guide to the cast of characters.
the Whitewater account.
about the land deal,
TRAVELGATE
WHITEWATER IN WASHINGTON
Vincent Foster Hillary's closest
Maggie Williams Chief of staff to
friend at Rose and a White
Mrs. Clinton, Williams's recol-
House lawyer, Foster helped
lections about what happened
tidy up Whitewater for the Clin-
to Foster's files after his death
tons. His suicide note suggests
don't square with what others
he was agonizing over Travel-
have testified. Investigators are
gate on the day of his death.
pursuing the discrepancies.
Harry Thomason This
David Watkins The for-
old Arkansas friend
mer Clinton aide took
William Kennedy His note at a
Susan Thomases Hillary's pal
urged Hillary to clean
the fall for Travelgate
meeting of Clinton lawyers-
helped prepare the response to
out the office that han-
but wrote a memo, dis-
"Vacuum Rose law files"-is in-
the first reports about White-
dles presidential press
covered last week,
triguing investigators. The for-
water in '92. Her notes show
travel-and his air-
claiming the firings
mer White House attorney says
that Mrs. Clinton's connections
charter firm then bid
conformed with "the
he was referring to a gap in the
to McDougal were played down
for the travel business.
First Lady's wishcs."
files, not a pending cover-up.
from the start.
JANUARY 15, 1996 NEWSWEEK 29
JAN-08-1996 10:20
415 391 0759 P.11/14
In her new book, the First Lady
draws on her own sometimes
difficult experiences to explain
how all of us can help raise the
country's children
'It Takes V
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
Yet cverywhere we look, children are under assault: from vio-
lence and neglect, from the breakup of families, from the tempta-
tions of alcohol, tobacco, sex, and drug abuse, from greed, material-
ism, and spiritual emptiness. These problems are not new, but in
HILDREN ARE NOT RUGGED
our time they have skyrocketed. Against this bleak backdrop, the
individualists. They depend on
struggle to raise strong children and to support families, emotional-
C
ly as well as practically, has become more fierce.
the adults they know and on
1 have spent much of the past 25 years working to improve the
thousands more who make
lives of children. My work has taught me that they need more of our
time, energy, and resources. But no experience brought home the
decisions every day that affect
lesson as vividly as becoming a mother myself. When Chelsea
their well-being. All of us,
Victoria Clinton lay in my arms for the first time, I was over-
whelmed by the love and responsibility I felt for her.
whether we acknowledge it or not, are
Bill and I had wanted to start a family immediately after we
responsible for deciding whether our chil-
married, in 1975, but we were not having much luck. In 1979, we
scheduled an appointment to visit a fertility clinic right after a long-
dren are raised in a nation that doesn't just
awaited vacation. Lo and behold, I got pregnant during that vaca-
espouse family values but values families.
tion. (I have often remarked to my husband that we might have had
more children if we had taken more vacations!)
30
In Newark, N.J.,
our daily lives and fed us with her devotion.
reaching out
imagination, and great spirit. My parents also
to a favorite
had a lot of help from the village in raising my
constituency-
brothers and me. Grandparents, aunts, un-
schoolchildren
cles. and cousins all pitched in if illness or
some other misfortune strained the family.
And plenty of, other adults-from librarians to crossing guards to
Scout leaders-looked out for us.
Those who urge a return to the values of the 1950s are yearning
for the kind of family and neighborhood I grew up in and for the
feelings of togetherness they engendered. I understand that nostal-
gia. I feel it myself when the world seems too much to take. There
were many good things about our way of life back then. But our past
was not so picture-perfect. Ask African-American children who
grew up in a segregated society, or immigrants who struggled to
survive in sweatshops and tenements, or women whose life choices
were circumscribed and whose work was underpaid. Ask those
who grew up in the picture-perfect houses about the secrets and
desperation they sometimes concealed.
The longing for "the way things used to be" also obscures the
larger settings in which the family finds itself today, as it struggles
with broken homes, discrimination, economic downturns, urban-
ization, consumerism, and technology. Here are some of the chal-
lenges we face-and a few ways to overcome them.
On Divorce: The instability of American households today poses
great risks to the healthy development of children. The divorce rate
has been falling slowly, but for a high proportion of marriages, "till
BALTH ALBWANG-7168 HOUSE
death do us part" means "until the going gets rough." My strong
feelings about divorce have caused me to bite my tongue more than
a few times during my own marriage and to think instead about
what I could do to be a better wife and partner. My husband has
done the same.
I am not saying that there are not reasons for divorce. The abuse
and violence Bill's mother, Virginia Kelley, experienced is some-
thing no parent or child should endure. But people with children
need to ask what more they can do before they call it quits. When
children are involved, we should consider returning to mandatory
"cooling off" periods, with education and counseling.
illage'
On Pre-Natal Care: There I was, lying in my hospital bed, try-
ing desperately to figure out how to breast-feed. I had been trained
to study everything forward. backward, and upside down before
reaching a conclusion. It seemed to me I ought to be able to figure
this out. As I looked on in horror, Chelsea started to foam at the
nose. I thought she was strangling or having convulsions. Franti-
cally, I pushed every buzzer there was to push.
A nurse appeared promptly. She assessed the situation calmly,
Parents bear the first and primary responsibility for their sons
then, suppressing a smile, said, "It would help if you held her head
and daughters-to feed them, to sing them to sleep. to make
up a bit, like this." Chelsea was taking in my milk, but because of
countless daily decisions that determine whom they have the po-
the awkward way I held her, she was breathing it out of her nose!
tential to become. But children exist in the world as well. From the
Like many women, I had read books when I was pregnant-
moment they are born. they depend on a host of other "grown-
wonderful books filled with dos and don'ts about what babies need
ups"-grandparents, neighbors, teachers, ministers, employers,
in the first months and years to ensure the proper development of
polítical leaders, and untold others who touch their lives. Each of
their bodies, brains, and characters. But as every parent soon
us plays a part in every child's life. As an old African proverb says:
discovers, grasping concepts in the abstract and knowing what to
It takes a village to raise a child.
do with the baby in your hands are two radically different things.
I grew up in a family that looked like it was straight out of the
And as a nation, we are not paying enough attention to what ought
1950s television sitcom "Father Knows Best." Hugh Ellsworth
to be our highest priority: educating and empowering people to be
Rodham, my father, was a self-sufficient, tough-minded small-
the best parents possible. Education and empowerment start with
businessman who ran a plant that screen-printed and sold drapery
giving them the means and encouragement to plan pregnancy itself,
fabrics. He worked hard and never encountered a serious financial
so that they have the physical, financial, and emotional resources to
setback. But like many who came of age during the Great Depres-
support their children.
sion, he constantly worried that he might.
Openness about sexuality and availability of contraception in
My mother assumed an equally traditional role, providing the
most Western European countries are credited with lowering rates
unlimited affection and encouragement that smoothed our path
of unintended pregnancy and abortion. By contrast, more than 100
and balanced the pressures my father imposed. She organized
million women around the world still cannot obtain or arc not
JANUARY 15, 1996 NEWSWEEK 31
JAN-08-1996 10:22
415
391
0759
P. 14/14
For the sake of our children, let us use government,
as we have in the past, to further the common good
kids about sex, The available evidence does not support fears that
sa's orphanage in New Delhi-and were presented with frequent
direct discussion of sexual behavior increases sexual activity; rath-
opportunities to reflect on what it means to be an American. Many
er, it suggests many adolescents become sexually active without
of the people we met told us how much they admired our country.
having had any formal sex education at all. And no matter how
When Americans are reminded of the bounty and protection we
great an effort adults make to convince young people to abstain,
enjoy, most of us are grateful. Our gratitude has its roots in a view
there will be some who are determined to embark on sexual
of government that dates back to the Pilgrims. In this view, govern-
experience. They need straight talk about contraception and sexu-
ment is an instrument both to promote the common good and to
ally transmitted diseases to help them deal responsibly with the
protect the individual's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
consequences of their actions.
happiness.
I do wish we would all take a deep breath and remember that sex
By the 1980s, however, faced with mounting economic and social
has been around for a long. long time and we are all here because of
problems, Americans began to question the ability of government
it. It is an important part of who we are and how we live, and there
to solve them. Many began to believe government itself was
should be no shame in our children's curiosity about it. If we could
the problem. Even those of us who are mindful of the progress we
accept that, we could begin talking to children, as soon as they
have made through government recognize that there are limits to
could understand what we were saying, about the importance of
what it can do.
honoring their bodies and entering into relationships responsibly.
At present, the extreme anti-government position is the noisiest
one-or at least the one that gets the most attention from the medía.
On Gender Stereotyping: The attempt to attach labels to our
Anti-government rhetoric appears to offer a vision of greater effi-
lives takes us backward. Whenever we pose women's options as an
ciency, self-reliance, and personal freedom. (For obvious reasons, it
"either/or" choice-most commonly between work and family-
also usually enjoys greater financial backing and better-organized
we do a disservice all around. In earlier generations, we lost artists,
support.) Unfortunately. this rhetoric argues against the excesses of
doctors, and engineers. My generation lost good mothers and
government but not against those of the marketplace, where there is
dedicated community volunteers among women who did not see
great power to disrupt the lives of workers, families, and communi-
a way to combine their work life with making a home or nurtur-
ties. It even argues against the basic protections government extends
ing a family.
to the well-being of individuals, families, and communities, without
I have had my own experiences with the power of stereotypes,
offering an alternative way of safeguarding them. In fact, its extreme
most notably when the response I gave to a reporter's question
case against government, often including intense personal attacks on
during the 1992 campaign led to the infamous cookies-and-tea
government officials and political leaders, is designed to advance
tempest. I had understood the question to refer to the ceremonial
narrow religious, political. and economic agendas.
role of a public official's spouse, and I replied that I had chosen to
For the sake of our children, we ought to
pursue my law practice while my husband was governor rather than
The first time she
call an end to false debates between values
stay home as an official hostess, serving cookies and tea to guests.
held Chelsea in
and policies. Both personal and mutual re-
Now, the fact is, I've made my share of cookies and served
her arms, Hillary
sponsibility are essential, and we should
hundreds of cups of tea. But I never thought that made me a good,
recalls, 'I was
work to strengthen them at all levels of soci-
bad, or indifferent mother, or a good or bad person. So it never
overwhelmed'
ety. Let us admit that some government pro-
occurred to me that my comment
grams and personnel are efficient
would be taken as insulting moth-
and effective, and others are not.
ers (I guess including my own!)
Let us acknowledge that when it
who choose to stay home with
comes to the treatment of chil-
their children full-time. Nor did it
dren. some individuals are evil,
occur to me that the next day's
neglectful, or incompetent, but
headlines would reduce me to an
others are trying to do the best
anti-family-"career woman."
they can against daunting odds
I learned from the episode that
and deserve the help only we-
when I am asked a question that
through our government-can
relates to me personally, my an-
provide. Let us use government,
swer may be measured by how
as we have in the past, to further
people feel about the choices
the common good.
they've made in their own lives.
Nothing is more important to
But the incident also highlight-
our shared future than the well-
ed the energy that is wasted on
being of children. For children
sniping over women's and men's
are at our core-not only as vul-
choices and on stereotyping.
nerable beings in need of love
and care but as a moral touch-
IN THE SPRING OF 1995, CHEL-
stone amidst the complexity and
sea and I traveled together
contentiousness of modern life.
through South Asia. As the moth-
Just as it takes a village to raise a
eT of a teenager, I felt very lucky
child, it takes children to raise up
indeed that my 15-year-old was
a village to become all it should
willing to spend 10 days with me.
be. The village we build with
We had an unforgettable time-
them in mind will be a better
including a visit to Mother Tere-
place for us all.
JANUARY 15, 1996 NEWSWERK 33
TOTAL P. 14
JAN-08-1996 10:21
415 391 0759
P. 13/14
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
I understand the nostalgia for the America of the 1950s.
I feel it myself. But our past was not so picture-perfect
HOUSE
using family planning services because they are poor, uneducated,
unable to. The sad fact is Americans have
At home In the
or lack access to care. Twenty million women seek unsafe abortions
never sufficiently valued the work of caring for
Chicago suburbs,
each year.
children. This is due in part to our nation's long
1955: Hillary (far
We may think our country is far from this end of the spectrum,
ambivalence about whether surrogate child
left), her parents
but statistics tell a different story. Two in five American teenage
care is acceptable. And Americans continue to
and brother Tony
girls become pregnant by age 20, and 1.5 million abortions are
be divided over what role, if any, the federal
performed in America each year. It is a national shame that many
government should play in helping working parents pay for it.
Americans are more thoughtful about planning their weekend
entertainment than about planning their families.
On Intelligence and Education: Recent discoveries in neuro-
We also know that women who receive pre-natal care, especially
science, molecular biology. and psychology have given researchers
in the first trimester, are more likely to deliver healthy, full-term
a whole new understanding of when and how the human brain
babies, while women who do not receive adequate pre-natal care
develops. Above all, this new information makes clear that a child's
are more than twice as likely to give birth to babics weighing less
character and potential are not already determined at birth. Dr.
than five and 8 half pounds, the definition of "low birth weight."
Frederick Goodwin, former director of the National Institute of
Mental Health, cites studies in which children "at risk" for devel-
On Health Care and Day Care: There's probably no area of
opmental problems were exposed at an carly age to stimulating
our lives that better illustrates the connection between the village
environments. The children's IQ scores increased by as much as 20
and the individual and between mutual and personal responsibility
points. Bear this research in mind when you listen to those who
than health care. Today there are more than 10 million children,
argue that our nation cannot afford to implement comprehensive
most with working parents, who do not have health insurance. The
early education programs for disadvantaged children and their
rate will accelerate even more if Congress enacts proposed cut-
families. If we as a village decide not to help families develop their
backs in Medicaid.
children's brains, then at least let us admit that we are acting not on
Some families who can afford to pay for private insurance are
the evidence but according to a different agenda.
unable to find coverage. In Cleveland, Ohio, I met a couple who have
After a dozen years of involvement in education reform. I'm
two daughters with cystic fibrosis. The family could afford private
convinced that the biggest obstacles many students face are the low
insurance, but no one was willing to sell them a policy because of the
expectations we have of them and their schools. And nowhere is
girls' conditions. They repeated to me the words of one insurance
the partnership of parents and the rest of the village more crucial to
agent-words I will never forget. "What you don't understand," the
the schools than in the expectation that discipline and order are
agent told them, "is that we don't insure burning houses."
necessary for learning. I agree with those who advocate dress
I find this attitude deplorable. And if we are willing to write off
codes and even uniforms in some districts because they appear to
these children, whose will be next? Scientists will soon be able to
diminish the frictions caused by brand-name consumerism and
tell us which of our genes predispose us to cancer or diabetes or
gang identification.
other serious diseases. Will those who carry such genes and the
And after so many years of working with and listening to Ameri-
children we pass them on to eventually be denied insurance, too?
can adolescents, I also don't believe they are ready for sex or its
If you want to open the floodgates of guilt and dissension any-
potential consequences-parenthood, abortion, sexually transmit-
where in America, start talking about child care. It is an issue that
ted diseases-and I think we need to do everything in our power to
brings out all of our conflicted feelings about what parenthood
discourage sexual activity and encourage abstinence. This means
should be and about who should care for children when parents are
adult support, including the time it takes to organize gatherings for
kids, instead of turning them loose in malls, video arcades, or the
From "IT TAKES A VILLAGE And Other Lessons Children Teach
streets. Homes, schools, churches, and communities should pro-
Us," by Hillary Rodham Clinton. To be published by Simon &
vide havens for kids who want an alternative.
Schuster, Inc. Copyright c 1996 by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
These same entities have to pitch in when it comes to educating
32 newsweek JANUARY 15, 1996
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Internal Transcript
January 4, 1996
INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY
BY NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE
The Map Room
Q Just, if we could, why did you write the book? What are
you trying to accomplish?
MRS. CLINTON: I wrote it because I want people to talk about
what's best for children, and to think of ways all of us in our own
lives can begin to act together SO that we can make life better for
kids. I'm very concerned about what's happening to children not
only in our country, although that's my primary concern, but really
everywhere. And I've worked on this for more than 25 years now.
And a lot of the problems are ones that are getting worse, yet we
know so much more about what children need to be healthy and happy
and develop well.
And I know SO many people who are doing great work with
children, but somehow that information either doesn't get out or
doesn't get out to the people who could put it to good use. So I
thought I would take some time out and just share some of my
thoughts about kids from the perspective not only of somebody who's
worked on and studied kids, but as a mother myself and as somebody
who really cares about them.
Q
In talking to some of your staffers and friends to do the
companion piece we asked them kind of why you're out there and what
drives you to keep doing these things you've been doing for 25
years. And some talk about your Methodism, some talked about your
time at Yale Law School. How would you explain what motivates you
and what keeps you going and drives you?
MRS. CLINTON: I've thought about that writing this book. I
guess I hadn't really considered it before. Ever since I can
remember, as a little girl, I have been drawn to children. And I
think some of that probably comes from my mother and her feelings
about children and what children need, in part because of her own
life. And also the encouragement that I got to work with children
starting when I was in junior high school and high school. I
always was grateful for what I had and I always felt bad for kids
that I went to school with who seemed like really good kids and
never had any luck, never had any breaks at all, and needed just a
little bit of help maybe from somebody -- a teacher, a coach, a
minister.
And then when I got to college and law school and began to
study22 child development, so much of this is really common sense
about what makes for strong families and resilient children. And
there are SO many forces at work in our society and in our culture
that seemed to be undermining what we know is best for children.
So I've just always been drawn to kids and then I became more and
more interested in trying to learn about kids and then work on what
would help kids.
Q One thing that struck me reading the book that's
going to be interesting to readers is you are routinely pictured as
a traditional liberal, maybe a '90s version, but the word "liberal"
often gets attached to your name. Yet your own social
values in the book would seem to most Americans as being
pretty conservative. I mean, you mentioned things like
dress codes, very down on easy divorce, no sex until you're
21 -- it would be better at least if people didn't have sex
-- I mean, a fairly conservative personal social code.
Talk to us a little bit about that, of
reconciling this perception of your political liberalism
with what at least appears to be a more conservative
personal code.
MRS. CLINTON: One of the reasons I think I wrote
this book, although I didn't really frame it in my own mind
this way, is because I really do have a lot of opinions and
beliefs that I think most people have that don't fall easily
into any category of politics or ideology. And as I -- I
quote in the book from one of my favorite documents about
children and families, what the Catholic bishops wrote about
putting families first, that there isn't any liberal or
conservative answer for helping kids and families.
I was raised and have tried to live m for my child,
for the people that are close to me, what my responsibility
as a citizen is and the rest. But also, how do we accept
responsibility for each other. So I think some of that is
rooted in my religious upbringing and faith. I think some
of it is rooted in the kind of community I grew up in that
really did have these invisible webs of support for children
and families. And I think some of it is out of the American
tradition of practical approaches to problems.
When I look at what's happening to children in
lots of parts of the country, it strikes me that political
partisan rhetoric is not going to solve the problems these
kids face. So we ought to put that to one side and really
ask as our basic premise what is best for kids. And if the
answer falls into one category or the other, that to me is
not as important as then trying to decide what we're going
- 3 -
to do to change conditions for children.
& Some of this stuff in the latest budget
rankling doesn't always seem to be in the best interest of
children. Are some of the compromises that the President
has to make, are they just necessary for the pragmatism of
politics, or are you pushing for certain things? I mean,
what's your role in kind of the latest budget rankling?
MRS. CLINTON: I don't have any role in the
rankling, I have a very keen interest in following what's
going on and have a strong feeling about the kind of
investments we need to make on behalf of families and
children.
This whole set of issues that I think are being
debated right now are really proxies for a lot of other
debates. Yes, they are about balancing the budget and
trying to bring fiscal responsibility into our governance,
which I am all for and believe strongly in. But they're
more about what is it we all believe should be part of our
mutual responsibility and in what way should that mutual
responsibility be enacted through the government as our
mutual instrument. And I think that when one looks at
what's happening to families and children in a time of such
great change in the economy and in the culture, it strikes
me as a very conservative position to say, we want to do
what we can to strengthen families, not just through
government policy, but through employment, through
rebuilding community structures, through religious outreach,
all the other institutions.
So I think that a lot of the feelings people have
right now in the country that are being kind of focused on
Washington really stand Washington stands for a lot of
the debates that are taking place around kitchen tables and
water coolers and in every other setting in America about
who are we and how are we going to do the best job we can
moving into this next century.
Q I want to come back to the book and
specifically your writing of it, but I've got to veer off
for a second into some week's news. We got this document
I guess it was either leaked or released last night about
the Travel Office, where this memo from Watkins which seems
to have, according to Watkins, have you being pretty
insistent with both him and Foster about firing the Travel
Office staff, as I read the first couple pages. But then
when the GAO sends you written questions and asks, "How
would you describe and to whom would you attribute the
origin of the decision to remove the Travel Office
employees, and how would you characterize your role in that
decision" the written answers say that you don't know the
origin of the decision to remove the White House Travel
Office employees, had no role in the decision to terminate
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- 4 -
the employees. Help us reconcile this.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, you know, it's no surprise
because have said it in the past that I was concerned
about reborts of financial mismanagement in the Travel
Office and I expressed that concern because I thought that
it needed to be looked into. And it was looked into, and
indeed, there was financial mismanagement. And
changes were made that led to the Travel Office being
cleaned up and now operating under appropriate accounting
principles. But those decisions about who should do what
and when they should be done, those were made by other
people.
Q Well, in the memo, it reports a direct
conversation.
MRS. CLINTON: I had one conversation with David,
which has also been reported in the past. That's in at
least one of the seven reports that have been done about
this Travel Office matter.
Q And it said, "Foster regularly informed me
of the First Lady's concern and desired action. The action
desired was the firing of the Travel Office staff." Did --
MRS. CLINTON: You know, I just don't have any
memory of that. What I do remember is having a conversation
with David Watkins at Vince Foster's suggestion in which
David Watkins told me that Peat Marwick had begun an
investigation into the financial management of the Travel
Office, and I said, it sounded like that's what should be
done.
Q Nineteen ninety-four was a particularly
politically vitriolic year, it seems to a lot of people, and
one of the things that's come up is obviously Whitewater,
and we're wondering if you feel that Whitewater has become
targeted at you specifically? Is that now what's going on?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I don't know. It's been
going on a long time. We've tried to cooperate in every way
we can, because nobody would like this matter over with more
than I would. But it's been difficult because the issues
keep changing, the ground keep shifting about what it
supposedly is about. The RTC report comes out and says that
-- what we had said four years ago, that we had been in this
failed land investment and lost money is indeed what
happened. That doesn't end it; it keeps a life of its own.
And I do think that at least some of the reason for that is
because it's the political season again and has been ever
since the '92 campaign. So we'll continue to just try to
cooperate and try to help get this matter resolved.
Q Certainly, that absolutely seems to be the
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case, but there is also some confusion that even people who
aren't kind of out to get you or who would be for you think,
you know, it is kind of confusing -- had spin, including
mine, when we look at some of this stuff. One thing that's
come up recently that we are hoping you might just come out
and clear the air on is this thing about Madison. In '92,
during the campaign, you said that Madison Guaranty you
worked for kind of minimally. But then in recent weeks,
through Susan Thomases' notes, I think it said something
like "several conferences," or something along those lines.
Again, how do we kind of reconcile that? How would you
describe your role?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I would describe it as I've
always described it. Based on the evidence that we've seen,
the Rose Law Firm represented Madison for about 15 months,
and over those 15 months I did about an hour a week worth of
work. And I don't know, really, what the direction of some
of the questions are because there is no way that I can, in
my own mind, think of an hour a week over 15 months as being
a significant amount of work.
So I'll just have to wait and see what the
questions are, because certainly, the records that have been
made available are the ones that tell us how much work was
done and how much was paid and that money was returned to
Madison because there was no more work to be done for them,
and the documents pertaining to the work that had been
turned over demonstrate what the work is. We've given
everything we have, and we'll continue to try to answer the
questions. I can't really add anything to that.
Q One area of confusion that keeps coming up
again is about the documents in Foster's office after his
death. Were you concerned about law enforcement having
unfettered access to them?
MRS. CLINTON: No, and, you know, let me be
really clear about this. No documents were taken out of
Vince Foster's office the night he died, and I did not
direct anyone to interfere with any investigation into his
death.
I don't know how best to convey, after two and
a half years, the level of grief and shock and just
distraughtness that I and other people felt at the news and,
really, the refusal to believe that it could be true. But
that certainly was what was most paramount to me about those
days was the way we were all feeling, our worries about his
family, and there was no discussion of documents or
Whitewater or anything like that. That was not what any of
us were thinking about or concerned about.
Q So there's no way possibly somebody could
have construed what you've said as a concern about keeping
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- 6 -
-- either keeping the Justice Department out or getting
these documents to you for you to review?
MRS. CLINTON: I don't see how. I can only tell
you that for months and even, I guess now, for a couple of
years, I didn't even remember who I had talked to until I
saw phone records. I had very little memory about the
specifics. I could just remember the overwhelming emotional
reality of what had happened, and that's what has stayed
with me during all of these months.
Q I guess there's just one last point along
those lines. But there were documents here in the Residence
for five days, and people kind of go, you know, even if they
want to say I can understand, a close friend dies, certainly
there's a lot of emotional stuff going around at that time,
why weren't the documents here for five days, if not to
review them?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, because when I was in
Arkansas and I was called that Bernie Nussbaum was
distributing the documents out of Vince's office and there
were personal documents of mine which I didn't even know
Vince had files that were personal to us in his office, I
was asked what should be done with them, and I said, well,
send them to our lawyers. And through a variety of phone
calls back and forth and the convenience of people and
people getting ready to go to Arkansas for the funeral, the
decision was made that they couldn't get sent over that day,
and I was asked if there were a place that they could be
stored, and I said, I don't know, talk to some of the people
in the Residence. And SO they were locked up there.
I mean, it's difficult to keep track of all of
the spider webs that are spun and the theories and the
innuendoes. It was something that seemed natural to do.
And SO they were locked in a closet and then they were
picked up by our lawyer and they were then examined, and
then an index was made of them, and the index was sent to
me, and that was the first time I knew what was in there.
Q So you never reviewed them while --
MRS. CLINTON: No, no. Because -- it wasn't
important to us. I keep going back -- with two and a half
years, people can try to take a cold, dispassionate view of
what was going on. And I'm not saying that there weren't
mistakes made and that people didn't act out of grief and
they didn't rush around trying to keep busy to deal with the
emotion that they were unable to cope with. I imagine that
people were bumping into each other just all of the time.
But nobody -- nobody was trying to destroy or secrete
documents. Nobody was trying to interfere with any
investigation. They were dealing with something that had
never happened before. And maybe if we had been here for a
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couple of years, maybe if we knew a little bit more about
what the possible conspiracies that could be spun might look
like in retrospect, I'm sure everybody would have tried to
be more thoughtful or dispassionate in the heat of that
moment. But, honest to goodness, the shock of even talking
about it now just really -- it's very difficult to do.
Q It's understandably a really emotional thing,
and it must be hard, I assume, to kind of see close friends
now kind of being put through that D'Amato wringer. Is that
hard to deal with, and has that been a struggle?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, it does make me sad and it
also makes me angry from time to time. My husband chose to
be in public life, and although I wish it weren't quite as
brutal as it has become in recent years, that's a choice he
made and it's a choice I support. So to a great extent, we
are here by our own choosing. But that's not true of many
of our friends and colleagues and family members --people
who get thrust into this situation and harassed. And that
does make me feel badly because I don't think it's fair.
But it's something that you can't spend a lot of
time worrying about or being consumed by because there's too
much to do. And certainly the President gets up every day
thinking about what he's going to do for the country, and so
do I.
I mean, that's one of the reasons that I wrote
this book because when I traveled around during '93 and '94,
particularly about health care, I kept running into people
who just didn't understand what was going on in the lives of
so many kids. They didn't really -- they had never met an
uninsured child or they'd never met a child with a chronic
disease.
And SO part of the reason that I took the time
to write this was that I thought I have a 1
That's definitely in your own words. I was
saying to Becky, SO what do you think. I said it sounds
like the little I've gotten a feel for you -- really, it's
-- Ivan is going to kill me because he wants to go back to
the book. But I just have one quick question which was
going back to watching people up there go through the
wringer, and does it ever make you feel and are you thinking
about going up there yourself, and, also, personally giving
testimony at this point on Whitewater to say finally and
clear the air and get up there yourself at some point?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, we're going to continue to
cooperate. I'm not going to predict, you know, what turn
this takes. I'd be out of business if I tried to predict
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- 8 -
it four years ago because it's been totally unpredictable.
Q Do you have any plans about doing it -- I
mean, there's been this sort of parade of witnesses all
fall. Are you going to go up yourself?
MRS. CLINTON: I'm just going to wait and see
what happens with all of these various things that are in
the air and will continue to cooperate.
Q Waiting for a subpoena as opposed to
voluntary --
MRS. CLINTON: I'm not going to predict what
might or might not happen because I can't possibly do that.
Q Let me go back to the book for a second and
do it in terms of being a First Lady and how other First
Ladies have carried out there role. I mean, the comparison
has been made to Eleanor Roosevelt. Talk to us a little bit
about your perception of your role as a First Lady and how
this book fits into that.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, you know, I think that one
of the things that I've learned in the last couple of years
is how good an opportunity people have in this position to
highlight problems that they're concerned about. You know,
Mrs. Bush did it with literacy, and Mrs. Reagan did it with
drugs. And Mrs. Carter did it with mental illness, and Mrs.
Ford did it with drug abuse and breast cancer. And,
certainly, nobody did it like Mrs. Roosevelt because she had
SO many interests and she had so many years to be a
spokesperson for them.
And I think it's an important part of the role.
And it's something that comes naturally to me because I care
deeply about what's happening to children. And SO I was
struck, mostly during the health care travels that I did,
how I kept hearing a lot of the same things from around the
country that people were not connecting one to the other.
They weren't saying, well, here's a program that's happening
in Seattle that we ought to know about in Miami.
And I thought maybe if I used this position to
highlight some of the programs and people and ideas that
I've worked on for all these years, I could really help
people get organized around doing what they could in their
own families and then rippling out from there on behalf of
kids.
Q Has the press gotten in the way of that? I
mean, they're the natural megaphone. Have they helped or
hurt this cause?
MRS. CLINTON: You know, I think it's been both.
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But I think it's very difficult in the way that the press
has available to it to report on issues to be able to stay
with something over time. You know, by the very nature of
your business, you really can't do that.
So much of the good information has been reported
somewhere, but it's not been a steady drumbeat that people
have been able to latch onto.
Q What about in terms of your role. We always
here, oh, now all of a sudden you are nontraditional, and
all of a sudden you're traditional. You talked about this
a little bit in Paraguay. Have we in the media just
misunderstood? I mean, what -- I know we've been culprits
to some extent, but I'm curious how you see it in terms of
how we've treated you.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I don't think I've made it
very easy for you. I have to confess. You know, I've said
in the past that I've had to learn to rezone my zone of
privacy and kind
that I've worked all these years would come as a surpriset
some people because I haven't talked about them in a large
forum or I haven't let people know that it's something I've
worked on a long time. So I take a lot of the
responsibility for not being perhaps as clear as I could be.
You know, during the '92 campaign I said I wanted
to be a voice for children, and that's what I've always
wanted to be. But then I immediately got into the health
care debate. And that's all I did for nearly two years --
a year and a half, I guess. So that's all anybody knew
about what I was doing.
And because of the nature of that debate -- I
mean, you go back and you look at what happened to Harry
Truman when he tried to do health care reform, and even the
moderate reforms of Eisenhower and certainly Medicare and
Medicaid with Johnson all through what Kennedy tried to do
and Nixon's plan and the like -- I mean, it is inherently
such a controversial issue that I don't think it really gave
people a chance to know much about all the other things that
I care about and why health care to me was a natural
extension of my long-term interest in children's health.
So I don't fault anybody. I think it's been
largely my responsibility that I haven't quite conveyed as
fully as I should what I'm about and what I care about.
Q Was this unavoidable? I mean, you were going
to do health care. Health care was something that was going
to happen one way or the other, right? Was there another
way to bake this pie?
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MRS. CLINTON: Oh, I'm sure there are many ways
to bake the pie, but I think that from the President's
perspective, he believed strongly then, believes strongly
now that health care will continue to be a problem. And
certainly the evidence is that it's getting worse. We have
more uninsured people today than we did just a few years
ago.
So it was going to be addressed. And I'm
grateful I got a chance to be involved in it because I
learned a lot and I cared a lot about it. And things didn't
work out. It didn't create the kind of mood for back and
forth and compromise and negotiation and hammering out a
good reasonable solution that we had hoped it would. But I
don't regret being involved in it. I just feel a little bit
sad that that's all I got to do in a way.
Q People say both as a criticism and a
compliment that you are very focused, directed, that when
you have a mission or a purpose, you're going down this road
and you are going down it. And I've heard that -- again,
it's pejorative and it's praise. How would you -- how do
you react to that?
MRS. CLINTON: I think there's some truth in
that. And I think it's probably both good and bad. I mean,
it's true that when I was working on health care, that's
really what I was working on. And that's why a lot of these
things that now come up about what was happening during
health care were things that were not on my radar screen
particularly.
I might have asked a question or made a comment,
but I was really focused on doing what the President asked
me to do. And particularly during those first months of the
administration because, remember, we were going to try to
have it done by May 1st. I mean, it was just an
unbelievable task. And, of course, we didn't make May 1st,
and then we were going to try to have it done by June 1st.
So I do take seriously assignments I'm given and that was
the biggest thing I've ever been asked to do.
But I also feel that maybe because I've had a
lucky life compared to so many people, that I have an
obligation. And everywhere I've ever lived or every place
I've ever been, I've always felt that I had to do something
to give back. And it's been a joy for me. It's not a
burden to me. And I also get very wrapped up in the lives
of the people that I try to help.
So I'm sure that somebody looking from the
outside could say, gee, you know, on the one hand that's --
it's good, and I'm glad she's doing it. On the other hand,
you know, lighten up a little.
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Q -- that burden, but at least in the books
that get written, which I take for a grain of salt, but you
often emerge as a fighter. One of the themes, one of the
pictures of Hillary Clinton that comes out is a battler, a
fighter. There will be a lot of talk, typically in the
scene -- one side will be arguing one way, one will be
arguing the other. Your husband will be judiciously
listening to both and sort of enjoying the debate. And then
you will enter, saying, okay, let's cut to the chase; this
is what we got to do; we have to fight for it. I mean, that
is a familiar scene in books that are written about the
White House. How do you react to that?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I think that that's true for
a lot of women. I don't view that necessarily as just a
personal trait that -- that at some point you sort of say,
well, gee, what is it we're going to do now, that all of the
talk has gone on and the debate's been held. And I do think
that in my life I've tried to be an advocate on behalf of
causes and people that I believe in. S2HCLINTON: I don't think I'm a perf
I think I work very hard, but I don't believe in perfection,
at least not in this life. I may appear to people to be
someone who is willing to put in a lot of hours and to work
on behalf of things that I care about, but I enjoy that.
That's something that gives me pleasure, because it's like
a simple thing like there's a story in this book about
one of these children. And I'm now trying to do things on
adoption and foster care. And there's a gathering I had
before the holidays where I brought kids from all over the
country who had been adopted. And unfortunately, we have
the event on a day when the budget was blowing up or
something was happening, so we didn't get a lot of attention
here about this issue. But we did get attention out in the
country because people came from all over and their local
newspapers covered it. There's a little girl who read a
poem, and over Christmas she got adopted. And, I mean,
that's the kind of effort that I really think is worth
making. And if it takes intensity to try to bring that to
somebody's attention and to try to help solve a problem for
somebody, I think that's worth doing.
Q Was this book a way obviously, the health
care -- there's a rough year there --- health care went down,
Foster died, family members -- I mean, just a tough year.
Was this book a way to in part to come out of that and --
MRS. CLINTON: No. I didn't think about it that
way, but it gave me a lot of time alone, as you have written
a lot books, you know. And a lot of time when I would be
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staring at the blank page trying to figure out how I was
going to put into readable English what I was feeling. So
I had a lot of time to think. And there's a chapter in
there that -- and it came to me, I remembered my father
talking about how are you going to shovel your way out of
this. And I realized that 1993 was a personally very
challenging and difficult year with my father and Vince and
my mother-in-law. Just kind of moving to Washington, all
the things you do to get settled in and doing it all on the
world stage. And so I really did have to kind of sum it up
a lot of my own resources and work through many of the
feelings that I had, not only on my own behalf, but for my
daughter, my husband and family members, and then friends
and colleagues who were likewise suffering because of their
own friendship with Vince, as one example.
And so I do think that it was a very helpful
experience for me to really spend time alone, which I
hadn't, because I'd been pretty much on the road traveling
and doing official duties and the like. And just kind of
take some time to reflect and to write about something that
I've cared about a long time, which helped to sort of focus
me.
Q Do you think of yourself as more of a
pragmatist or an idealist?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I've always thought about
myself as a pragmatist, because I think a lot of what I
believe we should do for one another is very practical.
Some may claim it's idealistic, but I think in both medium-
and long-term, it's the most practical kind of approach to
living. I believe that it makes good sense if I'm trying to
be very self-interested about the future my daughter has to
try to make sure as many kids as possible have as good a
shot be
afraid to walk down a street or go to a city park with her
kids when she gets older.
So I believe a lot of what I think of as
pragmatic approaches to solving people's problems as ones
that go beyond ideology or certainly politics. And I regret
that our country has kind of gotten caught up in this label
game that we've played for the last couple of years where if
somebody presents an idea it's immediately labeled, and that
means only one-half or one-third of the people will even
listen to it, instead of trying to come together, find some
common ground, build a village, to use my metaphor, with
ideas in mind about what is in our best interest for
everybody.
Now, there will always be people on the extremes
who will not want to engage in that exercise. They have a
world view that is not mainstream or centered about
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115HAnd part of what I'm
trying to do with this book, and then certainly with the
talking about it that I'll be doing, is to summon people out
of their preexisting stereotypes and labels so that we can
begin to talk sensibly about what works and what doesn't
work.
I view that as one of our real challenges right
now in our country. And I really regret the polarization
that has taken place because it has most dramatically
affected young people. I was looking at some research that
a political scientist has done showing that young people are
by far, in her words, more misanthropic than people our age
and older. They don't trust anybody. They don't -- they
have more emotional stress in their lives.
And the explanations for that have to do with
everything from the breakdown of the family and divorce, to
the steady diet of
what they see on television, to the way that they're treated
by adults in their lives. And I just think we've got to
take a step back here and say what are we creating? What
are we doing to our children? And if we do that, then --
there aren't any simple answers. You can't say, oh, it's
the government's fault. Or you can't say, oh, it's just
these irresponsible parents living in the inner city. The
responsibility is spread all the way across society.
But the good news is there are things we could
do right now that are not big macro changes that could make
a difference -- if we would start having that kind of
conversation.
Q What should the government's role be in this
stuff?
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I think that the government
should be a partner to all the other institutions in
society. The government should be a safety net of last
resort for the vulnerable and the poor. The government
should be actively engaged in research and development, of
new ways of solving problems, whether they're medical
problems of any others that we're confronting. The
government should have an active posture with respect to
asserting the common American interest, both here at home
and abroad. It's the only institution that we have. And,
my goodness, we've invested more than 200 years in our
ideals and our values. And they should be articulated. And
there should be a consensus that hopefully could be
nonpartisan about what the United States stands for.
There's much for government to do.
But there's also a lot for business to do.
There's a lot for the media to do. Religious institutions,
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I think, could have a bigger social role -- civic groups.
I mean, you could go down the list. So any time one talks
about the government and the government's role, I want to
marry that with everybody else's role, too, because it's too
easy just to either blame the government and say we have to
take our futures back into our own lives and we have to be
compassionate and caring, and that's what we should do. And
it's too easy to just say the government should do it.
Neither of those is, to me, an adequate answer.
Q I think we're done, right? Well, peer into
the silver ball and tell us whether we're going to get a
budget deal. (Laughter.)
Q Are we on the record or off the record?
(Laughter.)
MRS. CLINTON: I think we'll eventually get a
budget deal. I think there's too much at stake not to.
Q As the noise level is getting higher again
today -- I mean, my reporters were saying, oh -- the public,
I'm not talking about the private, but the public noise --
the House is talking about going away for three weeks,
yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.
MRS. CLINTON: I hope we do. I think we need to.
END