[cheering]
I can only tell you that based on...
what he has done, and what he cares about,
and the kind of man he is...
he should be the next president of the United States.
Bill Clinton.
I'm also the only person running for president
who can have my real campaign slogan.
When you think of Hillary, think of our real slogan.
"Buy one get one free."
[cheering and applause]
[Susan Bordo] This was just unprecedented.
I mean, no president had ever campaigned...
saying, "If you elect me, you're going to get my wife also."
You know, that was not anything
American people were ready for.
[reporter] Hillary Rodham Clinton
is running for president.
Actually, she's running for her husband
who is running for president.
Team Clinton: "Elect him, you get me."
What does this mean? Who is she?
What will she represent?
-Hi, good morning. -Charlotte Observer.
We need a president who wants to bring us together,
who wants to heal the divisions between races...
[Lissa Muscatine] You couldn't watch the campaign
and not know that she was extremely important to him.
The most trusted adviser he had.
[narrator] Hillary Rodham Clinton
polarized public opinion,
and became a lightning rod for criticism.
[chanting indistinctly]
[Lissa Muscatine] When people understand
this story of this slice of history,
she will be given the credit she is due.
[theme music plays]
[cheering]
The American people have voted to make a new beginning.
[cheering]
I want to begin this night by thanking my wife,
without whom, I would not be here tonight.
[cheering]
And who I believe will be one of the greatest first ladies
in the history of this republic.
[cheering]
[crowd chanting] Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!
[Karen Tumulty] The Clintons, they are the vanguard
of the baby boomers coming into politics.
It felt like a whole new generation
coming into power.
The music was different, everything seemed different.
[reporter] This is the first president
whose wife, the first lady of the United States,
has her own independent professional career.
[narrator] Over the next eight years,
Hillary would rewrite the rules
for an entire generation of women.
[Hillary Clinton] What I represent
is generational change, it's not just about me.
What I like about all of the women
who have been in the White House
is that they've all tried to do what is best for themselves,
for their families, for the country
as they've defined it.
And that's what I would try to do.
[Donna Shalala] Hillary was not going to be
a traditional first lady.
The women's movement had changed it forever.
Does Hillary look great tonight or what?
Hillary was the first generation
that was going to start that change.
I just hope that you do not only have a lot of fun tonight,
but you have fun for the next four years
as you help us change this country for the better.
Thank you all.
[Lissa Muscatine] Some people loved it. I loved it.
My mother loved it. My mother was so excited.
"Oh, my God, a woman
who's actually trying to do something different.
This is great."
But you know there were people
for whom that was very uncomfortable or discomforting.
It created a lot of confusion.
[reporter] Hillary Clinton has an office in the West Wing.
And that's a first.
Mrs. Clinton is moving the Office of the First Lady
out of the East Wing and into the West.
[Capricia Marshall] On the first day
when we all gathered around this table,
I remember her saying we're a small team
and I really want people devoted to this administration
and the work that we have at hand.
[woman] I can't help but notice that this is an all-chick staff!
-[woman laughs] -No, no--
[staff member] Oh, Neal's over there. Neal, I'm sorry--
[laughter]
[narrator] Hillary has a staff
larger than any other first lady.
The team renames their new West Wing office: “Hillaryland”"
[Jennifer Klein] She wanted to use this amazing opportunity
as first lady to make advances.
She has this phrase of John Wesley
that she, um, has returned to over the years,
which is: "Do all the good you can."
[Lissa Muscatine] She was ambitious about
a set of policies that were really going to start
to benefit people
who were on the margins of society.
[Melanne Verveer] It was this sense
that, together, we could really have positive impact,
and she imbued in all of us that sense of purpose.
[narrator] Hillary's political journey
started in a surprisingly different place.
Hillary was raised in a middle-class
Methodist family just outside Chicago.
[Gail Sheehy] Her father, Hugh Rodham,
was of enormous influence on Hillary,
because he was a drill master.
He was very tough. He saw life as combat.
He taught her that emotion is weakness.
You can't ever show emotion.
[Karen Tumulty] At one point she says,
she came home with a report card that was just covered in As,
and her father's reaction was, "You must go to an easy school."
[narrator] Hugh Rodham was a die-hard Republican
and encouraged his daughter to campaign
for Republican candidates like Barry Goldwater.
[Gail Sheehy] Her father was furious
when she went off to the East Coast
to one of the finest women's schools in the country.
[narrator] Wellesley was a liberal,
all girl's college in Massachusetts.
Hillary majored in political science
and became president of the Wellesley Young Republicans
in her freshman year.
But as a child of the '60s,
events in the country started to influence her politics.
[Kate Brower] It's a fascinating turn
that she took at Wellesley.
She sort of found her own voice,
started to look at the Vietnam War differently,
talk about women's rights.
She then became a really outspoken Democrat.
[Gail Sheehy] She would do rallies
on the steps of the college
and bring other women along to get into politics.
[narrator] In Hillary's final year,
her peers picked her to be the first student ever
to speak on their behalf at Commencement.
What happened that day became the seminal moment
of Hillary's early career.
[Susan Bordo] A distinguished senator,
Edward Brookes, had been invited to give the graduation address.
He was a liberal Republican.
He talked in fairly conventional terms
about the need for change.
And she really disagreed, uh, with what he said.
As he was speaking, she took notes, right.
And when she got up,
she, basically, threw away her speech.
And it is a great pleasure
to present to this audience, Miss Hillary Rodham.
[applause]
[Hillary Clinton] What I'm speaking for,
today, is all of us,
the four hundred of us,
and I find myself in a familiar position...
that of reacting.
[Melanne Verveer] And instead of going into, I think,
what was anticipated that she would say,
she basically responded to the senator.
[Hillary Clinton] Part of the problem
with just empathy with professed goals
is that empathy doesn't do us anything.
We feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics
as the art of the possible.
And the challenge now is to practice politics
as the art of making
what appears to be impossible, possible.
[applause]
It was recognized as ground-breaking at the time.
[Melanne Verveer] She was very much
surpassing the expectations
of what women would conventionally do
in those times.
[Gail Sheehy] The June issue of Life Magazine,
which was the photographic magazine of the time,
featured Hillary Rodham at the age of 21.
Very unusual to feature a young woman in politics.
[narrator] Hillary was already making a big impression
on the political landscape.
Everybody knew,
"Wow. This person is destined for important things."
[reporters clamoring]
[narrator] 24 years later, now in the White House,
Hillary is poised to bring her passion for change
to her role as first lady.
[reporter] There's been conflicting signals
about which Hillary Clinton would be shown to the country.
The sharp politician or the conventional first lady?
[reporters clamoring]
[narrator] Less than a week after his inauguration,
President Clinton makes a controversial appointment.
As the first step in responding to the demands
of literally, millions of Americans.
Today I am announcing the formation
of the president's task force on National Health Reform.
This task force will be chaired by the first lady,
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I am grateful that Hillary has agreed
to chair this task force,
[laughs] and not only because it means she'll be sharing
some of the heat I expect to generate.
[Patti Doyle] The president gave Hillary
one of the toughest issues there is, universal healthcare.
And that was a shock to not only people in Washington,
but to the people who were working
in the White House.
[reporter]
[Donna Shalala] Well, tell you the truth
there was no discussion.
It wasn't an option.
The president and the first lady made the decision
that she was going to lead the healthcare.
Did I think it was a good idea
to run it out of the White House?
No.
Uh... And no one else really did either.
Any doubts that Hillary Clinton will have a big role
in the new administration
the president put them to rest today.
[reporter] More than half of Americans say
it's not appropriate for first ladies to make policy.
Who elected Hillary Rodham Clinton
to make policy?
[Patti Doyle] It was very controversial.
So many attacks from so many different places.
We didn't elect her here in Washington.
[Patti Doyle] Why is she taking on this big role?
There were charges of nepotism.
[CNN reporter] What if he-- she doesn't get along
with the rest of the staff? What if she needs to be fired?
We really sort of ruffled a lot of feathers
and people just did not know how to, uh, take it.
On one hand you complain
that she's too powerful, and on the other hand
you complain that she's under-qualified.
[Jennifer Klein] Bill Clinton saw this only as a benefit.
Why would I not engage this incredibly smart person
who I'm-- happen to be married to,
to help do these things that I want to get done as president.
[church bells ring]
[Hillary Clinton] Over the years we've influenced each other.
We have a wonderful relationship,
going back to our days in law school.
[narrator] The couple met at Yale,
where Hillary was one of only 27 female students
in a class of 235.
[Gail Sheehy] There was this tall, handsome, Southern man
with Elvis sideburns and hickey boots, uh,
who would follow her after classes,
kind of panting at the back of her neck.
Couldn't wait to get to know her.
[Kate Brower] He would tell friends
she's the most captivating, compelling person I've ever met.
He had never been with a woman who was his intellectual equal,
and I think that excited Bill enormously.
[narrator] After graduating from Yale in 1973,
Hillary moved to Washington.
Headhunted to work on the Watergate investigation.
[President Nixon] I shall resign the presidency
effective at noon tomorrow.
[narrator] Bill had proposed marriage several times.
After less than a year in Washington,
Hillary follows her heart to Arkansas.
One of her friends travelled to Arkansas with her
and the entire road trip tried to convince her not to do it.
“You're crazy, Hillary. You--
You'll be throwing away your life.
You are a big deal,
you can really go places in politics."
[Kate Brower] Hillary said she thought
she might be crazy too,
but she was just in love with him.
[narrator] The couple married in 1975.
[reporter] The Governor of Arkansas
and his wife, Hillary.
[narrator] Bill quickly climbed the political ladder
and by 1979 was Governor of Arkansas.
Hillary joined a prestigious law firm.
[Gail Sheehy] She was one of the first women in the state
to be hired by a main line law firm,
and later, she was named partner,
so her trajectory became very swift.
[interviewer] You're less than 40.
You don't have any children,
you don't use your husband's name.
You practice law.
Does it concern you that maybe other people feel
that you don't fit the image that we have created
for the governor's wife in Arkansas?
Uh... I'm not 40, but that...
hopefully will be cured by age. Eventually I will be.
Uh... We don't have any children yet.
We're hoping to have children,
so that I hope will be cured in a number of years also.
[Susan Bordo] People were suspicious of her.
She, you know, didn't look the part.
You know there are all kinds of things about Hillary
that in the old days signified rebelliousness,
feminism, an unwillingness to conform.
[Gail Sheehy] She had this feminist idea
that you didn't have to take your husband's name
when you were married.
This was just unthinkable...
to the establishment of Arkansas.
I've not wanted to upset anybody.
I really thought I was doing it for the right reason,
uh, so I'm thinking of perhaps changing my name to...
I don't know, Martha Washington,
-or something... -[laughter]
[narrator] To win over the people of Arkansas,
Hillary decides she needs to radically change her image.
[Gail Sheehy] It was so excruciating.
She had to forfeit her own identity.
She got rid of the big fat glasses,
she took his name in order to pass for other people's idea
of what a wife should be.
A warm welcome to Hillary Rodham Clinton...
[applause]
[narrator] From the start of his tenure as governor,
Bill enlisted Hillary to head up
a number of his policy initiatives.
[Donna Shalala] She took on big issues.
And, of course,
the biggest issue was education.
The charge that we were given
as the education standard's committee
was to come up with standards
which we believe defined quality education.
She was an activist,
she really tried to make a difference in people's lives.
[Hillary Clinton] I have yet to find anyone
who believes that we cannot do better if we try.
[Melanne Verveer] That should have been a clue
of how she might proceed
when she was first lady of the United States.
Hello, this is Hillary Clinton.
I want to thank you for letting me speak with you
about an issue that is central to our children's future.
Solving our nation's healthcare crisis.
[Kate Brower] I remember being
on the healthcare reform task force,
working with people who had worked on healthcare for years
before I arrived in Washington,
showing me a folder that-- about all of the times
that health care had been tried
and all of the times it had failed.
I ask you to join me and the president...
[Kate Brewer] Hillary would say to me,
...roll up your sleeves, think about what we can do.
She really saw this as an opportunity
to really fix the healthcare system
in this country.
[Hillary Clinton] Thank you so very much.
[narrator] Drawing on her experience in Arkansas,
Hillary heads up a 500-person task force,
with the dream of healthcare coverage for all Americans.
-Is it still ticking? -[cameras click]
The stakes in this healthcare reform
are high for all Americans.
[woman] How wonderful to have somebody
with her credentials and her ability.
[Melanne Verveer] She worked her tail off.
I remember her saying,
"It's Friday, two more workdays until Monday."
[Wolf Blitzer] Their friends in the Senate
who had a lot of experience
were telling her, do it piecemeal, step by step.
You're going to go for this whole thing,
you're going to fail.
[Donna Shalala] She had a different idea about
how she wanted to work it.
It was a choice, high risk, high gain.
I'm here as a mother, a wife...
[narrator] After eight months of hard work,
over five days of grueling testimony,
Hillary presents the findings of the task force to Congress.
The kind of preventive services
that you and I want for all children
will be available...
For Hillary, it was the natural culmination
of what she had been working for her all her life
up until then.
[Hillary Clinton] If we take what we have learned
from employers and we move it to the national level...
We want to get away from the micromanagement...
[narrator] Hillary is the only first lady
ever to testify before the House of Representatives
as a lead witness.
That there are considerable, substantial savings
in the existing system...
[Kate Brewer] Many people were really surprised
that she was that prepared,
that she was that smart, quite frankly,
and had done her research.
[senator] I greatly admire, uh, the knowledge
and expertise and energy that you bring to this issue.
It was her nuanced view of the issues.
We want to merge...
[Donna Shalala] She actually understood the policy
at a level of depth and sophistication...
that usually no one in the room knew
except maybe there were two or three experts
on a narrow part of what we were talking about.
[Ford] I think there's going to be an awful lot
of young people who are going to aspire to be like you.
And that will be good for this country.
Thank you very much for your help to us.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[narrator] In spite of Hillary's success,
right wing forces are already conspiring against her.
[David Brock] The notion was she had undue sway
over her husband and over the administration.
So, she was the power behind the throne.
And the goal was to do a take-down job.
[interviewer] David Brock, investigative writer
for the American Spectator.
You have the cover story, which shows
a picture of President Clinton. His clothes are rumpled,
his shoes are off, he is tip toeing down the street.
What's this story all about?
Abuse of power and corruption here.
[David Brock] I was an investigative writer
for the American Spectator,
and the Clinton beat was the sexy beat at the time.
It was an effort, journalistically,
to destroy the Clintons and to destroy his presidency.
[cheering]
[David Brock] You had Republican rule for 12 years,
and that was the way things were supposed to be
as far as the Republicans
and the conservatives were concerned.
[reporter] Mr. Clinton said goodbye to a former president.
[David Brock] Really from the moment
Bill Clinton was elected, the right wing decided
what they would exploit were scandals.
There was a premium on going back to Arkansas
and trying to un-turn every rock in their past.
[Susan Bordo] You had the American Spectator
that David Brock worked for...
mounting a concerted campaign,
what they called the "Arkansas Project,"
where they dug up every bit of dirt they could
against Bill and Hillary.
[David Brock] I would chase down every right-wing talking point,
every right-wing conspiracy theory
that led to the publication of a great story.
[reporter] Two troopers who had protected Mr. Clinton
during his years as governor
helped him arrange extra-marital affairs.
[narrator] Not only were right-wing opponents
like David Brock getting their stories
picked up in the press,
but also, the first lady, herself,
is becoming a prime target.
It's called "Travelgate."
[Larry King] Seven long time
White House travel office officials were fired.
First lady in the White House
was trying to make these people scapegoats.
[narrator] Scandal after scandal,
fueled by the right,
start to hit the mainstream media.
Whitewater stories to hit the headlines
are splashing mud in Hillary Clinton's direction.
[Melanne Verveer] It was a drumbeat,
a constant effort to bring her down.
Most roads lead from the first lady and back to her.
[Melanne Verveer] And as we look back,
none of these charges were proven.
Is there a fundamental distrust of the Clintons in America?
Well, I hope not, I mean,
that would be something I would regret. Yes?
[reporter] Do you ever look in the mirror
and wish that you'd... just never got into this?
No, never. Never.
[David Brock] Not normally do you focus on the first lady.
But in the magazine where I worked,
what worked for conservatives was attacking women.
And there was misogyny underneath a lot of the attacks.
I think that's one, I think two,
she was a political force in her own right,
and even back then people recognized her talents,
that made her a unique target, uh, for the right wing.
[reporter] Critics say her once dazzling image
is now tarnished.
[Lissa Muscatine] It was an attempt to mischaracterize her,
to skew her motivations,
in the most unflattering negative light.
Someone who was a real woman
for flesh and blood, came out as a caricature
that many people nowadays continue to believe
is the real Hillary.
[Lissa Muscatine] So, you had "Lying Hillary."
"Saint or sinner?"
"Criminal Hillary."
She was demonized over and over again.
The Republicans today
continued a multi-front attack on Hillary Clinton.
-You are-- You are-- -Let me tell you that it is
a bad and dangerous thing to do
to say that the first lady of this land is a liar.
[man shouting] I'm not...
I, sometimes, don't know
what I've been accused of from day to day,
so, I mean, it's not surprising to me
that people would take a look at the, uh, flurry of accusations
and say, "Oh, my gosh, there must be something wrong."
[Melanne Verveer] One day, we were riding together,
and she was reading the newspapers,
she said, "You know...
if I were reading this and I saw this--
I read this discussion of this person,
I wouldn't like her either.
But that's not me."
I looked very closely at the various scandals.
I concluded that these scandals were phony.
She was someone of high integrity
but in the right wing, you couldn't say
that Hillary was a good person.
And that accelerated my departure from the right.
[indistinct chanting]
[narrator] With all the scandals
eroding the public's trust in the Clintons,
skepticism of the health care plan escalates.
...should be entitled...
Protests were being planned,
she was being heckled when she went out
and did healthcare events.
It got so scary.
Secret service didn't want her to go up on stage.
[narrator] In September 1994,
Republicans and the insurance industry succeed
in killing Hillary's healthcare initiative.
[reporter] Friends say she's looking back on her role
and trying to figure out what happened.
[Donna Shalala] Well, it was painful.
There was large piece of this that was just sexist.
There's no question in my mind.
[Allida Black] I mean, she's faced an onslaught
that no woman in the White House has had to face,
but Hillary Clinton doesn't quit.
[narrator] Behind the scenes, Hillary works hard
to save some part of her healthcare plan.
[Donna Shalala] I think what was impressive
was her resilience when it failed.
She could get up, shake herself off
and said, "We have to keep trying to do the best we can."
[Melanne Verveer] And it was she who kept pleading
that at a minimal, let's cover the children,
that they deserve better.
There isn't anything as important...
as taking care of our children.
For me, this is an issue that goes way beyond politics.
She took to heart what she had heard
as she crisscrossed the United States.
[Donna Shalala] She actually worked on legislation
that made a difference.
And, eventually, we got the Children's Health Insurance Act
which covers millions of children today.
And that's what's spectacular about Hillary.
She doesn't give up.
that after the defeat of healthcare reform,
Hillary Clinton would be content to hold teas and bake cookies,
think again.
She had pull back and find a new voice,
which was really being an international first lady.
You know, it was really her moment
to come out and redefine herself.
[narrator] In 1995, the first lady is invited
to speak at the United Nations' Conference on Women.
No one, least of all Hillary, is surprised
when some in the administration try to block her.
[reporter] US-China relations are rapidly deteriorating.
[Melanne Verveer] There were those within the government
who felt she might set our China foreign policy back.
She might create some kind of contretemps.
Do we really want this to happen?
[Lissa Muscatine] She said, “Well, if I can't go
as first lady, I'll just get on a plane
and go as a private citizen.”
And we're all, you know, rolling our eyes going,
“That is not clearly going to happen.”
She said, excuse my French,
"[bleep] them, I'm going not as first lady,
I'm going as Hillary Clinton.
Here's my passport. Here's my credit card.
Book me a flight.”
And I said, "Um... Okay, I'll do it!
[narrator] Hillary has been preparing
her whole life for this speech.
[Lissa Muscatine] I remember vividly her looking at me
and saying, you know,
“I just want to push the envelope as far as I can
on women's rights and human rights.”
[Allida Black] This is China.
Hillary's going into the den, if you will,
where many girl babies were killed,
where women are incredibly devalued,
where human rights, in general, writ large are devalued.
[narrator] In the audience are women from 189 countries.
So, Melanne and I were hidden from the crowd,
but we're on the side of the stage.
Both of us, absolutely nervous.
The stakes were so high.
[Hillary Clinton] The great challenge of this conference
is to give voice to women everywhere
whose experiences go unnoticed,
whose words go unheard.
You could feel in that room, uh, almost a stillness.
Even now, in the late 20th century...
[Lissa Muscatine] There was no reaction in the audience.
Melanne and I suddenly looked at each other
and were just in a panic like,
“Maybe we've completely miscalculated this."
[Hillary Clinton] It is time for us to say
here in Beijing, and for the world to hear,
that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights
as separate from human rights.
[applause]
And then this massive eruption...
of a response to what she had said.
It is a violation of human rights
when babies are denied food or drowned
simply because they are born girls.
[Melanne Verveer] Violence against women in our homes,
rape being used as a tool of war,
human trafficking of women.
[Hillary Clinton] If there is one message
that echoes forth from this conference,
let it be that human rights are women's rights,
and women's rights are human rights,
once and for all.
[Lissa Muscatine] No one had ever talked about those things
that overtly and that directly
and called them a violation of human rights.
And just put it down there, planted a flag
and said, "This is not acceptable."
Thank you very much.
[Melanne Verveer] This was her proudest moment.
We knew her as the first lady of the United States.
When she finished, we saw her as a global leader.
[Karen Tumulty] Hillary would meet women over the years,
who would say they had heard about that speech.
Women in Africa, women in Asia, women in South America.
[crowd cheering]
[Patti Doyle] It was like she was a rock star.
People lined the streets for her.
It was such a disconnect
from what was happening in the United States.
[narrator] Back at home, trouble lies ahead.
But this time, the scandal will be far more personal.
[reporters clamoring]
[narrator] A year into Bill Clinton's second term,
a scandal explodes in the press.
Tonight, the Clinton White House faces a huge crisis
over another allegation of sexual impropriety
by the president.
Charges that President Clinton
had an affair with a White House intern.
We're told by sources that she would frequently come
into the West Wing...
I got a call from one of my editors,
uh, saying can you check it out.
[reporter] At issue whether Mr. Clinton
had a sexual relationship
with a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
And I thought that's ridiculous.
This is the president of the United States
having an affair with an intern. That's not happening.
[reporter] Lewinsky has told a friend
that she had a sexual affair with the president.
[Karen Tumulty] Hillary Clinton doesn't want
to believe it happened.
She says in private comments to her friends,
you know, this young woman at the White House
was sort of pursuing him.
We can assume that's because that's the story
Bill Clinton was telling her.
[Bill Clinton] I want you listen to me.
I'm going to say this again.
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
[Patti Doyle] She was the one who said
"These accusations aren't true,
I love my husband, I believe him."
-Thank you. -[applause]
[laughs] "We're going to fight this," you know.
[reporter] Can you talk to us for a minute?
Can you talk to us for a minute?
[narrator] Seven days later,
Hillary breaks her silence
with an interview on national television.
[Melanne Verveer] I can't say I knew
what she was going to say.
Uh... She kept her counsel to herself.
-Mrs. Clinton, Good Morning. -Good Morning, Matt.
[Karen Tumulty] All eyes are on Hillary.
What is she going to do?
Is she going to crumple?
Is she going to lash out at him?
From my perspective, this is part of the continuing...
political campaign against my husband.
The old impulse that this is really
all about their enemies coming after them, yet again, kicks in.
And she utters the phrase that will stick to her forever.
The great story here is this vast,
right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring
against my husband since the day he announced for president.
All the product of a vast right-wing conspiracy.
[reporter]
It did not play well. It didn't play well at all.
I find it astonishing,
this is the first, first lady
who has come up with this theory.
[man] She claims a conspiracy,
rather than claiming the obvious,
that her husband's done something wrong here.
It was taken as if she was denying
that Bill Clinton actually had a relationship
with Monica Lewinsky and both things were true.
He had the relationship with Monica Lewinsky
and there was a vast right-wing conspiracy.
And without the conspiracy,
Monica Lewinsky would never have been unearthed.
So, I thought there was a lot of credibility
to what she was saying,
but at the time, it was received as delusional.
[reporter] Clinton is returning to a familiar theme
as she defends her husband.
[reporter 2] They're out attacking
and imaging some conspiracy....
[reporter 3] There is no such thing...
[narrator] Seven months after Hillary's defense
of her husband...
[man] Five seconds...
[narrator] ...the president addresses the nation.
Good evening.
In a deposition in January, I was asked questions
about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky
that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong...
[Kate Brower] When he finally admitted it to Hillary,
it was the same day that he came clean
to the whole country, which is kind of incredible...
she was kept in the dark for that long.
Thank you for watching, and goodnight.
[Susan Bordo] For Hillary that really did hit her in the gut.
In the solar plexus.
Hillary felt the full force of betrayal.
She was really angry at her husband...
angrier than I've seen her ever be.
[Karen Tumulty] The scene that we all see
as they walk across the White House lawn
is their daughter, Chelsea, walking between them
and holding their two hands.
Literally holding this family together.
[Patti Doyle] I do think that if she were not
first lady of the United States,
married to the president of the United States,
she would have left him.
[narrator] As her husband faces the humiliation of impeachment
in his last year as president,
Hillary considers her own political future.
Come the day that the United States Senate...
is voting on whether to convict Bill Clinton,
who has been impeached, and throw him out of office,
Hillary Clinton is going through "What would it take
to run for the Senate in New York?"
a state she had never lived in.
[reporter] A lot of excitement behind the scenes.
People are bubbling...
[Lisa Muscatine] She went through this sort of,
you know, back and forth...
"Should I? Shouldn't I?" "Should I? Shouldn't I?"
Sometimes it would depend
on the last person she talked to.
The more I listened, the more excited I became
about the possibilities of what could be done
on behalf of the people of New York.
I told her, "Don't. What are you doing? Why?
Please don't do this, please!"
She had not had a very good relationship with the media
up until that point,
and I thought she was just going to get...
massacred.
[applause]
I am honored, today...
to announce my candidacy for the United States Senate
from New York.
[narrator] Hillary becomes the only first lady ever
to run for public office.
It's an incredible moment in history.
This is what she deserved.
She had put up with years of lies and fighting for Bill.
Now she was going to get her due.
[reporter] It is her first campaign tour ever
on behalf of herself.
[Hillary Clinton] The energy in here is overwhelming.
[narrator] Hillary invokes the memory
of her Commencement Day speech from 1969.
[Hillary Clinton] For 30 years I have believed,
that politics is the art of making possible,
what appears to be impossible.
[narrator] But Hillary is pursued
by shadows of the recent past.
[laughs]
Bye, everybody.
[man]
[TV news reporter] You've got a woman,
nationally revered at the moment
as the poor little lady who suffered so publicly
from her husband's betrayal, but stood by him anyway.
[Karen Tumulty] Her pollsters realize
that a lot of the people who are the most angry
at Hillary Clinton for staying with Bill are other women.
[chanting] Go home, Hillary!
Upstate New York does not want Hillary!
[Melanne Verveer] So many people said to me,
"Well, you know, she must just be doing this
because of her own ambition.
Why else would she stay with him?"
[Patti Doyle] Women were blaming her.
And I was just stunned by it.
And I do think it is own form of sexism to blame the wife
for something... that her spouse did.
So, she went from small living room
to small living room,
talking to women explaining her decision,
explaining her marriage.
And her answer was...
everybody has to make these decisions
in their own lives.
That she loved him, continues to...
and that this was the best decision
for her and for her daughter.
[reporter] The first lady of the United States of America
will become a senator from New York State.
[man] Safe to say, folks, we have written
a new page in American political history.
[Hilary Clinton] Sixty-two counties, 16 months,
three debates, two opponents,
and six black pantsuits later.
Because of you, here we are!
It was a spectacular moment for all of us.
We were absolutely cheering.
I told her not to do it.
Thank God she didn't listen to me.
I, Hillary Rodham Clinton...
[narrator] Hillary Clinton's election
to the Senate is historic.
The days of “two for one” are over.
[Karen Tumulty] It was like his career was shutting down
and hers was just beginning.
I think that was really liberating for her
to leave the White House, actually.
She went on to do so much good in that role.
Hi!
[Gaily Sheehy] Republican congressmen expected her
to just lord it over them.
Has to be a government-wide effort.
[Gaily Sheehy] No, what she did was use her celebrity
to shine on their legislation.
[narrator] After eight years as Senator of New York...
[Hillary Clinton] Thank you, Robert.
You know, I successfully avoided this room for eight years.
[laughter]
[narrator] ...Hillary becomes Barack Obama's
Secretary of State.
By 2016, there's only one place left to go.
[cheering and applause]
[Hillary Clinton] We've reached a milestone.
The first time in our nation's history...
that a woman will be a major party's nominee...
[narrator] But when Hillary makes a bid
for the highest office in the land...
She's a very unlikeable candidate.
[narrator] ...she once again finds herself under attack.
She is not charismatic, she is not likeable...
To me there was a direct line
of everything you'd heard for ten, 20, 30 years.
Years and years of right-wing attack.
Let's get to the controversy
now surrounding Hillary Clinton and her emails.
There was a total double standard.
The negative coverage of Hillary was off the charts,
and that's the image that Trump picked up.
Crooked Hillary. Crooked Hillary.
They got away with perpetrating this false image of Hillary.
Breaking news, the FBI's assessment
that there should be no charges.
[Patti Doyle] The most experienced,
the most qualified person
to ever run for the presidency, who happened to be a woman,
ran against the least qualified,
the least experienced person
ever to run for the presidency, who happened to be a man.
[man] Donald Trump wins the presidency.
[Patti Doyle] And the man won...
If that isn't blatant sexism in this country,
I don't what else is.
[narrator] It's a shocking defeat.
More Americans vote for Hillary Clinton
than any other losing
presidential candidate in history.
[Lissa Muscatine] She is one of the most important women
in our nation's history.
She helped move the ball forward in unbelievable ways
against incredible odds.
I know we have still not shattered
that highest and hardest glass ceiling.
But someday someone will,
and, hopefully, sooner than we might think right now.
[Gail Sheehy] Hillary Clinton planted the seeds for that.
She just was as always,
ten or 15 years ahead of her time.
[Patti Doyle] Hillary was a trailblazer.
[chanting] Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!
[Patti Doyle] She blew up the idea
of what a first lady is supposed to be.
The impact that she's made goes beyond
what a president could have done.
[Hillary Clinton] And to all the little girls
who are watching this...
never doubt that you are valuable...
and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity
in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.