[TRUMPET FANFARE]
- Good afternoon.
Glad to be back with you, friends and colleagues,
to Radcliffe Day 2018.
For those of you who may just have arrived,
I'm Liz Cohen, dean of the Radcliffe
Institute for Advanced Study.
On this special day, we are fortunate to be
joined by Radcliffe and Harvard leaders
of the present and the future.
I would like to extend a special welcome to Harvard President
Drew Gilpin Faust, who is also founding dean--
[APPLAUSE]
--founding dean, as many of you know.
OK.
[APPLAUSE]
I'll try one more time-- founding dean of the Radcliffe
Institute--
to Provost Alan Garber, to Bill Lee,
who was the senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation
along with other members of the corporation
and the board of overseers, as well
as to many other current university leaders who are here
with us this afternoon.
On a day like today, we are inspired to also look
towards the future.
So it is an honor to also welcome Larry Bacow,
Harvard president-elect--
[APPLAUSE]
--and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, the incoming dean of the Radcliffe
Institute, who will take over--
[APPLAUSE]
--who will take over when I step down on June 30.
And we have a record number of past Radcliffe medalists here
today.
That includes Drew Faust, as well as former Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright, former Chief Justice
of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Margaret
Marshall, and Linda Greenhouse, long-time distinguished Supreme
Court Analyst for The New York Times.
Today is also a celebration of the achievements
of The Radcliffe Campaign, Invest in Ideas.
I'll say more about that in a moment.
But let me thank all the current and former members
of the Radcliffe Dean's Advisory Council
and the Schlesinger Library Council, members
of the Radcliffe Associate's Program
and the Ann Radcliffe society, and past members
of the Radcliffe College Board of Trustees and Alumni
Association for helping to make our campaign
such a great success.
[APPLAUSE]
And I would like to recognize all of the Radcliffe
and Harvard alums who are marking milestones, including
the reunion classes of '43, '48, '53, '58, '63, '68, '73, '78,
'83, '88, '92, '98, 2003, 2008, 2013, and our newest
graduates in the class of 2018.
[APPLAUSE]
And everyone, please join me in congratulating members
of the earliest classes represented here today--
the classes of 1940, '41, and 42.
And they're right over there.
[APPLAUSE]
We are also thrilled to be joined by former US Ambassador
to the United Nations and current Radcliffe Fellow
Samantha Power.
[APPLAUSE]
And to all of the other elected officials
and dedicated public servants who are here with us today,
we are grateful for your work.
And we are honored to have you here.
Finally, with all of us gathered here together,
we do, of course, think of the friends and classmates
who are no longer with us.
This year, we lost Amey Amory DeFriez,
a member of the class of '49, who
served as chair of the Radcliffe College Board of Trustees.
Please join me in a moment of silence for Amey
and for others we are missing this afternoon.
The Radcliffe Institute supports and broadly shares
bold ideas, transformative research,
and daring creative work that is both timely and timeless.
It has been a profound honor and privilege
to lead and grow this Institute for the past seven years.
As I prepare to step down, I am especially
pleased to be able to share with you some
of the highlights of the outstanding academic year that
concludes with today's event.
Since January, we have been celebrating
the 75th anniversary of our Schlesinger Library
on the history of women in America.
[APPLAUSE]
The commemorative exhibition "75 Stories, 75 Years"
documenting the lives of American women
at the Schlesigner Library will be open to all of you at 2:30
PM today and is on view until November 1.
Other programs celebrating the library
will continue throughout next fall.
Across the yard in the Johnson-Kulukundis Gallery
and Byerly Hall is a student-centered exhibition
suitable for commencement week.
It's entitled "Art in the Yard--
Students Make Art Public at Radcliffe."
This exhibition celebrates the imaginative student
designs that we have installed in the Wallach Garden
since 2013.
Art in the Yard will also be open this afternoon
and remain on view through June 30.
This year's annual science symposium, titled "Contagion,"
explored new ways to understand, track, respond to, and even
predict modern epidemics from infectious diseases
to the opioid crisis.
An accompanying year-long lecture series on the science
of epidemics engaged with topics including fibromyalgia,
obesity, and Alzheimer's disease.
Throughout the year, workshops and public events at Radcliffe
explored the complexity of citizenship broadly defined.
Our flagship annual gender conference
interrogated the question, who belongs,
bringing a gendered lens to the topic of citizenship,
which is increasingly fraught both at home and abroad.
Our programmatic focus on citizenship
is timed in part to anticipate and to contextualize the 2020
centennial of the passage of the women's suffrage amendment,
and it will continue through the next academic year.
In September, we will also welcome more than 50
outstanding new fellows from 11 countries who
will write novels and poetry, chart massive stars,
create new art, explore the politics of gender quotas,
delve into the geometry of political redistricting,
and much else.
All of this and more is made possible
by our generous supporters.
Last year at Radcliffe Day 2017, I
announced that the Radcliffe Campaign
had surpassed its $70 million monetary goal more than a year
ahead of schedule.
Today, I am delighted to report that we
follow that up with our most successful year of fund
raising to date.
Since the start of the campaign, we
have received over 23,000 individual gifts representing
all 13 Harvard schools and every graduating class
from 1933 to the present.
All together, we have raised a phenomenal $87 million,
well over 120% of our goal.
[APPLAUSE]
Nearly 80% of the people in our 2/10 have donated to Radcliffe,
and we are deeply grateful for your support.
And to the other 20%, I would say, don't worry.
You still have time to make it right.
The campaign doesn't end until June 30.
But of course, The Radcliffe Campaign
is about much more than dollars.
Those 23,000 gifts are a humbling display
of confidence in the Institute, of commitment
to our important work, and of our common ambition for an even
stronger Radcliffe into the future.
Thanks to the campaign, we have expanded
our public programming, diversified our library
collections, endowed new fellowships, created
new opportunities for creative work, renewed our campus,
and changed the face of the Harvard faculty
through Radcliffe professorships.
[APPLAUSE]
Yes, that's worth some applause.
That is a lot to be proud of.
So please join me in round of applause for all of you,
for the entire Radcliffe community, and for everything
that we have been able to accomplish together
as a result of your generous support of the Institute.
[APPLAUSE]
On a more personal level, the campaign,
including a two-year planning phase and then
a five-year public phase, has perfectly
aligned with my deanship.
Although that was challenging, I am
grateful for how it pushed me to get out
and to partner with our key supporters, many of whom
I now consider dear friends.
And it pushed us as an institute to more clearly
and compellingly articulate a vision of who we are
and what we strive to do.
Two extraordinary people have worked very closely with me
on this campaign, our cochairs Sid Knafel all
and Susan Wallach.
I would like to take a moment--
[APPLAUSE]
There will be another opportunity.
I'd like to take a moment now to extend a special thanks to both
of them.
Sid could not be here today.
But his generosity and his leadership,
as well as the example he set as a well-respected Harvard
hand invested in Radcliffe's future,
were critical to our success.
Susan Wallach is a passionate and tireless advocate
for all things Radcliffe and has served
as a trusted advisor to me and to all of my predecessors
while also inspiring the incredible record-breaking
support we received from her Radcliffe College 50th reunion
class of 1968.
Susan, I cannot--
[APPLAUSE]
I cannot emphasize enough to you, Susan,
how grateful I am for your partnership these past seven
years.
So would you please stand and let us all give you
and Sid a big round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
And now, on behalf of the Radcliffe Institute,
I am honored to recognize Hillary Rodham Clinton
as our 2018 Radcliffe medalist.
Every year, we strive to illuminate aspects
of our medalists' life and work that are not widely known
but help us understand her achievements.
You can imagine that this was very difficult to do when
it comes to Secretary Clinton.
That so much about her life is well-known is
a consequence of her decades in public life
as well as the unusual level of attention and scrutiny
she has faced and overcome throughout her distinguished
career.
But there is still an important story to tell.
Those who have observed Hillary Rodham Clinton over the years
can testify to her brilliance, her determination,
and her capacity for growth.
Not surprisingly, those qualities
were in evidence from her youth.
Born to Hugh and Dorothy Howell Rodham in Chicago
and raised in the suburban Republican stronghold of Park
Ridge, Hillary was quite naturally imbued
with the conservative political views
of her small-businessman father.
But there were early signs that she would chart her own, quite
different political path.
To start with, her mother Dorothy
provided a counterforce of sorts,
as she was, in Clinton's own words, basically a Democrat,
although she kept it quiet in Park Ridge.
By eighth grade, Hillary was already
displaying independence of mind, allowing herself
to be inspired by a Democratic President John F. Kennedy's
ambition to put an American on the moon.
In her excitement, Hillary wrote a letter to NASA
volunteering her services, only to be informed
that the astronaut training program did not and probably
never would accept girls.
Clinton reflected years later that this, and I quote her,
"was the first time I had hit an obstacle I couldn't overcome
with hard work and determination.
And I was outraged."
Not only did this experience begin
to raise the feminist consciousness of young Hillary,
but it also demonstrated how passion for a goal
could motivate this junior Nixon canvasser to reach
across the partisan divide.
Clinton's political brilliance showed up early as well.
Her senior year in high school, she
took the part of Barry Goldwater in a mock presidential debate
for the 1964 presidential election.
Hillary's success outshone candidate Goldwater's.
Her opponent in that debate, the young man
acting as Lyndon Baines Johnson, accepted defeat
and said of Clinton what future rivals would also discover.
She was the brightest person I ever knew.
When it was time to apply to college,
Clinton was drawn to a women's school.
Her parents offered her some advice.
As Clinton recalled years later, "my mother
thought I should go wherever I wanted.
My father said I was free to do that,
but he wouldn't pay if I went west of the Mississippi
or to Radcliffe, which he had heard was full of beatniks.
Smith and Wellesley, which he had never heard of,
were acceptable."
Hillary, some of those beatniks your father
warned you about are here today celebrating their 50th reunion.
[APPLAUSE]
College would prove to be a time of political transformation
for Hillary Rodham as it was for many of her generation.
She had a few rocky weeks of typical freshman self-doubt,
which her mother met with, I'm quoting,
"I don't like hearing that you would walk away
from something because you're not as ready as you think
you should be.
Get ready."
But after that, Hillary flourished at Wellesley.
Politics became her passion both in her political science major
and in her extracurricular life where she experienced something
of a political realignment.
Elected president of Wellesley's Young Republicans
in her first year, by Clinton's junior year,
she was supporting the anti-war campaign of Minnesota senator
Eugene McCarthy.
That academic year, 1967-'68, coincided with watershed
moments, including the escalation of the Vietnam War
and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr.
And Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Those upheavals led to massive protests
at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
the following summer.
Clinton, back home from an internship in Washington DC,
found her way there.
She and a close friend, Betsy Johnson,
drove downtown in the Johnson's station wagon
to bear witness to the unfolding events.
Knowing that their parents would never have allowed them to go,
Betsy had told her mother that she and Hillary
were headed to the movies.
For Clinton, this experience proved not disillusioning
but rather a confirmation that electoral politics was, and I
quote her, "the only route in a democracy
for peaceful and lasting change."
Clinton's political education at Wellesley
culminated in her well-known role
as speaker at her class's commencement in May 1969.
Her peers elected her to be the first ever student speaker
at a Wellesley graduation ceremony.
Hillary's remarks foretold the course of her later career,
recasting Otto van Bismarck's famous quote
that politics is the art of the possible as, and I quote her,
"the challenge now is to practice politics
as the art of making what appears
to be impossible possible."
[APPLAUSE]
Clinton's Wellesley commencement speech
caught the attention of the press,
shining the national spotlight on her for the very first time.
But buried beneath the headlines was a side of Clinton
that would also inform her career going forward.
Dismayed at reports that suggested
that she had personally attacked a fellow speaker, Massachusetts
Republican Senator Edward Brooke,
she warned Life magazine not to repeat the same mistake
in their profile.
Even as a youthful activist, Clinton
valued civility and respect for her opponents,
not something that was always prevalent
in those troubled times.
The Radcliffe historians among us--
and certainly the members of the 50th reunion class--
will remember with some pride that Radcliffe students had
succeeded in demanding a student commencement speaker the year
before Wellesley in 1968.
Rachel Lieberman gave that address.
And in Lieberman's own telling, Clinton
acknowledged to her later that she and her classmates
might never have had the courage to demand their own student
speaker if Radcliffe hadn't pulled it off first.
Even if Hugh Rodham kept us from claiming Clinton as an alumna,
we can at least take a little credit for her early success.
The next stage after Wellesley in Hillary
Clinton's political evolution was her discovery
that the law was a powerful tool for social justice.
In the fall of 1969, Clinton entered Yale Law School,
where she was one of 27 women in a class of 235.
Clinton focused her studies and her first scholarly article
on how the law affects children.
It was also during her law school years
that Clinton first connected with fellow Yale alumna Marian
Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund--
and I can't resist saying, received
the Radcliffe Medal in 1989.
As a law student, Clinton worked with Edelman in Washington.
And then she joined the Children's Defense Fund
full-time after earning her JD in 1973.
In 1974 Clinton would further hone her legal skills
on the impeachment staff of the House Judiciary Committee
investigating President Richard Nixon, one of only three women
attorneys out of 44.
Among Clinton's peers at Yale Law
had been a young man from Arkansas named Bill.
They dated.
People actually did that then.
And when Nixon resigned in August of 1974,
Hillary joined Bill in Fayetteville
where she became a faculty member at the University
of Arkansas Law School.
And they married soon thereafter.
Hillary Clinton's Arkansas years as law professor,
as legal services activist, as a dedicated advocate
for the state's families and children,
and as a rare woman partner in a major law firm
confirmed her confidence in the law as an instrument
for achieving a better world.
Early on, she ran a legal aid clinic
when the very idea of legal aid was controversial.
A prominent Arkansas judge told her,
"I don't have any use for either lady law professors
or legal aid clinics."
She was soon appointed to the Arkansas Committee of the Legal
Services Corporation.
And in 1977, President Jimmy Carter
named her to the board of the National Legal Services
Corporation.
Meanwhile, Clinton continued her work
advocating on behalf of women, children, and families.
In 1977, she cofounded one of the first child advocacy
organizations in Arkansas.
She joined the board of the Children's Defense Fund
in 1978, and she became its chair in 1986.
And in 1987, Clinton headed the newly established American
Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession.
She was also twice recognized as one
of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country.
While Bill Clinton was climbing the political ladder
in Arkansas from Attorney General to Governor,
Hillary was establishing herself as a leader
on the state and national levels in using
the law to redress wrongs that had long troubled her.
Back in 1979 when Clinton became First Lady of Arkansas,
she launched a new and more public era in her career.
And this would culminate in her service as Secretary of State
and her two runs for president in 2008 and 2016.
She shifted her focus to making policy
that improved people's lives.
About a month into her role as First Lady of Arkansas,
Clinton gave a TV interview on the public affairs program
In Focus.
The interviewer expressed what many in the state
were surely thinking.
And I quote, "you really don't fit the image
that we've created for the governor's wife in Arkansas.
You're not a native.
You've been educated in liberal eastern universities.
You're less than 40.
You don't have any children.
You don't use your husband's name.
And you practice law."
Clinton responded, "I think that each person should
be assessed and judged on that person's own merits."
And she then proceeded as First Lady of Arkansas
and as First Lady of the United States beginning
in 1993 to use her public platform
to advance an agenda for social and political change.
Even in roles not historically associated
with policy leadership, Hillary found opportunities
to make a difference.
When Clinton became First Lady of the United States,
she broke with tradition by establishing her office
in the West Wing, clearly signaling her intention
to play a substantive role.
Her staff became known within the White House as Hillaryland.
Soon she took on leadership of the Task Force
on National Health Care Reform, a role one analyst
called "the most powerful official post ever assigned
to a First Lady."
This was not uncontroversial.
But as she had done before, Clinton forged
ahead, determined to make health care a right for all Americans.
The Clinton health care reform effort was ultimately
defeated for many reasons, but in part because
of the resistance Clinton acknowledge she faced,
and I quote her, "as a First Lady with a policy mission."
While her vision for a health care overhaul
would take almost two decades to be
realized in the form of the Affordable Care Act,
Clinton regrouped.
And by 1997, she played a key role
in securing passage of the Children's Health Insurance
Program, known as CHIP.
CHIP provided low-cost health coverage
to millions of American children,
an objective Clinton cared about deeply.
And it served as a crucial step toward more comprehensive care.
And Clinton also used her standing
as First Lady of the United States
to advocate for the rights of women worldwide,
most famously declaring at the United Nations Fourth World
Conference on women in Beijing in 1995--
and I know Nick quoted, but it's worth saying again--
"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."
[APPLAUSE]
Having made about as much of her First Ladyhood as anyone could
and as determined as ever to solve the nation's problems,
in 2000, Clinton sought a new role for herself
in elected office as the senator from New York.
Back in Washington, Clinton established herself
as a master of complex policy details
and as a pragmatic deal maker.
Among her legislative accomplishments,
Clinton helped secure billions of dollars in federal aid
to rebuild New York after the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001.
She also fought to provide health coverage
for 9/11 first responders and was
critical to a bipartisan effort to provide full military health
benefits to reservists and National Guard
members, both important steps towards her long-sought goal
of expanding Americans' access to quality health care.
Clinton was re-elected in 2006.
And then in 2008, a year I suspect everyone here
remembers well, Clinton ran in the Democratic presidential
primary.
After her opponent, then Senator Barack Obama,
secured enough delegates to lock in the nomination,
Clinton worked hard to unify the Democratic Party
and to help Obama win.
It was not in her nature to do otherwise.
As she told her supporters, "life is too short,
time is too precious, and the stakes are too high."
When Obama was elected, Clinton accepted his nomination
to serve as Secretary of State, traditionally
the most prestigious and important role
in the president's cabinet.
Our panel discussion this morning
took as its starting point Secretary Clinton's vision
for a new global architecture.
Clinton combined that vision with the same awe-inspiring
endurance that she had demonstrated so many times
before.
She became one of the most effective and highly regarded
secretaries of state in recent memory,
rebuilding fractured relationships
and opening up productive communication
with countries long ignored.
She also created infrastructure to advance
human rights, women's rights, and LGBTQ rights
around the world, bringing democratic and pluralistic
values into the heart of US foreign policy.
And Clinton became the most traveled secretary of state
in history, visiting 112 countries
and engaging in the same kind of shoe-leather diplomacy
on a global scale as she had done when building alliances
at home.
When Hillary stepped down as secretary of state in 2013,
she had the highest favorability rating
of any secretary of state save one
since those opinion polls were introduced in 1948.
And then in 2016, as we all know,
Clinton ran for president a second time
and succeeded in becoming the first woman
ever nominated by a major party.
[APPLAUSE]
So much has been said about that election.
And you all witnessed it for yourselves,
so I need not add much.
I will just make the point that elections
are about more than winning.
They promote ideas.
They shape values.
They inspire new national ideals.
Hillary's campaign for president may not
have shattered that highest glass ceiling.
But in that brutal race, as in so many other battles
she has fought over her career, she
applied her vast intellect and determination
in breaking down barriers on behalf of others.
Although a majority of American voters
cast their ballots for her, she did not get the job.
Nonetheless, over a lifetime of public service,
Hillary Clinton has fully demonstrated her commitment
to the presidential oath she would
have taken to preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States
for the benefit of all Americans.
In "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman
wrote, "have you ever heard that it was good to gain the day?
I also say it is good to fall, battles
are lost in the same spirit in which they are won."
I suspect Hillary Clinton would agree.
We honor her today for all of her battles won and lost.
And most of all, we celebrate her for returning time
and again to the battlefield of public life
to fight for human rights, for equality,
for economic opportunity, and for a pragmatic but principled
approach to governing this great if sometimes vexing nation.
[APPLAUSE]
This afternoon, we will have the opportunity
to hear more from Secretary Clinton herself
when she converses with Massachusetts Attorney General
Maura Healey.
As I mentioned earlier, Healey is a 1992 graduate
of Harvard Radcliffe.
[APPLAUSE]
Like Clinton, Healey dares to compete.
Here at Harvard, she concentrated in government
and was a cocaptain of the women's basketball team.
After graduating, Healey was the starting point guard
for a professional basketball team in Austria for two years
before she returned to Massachusetts
to attend law school at Northeastern University.
Healey took office as attorney general in January 2015,
pledging to be the people's lawyer and, in her words,
"be guided by the values of responsiveness, inclusion,
and integrity."
A distinguished attorney, a powerful advocate,
and a rising star among her generation
of office holders, Maura Healey is an ideal conversation
partner for Hillary Clinton.
But before that, we will hear from another trailblazer,
Madeleine Albright, who was the first woman
to serve as secretary of state from 1997 to 2001, which
made her the highest-ranking woman in the history of the US
government.
[APPLAUSE]
She started a trend that led some
to ask-- when John Kerry was nominated
to be Secretary of State-- whether a man could
serve effectively in that role.
And she has long been a trusted friend
and colleague to our medalist.
Secretary Albright is also a graduate of Wellesley,
and she went on to earn master's and doctoral degrees
from Columbia University.
Before taking over the State Department,
Albright had served as US permanent representative
to the United Nations and a member of the president's
cabinet from 1993 to 1997.
Today, she is the Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed
Distinguished Professor in the Practice
of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University
School of Foreign Service.
In 2012, Secretary Albright deservedly
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I am thrilled that Madeleine Albright is here with us today
to offer her personal tribute to Hillary Rodham Clinton,
so please join me now in warmly welcoming Secretary Madeleine
Albright.
[APPLAUSE]
- Dean Cohen, thank you so much for the introduction.
And congratulations to you for your incredibly great tenure--
really fantastic.
And Secretary Clinton and members
of the Radcliffe Association, distinguished guests,
thank you all for your warm welcome, and happy Memorial
Day.
I'm delighted to be here and will
presume to speak for our guest of honor
in saying that nothing gives Wellesley graduates more
satisfaction then receiving an award from Radcliffe.
[APPLAUSE]
And I have to say-- just to continue
the Wellesley-Radcliffe connection--
I'd like to point out that Dr. Paula
Johnson, the president of Wellesley, is here with us
today.
[APPLAUSE]
I have to say, nothing will give me more pleasure
than to share with you a few thoughts about Hillary Rodham
Clinton.
Of course, it will not be a surprise
that I have a very soft spot in my heart
for this wonderful woman.
Back in 1996, when the period of great mentioning
was going on about who was going to be secretary of state.
I didn't ever think I would be secretary of state
because people said, how could a woman possibly be secretary
of state?
And I now know that I would not have been secretary of state
if it hadn't been for Hillary.
And the reason I know that is President Clinton
said so publicly.
And what happened was that we were actually traveling abroad,
and we were at a foreign embassy.
And we used to have this thing where I'd introduce Hillary,
and she would introduce him.
And he said that during this period of great mentioning,
Hillary came to him.
And she would say, why wouldn't you name Madeleine?
She is most in tune with your views,
expresses them better than anybody else, and besides,
it would make your mother happy.
So that is how I got to be secretary of state.
And as I think many of you here can attest,
there's nothing like a good job recommendation
when you need it.
I had first met Hillary in the 1980s when she was serving
on the board of the Children's Defense Fund, which
has been mentioned was founded by a really fantastic woman
and another recipient of the Radcliffe Medal, Marian Wright
Edelman.
And this goes to show that even at that early stage
in her career, Hillary was fighting for social justice
and to help the disadvantaged.
In 1993, when I began serving as America's ambassador
to the United Nations, Hillary was First Lady.
Now, a lot of people kidded about the fact
that she used to channel Eleanor Roosevelt. And Eleanor
Roosevelt spent a lot of time at the United Nations,
so Hillary would come up and visit me a lot.
And we had a great time and got to know each other very well.
It was wonderful to introduce her
to the foreign delegates, whom she impressed really
with her knowledge and her passion for the issues.
Hillary and I also traveled together internationally a lot.
And she did prove to be one of the country's most valuable
representatives, because everywhere she went,
she made friends for America.
Now, people have talked about the Beijing Women's Conference.
And we know the quote, but I have to tell you
what it was really like.
When I got there, it was really crazy.
There were cab drivers who were given white sheets
to throw over the lesbians.
There were those who kept talking about people
that were lesbians.
And people would come up and say, where
is this country of Lesbia?
We couldn't figure out anything.
There were a lot of disabled people there,
and people didn't know how to treat them.
It was really crazy.
So those of you have given speeches
know how hard it can be to grab and maintain
the attention of an audience.
So just imagine what it's like when your listeners come
from 150 countries and are sitting in front of you
with earphones clamped to their heads
hearing the voices of translators who speak slowly
and without emotion.
And we had been there for a couple of days.
And then Hillary came and spoke, and she
electrified the whole place.
She didn't openly offend her Chinese hosts,
but neither did she weaken her message even a slight bit.
She spoke with dignity and courage of activists
across the globe who were struggling
to be heard in places where the only right most women were
granted was the right to remain silent.
She spoke of women who had been held back,
pushed aside, shoved down, beaten up
for reasons that were ascribed to tradition and culture.
And she insisted that there was no reason of culture that
could excuse the theft of human dignity
and no tradition that provided a license for bigotry.
And in words that echoed instantly across the globe--
and I will repeat it-- she declared simply
that human rights are women's rights
and women's rights are human rights.
Never before and never since has a First Lady
inspired so many with an impact that continues to this day.
And that statement echoes everywhere
as I have traveled everywhere, and it is still
the one that is motivating so many people.
The following year, we were on the road again.
And this time, we went to Prague, Czechoslovakia,
the city of my birth.
And I'll never forget the pride I
took in showing Hillary the sights of the beautiful city.
But we also had an awful lot of serious diplomatic business
to take care of and at one point needed
to talk where foreign officials and reporters couldn't hear us.
The result was another landmark moment
in US diplomatic history--
the first official foreign policy discussion
in the ladies' room.
[APPLAUSE]
We also had an opportunity to march down
Wenceslas Square with President Havel,
and Hillary and President Havel had wonderful discussions.
And you can just imagine how proud
I was to have that opportunity.
I also actually happen to like Czech food,
so I took Hillary to a restaurant.
And the thing I like most of all is cabbage.
And so I went to the kitchen.
They're nice to me there in the Czech Republic.
And I said, please keep bringing out the cabbage.
And finally, Hillary said, Madeleine,
I don't really like this cabbage.
So that is one thing we do disagree on.
It was in this period that the world
came to realize what friends already knew.
Hillary Clinton was not just smart.
She was dedicated to helping people across the globe.
And she was not just dedicated.
She was tough.
Her career has been guided by John Wesley's admonition.
And I quote, "do all the good you can
in all the ways you can.
And by Harriet Tubman's creed, if you're tired, keep going.
If you're hungry, keep going.
And if you want a taste of freedom, keep going."
Hillary Clinton is a unique figure in American history.
No one else has been First Lady, an award-winning author,
a mother now a grandmother, US senator, secretary of state,
and the first woman nominee of a major party for president
and who won all the popular votes.
[APPLAUSE]
But her true measure can be found
not in what she's been but in the principles for which she
has stood.
She takes seriously the words that symbolize what
this country is all about--
that all men and women are created equal
and that our shared purpose should
be to pursue liberty and justice for everyone, regardless
of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation,
or whether someone arrived in this land
as an immigrant or a refugee, which
is why I'm wearing the Statue of Liberty today.
[APPLAUSE]
Hillary's dedication is reflected
in the efforts she made on behalf of universal health care
here at home and the initiatives she
led abroad to foster peace, reduce poverty, promote
human rights, and ensure that the vital voices of women
are taken into account.
When Hillary Clinton represented America as secretary of state,
we were confident that she would strengthen our bonds
with allies, spur progress in addressing
global threats such as terrorism and climate change,
and speak eloquently and effectively
on behalf of democratic values.
That is the kind of leader Hillary is.
That is the kind of leadership America will always need.
And it's why, in 2016, I was proud to support
her candidacy for president.
I'm still excited by the many thousands of volunteers
who worked so hard for her campaign
because they believed that America is strongest when we're
together and that we're best when we look out
for one another and treat each other with civility
and kindness.
Since the election, we have all struggled
to understand the forces that were
at work during the campaign.
And some of us have put our thoughts in writing.
Hillary wrote a book called What Happened.
And I-- well, Hillary is more of a diplomat than I am.
The book I wrote is called Fascism-- a Warning.
[APPLAUSE]
The good news is that in recent months,
we've been witnessing the most widespread and far-reaching
groundswell of political activism and organization
in my lifetime.
Thousands of women have stepped forward
to run for office for the first time
and many of them energized by Hillary
and supported by her new organization, Onward Together.
None of them are dwelling on the past.
Like Secretary Clinton, we are focused on the future.
More than two decades ago in Beijing,
Hillary urged us never to forget that all people, and I quote,
"have the right to speak freely and the right to be heard."
And thanks to Hillary's example, voices are being heard
and will continue to be heard on behalf of imperatives that
are anchored in the heart--
the love of justice, the desire for freedom, the refusal
to remain silent in the face of bigotry,
and the pursuit of veritas--
truth.
And now I ask you to join with me
in thanking Hillary Clinton for everything she
has done and will do for our country,
for women, for men, and for the future of us all.
So Hillary, if you and Maura will
come up and take your places.
Thank you all very, very much.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
- Well, we have renewed energy after that lunch.
This is a rowdy crowd.
This is wonderful.
Listen, I want to say very much thank you to Dean Cohen and all
of the folks here at Radcliffe Institute
and this entire university who worked so
hard to make this day possible.
It's a real honor for me to be here today
and a particular honor to be here with Secretary Clinton
as she receives this so richly-deserved Radcliffe
Medal.
We're going to get right into it, I think,
because everybody's been waiting for you to speak.
Maybe you could start by telling us
how you felt when you got the call that you were going
to be able to come to Radcliffe today and receive this medal.
- Well, I really was absolutely thrilled
because I have followed over the years what
the Institute has done.
And as you've heard earlier, a number
of women who I both know and admire
have been on this stage receiving the medal.
But I couldn't help but think about my late father.
Because as you heard from Liz, I don't
know where he got this idea, but he
was convinced that Radcliffe was filled
with what he called "beatniks."
So he did tell me I couldn't go west of the Mississippi--
assuming I wanted him to help pay for it--
or to Radcliffe.
So I ended up applying to Wellesley.
I'd never been to Wellesley before.
And so my parents drove me, and we went through Harvard Square.
And just at the most normal-looking person,
my father would say, see, I told you.
It's filled with beatniks.
So, dad, here I am getting the Radcliffe Medal.
[APPLAUSE]
- Well, maybe a good place to start following Secretary
Albright's wonderful testimonial and this amazing panel that we
were all experiencing this morning--
that was just terrific.
[APPLAUSE]
I figured you might have some thoughts--
perhaps some things to amplify, even challenge.
But what's your reaction to some of what
was talked about during this morning's discussion?
- Well, first, I couldn't imagine a more
distinguished and lively panel.
Nick, thank you for putting it together
and for moderating it-- and to each of the panelists.
I think what you heard is a very fair discussion about where
we are in the world today and an implicit challenge--
regardless of party, regardless of region of our country--
about who we want to be as a nation
and how we want to be represented in the world
and how we choose or not to lead.
So up on that panel were two people that I've had a real
pleasure in working with closely,
Anne-Marie and Michelle, another whom I really admired her
commitment to her work--
Megan-- during the Bush administration
was really legendary, and a journalist
who doesn't just sit and think about what he wants to opine on
but actually travels to places like Raqqa
and has been doing that for years and led by Nick,
one of our country's most distinguished diplomats.
So as I listened to them, I really
found no space to disagree with.
The hard part always is, how do you
translate that into not just policy but action?
And I'm hoping that perhaps with this pause that
was described concerning the North Korea
potential summit and negotiations,
perhaps some of those lessons will be
applied by this administration.
There's that famous old saying, fail to plan, plan to fail.
And many of us who have had the opportunity
to be involved with negotiations or followed them closely--
we're quite skeptical that pushing as quickly
as the administration did to get a summit without the groundwork
being laid, without really the expertise that
should be consulted being part of that process
would be successful.
So now with this pause, look, I want
to see our country succeed as much as anybody.
And I'm hoping that there will be a chance to regroup and see
if any of this is possible.
But as Nick knows, as Madeleine knows,
we've been down this road numerous times
with the North Koreans.
So we have to go in with our eyes wide open
with a certain amount of skepticism.
But that doesn't undermine the need
to push as hard as possible to see
if there is at this point in their history
a real chance for a different relationship
and to rein in and contain their nuclear program.
So all in all, I was just captivated by it.
I thought it was a terrific discussion.
My press secretary who's been with me since 2008
was shaking his head.
And I walked out, and I said, Nick, what's the matter?
He goes, I've just never heard so many people
say so many nice things about you in a row.
- Well, enjoy it.
- You know that goes, Maura.
- It doesn't last long.
One of the things, though, that I think the panelists--
we had a brief breakfast this morning.
But the issue about the pipeline--
how do we encourage people to pursue foreign service?
How do we encourage people in this time
to go into government when good men and women are
so desperately needed?
How do we encourage those to pursue public service where
there may be a question for some about where power really lies?
Is it in the political sphere?
Is it in government?
Is it in business or elsewhere?
But any thoughts about that?
- Well, sure, because we hope to be able to encourage successive
waves of people, particularly young people,
to decide that they want to work in government-- local, state,
or national, or even with international bodies
but focusing particularly on our federal government.
And the way that that is done is by inspiring people
by modeling what that looks like.
And there's been--
I think it's fair to say-- a lot of discouragement.
Madeleine was telling me that at the School of Foreign Service,
where she is a distinguished professor,
students are in the School of Foreign Service,
but they don't want to go into the Foreign Service.
There is a real concern that borders on discouragement
from entering into the civil service
or, in the case of the State Department,
the foreign service.
So that has to be rebuilt. Now, I'm hoping that the new
secretary of state-- who has told me and others that he
intends to really try to rebuild the State Department,
try to bring in and maybe even bring back some
of the expertise and experience that has been lost--
will follow through on that and be permitted
to follow through on that.
It's not a question of valuing expertise
over common sense or personal experience.
It's all hands on deck.
If you're running an agency of the government,
or indeed, if you're in the White House in the situation
room, those decisions are so knotty they wouldn't
get to the secretary of state or the president
or the national security advisor unless they
were difficult decisions.
And in that case, you want to have as much information--
dare I say facts and evidence--
that you possibly could in order to advise and then make
the best decisions.
There's no guarantee that the decision you make
will be the right one.
You know, Maura, that I've thought a lot about this.
But one of the most amazing decision
processes I was part of was being
in the very small group advising President
Obama about whether to go after a target in Pakistan
based on intelligence that it could very well be where Osama
bin Laden was living or hiding.
It was by no means a 100 to nothing decision,
and it certainly wasn't a decision
that could be made by the gut of the president.
At the end of the day, after everything was presented
and the intelligence was red teamed
by two different intel groups that were not
in the hunt for bin Laden but had other expertise,
and it came back that maybe it was 40% to 60%
accurate reliable, you had to lay all that out.
You had to have robust discussion, even disagreements,
which we did among that very small group around the table.
And then you turn to the president.
And you each give your opinion based
on your understanding of the facts
and the evidence, your assessment of the risks.
And then, of course, the president
has to make the decision.
There is no way that I can imagine
important life-or-death decisions being
made without that kind of thoughtfulness.
And the State Department has a deep reservoir
of people with experience who will say, well,
if you say that, that sounds like what
was said to his father.
And he's going to immediately have a negative reaction.
Now, who would know that other than people
who have been immersed in the language and the culture
of another country?
So I'm hoping that people who are currently
in the government who are not political appointees
will stay as long as they can fighting for facts
and evidence and our values.
And I hope that people--
if they are so motivated-- will still go into our government.
Because this too shall pass, and we're going to need a vigorous,
well-prepared, well positioned federal government
to try to pick up the pieces.
- Well, thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Let's shift now to more on the domestic front.
And in particular, I want to focus some time
on a couple of groups of people--
first, the students.
And then I want to talk about women
out there who are running in record numbers for office.
But just weeks ago on this very campus,
Parkland students came to town.
And I think we see this incredible surge in energy
by young people all across this country.
We've got high schoolers and junior high schoolers
organizing walkouts here in Massachusetts, for example.
What do you make of it, and what would your advice
be to young people today?
- Well, I'm thrilled by the activism we're seeing.
And the fact that one of the most difficult issues we
confront is over our tragically high rate of gun
deaths in this country and the constant pattern
of mass shootings and what we've seen in our schools
has ignited a level of civic involvement
on the part of high school students is thrilling.
And what the Parkland students are trying to do--
and I'm very much admiring of this.
They want to turn common sense gun safety
laws into a voting issue.
Now, people will say, well, it's always
a voting issue, isn't it?
Well, it is for the other side.
For the other side whipped up by the exaggeration
and the hyperbole-- the hypocrisy even--
of the NRA and public figures, even though it's a really small
minority of Americans-- and, frankly,
a minority of gun owners, because both a majority
of Americans and a majority of gun owners support common sense
gun safety laws--
but because the anti group is so well-organized and so
intimidating and because there's some history as to the price
politicians pay for going up against them,
it remains a voting issue only on one side
of the political ledger.
So what the Parkland students are doing is to say, look.
Whatever else you care about-- you care about the economy,
you care about health care, you care about education
and climate--
great.
But please move up your priority list whether or not
we keep children and young people and everyone alive.
Let's not overlook the fact that Las Vegas happened.
People attending a country music concert picked off--
more than 50 killed, 500 injured--
the Pulse night club in Orlando.
So the children and student killings, from Sandy Hook
to now Santa Fe, Texas, grip your heart
in such a horrible way.
And people get motivated, but let's remember
that a lot of other totally innocent people going
about their daily lives are being murdered.
So taking this on is one of the great public services
that the Parkland students and others joining them
are performing.
But it won't matter if people don't
vote against NRA-funded candidates come November.
So they're trying to translate this into a voting issue.
And I want to thank your attorney general.
She was one of the first people out
of the gate talking about the need for common sense gun
safety measures.
[APPLAUSE]
- So we look at these students-- high school,
college millennials.
They're out there in the environment marching,
the Women's March here, on the gun issue and the like.
Is there something different, though,
that you think is happening with these students--
their use of social media or other things happening
that makes youth activism, student activism maybe
translate into something more meaningful and transformational
than we've seen with student movements in the past?
Not to take away from student movements in the past,
but do you have any thoughts on that
and real consideration of that?
- Well, I think it's always difficult to compare.
And, of course, my frame of comparison
would be the 1960s where there was a lot of student activism.
There were many students involved in the civil rights
movement.
There were many, many students involved
in the anti-war movement.
Increasingly, there were students speaking out
about the women's movement.
So there was a level of involvement
that we saw in the streets, in the classroom, and teach-ins
and sit-ins and all kinds of tactics that were used.
And we look back, and we think, well, hey, we
passed civil rights laws eventually--
not soon enough.
But eventually, the Vietnam War ended.
And yeah, ultimately, we got laws passed
and legal decisions, court opinions rendered to knock down
barriers for women.
So I certainly think there was a connection
between young people's activism back then
and a lot of the changes that have been taking place.
What I see today is different in part because it combines
old tactics like marches--
the Women's March, the March for Life,
so many other demonstrations that people have been
waging and participating in--
and it uses social media for organizing.
And as you say, that is a different approach.
Now, I will hasten to point out that in the absence
of buttressing social media with real on-the-ground personal
connections, relationship building, and organizing,
it will not be effective.
And I saw that firsthand.
When the panel was talking earlier--
and I think David Ignatius was talking about the Arab Spring.
I went to Cairo after Mubarak stepped down.
I met with a large group of the students who
had led the Tahrir Square demonstrations,
and I asked them.
I said, so what is next for you?
And they looked at me like, what a ridiculous question.
We've done what we came to do.
We got rid of Mubarak.
And I said, so what do you think happens next?
And they said, well, we're going to have a democracy,
and we're going to move quickly into a better future.
And I said, OK.
Let me stop you there.
Are any of you planning to run for office
in this new democracy?
No.
Are any of you planning to start political parties to compete?
No.
So you've built up all this social capital driven
by social media, but you're not ready to take the next step.
And of course, that's what I saw.
And I said to them--
I said, there are only two organized groups
other than the Mubarak regime.
There are only two organized groups
in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood and the army.
So if you don't help to fill the void that has now developed
because the 30-plus year ruler is gone,
it's going to be a contest between the Muslim Brotherhood
and the army.
And indeed, that's what happened.
So when I look at social media as a tool for bringing people
to demonstrations, for signing petitions,
for attacking somebody online for what they did or didn't do,
that's a part of it.
But in the end, it really does come down
to how well you're organized, whether you show up and vote,
and whether there are people willing to get into the arena
as Dean Cohen referred to with the reference to Teddy
Roosevelt earlier.
So I guess I am inspired, and I'm optimistic.
But I want to be sure that all this activity actually
leads to real change.
And that's what I find really hopeful--
is the number of people, particularly the number
of women, running for office.
And I started this group Onward Together
to support groups that are recruiting candidates
and funding fund raising for them
and also taking on cause issues because I want
to have as personal relationship as I can
with the young people who are trying to go to the next level.
And many of them are both motivated by
and shocked by the outcome of the 2016 election.
Some have a sense of mission that
is just extraordinary to take our country back.
But this doesn't happen overnight.
And it's imperative that young people--
and really all of us who are on the side of change
in the so-called resistance and opposition--
who want to change the course of the Congress first in 2018,
state legislatures, governors and the like
really get involved and support everybody who's already
out there in the arena to the best we can
and make sure they actually participate
in the political process and show up and vote in November.
[APPLAUSE]
- Your story and so much of what we've heard recounted today
shows and demonstrates your lifelong commitment
to girls, to women, to empowering girls and women.
And I know to this day you continue to receive letters
from girls all over the world.
I asked my niece.
I went right to the source-- a nine-year-old--
and you inspired her.
And I said, what would you like me
to ask Secretary Clinton today?
And she told me that she'd like to know who inspired you
when you were a little girl.
- Wow.
That's a great question.
I love talking to these little girls
between the age of four and 12.
On my book tour, they would come with little pantsuits
and little fake poppet pearls.
And some of them would wear their Wonder Women costumes.
Look-- I feel very much indebted to my mother who
didn't have the opportunities by any stretch that I've had
but who really both inspired me and guided me and picked me
back up when I was knocked down.
I tell this story in Living History.
There was a searing experience.
We moved from Chicago to the suburbs.
And we were living in the kind of classic 1950s suburbs
where the men were--
they all left in the morning to go to work.
They were all World War II vets.
They had lived through the Depression.
They had a pretty common world view.
Our mothers all were at home.
None of them worked.
They were active in the PTA and in the neighborhood
in the church doing things on a volunteer basis.
So when I was four years old and we
were in this new neighborhood, it was filled with kids.
I mean, it really was.
The baby boom was on every corner of every street.
So my mother would get me dressed
and usually put a bow in my hair and send me out.
And every day, I would get knocked down.
I would get pushed around.
And I would go running and crying back into the house.
This went on for weeks.
And they just decided that I was the easiest victim around,
so why not?
And it was kind of a training program for future bullies.
And so one day, I go as usual running back into the house.
And my mother meets me.
And she says to me, there is no room for cowards in this house.
Get back out there.
I thought I'd been sent to my death.
I later learned she was like hiding behind the dining room
curtains.
Because when I came back out, those kids
were more surprised than I was.
So here's what they decided.
They decided that there should be a fight--
a real, physical fight-- between me and the four-year-old girl
who lived across the street who came
from this big, raucous family.
So they make a circle, and they push us both in.
I'm looking at her.
She's looking at me.
And so her brothers are yelling at her,
knock her down, knock her down.
And so she starts pushing me.
So, I mean, this was not just another fight.
This was whether I would have a home and a family
for the rest of my life.
So I pushed back really hard, knocked her down.
That, thankfully, was the end.
There was no weapons or anything like that,
it was just kids pushing each other around,
and she became my best friend growing up.
So my mother was a role model and an example,
even though her life was so different from mine.
She was abandoned by her parents,
thrown out by her grandparents, was
working as a domestic in another family's home when she was 13.
But in the funny way life is, working in that home
really influenced her life because it
was the first time she'd ever been in a home
where the mother and the father loved each other, where they
took good care of their children,
and where the woman she was working for
knew my mother wanted to go to high school.
So they worked it out that my mother could get up early,
get her chores done, run to high school,
and run back and finish her chores when she got back
from high school.
It sounds kind of harsh, but for my mother it was a great gift.
So she was by far the biggest inspiration.
But then as I learned more about our history
and got exposed to different people,
I remember being really impressed with Margaret Chase
Smith, the senator from Maine.
And I didn't really know a lot about her.
But I've got most of my information about the world
from Life magazine, which came every Friday.
So you'd come home from school, and you'd lie on the floor.
And you'd look at the pictures and maybe read the article.
And that's how I encountered Margaret Chase Smith.
I learned more about Eleanor Roosevelt.
It was a very rich time to be exposed.
And I had fabulous teachers in my public schools,
just great teachers, all of whom gave me a tremendous education.
- We're going to move through an incredibly quick lightning
round here, OK?
One question I did want to ask you
is, if you could be a CEO of any company right now,
what would you choose and why?
- Facebook.
[APPLAUSE]
I just want to add, it's the biggest news platform
in the world.
We can listen to really brilliant experienced writers
like David Ignatius and try to keep up with the news.
But most people in our country get their news--
true or not-- from Facebook.
Now, Facebook is trying to take on some
of the unexpected consequences of their business model.
And I, for one, hope that they get it right,
because it really is critical to our democracy
that people get accurate information on which
to make decisions.
And so that's the one I'd pick.
- When was the last time someone didn't recognize you?
- Well, I sometimes go--
- You actually remember?
- I do.
I sometimes try to go in sort of a mini disguise--
put on a baseball cap.
It is a little hard when you have Secret Service following
you around.
One time where I lived in Washing
while I was Secretary of State, I
came home to go for a walk one night at like 9:30 or 10:00.
I was trying to power walk down Mass Avenue.
And a woman passed me on her bike, and she stopped.
And I caught up with her, and she whispered to me.
She said, I have to tell you.
There's a man following you.
I said, oh, really?
Oh, OK.
So I was just in Australia and New Zealand,
and we were in New Zealand and seeing
some of the sights in Auckland.
And they have a new fabulous 39-year-old woman
prime minister.
Not only that, she's going to have
a baby in a couple of weeks.
So it's really quite exciting.
And so people did not recognize me, which was great.
It's a nice respite.
- OK.
Speaking of travels-- best ceremonial swag you ever
received on the job?
- Wow.
Well, the good stuff you can't keep.
You get a lot when you're a First Lady, a senator,
or a secretary of state.
Most other cultures-- gift giving
is a part of the culture, so they have to give you a gift.
And despite our best efforts to not go overboard, pretty soon
you realize you've got to reciprocate.
So I always had wonderful American crafts
and American-made products and felt really positive
about that.
But they would give you elaborate jewelry and really
expensive handbags and things.
You would say, thank you very much,
and they would go right in the archive.
So the stuff you could keep was, I think, below like $25 or $50.
I can't remember-- if you wanted to.
And I gave a lot of my stuff away.
I gave it to people who worked in the State Department
if they wanted it.
So I always appreciated a thoughtful, inexpensive gift,
because at least you then would have
the option of maybe keeping it or giving it away.
But usually, ceremonial swag--
I have more sweatshirts, more hoodies.
I have an enormous number of T-shirts of all kinds.
And I hope nobody minds that they are mostly now
in the possession of homeless people in New
York and elsewhere, because what's
the point of my having all of that?
And victims of domestic violence-- because the women
leave their homes with nothing, so anything that
can be done to give them a wardrobe
and give them some necessities.
So it's just a funny experience.
When it first happens to you, you don't know what to say.
Oh, no, no.
That's OK.
You don't have to give me that.
No, no.
We have to give you that.
I mean, I can't go back and tell my king or my president
that you didn't take it.
Oh, OK.
I'll take it.
So it's a different experience when you're in those positions.
- All right.
Well, turning to the slightly more serious,
I know there are a lot of people in the audience who
wish Chelsea well, and Charlotte, and your grandson
and are also looking for some advice
on how to raise strong girls and women in today's world.
Do you care to say anything to that?
- Well, any of you who have children
know that you can do everything you think you should do,
and it doesn't work.
And you can also try different approaches, different methods,
and some of it may.
I really am grateful for the experience
of raising my daughter.
I think she's taught me as much as I've ever taught her.
And what's a real joy is now watching her
with my grandchildren.
I want to say just one word.
There's a lot of things that--
we read, talk, and sing to your child.
Build those brain cells.
I mean, there's a lot of very practical advice.
But I want to just mention one area that I feel really
strongly about, and that is we need
to develop empathy and kindness in our children for themselves
and for others.
I was really fortunate.
Because when I was very young, through my church,
I had a lot of those experiences.
I was 12 years old and asked to babysit
for the children of Mexican farm workers
who were working their way north with the harvest.
And a group of us girls would go out to their camp
and watch the little kids of the mothers and fathers,
and the older brothers and sisters could work on Saturday.
And so at that very young age, I got
to experience what to me seemed like a total revelation.
Oh, my gosh.
They're just like us.
Because when their parents would pull up
at the end of a long dusty road in an old
beat up bus coming back from the fields,
no matter what game we were playing
or how we were entertaining the kids, they would break loose.
And they would start running as fast as they could
into the arms of their parents, into throwing their arms
around the legs of their big brothers and sisters.
And I thought about myself as a child
running to meet my father when he got home from work.
And so it's not as easy perhaps now as it used to be.
But creating opportunities for children
to learn the importance of service
to understand the importance of kindness and empathy--
so with Chelsea, we would take her
to homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters
and be part of the service that we believed in that we
wanted her to experience.
So there's many ways of trying to raise strong, bright kids,
but I hope we can raise strong, bright, kind,
and empathetic kids as well.
[APPLAUSE]
And I know-- this will be the last.
I know.
Because we do want to make sure you get your medal.
In this time where we know we need
to fight for the rule of law, we need
to stand for the Constitution, and we
need to enforce rights that are on the books to protect people,
we need to fight for a free media.
We need to fight for facts and knowledge and data to guide us.
These are things I think a lot of folks in this room
are actively engaged in.
But I guess my final question for you, Secretary Clinton,
is, why are you optimistic and hopeful as we look forward?
And specifically, what is it that we
can be doing in our day-to-day lives
or encouraging others to do who are
looking to find their agency in this critical moment?
You have taught us so much.
You have brought so much forward.
I think about the activism and the town halls,
the women who are running for office,
the women you've inspired.
And there are so many ready to go and ready to do the work.
But what work do you think is meaningful,
and how should we all get to work?
- Oh, that's a really important question that I hope all of us
are thinking about, because there's
something for everyone to do.
Not everyone will want to run for office
or run a campaign or volunteer for a campaign,
but there's something for everyone to do.
And let me just sort of briefly refer
to Madeleine with that incredible book she has just
published, Fascism-- a Warning.
At the end of it, she talks about what is expected from us.
If you see something, say something, do something, right?
So what does that mean?
Well, we have to defend higher education.
I'm sorry to have to say that, but it is absolutely true.
And that doesn't mean we defend the folks who
are not worthy of defense.
There are some characters out there
who call themselves colleges, and maybe that
should not be given the name.
But by and large, higher education
is one of the greatest accomplishments of the United
States.
It has been one of our biggest selling points.
And we have attracted people from all over the world.
We have educated generations of Americans
to pursue their own dreams, to contribute to society.
So please, anybody associated with Harvard or Wellesley--
as my dear friend President Paula Johnson knows--
stand up and defend the open inquiry.
Stand up and defend reason and facts.
Stand up against alternative reality
wherever it pokes up its ugly head.
Be ready to speak up about the importance of the work that
is done at a great institution like this.
Defend the press.
And believe me, that's not easy for me to say all of the time.
But I know very well in the absence
of a free, vigorous press, our democracy
is not going to survive.
And what I see happening is, unfortunately, we
have seen a kind of rejuvenation of some
of our great newspapers.
Subscribe to a newspaper for goodness' sakes
if it's one that is actually coming back and doing
the investigatory work trying to call out the truth.
But it's also the fact that, as I said,
Facebook is the major source of news.
And people who have a very particular point of view,
an ideology, or a commercial perspective to try to sell
have really dominated the TV market.
It's not just Fox.
It's now Sinclair where they are essentially
delivering propaganda.
So we need more people to speak up and speak out,
and we need more outlets.
We need more sources of reliable information.
I don't blame citizens for being confused about what to believe.
They are bombarded day in and day out by contrary messages.
And people kind of fall back on relying on one or two sources.
And if they are sources that don't
traffic in the facts, then how can they
be expected to make decisions that might further
our common efforts?
And finally, I know this is another really obvious thing
to say--
vote in every election, not just presidential election.
[APPLAUSE]
It is maddening because--
one of the panelists said, we get the government
that we vote for.
Now, we have this odd system with the electoral college.
And maybe we could get President Faust
to explain the roots of that, because it's
a little troubling.
But nevertheless, we've got it.
I've been against it, by the way,
since 2000, not that you need to know that.
But I have been because I just think
it is absolutely contrary to one person, one vote.
So you've got to find an issue that you really care about
and go deep and go long.
We're not going to change things overnight.
And we have to be persistent and sustain the opposition
that we are now putting forth.
Actually, I've been pleasantly surprised
how well it has been sustained.
So I can encourage people to find that area that you
are passionate about and find others who share your views
and then figure out a way to talk about it, write about it,
speak up about it.
Because you never know how the tide will turn.
And I am optimistic the tide will turn.
Because once you have a record, people
can actually measure what you have delivered for them
and for their families.
And I think we'll be in good shape
in making the case in 2018 and then in 2020
for politics that is rooted in evidence about what works best
and in bringing people together to try
to make common cause to actually get the results we seek.
But that won't happen just by wishing for it.
So please, everybody, find a role
that you feel comfortable playing.
[APPLAUSE]
- Well, we're going to bring--
this is a conversation I would love to continue.
I'm sure many of you would love to continue
to hear from Secretary Clinton.
But suffice it to say, it's on to the medal ceremony.
And thank you.
I know I'm comfortable speaking on behalf of all of us
in thanking you for your inspiration, your integrity,
your commitment, and your commitment
to making sure that no matter the circumstance or what
befalls us we got to get up every day and do the hard work,
the long and deep work, and that together, we will move forward.
Thank you very much, Secretary Clinton.
[APPLAUSE]
- So thank you so much, Maura, for leading
such a terrific and thoughtful conversation.
And to Secretary Clinton, thank you
for sharing your thoughts, your insights with all of us
and for participating in this special occasion.
And in a minute, I'm going to confer on you the 2018
Radcliffe Medal.
But before I do that.
I want to recognize someone who has delayed in getting here.
But he was so determined to get here that he persisted.
And that is former Harvard President Neil Rudenstine,
who was critical to the creation of the Institute.
[APPLAUSE]
The Radcliffe Institute wouldn't be here today
if Neil hadn't persisted.
So now it's time for me to read the citation
and then to give you our medal.
She has lived a life of public service.
She uses her fierce intellect and determination
to create meaningful social and political change.
She displays the courage demanded of those who go first.
Secretary Clinton, I bestow upon you this Radcliffe Medal
with the deepest admiration for a lifetime of exemplary service
and profound impact.
[APPLAUSE]
Now please join me in welcoming our 2018 Radcliffe
Medalist Hillary Rodham Clinton to the podium.
[APPLAUSE]
- Oh, thank you.
You know, this has been such an amazing day.
I just want to express my deep honor and appreciation.
Thank you so much to Dean Cohen and to everyone
who was part of this ceremony and who is part
of the Radcliffe Institute.
I am so humbled to accept the Radcliffe Medal.
I want to thank formally my friend and colleague
Madeleine Albright for her remarks and for her leadership
and also to Attorney General Healey
for that invigorating conversation, which I agree,
Maura, could go on and on.
And I hope to keep talking to you
as you keep doing an excellent job-- not
only for Massachusetts, but for the country.
[APPLAUSE]
Now, I have to confess, being here has
felt a little bit like an episode of that old TV show,
This Is Your Life.
But today's conversation could not
have come at a more important moment.
Transformation of our economy, our politics, and our culture
is happening in real time.
I recently reread those really famous lines
from Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities,
but I hadn't focused on them in quite a number of years.
Just remember how it went.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.
It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
Now, Dickens was obviously writing about the years
leading up to the French Revolution,
but he could have been describing
the ricocheting highs and lows of this moment in America.
Because we're living through a time
when fundamental rights, civic virtue, freedom of the press,
even facts and reason are under assault like never before.
But we are also witnessing an era of new moral conviction,
civic engagement, a sense of devotion
to our democracy and our country.
One of my heroes, Eleanor Roosevelt, said many things,
but here's one.
"You gain strength and courage and confidence
by every experience in which you really
stop to look fear in the face.
And you are able to say to yourself,
I have lived through this horror.
I can take the next thing that comes along."
That's resilience.
Resilience has been on my mind a lot,
because everyone gets knocked down.
What matters is whether you get back up and keep going.
And it's not been an easy time for more than half
of our country since the 2016 election.
And I still think that understanding
what happened in that weird and wild election
will help us defend our democracy in the future.
Now, you know-- and you heard this morning from the panel--
our country is dangerously polarized.
We have sorted ourselves into opposing camps,
and that shapes so much about how we see the world.
The data backs this up.
There are more liberals and conservatives than there
used to be and fewer centrists.
Our political parties are more ideologically
and geographically consistent.
There are fewer northern Republicans
and fewer southern Democrats.
The divides on race and religion are starker than ever before.
And as the middle shrank, partisan animosity grew.
In 1960, just 5% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats
said they would be upset if their son or daughter married
a member of the other political party.
Now, in 2010, the number was 49% of Republicans
and 33% of Democrats who felt that way.
So I don't want to get political,
but I want to say this is not just a both sides problem.
The radicalization of American politics
has not been symmetrical.
There are forces and leaders in our country
who blatantly incite people with hateful rhetoric, who
stoke fear of change, who see the world in zero-sum terms
so that if others are gaining, then everyone else
must be losing.
So that is a recipe for polarization and conflict.
And I do believe that healing our country
will take what I call radical empathy--
reaching across the divides of race, class,
but mostly politics to try to see the world through the eyes
of people very different from ourselves
and to try to return to rational debate,
to find a way to disagree without being disagreeable,
to recapture a sense of common humanity.
When we think about politics and judge our leaders,
we can't just ask, am I better off than I was four years ago?
We should also ask, are we all better off?
Are we as a country better, stronger, and fairer?
And empathy should not only be at the center
of our individual lives, our families, and our communities
but at the center of our public life, our policies,
and our politics.
I know we don't think of politics and empathy
as going hand in hand these days.
But they can, and they must.
As Madeleine writes in her new book,
"this generosity of spirit, this caring about others
and about the proposition that we are all created equal
is the single most effective antidote
to the self-centered moral numbness
that allows fascism to thrive."
So in addition to the kinds of resilience
that have been on my mind and that I've been talking about,
I'm also very focused on democratic resilience.
You all remember-- in 1787 after the Constitutional Convention
in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin
was asked by a woman in the street
outside Independence Hall, well, Doctor, what have we got?
A republic or a monarchy?
And Franklin answered, a republic if you can keep it.
So right now, we are living through a crisis
in our democracy.
There certainly are not tanks in the street,
but what's happening today goes to the heart
of who we are as a nation.
And I say this not as a Democrat who
lost an election but as an American afraid
of losing a country.
And there are certain things that
are so essential they must transcend politics.
Waging a war on the rule of law and a free press,
delegitimizing elections, perpetuating corruption,
rejecting the idea that our leaders should
be public servants, undermining our national unity,
and attacking truth and reason--
these should alarm us all, whether we're
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, vegetarians,
whoever we might be.
And attempting to erase the line between fact and fiction, truth
and an alternative reality is a core feature
of authoritarianism.
The goal is to make us question logic and reason
and sow mistrust toward exactly the people I
think we need to rely on--
our leaders, the press, experts who
seek to guide public policy based on evidence, ultimately,
ourselves.
Now, just last week, former Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson said, "if our leaders seek
to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting
of alternative realities that are no longer grounded
in facts, then we as Americans are on a pathway
to relinquishing our freedom."
Perhaps a tad late, but he's absolutely right.
So how do we build democratic resilience?
Well, Maura and I talked a little bit about that.
It does begin with standing up for the truth, facts,
and reason--
not only in the classroom and on campus,
but every day in our lives.
And it means speaking out about the vital role
of higher education in our society to create opportunity
and equity.
It means calling out actual fake news when we see it
and supporting brave journalism and reporting--
and yes, subscribing to a newspaper.
Remember those?
Most of all, as obvious as it seems,
it means voting in every election, not just
the presidential ones.
We've come through challenging times before,
and it's not easy to wade back into the fight every day.
But that's exactly what we must do.
And finally, that's why I am optimistic about the future--
because of how unbelievably tough we are proving to be.
I've encountered many people in recent months
who give me hope--
the students in Parkland, now the students in Santa Fe,
many people in communities who have responded
with courage and resolve.
And the leaders and groups that I'm supporting
have given me a real rush of hope.
Because when I started it after the election,
it was to help support this rush of activity
from the grassroots level to encourage the outpouring
of that engagement--
so everyone who is marching, registering voters, diving
into the issues facing us like never before--
some for the first time in their lives,
the leaders here at the Radcliffe Institute
doing cutting-edge research bringing together
some of the brightest minds in the world to discuss and debate
big ideas.
And yes, I find hope in the wave of women running for office
and winning.
And I find hope in the women and men
who are dismantling the notion that women
should have to endure harassment and violence as a part of life.
[APPLAUSE]
So, yes, I know there are many fights to fight,
and more seem to arise every day.
And it will take work to keep up the pressure
and to stay vigilant to neither close
our eyes nor numb our hearts or throw up our hands
and say, someone else take over from here.
But there has not been a time-- certainly in 50 years and maybe
not even for longer than that--
where our country depends on every citizen believing
in the power of your actions, even
when that power is invisible and your efforts feel like you
are in an uphill battle--
and yes, voting, even when your side loses.
It comes down to be really a matter of infinite faith.
So pace ourselves.
Lean on each other.
Look for the good wherever we can.
Celebrate the heroes.
Encourage children.
Find ways to disagree respectfully.
Be ready to lose some fights, but don't quit.
As John McCain recently reminded us,
no just cause is futile, even if it's lost.
What matters is that we keep going.
So no matter what, think about our children
and our grandchildren who are counting on us.
And think, too, that our country and the world are as well.
Thank you so much, Radcliffe and Harvard.
[APPLAUSE]
- OK.
I just want to say, I want to thank
Secretary Clinton one more time for this really
remarkable, inspiring day.
I want to thank Nick and our panelists who
were incredibly stimulating and gave us so much to think about.
And I want to thank all of you for coming and making
this historic Radcliffe day so memorable.
So on to the future.
- Yes, onward!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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