Difference between revisions of "The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton"

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===Seven: A Woman of Many Projects===
 
===Seven: A Woman of Many Projects===
 +
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:'''Topics discussed'''
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::*Hillary's friendship and possible affair with [[Vince Foster]]
 +
::*Education reform
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::*[[Roger Clinton]]'s drug arrest & conviction
 +
::*Bill implicated; accused of cocaine use
 +
::*Bill's depression
 +
::*Hillary threatens divorce
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::*Family therapy
 +
::*Bill announces run for fourth term as governor
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::*Sketchy finances re: [[Jim McDougal]] and [[Whitewater]]
 +
 +
:'''Notable events'''
 +
::*[[Hillary Rodham Clinton timeline#1984|August 14, 1984]]: Roger Clinton arraigned for cocaine-related charges; released on $5,000 bond.
 +
::*[[Hillary Rodham Clinton timeline#1984|November 1984]]: Roger pleads guilty to one count of drug trafficking.
 +
::*[[Hillary Rodham Clinton timeline#1985|January 27, 1985]]: Roger sentenced to two to five years (released after one for good behavior).
 +
::*[[Hillary Rodham Clinton timeline#1985|Summer 1985]]: Hillary tells friends of plans to file for divorce.
 +
 +
 +
:'''Notable quotes'''
 +
::*"[[Lawrence Douglas Brown|Brown]] felt that both the Clintons held working people, law enforcement types and "rednecks" in contempt, though Bill was better at disguising his feelings that Hillary." (pg. 147)
 +
::*"[O]ther troopers also believed that Hillary and Vince Foster were having an affair." (pg. 148)
 +
::*"If practicing law was often unrewarding, Hillary's first major venture into policy making would be deemed a resounding success." (pg. 152)
 +
::*"Hillary's considerable skills as an executive and motivator often seemed squandered because of her inability to find a job large enough for her ambitions." (pg. 161)
 +
  
 
===Eight: The Gary Hart Factor===
 
===Eight: The Gary Hart Factor===

Revision as of 02:20, 8 May 2012

The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton was written by Joyce Milton and published by HarperCollins in 1999.

Reaction

The Washington Post said: "The First Partner...is well-written and may be the single best compendium of every charge of malfeasance, true or false, that's ever been hurled at the Clintons."[1]

In a Booklist Review, Mary Carroll said: "...Milton is more interested in dishing dirt than in understanding her subject; here, she adopts a "gotcha" tone, whether the issue is Clinton's alleged bossiness in high school or her Arkansas real-estate deals."[2]

In National Review, Dick Morris said: "The chief lesson here is that there is very little about Mrs. Clinton that she will not either change or modify as the situation requires. We can expect a new "new Hillary Clinton" soon."[3]

Chapter summaries

One: The First Victim

Topics discussed
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "[T]he former spokesperson for the 1960s, which prided itself on exposing hypocrisy and 'telling it like it is,' was now admired by many of her peers for her ability to close her mind to unpleasant realities." (pg. 10)[4]

Two: Rugged Individualist

Topics discussed
  • childhood
  • family
  • school
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "'Children are not rugged individualists.' This is the first sentence of Hillary Rodham Clinton's book It Takes a Village, and it's a startling one because Hillary Rodham was a rugged individualist as a child." (pg. 11)[4]
  • "'I always felt Hillary thought she knew what was best, and that's what everybody should do.'" (pg. 19)[4]

Three: The Art of the Impossible

Topics discussed
  • Undergrad studies at Wellesley
  • Studies at Yale Law
  • Meeting & dating Bill
  • Campaigning for child's empowerment & destruction of nuclear family
  • Work on Nixon impeachment
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "[T]he most notable feature of Hillary's Wellesley career was her tendency to befriend students who were destined for success in later life." (pg. 28)[4]
  • "'Hillary is stuck in a bit of a time warp. She has not learned as I think I have the power of the market.'" (pg. 37)[4]
  • "[Hillary] advocated liberating our 'child citizens' from the 'empire of the father.' (pg. 59)[4]
  • "With hindsight, the most interesting thing about Hillary's views is her assumption that all dependency relationships are bad–––except the dependence of the individual on the state." (pg. 60)[4]
  • "Hillary 'paid no attention to the way the Constitution works in this country, the way politics works, the way Congress works, the way legal safeguards are set up.'" (pg. 66)[4]

Four: The Yankee Girlfriend

Topics discussed
  • Move to Arkansas
  • Bill's failed House race
  • wedding
  • Bill's successful 1976 Attorney General race
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "Hillary realized if she married Bill, she would be the one responsible for their financial security for the foreseeable future. This seemed to bother her more than his womanizing, or perhaps they were part of the same problem." (pg. 85)[4]

Five: First in Her Firm

Topics discussed
  • Hillary joins Rose Law Firm
  • Bill wins 1978 Arkansas gubernatorial race
  • Hillary's sketchy commodities trading stint
  • Hillary's pregnancy
  • Taxpayers billed for Clintons' personal expenses
  • Clintons cheating on taxes
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "Undoubtedly, Hillary was often lonely. She had no close friends in town, social events in Little Rock were invariably organized for couples, and the problem, recalls Hubbell, was that 'of course Bill was never around.'" (pg. 93)
  • "Unable to control her husband's behavior, Hillary concentrated on taking care of the family finances." (pg. 95)

Six: Survival Plan

Topics discussed
  • Chelsea born
  • Bill loses gubernatorial re-election; immediately begins campaigning
  • Illegal activities of Legal Services Corporation
  • Bill's re-election campaign; negative ads
  • Hillary's name change
  • Hillary hires private investigator to document Bill's affairs
Notable events
Notable quotes
  • "[W]ith Hillary preoccupied with the baby and her job, Clinton was feeling sorry for himself, and he compensated by seeking out other women." (pg. 116)
  • "Dolly Kyle Browning, who saw Hillary at social events, would observe, 'it took her a long time to learn to pretend to like us.'" (pg. 119)
  • "Hillary's instant decision to engineer a comeback effort suggested that even at this early stage she couldn't see her marriage apart from her and Bill's shared political ambitions." (pg. 121)

Seven: A Woman of Many Projects

Topics discussed
  • Hillary's friendship and possible affair with Vince Foster
  • Education reform
  • Roger Clinton's drug arrest & conviction
  • Bill implicated; accused of cocaine use
  • Bill's depression
  • Hillary threatens divorce
  • Family therapy
  • Bill announces run for fourth term as governor
  • Sketchy finances re: Jim McDougal and Whitewater
Notable events
  • August 14, 1984: Roger Clinton arraigned for cocaine-related charges; released on $5,000 bond.
  • November 1984: Roger pleads guilty to one count of drug trafficking.
  • January 27, 1985: Roger sentenced to two to five years (released after one for good behavior).
  • Summer 1985: Hillary tells friends of plans to file for divorce.


Notable quotes
  • "Brown felt that both the Clintons held working people, law enforcement types and "rednecks" in contempt, though Bill was better at disguising his feelings that Hillary." (pg. 147)
  • "[O]ther troopers also believed that Hillary and Vince Foster were having an affair." (pg. 148)
  • "If practicing law was often unrewarding, Hillary's first major venture into policy making would be deemed a resounding success." (pg. 152)
  • "Hillary's considerable skills as an executive and motivator often seemed squandered because of her inability to find a job large enough for her ambitions." (pg. 161)


Eight: The Gary Hart Factor

Nine: Everyone Has a List

Ten: The Transition That Wasn't

Eleven: Reclaiming America

Twelve: A Box with No Windows

Thirteen: Lawyering Up

Fourteen: From the White House to Your House

Fifteen: China Syndrome

Sixteen: The Making of an Icon

Epilogue: The Half-Life of a First Lady

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Hillary Template:Hrc stub

  1. From front cover of "First Perennial" edition
  2. Booklist review on Amazon (under "Editorial Reviews")
  3. Dick Morris review on Barnes & Noble (under "Editorial Reviews")
  4. Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Milton, Joyce. The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton. New York: Perennial, 2000.