Living History, Unknown [books to read in your 20s female TXT] 📗

movies and in video games. Despite the public outcry, Congress failed to act on two simple measures regarding guns: to close the socalled gun-show loophole that allows people to buy guns without background checks and to require child safety locks on guns.

This congressional lack of will to buck the all-powerful gun lobby and pass sensible gun safety measures made me think about what I might be able to do, as a Senator, to pass common sense legislation. In an interview in May, I told CBS anchor Dan Rather that, if I ran for the Senate, it would be because of what I had learned in places like Littleton―

and in spite of what I had lived through in Washington.

The Senate race began to take shape. Giuliani met in Texas with Governor George W.

Bush, who had just announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee.

The Mayor also labeled me a carpetbagger and announced that he would go to Arkansas to raise money for his campaign. A clever ploy, I thought―one that raised him both attention and money and gave me a taste of the campaign to come. Rep. Lowey, one of the most effective and popular members of Congress, announced that she would not run. In June, I took the first concrete steps necessary for a Senate campaign, announcing that I would form an exploratory committee. I enlisted the help of media consultant Mandy Grunwald and Mark Penn, the shrewd and insightful pollster who worked with Bill, and I began interviewing potential campaign staff.

During the White House years, I had often escaped to New York City with my mother or Chelsea to take in Broadway shows, museum exhibits or just to visit friends. Even before I contemplated a run for the Senate, the state had been on the top of our short list of places to live after Bill’s term ended. This desire grew over the years and had now hardened into a firm decision. While Bill intended to build his presidential library in Arkansas and to spend time there, he also loved New York. From a purely practical standpoint, it was a perfect base of operations for him, given the amount of time he would be traveling and speaking at home and overseas, and continuing his public service through his foundation.

We had already talked about buying a house, and before long, we were house hunting.

But this ordinarily routine process was complicated by the security concerns of the Secret Service. We couldn’t live on certain kinds of streets, and any house we bought had to have space for security personnel. Nevertheless, the search was fun for me. We had lived in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion and the White House, but we hadn’t owned our own home for almost twenty years. Eventually we found the perfect place, an old farm house and barn in Chappaqua, north of New York City in Westchester County.

I also started reaching out to potential contributors for the first time on my own behalf.

At a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party in Washington on June 7, 1999, Bill and I were welcomed on stage by former Texas Governor Ann Richards, whose sharp wit and homespun humor were legendary on the political circuit.

“Hillary Clinton, the next junior senator from New York, and, of course, her lovely husband, Bill,” she said in her deep Texas drawl. “Man, I bet he’s really going to shake up that Senate spouses club.”

Bill accepted the good-natured teasing and delighted in the public support I was receiving.

He understood the sacrifices I had made over the years so that he could serve in government. Now, recognizing that I had a chance to move beyond the derivative role of political spouse and test my political wings, he encouraged me to forge ahead. It would be awkward for him to watch from the sidelines, but he gave me unconditional and enthusiastic support as his wife―and as a candidate.

I received a boost in late June from another unexpected source: Father George Tribou, the priest who had run the Catholic boys’ high school in Little Rock for many years. He had become a friend of mine even though he disagreed with my prochoice position. He had stayed overnight in the White House, and I had arranged for him to meet His Holiness Pope John Paul II during the papal visit to St. Louis in 1999 Father Tribou wrote me a letter dated June 24,1999:

Dear Hillary,

I want to tell you what I have been telling students for So years: It is my opinion that on judgment Day the first question God asks is not about the Ten Commandments (although He gets to them later!) but what He asks each of us is this:

WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE TIME AND THE TALENTS I GAVE

YOU?…

Those who feel you are not up to handling the hostile New York press and the taunts of your opponents fail to realize that, having been tried in the fire, you can handle anything.

… Bottom line: run, Hillary, run! My prayers will be with you all the way.

The most difficult decisions I have made in my life were to stay married to Bill and to run for the Senate from New York. By now I knew I wanted our marriage to last if it could because I loved Bill and I realized how much I cherished the years we had spent together. I knew that I could not have parented Chelsea alone as well as we had together. I had no doubt that I could construct a satisfying life by myself and make a good living, but I hoped Bill and I could grow old together. We were both committed to rebuilding our marriage with the tools of our faith, love and shared past. With my mind clearer about where I wanted to go with Bill, I felt freer to take the first steps toward a race for the Senate.

I knew that any campaign would be a baptism by fire. Although by now I was a seasoned campaigner, going