Friday, March 21, 2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton's eight years as first lady were packed with meetings, speeches, foreign travel, fundraising events and her own ambitious early effort to reform the nation's health-care system, her newly released public schedules show. She has said while campaigning for the presidency that those years gave her all the experience she needs for the job. A sampling of her schedules on some of the most consequential days of her husband's presidency contains little evidence that she was deeply involved in those events.
Aug. 6, 1993
The administration's deficit-reduction bill squeaks to final passage in the Senate by a single vote after heavy personal lobbying by President Bill Clinton.
Hillary Clinton attends multiple meetings on health care, including a session involving six Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee and an afternoon meeting in the Oval Office.
Oct. 3, 1993
Eighteen U.S. soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia are killed when militia forces down a Black Hawk helicopter.
Hillary Clinton and the president attend a ceremony at St. Matthew's Cathedral. The first lady's schedule the next day reflects routine meetings involving legislative efforts, scheduling and an arts event.
Aug. 26, 1994
President Clinton signs a covert "finding" that authorizes military intervention in Haiti.
On both the day of the invasion and the day before, the first lady's schedule lists no public events.
Aug. 30, 1995
NATO begins a bombing assault on Bosnian Serbs, 40 months into a war that is to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The Clintons are vacationing in Jackson Hole, Wyo. They fly to Hawaii, where they are greeted by dignitaries at an arrival ceremony and work a rope line. The president attends a meeting with senior military officers at Hickam Air Force Base as "HRC breaks off," the schedule says.
Jan. 21, 1998
News breaks that independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr is investigating whether President Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky and urged her to conceal it from lawyers representing Paula Jones.
Hillary Clinton, accompanied by a White House lawyer and outside lawyer Robert B. Barnett, meets with radio reporters. She then travels to the Baltimore area to attend Winter Convocation at Goucher College. She is slated to leave the White House for 25 minutes in early evening, but her destination is redacted for privacy reasons.
March 24, 1999
War in Kosovo begins, with NATO sending warplanes and missiles into Yugoslavia after a year of failed diplomacy.
Hillary Clinton is in the Middle East, traveling this day from Egypt to Tunisia, where she meets with the wife of the prime minister. She appears the next day at several events around the country promoting women's reproductive health.
July 24-25, 2000
Camp David summit brokered by President Clinton between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak collapses.
Hillary Clinton travels to Detroit on July 24 to attend a fundraising event for her Senate campaign. The next day, she travels to Arkansas to participate in a memorial service for Diane Blair, an old friend.
Oct. 12, 2000
The USS Cole is rammed by terrorists in a small, explosives-laden boat off the coast of Yemen, killing 17 U.S. sailors.
This day and the next, Hillary Clinton is campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat, appearing at rallies and receptions, and greeting voters in New York City and Niagara Falls.
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