Clinton's first lady schedule released
WASHINGTON (AP) - March 20, 2008 The words of the schedules are dry, but they take on emotional
weight when coupled with revelations about the sex scandal that
eventually came to light. A year later, the schedules show her
pressing ahead and showing her face at public events as revelations
about the scandal upended her life and threatened Bill Clinton's
presidency.
The papers also shed light on her struggle for health care
reform early in the Clinton administration, her scaling back when
that effort failed, her travels abroad and the legal woes that
dogged the Clintons in the White House.
She also was an early champion of the North American Free Trade
Agreement that she now criticizes in her campaign for the
Democratic presidential nomination. The papers show her holding at
least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping win congressional
approval of the deal.
It's unlikely she would be surprised at this late date to learn
that the president was cheating on her while she was home in the
White House. But the release of the documents reminds voters anew
about Bill Clinton's affair and the impeachment proceedings that
brought Washington to a halt for a year.
The private crisis came at the most public of times for the
first lady.
She had speeches scheduled, at home and abroad. She appeared by
President Clinton's side at an education event where he angrily
dismissed the reports of having sex with Lewinsky.
Her schedule has her choosing flowers for a black-tie dinner,
congratulating "Guns Aren't Cool" award winners and reading to
kids in the week in January 1998 when allegations of the scandal
begin coming out. She denounced a "vast right-wing conspiracy" in
a TV interview.
Almost a year earlier, the schedules show, she was home on Feb.
28, 1997, the day the report by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr
says Bill Clinton had a sexual encounter with Lewinsky in an Oval
Office bathroom in the early evening, staining her blue dress.
Mrs. Clinton had "drop by" events or meetings in the Map Room
and Diplomatic Reception Room between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. that
day, according to her schedule. It also lists plays that night and
a concert, but it's not clear whether she attended.
More than a year earlier, on Nov. 15, 1995, the first lady went
to a mid-afternoon "meet & greet" photo opportunity at the White
House with Nobel Laureates and their families. That night, Lewinsky
had what she later said was her first sexual encounter with the
president, in the private study off the Oval office.
On Jan. 21, 1996, the first lady and the president privately
toured an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. That afternoon,
Lewinsky said, she and Bill Clinton had a sexual encounter in the
hallway by the private study.
The schedules indicate Hillary Clinton was home on at least four
other days when her husband and the intern got together.
Twice, Mrs. Clinton was overseas at such times.
The National Archives released the papers in Washington and at
the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas after months of
pressure from critics who say the Clintons were delaying the
disclosure. The issue has dogged her bid for the White House.
In all, 11,046 pages have been made available. Nearly 4,800
pages have parts blacked out. Archivists said that's to protect the
privacy of third parties. Schedules for more than 30 days of
activities were not included in this release.
Clinton, now New York senator, said in her memoir that she had
little choice but to carry on with her appearances after the
Lewinsky revelations. It was on Jan. 21, 1998, when her husband
woke her up, sat on the edge of the bed and said, "There's
something in today's papers you should know about." He told her of
the reports of his relationship with the former intern, and she
said she believed his denials.
But on Saturday, Aug. 15, 1998, with the investigation closing
in on the real story, he woke her up again and owned up to his
misbehavior. She said in her book that she was grateful there were
no public events that weekend.
Before the Lewinsky ordeal, Mrs. Clinton faced her own legal
troubles in 1996 during the criminal investigation of the Clintons'
Whitewater real estate dealings in Arkansas.
In the Whitewater probe, one of the pivotal events occurred on
Jan. 4, 1996, a day in which Mrs. Clinton's personal calendar for
late that afternoon is marked "Private Meeting" with her chief of
staff, Margaret Williams.
Several hours earlier, an aide had discovered inside the White
House family residence long-sought billing records of Mrs.
Clinton's legal work on Whitewater-related real estate transactions
that turned out to be fraudulent.
Furious prosecutors, who had subpoenaed the records 18 months
earlier, ordered Mrs. Clinton to testify before a federal grand
jury about the records. She appeared on Jan. 26, 1996.
Her calendar for Jan. 26 says "No Public Schedule," although
the first lady stood before a bank of microphones in front of the
federal courthouse in Washington, and declared: "I am happy to
answer the grand jury's questions." Several hours of testimony she
gave that day made her the first first lady to ever be hauled in
for such questioning.
Neither the federal probe by Independent Counsel Starr nor
Republican-led investigations on Capitol Hill were ever able to
sort out why the records of Mrs. Clinton's work had never been
turned over to investigators. She said she had no idea where the
billing records had been.
Prosecutors concluded they did not have enough to prove she was
a knowing participant in criminal conduct by others, including
Whitewater business partner Jim McDougal.
Her Democratic presidential campaign released a statement
Wednesday saying the schedules spanning her two terms as first lady
"illustrate the array of substantive issues she worked on" and
her travel to more than 80 countries "in pursuit of the
administration's domestic and foreign policy goals."
Clinton says her years as first lady equip her to handle foreign
policy and national security as president.
But the schedules show trips packed with plainly traditional
activities for a first lady, along with some substance.
For example, in her January 1994 visit to Russia with her
husband, her schedule is focused on events with other wives. She
sat in on a birthing class at a hospital, toured a cathedral and
joined prominent women in a lunch of blinis with caviar and salmon.
The Clinton campaign said the schedules are merely a guide and
don't reflect all of her activities.
The papers show her tackling health care reform out of the gate
in 1993, with a meeting three days after her husband's inauguration
and many more as the year went on, before her effort ultimately
failed.
She also pushed NAFTA on multiple occasions, including one in
November 1993 at a closed meeting with 120 participants. As a
presidential candidate, she blames the pact for job losses and
promises to renegotiate it.
Her White House policy role diminished markedly after the
collapse of the health care initiative.
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Associated Press writers Pete Yost, Sharon Theimer, Larry
Margasak and Ann Sanner contributed to this report.