[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 34 (Monday, August 30, 1999)]
[Pages 1658-1659]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception Honoring the First Lady in Nantucket

August 21, 1999

[The President's remarks are joined in progress.]

    We met in 1971. I noticed her in a class we were in in law school. 
And I had just broken up with this girl I was going with. [Laughter] And 
I noticed her in this class, and the reason I noticed her in this class, 
to be honest, is that she attended it less frequently than I had. 
[Laughter] And she was an interesting, compelling looking woman, so I 
followed her out of this class. And I got right behind her and I said, 
``No, this is nothing but trouble.'' And I turned around and I walked 
off, didn't say a word to her.
    And then I kind of stalked her around the law school for 2 or 3 
weeks, and I'd get up and I'd say, ``No, this is nothing but trouble,'' 
and I would walk off. [Laughter] So one night I was in the Yale Law 
School library--now, any of you who have ever seen it, it's a big sort 
of long, gothic room. It's a skinny, long

[[Page 1659]]

room. I'm at one end; Hillary is at the other. And there was a guy--I 
still remember this guy's name; his name was Jeff Glekel--trying to talk 
me into joining the law journal.
    And I said--and it was one of these affirmative action things; he 
wanted a token guy with an accent. [Laughter] And so he wanted some 
redneck on the law journal at Yale. You know, it seemed like it would be 
a good thing. And I kept telling him I didn't want to be on the law 
journal because I was going home to Arkansas to live and what the hell 
did I need to be on the law journal. [Laughter] And all the time I'm 
staring at Hillary who is at the other end of the room, with a book.
    So in the middle of this guy's passionate entreaty for me to join 
the law journal, Hillary slams down the book, and she walks across the 
library, and she looks at me and says, ``Look, you have been staring at 
me for weeks, and I've been staring back. So at least we ought to know 
each other's name. I'm Hillary Rodham. What's your name?'' I couldn't 
remember my name. [Laughter]
    Now, question number one, this woman has initiative--good in a 
Senator.
    The second thing I want to tell you is this: In 1973, after we had 
gone together for 2 years and we were very much in love, I was very 
ambivalent about Hillary coming home to Arkansas. She actually moved to 
Massachusetts for a while to work for the Children's Defense Fund. And I 
wanted her to go to New York or go home to Chicago because I thought she 
had such enormous potential for public service--I didn't want her to, of 
course, I wanted her to go with me. But I was so afraid I was, in 
effect, taking away from her life and from this country the most gifted 
person I had ever known up to that time.
    Well, over 25 years later, I still haven't met anybody I thought was 
as gifted. And in 1993, when we moved to the White House, I said, ``I 
want you to decide where you want to go and what you want to do when we 
get out of here. For 20 years we've gone where I wanted to go and done 
what I wanted to do, and I'll give you the next 20 years. And if I'm 
still alive after that, we'll fight over the rest.'' [Laughter]
    And so all she is really doing today is what I thought for the 
benefit of the country and for the development of her own potential for 
service maybe she should have been able to do in 1973. I'm very glad she 
didn't do it then, and very glad she is doing it today.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 10:10 p.m. at a private 
residence. The press release issued by the Office of the Press Secretary 
did not include the complete opening remarks of the President. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.