Hillary Clinton at Columbia

Hillary Clinton Returning to the Classroom?

Makes me wish I were still at Columbia!

nydailynews.com

Hillary Clinton in talks with Columbia to take on professor role

BY Nancy Dillon

3-4 minutes

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Hillary Clinton is testing the waters on a return to academia.The former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential nominee is in talks with Columbia University to take on a formal role at the Ivy League — and potentially house her archives there, multiple sources told the Daily News.
One option under discussion is an esteemed “University Professor” role that would allow Clinton to lecture across a range of schools and departments without the requirement of a strict course load, one source said.
A former law professor, Clinton could maintain the vaunted but vague role indefinitely or decide at a later date she wants to settle at Columbia's celebrated law school or maybe the School of International and Public Affairs, the source said.
Read more >>>>

'Hillary Clinton Chair' Added at Columbia University Medical Center

Congratulations to Dr. Lynn L. Simpson as the inaugural holder of this prestigious professorship!

New Professorship Announced in Ob/Gyn for Hillary Rodham Clinton

May 27, 2014

Dr. Lynn L. Simpson

A recent donation to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons will fund a new professorship named for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Lynn L. Simpson, chief of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was selected as the first holder of this appointment. This marks the fourth endowed chair to be added to the Department since 2011.

Read More  >>>>

HRC to Columbia University Faculty

This, today from Laura Rozen sparked my interest, but not for obvious or predictable reasons. Of course the Secretary of State will speak up for Americans unfairly imprisoned abroad by states and entities with which we do not have diplomatic relations. (Just to be clear on this, we do have diplomatic relations with Italy and Haiti, and and we trust our friends and allies to be fair in their charges/convictions, so please do not try to align the Iranian case with Amanda Knox or the Americans being held in Haiti.) In this case, the American is a Columbia University scholar being held in Iran on baseless charges. The faculty had written to the Secretary, and today, Rozen put up this story with a link to a pdf of the letter.

Laura Rozen
February 13, 2010


Clinton writes colleagues of imprisoned Iranian American scholar

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told academic colleagues of an Iranian-American scholar imprisoned in Iran that espionage charges levelled (sic)against him are groundless, and that the U.S. government is using every diplomatic tool it has to gain his release.

Read more>>>>

Here is the link to the letter.
HRC Letter

My interest in this letter has nothing to do with Iran, the charges, the faculty at Columbia, or, actually, Dr. Tajbakhsh, who is, I am sure, innocent of the charges and a fine person. No, my interest is in the letter as a artifact. Could that header be any more minimalist? There is not a single elaboration on this stationery. I have never seen such simplicity, and I have spent a good deal of time with letters and stationery both in my daily routines and in my research. Simple, minimal, direct. I am equally impressed with the signature, also very simple - no title necessary - it is up there in the header.

Lastly, why does this letter have the look of something that was typed with carbon copies? It appears it was scanned, not electronically generated and shared as a document, but rather saved as a scanned document which has characteristics closer to a photo than a document.

We have memo forms where I work that are more complex, and when you look at the address, that is clearly more complex by far that the stationery and signature. I guess it is quirky of me to find this interesting on a slow Hillary-news Saturday before she leaves for the Persian Gulf, but it speaks to me. It says the more obscure we are, the more tags and specifics are needed to clarify who we are. The more notable we are, the fewer tags and specifics. The only way this gets simpler is to address something to HRC, D.C. Heh! I bet she would get it!

Now you sincerely did not think I would end this without a picture of our girl, did you? I love this picture. I hope we see this beautiful smile again very soon now that she knows that Big Dawg's intervention was just routine maintenance.

Hillary Clinton: The Year in Review/Installment III/March 2009

March 2009 was when our lovely new Secretary of State traveled to Mexico and the Middle East. My favorite highlights from March.

• The Middle East:  
• She visited an EFL class on the West Bank and taught (lucky kids, lucky teacher!).
• Video of Shimon Peres giving flowers to  our flower.  She was adorable - both of them were.
  
• St. Patrick's Day:  The Irish Foreign Minister visited her at the State Department.   Hillary always does something special on St. Patrick's Day.  She was in the Scranton parade the year before, and Scranton will never forget.
• Mexico:  She spontaneously decided to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe,  and the monsignor who is the rector was clearly delighted.  He gave her a rose and I changed the name of this blog.

Something else interesting:  That Rainbow entry.  Well, not long ago, I think in September, we DID, as Hillary put it, "go into the arena" and rejoin the UN Human Rights Council.  If it was not her idea, she certainly did a yeoman's job of making it sound like her idea.   Also, in the interim, Hillary and Susan Rice appear to be marching in lockstep and getting along just fine regardless of predictions to the contrary.  I do not know how she is getting along with Samantha Powers.   It seems from what I wrote there that this was the beginning of the "Hillary in the Shadows" meme that survived for months and I combated frequently at The Department of Homegirl Security through Spring and into the Summer.
March, I'm gonna march you down the aisle.  (Neil Sedaka)

A Rose for Hillary Archive for March 2009

Hillary Clinton: The Year in Review/Installment I/January 2009

As of this morning, there were 12 days left in 2009.  There are 12  Days of Christmas, and 12 months in the year.  So the magic number 12 gave me the idea to re-post from the archives here.  Starting tonight, with January 2009, and continuing through New Year's Eve, I will re-post,  here,  items from the archives.  This is my humble gift to my readers.  There are no Lords a Leaping, no Pipers Piping and, no Ladies Dancing.  No, not even ONE Partridge in a Pear Tree.  But there IS the AMAZING Hillary Rodham Clinton in her premiere year as Secretary of State - a performance not to be missed!

Happy Holidays to one and all, and, of course, to our dear Madame Secretary!  All the best for the New Year! 

***********

January 2009:   The highlight, hands down,  was Hillary Clinton's spectacular confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which prompted Chris Matthews (of all people) to comment that he had never seen anyone "know so much."  (Not a surprise to Hillary loyalists.)  Here are three January posts about that awesome performance.

January, you start the year off fine.  (Neil Sedaka)


A Rose for Hillary - January 2009 Archives

Copenhagen Today: Slideshow and Text of the Copenhagen Accord

Here is our lovely Secretary of State in Copenhagen today.

Well, some kind of agreement was reached. It does not have the teeth many hoped for. Here is the text of The Copenhagen Accord, such as it is.  It was posted at Grist with this disclaimer:

The text was distributed as a PDF file to the news media. An optical character recognition tool was used to convert that file to text, so errors may have occurred in that process.

Errors did occur because an optical character recognition tool is art rather than a science, but we should all be able to deal with the errors, and we all should be able to read this accord.   I did edit where is was clear what the word was supposed to be.  Other "errors" that came up underlined in red were simply British forms that actually are not errors.  Bolded emphasis herein is my own.

The Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers, and other heads of delegation present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen,

In pursuit of the ultimate objective of the Convention as stated in its Article 2,

Being guided by the principles and provisions of the Convention,

Noting the results of work done by the two Ad hoc Working Groups,

Endorsing decision x/CP.l5 that extends the mandate of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term cooperative action and decision x/CMP.5 that requests the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments of Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol to continue its work, Have agreed on this Copenhagen Accord which is operational immediately.

1. We underline that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We emphasise our strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. To achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, we shall, recognizing the scientific view that the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees, on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development, enhance our long-term cooperative action to combat climate change. We recognize the critical impacts of climate change and the potential impacts of response measures on countries particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects and stress the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation programme including international support.

2. We agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science, and as documented by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions by 50 per cent in 2050 below 1990 levels,taking into account the right to equitable access to atmospheric space. We should cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries and bearing in mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries and that a low-emission development strategy is indispensable to sustainable development.

3. Adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change and the potential impacts of response measures is a challenge faced by all countries. Enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation is urgently required to ensure the implementation of the Convention by enabling and supporting the implementation of adaptation actions aimed at reducing vulnerability and building resilience in developing countries, especially in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially least developed countries, small island developing States and further taking into account the need of countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods. We agree that developed countries shall provide adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources, technology and capacity-building to support the implementation of adaptation action in developing countries.

4. Annex I Parties to the Convention commit to reducing their emissions individually or jointly by at least 80 per cent by 2050. They also commit to implement individually or jointly the quantified economy-wide emissions targets for 2020 as listed in appendix l, yielding in aggregate reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of X per cent in 2020 compared to 1990 and Y per cent in 2020 compared to 2005. Annex I Parties that are Party to the Kyoto Protocol will thereby further strengthen the emissions reductions initiated by the Kyoto Protocol. Delivery of reductions and financing by developed countries will be measured, reported and verified in accordance with existing and any further guidelines adopted by the Conference of Parties, and will ensure that accounting of such targets and finance is rigorous, robust and transparent.

5. Non-Annex I Parties to the Convention will implement mitigation actions, including those listed in appendix II, consistent with Article 4.1 and Article 4.7 and in the context of sustainable development. Mitigation actions subsequently taken and envisaged by Non Annex I Parties shall be communicated through national communications consistent with Article l2.1(b) every two years on the basis of guidelines to be adopted by the Conference of the Parties. Those mitigation actions in national communications or otherwise communicated to the Secretariat will be added to the list in appendix II. Mitigation actions taken by Non Parties will be subject to their domestic measurement, reporting and verification the result of which will be reported through their national communications every two years. Non Annex I Parties will provide biennial national inventory reports in accordance with revised guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties. [Consideration to be inserted US and China]. Nationally appropriate mitigation actions seeking international support will be recorded in a registry along with relevant technology, finance and capacity building support. Those actions supported will be added to the list in appendix II. These supported nationally appropriate mitigation actions will be subject to intenational measurement, reporting and verification in accordance with guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties.

6. We recognize the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission  by forests and agree on the need to provide positive incentives to such actions through the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus, to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries.

7. We decide to ptusue various approaches, including opportunities to use markets, to enhance the cost-effectiveness of; and to promote mitigation actions. Developing countries, especially those with low emitting economies should be provided incentives to continue to develop on a low emission pathway.

8. Scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding as well as improved access shall be provided to developing countries, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, to enable and support enhanced action on mitigation, including substantial finance to prevent deforestation (REDD-plus), adaptation, technology development and transfer and capacity-building, for enhanced implementation of the Convention. The collective commitment by developed countries is to provide new and additional resources amounting to 30 billion dollars for the period 2010 - 2012 as listed in appendix lll with balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation, including forestry. Funding for adaptation will be prioritized for the most vulnerable developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing states and countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods. In the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, developed countries support a goal of mobilizing jointly 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries. This funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including altemative sources of finance. New multilateral funding for adaptation will be delivered through effective and efficient fund arrangements, with a governance structure providing for equal representation of developed and developing countries.

9. To this end, a High Level Panel will be established under the guidance of and accountable to the Conference of the Parties to assess the contribution of the potential sources of revenue, including alternative sources of finance, towards meeting this goal.

10. We decide that the Copenhagen Climate Fund shall be established as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention to support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing cotmtries related to mitigation including REDD-plus, adaptation, capacity- building, technology development and transfer as set forth in decision -/CP.l 5.

ll. In order to enhance action on development and transfer of technology we decide to establish a Technology Mechanism as set forth in decision -/CP.l5 to accelerate technology development and transfer in support of action on adaptation and mitigation Composethat will be guided by a country-driven approach and be based on national circumstances and priorities.

12. We call for a review of this Accord and its implementation to be completed by 2016, including in light of the Convention’s ultimate objective. This review would include consideration of strengthening the long-term goal to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees.

OK. I know I know I know! It's non-binding and has no consequences in an of itself, but it IS something, and we all know the REAL consequences. It is countries like China, India, and Brazil that will suffer those consequences most severely if they do not act on this. In fact they already are, especially China with its pollution. They can no longer claim that they do not know what the results will be.

Anyway, there it is, the baby the President preceded by the Secretary of State helped mid-wife into the world. It does not have teeth, that's true. No newborn does.

Slideshow: The Charm Offensive Hits Copenhagen (in the form of Hillary Clinton)

Well, I posted her remarks earlier today, but when I did, these pictures were not yet available. A day or two ago (I work all day, teach some nights, and blog all night. The days run together, and I lose track), I posted a link to a New York Times article calling Hillary's (sudden, and apparently previously unplanned) agenda in Copenhagen a "charm offensive." Well, we all know our Hillary can do that! So here, in a slideshow, is Hillary in action. I happen to think her charm is irresistible!

Well, it is charm and a little bit more.   From Foreign Policy Morning Brief: Clinton's last-minute bid to save Copenhagen

 Top story:  In an 11th hour proposal to save the ailing UN Climate talks in Copenhagen and have some agreement on the table by the time U.S. President Barack Obama comes to town tomorrow, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed that developed countries including the United States come up with $100 billion per year over the next decade to help poor countries fight climate change.

And from Sphere.com  Clinton Offers Surprise Deal at Climate Conference

(Dec. 17) -- With the clock winding down and the hosts of the Copenhagen climate conference reportedly abandoning hope of a deal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a possibly game-changing U.S. push to facilitate a $100 billion per year fund to help developing countries pay for measures to mitigate and adapt to global warning. Her remarks threw the spotlight on China and set exhausted negotiators back to work on salvaging a conference still teetering on the edge of failure.

"The U.S. is prepared to work with other countries to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020," Clinton told a packed news conference at Copenhagen's Bella Center. But her offer came with a major caveat: that the recipients of such funds agree to strict and open accounting of how they are spent. China in particular, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has strongly resisted provisions for international review of its progress, and it has considerable support for that position among other developing countries.

Video: Secretary Clinton's Remarks with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic

Clinton: December 2009
Remarks With Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic Before Their Meeting


Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
December 15, 2009

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’m very pleased to welcome the foreign minister of Serbia here. Vice President Biden had a very productive meeting last May in Belgrade. And we see continuing positive developments in our relationship with Serbia and we look forward to working with you and with your government on behalf of many matters of mutual concern.

FOREIGN MINISTER JEREMIC: Well, thank you very much, Madame Secretary. It’s a great pleasure to be back in Washington. We see our relation with Washington as the critical relations for peace and stability in the Balkans. The Serbian Government has a central strategic priority, and that is membership in the European Union. We are very grateful for the support that we have enjoyed so far and that we hope to enjoy in the future from the Government of the United States, and I look forward to working with Secretary Clinton and American officials in 2010.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Nice to see you.

FOREIGN MINISTER JEREMIC: Nice to see you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all very much.

Portrait Unveiling for Former Secretary of State Powell

Remarks at Unveiling of the Colin Powell Portrait


Former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC
December 7, 2009

SECRETARY CLINTON: Welcome to the Benjamin Franklin Room here at the State Department for such a happy occasion, totally in keeping with the spirit of the times where we are about to have the unveiling of the official portrait of Colin Powell as Secretary of State.

Four years ago, hundreds of employees from across the State Department gathered in the lobby downstairs to cheer for their boss as he said goodbye. Today, I am delighted to join staff, family, and friends in saying to my predecessor welcome back, it is good to see you here again. (Applause.)

Colin Powell served as Secretary of State during a time of swift and far-reaching change, both for our nation and the world. His tenure began just a few weeks into the new millennium. Nine months later, the September 11th attacks occurred. In the days and weeks that followed, Secretary Powell provided a calm, steady, and hopeful voice as Americans sought to understand the threats we faced and the uncertain future that lay ahead.

In fact, on the day of the attacks, Secretary Powell was in Lima, Peru, attending a special session of the Organization of American States to adopt the Inter-American Democratic Charter, a critical instrument for strengthening public institutions and helping democracy deliver real improvements to people’s lives. When he heard that the planes had hit the Towers, he told his staff that they’d be returning to the United States immediately – and then he returned to the session to cast our nation’s vote in favor of the charter.

He did this not only because it was the initial purpose for his visit, but because in the face of that attack on our nation’s mainland, it was more important than ever to stand up for democracy and freedom and show the world that our belief in our principles will not waver.

Colin Powell has been guided by these values throughout his life. He has been a voice for these values. Indeed, the experiences and perspectives that he brought with him to the State Department made him particularly well suited to serve as Secretary of State. He knew from growing up in an immigrant community the promise and possibilities that America represents to the world.

He knew from his years as a soldier the extraordinary power and reach of the American military and the impact that America can have on the world not only in shaping the course of history, but also in transforming the lives of ordinary people – a profound responsibility that he carried with him. He knew from his experience in war the wisdom of that fundamental principle of American foreign policy: that military action should be used as a last resort, after diplomacy has been pursued with the highest possible rigor and skill. And he knew that in few other countries could a child of immigrants rise to be a general and chief diplomat, and that an essential element of America’s promise is our success in helping all people get the chance to achieve their dreams.

At the State Department, he worked to expand opportunity to marginalized people worldwide. And outside government, the mentoring program he created for young people, America’s Promise, continues to do the same and will surely be one of his lasting legacies.

There are few Americans who are as admired and celebrated as General Powell. He’s received just about every civilian national award there is, including the Congressional Gold Medal and two Presidential Medals of Freedom. He is one of only three people in history to achieve that honor. But people around the country and the world have also voiced their gratitude for him in other, quieter ways.

There’s an elementary school named after him in Virginia, there’s a couple more named after him in Texas. A middle school in Illinois. A street in Gelnhausen, Germany, where Second Lieutenant Colin Powell reported for duty 50 years ago. (Laughter.) And an artist has just completed a mural titled “Homage to Colin Powell,” which depicts the night sky over Jamaica on the evening he was born hundreds of miles north, in New York. (Applause.) It will be hung at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston to remind all visitors of the contributions that one of Jamaica’s most famous sons has made to global progress, prosperity, and peace.

It’s also a great pleasure to welcome back Mrs. Powell and the family to be part of this unveiling. I assume you’ve seen it, Colin, or we would not be here. You haven’t seen it. (Laughter.) Well, did I mention how gutsy Colin Powell is? (Laughter.) Able to accept the unknown and go forward. (Laughter.)

So today, we unveil another work of art dedicated to this public servant and this great American. And I join all members of the Foreign and Civil Service and the employees of the State Department in thanking you for the time that you spent here. It is a great privilege to serve in this position and to look at the portraits of my predecessors as I walk around the seventh floor and now, I will be able to look at your portrait as well and it will give me great pleasure.

Thank you so much for everything, Colin. (Applause.)

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so very much, ladies and gentlemen. And Secretary Clinton, Hillary, I thank you for your kind remarks and for hosting this ceremony. I especially want to thank your wonderful protocol staff. Kim Townsend, working closely with Leslie Lautenslager and Peggy Cifrino of my staff, pulled this all together, and I am deeply appreciative of all of this.

This is the second official portrait that I have. I have an official portrait at the Pentagon in the Hall of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That portrait was done during the Clinton Administration, and that was during the period where Al Gore was doing the Reinventing Government program. And so it is an 8-by-10 glossy that has been blown up. (Laughter.) So help me, it’s an 8-by-10 glossy that I do like, and it was blown up to full size, put in a frame, and hung on a wall. (Laughter.) You’re even today, Hillary. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, that’s how we balanced the budget. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY POWELL: The members of the Diplomatic Corps, members of Congress, former and current cabinet officers, family members, friends, and dear colleagues: I am honored and thankful for your presence today. So many people have come – friends and family from the Bronx, friends from my life as a soldier, my life here in the Department, my life and so many other aspects of life.

I can’t acknowledge everyone here or we’d be here all afternoon, but there are a few people I have to say a word about. First, I want to thank the artist, Steven Polson, for doing a marvelous job, and thank Ann Fader for her work in this. As I hope you will see, Steven is a wonderful artist, and I thank him for the magic that he has applied to this portrait, I hope. (Laughter.)

I also want to express my appreciation for people who have come from afar from other lands, and beginning with the Honorable Peter MacKay, minister of defense of Canada, a young man that I have gotten to know in recent years. And Peter, I thank you for making the effort to be with us today. There are other men here who I served with when I was foreign secretary, or Secretary of State, as we call it. And two of them are here, by the name Joschka Fischer, who was the vice chancellor and minister of foreign affairs of the Federation of Germany, of the German Republic, and Igor Ivanov, who was my counterpart in the Russian Federation. Joschka and I really intersected some 25 years ago when I commanded a corps in Germany, and it was the responsibility of my corps stationed in Frankfurt to guard the Fulda Gap. At that time, Joschka was the very radical head of the Greens Party in Frankfurt and in the state of Hesse.

Now, I didn’t really know him them, but we intersected from time to time. There was the day my commanders came in and said, “The Greens have just gone on to our tank-driving range and they have planted trees all over the place so we can’t drive our tanks anymore.” (Laughter.) I said, “What are you going to do?” “We’re going to run over the trees.” “No, no, no, you’re not. You do not run over the trees in Germany. This is not a time for overwhelming force.” (Laughter.) “This is a time for smart power, decisive power.” So we dug up all the trees, brought them to our housing area, replanted them, and then invited the Greens to come to our ceremony of dedication. (Laughter.) I don’t recall if Joschka was there that day or not – (laughter) – but we appreciated the effort on the part of the Greens to beautify the area. (Laughter.)

Joschka and I have been through many challenges as fellow foreign ministers. We worked on the expansion of NATO, supported him in the expansion of the European Union. We have worked on so many different issues that it’s hard to list them all without it taking an hour. But he was always a dear friend, a dear associate. This doesn’t mean we had no disagreements. We had severe disagreements, and many of you will remember the disagreement that we had with Germany over the Iraq situation in 2003, to the point where our leaders were somewhat estranged from each other.

But Joschka and I and our fellow diplomats on both sides were never estranged from each other, because we understood that even among allies, disagreements arise. And what’s important is to come back together, the ties that bind us together. And what I remember most vividly from those trying days is that Joschka would say to me, “Colin, we have to keep working together. We in Germany will never forget what the United States has done for us over these years, and so we have to make sure that these ties are never broken.” And Joschka especially wanted to do this in the period after the Cold War, when we were bringing hundreds of thousands of our soldiers home from Europe. And he was concerned that a smaller number of soldiers in Europe might break the link that we’ve always had with the German people concerning our commitment to the Atlantic alliance and our commitment to Germany.

And so of all the ministers that I’ve worked with, of all the people that I have had to deal with in the years, Joschka Fischer is one of the most prominent pro-American, pro-Atlanticist individuals I’ve ever worked with. And Joschka, I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart. (Applause.)

Igor Ivanov, former foreign minister of the Russian Federation, he and I became exceptionally close friends over the years. We worked on a treaty to reduce nuclear weapons and we got that treaty, the Treaty of Moscow, which took us down significantly with respect to nuclear weapons. We worked very closely together during the trying times when we watched Georgia and Ukraine emerge from their post-Communist period. Many a long night Igor and I spent on the telephone as we chatted through the Rose Revolution and the Orange Revolution to make sure that these transitions took place without violence. We worked on so many issues that were difficult. But similarly, just as with Joschka, I could always count on his friendship. I could always count on his support. I could always count on his understanding, because we knew that we had to make sure that the ties that bind remained strong.

That’s what diplomacy is all about. That’s why we have a State Department – to make sure that the people of the United States and the President of the United States are representing the values of the United States to other nations. And we take into account their values and their sovereign interests. It’s a partnership with every nation in the world in one way or another. We must always advocate our belief in democracy, our belief in human rights, our belief in the will of the people. We should always be committed to extending the hand of American generosity to people in need around the world.

We should always be working to solve problems short of conflict and prepare to explain our reasoning when conflict becomes necessary – always respecting the right of other nations to disagree with us, and often, dealing with regimes that do not share our values.

In all of this, the President of the United States and the Secretary of State are blessed to have men and women throughout the Department of State who do a magnificent job every single day. While we are here in this beautiful Ben Franklin Room, there are thousands of diplomats, Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service nationals, Civil Servants around the world who are serving us so well. I’m often annoyed when I use to hear, “Well, they’re striped-pants diplomats.” They’re not wearing striped pants if they’re on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan or Iraq. They’re not wearing striped pants if they’re in an embassy that’s under siege or under threat. They’re not wearing striped pants when they’re in the middle of a coup. They’re not wearing striped pants if they’re dealing with the challenges of the world, if they are out there providing antiretroviral drugs to people in need or solving the problem of hunger and clean water. They’re wonderful Americans who have dedicated themselves and their careers to the service of the American people.

I consider it one of the greatest honors and privileges I have ever had in my life to have been given the opportunity to be the Secretary of State and to lead the wonderful men and women of the State Department as they go about their work. And I thank each and every one of them from the bottom of my heart, and I thank President Bush for having given me that opportunity.

The portrait you’re about to see, I haven’t seen. (Laughter.) I’ve seen pictures of it. Steven took photos of it as we went along and he sent them down. But I don’t know what the last version looked like. But last night, as I was thinking about today, I took a look at the last photo that Steven sent. And I think it’s a pretty nice photo. But what grabbed my attention was the background. There’s nothing in the background. There are no bookcases, no flags, no window that I’m gazing out at. (Laughter.) It is a very dark background, as you will see, with highlights. You can’t tell if you’re in a building or outside of a building. You can’t tell if that’s sunlight you see coming in or just a spotlight. You can’t exactly tell what the color scheme means because, as you go lower in the portrait – you’ll see in a moment – the color of my suit blends in to the color in the background, and the only think really visible is my right hand.

Now, Steven and I haven’t sat down to psychoanalyze all this – (laughter) – but as I looked at it last night, thinking about why did Steven actually do it this way and why is there nothing in the background, it occurred to me that there was a lot in the background. I’m not alone in this portrait. There are images that kept coming across my mind as I looked at it, images of people that I have served with and worked with over the years.

One particular individual who couldn’t be with us today, my beloved deputy and friend Rich Armitage, who is in Asia, and as you all know, pulling the few hairs he has remaining out because he couldn’t be with us today. (Laughter.) There are other images of all the people who I have worked with in this Department, all the soldiers that I have served with. There are many images that I can see in my mind’s eye, the image of my wife Alma and our children and the 47 years that we have traveled this path together. Many images.

But always there is an image way in the back of two little people who came to this country almost 90 years ago with a belief in this country. They wanted to be a part of this society. They never forgot the land they left. Until the day they died, they called it home, but now they had a new home in America. And all they wanted to do was to create a new family and a new home and children, and they had two children. One went on to be a great teacher, the other one a soldier. And they passed onto their children and all the members of the extended family, so many of whom are here today, a belief in our nation and giving us all a desire to serve this nation, which we’ve tried to do.

This is the strength of our country. The fact that we can take in people from all over the world, that we are a nation of nations. We touch every nation and every nation on earth touches us. We have great soldiers to go forward and fight for us. We have intelligence people. We have all kinds of strength and assets. But the greatest strength we have, the greatest asset we have to deal with the problems of our world and the challenges that we face is the nature of our society, our openness, this wonderful diverse society that we have, a diversity that is the source of our strength. It is the glue that holds us together. It’s the lubricant that keeps us moving forward. And we must never forget that.

I remind myself of this every day as I think about my parents and I think about the great diversity that is America. What a wonderful country God has given to us and what we have done with it is remarkable, and the best is yet ahead as long as we remain open, as long as we touch the rest of the world, and as long as we believe in our values system and reach out to the rest of the world.

Anytime I have the slightest doubt about any of this, I use two little memory tricks, two little stories to remind me of what this country is all about. The first one has to do with a Japanese business man, very successful, a billionaire, he has conglomerates all over the world. And he was being interviewed on Japanese television one afternoon, and the interviewer said to him, “Of all the cities in the world that you visit, which is your favorite?” And he immediately said, “New York.” And the guy was surprised. Why not Rome, London, Paris? Why New York? He says, "Because New York is the only city in the world where, when I walk down the street, people come up to me and ask for directions.” (Laughter.) New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles – that is who we are. That is what we are. That is our destiny, and let’s never forget it.

The final story is also a New York story. I’m a New York guy. (Laughter.) Whenever I go back to New York, I love walking up one of the great avenues, usually Park, and admiring the buildings and see all of humanity going by. And I always stop at one of the numbered cross streets to buy a hot dog from the hot dog peddler, one of those New York dirty water dogs that so many of you are familiar with. (Laughter.) But it has to have the mustard, the Sabrett mustard and the red onion relish; that’s what makes a New York hot dog. And I do it all the time.

And not too long ago I was walking up Park Avenue and I was going to follow my traditional pattern of going over to the hot dog peddler. And I did. And I walked up to him and I ordered my hotdog – mustard, red onion, and relish. And as he was handing it to me, he said, “I know you. I see you on television a lot. You’re General Powell, yes? Oh.” And he handed me the hotdog and I handed him the money. And he said, “No, General. You don’t have to pay me. You can’t pay me. I’ve already been paid. America has paid me. I’m here. I’ll never forget where I came from, but now I’m an American. My children are American. So, General, I have been paid. Thank you. Please take the hotdog.”

And I walked up the street with a warm glow, remembering this is the same country that greeted my parents and all of your parents or grandparents over the years. And as long as we never forget that is our greatest strength, that is what makes us who we are, we will deal with the challenges that we face and we will create wonderful new opportunities for a better, brighter world. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Now the unveiling. Here it comes. They’re going to do it. You stand here.

(The portrait was unveiled.)

(Applause.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I invite all of you to greet the Powells. I’m sorry we couldn’t recognize and acknowledge all of the people who are here, members of Congress, former members of Congress and the Senate, sitting senators, former members of Cabinets, so many wonderful people. I apologize, I have to go over to the White House for our meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan and the Turkish delegation, so I won’t get a chance to meet each of you individually and thank you for being here, but I know that the Powells would love to. So thank you again for joining us on this very happy occasion. (Applause.)

Hillary Clinton at Barnard Today

Reuters Pictures

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) is flanked by Debora Spar, President of Barnard College, and Anna Quindlen, Chair of the Board of Trustees (R), before delivering the commencement address, in New York, May 18, 2009.

Here's the transcript of her address preceded by the video.

Remarks At Barnard College Commencement Ceremony

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
New York, New York
May 18, 2009



Thank you so much. I am thrilled to be here and to participate in this important commencement of this great university – this great college, because I, too, am a graduate of a women’s college – (applause) – and I think it’s the best investment that I and my parents ever made. It is my honor, therefore, to join you in celebrating. And I want to congratulate all of the student speakers, who I thought did an excellent job in expressing the feelings and the aspirations of this class. (Applause.)

I am honored to be in the company of my fellow honorees, each of whom has so well deserved this medal. And I want to congratulate your president on a brilliant first year as the head of Barnard. (Applause.) And I want to thank another woman who has had not only an impact on this college over the years, but on me personally, and that is the wise and wonderful Anna Quindlen. (Applause.) Her writing has helped to shape the public debate on issues affecting women, families, and all Americans. Her final column, which ran this week, was about making way for the next generation. And as always, Anna’s message rings true, especially as we honor this class of graduates.

We are meeting at a time of unprecedented opportunity and achievement for women. As you’ve already heard, women are serving at the highest levels of government here in the United States and around the world, in business, in academia, in the professions. We are presiding over companies and colleges, running philanthropies and laboratories, and breaking new ground as artists and activists and athletes.

We’re even seeing gender barriers broken at the racetrack. (Applause.) I don’t know about you, but I personally felt vindicated when Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness, went where no filly has gone in 85 years up against 8 stallions. I can’t say I exactly identified with her – (laughter) – but I was very pleased that she brought home the Black-Eyed Susans.

Today, we are celebrating a class and an institution that is always ahead of the rest. This is a milestone of 120 years of educating women, of furthering scholarship, and serving the City of New York, and the people of the world.

Now, it is easy to forget that when Barnard first opened its doors in 1889, higher education for women was viewed with great suspicion. And many women and men labored for years to make this college possible. And even after Barnard finally came into being, they had to spend even more years convincing the world there was nothing to fear about women’s education and that the work being done here was truly a good thing.

Now, rumors still flew for decades about what exactly went on at Barnard. (Laughter.) Finally, in 1912, the New York Times decided to investigate. It had published a long interview with the great dean of Barnard, Virginia Gildersleeve, which ran under the headline – and I quote – “College Girls Are Healthy, Normal American Girls.” (Laughter.) I’m sure that the readers of the Times found that reassuring. And a few decades later, the editors and reporters did as well.

In fact, Dr. Gildersleeve made a persuasive case for why Barnard – and women’s education in general – is actually crucial to our society. She talked about how the college broadened its students, exposed them to new ideas and perspectives, introduced them to people from different backgrounds. She said that was a force not only for good for these women but for their communities. As she put it, “We do not teach manners. But we do teach manner. Poise, interest, tolerance and understanding – these are the things that college life teaches.”

Now, the context may have been different then, but the vision behind it is much the same. Just as those early Barnard students were being prepared for a world beyond their personal horizons, you have been prepared for global citizenship in the interconnected world of the 21st century.

You are coming of age at a time of unprecedented challenges: war and terrorism, climate change and economic recession, extreme poverty and extreme ideologies, the proliferation of disease and nuclear weapons. These challenges transcend borders and oceans, politics and ideology, and they affect us all. But the same interconnectedness that amplifies these global challenges also makes it possible for us to solve them, and for you to help lead us to the solutions.

When I graduated from college, diplomacy was mainly conducted by experts behind closed doors. They were primarily men. And very little of what they did was really visible to the rest of us. Today, diplomacy is no longer confined to the State Department or to diplomats in pin-striped suits. In this global age, we are engaging in 21st century statecraft, and it is carried out beyond the halls of government – in barrios and rural villages, in corporate boardrooms and halls of government as well, but also church basements, hospitals, union halls, civic and cultural centers, and even in the dorms and classrooms of colleges like this.

The diplomacy of this age is fueled by personal engagement and interpersonal connections. And that’s where all of you come in. With new tools and technologies and with the first-rate education you’ve received, you now have the capacity to influence events in ways that no previous generation ever has.

But of course with that opportunity does come responsibility, because this new era of diplomacy requires a new commitment to global service – a continuing effort from each of you to help us tackle the most urgent problems we face. Just as we have special envoys for climate change or peace in the Middle East, so too must each of you be a special envoy of your ideals. Use your skill and talent with these new tools to help shape and reshape the future.

I want to talk about a particular area where I think you can, you should, and you must make a difference. It’s important to me personally and it’s especially important in my new job, and that is the plight of women and girls around the world. As women with strong voices and strong values, you are in a unique position to support women worldwide who don’t have the resources you do, but whose lives and dreams are just as worthy as yours and mine. I have concluded after traveling many miles and visiting many places in the last decades that talent is universally distributed, but opportunity is not. The futures of these women and girls will affect yours and mine. And therefore, it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing.

Although not always acknowledged by governments, businesses, or society overall, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of most of the problems we face today. In the midst of this global economic crisis, women who are already the majority of the world’s poor are driven deeper into poverty. In places where food is scarce, women and girls are often the last to eat, and eat the least. In regions torn apart by war and conflict, women are more likely to be refugees or targets of sexual violence.

And just yesterday in a column by one of the former honorees by Barnard, Nick Kristof, we learned that one of the most dangerous places for women to be in the world is in childbirth. Meanwhile, in some places, girls are deliberately denied an education, even subjected to abuse and violence if they attempt to go to school, as we have seen too frequently over the last weeks in Afghanistan.

Now let me be clear: women around the world lead varied lives, and for many women, religion and culture are important sources of spiritual growth, identity, and pride. But the retrograde regimes around the world that pervert religion and culture to perpetuate violence and stand in the way of freedom and make women their primary targets are a different story. The subjugation of women – the denial of their rights as human beings – is not an expression of religion or of God’s will. It is a betrayal of both. (Applause.)

And women’s progress is more than a matter of morality. It is a political, economic, social and security imperative for the United States and for every nation represented in this graduating class. If you want to know how stable, healthy, and democratic a country is, look at its women, look at its girls.

When I went to the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing back in 1995, I made the point, which seemed to me to be pretty obvious, that women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights. Well, I was gratified but somewhat shocked at the reaction it produced. And as I have traveled in the years since, I have met so many women who took such heart from that simple statement. They understood deep in their gut that they had to be supported, that their struggles had to be acknowledged for them to gain a foothold, to gain that space, whether it be on the subway or back in a marketplace.

There are signs of hope and progress. Just this weekend, the people of Kuwait elected women to their parliament for the first time in history. (Applause.) This did not come easily or quickly. Starting in the 1990s, I supported the women who were brave enough to stand up and say women should be able to serve. It took a long struggle. But the election of four women this Saturday is a major step forward for Kuwait, the region, and I would argue, the world.

And yet the marginalization of women and girls goes on. It is one of humankind’s oldest problems. But what is different today is that we have 21st century tools to combat it. Think of the women in Eastern Congo, a place of such violence, despair and chaos, who are using radio airwaves to warn other women and to send out the message to the world how this war, these militias are destroying their communities. Think of the women in Afghanistan who, against such great odds, started a single school that has grown into a network of schools, or the domestic violence center they began, which now serves thousands of women and girls. Or the women in Cambodia who were sold into sex slavery as girls, but who escaped and are now organizing raids of brothels throughout Southeast Asia to rescue girls and give them a chance at an education and a new life.

Some months ago here in New York, I had the privilege of meeting a young girl from Yemen. Her name is Nujood Ali. When she was nine years old, her family offered her into marriage with a much older man who turned out to be violent and abusive. At ten years old, desperate to escape her circumstances, she left her home and made her way to the local courthouse where she sat against a wall all day long until she was finally noticed, thankfully, by a woman lawyer named Shada Nasser, who asked this little girl what she was doing there. And the little girl said she came to get a divorce. And thanks to this lawyer, she did.

Now in another time, the story of her individual courage and her equally brave lawyer would not have been covered in the news even in her own country. But now, it is beamed worldwide by satellites, shared on blogs, posted on Twitter, celebrated in gatherings. Today, women are finding their voices, and those voices are being heard far beyond their own narrow circumstances. And here’s what each of you can do. You can visit the website of a nonprofit called Kiva, K-i-v-a, and send a microloan to an entrepreneur like Blanca, who wants to expand her small grocery store in Peru. You can send children’s books to a library in Namibia by purchasing items off an Amazon.com wish list. You can sit in your dorm room, or soon your new apartment, and use the web to plant trees across Africa through Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt movement.

And with these social networking tools that you use every day to tell people you’ve gone to get a latte or you’re going to be running late, you can unite your friends through Facebook to fight human trafficking or child marriage, like the two recent college graduates in Colombia – the country – who organized 14 million people into the largest anti-terrorism demonstration in history, doing as much damage to the FARC terrorist network in a few weeks than had been done in years of military action. (Applause.)

And you can organize through Twitter, like the undergraduates at Northwestern who launched a global fast to bring attention to Iran’s imprisonment of an American journalist. And we have two young women journalists right now in prison in North Korea, and you can get busy on the internet and let the North Koreans know that we find that absolutely unacceptable. (Applause.)

These new tools are available for everyone. They are democratizing diplomacy. So over the next year, we will be creating Virtual Student Foreign Service Internships to partner American students with our embassies abroad to conduct digital diplomacy. And you can learn more about this initiative on the State Department website.

This is an opportunity for all of us to ask ourselves: What can I do? I’m heading off to my first job or I may be going to travel for a while or I have some other ideas that I’m exploring. But no matter what you’re doing, you can be a citizen activist and a citizen diplomat. You’ve already begun to make the connections and partnerships that will give you support throughout your lives. And therefore, I invite you to forge those connections beyond this class.

You’ve learned here at Barnard that in spite of our differences, we are all connected. And we need to be looking for ways to find inspiration from our daily lives. Just a few weeks ago, I read President Spar’s column in the Wall Street Journal, in which she bravely attempted to write her own application essay for Barnard. She described a typical day in her life, one that involved coordinating her kids’ carpooling, fixing dinner, answering emails, dealing with a mischievous cat, writing a speech on – what else – women and leadership. As I read about the controlled chaos of your president’s life, I thought this sure sounds familiar. And as I look out in the audience today, I see a lot of mothers and grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers and family members and friends, and I know that you too have had these experiences.

But no matter how we come to this commencement, we leave knowing that another class of extraordinary young women, who will have the manner and the education to go and not only pursue their own dreams but help bring along others as well, has occurred within this remarkable institution. We all have an opportunity today to do so much more than I even dreamed possible when I sat where you are sitting all those years ago.

As I was listening to Sarah Besnoff’s address and how she was talking about her mother, I had to smile because I often say that in my next life I’m going to come back as my daughter. And I felt a remarkable kinship with Sarah’s mother and with other mothers of my generation and those who came before, like my own mother, who was born before women could vote, that no matter how satisfying our lives have been, how we have put together pieces that add up to a whole that is so important to us and has given meaning to this journey we are on, we look at young women and we think to ourselves: This is a future that women in the history of the world have never been able to imagine, that you leave here empowered in a way that women and girls have never been before. It’s exciting, but it’s daunting. But I know you’re up to it.

Serving the people of the world does not have to be your life’s calling, but I urge you to make it a part of your life, to include it in whatever you decide to do as you start out on this adventure. You are certainly well-prepared, and I wish for each and every one of you an adventure that gives you the same sense of meaning and purpose that you are looking for, and an understanding of how much more you can do with the gifts you have been given, and to decide that you too will try to be those special envoys of the ideals that you believe in.

Godspeed and congratulations. (Applause.)

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