Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

grasswire

(50,130 posts)
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 03:59 AM Feb 2016

On Bill and Hillary's first date in 1971, they crossed a picket line.

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18841/hillary_rodham_bill_clinton_and_the_1971_yale_strike

Yale Law School students Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton were both members, alongside future Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal and Bill Clinton’s eventual Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor Robert Reich, of the Yale Law School Students Committee for Local 35, the university's blue-collar worker union, and signatories, during the week before the union went on strike, to a statement asserting “WE BELIEVE THE UNION DESERVES THE SUPPORT OF YALE STUDENTS AND FACULTY." Bill Clinton was even, former UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm would note decades later in his eulogy for Vincent Sirabella, the Voter Registration Chairman of the Sirabella for Mayor Campaign.

And yet, on her first date with classmate Clinton in 1971, Rodham would later recall:

We both had wanted to see a Mark Rothko exhibit at the Yale Art Gallery but, because of a labor dispute, some of the university's buildings, including the museum, were closed. As Bill and I walked by, he decided he could get us in if we offered to pick up the litter that had accumulated in the gallery's courtyard. Watching him talk our way in was the first time I saw his persuasiveness in action. We had the entire museum to ourselves. We wandered through the galleries talking about Rothko and twentieth-century art. I admit to being surprised at his interest in and knowledge of subjects that seemed, at first, unusual for a Viking from Arkansas. We ended up in the museum's courtyard, where I sat in the large lap of Henry Moore's sculpture Drape Seated Woman while we talked until dark.

The relationship between Rodham and Clinton, two instrumental figures in the decoupling of the Democratic Party from the priorities of the mainstream labor movement, thus began with the crossing of a picket line.
19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
On Bill and Hillary's first date in 1971, they crossed a picket line. (Original Post) grasswire Feb 2016 OP
How romantic! Indepatriot Feb 2016 #1
A Hard Dog to Keep on the Porch 1996 Hitchens on Bill Clinton Ichingcarpenter Feb 2016 #2
Hitchens told the story no one else could. Octafish Feb 2016 #16
Can you Ichingcarpenter Feb 2016 #18
Did they kick a hippie together next? Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #3
I have reliable information that they tore a tag off a mattress... brooklynite Feb 2016 #12
Awe jpb33 Feb 2016 #4
They got what they wanted. Lunabell Feb 2016 #5
this quote got me restorefreedom Feb 2016 #11
Sorry for the caps but: YOU NEVER FUCKING CROSS A PICKET LINE!!! Feeling the Bern Feb 2016 #6
Kicked and recommended! Real nice.... Enthusiast Feb 2016 #7
Just another example Sophiegirl Feb 2016 #8
interesting contrast.... restorefreedom Feb 2016 #9
Even back then they knew they were destined to screw the working people. n/t PonyUp Feb 2016 #10
Bernie Sanders - VERIZON PICKET LINE - Manhattan, NY Donkees Feb 2016 #13
Oh please. They sold out a long time ago. n/t Skwmom Feb 2016 #14
Union Strong! Generic Other Feb 2016 #15
Read earlier they jumped on a first class flight to watch a mentally retarded man libdem4life Feb 2016 #17
Really set the tone, didn't it? frylock Feb 2016 #19

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
16. Hitchens told the story no one else could.
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 10:24 AM
Feb 2016

In addition to being there he put it to paper for history.



There almost certainly is a relation between Clinton the man and Clintonism as politics, though it may not be as obvious as it seems. If one had to nominate a hinge moment, it would probably be the last days of the George McGovern campaign, in Texas, in 1972. Clinton was sent down to the Lone Star state, along with his friend Taylor Branch, at a moment when the Nixon forces seemed almost unstoppable. (A subsequent post-Watergate myth has depicted the press as anti-Nixon during this period. In point of fact, the general refusal of the media to discuss Nixon’s illegal use of state power was one of the most striking features of the election.) Taylor Branch, later the outstanding biographer of Martin Luther King, remembers the dying days of McGovernism very clearly. The Texas Democratic Party was riven with faction, and generally uninterested in the pro-civil rights and anti-war position taken by the young volunteers from up North. More time was spent in hand-holding, log-rolling and back-scratching than on ‘the issues’. But as Branch suddenly noticed, his friend Bill was very good indeed at the back-slapping and palm-greasing bit. As the vote drew near, senior Texas Democrats like Lloyd Bentsen and John Connally either deserted the McGovern campaign or joined the front organisation calling itself ‘Democrats for Nixon’. It was from this sort of timber that Clinton and others were later to carpenter the Democratic Leadership Council. He evidently decided, for whatever mixture of private and public reasons, never to be on the losing side again.



Thank you, Ichingcarpenter. That is a must-read.

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
18. Can you
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 10:30 AM
Feb 2016

put your comment on that thread in Good Reads
I think it is fitting and illuminating to the conversation there.

jpb33

(141 posts)
4. Awe
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 06:35 AM
Feb 2016

Awe, what a story. That was then. They sold out unions and the middle class in the 1990s as they entered the elite. Once Bill Clinton left the White House did he and HRC take the path of Jimmy Carter's post presidency? No, their goal was to see how much money they could rake in as a former President and 1st Lady. And from the looks of it they made out like bandits selling access and favors.

restorefreedom

(12,655 posts)
11. this quote got me
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 08:29 AM
Feb 2016

"Watching him talk our way in was the first time I saw his persuasiveness in action. We had the entire museum to ourselves."

conning his way through life already. not to mention the privilege that oozes from having the muesum all to themselves

two grifters taking advantage of everyone for what they want. match made in.....well, not heaven i am guessing

 

Feeling the Bern

(3,839 posts)
6. Sorry for the caps but: YOU NEVER FUCKING CROSS A PICKET LINE!!!
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 06:51 AM
Feb 2016

Support all labor actions at all times! Solidarity!

Sophiegirl

(2,338 posts)
8. Just another example
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 07:05 AM
Feb 2016

Of do whatever it takes to get what you want and ignore everything and anyone else.

Good times.

 

libdem4life

(13,877 posts)
17. Read earlier they jumped on a first class flight to watch a mentally retarded man
Wed Feb 17, 2016, 10:30 AM
Feb 2016

who didn't even know he was going to his death, put to death. That's even more "romantic", ya think?

That's puts them in the Bush League...execution time...ha ha ha. Another one of those "Hard Choices"?

What are her supporters, especially on this board, thinking?

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»On Bill and Hillary's fir...