But that’s not the end of the story. In fact, it’s a call to action.
What the suffragists’ example shows us (and what the “suffs” sing in the rousing finale) is that “progress is possible, not guaranteed.” Change doesn’t happen on its own. Equality will not be given to us. Throughout American history—from our founding to the Civil War and Reconstruction to the movements for women’s rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights—change happened because people devoted their lives to it. Many were born and died bumping up against the hard walls of injustice. As Elaine Weiss writes, “The women who launched the movement were dead by the time it was completed; the women who secured its final success weren’t born when it began.” But no one gave up. They kept marching. They fought hard to make the dream of equality a reality. If they could do it, so can we. As the Talmud says and Shaina wrote into her script: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
I hope I’m alive to see the United States elect a female president. I hope I’m alive to see my daughter and grandchildren enjoy more rights than they were born with, not fewer. I know I won’t live to see the world achieve true gender equality. At the current rate of progress, it will take 286 years to close global gender gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws against women, 140 years for equal representation in positions of power, and at least 40 years to achieve gender parity in national parliaments. I also know it doesn’t have to take that long and that progress is possible. That’s what the suffragists believed. That’s what I want my grandkids and future generations to know. Just before the curtain falls at the end of Suffs, the final score reminds us what the strong women who shaped our nation knew to be true and what we must carry “forward, into light”:
I won’t live to see the future that I fight for,
Maybe no one gets to reach that perfect day.
If the work is never over,
Then how do you keep marching anyway?
Do you carry your banner as far as you can?
Rewriting the world with your imperfect pen?
Till the next stubborn girl picks it up in a picket line over and over again?
And you join in the chorus of centuries chanting to her.
The path will be twisted and risky and slow,
But keep marching, keep marching.
Will you fail or prevail? Well, you may never know,
But keep marching, keep marching.
’Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need
That progress is possible, not guaranteed.
It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It takes a village to publish a book. Particularly this one, which depended on the help, support, and memories of many friends, advisors, and colleagues.
First, my deepest gratitude to my longtime colleague Dan Schwerin, who’s been by my side since he joined my Senate staff through two presidential campaigns and the State Department helping me put my thoughts and feelings into words. He and I started thinking about a book back in 2021, trading ideas and drafts, but I couldn’t decide what exactly I wanted it to be. It took a while for my ideas to gel, and once they did I told Dan I was ready to go and we dove into the joy of collaborating.
This time we were joined by one of his colleagues at Evergreen Strategy Group, Caty Gordon, who had previously worked at the Clinton Foundation and who began writing for me in 2021. Caty is not only an accomplished researcher and wordsmith but a true delight to work with on any project. She rose to the demands of this one with skill and grace.
I knew that I wanted to bring a new perspective into this book, so I reached out to Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, a longtime journalist for the Associated Press and People magazine, who covered the White House in the 1990s and stuck with my story through all the years since. I respected her straightforward approach to reporting and how she took care to bring out the authentic character of the people she wrote about. When I asked Sandra earlier this year if she would participate in my latest book, she happily agreed and we began a stimulating and productive collaboration. She worked closely with me on a few of the more personal chapters, interviewing my old friends, mining my memories of being First Lady, and eliciting thoughts on my parents. Sandra has been a valuable addition to the team.
The talented Noëlle Elmore and Lily Weber, also of Evergreen Strategy Group, provided invaluable insights, research, and thinking for this book, and I thank them both.
Special thanks to Huma Abedin, Nick Merrill, and Lona Valmoro, who have advised me through this adventure and so many others. I am once again grateful for all of their help.
And appreciation to Joyce Aboussie, Carol Biondi, Allida Black, Patsy Henderson Bowles, Susie Buell, Lisa Caputo, Kiki McLean Clark, Kelly Craighead, Patti Criner, Ann Drake, Karen Dunn, Gigi El-Bayoumi, Karen Finney, Tina Flournoy, Aileen Getty, Cheryl Harbor, Rosemarie Howe, Bonnie Ward Klehr, Jen Klein, Tamera Luzzatto, Capricia Marshall, Virginia McGregor, Judith McHale, Donna McLarty, Kiki McLean, Cheryl Mills, Minyon Moore, Lissa Muscatine, Liz Naftali, Brooke Neidich, Alyse Nelson, Ann O’Leary, Judy Osgood, Maria Otero, Louise Penny, Carol Pensky, Lisa Perry, Jan Piercy, Amy Rau, Annette de la Renta, Julissa Reynoso, Kathleen Rogers, Lynn Rothschild, Evan Ryan, Regina Scully, Patti Solis Doyle, Aprill Springfield, Sukie Stanley, Ann Stock, Neera Tanden, Ann Tenenbaum, Melanne Verveer, Rachel Vogelstein, Maggie Williams, and Anna Wintour, and in memory of Diane Blair, Betsy Ebeling, Jill Iscol, Hardye Moel, Liz Robbins, and Ellen Tauscher.
Not long after I finished the chapter on friendship (“One Is Silver and the Other’s Gold”), I attended my fifty-fifth reunion at Wellesley College. Reconnecting with my classmates there, I was forcefully reminded of how many more stories of friendship I could have shared in these pages if only I had unlimited space. To all the friends I hold dear, you know who you are, and I’m so fortunate to have you in my life.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who provided wise advice, or helped review pages and check facts, including Arman Abrishamchian, Dan Baer, Rachel Chen, Raj Chetty, Lucy Coady, Jon Davidson, Pete Davis, Shelby Deibler, E. J. Dionne, Alex Djerassi, Karen Dunn, Al From, Michael Fuchs, Kita Kanakadandila, Jim Kloppenberg, Alexander Konwal, Bree Henshaw, Abby Hiller, Shannon Lausch, Brian Lazzaro, Bari Luri, Clare Smith Marash, Peyton Marshak, Mike Martinez, Mike McFaul, Yascha Mounk, Alison Myers, Reema Nanavaty, Jennifer Nix, Chinyere Okonkwo, Sarah Oppenheimer, Luis Patiño, Lauren Peterson, Maggie Polachek, Ai-jen Poo, Ella Price, Bob Putnam, Philippe Reines, Megan Rooney, Rob Russo, Georgina Seal, Ella Serrano, Bill Shillady, Anna Smilie, Vas Srivastava, Elizabeth Stigler, Chelsea Tabachnik, Lona Valmoro, Roxana Wang, Shanna Weathersby, Glenn Whaley, and Sean Wilentz.
I am lucky to work with the best in the publishing business at Simon & Schuster, especially Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Karp, who is always available to talk, and my wise editor Priscilla Painton, as well as Janet Byrne, Paul Dippolito, Jon Evans, Lauren Gomez, Kayley Hoffman, Irene Kheradi, Johanna Li, Beth Maglione, Dominick Montalto, Amanda Mulholland, Linda Sawicki, Jackie Seow, and Nancy Tan. And how lucky am I that my friend Annie Leibovitz put her brilliance and vision to work photographing the book’s cover portrait? Thanks to her and Karen Mulligan for their collaboration and support, as always. Thanks also to my attorneys and friends Bob Barnett and David Kendall, whose professional advice I’ve relied upon for all of my books—and so much else, along with their team at Williams & Connolly, including Michael O’Connor and Emily Alden.
This book would not have been possible without the many colleagues who have been involved with my adventures and endeavors since 2016.
Thank you to the team, past and present, at Onward Together—Charlie Baker, Kris Balderston, Dennis Cheng, Howard Dean, Justin Klein, Jenna Lowenstein, Judith McHale, Kelly Mehlenbacher, Minyon Moore, Jess O’Connell, Laura Olin, Adam Parkhomenko, Lauren Peterson, Amy Rao, Emmy Ruiz, Reshma Saujani, Ellen Tauscher, Jessica Wen, and Liz Zaretsky.
I’m grateful to Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo and everyone at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs for the opportunity to dive back into teaching, including Daniel Aho, Michael Becker, Lionel Beehner, Katie Day Benvenuto, Lee C. Bollinger, Nancy Cieri, Caroline Donovan, Lauren Hoffman, Susan Glancy, Felicia Goodman, Susan Lee, Hazel May, Lincoln Mitchell, Marianna Pecoraro, Nicole Peisajovich, Heather Penatzer, Laura Samotin, Alex Sanford, Christina Shelby, Simran Singh, Paola Solimena, Adam Stepan, Elyse Surette-DiMuzio, Rachel Szala, and Naomi J. Weinberger. Thanks also to Alena Yarmosky, Chelsea Kohler, Renee Betterson, Jack Craven, and the team at Evergreen Strategy Group for your support.
Thank you to the HiddenLight production team, especially Sam Branson and Johnny Webb, and Taylor Anderson, Rayhan Arif, Vicki Bax, Rob Blok, Alex Cavalier, Liz Collier, Ragaa Cheba, Cherry Dorrett, Claire Featherstone, Katharine Fish, Amy Flanagan, Ben Gordon, Didem Gormus, Nicky Huggett, Eleanor Keeffe, Roma Khanna, Toby McCathie, David Pearce, Brenda Robinson, Antonia Sanders, Siobhan Sinnerton, Michaela Whittle, and Millie Wilkinson.
Thanks as well to our partners at Apple TV+ who brought Gutsy to life, especially Molly Thompson and Colleen Grogan. And to the team who brought my podcast You and Me Both to listeners: Forrest Gray, Bree Henshaw, Lindsay Hoffman, Sara Horowitz, Brianna Johnson, Zach McNees, Laura Olin, Lauren Peterson, Binita Raman, Kathleen Russo, Rob Russo, Opal Vadhan, and Julie Subrin, and our colleagues at iHeartRadio, especially Bob Pitman and John Sykes.
I’m thrilled to thank the cast and crew of Suffs for making my Broadway dreams come true, particularly its creator Shaina Taub; lead producers Rachel Sussman and Jill Furman; director Leigh Silverman; Oskar Eustis of the Public Theater; Rob Russo, my personal translator of all things Broadway; Huma Abedin, who made the Suffs journey with me; and Grady Keefe, who advances my trips to the theater and stays to watch with me. Thanks also to the press team of Amy Jacobs, Marta Gryb, and Nicole Suder at Rubenstein; Morgan Steward and Miranda Gohh on the producing team; Susie Bryant from general management; company manager Jenny Peek; stage manager Lisa Iacucci; music director Andrea Grody and her entire music department; our designers and creative team; the marketing team; the scenic and costume shops; and everyone backstage and front of house at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. And, of course, to Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Inez Milholland, Doris Stevens, Lucy Burns, Ruza Wenclawska, Alva Belmont, Mollie Hay, and all the original “Suffs” who believed in a future for women and girls that many never got to see, but that was made possible only because of their vision, sacrifice, and hard work.
Thanks also to the amazing leaders and staff at the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Clinton Presidential Center for their groundbreaking and life-changing work in this country and around the world. I’m honored to be a board member and colleague.
Thanks to the leadership of Swansea University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law; Oxford University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women’s History; Wellesley College’s Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership, and Democracy; and Queens University Belfast for appointing me their first female chancellor.
My heart was in my throat the entire month of August 2021 as we evacuated roughly one thousand Afghan women and their family members from Kabul as it fell back into the hands of the Taliban. I will always be grateful for the courage, commitment, and creativity of Huma Abedin, Belquis Ahmadi, Noha Alkamcha, Linton Bell, Teresa Casale, Nelson Castro, Zoya Craig, Carter Farmer, Kat Fotovat, Saba Ghori, Heather Harms, Tanya Henderson, Olivia Holt-Ivry, Lina Tori Jan, Jess Keller, Amed Khan, Jen Klein, Magda Kushi, Nick Merrill, Horia Mosadiq, Alyse Nelson, Jacqueline O’Neill, Julissa Reynoso, Zainab Salbi, Roy Shaposhnik, Allie Smith, Melanne Verveer, Matt Welborn, and Aleksandra Zaytseva. Thank you to Diane von Furstenberg, the Maverick Collective, and everyone who donated to the Vital Voices Emergency Fund for Afghan Women, from major philanthropies to little girls who sold their toys to support our efforts. Thank you to the governments of Albania, Bahrain, Canada, Germany, Greece, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Rwanda, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States for helping to evacuate and resettle Afghan women. The women of Afghanistan are in my heart, now and always.
Finally, thanks as always to Bill, my first reader and invaluable editor, for his suggestions and encouragement. A huge thanks to Chelsea, my partner in so many of the experiences I recount, from writing Gutsy, starting our production company HiddenLight, working together at the foundation and CGI, and providing me with necessary constructive criticism and advice. And, of course, boundless gratitude to her and Marc for Charlotte, Aidan, and Jasper, who’ve made me the happiest grandma to walk this earth. To quote Suffs, “the future demands that we fight for it now,” and I’m fighting for yours.
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