HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Hillary at Harvard: 'As we look to the future we must all become environmentalists. This is no longer a movement, this has to become a way of life.' (Staff photo by Stephanie Mitchell)

Clinton, speaking in Memorial Hall's Sanders Theatre, told of her experiences on and after Sept. 11, from traveling to a canceled hearing with first lady Laura Bush, to her visit to the World Trade Center site the next day.

Though she had monitored the tragedy on television like much of the country, Clinton said she was unprepared for the extent of the damage she saw firsthand from a helicopter over the site and later on the ground.

"Nothing that I had thought, been told, or seen on television or read in the morning papers prepared me for what I saw that afternoon," Clinton said. She described getting as close as possible, but seeing only a gray wall of soot. "It truly was like peering through the gates of hell."

Clinton's visit was hosted by the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics. She spoke to an enthusiastic crowd that snapped up all available tickets within hours and gave her standing ovations both before and after her talk. Clinton, a New York Democrat, is the first former first lady to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

She was introduced by IOP Director David Pryor, himself a former U.S. senator from Arkansas, and by Clarke Tucker, president of the Institute's Student Advisory Committee and an Arkansas resident. Clinton, who started her day at a memorial service in New York City's Battery Park, was in Boston to attend a fundraiser for Sen. John Kerry.

Clinton spoke of the rescue workers on Sept. 11 emerging from the cloud of soot, exhausted and dragging their equipment. She said the scene illustrated both the best and worst traits of human nature as rescuers risked their own lives to save people trapped in the horrific damage wrought by the terrorists.

She also spoke of the U.S. soldiers on duty in Afghanistan, including the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y. Their commitment to duty, putting their lives in danger in an effort to disrupt terrorist activities, is another example of how the tragedy has brought out the best in us.

Clinton said she supports the military action, both abroad, aimed at rooting out terrorists, and at home, aimed at improving security. But she added that military priority must be joined by a humanitarian one and the United States must take a lead role in helping the Afghans back to their feet and ensuring security there lest they fall back under the sway of feuding warlords.

Other policies of the Bush administration, however, did not fare so well under Clinton's gaze. She assailed the administration's tax cuts, calling them a "turn away from fiscal responsibility."

"I think it's a ... mistake to run up debt and deficits again," Clinton said. "It doesn't make any sense to pay for the war, do more at home, and pay for tax cuts."

Clinton went on to criticize the administration's energy policy, calling it "the energy policy of the past." She said the United States should focus on self-sufficiency and look for environmentally friendly energy sources. With a host of ecological problems facing us, the environment, she said, has to become a priority for the entire country.

"As we look to the future we must all become environmentalists," Clinton said. "This is no longer a movement, this has to become a way of life."

Clinton said Sept. 11 left us better aware of the responsibility we bear living in a democracy. She closed her talk by urging the audience to get involved, by working on a campaign, advocating things they believe in, volunteering - or just voting.

"It's critical for all of you to care about and get involved in the political process," Clinton said. "However you choose to participate, I can only urge, with all my heart, that you do."

alvin_powell@harvard.edu

Copyright 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College