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PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATBON
�FJst Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Rematks at the Shanghai No.3 Girls School
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Shanghai, China
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~onday,June30,1998
Shanghai, China
Thank you very much for yout warm welcome and the invitation to visit your school. I have
already been with your princidal and the Vice Mayor in some of the classrooms to see some
of the art work that all of you ao and to talk about music with some of the students and even
to see some of the students on ]the Internet. So, I have a bit of an idea about the wide variety
of activities and interests that you pursue after you have done your studies.
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I wanted to come here to be aBle to see for myself what is happening in the lives of young
women here in Shanghai, and barticularly young women such as yourselves, who attend such
a difficult and demanding schbol. Because I agree with your principal that it is essential that
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as many young people as possible be given the very best available education. And that is
particularly true for young wotnen.
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When I was in the classroom tith some of your classmates, talking about music, one young
woman asked me what I thought about young women here in China, because she knew that I
had traveled in many places ar;ound the world, and when I travel, I try to make time for
meetings with women and particularly to visit with young people. Because, although we
have seen many, many advanges in the world, in terms of opportunities for women and girls,
there is no argument that wo~en and girls in most of the world still are not given equal
opportunities to pursue education, to pursue their dreams, to make choices for their own lives,
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and I believe strongly that it is in every country's interest - my country, your country, every
country around the world that re do everything we can to make sure young girls are treated
equally and given opportunities so that each young girl can make the best choices for her
life. So I wanted to come to this school to have a chance to learn more about the lives of
young women here in Shanghii and particularly young women such as yourselves who have
entered into this school's curri'culum with all of its demands because of interests that you
have that you are pursuing, behause I would like to be able to make clear to everyone that the
opportunities that are availabl~ in a school such as this or in the best schools in my country
for young girls should be available to all young girls everywhere. I also want to say just a
word about the important visit! that my husband is making to your country. Because when my
husband decided to come to China, he wanted not only to meet with government officials in
Beijing, but, as much as possifule, to see people and talk to them about what is on their minds.
He was just on a radio prograrh where listeners called in and asked him questions, and earlier
this morning he and I met with citizens of Shanghai in a discussion at your beautiful new
library. In both of those instJ.ces and in the other occasions that we have had in a village
outside Xi'an, in Beijing, here: in Shanghai, we have been struck by the great changes that
have occurred in China in the Ilast several years, and by the way, the many ways that people's
lives have improved. And wejve had an opportunity to talk with and learn about these
changes from older people, pepple who are doing all kinds of work to help build a very strong
economy and to make China the kind of country you wish it to be in the next century.
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But we haven't had as much o~portunity to speak to young people until the President was
able to speak at Peking Univetsity to a crowd of students and faculty and they were then able
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to ask him questions. Today, I would like also to give you the opportunity to ask me
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questions and I may have a fe~ questions to ask in return. Because we hope through this
visit of the President and all of us :who are traveling with him, that we willieam more about
what is happening in China in the lives of people of all ages, and through our visit be able to
communicate that back to Am6ricans so that Americans will know more about what is
happening with the Chinese pdople and, through opportunities such as this, we hope that the
Chinese people willieam mork about how Americans see the world and what we think about
the futl!re. So in a moment I Jill welcome your questions, because I would like' the
OPport4nity to hear what is on !your minds. I think that one of the great results that we hope
will come from this visit that rhy husband is making is that more people in both of our
countri.es will understand mor~ about the other country, and that we will see how much we do
have in common, how many of the same issues we face, and where we have differences, that
we will discuss those differendes and understand ways that we can work together. So it is a
great .honor for me to be here t6 be part of this visit that the President is making, but it is a
special pleasure for me to be hbre'in this school. Because I know how hard you work, how
competitive this school is, hoJ difficult the curriculum' is, and I admire you for your
commitment to your studies arid your understanding about how critical it is that education
will open doors to you in the f~ture. So I congratulate you on your hard work. I'm.very
pleased to see such a b~autifullschool building and grounds, but I'~ especially appreciative
of the chance to talk wIth those of you who are students here. So wIth that, Madame
Principal, what I would like toldO is to hear from the students and have an opportunity to
answer their questions. [Applause]
STUDENT: Mrs. Clinton, l' d lik~ to ask a question. You may have already heard something
about Shanghai in the United States. Now you have seen Shanghai with your own eyes and is
it the same as you thought bef6re, and what impressed you most during your visit to China?
Thank you.
FIRST LADY: Well, it will be quite some time before I digest everything that I have seen
and heard and learned in the f~w days we have been here. But one image that will·forever
stay in my mind is what I saw in Shanghai last night as my husband and I drove in from the
airport. I don't know if those 6f you who live here everyday have gotten used to the skyline
and the extraordinary beauty ofthe city and the variety ofthe architecture that one sees, but it
isa stunning and impressive sikht to come to Shanghai for the first time especially at night as
we did yesterday. I had been tbld that there is more construction occurring in Shanghai than
in any place in the world, and that of all those great big giant cranes that tower over your
skyline, I'd been told that 20%1 of all the giant cranes in the world are in Shanghai. I believe
that based on what I have seenl So my first, initial impression was one of a vibrant, vivid,
growing, exciting city. And th~en today, during the day, as we've been able to drive along the
streets, as we went to the new library and toured it with your Mayor; as I went. to the very
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impressive new children's medical center with the Vice Mayor, and toured that; as I visited a
center for the retraining ofworhen who have lost their jobs because of the economic
transformation occurring here; Ias I went to a wonderful restaurant in an old historic section of
Shanghai - everything that I have seen in just the very short time I have been here has been
impressive to me. Because I hkve, seen a place that is dynamic and is growing and is oriented
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toward the future, and I think that that is the ~ind ofplace that will be prepared for the
challenges and changes of the hext century. You know, in the world in which we live today,
there is no certainty other than Ichange because when you look around we see how much is
changing all of the time. And for a city or a country or a person to be able to be prosperous
and successful in the next centhry, I believe you must be flexible and adaptable to the
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�changes that will occur, and it apbears to me that Shanghai is well prepared for that kind of
century, so I was very impressed by what I have seen so far. [Applause]
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STUDENT: Hello, Mrs. Clinton.: My mother has read the book you wrote entitled "It Takes
a Village." It's about education./She wanted me to ask you, as a mother, what do you think
is the most important to teach YOl:lr daughter? And what kind of a person do you expect your
daughter to be? Thank you.
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FIRST LADY: That's a very important question for all of us, because there isn't any more
important job in the world than t:iking care of and preparing the next generation. You can
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have many, many jobs. You canlbe a physician like the Vice Mayor, or a principal like your
principal, or a lawyer like I am, Dut I think the most important task is how you raise your
children, or other children on whbm you have an influence. And certainly you have a special
responsibility when it comes to etIucation. So I would answer your mother in two ways. i
think there are certain values tha~ you must teach your child that have nothing to do with
book learning, values that are thd kind of person your child will become, because you can be
a very well-educated person, a v6ry successful person, a very rich person in material wealth,
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but not be a person of value, not be a person of character, so many of the lessons that you
must teach when your child is yolung have to do with the kind of person your child will be:
will your child be kind, will you~ child be empathetic, in other words, sensitive to the needs
and wants of other people? Willlyour child be confident, and able to face whatever
challenges and disappointments will corne in your life because all of us face those? So those
are the kinds of things you must teach a child that don't have anything to do with what you
learn in school, but the kind of p6rson you will become. And then I think you have an
obligation to instill in your child la love of learning, a love of education and that starts at a
very early age. I was speaking with your classmates in the music discussion about how we
now know the brain develops in the first three years of life. If you have a baby from the very
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beginning of that baby's life, anq you speak to that baby, you read to that baby, you sing to.
that baby, you are not only building a warm relationship with your baby, you are actually
building more brain cells in your: baby's brain, and therefore, better preparing your baby for
the kind of learning that you do ~ere in school. And I think once a child is born, you have an
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obligation to help instill in that child a love of learning and to build a strong, positive attitude
toward education, and then once/a child goes to school, you must work with the teachers, you
must help the child with homew0fk, you must encourage the child. Now many parents do
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that, but some parents either donh know how to do that, or cannot do that, so it's important
that other adults try to help child1ren learn to love learning so that they can help the family and
help the child be successful. Anti that is what my husband and I have tried to do with our
daughter, both in the kind of lealning about life, and then the learning in the education and
schooling that she has had, and i~ is something that we believe in very strongly, that is very
important to every child, boy or ~irl. And that is one of the arguments that I made in my
book which your mother read. And would you thank your mother for reading my book. I
appreciate that very much. [Applause] Thank you.
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STUDENT: You have mentioned something about girls' schools. Since we are all girls'
school students, we'd like very tPuch to know what do you think are the advantages of a
girls' school. Thank you.
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FIRST LADY: I went to a girls! college. I did not go to a girls' school, I went to a very
large high school with boys and !girls, but then when I reached university age, I went to
Wellesley College, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a well-known women's
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�college, a girls' college in our courttry. And I am very happy that I did that. I found the
atmosphere very conducive to leading, and I think it also true in the younger years as well.
Here in your school, I met the youdg woman who is the leader of your school, the chair of
your school. As young women, yoh have all the responsibilities in the school. You are the
ones who have to make the decisiOl~S, you are the ones who are the student leaders, and I
believe that instills in young womeh a sense of confidence about what they are able to do
when t4ey go out into the world. sb I think that girls' schools are a very good opportunity for
many young women, and I believe that they should be available as an option for young
women if that is what they choose. Now my own daughter did not want to go to a girls'
college ,and did not want to go to a girls' school. She had a different attitude and a different
experience. So she went to a co-educational high school, and now she is at Stanford
University, which is a large co-edubational university. So she made a different choice,
despite my encouragement of her t6 look at my own college. So I think it's an individual
matter. Some young women are very successful in co-educational settings, and others like
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many of you, are very successful in this setting. I believe there should be a choice so that
young women can decide what they think is best for them, so I'm very much in favor of
having available girls' schools like Iithis, and even girls' colleges like the one I attended.
Thank you. [Applause]
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STUDENT: Mrs. Clinton, we're aliI very interested to know if you will run for President, and
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do you think American people will :have a woman President someday in the near future?
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Thank you.
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FIRST LADY: Well, I will not rud for President, but I do hope that a woman will run and be
elected President sometime in the e~rly part of the next century. I hope that I am still alive
when we have a woman President, ko that in agree with her politically I can vote for her.
Now if I do not agree with her poli~ical1y, I will not vote for her, even if she is a woman, but I
will be very proud that she is runni~g for the President. And I think that it is important that
we do everything we can to create 6pportunities for women in our political systems, so that I
hope sometime in the next century,lthere will be a meeting between the woman president of
the United States and the woman president of China. [Laughter; applause]
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STUDENT: Thank you, very mucli.
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FIRST LADY: Perhaps one of you! will be in that position and I will be glad to read about·
that when that occurs.
STUDENT: Hello, Mrs. Clinton. I would like to ask what do the American students know
about China? For example, Chines¢ characters, Chinese paintings, Chinese customs, and
Chinese culture.
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FIRST LADY: I don't know that tfue average student, the typical American student, knows
very much and that is one of the reJsons my husband wanted to make this trip, so that
through our American media we co~ld show to more Americans, particularly young
Americans, more about Chinese culture and Chinese life so that more Americans would have
a better understanding of China. I have met with a number of students, American students,
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who are studying here in China and they are very enthusiastic about what they are learning.
In fact, the daughter of our Americ4n Ambassador is studying Chinese and has been studying
Chinese for two years now, and lov;es Chinese culture, the Chinese language. So I am hoping
that we will have more exchanges 'rith more American students coming here to China to
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study and more Chinese students
to America so that more American students can have
first-hand relationships and friendshi~s with young people from China, because I think it is
very important that we understand eash other better', and that we appreciate each other more.
And I think as one of the panelists in 0ur panel discussion this morning said, a woman
novelist from Shanghai, it' s importan~ that we have more access to the books that are
published here, that they be translatedl into English, that we have more exhibitions of art, that
there be more exchanges of artists and musicians coming between our two countries, because
everything we do to present the historY, the culture, the ideas of China to America, I am
convinced will enable more Americans to understand more about the choices that China is
making and the kind of future that yo~ are building so I hope that we will [inaudible]
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The question you asked, let me answe1 by saying many more Americans do know more.
Now of course, we have many Chinesb-Americans living in the United States and they have
been extraordinarily successful contri~utors to the building ofthe United States. So that
many people in our country know Chihese-Americans and that is one way to further our
understanding but I would like to see $ome of the other things happen that I just mentioned.
Thank you. [Applause]
STUDENT: [Inaudible]
FIRST LADY: Yes to both. I like C~inese food very much and I've had some excellent
Chinese food since we have been herel I just came from a very delicious lunch, and I learned
many years ago to use chopsticks beduse even as a student I used to go and eat a lot of
Chinese food, so I feel very much at hbme eating Chinese food. I'm not an expert with
chopsticks, but I can get most ofthe fJod into my mouth. [Applause] Thank you.
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STUDENT: [Inaudible]
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FIRST LADY: You know, I am very ~ware of the generation gap, and I assume many of you
are as well because every generation does things differently from their parents, and although
those of us who are parents are sometibes surprised by those differences, that is what we did
to our parents so that it is part of how people change over time, and yet, I think it is also very
important, as I understand from my friends who are Chinese-Americans that the family in
China always stresses the importance bf the continuing relationship from generation to
generation and the value that one can qbtain from honoring those who are older. So although
there will always be a generation gap, it can either be a small gap which is natural as people
change over time because for examplel I am not by any means an expert on the computer, my
daughter can do really anything on a cbmputer. That is a big gap between the two of us, but I
hope that there is not very much of a gap in how we can talk to each other and how we can
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support each other and that is much more important. So there are things - there will be
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differences that I will not understand about her generation, but the important things about
supporting the family and supporting ciach other and guiding each other I hope will remain .
the same no matter what the differenc~s might be in the life that you will lead in the future.
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So it is always hard for parents to see their children grow up, and it is especially hard I think
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for parents to see daughters grow up and leave. And when my daughter left to go to Stanford
which is all the way across the countfJ\ from Washington, she would not have gotten any
farther without falling into the Pacific Ocean, it was very hard on her father and me. But at
the same time, we were very proud th~tshe was so independent and able to take of herself,
and confident about her ability to do hkr studies so far from home. So it was what we call in
English, a "mixed blessing." We're bl~essed to have a child who could do that, but we were
�sorry to have her leave home and be soifar away. So that I think is the tension that you
always find and I understand your parents' questions, because sometimes it is very hard being
a parent and seeing a child you want tolbe educated and make choices for herself begin to do
that, as I'm sure some of you already aFe. So I hope that ifmyfamily and your family are
able to keep a strong family bond, evenl though there is, I believe, inevitably a generation gap
between the generations, but understand, especially in today's fast-changing world, how
confusingit must be for your parents o~ parents like my husband and me to see changes that
we would never have dreamt of when we were your age. So be gentle about bold hopes,
about the changes that you are living th~ough and will be making in the next century. Thank
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you. [Applause]
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STUDENT: [Inaudible]
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FIRST LADY: You're right. We've h~d in the last months very tragic instances of young
bo~s obtaining guns and going t~ough.!schools an~ shooting their cl~ssmates, even some of
then teachers. It has been very dlsturbmg to Amencans, very troublIng because of the
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violence that these young men have used. Both my husband and I have spoken about this and
we're both very concerned because we think that there are a number of reasons why these
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young boys, some as young as 11, betw1een about the ages of 11 and 18, would tum to
violence and be able to act out their anger and their rage, their feelings that they had inside of
them. One of the reasons we believe is Ithat there is a lot of violence in the media in the
United States. The average child growing up in the United States watching our television
will see something like 20,000 murders Ion television by the time they're 18 years old. Now
for most young people like my daughter and her friends who come from strong families, that
come from families that talk to them, tHis exposure to violence doesn't lead them to violence.
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.But for other young people, for whatever reason, who don't have that same support or who
are not given the help that they need as la young person, an exposure to violence begins to
wear away at their own sense of reality bd also gives them ideas that this is a natural way to
solve one's problems and so we are codcerned about the amount and level of violence on our
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television, in our movies, in our music that our children are exposed to. But that, of course, is
not the only reason that we have had th6 problems we've had. Another issue is that there are
many, many guns in America. And the~e young boys have these guns from their own
families. In one case, the young boys siole the guns from a grandfather who liked to hunt
with the guns and they took them from the grandfather without his knowing and used them.
In another instance, the boy had his ow~ gun which he had been given because he wanted
very much to have a gun which he said he would use for target practice or for hunting. And
my husband has very many concerns ab:out having young people, particularly children, have
access to guns, and he has advocated that there be locks on guns that children would not be
able to open without an adult who handbd him the key or the combination so that even if a
child took a gun from his father or his gtandfather, he would not be able to use it. Because
with so many guns around what would fue ordinary schoolboy arguments or fights, the kinds
of arguments I would see on the playgr6und when I was a little girl growing up where boys
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would push each other or they would y~ll at each other or they would call each other names,
maybe even have a fight with each other, if you have access to a gun, what is an ordinary
schoolboy fight becomes a potential de~dly tragedy because every young boy I know - I have
two younger brothers - at some point has some kind of argument or fight with some other
boy - that seems to be part of what boy~ do when they grow up, you know, pushing or
shoving or yelling at each other. We ex'pect that, and that passes. But if that boy while he's
still angry at his classmate, while he is still disappointed, can go and get a gun instead of .
using his fists or using his mouth to yelll, then you can see how that could lead to a tragedy.
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And finally, we think that there is a real Jroblemwith the identification of some of our
children who need some kind of psychol~gical help or counseling. If a young boy is acting
up - I say "boy" because that's who has 60mmitted these crimes, young boys - if a young
boy is acting up, threatening people, cauJing trouble in school, ifthe school takes its usual
step and expels the boy, sends the boy h~me, that may not be enough, because that's what
happened in the last case. The boy was disruptive, he brought a gun to school, and the school
immediately sent him home. He was not Isupposed to be in school with a gun. But we think
more needs to be done. You know that bby should have been probably arrested, he should
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have been given some kind of psychological evaluation, something should have been done to
try to intervene to prevent the tragedy. sb we are going to be doing a lot of hard work about
this issue in our country in the weeks ahdad. My husband and I will have several meetings
with experts about this, we'll look for wdys that we can persuade parents to eliminate some of
the television violence in their houses. IJ fact, the President passed a law a few years ago
that requires all American television starting next year to have a microchip installed in the
television so that parents can program th6 microchip so that young children cannot tum on
the programs that the parents disagree with, that they think are not right for the child to
watch. So we hope through a variety of~ays we're going to be able to limit the'
circumstances in which a child can transl1ate whatever terrible feelings are inside into such a
tragedy as the ones we have seen. It is ~ problem that we are taking very seriously and
working very hard on to try to find some Isolutions for and I hope that we will be successful
. so that we don't have any more of these very tragic, violent incidents like the ones we've had.
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Thank you. [Applause]
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Now let me thank all of you. Those werc~ excellent questions. I think we should applaud the
questioners. Those were excellent questibns. [Applause]
I also want to thank the band, I saw the blnd as I came in and I want to thank those who are
behind me, the musical ensemble. And Ilwant to thank all of the teachers and the' staff of the
school and the students particularly, for this kind invitation. And I hope that we have all
learned something and that I certainly hare seen first-hand the quality of the ,students here at
this school and I wish all of you a very successful break in school. I understand you're
coming up on a vacation .time. And I leatned from your chair, the student leader, that some
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of you will be taking exams in July, and I wish you much success on your exams. Thank you
very much. [Applause]
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[Remarks outside the building]
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Thank you. You have been so patient. lim sorry that there was not enough room to fit all of
you in the auditorium and I thank you so Imuch for being here to greet me and then waiting
here so patiently. I am very pleased that Irve had a chance to visit your school. You have
made me feel very welcome and I know that all of you are working very hard, that your
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studies are demanding, but that you also have time for many activities, sporting, athletic
activities, artistic activities and the like, ind inside, one of the young women, one of your
classmates asked me about girls' schoolsl and I said I am very much in favor of there being
girls' schools so that young women like yourselves can choose to attend such a fine school as
this. And I want to congratulate you for hmaking a choice that will be very demanding, that
will really push you to excel and I wish dll of you much success in your studies, and whatever
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you choose to do in the future. Because I believe that investing in a girl's education is one of
the best investments any family or countIy can make. So I am delighted to see what a good
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investment this school has with all of youJ Thank you for letting me come to see you. Thank
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you very much.
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�
Dublin Core
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
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First Lady's Office
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Lissa Muscatine
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1993 - 1997
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36239" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
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2011-0415-S
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<p>Lissa Muscatine first served in the Clinton Administration as a speechwriter. Within the First Lady’s Office, she served as Communications Director to the First Lady.</p>
<p>Lissa Muscatine’s records consist of materials from First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Press Office, highlighting topics such as health care, women’s rights, the Millennium Council, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, and deal extensively with press interviews given by the First Lady; her domestic and foreign travel; and speeches and remarks, on a wide variety of topics, given by her before and during her time as First Lady. The records include interview transcripts, press releases, speeches and speech transcripts.</p>
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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1,324 folders in 27 boxes
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FLOTUS Statements and Speeches 6/27/98 - 11/30/98 [Binder]: [Remarks at Shanghai Girls School, Shanghai, China 6/30/98]
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Box 21
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2011-0415-S-Muscatine.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
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First Lady's Office
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2011-0415-S
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
11/26/2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
2011-0415-S-flotus-statements-speeches 6-27-98-11-30-98-binder-remarks-shanghai-girls-school-shanghai-china-6-30-98
7431941