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Hillary Clinton sat serenely before me, as if she didnt have a care in the world. That was my first surprise as I was ushered into a room at a Pasadena hotel to talk to the former Secretary of State and the woman who won the popular vote in the 2016 election about Hulus four-part documentary series, Hillary (premieres March 6). Although shes been accused of being plodding and dour, Clinton exuded buoyant warmth. And then there was her laugh. At first I was convinced that it was deployed for effect. (Politicians get media training; is laughter training a thing?) But gales of it tumbled out so regularly and recklessly that it seemed clear Clinton was just relaxedmaybe for the first time ever?

Sure, sometimes her laughter sounded rueful, but a lot of us feel rueful these days. And while she has stopped ascending the political ladder, Clintons name still sparks both adoration and loathing, as well as generalized post-traumatic stress. Some people wish she would withdraw into media exile rather than shadow the current election like the ghost of campaigns past. That gave some pause to Nanette Burstein, the documentary filmmaker behind The Kid Stays in the Picture and American Teen who took on this project in 2018. Burstein knew the Clinton defeat was still a raw wound for liberal America. But it was a cross she was willing to bear, given the complete editorial control and 35 hours of interviews with her subject she was granted, along with leeway to pose any questions she wanted.

I started to ask Clinton how it felt to participate in this legacy-defining project after so many years of having her lifes narrative framed by others, but the word framed triggered an explosive howl of laughter. By all definitions of that word! she said, eyes flashing, before collecting herself again.

I decided to do it because Im not running for anything and I think my life and my story has parallels with womens lives and stories and whats going on in politics, Clinton told me resolutely. (This was several weeks before the rumor circulated that Mike Bloomberg was considering asking Clinton to be his running mate.) Thirty-five hours sitting in a chair answering questions is grueling but I felt like if I didnt tell my side of the story, who would? she added with a shrug. At least therell be a baseline: Heres what actually happened in my life. Heres what I actually said about it.

That led to some very uncomfortable conversations about the many scandals that engulfed the Clintons, including her husbands affair with Monica Lewinsky. (It was awful what I did, Bill Clinton tells Burstein, barely able to look at the camera. I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinskys life was defined by it.) I had to ask the ex-president of the United States about the most personal thing in his life and why he would make such a decision, Burstein recalled. It was very intimidating! But it was about: How did this affect Hillary and her marriage and the repercussions of that, which followed her 20 years later, into this last election.

The series flickers back and forth between Hillary Clintons youth and the present, weaving together a complicated and flattering (if not quite hagiographic) portrait of a woman whos provoked admiration and abhorrence for much of her life. Sometimes she seems like a real-life Zelig, popping up near the center of American culture for the last half century. But Zelig was a bystander, whereas Hillary got right in the thick of the action, sometimes changing the course of events and others times being swept along by them.

Clinton came of age at the exact moment that the womens liberation movement was rising, and her 1969 Wellesley commencement speech landed her a spot in Life magazine. As a young lawyer, she wrote briefs as part of the staff for Nixons impeachment hearings (decades later, in a savage irony, she saw the process from another angle when her own husband was impeached). After following Bill to Arkansas, she confronted good old boy sexism, encountering judges who thought women shouldnt be lawyers and constituents who felt the first lady of Arkansas should take her husbands name. When Bill cheated on her in the White House, some women were furious with Hillary for standing by him. Conversely, when Bill entrusted her with the daunting task of devising a universal health care plan 16 years before Obamacare, right-wing rage, and revulsion boiled over. Footage in the Hulu series features protesters brandishing posters with slogans like Hillary makes me sick and Heil Hillary. At a Kentucky rally, they even burned her in effigy.

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Hillary Clinton on Her Surreal Life and New Hulu Doc: Im Not the President, and I Got More Votes! - Vanity Fair

Hillary Clinton speaks at a panel for the Hulu documentary Hillary during the Winter TCA Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., January 17, 2020.(Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Hillary Clinton on Friday lashed out at President Trump, accusing him of taking Russian helpafter the administration forced out thedirector of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, causing alarm among the Intelligence Community.

The former secretary of states barb echoes comments she made while she and Trump were rivals on the presidential campaign trail, when she remarked that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldrather have a puppet as president of the United States.

During a classified briefing last Thursday, Shelby Pierson, the Intelligence Community election threats executive, warned lawmakers that Russia is again interfering in the 2020 campaign and attempting to get Trump reelected, the New York Times reported, citing several people with knowledge of the briefing.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller testified to Congress last summer that Russia had indeed interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion, but did so without conspiring with the Trump campaign.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Friday pushed back on the reporting surrounding Maguires departure, claiming thatan intelligence source I know and trust challenged the narrative that U.S. intelligence concluded Russia is trying to help Trump again.

The reality is a step short of the conclusion that the Russians have developed a preference for Trump, Tapper quoted the anonymousnational security official on Twitter as saying.

Its more that they understand the president is someone they can work with, hes a dealmaker. But not that they prefer him over Sanders or Buttigieg or anyone else, the official said, adding that both Democrats and Republicans were challenging this at the briefing.

The source went on to explain that Trump was upset he heard about an intelligence conclusion from a House Republican rather than from the intelligence community and was out of joint with Maguire on that process.

Maguire was ousted on Thursday and replaced with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, his sudden departure causing consternation among the Intelligence Community.

Trump himself later pushed back on the claim that he was the favorite candidate of Russia, accusing Democrats of spearheading the narrative.

Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates, Trump wrote on Twitter.

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Hillary Clinton Accuses Trump of Taking Russian Help, Citing Report that Trump Ousted DNI over Russia Briefing - National Review

Molly FureySenior Editor

Some artists are known for being sacred about their talents and taking pains to point out to you the untalented, that is that you just dont have the same capacity to see the world in as deeply profound a light.

Michael Bierut, the acclaimed graphic designer and creator of the once ubiquitous H logo of Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, is not one of those artists. Its funny. Its kind of bullshit on the one hand, he declares, talking about the agency of colour and imagery to convey a message. Hes frighteningly frank on the matter. His livelihood, after all, is dependent upon this so-called bullshit.

He panders to the more reflective side of the argument: But theyre also tiny little stories, tiny little bits of narrative that help you frame up things that otherwise have no meaning. And in this sentence, with impressive brevity, Bierut gets to the crux of what weve been talking about for nearly an hour.

The idea that a political campaigns choice of a green or purple colour scheme could be the deciding factor in a voters decision is, indeed,bullshit do we really have such a lack of control over our decision-making faculties that we might decide on the future of a political system based on the difference between two shades of the rainbow?

Are we not above such trivial features of a campaign? Consider this years tight race to become Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) communications and marketing officer, for instance will the result really be determined by the by the ideas of energy and passion supposedly evoked by Hiram Harringtons red campaign, or will Philly Holmess green colour scheme win students over by subconsciously bringing ideas of renewal and prosperity to mind?

It remains to be seen whether voters will be swayed by the design choices of communications candidates

Alex Connolly for The University Times

I want to say no. But, according to Bierut, its not so simple.

The methods by which these colours are harnessed, Bierut explains, might genuinely serve to narrativise a candidates message, and thereby add to its appeal and perceived legitimacy. The job facing Bierut and his designer counterparts then, is to identify and cohere these little stories of colour, shapes, typeface to articulate the very essence of a candidate and their vision.

It dawns on me that the work that Bierut is perhaps most famous for Hillarys H logo in 2016 ironically, was successful mostly due to the fact that it was completely untethered to any one colour scheme. People could present the right-pointing arrow across the two block parallel lines in any number of ways it could be made of food on the dinner plate, sea shells on the beach, pages of a textbook. It was everyones to own and everyones to make. It was never associated with blues, yellows or reds.

Given that Clinton did ultimately (although inconsequentially) achieve two million more votes than her opponent, could it not be said that colour schemes dont actually matter?

Hillary Clinton had 100 per cent name recognition, right? So there is virtually no one in the voting public who hadnt heard of her

Reflecting on this, Bierut explains the thought process that went into creating such a pliable image as the symbol for Clintons campaign: Our candidate had 100% name recognition, right? So there is virtually no one in the voting public who hadnt heard of her, and, moreover, most people had already made up their minds on what they thought of her. The challenge Bierut and his team at Pentagram design studio had to overcome, then, was not the same one that faced Barack Obamas campaign team in 2006 they were tasked with placing a virtually unknown figure on the map of American politics. Similarly, the team of any outsider candidate in this years TCDSU elections is required to establish their identity and reputation and to legitimate their intentions and reasoning behind running for the position.

The advantage of this, however, is that outsider candidates dont have perceptions or myths to debunk. Neither Harry Williams nor Eoin Hand, who are up against one another in the race to become TCDSU president, for example, have any experience with TCDSU and, therefore, do not have a hack image to deconstruct. Their opponent Ryan Carey, the unions current gender equality officer, however, has been forced into a position in which he has had to fight against the idea that he is the institutional, or conventional, candidate. This was the challenge facing Clinton in 2016.

Neither Eoin Hand nor Harry Williams had to deconstruct preconceived ideas of themselves, while Ryan Carey has fought the idea that hes an insitutional candidate

Alex Connolly for The University Times

Indeed, Bieruts design had to weather the preconceived notions of large swathes of the voting public and, somehow, shed the weight of a reputation that had been accumulated over some 30 years in politics. One of the things we wanted to do was destabilise those decisions, he explains. We wanted to make her presentation have the capacity to surprise people, to be changeable, to be participatory. The design may not have been attached to any one colour scheme, but this non-use of colour served to convey the principle message of Clintons campaign that she would make for a dynamic and inclusive president.

Working within these parameters of public opinion or indeed, the parameters of any design brief, or intended demographic or intended message Beirut says, is what distinguishes the designer from the artist. Art is like fiction, while design is like non-fiction. We [designers] are starting from a set of facts and trying to figure out a way to make them coherent, he explains. Bierut says that a campaigns creative director is tasked with producing an image that shapes, arrays and communicates already-known facts in a more engaging or digestible way. This is what excites Bierut about his job he isnt required to create a fantastical world, but to operate within the one we live in and create designs that will escort ideas through it.

Designers are planners, Bierut says. The images, colours, slogans and themes that a campaign wraps itself around are each selected with a view to fulfilling a carefully conceived strategy to grasp the voting publics attention and, ultimately, their vote. Consider the race for editor of The University Times, for instance. Both Susie Crawford and Cormac Watson have produced undoubtedly appealing campaign visuals in their opposing bids for the position. Crawfords candy pink is fun and eye catching, while Watsons turquoise green is slick and professional, reflective of both candidates central campaign messages.

In the race for editor of The University Times, Susie Crawford and Cormac Watsons design choices have mirrored the themes of their campaign

Alex Connolly for The University Times

But you cant plan your way to victory, Bierut warns, lamenting Clintons loss in 2016. There has to be some sort of passion, but also the agility to marshall this passion through it all. Bierut is all too aware of the fact that images and design alone cannot dictate the outcome of an election: following Clintons disappointment in 2016, he remains unconvinced of the independent and determinant power of campaign visuals.

At the end of the day, logos and typefaces and colours dont do the communication for you they frame that communication, they put your team in uniform so that they understand who to pass to and who to tackle, he says, resorting to a football analogy that takes me by surprise. The colours and the uniforms dont control where the ball goes, right?, he explains. Its the ingenuity of people that does that.

Early sketches of Michael Bieruts design of Hillary Clintons famous H logo

And so weve come full circle. The imagery of a political campaign is meant to concentrate the essence of a candidates message into visual form. But in a world in which the agency of social media and inescapable capitalism is relentlessly explored if not repeatedly bemoaned, there is a tendency to overestimate and indulge the notion that humans are wholly at the behest of optic appeal and satisfaction.

When people come across a block capital H with an arrow running through the middle, many of them will be reminded of Hillary. But, according to Bierut, it was her ability to expand upon her vision, articulate its intricacies and harness these visuals to further her appeal that ultimately won her the popular vote.

In reality, Bieruts symbolic H is an arbitrary organisation of shapes that dont actually have anything to do with the tenets that govern the principles of the Democratic Party. Unsurprisingly, Bierut encourages candidates to make use of the evocative power of design, colour and imagery. In saying this, however, he eagerly underlines the fact that this alone wont win them the race after all, it is kind of bullshit.

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How to Win a TCDSU Election From the Designer of Hillary Clinton's 'H' - The University Times

Hillary Clinton, in full Hillary Rodham Clinton, ne Hillary Diane Rodham, (born October 26, 1947, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator (200109) and secretary of state (200913) in the administration of Pres. Barack Obama. She had served as first lady (19932001) during the administration of her husband, Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States. As the Democratic Partys nominee for president in 2016, she became the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major party in the United States.

Top Questions

Hillary Clinton was born on October 26, 1947.

Hillary Clinton attended Wellesley College and Yale Law School.

Hillary Clinton was a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009 and secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She was the Democratic Partys presidential candidate in 2016 and first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president from 1993 to 2001.

Hillary Clinton was a U.S. senator, secretary of state, and first lady. She was the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major American political party.

The first presidents wife born after World War II, Hillary was the eldest child of Hugh and Dorothy Rodham. She grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, where her fathers textile business provided the family with a comfortable income; her parents emphasis on hard work and academic excellence set high standards.

A student leader in public schools, she was active in youth programs at the First United Methodist Church. Although she later became associated with liberal causes, during this time she adhered to the Republican Party of her parents. She campaigned for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964 and chaired the local chapter of the Young Republicans. A year later, after she enrolled at Wellesley College, her political views began to change. Influenced by the assassinations of Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., she joined the Democratic Party and volunteered in the presidential campaign of antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy.

After her graduation from Wellesley in 1969, Hillary entered Yale Law School, where she came under the influence of Yale alumna Marian Wright Edelman, a lawyer and childrens rights advocate. Through her work with Edelman, she developed a strong interest in family law and issues affecting children.

Although Hillary met Bill Clinton at Yale, they took separate paths after graduation in 1973. He returned to his native Arkansas, and she worked with Edelman in Massachusetts for the Childrens Defense Fund. In 1974 Hillary participated in the Watergate inquiry into the possible impeachment of Pres. Richard M. Nixon. When her assignment ended with Nixons resignation in August 1974, she made what some people consider the crucial decision of her lifeshe moved to Arkansas. She taught at the University of Arkansas School of Law, and, following her marriage to Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975, she joined the prominent Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she later became a partner.

After Bill was elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, she continued to pursue her career and retained her maiden name (until 1982), bringing considerable criticism from voters who felt that her failure to change her name indicated a lack of commitment to her husband. Their only child, Chelsea Victoria, was born in 1980.

Throughout Bills tenure as governor (197981, 198392), Hillary worked on programs that aided children and the disadvantaged; she also maintained a successful law practice. She served on the boards of several high-profile corporations and was twice named one of the nations 100 most influential lawyers (1988, 1991) by the National Law Journal. She also served as chair of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee and founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. She was named Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1983 and Arkansas Young Mother of the Year in 1984.

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Hillary Clinton | Biography, Politics, & Facts | Britannica

Hillary Clinton has swatted down the notion of serving as Michael Bloombergs running mate in the 2020 presidential race.

Oh no, the former first lady and 2016 runner-up said with a laugh when asked during an El Vocero de Puerto Rico interview Tuesday whether shed team up with Bloomberg for another run for the White House.

Im just waiting and watching as this plays out, continued Clinton, speaking at an event in Puerto Rico for her familys Clinton Global Initiative philanthropy group. I will support whoever the nominee is.

Bloomberg campaign sources told the Drudge Report last week that the hard-charging billionaire candidate was considering tapping Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

Bloomberg, 78, served as mayor of New York from 2002 through 2013, overlapping with nearly all of Clintons run as an Empire State senator from 2001 to 2009.

Clinton, who lost a bitter presidential race to Donald Trump in 2016, had already publicly toyed with the idea of catching on as a 2020 candidates running mate or making another attempt of her own.

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Hillary Clinton shoots down rumors she'd be Bloomberg's 2020 running mate - New York Post