Alma H. Bond - Hillary Rodham Clinton: Inside the Life and Mind of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Copyright 2015 Alma H. Bond, Ph.D.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote passages in a review.

Although factual information forms the core of Hillary Clinton: On the Couch , this book is a work of fiction, and is not necessarily a complete or historically accurate rendering of the life of the former first lady, despite considerable effort invested to make it so. The work draws upon some of the well-known details of Mrs. Clintons history (see Bibliography at the end of this book), as well as speculations about her that have appeared in the media. It is built around the authors impressions and analysis. Dr. Bonds great admiration for Mrs. Clinton led to the writing of this book, and she most definitely never served as Mrs. Clintons psychoanalyst at any time.

Published by Bancroft Press

Books That Enlighten

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ISBN

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Cover Photo: Harald Dettenborn, Munich Security Conference

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To my wonderfully gifted twins, Janet Bond Brill and Jonathan Halbert Bond; to their dearly departed brother Zane, who will always be in our hearts; and to my son-in-law, Sam Brill,

the most generous man on earth.

Introductory Notes

I am Dr. Darcy Dale, psychoanalyst and author, whom you may know from my On the Couch series, written so far about Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Some time ago, I decided to take a long overdue but only partial sabbatical from my practice to write a book about Hillary, about whom I have wanted to write for a long time. To do so, I had to rent quarters in Washington, to be closer to the scene of action. I rented an apartment, said good-bye to my friends, and began to pack my bags.

Why did I want to write about Hillary Clinton? I was rather tired of delving into the introspective musings of great celebrities who enjoy examining their navels. Hillary would be different, I surmised, and a difficult, if not impossible, subject. She was known for being obsessive about protecting her privacy and that of people near and dear to her. But I have never been a person to run away from a challenge.

Hillary Clinton was not the usual neurotic or psychotic person I often chose to write about, but a typical person like you and me, except she is a major political leader in the most important nation of the world. I thought it would be fun to try to discover how this otherwise normal woman who looks like the girl next door could possibly turn out to be among the most important people who ever lived.

I read whatever I can find about uncommon and exceptional women, for I am always looking for creative women to write about, both in professional journals and my books. As such, I first became interested in Hillary Clinton when she came upon the political scene campaigning for her husband, Bill, then bidding to become governor of Arkansas, and I carefully followed her career in newspapers, magazines, books, and other media ever since. Knowing as many facts as possible about her undoubtedly helped me understand her.

What I will relate here are summaries of private sessions I conducted with Hillary Clinton. At the end of each day, I dictated the highlights of my appointments with her as best I could recall them. Sometimes my dictation was lengthy. Sometimes it was brief. It depended on how much time I had that particular day for dictation.

In no sense are these summaries everything that she and I said during the traditional 50-minute sessions, or what I thought at the timejust what I considered most important.

August 19, 2013

Shortly before I was to leave for Washington, Rivka, my elfish secretary, came into my Manhattan office with a look of excitement on her face. I can always tell from Rivkas expression whether the new patient waiting for me will interest me or not. This time, I had never seen Rivka so excited, not even when she had shown Marilyn Monroe into my presence lo those many years ago. Who can be more exciting than Marilyn Monroe? I wondered.

Im not going to tell you who is waiting for you, she said. I want to surprise you. Believe me, youll be surprised!

I guess Ill find out soon enough, I said nonchalantly, not wanting to give Rivka the satisfaction of knowing that she had indeed aroused my curiosity.

I walked into the waiting room, took one look at the lone person sitting there, and almost gasped. There sat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

What a coincidence! I thought. But then Jung said there is no such thing as coincidences. Perhaps the powers that be had seen to it that we would meet. (Such sweet destiny!)

She was silently weeping into her handkerchief. When she saw me, she tried to disguise her tears by pretending to be blowing her nose.

To fully take in her appearance, I allowed her some time to recover. I was surprised to find that she was quite pretty, far better looking than in her photographs. Looking closely at her in such an intimate setting, I could see that she had good bone structure, lovely white teeth, and beautiful skin. Her shoulder-length blond hair softly curled at the ends.

I had read somewhere that she was 54 tall, weighed 115 pounds, and worked out regularly to keep in shape. 115? I would have guessed more like 130. A little white lie, I wondered, or might she just be lighter than she looks?

Because her apparel has often been judged harshly since she appeared in a velvet headband on 60 Minutes in 1992, I was surprised to note that she was dressed in a sophisticated, although casual, outfita dark blue blazer with gold buttons in the shape of her earrings. Under the blazer, she wore a light blue cashmere turtleneck sweater that exactly matched her baby blue eyes. (I learned later they were so blue because of tinted contact lenses). From her appearance, she could have been a New York society woman who did her shopping at Bergdorfs.

Mrs. Clinton, I said, stepping up to her, I am happy to meet you in person. But Im sorry to see you so upset.

She stood up and immediately reached out her hand. As I expected, her handshake was firm and rigorous.

Sorry for the tears, she said, but if you had just found out that your husband had begun a new affair, I imagine you would cry, too, she said, looking fiercely into my eyes. I discovered that he has a mistress in Chappaqua, where we own our house in New York. And to make matters worse, Im just so tired. After working as hard as I did as Secretary of State, I thought Id finally get a minute to rest and recuperate!

I certainly would cry, too, I answered compassionately. But lets go into my office and you can tell me about yourself.

I suspect you know all about me already from the media, she said.

The media and I have a very different interpretation of so-called facts, I said.

She smiled and said, We may just get along.

We entered my office. Hillary did not look around but sat down on the chair across from my desk and carefully examined her knuckles. It was only later that I found out that not one aspect of the room or its decor had escaped her notice.