Hillary Clinton Discusses Foreign Policy, Impeachment, and Gender in Recent Visit to Dartmouth
In front of a crowd of over 900 students and faculty, former Democratic Presidential Nominee, Secretary of State, and Senator Hillary Clinton spoke at Dartmouth Wednesday May 8th for this year’s Obenshain Family Great Issues Lecture.
Clinton was visiting campus at the invitation of Jake Sullivan, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration, and Daniel Benjamin, Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the Dickey Center. In an hour and fifteen minute long conversation, Sullivan and Benjamin probed the former Secretary of State on issues ranging from recent foreign policy developments, to the ongoing struggle for gender equality in the United States.
The event began with Sullivan asking Clinton for her thoughts on the Iran Nuclear Deal, which as Secretary of State she had initiated negotiations for, and which earlier that day the Iranians had reneged on their compliance with. Clinton expressed her dismay at the deal’s unraveling, and emphasized the important role she thought it provided in ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East, viewing the deal as preventing an
“… arms race that would happen in the region because every single Arab country would feel that they too would have to have a nuclear weapons program because Iran had one.”
Clinton offered a bleak assessment on the future of U.S-Iranian relations in the aftermath of the deal’s collapse.
“I worry greatly that, number one, there is some desire on the part of this administration to provoke something, I don’t think we can, unfortunately, rule that out.” Clinton said.
The conversation then progressed to the national security challenge posed by Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Clinton characterized the hacking of the 2016 presidential election by the Russian government as “the political equivalent of 9/11” and emphasized the need for a U.S. response to Russian aggression. “We cannot have a strong relationship with Russia, for good or ill, if we basically allow them to undermine the basic exercise of our democracy.”
On the topic of the impeachment of President Trump, which many prominent democrats have called for, Clinton argued for restraint. She cited her experience in the methodical impeachment process of President Nixon during Watergate as the path that Democrat’s should follow, while also praising the current actions of the House.
“For the credibility of the process in the country, what you want is to do what the House is doing today,” she said. “The Judiciary Committee is holding Bill Barr in contempt, as he should be.”
Clinton advocated “that the Democratic House conduct hearings to try to bring to light information that the American public and the press deserve to have.” So as “to flesh out this story that may or may not lead to impeachment.”
Finally, Clinton offered advice for young woman looking to make an impact in the world as well as an assessment of gender inequity in the United States.
“Stay true to your course, and don’t let anyone deter you.” Clinton said, also remarking that, “We’ve knocked down a lot of the external barriers in this country right now I think it’s more internal barriers that stand in the way of young women fulfilling their own potential.”
