To the 25th lecture series. This series was established with , many ofnerous gift whom are here today. As well as at t. This lecture series is presented by the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service. Please give them a big hand. We all stand up and recognize you, i insist. [applause] stand up. They are right here in the front. To say a very special word of thanks. I responsibly allowed us to make this 25th celebration anniversary possible. Thanks to our sponsors. [applause] ifore we begin what anticipate will be a lively conversation, i would like to thank all of you for joining us today. S is the largest cloud crowd we have ever had. As you can imagine with his giant group, it would be nearly impossible to recognize all of gueststinguished individually. I will ask crews of people to raise your hand when called. If you are a current or former elected official, please raise your hand. If you serve your volunteer during the 92 campaign, please raise your hand. I see a lot of hands. Alsoup your hand if you volunteered during the 96 campaign. If you served in the clintongore administration, please raise your hand. Were part of the Clinton Foundation, library or Public Service school, please raise your hand. [applause] for those who we have lost since 1992, lets all take a brief moment to honor their memory. This weekend we come together to celebrate a pivotal time in our nations history. When americans and for a president to put people first. Gotovember 3, 1992, they one. Today, as we look back at the 92 campaign, what made it so groundbreaking and so special not only to those of us who were part of it but for the American People who were energized and enthusiastic about what his campaign stood for. For me, it started in 1991 as a volunteer for the clinton president ial Exploratory Committee at its own store on the corner of seventh and chester. Among my many early assignments i was asked to help Senior Campaign advisers with the necessities like finding a place andive, a dry cleaners perhaps more importantly, a liquor store. I also have these very high honors of driving Bruce Lindsey and governor bill clinton back and forth and back and fourth the central client service. I took orders as many of you in this audience have from the general sheila bronfman. I dropped off david will have laundry at the Razorback Fund watch and i may copy, lots of coffee. I wouldnt trade and the others for a second. Shortly after i prove myself a making czar, i was officially hard for as one of their very first step is. One of my first assignments was to fill in an travel with arkansass first Lady Hillary Clinton on it you if you campaign trips. A few campaign trips. It confirmed what i already knw about our first lady, she was dynamic, highly organized, a little unconventional and selfsufficient, she did not even need a staffer. She didnt just listen to the people she met, she absorbed what they said. I would watch her as she i knew in addition to her genuine concern, she was thinking about real solutions. Like president clinton, i grew up here in arkansas. My dream was to work in politics like my dad and many before me. When i was 24 years old, bill clinton gave me that chance. I worked in the 92 campaign, i served a glorious years in the Clinton White house. Now i am back in my home state running the clinton president ial center. Thank you. I can never really think president clinton enough for the amazing opportunity he has given me. I really tend myself every day, i feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for both of these extraordinary Public Servants. While being a wife and a mother and raising my three daughters with my wonderful husband in arkansas. A place president clinton and i will always call home. We all share similar stories about the 92 campaign. That is why we are here this weekend. To reflect, celebrate and to reconnect. I cant think of a better person to lead this conversation then the one and only James Carville. His infectious enthusiasm, is unlimited supply of energy, is keen ability to claim a phrase like if the economy is stupid and that genuine cajun accent. James carville is a force of nature and it was his ability to keep the campaign fired up, focused and determined to win every step of the way. Now please turn your attention to the screen and enjoy a video we have made commemorating the campaign that works tirelessly to put people first. Thank you. I, William Jefferson clinton do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States. Change,ction is about change in our party, change in her leadership, change in our nation. That is why today, i proudly announce my candidacy for president of the United States of america. Governor clinton and what hillary took to outdoors on his bitter cold New Hampshire day. They passed out campaign videotapes of clinton. I wanted to send a message to this country about what kind of Company Cover we are going to have, what kind of future you want and about how we can win again. What is your name . I am eight. How does it feel to be present . President . I dont know, i havent one yet. I hope i find out. I think we know enough to say with some certainty that New Hampshire tonight has made the clinton the comeback kid. I am proud to say that all of states, in the united this is the next Vice President of the United States of america, senator al gore. Sen. Gore bill clinton wants to put people first. Will make the government work for the average families. People tell him things they do not tell anybody else. This is not unusual. Part of it is, they recognized somebody who has had honest struggles in his own life. When somebody says something to him, he does not brush them off. He listens to them. He will listen, and he will care. Its time for someone Strong Enough to lead. The come back kid. I nominate for the office of the president of the United States the man from hope arkansas. Arkansas probably gives our 40th vote for our favorite son, bill clinton. A 144 votes for the next president. Gov. Clinton i still believe in a place called hope. God bless you. God bless america. We are going to new jersey, and pennsylvania, and kentucky, and ohio, and missouri, and before we are through, we are going to go to the heartland of america. I ask you one last time. Will you help me change the future of america . I also have 3000 the of construction events. I think we are to win tomorrow. The harder you work, the lucky you are. The sticker i have fun says i voted. I voted for bill clinton this morning. I went to work in the campaign of 1982. Where is elvis . Excuse me. Hillary clinton, and governor clinton. [cheers] gov. Clinton my fellow americans. Day, with high hopes and the brave hearts in massive numbers the American People have voted to make a new beginning. Gentlemen, please welcome James Carville, secretary Hillary Clinton, and president bill clinton. James i wish the two of you could talk about what it meant to be in that environment that they were going through. You had so many people in arkansas that love you so much. First of all, thank you. Thank all of you for making this possible. It is true what james said. Our poll numbers were dropping faster than the temperature. It was cold. It was obviously part of a strategy. I had already been warned by the white house that if iran might poll numbers would drop, quickly and in the primary. I was expecting it. I did not know how they were going to get it done, but i am sure it was organized, and it would have plenty of people obliging them. All of a sudden, all of this is page on and on this full ad appears in the Manchester Union leader with 600 arkansans, and young people will find this hard to believe, there were no cell phones, they weighed five pounds. 600 people from arkansas put their phone number in an ad in the Manchester Union leader, and said do not believe what they are telling you about our governor. Hollis collect and we will tell you the truth. I will never forget it. In the arkansas tabloids that had been there, another 150 people dropped what they were doing, and most of them drove on their own to New Hampshire, and ,hey put 100,000 drops on doors and they turned it around. And the rest is history. If they had not been for the people of arkansas, there werent enough of us to go around, we would not have made it. So, thank you. [applause] sec. Clinton New Hampshire in late 1991 and 1992, it was a much shorter campaign. Bill did not announce until early october. Ofyou can imagine, october 1991. It was not one of these endless, long, grueling campaigns. It started with a burst of energy. We flew to New Hampshire for the first time as a potential candidate, and his team. Receptivend a really audience of people who understood that we needed change, and we needed the kind of energy and dynamism that bill was representing. We spent a lot of time between midand late october into january, early february in New Hampshire. About, wasis talking a truly horrible moment. I had spent the day, bill was there as well, at the manchester mall. We had been greeting people there. Walkedpeople, whoever into the mall, i would say hello, introduce myself, say that i was campaigning for bill, ask for their vote. The primary was 48 hours away. I got a really good response. People seemed very interested and positive, and you just felt, hey, maybe it was turning around. Went back to the little hotel we were kempton, we had a meeting with our pollsters, and the pollsters said you are dropping like a rock. You may not stay even in double digits. I remember thinking that is not the way it felt. One of the big differences between 1992 and 2016 is you felt like you could connect better and more deeply, and more quickly with people. Ok, that is what the poll is saying, but it is not what i feel. I said, i am going to bed did everything we need to do. When the primary came, and bill finished a surprising and high second, i was really helpful. One of the brilliant Strategic Decisions that were made in the New Hampshire primary came when, as you saw in the movie, bill went out first and claimed victory even though we had finished second. [laughter] it was just explosion because he had lost. [laughter] but compared to what we thought was going to happen, he had one big. From that moment on, he had momentum and he had so much support. I know there are some people from New Hampshire who along the in so manylped us elections and primaries, and the people of New Hampshire really sent him forward into the remaining contests. Pres. Clinton i also think it is important to point out, it is true as hillary said, we finished second. Everybody thought we were going to finish this. And we went down and came back up, and my principal opponent tsongasg this paul beat me like your dog in the first 10 miles of New Hampshire next to massachusetts. The rest of New Hampshire, thanks to a lot of people in this room, we won. , you lost anyway. I said, yes i did. And i congratulate senator tsongas, now lets see how he does when we get to memphis. [laughter] and it had the desired effect. It was great. It was unbelievable. New hampshire was one of the greatest experiences in our lives. The thing that i liked was, people talk to you about real problems, real dreams, and they wanted real answers. They were not interested in how well you could badmouth your opponent, or what you could say. They wanted to know, what were you going to do to help them with their lives. And i will never forget it as long as i live. James recently in politics we hear, politicians say one thing and do another. The night you campaigned, as recall,led as i putting people first. I think there was a sign that said, it is the economy, stupid. It was clear to the American People that what you wanted to do was build an economy that worked across america. Nothing was any clearer. That was the promise she made. Talk about the eight years that you were president , and talk about the things that happened because america said, when we had this focused campaign, people call it sloganeering and soundbites, that you were really clear, that you look back, and lets talk about what happened to the economy and to people all across america in the last eight years. I think that is important. Es first pres. Clinton first of all, we were seeing things that people are upset about. Which is, very uneven levels of Economic Growth. Both by income, and also by region. There was growing income and lower mobility. Was, if you give me a chance, we will try to build an economy that puts you first, where you can all be a part of it. And you have got a responsibility to educate your children and train yourself to do what is available. I cannot repeal the laws of economics, but we can shape it so you can do better. Our theory was if we gave incentives to invest everywhere, we focused on the future, then trained people for jobs that we knew would grow in number. We could drive employment and get rid of the deficit at the same time, and grow the economy faster. , it was theyears only time in a long time that all quintiles of the economy grew together. The bottom 20 of our people actually have their incomes increase in percentage terms as much as the top 5 , and greater than the top 20 . [applause] because we grew the economy from the bottom up, africanamerican families incomes went up 32 . 24 percent. Overall, 17 . And there was no interracial tension because we grew it from the bottom up instead of the top down. So everybodys incomes went up. It is the only time it happened in a month of sundays. Obviously, that is what i was hoping would happen again this time. That is the only thing that works. We proved that growing the economy from the middle out and bottomup works, and try to grow it from the top down does not. I hate to see us go down that road again, because were going to reach the same deadend again. First, they will bring everybody else along. The other aspect of this, which i really thought was amazing, is in addition to growing the economy for everybody, by the end of bills ls eightrs bil years, the budget was balanced and we had a surplus. If we had would have continued those policies we would have eliminated our national debt. [applause] that seems almost impossible to believe. I was in the senate in 2001. All of a sudden, the new Republican Administration said, we have got a surplus, we need to give it back to the people, meaning the very richest of americans. And so lets cut taxes, and we will go back and show you. Maybe it did not work before, that we will show you we can trickle down and have Economic Growth. And a number of us said, why would we undermine the hard work of eight years. Hen bill became president inherited an economy that had a growing deficit and debt. The prior 12 years had quadrupled the debt of america, more than at any time in our entire previous history. And he was determined to try to reverse that because he believed , number one, it was good for the economy, and it was responsible, and it was what we should be doing for our children and grandchildren. It was really, really hard. Economic plans, the deficit Reduction Plan passed in each house by one vote. And not a single republican voted for it. Instead, they beat the drum day after day about how this policy of raising taxes on the wealthy, of getting more revenue to be able to invest in our people, putting people first was going to wreck the economy. And they were dead wrong. Now we are hearing the same baloney today, right . [applause] i know we live in us beaded up ded up world. It is important to learn that lessons of history, not revisionist phony history, but real history. We know how to grow the economy in a modern globalized world. It is heartbreaking, when you saw the results, when you saw people getting ahead for the first time, more people were lifted out of poverty and bills in bills eight years than at any time and the previous eight years. Believe me, it is frustrating. If you try to live in the realitybased world which is makinge should live, these points and not being able to get them across, or have them believed, it is the fairytale of economics that it is going to trickle down. We are going to make everything great. We may be cutting medicare and medicaid and health care, make it more expensive to go to school, and all the stuff they are trying to do in washington, but it is all going to work out. It is such nonsense. The tough budget that bill fought for, that he passed that was really, really difficult, it so not immediately kick in, people did not see results quickly enough. Midterm elections were disastrous. Then they shut the government down. And he had to fight against them on every front to save medicaid and medicare and the rest of it. But eventually the facts were proven. And the results were seen. And i think there is a lot of important lessons to learn in those eight years about how to get the economy going, how to have inclusive prosperity, that we should not forget. If we do, we are back in the soup again. Pres. Clinton since it is a ,ittle bit of a retrospective iof thank you to al gore here. I thank you to al gore. He loved to cut this joke about the budget. He said, nobody else can say this, whenever i felt, we win. [laughter] he only voted when there was a tie. Everybody is for change in genera