Have you read Hillary's thesis?

Have you read Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton's senior thesis from Wellesley College? If you can find a copy of it, either on the internet or a hard copy, kudos to you. It seems access to this documents is hard to come by. Wikipedia has a ton of information on Hillary, but no excerpts or links to the thesis. Answers.com has even more on Hillary, but not even a mention of Saul Alinsky who was the motivation for her thesis.

At Wellesley, Hillary did her senior thesis on professional revolutionary Saul Alinsky. She met the leftist legend the summer before, and, as soon as she graduated, Alinksy offered her a job. She chose to attend Yale Law School instead. WND

Just who is Saul Alinsky?

In Rules for Radicals (his final work, published one year before his death), he addressed the 1960s generation of leftist radicals, outlining his views on organizing for mass power. A young Hillary Clinton was a major admirer, writing her undergraduate thesis on his work and ideas.

Author of Reveille for Radicals, Alinsky encouraged controversy and conflict, often to the dismay of middle-class activists who otherwise would sponsor his activism. [1] Alinsky is often credited with laying the foundation for confrontational political tactics that dominated the 1960s [2]. Later in his life he encouraged holders of stock in public corporations to lend their votes to "proxies" who would vote at annual stockholders meetings in favor of social justice. While his confrontational style took hold in American activism, his call to stock holders to share their power with disenfranchised working poor never took hold in U.S. progressive circles.

Alinsky was a ferocious critic of a passive and ineffective mainstream liberalism. In Rules for Radicals, he argued that the most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired ends, and that an intermediate end for radicals should be democracy because of its relative ease to work within to achieve other ends of social justice. (Wikipedia)

Hillary's recent comments about taking the profits from oil companies and using them as she sees fit, seem strange coming from someone who started out as a Republican.

She became head of the local Young Republicans chapter as a first-year student at Wellesley College, in Massachusetts. But the turning points of the late 1960s—war, assassinations, and protest—changed her mind. So did a commitment to social activism reflected in her senior thesis on poverty. Shift in political opinion is visible from her ongoing volunteer work for presidential candidates: in 1964, the high school senior backed the conservative Barry Goldwater; in 1968, the political science major was behind the left-wing Eugene McCarthy. Answers.com

The Republican Spectacular says:

Her paper earned an "A" and - when she graduated - it was shipped off to the archives.

But it was sealed in the nineties when reporters - looking for a scoop on Mrs. Clinton - came knocking at Wellesley.

The hunt for the missing thesis began.

First, columnist Barbara Olson, author of a couple of books on the Clintons, came across a bootleg and wrote about its contents in a 2000 column ("Hil's Thesis Reveals Her Mind").

Next, a copy showed up on eBay.

Bidding (and some fake bidding) escalated to more than $50,000.

Then, in what could have been a blow to the bidding, a small news outlet reported that Mrs. Clinton's paper had been available at Wellesley since Bill left office in January 2001.

But it was too late.

The "missing" thesis had become political lore.

One writer complained - as recently as 2004 - that Mrs. Clinton continued to keep her thesis "under lock and key," and another repeated the accusation in the Wall Street Journal.

Neither was correct.

But lost in the treasure hunt was the importance of what it actually said. Why, in the world, was it sealed?

Maybe it undermined President Clinton. He proposed the same community-based programs in 1993 that Mrs. Clinton had railed against in 1969.

Or maybe it was perceived - by some in her cadre - as un-American.

It depicted an ideal world.

But it warned that only certain people could build that world - maybe with conflict.

Much of this she attributed to Alinsky.

Mrs. Clinton added a few criticisms, too: she mentioned his "contradictions" more than once, and chided him a couple of times for "war-like" rhetoric.

But she called his plan "constructive," seemed to endorse the principle that society had to be reorganized in a top-down model, and - at the end of the paper - compared Alinsky to national heroes like Martin Luther King.

Sure, it was written in 1969.

But, in the context of Mrs. Clinton's recent statements, it seems to mesh with her views in the present.

The country it depicts is interesting.

But it is not America.

It makes her campaign song - "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" - seem more like a threat than a promise.

To read Mrs. Clinton's senior thesis, please contact:

Wellesley College Archives
Margaret Clapp Library
Wellesley MA 02481
phone: 781 283-2128 FAX: 781 283-3796

If you can find a copy on the internet let me know. Otherwise some of us will have to flood Wellesley with requests for a hard copy of the thesis.

Do we really want this woman as president, taking from the so-called rich and using that money for the 'common good' as SHE SEES IT????

Comments

[Rastaman]

This is out of context, but has anyone noticed that we're posting more and getting comments less?

It seems that blogging has caught fire with so many people that everyone wants their own blog and literally 1000's of new blogs are coming online every day, if you believe Fox News. With so many people who used to leave comments now dealing with blogs of their own, it's become a case of the fishermen outnumbering the fish.

I think the word is out now anyway on Islam, as much as it's going to be. The ones who still don't get it will have to be hit over the head with it first and maybe not even then. So, I've expanded my blog to cover more general information, and will be leaving less posts. I'll still be around, just not as much.

Rasta

[Debbie]

I haven't noticed any decrease in comments or traffic. Things always go up and down from week to week.

You are right about more and more blogs popping up.

Also more sites that act as 'editor', and invite other bloggers to cross post their articles there.

The one I really LIKE is Webloggin. Their editor does the cross posting her/himself. They post only a portion of my article, with a link back here.

Most others expect us over worked bloggers to do the cross posting ourselves. There are just not enough hours in the day to accommodate everybody.

[StormWarning]

I think taking a term paper from college out of context is simply that, out of context. I think that attempting to draw some conclusions from whatever Senator Clinton wrote in college is virtually irrelevant.

[Thomas Hamilton]

"It seems that blogging has caught fire with so many people that everyone wants their own blog and literally 1000's of new blogs are coming online every day, if you believe Fox News. With so many people who used to leave comments now dealing with blogs of their own, it's become a case of the fishermen outnumbering the fish."

Not me, I got better things to do than to research junk and type on a compooter all day, but she enjoys it a lot.

I prefer to leave comments.

[Truth]

According to press reports, the thesis is open for viewing, not copying, in person only: "No appointment is necessary for such spade work [MSNBC referring to a conservative who wanted to get his hands on the thesis, as if the typical person can just pick up and fly across the country to read a thesis.]. A visitor to the Wellesley campus is buzzed in to the wood-paneled archives, but only after storing coat and briefcase in a locker outside. Pencils are allowed for note taking — no pens, which might mar the document. Readers can copy only a few pages." - MSNBC

Interested parties better get there quick, before Sandy Berger does.

[Debbie]

Truth, thanks for the great comment. You are right, we can't just jump on an airplane and to check it out for ourselves. However, journalists CAN do that. I believe that Hannity now has at least a portion of the thesis.

[Candace]

Here is a supposed copy of the thesis from Clinton writter in 1969.

[Debbie]

Candace: Thanks for that link:

http://www.gopublius.com/HCT/HillaryClintonThesis.pdf

[Custom Essays]

nice posts, i really enjoying it alot.

[Custom Essays]

The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.

[nzuckerman]

You need to mention that Alinsky was also a communist who modified postion to do work with those organizing in any way they were inclined. Not bad at all. But: so who cares what she wrote thesis on? Does an undergrad paper define her for life? NO.I have read Alinsky, admired his work, but I am not a communist nor am I an organizer. In fact I served my country in wartime and have been in the military twice; my son was a marine for 4 years. What is your point? Sec Clinton must be evil person as Sec of State because she wrote a thesis.Let's burn her at the stake! Small wonder the conservatives are losing not just elections but the independent voters en masse.

[danial]

good blog

[Term paper]

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