Summary

NET REQUEST FEED FROM THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION AT THE WELLS FARGO CENTER IN PHILADELPHIA / 21:00:32 Now during this campaign, we have seen something else: her toughness. And I know a little bit about toughness. The right wing has thrown everything at her - not only the kitchen sink, not only the stove but the refrigerator, and the toaster, too. And guess what? She's still standing! Tey have thrown anything at her and she is still standing. America's families need Hillary in the white house standing with all of us. We need a president who knows it's just plain wrong that women make 79 cents for every dollar paid to a man. And yet her opponent refuses to support equal pay he says quote"the marketplace is going to make sure of it." Well, it's 2016 and we're still waiting Mr. Trump. 21:01:39 We can count on Hillary to fight to raise the minimum wage. Her opponent says he thinks "wages are too high." That's un-American because in our country, if you work full-time, you should never ever have to live in poverty!And we can count on Hillary to protect our right to choose. Her opponent said a woman should be "punished" for exercising her right to choose and then picked a running mate who believes Roe v. Wade belongs to quote him in the "ash heap of history." Well, I have a message for Donald Trump and Mike Pence: we are not going back to the dark days when women died in back alleys! We are never ever ever going back! Never! We're moving forward with Hillary Clinton! 21:02:51 You know, there's a lot of talk about what makes America great. Well, I'll tell you this, it's not when we insult each other, it's not when we tear each other down, it's when we stand together! It's when we work together. It's when we build together! It when we fight together! And that's what makes America great! And that's what Hillary Clinton will do! And that is why I'm telling you tonight, Hillary Clinton will be our next President of the United States of America! Thank you California. Thank you America. Thank you. ELIZABETH BANKS 21:03:56 In August of 2001, I moved to California from my home in New York City. I left the greatest and strongest city in the world. And one month later, on September 11, we all saw that city attacked. And immediately, New York's senator rushed to her side. Hillary Clinton fought for her city, her state, relentlessly. She fought for funds so New York could recover and so victims could have what they need to rebuild. 21:04:34 Show fought for healthcare and benefits for everyone who worked at ground zero. No new Yorker will forget where they were that day. And it's my pleasure to introduce a good friend and a great new Yorker, Debra Messing. DEBRA MESSING 21:05:11 The horrific attacks on September 11th, 2001 rocked my hometown and our country to their core. As a proud New Yorker, the trauma of that morning and the heartbreak that followed will never fully fade. But neither will the sense of awe I felt after watching, on television, so many brave men and women pulling complete strangers from the flames and wreckage. 21:05:42 Risking everything to protect us through hours and days of sheer terror. And out of the chaos and haze of 9/11 emerged the face of the America we all know. Not divided. Not spiteful. But full of strength and compassion. Courage and fierce unity. Nothing could divide us on that day. And indeed our shared humanity was all that mattered. Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Black, white, Asian, or Latino. Gay, bi, trans, or straight. We are one people. 21:06:28 And with strong, steady leaders in place, and the courage of everyday heroes to keep us safe, there's nothing we can't accomplish together. One of those heroes is with us today. NYPD detective Joe Sweeney. [ 9/11 VIDEO PLAYS ] JOE SWEENEY 21:09:36 My name is Joe Sweeney, and I served as an NYPD officer and detective for 21 years. I'm proud of every day that I served my city and my country. [ cheers and applause ] But I'm especially proud that I served on our worst day. 21:09:55 Beginning that horrible morning, we worked in the smoke and ash to search - first for survivors, then for remains, and then to begin clearing the rubble. Police officers, firefighters, ironworkers, machine operators, neighbors, and friends all joined together to help. We had a job to do. And we did our best. 21:10:22 At the time, the EPA assured us that the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe. That information was dead wrong. Thousands of my friends and brothers and sisters in blue were exposed to harmful toxins that have caused lifelong health problems. 21:10:43 And when we needed someone to speak for us, to stand with us, to fight on our behalf, Hillary Clinton was there, every step of the way. Within 48 hours of the towers falling, Hillary introduced a bill - signed into law - that helped first responders get the benefits they earned easier and faster. 21:11:09 Then she pressured the EPA to launch a new task force and led Congressional hearings until the EPA admitted the air hadn't been safe. A lot of people moved on; they thought everything was fine. But Hillary Clinton kept in touch and kept at it. Ten years later, Hillary Clinton was still our toughest champion, making sure we still got our health benefits. 21:11:40 I'm at this podium tonight because, like first responders across America, Secretary Clinton has devoted her career to a simple creed: Protect and Serve. Time and again, Secretary Clinton has kept her promises, including to the extraordinary Lauren Manning. LAUREN MANNING 21:12:31 My name is Lauren Manning, and when I arrived at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11th, 2001, I was a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. I was a wife and a mother. A moment later, I found myself in the midst of the worst peacetime attack in this nation's history. I was catastrophically burned over 82 percent of my body, my chances of survival next to zero. I battled for months, to live, and for years, to recover. 21:13:08 I fought in tribute to the friends and colleagues at Cantor Fitzgerald that I lost that day, and all 2,996 people who were killed that day. [ gets emotional ] I fought to honor our troops, who were fighting and continued to fight on frontlines around the world. And I fought to return to my young son ten months old at the time. I fought as hard as I could so the terrorists wouldn't get one more. Hillary Clinton stood with me through that fight. 21:14:18 And in the darkest of days and the hardest of times, the people who show up in your life are the ones that mean everything. Hillary showed up. She walked into my hospital room and took my bandaged hand in her own. Our connection wasn't between a senator and her constituent. Our connection was person to person and as a woman working for years I know you had to be tough and in that woman is a hell of a tough person. . For years, she visited, called, and continues ti check in because Hillary cares. When I needed her, she was there. When our first responders needed her, she was there. 21:15:18 When New York needed her she was there. I trusted her when my life was on the line and she came through.. Not for the cameras, not because anyone was watching, but because that's who she is. Kind. Caring. Loyal. She had my back. This is the Hillary Clinton I want you to know. She was there for me and that's why I'm with Her. JOE CROWLEY 21:16:27 It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. It was just after 9:00 a.m. And I was waiting on the runway at LaGuardia to fly back to Washington. Then I got the news. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I raced out of the terminal. I tried calling my two cousins, both members of the New York City Fire Department. We had grown up together in working class Queens, New York. They were supposed to be off duty that day. But, then the call came in. Both brothers responded. Only one came home. 21:17:16 On September 12th, I stood at what had been the World Trade Center. All that remained was smoke and ash. My cousin, Battalion Chief John Moran, was listed among the missing, but deep down I knew he wasn't coming home. Neither were the other 342 missing firefighters. The weight of his loss was heavy. But there beside me that day was Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton, the New York Senator. Hillary Clinton, my friend. She understood the pain my family, our city, our nation were under. She fought to help our city rebuild. And she delivered. 21:18:13 People forget, but the assistance package that was first proposed didn't have a dime, not a dime, for New York. Hillary helped turn that around - securing $20 billion we needed to get New York going again. But, she didn't stop there. Hundreds worked on the Pile in the days after 9/11. First they came to find survivors, but eventually searched for remains. They didn't worry about their own health. They were told the air was fine. But, it wasn't. And when health issues emerged years later, Hillary Clinton was still by their side. 21:19:02 She brought families and first responders to Washington. She took them door to door, never letting her colleagues forget the consequences of that terrible day. For almost a decade, Hillary never gave up, and she was there with us when the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was finally passed. 21:19:29 But let me ask you something. Where was Donald Trump in the days, and months, and years after 9/11? He didn't stand at the Pile. He didn't lobby Congress for help. He didn't fight for the first responders. Nope. He cashed in. Collecting $150,000 in federal funds intended to help small businesses recover - even though days after the attack Trump said his properties were not affected. 21:20:05 Hillary sought those funds to help local mom and pop shops get back on their feet. Donald Trump sought a payday for his empire. It was one of our nation's darkest days, but to Trump, it was just another chance to make a quick buck. Hillary has never and will never forget the reality of that day. And that's why she will never give up on making us a better and stronger nation. My cousin John carried with him a quote from Teddy Roosevelt. It reads, in part: 21:20:55 "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly." 21:21:12 My friends, this is the Hillary Clinton I know. The doer of deeds - who I've stood and worked and fought alongside. This is the Hillary Clinton I believe in. The proven fighter, who has been devoted and devoted herself to helping American families, American workers, and cops, and firefighters, and first responders. Helping all Americans. And this is the Hillary Clinton I support. The one who has been in the arena, who knows what it will take to keep America safe and defeat and destroy ISIS, and has demonstrated the leadership and determination we need in our next president. 21:21:54 My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans - I'm with Her. I'm with Hillary. Because, Hillary has always, always been with us. ELIZABETH BANKS 21:22:27 When I first started my acting career, I was the typical waitress and I'm not talking about when I played waitress on "All my children". I ate a lot of bagels for brunch because I couldn't afford both lunch and breakfast. Oh, woops, breakfast and lunch, that's brunch. Also, I didn't have health insurance. My doctor was at planned parenthood where they let me pay on a sliding scale and where they understood my lady bits. 21:22:57 But if I got a major illness, I was out of luck. And I know millions of people who have a similar story. But I also know this, Hillary Clinton has fought for affordable healthcare for decades. Children's health insurance, Hillary Clinton. Lower precipitation costs, Hillary Clinton. Expanded health coverage for people who need it most. Hillary Clinton. Do you see a pattern? Let's hear more. [HILLARY VIDEO ON HEALTHCARE] ERIKA ALEXANDER 21:26:06 Before I was a comic book creator, or "Cousin Pam" or "Maxine Shaw" on TV, I was just a girl from Philly by way of Flagstaff, Arizona. My mother was a teacher. My father was an Itinerant preacher. They worked multiple jobs to feed their six kids. We were the working poor. Still, we had our eyes on a future where we were just like folks on TV. More the "Jeffersons" than "Good Times." Ya'll feel me? [ laughs ] Yes. 21:26:42 My family's struggle is familiar to millions of American families today. No one will fight harder for these families, for us all, than Hillary Clinton. I've seen Hillary at work for nearly a decade. I've witnessed a kindness and grace that endures, even when you know she must be "almost-a-million" miles tired and longing for home. It is an uncommon grace and strength. It seems to defy gravity. Hillary defies gravity. And as president, she will inspire us all to rise. 21:27:23 You're about to meet a young man named Ryan Moore, who has felt that inspiration. His friendship with Hillary was forged 23 years ago by their shared commitment to health care, and their willingness to keep fighting for change, striving for progress, and defying gravity. Please welcome Ryan Moore. RYAN MOORE 21:28:11 My name is Ryan Moore from South Sioux City, Nebraska. My family began our friendship with Hillary over 20 years ago. Back then, she was First Lady, fighting for health care reform. As a person with a rare form of dwarfism, my family knew that my life was going to be filled with surgeries and hospital visits. So we were grateful when Hillary asked to hear our story. For me, quality, affordable health care was more than a privilege, and even more than a right. It was an absolute necessity. 21:29:03 I'm thankful that she's kept up the fight over the years. And I'm honored to call her my friend. Here's what I can tell you from my years knowing Hillary Clinton. She's compassionate. Every time I see Hillary, she remembers meaningful details about my life, sometimes from years earlier. When I first met her, I was 7 years old and wearing a back brace. Two years later, she patted my back and said, "You don't have a back brace anymore!" I couldn't believe that she remembered that. A lot of people wouldn't have, a lot of people wouldn't have - but she did. 21:29:53 She's thoughtful. Every time I have a big operation coming up, I always receive a note from Hillary, full of encouragement and kindness. She lifts my spirits. [EMOTIONALLY] She helps me believe that everything is going to be all right. Most of all, she's genuine. Something happens, something happens when you meet Hillary. No matter how busy she is - and I'm pretty sure she's always really busy - she makes you feel like the most important person in her day. 21:30:35 She blocks everything else out and just focuses on me - how my job is going, how I'm feeling. She really cares. [ applause ] And I know, and I know that so many people who've met her over the years say the exact same thing. 21:31:00 I wish everyone could get to know Hillary's heart like I have. She always looks out for the "little guy" - no pun intended. And that's why I'm so proud to support Hillary Clinton as our next president. Thank you. HOWARD DEAN 21:31:44 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Democrats, independents and to the millions of Republicans who don't recognize the party they saw and heard in Cleveland and cannot support their party's nominee for president and vice president, 25 years ago I got to know Hillary Clinton when she worked to achieve a goal, that was a goal a century ago. The goal of Harry Truman to give us all universal health care. Between the aspirations of Harry Truman and the accomplishment of Barack Obama, there was Hillary, poised and persistent. 21:32:45 When her first attempt at health care did not work out, Hillary could have given up. Instead, she fought the way she always did. She did her homework. She persevered. She never forgot who she was fighting for. And thanks to her effort, the state children's health insurance program was born and she worked just as hard to ensure that the states actually signed up, joining with Republican governors to get it done. 21:33:23 Today, more than eight million children have health insurance as a result. That is eight million children whose families don't have to choose between paying the rent and taking them to the doctor. When president Obama took office, he picked up the fight and with the affordable healthcare act passed, we expanded insurance to 20 million more people. 21:33:54 Today, 90% of Americans are covered and we have made so much progress. And now, we need to elect the person who will finish the job. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hillary. has a plan to drive down healthcare costs. Hillary has a plan to stand up to the drug companies and lower prescription drug prices. And Hillary has a plan to take us the last mile and finally achieve health care for all Americans. That is what Hillary will do. Now Donald Trump has a plan, too. 21:34:44 He would rip up Obamacare and throw 20 million people off their health insurance. Donald Trump will take us back to a time when insurance companies can deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition. [ boos ] Or he will take you back to the time where insurance companies could charge you more just because you were a woman. [ boos ] And what is he going to replace this with? Quote, something so much better, huge, no doubt. That's it. That's the whole plan right there. Six-word plan for health care. His vice presidential pick is no better. Mike pence voted against expanding the children's health insurance program which Hillary helped to start. Mike Pence voted against requiring insurance companies to cover mental health and addiction treatment. [ boos ] 21:35:45 Mike pence voted to end medicare as we know it. By the way, Mike pence once said that when both parents work, children end up facing quote, stunted emotional growth. I have a medical degree. Let me tell you what really stunts children's growth. Not having access to health care, inadequate funding for school nutrition programs, guns, the ultimate public health crisis, cigarettes. I hear governor pence missed the memo, but they do in fact cause cancer, governor, and no amount of tobacco money contributions to your campaign can change that, governor. 21:36:39 The choice in this election is clear. We need a president whose decisions are rooted in the facts. We need a president who will defend our interests around the world and who knows what it takes to defeat and destroy ISIS, not with ignorant bluster and bombast but with a toughness and resolve. 21:37:01 We need a president who will ensure that the wealthiest among us play by the same rules as hard-working middle class Americans. And we need a president who will never stop fighting to ensure that universal health care is a basic human right. And if that is the president we want, if that is the America that we believe in, then do not wait until November to make your voice heard. Go to hillaryclinton.com to donate right now. Help make history and volunteer, because this race is going to be won on the ground and it's going to be won in Colorado and in Iowa and North Carolina and Michigan and Florida and Pennsylvania and then we go to the white house. ELIZABETH BANKS 21:38:36 >> -- Went to the world a Capella championships so I know a thing or two about world affairs. But I still have a long way to go to catch Hillary Clinton. As our secretary of state, our nation's chief diplomat, she traveled to 112 countries and flew nearly a million miles.Why did she take the job? For the fancy title? No. For the nice office? No. For the frequent flyer miles? Probably. She took the job because we needed someone to fight to make America and the world safe. 21:39:26 Someone tough and smart to sit on the other side of the table from Russia, from China, from Canada. Hillary Clinton used her office to bring new focus and attention to sex trafficking, human rights abuses and the plight of women and girls all over the world. Hillary Clinton did not yell.She didn't insult anyone. She went into the room with a clear and steady vision for the future and she got results. [VIDEO PLAYS] AMY KLOBUCHAR 21:45:34 Hello, friends! Hello democrats. I'm here to make the case for a leader who, as you just saw, is focused on security: security for our country, security for our economy, and our democracy. A leader who knows we are all more secure when women and girls have the opportunity to lead with their heads high and their strides strong. That leader is Hillary Clinton. 21:46:17 She sees a world where girls are not captured and sold but are fearless and bold; where they lead and not follow. And where when someone tells a young woman, "You fight like a girl," her answer is, "Yes, I do. And I'm proud to be that girl!" 21:46:48 Now delegates, here is one challenge: today, millions of people in the world are held in forced labor or sexual servitude. Human trafficking hits home for me. I'm a former prosecutor. A few years ago in Minnesota, a 12-year-old girl got a text to go to a party. A man picked her up in a parking lot and raped her. She ended up in a hotel and was forced to take explicit pictures of herself. They were posted online, and she was sold to two more men. 21:47:31 They got that guy. Our Justice Department went after him. Last December, he was convicted by a jury.She was 12 years old. Not old enough to drive a car or go to her high school prom. Not old enough to vote. This is happening in our own country. That's why, as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton took the international report on trafficking - the one nations use to improve their prosecutions - and she made our country accountable. She added the United States to that list. Because she knows that if we are going to be a beacon for the world, then we have to get our own house in order. 21:48:46 And when Hillary said, "Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights," she named sex trafficking as a violation of those rights. She didn't say it just anywhere my fellow delegates, she said it in China. She came home from Beijing and she supported the first trafficking law in our country. And years later, she supported my bipartisan bill that's helping law enforcement crackdown on trafficking and make sure kids who are trafficked are treated as victims, not as criminals. 21:49:37 Fellow delegates, human trafficking is the third biggest criminal enterprise in the world. As long as ISIS is selling girls for $165, and parents in Nigeria are left with nothing but bows and arrows to chase the terrorists who steal their daughters in the middle of the night, we will never have a just and good world. 21:50:03 Because when women are held back, democracies falter. When women, when women are bound and treated as sex slaves, tyrants rule. Opportunity for women is not a sign of a country's weakness, it is a sign of a nation's strength. Or maybe, just maybe, Mark Twain said it best: "What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce." 21:50:48 Elevating women across the world so they're treated with dignity and respect - that's what Hillary Clinton will do. And if that means playing the woman card, Donald Trump, let me tell you: there are hundreds of millions of women in this world who are ready to play that card. [ cheers ] And in the United States of America, it's called the voting card! You know, part of how we make this better is by telling the truth, laying out the facts, and sharing our stories. Here with us tonight is someone who has experienced the devastation of human trafficking. 21:51:45 It's hard to put words to the horror she's faced, but Ima Matul has the courage to speak out. We all have a voice. This election, let's use it. We welcome you, Ima. IMA MATUL 21:52:26 Thank you, Senator, for your words and your work. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would share a stage with so many leaders and visionaries. I grew up in a poor village in Indonesia. When I was 17 years old, I was brought to Los Angeles with the promise of a job as a nanny. Instead, I spent the next three years in domestic servitude being abused. 21:53:06 When I finally had the courage to escape my trafficker, I found a home at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking. After I got the support I needed, I found the strength to organize survivors from across the country. Before human trafficking began to capture our attention, before there were laws to identify and protect victims, even before I escaped my trafficker, Hillary Clinton was fighting to end modern slavery. And throughout her career, Hillary kept up that fight. 21:54:07 Human trafficking is not just happening overseas; it is happening right here in our backyard. Every day I hear stories just like my own. Still, I have hope. There's a growing awareness about the devastating impact of human trafficking. There's a growing embrace of survivors in our communities and businesses and churches. And there's a growing commitment to finding innovative solutions to make sure this generation of survivors will be the last. 21:54:56 I have hope, especially now that Hillary Clinton is running for president. As a survivor and an advocate, I have hope that we can end human trafficking. Thank you. MADELEINE ALBRIGHT FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE 21:55:47 Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [ cheers ] Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. My fellow Americans, good evening. 21:56:09 Sixty-eight years ago, during a time of grave danger, Democrats gathered in Philadelphia to nominate a tough, smart, and experienced Presidential candidate. At the time I was a child in Europe, where I lived in fear because my native Czechoslovakia had been taken over by Communists. But within a few months, my family found refuge in America - and that candidate, Harry Truman, became my first American President. 21:56:50 Tonight in Philadelphia, we nominated someone with Truman's fighting spirit to be our next President - Hillary Clinton. And this fall, we must do everything we can to make sure that Hillary becomes our next Commander-in-Chief. Because in this era, with these threats, we need a leader who has the experience and judgment to keep America strong, secure, and safe. 21:57:32 I know Hillary Clinton will be that president because I have known her for more than 25 years - because I have seen her fight - and win - for our country and for causes that count. When Hillary was First Lady, we went to the Beijing Women's Conference. And she courageously stood up and spoke out on behalf of human rights and women's rights, inspiring millions to fight for a better future. We went to Prague, where I showed her the city of my birth and made her eat Czech cabbage - she didn't like it very much. We met with Václav Havel - whom she did like very much- and who made so many dreams of freedom come true. 21:58:24 When Hillary served in the Senate, I saw her work day and night as a member of the Armed Services Committee - working with Republicans and Democrats to keep our military strong and protect our troops and their families. And when Hillary served as Secretary of State, I watched her partner with President Obama to restore our country's reputation around the world. She fought terrorism. She stopped the spread of nuclear weapons. And she promoted diplomacy, defense, development, and democracy - smart power - in every corner of the world. 21:59:11 As I travel today, I am reminded how important it is that the person who represents our nation is trusted by our allies and who listens more than she talks. Hillary and I share a few things in common. We both went to Wellesley College - so I know where she got her study habits. We are both mothers and grandmothers - so I know where she got her management skills. 21:59:51 But we also know what it's like to step off that plane with the words "United States of America" on it. She knows that safeguarding freedom and security is not like hosting a TV reality show. It is a complex, round-the-clock job that demands not only a steady hand and a cool head, but also a big heart. You are not just representing yourself, you are there for all of us. Hillary has displayed these qualities in every job she has ever had. 22:00:32 And last week in Cleveland, we were reminded that her opponent possesses none of them. Many have argued that Donald Trump would harm our national security if he were elected president. The fact is: He has already done damage, just by running for president. [ cheers and applause ] He has undermined our fight against ISIS by alienating our Muslim partners. 22:01:14 He has weakened our standing in the world by threatening to walk away from our friends and our allies - and by encouraging more countries to get nuclear weapons. Donald Trump also has a strange admiration for dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-un, and Vladimir Putin. When asked about Putin, Donald Trump said - and I quote - "in terms of leadership, he's getting an 'A.'" The truth is that a Trump victory in November would be a gift to Vladimir Putin - and given what we have learned about Russia's recent actions, Putin is eager for Trump to win. And that should worry every American. 22:02:05 Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain, I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light. Trump's dark vision of America, one that's isolated in the world, alienated from our allies, would be a disaster. We would -- must make sure that never happens. We must elect Hillary Clinton as our next president. My fellow Americans, at the age of 11, I sailed past the Statue of Liberty and started my life in the world's greatest democracy. I am so grateful to our country, and I am supporting Hillary Clinton because I love it. God bless America and God Bless the American people. 22:03:26 [ BILL CLINTON VIDEO ] BILL CLINTON 22:10:49 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In the spring of 1971 I met a girl. The first time I saw her we were appropriately enough in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blond hair, big glasses, wore no makeup and she exuded this sense of strength and self-possession that I found magnetic. After the class I followed her out intending to introduce myself.. I got close enough to touch her back but I couldn't do it. 22:11:59 Somehow I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder. That I might be starting something I couldn't stop. I saw her several more times the next couple days but I still didn't speak to her. Then one night I was in the law library talking to a classmate who wanted me to join the Yale Law Journal. He said it would guarantee me a job at a big firm or a clerkship with a federal judge. I really wasn't interested. I just wanted to go home to Arkansas. Then [ cheers ] -- then I saw the girl again. Standing at the opposite end of that long room. 22:12:51 Finally she was staring back at me. So I watched her. She closed her book, put it down and started walking toward me. She walked the whole length of the library, came up to me and said, look, if you're going to keep staring at me [ laughter ] and now I'm staring back, we at least ought to know each other's names. I'm Hillary Rodham, who are you? I was so -- I was so impressed and surprised that whether you believe it or not, momentarily, I was speechless. 22:13:37 Finally I sort of blurted out my name and we exchanged a few words and then she went away. Well, I didn't join the law review but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind. A couple days later I saw her again. I remember she was wearing a long white flowery skirt, and I went up to her and she said she was going to register to classes for the next term. I said I'd go, too. And we stood in line and talked, you had to do that to register back then, and I thought I was doing pretty well. Till we got to the front of the line and the registrar looked up and said, Bill, what are you doing here? 22:14:21 You registered this morning. I turned red and she laughed that big laugh of hers and I thought, well, heck, as soon as my cover's been blown, I just went ahead and asked her to take a walk down to the art museum. We've been walking and talking and laughing together ever since. And-- 22:14:54 We've done it in good times and bad, through joy and heartbreak. We cried together this morning on the news that our good friend and a lot of your friend Mark Winer passed away this morning. We built up a lifetime of memories. After the first month and that first walk, I actually drove her home to Park Ridge, Illinois, to meet her family and see the town where she grew up. A perfect example of post world War II middle class America. 22:15:38 Street after street of nice houses, great schools, good parks, a big public swimming pool. And almost all white. I really liked her family. Her crusty, conservative father, her rambunctious brother, all extolling the virtues of rooting for the Bears and the Cubs. And for the people from Illinois here, they even told me what waiting for next year meant. Could be next year, guys. Now her mother was different. She was more liberal than the boys. And she had a childhood that made mine look like a piece of cake. She was easy to underestimate with her soft manner, and she reminded me all over again of the truth of that old saying, you should never judge a book by its cover. Knowing her was one of the greatest gifts Hillary ever gave me. I learned that Hillary got her introduction to social justice through her methodist youth minister Don Jones. 22:16:56 He took her downtown to Chicago to hear Dr. martin Luther king speak and he remained her friend for the rest of his life. This will be the only campaign of hers he ever missed. When she got to college, her support for civil rights, her opposition to the Vietnam war compelled her to change parties and become a Democrat. And then between college and law school on a total lark she went alone to Alaska and spent some time sliming fish. More to the point by the time I met her, she had already been in law school's legal services project and she'd been influenced by Marian Wright edelman. 22:17:44 She took a summer internship interviewing workers in migrant camps, for senator Walter Mondale's subcommittee. She'd also begun working in the Yale New Haven hospital to develop procedures to handle suspected child abuse cases. She got so involved in children's issues that she actually took an extra year in law school working at the child studies center to learn what more can be done to improve the lives and the future of poor children. So she was already determined to figure out how to make thing better. 22:18:33 Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens. In the summer of 1972, she went to Dothan, Alabama to visit one of those segregated academies, they'd enrolled over half a million white kids in the south, the only way the economics worked is if they claimed federal tax exemptions to which they were not legally entitled. 22:19:01 She got sent to prove they weren't. So she sauntered into one of these academies all by herself pretending she was a housewife that had just moved to town and needed to find a school for her son. And they exchanged pleasantries. And finally she said look, let's get to the bottom line here, if I enroll my son in this school, will he be in a segregated school? Yes or no? And the guy said, absolutely.She had him. I've seen it a thousand times since. And she went back and her encounter was part of her report that gave Marian Wright Edelman the ammunition she needed to keep working to force the Nixon administration to take those tax exemptions away and give our kid access to an equal education. 22:19:51 Then -- [ cheers ] - Then she went down to south Texas where she met -- she met one of the nicest fellas I ever met, the wonderful union leader Franklin Garcia, and he helped her register mexican-american voters. I think some of them are still around to vote for her in 2016. Then in our last year in law school, Hillary kept up this work. She went to south Carolina to see why so many young -- she went to south Carolina to see why so many young African-American boys, I mean young teen-agers, were being jailed for years with adults in men's prisons. 22:20:46 And she filed a report on that which led to some changes, too. Always making thing better. Now, meanwhile let's get back to business. I was trying to convince her to marry me. I first proposed to her on a trip to Great Britain. The first time she'd ever been overseas and we were on the shoreline of this wonderful little lake, Lake Ennerdale. I asked her to marry me and she said I can't do it. So in 1974 I went home to teach in the law school and Hillary moved to Massachusetts to keep working -- to keep working on children's issues. This time trying to figure out why so many kids counted in the census weren't enrolled in school. She found one of them sitting alone on her porch in a wheelchair. 22:21:56 The proposition that children with disability, physical or otherwise should have equal access to public education. You saw the results of that last night when Anastasia Simosa talked. She never made fun of people with disabilities. She tried to empower them based on their abilities. Meanwhile -- meanwhile I was still trying to get her to marry me. The second time I tried I tried a different tact. I said I really want to you marry me but you shouldn't do it. She smiled and looked at me like what is this boy up to. She said that's not a very good sale pitch. 22:22:58 I said I know but it's true. And I meant it, it was true. I said I know most of the young Democrats our age who want to go into politics. They mean well and they speak well but none of them are as good as you are at actually doing things to make positive changes in people's lives. So I suggested she go home to Illinois or move to New York and look for a chance to run for office.She just laughed and said are you out of my mind? Nobody would ever vote for me. 22:23:40 So I finally got her to come visit me in Arkansas. And when she did, the people at the law school were so impressed they offered her a teaching position. And she decided to take a huge chance. She moved to a strange place, more rural, more culturally conservative than anyplace she'd ever been where she knew good and well people would wonder what in the world she was like and whether they could or should accept her. Didn't take them long to find out what she was like. She loved her teaching and she got frustrated when one of her students said, well, what do you expect, I'm just from Arkansas. 22:24:24 She said don't tell me that, you're as smart as anybody. You just have to believe in yourself and work hard and set high goals.She believed that anybody could make it. She also started the first legal aid clinic in northwest Arkansas providing legal aid services to poor people who couldn't pay for it. One day I was driving her to the airport to fly back to Chicago when we passed this little brick house that it a for sale sign on it it and she said, boy, that's a pretty house. It is 1,100 square feet, an attic fan and no air conditioner in hot Arkansas and a screened in porch. 22:25:13 Hillary commented on what a uniquely designed and beautiful house it was. So I took a big chance. I bought the house. My mortgage was $175 a month. When she came back being I picked her up and said remember that house you liked? She said yeah, I said while you were gone, I bought it, you have to marry me now. The third time was the charm. 22:25:49 We were married -- we were married in that little house on October 11th, 1975. I married my best friend. I was still in awe after more than four years of being around her at how smart and strong and loving and caring she was and I really hoped that her choosing me and rejecting my advice to pursue her own career was a decision she would never regret. 22:26:28 A little over a year later we moved to Little Rock when I became attorney general and she joined the oldest law firm west of the Mississippi. Soon after she started a group called the Arkansas advocates for families and children. [woods from audience] It's a group, as a group as you can hear that is still active today. In 1979 -- in 1979, just after I became governor, I asked Hillary to chair a rural help committee to help expand health care to isolated form and mountain areas. They recommended to do that partly by deploying trained nurse practitioners in places with no doctors. 22:27:21 It was a big deal then. Highly controversial and very important. And I got the feeling that what she did for the rest of her life she was doing there. She just went out and figured out what needed to be done and what made the most sense and what would help the most people and then if it was controversial, she just tried to persuade people it the right thing to do. It wasn't the only big thing that happened that spring, my first year as governor. We found out we were going to be parents. 22:27:57 And time passed. On February 27th, 1980, 15 minutes after I got home from the national governor's conference in Washington, Hillary's water broke and off we went to the hospital. And off we went to the hospital. Chelsea was born just before midnight. [ SHOT OF CHELSEA ] It was the greatest moment of my life. The miracle of a new beginning. The hole filled for me because my own father died before I was born and the absolute conviction that my daughter had the best mother in the whole world. 22:28:54 For the next 17 years, through nursing school, montessori, kindergarten, through t-ball, soccer, volleyball and her passion for ballet, through sleepovers, summer camps, family vacations and Chelsea's own very ambitious excursions from Halloween parties in the neighborhood to a viennese waltz gala in the white house, Hillary first and foremost was a mother. She became, as she often said, our family's designated worrier. Born with an extra responsibility gene. 22:29:33 The truth is we rarely disagreed on parenting, although she did believe I had gone a little over the top when I took a couple of days off with Chelsea to watch all six "Police academy" movies back to back. When Chelsea was 9 months old, I was defeated for reelection in a Reagan landslide and I became overnight I think the youngest former governor in the history of the country. We only had two-year terms back then. Hillary was great. Immediately she said, okay, what are we going to do? 22:30:13 Here's what we're going to do. We're going to get a house, you're going to get a job, we're going to enjoy being chelsea's parents and if you really want to run again you got to go out and talk to people, figure out why you lost, tell people you got the message and show them you still have good ideas. I followed her advice. Within two days we had a house, I soon had a job, we had two fabulous years with Chelsea and in 1982 I became the first governor in the history of our state to be elected defeated and elected again. I think my experience is that it's a pretty good thing to follow her advice. 22:30:55 The rest of the decade sort of flew by as our lives settles into a rhythm of family and work and friends and 1983 Hillary chaired a committee to recommend new education standards for us as a part of -- in response to a corridor to equalize school funding and a report by a national expert that said our woefully underfunded school was the worst in America. 22:31:24 Typical Hillary, she held listening tours in all 75 counties with our committee. She came up with really ambitious recommendations. For example, we'd be the first school in America, first state in America to require elementary counselors in every school, because so many kids were having trouble at home, and they needed it. So, I called the legislature into session hoping to pass the pay for extra teachers and raise the sales tax to pay for it all. 22:32:00 I knew it would be hard to pass, but it got easier after Hillary testified before the committee and the chairman, a plainspoken farmer said "Looks to me like we elected the wrong Clinton." Well, by the time I ran for president nine years later the same expert who said we had the worst schools in America said that our state was one of the two most improved states in America, and that's because of those standards that Hillary helped develope. Now, two years later Hillary told me about a preschool program developed in Israel called HIPY - home instruction program for preschool youngsters. The idea was to teach low income parents, even those who couldn't read, to be their children's first teachers. She said she thought it would work in Arkansas. I said, that's great what are we gonna do about it. 22:32:55 She said oh I already did. I called the woman who started the program in Israel, she'll be here in about ten days and help us get started. Next thing you know, I'm being dragged around to all these little preschool graduations, keep in mind this is before any state even had universal kindergarten. I'm being dragged to preschool graduations, watching these poor parents because with tears in their eyes because they never thought they'd be able to help their kids learn. Now 20 years, 20 years of research have shown how well this program works to improve school and academic achievement. 22:33:35 There are a lot of young adults in America who have no idea Hillary had anything to do with it who are enjoying better lives because there in that program. She did all this while being a full-time worker, a mother and enjoying our life. Why? Well, she's insatiably curious, she's a good organizer and shes the best darn change maker I ever met in my entire life. So look this is a really important point. This is a really important point This is a really important point for you to take out of your convention. If you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of change is how many people lives are bettered-- 22:34:23 You know, it's hard and some people think it boring, speeches like that think it fun. Actually doing the work is hard. Some people say, well, we need change. She's been around a long time. She sure has. And she's sure been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better. I can tell you this, if you were sitting where I'm sitting and you heard what I have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation on every long walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is. When I became president with the commitment to reform health care, Hillary was a natural to head the health care task force. You all know we failed because it couldn't break the senate filibuster. 22:35:41 Hillary immediately went to work on solving the problems the bill sought to address one by one. The most important goal was to get more children with health insurance. In 1997, congress passed the children's health insurance program. Still an important part of president Obama's affordable care act. It ensures more than 8 million kids. There are a lot of other things in that bill that she got done piece by piece, pushing that rock up the hill. In 1987 -- '97, she also teamed with the house minority leader Tom Delay who maybe disliked me more than any of Newt Gingrich's crowd. 22:36:29 They worked on a bill together. She wanted to do it because she knew that Tom Delay for all of our differences was an adopted parent and she honored him for doing that. Now, the bill which passed with an overwhelming majority led to a big increase in the adoption of children out of foster care, including non-infant kids special needs kids. It made life better, because she's a change agent. That's what she does. Now, when your'e doing all this, real life doesn't stop. 22:37:18 1997 was the year Chelsea finished high school and went to college. We were happy for her [ SHOT OF CHELSEA ] but sad for us to see her go. I'll never forget moving her into her dorm room at Stanford. It would've been a great little reality flick. There I was in a trance just staring out the window trying to cry, and there was Hillary on her hands and knees desperately looking for one more drawer to put that liner paper in. 22:37:52 Finally Chelsea took charge and told us ever so gently that it was time for us to go. So we closed the big chapter in the most important work of our lives. As you'll see Thursday night when Chelsea speaks, Hillary's done a pretty fine job of being a mother. And as you saw last night beyond a shadow of a doubt, so has Michelle Obama [LOUD CHEERS]. Now, fast forward in 1999, congressman Charlie Rangel and other New York Democrats urged Hillary to run for the seat of retiring senator pat Moynihan. 22:38:56 We always intended to go to new York after I left office and commute to Arkansas but this had never occurred to either one of us. Hillary had never run for office before but she decided to give it a try. She began her campaign the way she always does new things , by listening and learning and after a tough battle, New York elected her to the seat -- to the seat once held by another outsider, Robert Kennedy. And she didn't let him down. Her early years were dominated by 9/11, by working to fund the recovery, then monitoring the health of and providing compensation to victims and first and second responders. She and senator Schumer were tireless and so were our house members. 22:39:55 In 2003 partly spurred on by what we were going through, she became the first senator in the history of New York ever to serve on the armed services committee.So shetried to make sure people on the battlefield had proper equipment, she tried to expand and did expand health care coverage to reservists, members of the National Guard. She got longer family leave working with senator Dodd for people caring for wounded service members. And she worked for more extensive care for people with traumatic brain injuries. She also served on a special Pentagon commission. To propose changed necessary to meet our security challenges. 22:40:40 Newt Gingrich is on that commission. He told me what a good job she'd done. I say that, because nobody who has seriously dealt with the men and women in today's military, believes they are a disaster. They are a national treasure of all races, all religions, all walks of life. [ cheers and applause ] Now, meanwhile, she compiled a really solid record, totally Progressive on economic and social issues. She voted for and against some proposed trade deals. She became the de facto economic development officer for the area of New York outside the ambit of New York City. 22:41:30 She worked for farmers, for wine makers, for small businesses and manufacturers, for upstate cities in rural areas and needed more new ideas and new investments to create good jobs, something we have to do again in small town and rural America, in neighborhoods that have been left behind in our cities, in Indian country and, yes, in coal country. [ cheers and applause ] When she lost the hard fought contest to president Obama in 2008, she worked for his election hard. 22:42:03 But she hesitated to say yes when he asked her to join his cabinet because she so loved being a senator from New York. So like me in a different context, he had keep asking. But as we all saw and heard from Madeleine Albright, it was worth the effort and worth of wait. As secretary of state, she worked hard to get strong sanctions against Iran's nuclear program and in what the Wall Street Journal no less called, "a half-court shot at the buzzer," she got Russia and China to support them. Her team negotiated the New Start treaty with Russia to reduce nuclear weapons and reestablish inspections, and she got enough republican support to get ? of the senate the vote necessary to ratify the treaty. 22:43:03 She flew all night long from Cambodia to the Middle East to get a ceasefire that would avoid a full-out shooting war between gaza -- I mean between Hamas and Israel in Gaza to protect the peace of the region. She backed President Obama's decision to go after Osama bin laden. She launched a team -- this is really important today -- she launched a team to fight back against terrorists online and built a new global counterterrorism effort. We've got to win this battle in the mind field. She put climate change at the center of our foreign policy. She negotiated first agreement ever, EVER. Where China and India officially committed to reduce their emissions. 22:44:01 And as she had been doing since she went to Beijing in 1995, and said women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights. She worked to empower women and girls around the world and to make the same exact declaration on behalf of the LGBT community in America and around the world. And nobody ever talks about this much, but its important to me, she tripled the number of people r with AIDS in poor countries whose lives were being saved with your tax dollars, most of them in Africa going from 1.7 lives to 5.1 million lives and it didn't cost you any more money. 22:44:58 She just bought available FDA approved generic drugs something we need to do for the american people more. Now, you don't know any of these people, . You don't know any of those 3.4 million people but I guarantee they know you, they know you because they see you as thinking their lives matter. They know you and that's one reason the approval of the United states was 20 points higher when she left the secretary of state's office than when she took it. Now, how does this square -- how does this square with the things that you heard at the Republican convention? 22:45:45 What's the difference in what I told you and what they said? How do you square it? You can't. One is real, the other is made up. You just have to decide -- you just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans. The real one had done more positive change making before she was 30 than many public officials do in a lifetime in office. 22:46:26 The real one -- the real one, if you saw her friend ( Betsy name) vote for Illinois tonight today. Best friends from childhood through Arkansas where she has not lived in more than 20 years who have gone all across America at their own expense to fight for the person they know. The real one and the further support of people, including leaders around the world who know her to be trustworthy. 22:47:07 The real one calls you when you're sick, when your kid's in trouble or when there's a death in the family. The real one repeatedly drew praise from prominent Republicans when she was a senator and secretary of state. [ cheers and applause ] So what's up with this? Well, if you win elections on the theory that government is always bad and will mess up a two-car parade, a real change maker represents a real threat. So your only option is to create a cartoon, a cartoon alternative. Then run against the cartoon. Cartoon's are two dimensional, they're easy to absorb. Life in the real world is complicated and real change is hard. And a lot of people even think it's boring. [ cheers ] 22:48:13 Good for you. Because earlier today, you nominated the real one. [ cheers and applause ] 22:48:50 Listen -- We gotta get back on schedule. You guys calm down. Look. I have lived a long, full, blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl in the spring of 1971. When I was president, I worked hard to give you more peace and shared prosperity, to give you an America where nobody is invisible or counted out. But for this time Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risk we face and she is still the best darn change maker I have ever known. [ cheers ] 22:49:48 You could drop her in any trouble spot, pick one. Come back in a month and somehow, some way, she will have made it better. That is just who she is. There are clear, achievable, affordable, responsive to our challenges but we won't get to them if America makes the wrong choice in this election. That's why you should elect, and you should elect her because she'll never quit when the going gets tough. She'll never quit on you. 22:50:30 She sends me in this primary to tell West Virginia where she knew we were going to lose to look those coal miners in the eyes and say I'm down here because Hillary sent me to tell you that if you really think you can get the economy back you had 50 years ago have it it, go for whatever you want to but if she wins, she is coming back for you to take you along on the ride to America's future. 22:51:00 And so I say to you, If you love this country and you're working hard and you're paying taxes, you're obeying the law and you'd like to become a citizen you should chose immigration reform over somebody that wants to send you back. If you're a Muslim, if you're a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together. We want you. 22:51:48 If you're a young African-American disillusioned and afraid, we saw in Dallas how great our police officers can be, help us build a future where nobody's afraid to walk outside, including the people that wear blue to protect our future. Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it because she spent a lifetime doing it. I hope you'll do it. I hope you'll elect her. 22:52:33 Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to care more about our children and grandchildren. The reason you should elect her is that in the greatest country on Earth, we have always been about tomorrow, your children and grandchildren will bless you forever if you do. Thank you. God bless you. 22:54:53 [VIDEO PLAYS - A CAPELLA "FIGHT SONG"] MERYL STREEP 22:58:47 We got some fight left in us don't we? What does it take to be the first female anything? It takes grit and it takes grace. Deborah Sampson was the first woman to take a bullet for our country. She served disguised as a man in George Washington's continental army. And she fought to defend a document that didn't fully defend her. All men are created equal, it read. No mention of women. 22:59:45 And when she took a blast in battle to her leg, she was afraid to reveal her secret. So she took out a pen knife, she dug out the musket ball and she sewed herself back up again. That's grit. And grace? Hillary Clinton has taken some fire over 40 years of her fight for families and children. How does she do it? That's what I want to know. Where does she get her grit and her grace? Where do any of our female first, our path breakers, where do they find that strength? Sandra day o'connor, Rosa parks, 23:00:48 Amelia earhart, Harriet tubman. Sally ride, Shirley Chism. Madeleine Albright. Geraldine Ferraro. Eleanor Roosevelt! These women share something in common: capacity of mind, fullness of heart, and a burning passion for their cause. They have forged new paths so that others can follow them men and women. Generation on generation. That's Hillary. That's America. [ cheers ]