But during the tense time the Clintons spent praying with Jackson in the family quarters on the night of Sunday, Aug. 16—and putting the final touches on yet another round of crisis management—the First Lady never seemed to abandon her hope and determination that her husband's Presidency, and their marriage, could be saved. "She was in the strategy meetings helping to make preparations, instead of being downstairs brooding in anguish," says Jackson. "Hillary is not a fair-weather wife."
Not that anyone needed reminding of that. For when it comes to buttressing their storm-tossed union, the First Lady has had plenty of practice. "She is torn between being angry and worrying about Bill," says one close friend. As the momentous weekend began, Mrs. Clinton, 50, spoke by phone with members of her inner circle, including Diane Blair, a retired professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. Earlier this year, when allegations of the President's relationship with Lewinsky were first leaked to the press, Blair told PEOPLE that, after Whitewater, Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers, Mrs. Clinton was "getting tired of all this, weary of all the allegations and back-and-forth and scrutiny. I mean, it's a hard way to live." But when Blair spoke with her friend on Friday night, Hillary, she says, was "doing fine."
Certainly that was the impression she tried to project to the public. That Friday afternoon, she had cheerfully hosted an early surprise party for Bill's birthday (he turned 52 on Aug. 19) just outside the Oval Office. "She looked terrific," says a guest. And two days later, despite the tumult around her, a beaming Hillary was by her husband's side again for services at Foundry United Methodist Church.
Back at the White House, however, Hillary was "girded for battle," says an Arkansas friend. Relying on her own keen legal skills, she huddled with White House attorneys to prep the President for his historic Aug. 17 appearance before a grand jury investigating possible perjury and helped draft his tersely worded TV admission of adultery. "She is not a victim," says Republican commentator Mary Matalin, an admirer, who late last month attended a baby shower hosted by Hillary for Democratic consultant Mandy Grunwald. "Bill Clinton wouldn't be where he is without her."
Still, the First Lady's brisk professional posture hasn't quieted questions about the true state of the Clinton marriage. Washington tends to divide into two camps: There are the Clinton partisans who describe the marriage as a true love match ("There is no doubt in my mind," says First Ladies historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony, who dined with the pair late last year. "When we were waiting for dessert, they were holding hands under the table"). And there are those who regard the marriage as a complex alliance founded, in part, on mutual ambition. "I don't think Hillary wants to think about his infidelity," says David Maraniss, author of the 1995 Clinton biography First in His Class. "To get to this point, she's had to say that their being together and being in the White House are more important than his personal behavior. Once she made that decision, it's there until their eight years in the White House are up, no matter what." When the President slips, says Maraniss, Hillary tends to "focus on his adversaries."
Many have also asked how the First Lady deals with the repeated humiliation brought on by her husband's liaisons. In a New Yorker article earlier this year, Primary Colors author Joe Klein wondered "why [she] always looks so radiant in the middle of a sex scandal?" One explanation: "She looks good at such times because she's invigorated," writes Klein. "Her husband needs her desperately; she is the essential element in his defense." In times of crisis, Hillary becomes a key White House player.
She has also kept herself extraordinarily busy. As the President's grand jury appearance drew near, the First Lady cleared her schedule to spend time with Chelsea, 18, who is home from Stanford. This summer she has taken part in a 10-city bus tour of historic sites, visited New York State's chic Hamptons beach resort and bagged more than $500,000 for Democratic candidates during recent solo jaunts to a half dozen states. "Her strong religious faith is something she relies on," said her press secretary Marsha Berry in a statement released the day after Clinton's televised admissions. The First Lady may draw strength from her public-approval rating, which has soared to an all-time high of about 60 percent since the scandal broke, though at steep personal cost.
But even some longtime supporters were left wondering how Hillary could have been in the dark about her husband's dalliance until mid-August. "A lot of people willfully don't know what their spouse is up to," says Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women. "But as somebody said, 'At least we want to know she kicked his butt.' "
There were no clues to that as the Clintons strode toward the presidential helicopter on Tuesday to begin a holiday on Martha's Vineyard, but there were signs of strain. Onlookers made much of the fact that Hillary and Bill were holding their daughter's hands rather than each other's. "She's disappointed, there's no other way to say it, I think she feels there's work to be done," says White House adviser James Carville, who spoke to the First Lady after the President's speech. But his comment on the President's vacation may be more to the point. "He will spend a little time at the beach," says Carville, "and a little time in the woodshed."
Patrick Rogers
Linda Kramer, Jane Sims Podesta and Margery Sellinger in Washington, D.C.
- Contributors:
- Linda Kramer,
- Jane Sims Podesta,
- Margery Sellinger.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
