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What Happened is Hillary Clinton’s post-mortem on the events and surprising result of her bid for the 2016 United States presidential election, including why she ran for president in the first place, what made it so hard for her to come out on top, and how the loss affected her after election night.
What Happened is Hillary Clinton’s post-mortem on the events and surprising result of her bid for the 2016 United States presidential election, including why she ran for president in the first place, what made it so hard for her to come out on top, and how the loss affected her after election night.
Hillary won’t ever forget the feeling of finding out she lost the election to Trump in the early hours of November 9, 2016. It was tough having to call Trump and congratulate him, but it was even harder for her to call President Obama to apologize for letting him down. Obama only had kind words for her, and he reassured her that life would go on.
Clinton soon realized that the best way for her to cope with the defeat was to not turn cynical. She also learned to lean on friends and family for comfort and reassurance rather than isolate herself.
In fact, one of the things that helped her most was hearing from friends that the disappointing election motivated them to take action. This helped her from thinking about dark things.
After a day lying low, she went back to work, signing letters to every campaign staffer. Thinking of others helped her. She also faced the sadness with celebration. So she decided to host a post-election staff party and celebrate the campaign they had.
She admits she did feel angry at times, but she made sure that this anger didn’t ever overtake her. It helped when she felt this way to go on long walks with Bill to talk and process what exactly happened.
Many people believe one of the main problems with Hillary’s campaign was that it didn’t successfully tell people why she was running for president. Did she just feel entitled? Clinton wants to set the record straight: She never felt power-hungry in her ambitions — she really is passionate about public service and always has been. She says she ran because she honestly felt it was a job she would be good at. One of the main reasons she wasn’t good at displaying her qualifications was because she hasn’t ever been one to boast about herself. Instead, she wanted to talk about strategies for improving the country. Though this humility is a good thing in other circumstances, when you are trying to sell yourself in an election, people need to know what makes you so great. One of her main strengths as a candidate was that Clinton had spent her entire life in the public service. She set out to be a public servant as one of only 27 women in Yale Law School a long time ago and has been an…
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Get the complete summary in the appA shocking loss on election night left Clinton reeling, and she had to take time to take care of herself and process what happened in the months after.
Clinton had unselfish reasons for running, but her campaign suffered because she wasn’t able to adequately get that message out.
Clinton’s campaign took major hits with the emails and a surprise FBI investigation.
"What Happened" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around biography, career, history—especially themes like a shocking loss on election night left clinton reeling, and she had to take time to take care of herself and process what happened in the months after; clinton had unselfish reasons for running, but her campaign suffered because she wasn’t able to adequately get that message out. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party in 2016. She served as the 67th Secretary of State—from January 21, 2009, until February 1, 2013—after nearly four decades in public service advocating on behalf of children and families as an attorney, First Lady, and Senator. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother.
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