Hillary Clinton's Mystery Thesis
Recently syndicated columnist Jack Anderson was doing a story on Hillary
Clinton, and in the process his staff requested a copy of her 1969 senior
thesis from Wellesley College. It was a seemingly simple request, since
normally college theses are public record, available to anyone.
Not, however, in this case. Anderson was told that the current Wellesley
president had created a new rule in 1992. The new rule, Anderson says, is
that "...the college would seal the senior theses of any Wellesley grads who
were either the first lady or the president of the United States." (Perhaps
not coincidentally, the president of Wellesley is a long-time friend of Mrs.
Clinton's.)
Okay, Anderson asked, can you just tell us the *subject* of the paper? No.
Well, was the new policy enacted at Clinton's request? Again, no answer.
Perplexed and intrigued, Anderson contacted Hillary's White House press
corps. He was assured it was no big deal, and that he'd be sent a copy of
the paper, along with an explanation of why it had been sealed. Several
weeks passed, however, and no thesis appeared. Finally he was told that no
copy would be coming -- and no explanation would be given.
Eventually Anderson and his staff discovered some answers on their own.
Hillary's thesis, it turns out, was a critique of Lyndon Johnson's "War on
Poverty" programs. Her conclusion: community-based government anti-poverty
programs don't work.
Which may explain all the secrecy, since President Clinton recently called
for federal funding for a number of... community-based government
anti-poverty programs.
(Source: column by Jack Anderson and Jan Moller)
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