1. Surrounded by friends and supporters in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., I end my Presidential campaign on June 7, 2008, and endorse Barack Obama after putting “18 million cracks” in the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.”
1. Surrounded by friends and supporters in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., I end my Presidential campaign on June 7, 2008, and endorse Barack Obama after putting “18 million cracks” in the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.”
2. After a long night of writing and rewriting, Bill and I make final changes to my farewell speech before leaving our home in Washington on June 7, 2008.
3. Despite the hard-fought campaign, Barack and I talk easily on the bus on the way to our first joint event in June 2008 in Unity, New Hampshire, a town chosen not only for its name but also because we received exactly the same number of votes there in the primary.
4. The rally in Unity was designed to send an unmistakable message that the primary was behind us, and we were now one team.
5. On December 1, 2008, in Chicago, President-elect Obama announces me as his choice to serve as the sixty-seventh Secretary of State, along with the rest of his national security team. Behind us are: National Security Advisor–designate retired Marine General James Jones, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary–designate Janet Napolitano, and Attorney General–designate Eric Holder.
6. Vice President Biden administers my ceremonial oath of office at the State Department on February 2, 2009, while Bill, Chelsea, and my mom, Dorothy, help hold the Bible. I was officially sworn in a few weeks earlier in my Senate office immediately after the confirmation vote so I could get right to work.
7. Walking through the lobby of the State Department for the first time as Secretary on January 22, 2009, I was overwhelmed and humbled by the enthusiastic welcome.
8. Vice President Biden’s warmth and humor would be very welcome during our long hours in the White House Situation Room. We also tried to meet for breakfast every week at the Naval Observatory, his official residence.
9. I was honored to serve in President Obama’s Cabinet, pictured here with President Obama and Vice President Biden in the Grand Foyer of the White House on July 26, 2012. Seated, from left, are: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Standing in the second row, from left, are: Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Chief of Staff Jack Lew (who previously served as my Deputy Secretary of State), me, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Standing in the third row, from left, are: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey D. Zients, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Alan Krueger, and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen G. Mills.
10. With some of my extraordinary State Department colleagues. My team was made up of Foreign Service officers, career civil servants, and advisors.
11. First Lady Michelle Obama and I bonded over our shared experiences as First Ladies—some of them humorous.
12. On my first full day on the job, President Obama and Vice President Biden visit the State Department to announce Richard Holbrooke (left) as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and Senator George Mitchell (right) as Special Envoy for Middle East Peace.
13. Grabbing a quick lunch at the State Department cafeteria. I tried to eat regular meals but it was often a challenge, particularly on the road.
14. My senior advisors, from left to right, Jake Sullivan, Philippe Reines, and Huma Abedin in our home away from home, a special blue and white U.S. Air Force 757. Over four years we spent a total of eighty-seven full days in the air!
15. One fine day in April 2009 President Obama suggested we finish a meeting at the picnic table outside the Oval Office on the South Lawn. We tried to meet at least once every week. I surprisingly was at the White House more than seven hundred times during my four years as Secretary.
16. I step off the plane for the first time as Secretary of State in Tokyo, Japan, on February 16, 2009. I broke with tradition to make my first trip to Asia, signifying our “pivot” to the region.
17. I loved reconnecting with Japanese Empress Michiko, who was delighted that I had decided to make Japan my first stop as Secretary.
18. I visit with an adorable group of students from the school President Obama attended as a child in Jakarta, Indonesia, in February 2009. Indonesia is an emerging regional power and home of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an important partner in our engagement in Asia.
19. In August 2009, Bill secured the release of two detained American journalists working for Current TV, Laura Ling (center) and Euna Lee (right), after negotiating with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Their return to the United States was an emotional moment. Standing with Bill are Current TV founders Joel Hyatt and Former Vice President Al Gore.
20. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and I peer through binoculars into isolated North Korea at a guard post in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in July 2010.
21. A North Korean soldier stares at us through the window as Bob Gates and I tour a building in the DMZ, the most fortified border in the world.
22. Watching traditional Indian dancers at the Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai, India, in July 2011 reminded me of the country’s rich history and culture.
23. Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and I meet for the first time in February 2009 in Beijing. He once showed me a picture of his granddaughter, remarking, “This is what we’re in it for.”
24. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visits me at the State Department in March 2009. The rise of China is one of the most consequential strategic developments of our time. This isn’t a relationship that fits neatly into categories like friend or rival, and it may never be. That is why I spent so much of my time working to create the right balance.
25. I join President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner with our Chinese counterparts at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in London, where we were all attending a meeting of the G-20 in April 2009. From left to right: State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, President Hu Jintao, President Obama, me, and Secretary Geithner.
26. When I learned America was one of the only countries not participating in the World Expo in Shanghai, China, I put together a team to ensure that the USA Pavilion would be a success. The best part of my May 2010 visit to the Expo was talking with the young Chinese and American students.
27. The proudest moment for the “MOTB” (Mother of the Bride): Chelsea’s wedding on July 31, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York. Bill and I join Chelsea and her husband, Marc, along with my mom, Dorothy. It meant so much to Chelsea to have her grandmother there as she planned the wedding and married Marc.
28. Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is escorted out of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing by, from left to right, Legal Advisor Harold Koh, U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.
30. With President Thein Sein of Burma in his ornate ceremonial office in Nay Pyi Taw in late 2011. I was the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit the formerly closed country in more than fifty years, in an attempt to nurture democratic progress.
31. I marvel at my surroundings as I tour the exquisite Shwedagon Pagoda during my visit to Rangoon, Burma, in December 2011.
32. The first time I met the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in December 2011, we were both wearing white. It seemed like an auspicious coincidence. I felt as if we had known each other for a lifetime, even though we had just met.
33. On my return trip to the Shwedagon Pagoda with President Obama, I struck the enormous bell three times. We hoped to send a message to the people of Burma that America was interested in engaging with them as well as their government. (Notice my bare feet!)
34. As President Obama looks on, Aung San Suu Kyi and I say farewell with an emotional hug in November 2012. Suu Kyi is an inspiration to her country and to me, and I cherish the friendship we’ve developed.
35. On December 1, 2009, sitting across from President Obama and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, and next to Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen aboard Marine One, the Presidential helicopter, on the way to West Point, where President Obama announced his decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan.
36. General Stanley McChrystal, commander of Coalition forces in Afghanistan; Ambassador Richard Holbrooke; and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry look on as I shake hands with a NATO soldier upon my arrival at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on November 18, 2009.
37. Richard Holbrooke speaks at an April 2010 conference in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David Petraeus.
38. Eating with President Karzai at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington, D.C., in May 2010. I worked hard to connect with Karzai. As with many world leaders, respect and personal courtesy went a long way.
39. I meet with Afghan women activists at an international conference in Bonn, Germany, in December 2011. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, I began supporting Afghan women as they sought new rights and opportunities.
40. The day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I tour the devastation in Lower Manhattan with New York Governor George Pataki (left) and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (center). President Obama and I both felt that defeating al Qaeda was crucial to our national security, and that there should be a renewed effort to find Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.
41. Students protest my visit in Lahore, Pakistan, in October 2009. My staff warned me that I would be a “punching bag” in Pakistan because of the rising tide of anti-American sentiment, but I thought it was important to engage. “Punch away,” I said.
42. I make final edits to a speech in Pakistan in October 2011. I told the Pakistanis that supporting Taliban insurgents was asking for trouble, like keeping poisonous snakes in your backyard and expecting them to bite only your neighbors. With, from left to right, Huma Abedin, Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, speechwriter Dan Schwerin, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman (seated), spokeswoman Toria Nuland, and Philippe Reines.
43. In one of the most iconic photos—and one of the most dramatic moments—of my four years, we watch the Osama bin Laden raid on May 1, 2011. Seated around the table (from left): Vice President Biden, President Obama, Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, me, and Secretary Gates. Standing (from left): Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; National Security Advisor to the Vice President Tony Blinken; Audrey Tomason, Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; and Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper.
44. May 1, 2011: The end of a very long day. The national security team listens as President Obama tells the nation that Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice. Joining me are, seated from left to right: James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; CIA Director Leon Panetta; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Vice President Joe Biden.
45. After President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed, crowds gathered outside the White House in celebration. We could hear the chants of “USA! USA!”
46. Pictured here with me at the State Department in July 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was an invaluable partner and friend. On our first call he flattered me as “the right Hercules for this task.”
47. Miliband’s successor as British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and I talk during a United Nations Security Council meeting on peace and security in the Middle East in September 2012. The eloquent Hague would also become a close colleague and a good friend.
48. I admire a painting while on a tour of Buckingham Palace in London, May 2011. Spending a night at the palace was like stepping into a fairy tale.
49. Walking up the steps of the Élysée Palace in Paris in January 2010 to greet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, I stepped out of my shoe, leaving me barefoot in front of the press corps. He gracefully took my hand and helped me regain my footing. Later, I sent him a copy of the photograph inscribed, “I may not be Cinderella, but you’ll always be my Prince Charming.”
50. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a great sense of humor. During a lunch at the State Department in June 2011, Vice President Biden and I laugh as she presents me with a framed German newspaper. The front page featured a photo of the two of us standing side by side looking nearly identical, but with our heads cropped out. The paper challenged its readers to guess which is Merkel and which is me.
51. I host my G-8 counterparts at Blair House in Washington in April 2012. From left to right: Koichiro Gemba of Japan, Guido Westerwelle of Germany, Sergey Lavrov of Russia, William Hague of the United Kingdom, Alain Juppé of France, John Baird of Canada, Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata of Italy, and Catherine Ashton of the European Union.
52. Meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğgan at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2012. Turkey was a growing power in the region, and I spent hours talking with Erdoğgan about everything from Iran to Libya to Syria.
53. Standing with Turkish President Abdullah Gül (left), and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (right) overlooking Istanbul. I developed a productive and friendly working relationship with Davutoğglu that, though strained numerous times, never ruptured.
54. With Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his dacha just outside Moscow in March 2010. Putin sees geopolitics as a zero-sum game in which, if someone is winning, then someone else has to be losing. President Obama and I discussed Putin’s threats and how to counter them.
55. In June 2012, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in St. Petersburg. We went from a high point of working on a reset in our relationship to a standoff over Syria. The reset led to a number of early successes, including imposing strong sanctions on Iran and North Korea, before relations cooled when Putin returned.
56. Waiting in my car outside a hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, in October 2009, I work the phones with my Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Phil Gordon to try to coax the Armenian Foreign Minister out of his room to sign an agreement with Turkey. The New York Times described my efforts as “down-to-the-wire, limousine diplomacy.”
57. I wave to the crowds in Pristina, Kosovo, in front of a huge statue of Bill, who is revered for his role in ending the war there in the 1990s. Across the plaza was an adorable boutique with a familiar name: Hillary. The shopkeeper said they named the store after me “so that Bill wouldn’t be lonely in the square.”
58. Celebrating with the newly inaugurated Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on January 1, 2011. She has a strong intellect and true grit, two characteristics necessary for leadership in these challenging times.
59. Dressed in a green jacket, I’m thrilled and surprised when a whale comes quite close to our small boat off the coast of Mexico in February 2012, with other G-20 Foreign Ministers. Next to me is our host, Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa.
60. My time as Secretary wasn’t all business. While in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Summit of the Americas in April 2012, I joined staff for a birthday celebration for my Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson. Later a State Department spokesman was asked by the media to quantify precisely how much fun I had had and gave the official response: “A lot.”
61. Greeting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at the airport in Santiago after a major earthquake in early 2010.
62. In Monrovia, Liberia, I consult with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during a visit in August 2009. The first woman to serve as President of an African country, Johnson Sirleaf is an impressive leader, and I admire her passion and perseverance.
63. One of the most heartbreaking trips I took as Secretary was to a refugee camp in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2009. Here I tour the camp and talk to people who face deplorable conditions and an epidemic of sexual violence.
64. Somalia’s transitional President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed surprised many in his conservative religious society by shaking my hand after our August 2009 meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Helping his government beat back Al Shabaab terrorists was a top national security priority in Africa.
65. It was a privilege to meet Bishop Elias Taban in Juba, South Sudan, in August 2012. Bishop Taban’s inspirational story touched me deeply, and I took a copy of his powerful op-ed to my meeting with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir earlier that day.
66. Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda and I do some planting at a women’s cooperative in Mlandizi, Tanzania, in June 2011 as part of our Feed the Future initiative.
67. I sing and applaud with Malawian women at the Lumbadzi Milk Bulking Group in Lilongwe, Malawi, in August 2012. Fighting hunger and extreme poverty was both the right and the smart thing to do.
69. Visiting HIV/AIDS patients at a health clinic in Kampala, Uganda, in August 2012. I set an ambitious new goal of achieving an “AIDS-free generation.” HIV may be with us well into the future, but AIDS need not be.
70. After Nelson Mandela’s December 2013 memorial service in South Africa, we sat telling stories and celebrating his life and legacy, joined by our friend Bono. Here Bono sits with me at the piano. Bill got a kick out of my attempt to hit a few keys.
71. President Obama and I tour the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2009. Later that day President Obama gave a speech at Cairo University and offered an ambitious and eloquent recalibration of America’s relationship with the Islamic world.
72. Reconnecting with Nujood Ali, a young Yemeni girl who successfully fought for a divorce at age ten, during my January 2011 visit to Sanaa, Yemen. In our town hall meeting with young people and activists, I suggested that Nujood’s story should inspire Yemen to end child marriage once and for all.
73. I walk with Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell to President Obama’s remarks in the White House Rose Garden on September 1, 2010, as direct peace talks begin between the Israelis and Palestinians.
74. That night President Obama hosted a working dinner in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House. From left to right (closest to camera): King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Obama, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. From left to right (farthest from camera): me, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair.
75. On September 2, 2010, I hosted the first of three rounds of direct talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the State Department. Afterward, I joined them and Special Envoy George Mitchell for a chat in my office before leaving them alone to talk.
76. As was so often the case, I am the only woman in the room in this January 2011 meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Doha, Qatar. The next day, I would warn Arab leaders, “In too many places, in too many ways, the region’s foundations are sinking into the sand.” I am sitting between UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (left) and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim (right).
77. Standing in the Situation Room with President Obama, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper (all seated), as we watch Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak try to answer the demands of protesters on February 1, 2011. His announcement was too little, too late.
78. I shake hands with an Egyptian girl in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the heart of the Arab Spring, on March 16, 2011.
79. After Muammar Qaddafi fled Tripoli, I decided to visit Libya to offer America’s support to the new transitional government and urge them to restore security as soon as possible. Posing with a group of exuberant Libyan militia fighters after landing in Tripoli in October 2011.
80. I swear in Chris Stevens as the new U.S. Ambassador to Libya in the State Department’s Treaty Room on May 14, 2012, as his father, Jan Stevens, looks on. Chris was a dedicated public servant who was committed to helping build a new Libya out of the wreckage of the Qaddafi regime.
81. Protesters tear down the U.S. flag at our embassy in Cairo on September 11, 2012, after an offensive video about the Prophet Muhammad sparked anger across the Muslim world.
82. President Obama signs a condolence book in front of the State Department’s memorial wall one day after the horrific attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The President visited the Department to comfort the grieving colleagues of Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith.
83. With President Obama and Chaplain Colonel J. Wesley Smith at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on September 14, 2012, as we prepare to receive and honor the remains of our colleagues killed in Benghazi.
84. I appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January 2013 to testify about the attack on our compound in Benghazi.
85. With Sultan Qaboos of Oman in Muscat in October 2011. The Sultan helped us bring home three American hikers detained in Iran and open a secret diplomatic channel to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
86. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis in Syria in New York City in January 2012. Russia blocked UN actions to address the terrible violence in Syria even as the situation deteriorated. The death toll continues to rise, and millions have been forced from their homes.
87. With President Obama in his hotel suite in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we discuss whether I should fly to the Middle East to try to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Standing behind us (from left to right): my Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon.
88. Negotiating with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo in November 2012, in an attempt to end the violence in Gaza. Morsi helped me negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that holds to this day.
89. President Obama and I crash a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009. We interrupted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and South African President Jacob Zuma at the crowded table.
90. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and I discuss the impacts of climate change aboard the Arctic Research Vessel Helmer Hanssen during a trip up a fjord off the coast of Tromsø, Norway, in June 2012.
91. Touring an exhibition of old and new cookstoves alongside Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan, a cookstove researcher, during a visit to Chennai, India, in July 2011. I championed the use of clean-burning cookstoves around the world instead of more traditional, dirty stoves that burn wood or solid fuel and release toxic fumes that contribute to the deaths of millions of people every year, especially women and children.
92. After landing in Haiti only four days after the devastating earthquake in January 2010, I sit in a tent with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, Haitian President René Préval, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Ken Merten, my Counselor and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, USAID Administrator Raj Shah, and Lieutenant General Ken Keen to discuss Haiti’s emergency response and recovery.
93. Protesters greet me outside the airport in Port-au-Prince in January 2011, during Haiti’s contested elections a year after the earthquake. Haitians had suffered so much, and they deserved to have their votes counted and a peaceful transfer of power, which is what they finally got.
94. Bill and I are surrounded by Haitian workers at the grand opening ceremony of the new Caracol industrial park in Haiti in October 2012. The Caracol project was the centerpiece of our efforts to restart Haiti’s economy, in keeping with a broader trend in our development work around the world of shifting our focus from aid to investment.
95. Speaking about internet freedom at the Newseum in Washington in January 2010. I put nations such as China, Russia, and Iran on notice that the United States would promote and defend an internet where people’s rights are protected and that is open to innovation, interoperable all over the world, secure enough to hold people’s trust, and reliable enough to support their work.
96. Nearly twenty years after my September 1995 speech in Beijing at the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women, women’s rights remain “unfinished business” in the 21st century. As Secretary I focused on defending the freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and making them real in the lives of people all over the world.
97. With Melanne Verveer after swearing her in as the first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. Melanne helped me weave a “full participation agenda” into the fabric of American foreign policy.
98. One of our first steps in advancing human rights was rejoining the UN Human Rights Council. I address the Council in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2011, advocating for the rights of LGBT people around the world.
99. In September 2012, I watch from 10,000 miles away in Timor-Leste as Bill delivers the speech that earned him the title “Secretary of Explaining Things” at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was no CNN and limited internet, but we managed to pull up the video on our Ambassador’s home computer.
100. Deputy Secretaries Tom Nides (left) and Bill Burns and Under Secretary Pat Kennedy (right) join me as I say farewell to the amazing men and women of the State Department on my last day, February 1, 2013. I walked out the same entrance I had entered four years earlier, proud of all the work we had accomplished.
