public relations

Hillary Clinton Documents Released

Reveal advisers’ attempt to ‘humanize’ her.

4,000 pages of documents from the Clinton Presidential Library were released on Friday, revealing Hillary Clinton’s public image struggles during her time as first lady. Advisers, concerned that she came off as too stern, worked with her to “humanize” her image. “Be real,” an adviser, Mandy Grunwald, wrote in a July 1999, urging her to “look for opportunities for humor. It’s important that people see more sides of you, and they often see you only in very stern situations.” One August 1995 memo from press secretary Lisa Caputo even suggested the “wild idea” of having Clinton guest-star on Home Improvement, a popular sitcom at the time which might “present Hillary in a very likable light.”