This item has been corrected.
Being cold, aloof, and controlled are among some of Hillary Clinton’s less admired characteristics, perceptions she’s battled since her entry into public life. She tried to explain why she veils her emotions in an appearance Sept. 8 on Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton’s Facebook page which publishes short interviews with ordinary people as well as the occasional celebrity.
Clinton recalled being one of the few women sitting for the law school admission test. A group of young men yelled at the women, screaming, “If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I’ll die.” Clinton says it got very intense. Her reaction: “I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’t want to mess up the test.”
Clinton has talked about being bullied in the past and her mother’s insistence that she face her bullies. This anecdote helps illustrate what personal traits she felt she had to develop to break into a man’s world.
“I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional,” says Clinton commenting the episode. “But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions.”
Correction: Hillary Clinton was not admitted to Harvard.