Editor's Letter

Women on the Verge

Both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Kathleen Brown hold positions of political power in some part because of the men in their lives. (Would Brown be running for California governor if her father and brother hadn't occupied the statehouse?) But the similarity ends there. As White-water revelations sharpen criticism of the First Lady, she is being perceived as too aggressive and too involved; Brown, her campaign in turmoil, is regarded as well-balanced but cautious. Clinton has had a long interest in public policy; Brown came lately to the political arena. Clinton is struggling to create an unprecedented sphere of influence; Brown is being drawn in, almost as if it were inevitable, to a dynastic succession.

The profiles of these two women ("California Dreamin'," on page 38, and "Pinning Down Hillary," on page 104) came about in diametrically opposite ways. Gail Sheehy, who has been responsible for many of Vanity Fair's most talked-about political profiles, started following Kathleen Brown during the 1992 Democratic convention, and has, as she puts it, been "dipping in and out of her life ever since." Sheehy, who is known to move at a pretty rapid pace herself, says she had a tough time keeping up with Brown: "She goes through a metal detector faster than anyone I've ever seen. She's the person you want to be with m the middle of a heavy traffic jam on a holiday weekend—she is always moving forward." There is a great deal riding on Brown's momentum (or lack thereof), Sheehy adds. "This race is the linchpin for Bill Clinton's re-election."

Contributing editor Leslie Bennetts was summoned to the White House as part of Hillary Clinton's Whitewater damage control—which may prove as much a linchpin of her husband's re-election as the California race. Bennetts, who has profiled other groundbreaking women for Vanity Fair (Gloria Steinem, Sarah Weddington), has also spent time with Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush. Each of these previous First Ladies was "about what one would expect, given their public images," Bennetts recalls. "Hillary Clinton is much harder to stereotype. At various times I felt as if I were talking to a fellow working mother, a traditional First Lady, a formidable corporate executive, a typical politician trying to finesse a sticky situation. Like the rest of the nation I found myself wondering, Who is the real Hillary Clinton?"

As she attempts to answer that question, Bennetts provides a highly revealing portrait of a First Lady under siege.

Editor in chief