Hillary Clinton’s first speech about health care reform.

The Hillary Clinton Quarterly has just published a transcript of what we believe was Hillary Clinton’s first speech outside the Beltway about health care reform.  The date was June 18, 1983, and the occasion was a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association. The place: Woodstock, Vermont.

I was there for that event as editor of the Quarterly. I brought along my tape recorder, took some pictures, and was — like most people there — thoroughly impressed both with Hillary’s command of the issue and the broad principles she outlined about health care reform. Much of what she said at the time is now part of the current vision of reform as expressed by President Obama. In fact, re-reading Hillary’s speech, some of the same phrases are being echoed today in Obama’s speeches and comments.

To read the transcript, click here.