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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton meets with professor Robert Arredondo and student Travis Lemieux in an engineering lab before a roundtable conversation at New Hampshire Technical Institute-Concord Community College on April 21, 2015.
Hillary Clinton on Thursday, July 17th, 2014 in an interview on PBS’ "The Charlie Rose Show"
The number of jobs created and people lifted out of poverty during Bill Clinton’s presidency was "a hundred times" what it was under President Ronald Reagan.
In an interview on PBS, Hillary Clinton said the number of jobs created and people lifted out of poverty during Bill Clinton’s presidency was "a hundred times" what it was under President Ronald Reagan. Clinton’s record on these issues does outpace Reagan’s. But the differences are not like night and day, as her phrasing claims. Both presidents saw improvements.
We rated Clinton’s claim False.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 in her book, "Hard Choices"
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The U.S. military footprint in Africa is nearly nonexistent."
One of the chapters in Hillary Clinton’s new book "Hard Choices" offers a full-throated rebuke of Republicans for criticizing the state Department response to Benghazi.
"Critics have questioned why the world’s greatest military force could not get to Benghazi in time to defend our people," Clinton said. "Part of the answer is that, despite having established United States Africa Command in 2008, there just wasn’t much U.S. military infrastructure in place in Africa. Unlike in Europe and Asia, the U.S. military footprint in Africa is nearly nonexistent."
There is a military presence in Africa, but it’s limited to one base with little combat infrastructure, and it’s commanded from a location that is not even located on the continent. That’s by design; the command’s planners sought to create a preventive, collaborative force rather than one that was heavily armed. Experts we interviewed took little issue with the overall impression of her comment, particularly as it describes the United States’ challenges in responding to a crisis in north Africa.
We rated Clinton’s statement True.
Hillary Clinton on Monday, June 9th, 2014 in an interview on ABC
"We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt."
In 2014 doing publicity for her book Hard Choices, Clinton said that she and Bill Clinton "came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt." It’s possible that the Clintons’ liabilities exceeded their assets when Bill’s term ended in 2001, but they were able to muster a cash down payment of $855,000 and secure a $1.995 million mortgage. Additionally, in the months following their departure from the White House, Bill Clinton regularly took in speaking fees of at least $125,000, and Hillary Clinton received $2.84 million in book royalties.
We rated that claim Mostly False.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, April 21st, 2015 in a roundtable at a community college
"The United States invented the community college. Nobody else had ever done anything like it."
In her bid for the White House, Hillary Clinton is lavishing attention on community colleges. She met wiath groups of community college students in both of the early caucus and primary states — Iowa and New Hampshire. And during those roundtables, Clinton sang the praises of community colleges for giving a new generation of students the skills to succeed in a changing job market.
At a session with students and teachers at NHTI-Concord’s Community College on April 21, 2015, she said, "The United States invented the community college. Nobody else had ever done anything like it."
This echoed comments she made in a visit a few days earlier to Kirkwood Community College in Monticello, Iowa. In a roundtable event with students, Clinton told her Iowa audience that "community colleges" are a "uniquely American invention … something nobody else in the world did."
We wondered if Clinton was correct that the United States was a trailblazer in this regard.
Other types of institutions in Europe share characteristics of community colleges. Still, the specific U.S. system is was an innovation.
On balance, we rated her claim Mostly True.
See more fact-checks on Clinton, other politicians and newsmakers at politifact.com.
Our Sources
Hillary Clinton, interview on PBS’ The Charlie Rose Show, July 17, 2014 (transcript accessed via Nexis)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (main index page), accessed July 21, 2014
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (main index page), accessed July 21, 2014
U.S. Census Bureau, "Table 2. Poverty Status of People by Family Relationship, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2009," accessed July 21, 2014
Email interview with Tara Sinclair, economist at George Washington University, July 21, 2014
Hillary Clinton, Hard Choices, published 2014
Phone interview with Joseph Siegel, the director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, June 11, 2014
Phone interview with Larry Hanauer, a senior international policy analyst at RAND Corporation, June 11, 2014
Email interview with Michael O'Hanlon, a director of research for the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, June 11, 2014
Email interview with Tommy Vietor, spokesman for Clinton, June 11, 2014
Email interview with Scott Nielsen, spokesman for AFRICOM, June 11, 2014
United States Africa Command website, accessed June 11, 2014
Camp Lemonnier website, accessed June 11, 2014
New York Times, "U.S. to Create a Single Command For Military Operations in Africa," Feb. 7, 2007; accessed via Nexis June 11, 2014
New York Times, "Command For Africa Established By Pentagon," Oct. 5, 2008; accessed via Nexis June 11, 2014
New York Times, "Libya Attack Shows Pentagon's Limits in Region," Nov. 3, 2012
ABC News, Interview with Hillary Clinton, June 9, 2014
Washington Post, The Clintons say they left the White House in debt. Wait, what?, June 9, 2014
Open Secrets, Hillary Clinton personal finances, 2000-2012
Email interview, Brian Mittendorf, professor of accounting, Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, June 10, 2014
Email interview, Jeffrey Hoopes, assistant professor of accounting, Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, June 10, 2014
ABC News, Hillary Clinton On Post-White House Debt: We Had To 'Keep Working Really Hard', June 10, 2014
USA Today, Hillary Clinton seeks to clear up 'dead broke' comment, June 10, 2014
New York Times, Clintons Buy $2.85 Million Washington Home, Dec. 30, 2000
Hillary Clinton, roundtable with students at NHTI-Concord’s Community College in New Hampshire, April 21, 2015
Hillary Clinton, roundtable with students at Kirkwood Community College in Monticello, Iowa, April 21, 2015
The President's Commission Higher Education for Democracy, 1947
Email interview with David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and research for the American Association of Community Colleges, April 20, 2015
Email interview with David Bills, education professor at the University of Iowa, April 20, 2015
Email interview with Roger L. Geiger, education professor at Penn State and author of The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II, April 20, 2015
Email interview with John R. Thelin, professor at the University of Kentucky and author of A History of American Higher Education, April 20, 2015
Email interview with Margaret O'Mara, historian at the University of Washington and author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley, April 20, 2015
Email interview with Christopher Loss, public policy and higher education professor at Vanderbilt University, April 20, 2015
Email interview with Nick Merrill, spokesman for Hillary Clinton, April 20, 2015
