Leadership matters. And while it’s easy to take a cynical view of government and politics in today’s world, it’s important to remember that public service can and should still be an honorable endeavor - and responsible leadership, working together, and putting people first are still fundamental to effective government. In the season finale of Why Am I Telling You This, former Prime Minister Tony Blair joins President Clinton for a wide-ranging discussion on the conflict in Ukraine, the future of...
May 26, 2022•48 min
Last week was another week marked by multiple mass shootings in America, including attacks in Houston, Southern California, and a particularly heinous, racially-motivated massacre in Buffalo, N.Y. in which 10 people were killed in a supermarket—the deadliest mass shooting in the United States so far this year. In the wake of these tragedies, Americans have a responsibility to denounce domestic terrorism and stand up to those who promote the racist ideology that motivated the Buffalo shooter. But...
May 19, 2022•8 min
Graduation season is here, and soon a new generation of leaders will take their energy, their ideas, and their desire to take action out into the world to help solve the challenges we all face. The more opportunities we provide for more people to pursue higher education, the better off we all are. This special episode of “Why Am I Telling You This” features a conversation between the sitting First Lady of the United States and community college educator, Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary Hillary Clin...
May 12, 2022•26 min
A parent or caregiver’s unconditional love is one of the greatest gifts any of us can receive. With Mother’s Day around the corner and Father’s Day coming up next month, this special episode of Why Am I Telling You This? brings together some of the most inspiring stories our guests have shared with President Clinton about their parents and other caregivers and the impact they made on their lives. The episode features conversations with Dr. Bernice King, Wynton Marsalis, Magic Johnson, Jason Isbe...
May 05, 2022•48 min
There’s a reason a certain type of home-cooked cuisine is referred to as “soul food”—because it nurtures the spirit as well as the body. From the American South to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, food is an integral part of culture, a symbol of love, and a way to bring family, friends, and strangers together. On this episode of Why Am I Telling You This? , President Clinton is joined by “America’s queen of comfort food,” Melba Wilson, whose eponymous restaurant has been serving mouth-wateri...
Apr 28, 2022•36 min
Throughout American history, progress has never come easily, as we’ve been reminded repeatedly over the last few years. It requires hard work, persistence, and passionate individuals banding together to support causes they believe in. Few people know that better than Dolores Huerta, the trailblazing civil rights and labor movement leader who helped farm workers find their voice and power by organizing a strike and boycott among California grape workers in the 1960s in response to horrific workin...
Apr 21, 2022•31 min
In an age that seems dominated by conflict, it’s important that we step back and remind ourselves of our amazing capacity to work together. And there’s perhaps no greater example of that than the modern city. From the smallest details to the large-scale infrastructure, every piece of a city was thought about, designed, and built by someone to make one large living thing we could all inhabit. When it all works well, it enables our society to work well, too. Roman Mars has spent his career chronic...
Apr 14, 2022•48 min
In existence for over a century, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is arguably one of the most important agencies of the federal government. Its work is so critical that it often enjoys rare and widespread bipartisan support. In this special bonus episode, President Clinton and nationally recognized experts share first-person accounts and unique perspectives of how the Clinton administration’s unprecedented investment in research and science at NIH led to some of the most impactful scienti...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 16 min
More than 770 million people around the world are living without access to clean water—including in communities throughout the United States. The challenges this creates to public health, economic opportunity, education, and gender equality are astounding, and the crisis of water inequity is only growing more urgent due to the effects of climate change. In this episode, President Clinton is joined by an unlikely pair who are working together to bring access to life’s most fundamental resource a ...
Mar 31, 2022•36 min
A new baseball season is finally getting underway—bringing with it our enduring optimism. Baseball has helped see us through wars, depressions, and pandemics. It’s seen Jackie Robinson break down the color barrier 75 years ago this April, and players like Juan Marichal and Roberto Clemente open the doors of possibility to generations of young people across Latin America. It is more than a game; it’s a part of who we are. There’s no better person to help celebrate the upcoming season than David O...
Mar 24, 2022•43 min
Over the last three weeks, people around the world have watched in horror as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has claimed hundreds of innocent lives and put millions more in grave danger. The invasion has been a tragic reminder of the human costs of war, and why what happens to people anywhere should matter to all of us, everywhere. In this episode, President Clinton is joined by French philosopher, filmmaker, and author Bernard-Henri Lévy to discuss his latest project, a documentary and accompan...
Mar 17, 2022•42 min
Dr. Paul Farmer, who passed away unexpectedly in Rwanda on February 21st, fundamentally changed the way healthcare is delivered in the most impoverished places on Earth, touched millions of lives, and inspired countless others to follow his example. In tribute to his extraordinary life and pioneering work, this special episode features a conversation between Chelsea Clinton and Dr. Farmer from 2019, as well as President Clinton’s reflections about his longtime friend. See omnystudio.com/listener...
Mar 10, 2022•30 min
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, so many of us found ourselves looking at the places we visit in our daily lives, weighing factors like ventilation and ability to social distance, and asking ourselves a new question: will going here make me more or less likely to become sick? For architect Michael Murphy, this is the kind of question he has spent his life thinking about. As the Founding Principal and Executive Director of MASS Design Group, one of the most innovative architecture and design col...
Mar 03, 2022•44 min
At their best, the Olympics symbolize our world’s potential for cooperation, honoring the common humanity that unites us across old divisions of gender, race, and geographical borders. With the 2022 Winter Olympics having drawn to a close, President Clinton sits down with two iconic Olympians, speed skater Apolo Ohno and basketball player Lisa Leslie, to talk about their journeys from modest backgrounds to the pinnacle of their sports, the honor of representing the United States, and embodying t...
Feb 24, 2022•56 min
Bill Clinton has often said he wouldn’t have become President if he hadn’t been born in Arkansas into a family whose main form of entertainment was storytelling. From a young age, he learned that every person has a story, and every person’s story has value—and when we truly hear other people’s stories, we can recognize at least some part of ourselves in them, too. In the Season 2 premier of Why Am I Telling You This? , President Clinton is joined by one of the most acclaimed storytellers working...
Feb 17, 2022•40 min
President Bill Clinton returns for a new season of his critically-acclaimed podcast, “Why Am I Telling You This?.” Listen each week for new and timely conversations with some of the most fascinating people of our time that will celebrate our unique differences that make life interesting, but affirm that our common humanity matters even more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 10, 2022•2 min
Hillary is back, and fired up for more illuminating conversations on You and Me Both. This season, along with her guests, she’ll tackle big stuff, with a multi-part series on the state of our democracy. But she’ll also venture into more personal territory with athletes, advice givers, Broadway stars, and political leaders. And she’ll draw inspiration from people who have stepped out of their lane, found their own voice, or forged a singular sense of style. Learn more about your ad-choices at htt...
Jan 26, 2022•2 min
The explosion in media platforms - from streaming services to podcasts - means more programming is being produced and consumed than ever before. But despite the boom in content, representation of Latinos in major roles in film, television and on stage still doesn’t match the significant role the Latino community plays in American life. People deserve to feel that their lives and stories are important and worthy of being told. At their best, TV and film characters can help us break down stereotyp...
May 20, 2021•38 min
In recent years, the world has been hit by crises with immense human tolls—from larger and more frequent natural disasters and the devastating consequences of climate change, to armed conflict and political instability that has forced millions of refugees to flee their homes, to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic insecurity. In the wake of these crises, responding quickly and understanding the challenges and needs facing communities is critical. Often, the first and most basic need for...
May 13, 2021•32 min
Successful political candidates—and more importantly, successful leaders—need to have a vision and a message that lets everyone see themselves as part of our shared future. James Carville and Paul Begala have been as good at crafting those messages as anyone in modern day politics. In the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign, they helped give voice to Bill Clinton’s policy proposals which put people first and resonated with voters across every demographic—building an inclusive economy; expanding access to...
May 06, 2021•42 min
This week, we revisit an important episode of “Why Am I Telling You This?” on the escalating opioid crisis, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode features U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and harm reductionist and Clinton Foundation partner Julie Stampler who joined President Bill Clinton in 2019 to discuss how we can work together to fight this epidemic, and a personal story from Sarah Gad, who overcame her own struggle with substance use disorder and is now hel...
Apr 29, 2021•35 min
America has always been at its best when we pull together in common cause. But rampant misinformation campaigns, media silos, and polarization have undermined faith in our institutions and trust in each other, which has made working together more challenging. Changing the behavior and attitudes that have led to this polarization will start with changing our perception of each other—seeing one another as people again and finding a common purpose. Roy Spence has spent his life helping respected le...
Apr 22, 2021•33 min
Television has always had the capacity to serve a greater purpose than just providing entertainment. It can introduce us to stories and characters we may never have known, and allow people who identify with them to feel seen, heard, and represented. Especially during a time when many people have felt isolated, television can keep us connected, give us an escape, and make us laugh. But it takes a visionary writer and producer like Shonda Rhimes to create those stories and characters, bring them t...
Apr 15, 2021•48 min
On March 25, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a 98-page bill creating several new voting restrictions in the state—one of the now 361 bills in 47 states that have been introduced to restrict voting access since last November’s election. The right to vote is both fundamental to individual liberty and to the proper functioning of representative democracy. When voting rights are denied, diluted, or restricted, the ability of our government to solve problems, seize opportunities, and serve everyon...
Apr 08, 2021•36 min
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and shared his dream that one day his “four little children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In the 50-plus years since that hot summer day, our nation has made important progress toward achieving that vision—but it is still painfully clear every day that we have a very long way to go. In this episode, President Clinton speaks with Dr. Bernice A. King, the...
Apr 01, 2021•44 min
A year ago, under the leadership of head coach Dawn Staley, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team entered the NCAA tournament with a 32-1 record and were favored to win another national championship. But that dream was cut short when the men’s and women’s tournaments were abruptly canceled amid the outbreak of COVID-19. This year, March Madness is back and Staley’s team is again a No. 1 seed. Even in a normal year, for so many people across the world, sports are ofte...
Mar 25, 2021•26 min
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country, with New York City reporting an increase of more than 800 percent in 2020. These attacks have been fueled in large part by scapegoating and xenophobic rhetoric spread rapidly through social media. But they are also just the latest in a long—and often overlooked—history of prejudice Asian Americans have faced in our nation. In this episode, P...
Mar 18, 2021•43 min
On September 18, 2020, America lost one of the greatest advocates for equality in the history of our country, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Justice Ginsburg’s remarkable story is an important reminder of the barriers she faced that her male counterparts not only weren’t subjected to, but often didn’t even consider. She didn’t just overcome those barriers; she tore many of them down, and used her own experiences to inform her decades of work on ...
Mar 11, 2021•1 hr 4 min
In the summer of 1963, Bill Clinton had one of the most formative experiences of his life when he participated in the American Legion’s Boys State and Boys Nation programs—learning about government and politics, meeting President John F. Kennedy, and for the first time seriously considering pursuing a life in public service. In 1992, President Clinton became the youngest president to be elected since JFK, and the first of his generation to hold that office. In 2018, Steven Garza had a similarly ...
Mar 04, 2021•39 min
Whether taking a leap of faith to pursue a new path or overcoming an unforeseen obstacle, we all reach crossroads in our lives where we have to figure out what’s next. But no one should ever assume that their best, most productive days are behind them. In this episode, Magic Johnson joins President Clinton to discuss how, after his HIV diagnosis abruptly ended his NBA career, he channeled his talent and drive to become a champion of others as an activist and entrepreneur helping underserved comm...
Feb 25, 2021•39 min
