White House Years
While at the Children's Defense Fund she met, and became friends with then First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Rodham Clinton. She served as Clinton's transition director in 1992 and as her chief of staff during her first term as First Lady of the United States (1993–1997), the first African American woman to hold that position and the first Chief of Staff to the First Lady who also served as an Assistant to the President. As stated in Taylor Branch's The Clinton Tapes, in 1994, President Clinton turned to Williams "to compile confidential suggestions" on personnel shifts...According to Branch, "When I asked how unusual it was for the first lady's office to be involved, he replied there was no easy blueprint for reorganizing the organizers. Williams was shrewd, discreet, and efficient."
In a profile in Essence Magazine Ana Perez, who during George Bush's administration was the first Black person to serve as a press secretary to a First Lady said of Williams: "I am in awe of her...I have so much respect for her because she has this absolutely calm center and because she is a good and decent person. She's a do-gooder in every sense of the word." She has been described as having "very good judgment on issues and people" by Leon Panetta.
Read more about this topic: Maggie Williams
Famous quotes containing the words white, house and/or years:
“We are the only class in history that has been left to fight its battles alone, unaided by the ruling powers. White labor and the freed black men had their champions, but where are ours?”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
““A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Parents who want a fresh point of view on their furniture are advised to drop down on all fours and accompany the nine or ten month old on his rounds. It is probably many years since you last studied the underside of a dining room chair. The ten month old will study this marvel with as much concentration and reverence as a tourist in the Cathedral of Chartres.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)