A Woman in Charge Read Online Free PDF Page B

my brothers, than I thought was fair or necessary. But even when he was angry, I never doubted that he loved me.” Her father was “not one to spare the rod,” *2 she wrote.
    The Rodham brothers as adults described their father as “critical” and “pretty tough,” but also as “kindhearted.” Certainly Hugh Rodham was proud of the accomplishments of his children, but if his methodology was intended to convey tough love in an era before the term became fashionable, the results were mixed at best.
    His constant pushing of Hillary’s brothers to follow his example—so they, too, might be successful and respected in business—did not always take. Hillary, alone among the Rodham children, seemed to possess his self-discipline.
    Tony seemed to adjust to his father’s difficult philosophy of parenting better than Hugh Jr., who responded by trying endlessly to please his dad, an impossible task. The more he pandered to his father, the more his father seemed to push him away.
    â€œHugh was toughest on Hughie because he’s his first-born son—and he was very tough on him,” said a member of the Rodham family. “I don’t think he approved of everything he did. But Hughie always wanted that approval, and very much tried to follow in the footsteps of his father. He went to Penn State like his father. He played football like his father.” Yet there was always the feeling that he didn’t measure up. “Tony, on the other hand, didn’t care. Tony just did what he wanted to do, and got Hugh’s respect very early on as a younger child.”
    At age nine, Tony was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and spent an entire school year bedridden, during which Dorothy nursed and tended to him. Even as adults, Tony and Hughie would seek solace from their mother during difficult times. Though sometimes dour, she was regarded by the children as the heart and soul of the Rodham household. For the most part unflappable in the company of others, she served as referee between the children and her husband, intervening when Hugh became unusually callous or hurtful in his remarks or demands, or too physical.
    â€œThey got ridden, treated like men from the time they were three years old,” said a relative. Hillary “was the girl in the house with two crazy little boys,” Betsy Ebeling said. “The first time I walked into that house, Hughie was seven and Tony was four. Hughie threw Tony over the balcony onto the curb and Tony bounced and came up with a smile. They’re street scrappers, which Hugh loved. They were just physical. They smashed things in the house playing. And Hugh loved that.” Dorothy didn’t.
    Hugh Jr. and Tony were also the beneficiaries of their sister’s protection. Even in her teens (as in her years in the White House) she came to their aid when they got into scrapes that required some artful intervention—whether to mollify their father or, later, to quiet a nosy press corps. Though grateful for her intercession, they were also terrified of her, especially of her disapprobation.
    Until her teenage years, Hillary could get away with many of the minor infractions for which they were penalized. Often the Rodham children engaged in pranks around the house, engineered by Hillary, but it would be the boys who were punished more severely. “‘Little Hillary’ could do no wrong,” said Tony. “She was Daddy’s girl, there’s no doubt about it.” Her brothers called Hugh “Old Man,” but Hillary called him Pop-Pop (as would Chelsea Clinton, who also could do no wrong in her grandfather’s eyes). Toward their sister, at least, their father was capable of a modicum of tenderness. He taught her to play baseball, making her swing at his pitches until she connected with the ball solidly; fished with her at the lake; showed her (like her brothers) how to play pinochle; lingered some