Bill Clinton: “It was--well, for me, it was an incredible experience. And it was interesting. In 1963, when I went there to the White…”

“It was--well, for me, it was an incredible experience. And it was interesting. In 1963, when I went there to the White House, I was 16 years old. I had been out of Arkansas, I think, twice in my life--out of my home State. I think I'd only been out of the State twice. And I got this trip to Washington with these other--a hundred of us, who were young boys who were at this--in this program I was in. This was the American Legion Boys Nation program. And I really wanted to meet President Kennedy because I admired him and I liked him and I agreed with what he was trying to do. And I liked him because he was highly controversial in my home State and throughout the South because he was trying to finish the work of the Civil War. He was trying to pass all of the civil rights legislation. He was trying to eliminate racial discrimination. And he was taking a lot of heat for it. And a lot of people in my part of the country weren't for him because of it. But I was for him because of it, because I believed in what he was doing. So it was not only a great thing for me to meet the President, but I thought that he was really looking out for our future, and I thought I would live in a better America because he was President. So I was very excited about it. And I remember the day it occurred. I didn't know if the President was going to shake hands with all of the 100 boys, but because I was from Arkansas, I was at the top of the alphabet--[laughter]--and because I was above average in size, I could sort of elbow my way up to the front of the line. [Laughter] So I made sure I got to shake his hand. Although he was quite nice; he stayed around. I think he shook most people's hands that day. But it was a wonderful thing, you know. That's a great thing about this country. I mean, I just--here I was coming from a modest-sized town, and one day I was shaking hands with the President, kind of like this. That's one of the great things about democracy. You know, your families' votes count just as much as mine does. Anybody else? Student. What are your plans after you leave office?”