Leslie Gelb spends an exhausting day with Clinton

Hillary Clinton, Sept. 16, 2009 | JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, spent an exhausting 24 hours with Secretary Clinton last month for a piece in the Oct. 25 issue of Parade magazine. He was a “fly on the wall,” with her almost every waking minute, a time ...

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578393_091023_Clinton0909162.jpg

Hillary Clinton, Sept. 16, 2009 | JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton, Sept. 16, 2009 | JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, spent an exhausting 24 hours with Secretary Clinton last month for a piece in the Oct. 25 issue of Parade magazine. He was a “fly on the wall,” with her almost every waking minute, a time that he writes was “both grueling and inspirational, full of diplomatic pageantry, big meetings with policy brainiacs, small sessions with trusted aides, a stream of time-consuming formal duties, and, of course, phone calls and more phone calls.”

If you read Gelb’s article and click your way through the accompanying photo essay, you’ll truly appreciate what a tough job it is to be secretary of state, and wear a smile every day.

Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon was copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009 to 2016 and was an FP assistant editor from 2007 to 2009. Twitter: @pjaroonFP

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