This time, motherhood, millennials help make Hillary run

In this year's presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has focused on the importance of motherhood and families. She often speaks of her mother, whose tough childhood inspired Clinton to advocate for children, and of her own role as a mother and new grandmother and how it's pushed her to make the world a better place. But this hasn't always been Clinton's public persona. In her first campaign for president in 2008, Clinton displayed a steelier disposition and even downplayed the historic nature of her candidacy. As first lady in the 1990s, she projected independence and strove to separate her image from motherhood. Berkeley News  spoke with professor of history emerita Paula Fass, a social and cultural historian and author of a new book, The End of American Childhood: A History of Parenting from Life on the Frontier to the Managed Child , who looks at why Clinton is focusing on motherhood, and whether it will be effective. Berkeley News: How has Hillary Clinton's focus changed throughout this year's presidential campaign? Paula Fass: One of the things that I began to realize is that despite Hillary's initial attempt to present herself as the first woman breaking the glass ceiling, that really retreated and the convention was clearly the apotheosis of mothering and motherhood in a way that I didn't expect. It's wonderful. And I think it was the right way to go because there is a long tradition of protecting and representing children and women's issues, women being accepted as both legitimate and important. How does it compare to how she presented herself in the past?