From the Archives: Hillary Clinton: I never used Jewish slur!
By Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press
Originally published July 16, 2000
January 08, 2004

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (AP) -- Angry and emotional, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday firmly denied allegations from a forthcoming book that she used an anti-Semitic slur 26 years ago.

"I wanted to unequivocally state it never happened," the first lady said during a hastily scheduled news conference to discuss the controversy.

The allegation comes from a book due out this week, "State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton," by former National Enquirer reporter Jerry Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer quotes Paul Fray, who worked for Bill Clinton's unsuccessful Congressional campaign in Arkansas in 1974, as claiming that Hillary Clinton called him a "Jew b-----" after Bill Clinton lost the election. Fray's wife said she witnessed the incident, and a third person, Neil McDonald, claimed to have heard the obscenity as he stood outside the room.

Previous biographies have mentioned the argument but none mentioned any slur.

On Sunday, the Clinton Senate campaign released copies of a handwritten letter from Fray to Hillary Clinton, dated July 1, 1997, in which he states: "I have wronged you. I ask for your forgiveness because I did say things against you, and called you names, not only to your face -- but behind your back ... names that are unmentionable."

Fray adds: "At one time in my life, I would say things without thinking, without factual foundation ... I beg your forgiveness."

Clinton said she was releasing the letter to show that "there's a history of these kinds of charges coming from the people in question. They've been false in the past. They're false now."

She wouldn't comment what sort of statements Fray was apologizing for in the letter.

The Clinton campaign also released a statement from President Clinton in which he said: "I was there on election night in 1974 and this charge is simply not true. It did not happen. My wife has stood for social justice and tolerance and against racial and religious hatred and bigotry for as long as I have known her. It's unfortunate that people would try to exploit false charges like this in an election rather than look at what she has done for her entire life."

Oppenheimer on Sunday defended his claim. He told CNN that his research also found that "Mrs. Clinton, who says she's never used such language, heard that kind of language while growing up."

Clinton indicated that her advisers had debated the best way to respond to the allegations, saying: "We had a lot of difficult conversations about it, because my policy for the last eight years has largely been just to absorb whatever insult, whatever charge, whatever accusation anybody says, and not respond because they are so outrageous and so unfair."

She said she decided to issue a full-force denial to ensure that "anyone who tries to get someone else to believe this will at least have to say, 'Well, she says it's not true."'

"You're darn right it's not true. It's absolutely false," she said.

Rep. Nita Lowey, who is Jewish, stood next to Clinton during the press conference and told reporters she came to offer support because "there's no way Hillary could make a statement like that."

Clinton's Republican opponent in the New York Senate race, Rep. Rick Lazio, declined to comment on the issue.