WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton often speaks about the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. She's a big proponent of paid family leave, and often invokes her own experiences as as a mother, wife, daughter and most recently grandmother on the presidential campaign trail.
But that message may not have been imprinted on one of her former aides at the State Department, who stayed awake for almost 100 hours to complete a speech for the then-secretary of state in January of 2010.
According to a batch of previously unreleased Clinton emails made available by the State Department on Monday evening, a longtime aide suggested that the secretary personally thank the hardworking speechwriter for his efforts.
"If you have the time or inclination, it would be really nice if you could send an email to Tomicah, or phone him. He went for almost 100 hours without sleep to get the speech done, under unusually trying circumstances. He deserves some recognition for grace under pressure and a job well done," wrote Lissa Muscatine, who is also a former speechwriter at the State Department.
The secretary agreed.
"I did once before speech and will do again. Thx to all," Clinton responded.
Clinton appointed the writer, Tomicah Tillemann, as the State Department’s senior adviser for civil society and emerging democracies in 2010. According to his State Department bio page, Tillemann "collaborated with her on over 200 speeches."
Tillemann tweeted about the experience Monday night after seeing reporters mentioning it.
Asked whether he ever spent 100 hours straight writing a speech, Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, said he did not.
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