--- ---  # Read Hillary Clinton's 1969 Wellesley Commencement Speech  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 7, 2016 3:02 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton, right, and Wellesley College's president, Nannerl O. Keohane, share a light moment at commencement in Wellesley, Mass., on May 29, 1992. Hillary Clinton, right, and Wellesley College's president, Nannerl O. Keohane, share a light moment at commencement in Wellesley, Mass., on May 29, 1992.David L. Ryan—Boston Globe/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 7, 2016 3:02 PM UTC Presumptive [Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s](http://time.com/4359288/hillary-clinton-democratic-nominee-woman/?xid=homepage) alma mater, Wellesley College, released [audio excerpts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CAUOa5m5nY) on Monday from the 1969 commencement speech delivered by the 21-year-old then known as Hillary Rodham. Ruth Adams, then-president of Wellesley, introduced Clinton, calling her “cheerful, good humored, good company, and a good friend to all of us.” “Fear is always with us but we just don’t have time for it. Not now,” Clinton said during the 1969 speech, a sentiment she [echoed last week](http://time.com/4355797/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-transcript/), when she compared the choice between Republican Donald Trump and herself to a choice between a “fearful America” and a “strong, confident America,” respectively. Read the [complete remarks](http://www.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1969commencement/studentspeech) from Clinton’s graduation ceremony on May 31, 1969: --- > “” --- Hillary Clinton at Wellesley: 1969 Commencement Speech ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4359618/hillary-clinton-wellesley-commencement-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4359618/hillary-clinton-wellesley-commencement-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Hillary Clinton's 1969 Wellesley Commencement Speech","datePublished":"2016-06-07T15:02:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:26:07.685Z","description":"\"Fear is always with us but we just don't have time for it. Not now.\"","url":"https://time.com/4359618/hillary-clinton-wellesley-commencement-transcript/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd77793d573adf57/698896bc3c1639c3fb45d8c5/hillary-clinton-wellesley-1969.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd77793d573adf57/698896bc3c1639c3fb45d8c5/hillary-clinton-wellesley-1969.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton At Wellesely College Commencement","caption":"Hillary Clinton, right, and Wellesley College's president, Nannerl O. Keohane, share a light moment at commencement in Wellesley, Mass., on May 29, 1992.","creditText":"David L. Ryan—Boston Globe/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4359618/hillary-clinton-wellesley-commencement-transcript/","name":"Read Hillary Clinton's 1969 Wellesley Commencement Speech"}}]}] ```