hillary rodham gazed out the window of the beat-up <u+2019>68 buick rolling down interstate 81, and saw spruce trees, the blue ridge mountains and the life she<u+2019>d left behind. ms. rodham, then a 26-year-old lawyer, had just finished working on the watergate committee and wanted to be with her boyfriend, bill clinton, who was teaching law in arkansas. her landlord, sara ehrman, who worried her bright young tenant was throwing away her future, offered to drive her down from washington, and over the course of two days and 1,193 miles in august 1974, mrs. ehrman tried to talk ms. rodham out of her plan. <u+201c>we<u+2019>d drive along and i<u+2019>d say, <u+2018>hillary, for god<u+2019>s sake,<u+2019> <u+201d> mrs. ehrman, now 97, recalled. <u+201c>he<u+2019>ll just be a country lawyer down there.<u+201d> their journey had some of the ingredients of a classic american road trip <u+2014> a cheap motel, tchotchke purchases, encounters with drunken strangers and deeply personal conversations. mrs. ehrman, a strong-minded career woman who had scrapped her way to becoming a senior congressional aide years before the feminist movement of the 1960s, believed ms. rodham could do anything <u+2014> and could not believe that she was shelving her promising career for an uncertain future at bill clinton<u+2019>s side in fayetteville, ark. but each time mrs. ehrman would raise the issue, ms. rodham would politely respond: <u+201c>i love him, and i want to be with him.<u+201d> the trip 42 years ago offers a glimpse at a hillary clinton the public seldom sees. she was not yet a self-assured lawyer, a powerful political wife or a tenacious presidential candidate, but a young woman, wide-eyed and eager, vulnerable and afraid, at the cusp of a momentous decision that would alter the course of her life. and mrs. ehrman, then 55, had an unusually close-up view of the woman who would become the first female presidential nominee of a major party. young hillary rodham, mrs. ehrman recalled, was an intelligent, unstylish, hard-working woman, if an occasionally sloppy tenant, who had an infectious, throaty laugh and often failed to make her bed in the morning. the two met in 1972: mrs. ehrman was working as co-director of issues and research for george mcgovern<u+2019>s presidential campaign in texas, and the democratic national committee had sent mrs. clinton, a law student at the time, to help with voter registration. <u+201c>a young girl walked in. she looked like 18 or 19,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said of the first time she saw mrs. clinton at the campaign<u+2019>s headquarters in san antonio. <u+201c>she had brown hair, brown glasses, brown top, brown skirt, brown shoes, brown visage, no makeup.<u+201d> they shared a cheap dinner at a tex-mex restaurant in downtown san antonio and didn<u+2019>t speak again until 1973 when mrs. clinton, then a yale law graduate, got a coveted job on the watergate committee and called mrs. ehrman for advice on finding a place to live in washington. <u+201c>i said, <u+2018>the kids are gone, you can stay with me. no cooking,<u+2019> <u+201d> mrs. ehrman recalled during a recent interview at her home in washington. <u+201c>so she moved in with all her junk.<u+201d> mrs. clinton<u+2019>s room in the four-bedroom house quickly took on the feel of a college dorm room, with piles of clothes (mostly brown), books and even a bicycle strewn about. <u+201c>she had all her stuff on the floor,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>i just remember she didn<u+2019>t make her bed.<u+201d> (years later, mrs. clinton, who declined to be interviewed for this article, argued with mrs. ehrman that she did, in fact, make her bed.) mrs. ehrman had a new job representing the puerto rican government, and she and mrs. clinton worked grueling hours. they would talk only occasionally in the rushed weekday mornings. <u+201c>we<u+2019>d get up, eat yogurt, maybe have coffee, get in my car, i<u+2019>d drop her at the watergate,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>she<u+2019>d come home at 11, 12 o<u+2019>clock at night, exhausted, eat yogurt, go to bed and do the same thing over again.<u+201d> the living arrangement lasted about a year until one day, when mrs. clinton told mrs. ehrman her plan: <u+201c>she said, <u+2018>i<u+2019>m going to go down to arkansas to be with my boyfriend.<u+2019> <u+201d> the word <u+201c>boyfriend<u+201d> looming in the air, mrs. ehrman reacted instinctively. <u+201c>it was at that point that i said, very delicately, <u+2018>you don<u+2019>t want to go there. you could get any job you want,<u+2019> <u+201d> she recalled. then there was the matter of all that stuff. mrs. clinton planned to take the bus to fayetteville, where mr. clinton was teaching law and running for congress. she was trying to figure out how to ship all of her clothes and books and bicycle. watching this logistical spectacle unfold, mrs. ehrman said: <u+201c>get in my car. i<u+2019>ll drive you down.<u+201d> so they piled her belongings into the back of mrs. ehrman<u+2019>s banged-up buick, nicknamed <u+201c>old rattletrap,<u+201d> and began the drive, with mrs. ehrman determined to change mrs. clinton<u+2019>s mind. her chances were slim. mrs. clinton had failed the washington, d.c., bar exam, but passed the arkansas test, confirming her decision to join mr. clinton, she wrote in her 2003 memoir, <u+201c>living history.<u+201d> they headed for interstate 81, which parallels the appalachian mountains through virginia and into tennessee. mrs. ehrman remembered the talks the two women had as they drove past poor towns in southwestern virginia and stopped briefly at the historic barter theater in abingdon, va., which got its name during the great depression, when most theatergoers could not pay the full ticket price. they stopped in laurel bloomery, tenn., a town known for its fiddler conventions, and bought pottery <u+2014> smooth ceramic dishes and mugs in earthy tones that both women still have. and in memphis, they got stuck in a parade of inebriated shriners who swarmed the streets in their distinctive hats. the hotels were sold out in memphis because of the shriners convention, so they found a cheap motel just across the mississippi river in arkansas. the women came from different backgrounds: mrs. ehrman was a secular jew from staten island, ms. rodham a methodist from park ridge, ill. but they talked, about life and careers and love, usually ending up in the same spot, with mrs. ehrman seeing talent and promise in ms. rodham, and little of the same in her boyfriend. <u+201c>every 25 or 30 miles, i would say, <u+2018>do you know what you<u+2019>re doing?<u+2019> <u+201d> she said. <u+201c>he may never get a job. he can<u+2019>t make a living.<u+201d> eager to start her new life, mrs. clinton didn<u+2019>t want to waste time, so the two women pulled in at drive-throughs or stopped at food stands and barbecue joints. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m from staten island. we didn<u+2019>t eat ribs,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>we ate pie, a lot of pie <u+2014> pecan pie.<u+201d> even as she urged her traveling companion to rethink her life plan, mrs. ehrman partly understood why the young woman was so smitten with bill clinton, having briefly seen him herself on a tarmac in waco, tex., in 1972 when mr. clinton was also working on the mcgovern campaign. <u+201c>standing at the foot of the steps of the plane was this drop-dead gorgeous young man in a white linen suit,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>he was so beautiful, but young. he looked 21. and i said, <u+2018>who<u+2019>s that kid down there at the foot of the steps?<u+2019> and somebody said, <u+2018>he<u+2019>s the state director,<u+2019> and i said, <u+2018>obviously, we<u+2019>re not going to win texas with a 21-year-old for a state director,<u+2019> <u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>he doesn<u+2019>t like that story, but it<u+2019>s true.<u+201d> (richard m. nixon defeated mr. mcgovern in texas by 33 percentage points, and it is unlikely that even the most seasoned state director could have reversed that result.) after they made their way deeper into arkansas, bypassing little rock and curving through the ozarks, the women stopped at a ramshackle restaurant for lunch. mrs. ehrman was growing more alarmed as she took in the surroundings. <u+201c>i said to her, <u+2018>hillary, you<u+2019>re never going to get french bread here. you<u+2019>re never going to get brie,<u+2019> <u+201d> she recalled in a final plea, but by then mrs. clinton had made up her mind. <u+201c>she wasn<u+2019>t even listening to me at that point,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. they arrived in fayetteville, home of the university of arkansas, on one of the rowdiest weekends of the year. the hilltop town, with its canopy of oak trees, had become a swarm of drunken football fans, their faces painted red and their heads covered with hats shaped like the university<u+2019>s hog mascot. the razorbacks were playing a major rival at the time, the longhorns of the university of texas. <u+201c>it was then that i broke down and cried when i thought, <u+2018>she<u+2019>s going to live here?<u+2019> <u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>i just cried. i just absolutely cried.<u+201d> mrs. ehrman took a plane back to washington and paid someone to drive her buick home. <u+201c>i thought, <u+2018>i<u+2019>m getting out of here tomorrow morning. i don<u+2019>t belong here,<u+2019> <u+201d> she said. she has thought of mrs. clinton often after that, she recalled, sighing. <u+201c>i certainly did think about her and feel, not that i had left her, but that her life had left her.<u+201d> when she dropped her off in arkansas some 42 years ago, mrs. ehrman never dreamed that a young hillary rodham would be one election away from possibly becoming president herself. but, as the years went by, she came to see the wisdom of her young tenant<u+2019>s choices. in 1992, mrs. ehrman went back to arkansas, this time to the governor<u+2019>s mansion in little rock to help with mr. clinton<u+2019>s presidential campaign. on the day of his inauguration in 1993, mrs. ehrman even attended church with the clintons. <u+201c>i was sitting there right against the railing and i saw her, head bowed and i said to myself, <u+2018>jesus, she<u+2019>s really praying. she<u+2019>s a believer.<u+2019> <u+201d> in 2008, mrs. clinton and mrs. ehrman were reunited in texas, this time for mrs. clinton<u+2019>s own presidential campaign. and mrs. ehrman attended the democratic national convention in philadelphia in july to support mrs. clinton. the passage of time has deepened mrs. ehrman<u+2019>s understanding of the love-struck young lawyer who stared out the buick window. <u+201c>hillary is a very practical, pragmatic person,<u+201d> mrs. ehrman said. <u+201c>she wanted to be with him, but she also saw a future for him and herself.<u+201d> find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter .
the road trip that changed hillary clinton<u+2019>s life
amy chozick