DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's turn now to Hillary Clinton's moment, as a string of victories on the last big primary night made her the first woman to be presumptive nominee of a major political party. Here's NPR's Tamara Keith.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: If you're going to make history, you might as well mark it in a room with some symbolism.
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HILLARY CLINTON: And it may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now.
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KEITH: Literally - at the Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn. When Clinton took the stage, she stretched her arms out wide, soaking it all in.
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CLINTON: Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone - the first time...
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CLINTON: The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.
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KEITH: It was precisely eight years ago to the day that Clinton delivered a very different speech, conceding to then-Senator Obama and endorsing his history-making candidacy. This time, it was Clinton, reaching across the divide to supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, many of whom are in no mood to move on.
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CLINTON: Now, I know it never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well.
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KEITH: But, Clinton argued, there's more that unites than divides her and Sanders, especially with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee.
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CLINTON: This election is different. It really is about who we are as a nation.
KEITH: Clinton invoked her late mother, who overcame a bleak childhood and showed her daughter how to be strong.
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CLINTON: And she taught me never to back down from a bully, which, it turns out, was pretty good advice.
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KEITH: Clinton's long career has mixed inspiration with controversy - Whitewater, Benghazi, the private email server. But for her supporters, like Mary Collette Marinaro-Bison, last night was proof that Clinton is a fighter.
MARY COLLETTE MARINARO-BISON: It's never-ending. She can't get a break. And I just thought, tonight - this was so powerful and so moving. It's like she is getting her due.
KEITH: After Clinton's speech, Marinaro-Bison stood at the Brooklyn waterfront, wiping away tears of joy. The highest, hardest glass ceiling, as Clinton called it eight years ago, still remains, as does a general election fight with Donald Trump that both candidates have made clear will be scorching. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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