Meryl Streep: Clinton will be the first woman president 'but won't be the last'

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

published 27 July 2016

Meryl Streep began her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday with a little history lesson.

Streep discussed Deborah Sampson, a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to fight in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. "Deborah Sampson was the first woman to take a bullet for the United States," Streep said. "Hillary Clinton has taken some fire over 40 years for her fight for families and children. How does she do it? That's what I want to know. Where does she get her grit and grace?"

Streep name checked notable women in American history, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Rosa Parks, Sally Ride, Amelia Earhart, Shirley Chisholm, and Eleanor Roosevelt. "These women share something in common: Capacity of mind, fullness of heart, and a burning passion for their cause," she said. "They have forged new paths so others can follow them, men and women, generation on generation. That's Hillary. That's America." Streep told the crowd they "made history" by nominating Clinton and will "make history again in November because Hillary Clinton will be our first woman president. … She will be the first but she won't be the last." Sure, it wasn't a Scott Baio speech, but Streep did her best.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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