First major campaign speech

Clinton launches her campaign in earnest with a 45-minute address on Roosevelt Island in New York City:

It is wonderful…to be here in this beautiful park dedicated to Franklin Roosevelt’s enduring vision of America, the nation we want to be.

The speech emphasizes her biography:

I may not be the youngest candidate in this race, but I’ll be the youngest woman president in the history of the United States.

Clinton tells how her mother was abandoned by her own parents and started supporting herself as a teenager:

My mother taught me that everybody needs a chance and a champion. She knew what it was like not to have either one. I wish my mother could have been with us longer. I wish she could have seen Chelsea become a mother herself. I wish she could have met Charlotte. I wish she could have seen the America we’re going to build together.

And her view that American success should be measured by how well ordinary families are doing, not by the wealth of a few.

It’s America’s basic bargain: if you do your part, you ought to be able to get ahead. Democracy can’t be just for billionaires and corporations. Prosperity and democracy are part of your basic bargain too. I’m not running for some Americans, but for all Americans…You brought our country back. Now it’s time — your time — to secure our gains and move ahead