And now from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, the Act Spiles with your host, David Axelrod.

Joel Benenson is one of my very best friends and also one of the people I admire most in politics.

He has one of the most unusual stories in terms of his route to being the today chief strategist and poster for Hillary Clinton.

I worked with him on the two Obama campaigns, but his life story and his passion for politics is something to behold.

Joel Benenson, my old good friend, I want you are now the chief strategist and poster for Hillary Clinton.

Joel Benenson, my old friend, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man

She was a bookkeeper and office manager for a couple of different kinds of companies while she worked for an artificial Christmas tree company and then a jewelry company.

That's a tough road to hoe.

Yeah, three kids.

Three kids. And as I say, this was in the 50s and when my father died and there was a lot of difficulty.

So, you know, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man, I was a young man,

I was in school in the sixties, and I took French like a lot of people then because Jackie Kennedy was the first lady and they were... Yeah. I'm still mad at my mom for making me take French and set a Spanish in New York City Public. Well, you know, at that time though it was a very different time, and the immigration, particularly from Puerto Rico had just really begun, but I remember in French, you know, when they'd ask your father's name and your mother's name, you know, saying I don't have a father, I was, you know, 8 years old and 9 years old and it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, the mother's name and he was saying I don't have a father, I was, you know, 8 years old and 9 years old and it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, it struck me, but I was, you know, 8 years old and it struck me, it struck me, it struck

I never realized that nobody taught me.

They didn't bother to teach me to say my father died,

which would have been so much different.

Of course, I had a father.

And so it was reality for me.

That was the way I grew up.

I have no memories of them, but we had a strong family.

But the bottom line is the only way we got to go to college

is if we could go to the City University of New York.

I went to Queens College because it was free.

...