Clinton Clarifies Comments Comparing Putin to Hitler

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a lecture at UCLA Wednesday to attempt to clarify her comments a day earlier comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.

"What I said yesterday is that the claims by President Putin and other Russians that they had to go into Crimea and maybe further into eastern Ukraine because they had to protect to Russian minorities and that is reminiscent of claims that were made back in the 1930s when Germany under the Nazis kept talking about how they had to protect German minorities in Poland and Czechoslovakia," Clinton said at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Clinton made her initial comments about Hitler Tuesday at a $1,500-per- person luncheon fundraiser in Long Beach benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach, the Press-Telegram reported.

Cal State Northridge politics professor Tom Hogen-Esch told the Daily News Clinton's initial comments about Hitler only serve to fuel Putin's paranoia and "unnecessarily turns up the heat."

Clinton today delivered the third annual Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership. The past lectures were delivered by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Tickets were $250 and $500. Proceeds benefit the greatest needs fund of UCLA's College of Letters and Science.

Clinton also accepted the UCLA Medal, which UCLA says it bestows on individuals whose work "illustrate the highest ideals of UCLA, and whose career has manifestly benefited the public ...".

Following the lecture, Clinton participated in a question-and-answer session with UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck.

During the question-and-answer portion, Clinton said she made her initial comments because she wants "everybody to have a little historic perspective. I'm not making a comparison, certainly, but I am recommending that we perhaps can learn from this tactic that has been used before," the Daily News reported.

--City News Service