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The sold-out crowd in the 400-seat Free Library auditorium erupted into applause on a recent Wednesday evening as Bill Clinton, dressed in a dapper chocolate brown suit, walked across the stage to his cozy, leather chair.
Philadelphia was the former president’s second stop on a five-city book tour touting his memoir, Citizen: My Life After the White House . MSNBC host and Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart moderated the easygoing conversation about the need for empathy in politics. The crowd was enthralled. “It was a great, great night,” said Anthony Espinal, 21, an attendee. “It doesn’t happen every night that you get to see a former president. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”