Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton was born on October 26, 1947. After getting her undergrad degree at Wellesley, in 1969, she entered Yale Law School. While at Yale, she was on the Board of Editors for the Yale Law Review. Yale was also where Hillary met Bill Clinton.

After graduating from Yale Law, Hillary Rodham joined the Nixon impeachment inquiry staff and married Bill Clinton in 1975. They moved to Arkansas, where she taught at the University of Arkansas Law School and joined the Rose Law Firm, eventually becoming partner. During her legal career, Hillary was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential attorneys in America by the National Law Review.

Bill Clinton was elected Governor of the State of Arkansas, serving a total of three terms. During the 12 years Hillary spent as Arkansas First Lady, she chaired the boards of many children s groups while managing to maintain her law career, raise her daughter, and perform the official duties of supporting her husband.

In 1993, Bill Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States. Hillary was active in both his campaign and in his administration, being asked to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform by her husband early in his Administration. She was not successful in passing the reform, but she was implemental in passing the State s Children s Healthcare Initiative Plan (CHIP). These were unprecedented moves for a First Lady and it engendered a great deal of criticism from the conservative press and the public. It was the beginning for a barrage of negative publicity for the First Lady, who many felt was taking too active of a role in her husband s presidency. Sympathy and public opinion swung her way, however, with her handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

In 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for, and won, a seat as a US Senator from New York, making her the first former First Lady to ever win national elected office. In the Senate, she initially supported the Bush Administration on some foreign policy issues, which included voting for the Iraq War. Hillary subsequently opposed the administration on its conduct of the war, and on most domestic issues. She was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006.

In 2008, Hillary ran for President of the United States, winning more primaries and delegates than any other female candidate in American history. After a very close run, in the end she narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Senator Barack Obama. After Obama s win in the general election, she was asked by him to become his Secretary of State and is the first former First Lady to serve in a president’s cabinet. She is becoming known on the world stage as a tough, but fair, diplomat.