Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947), was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton. She currently serves as the junior United States Senator from New York.

Table of contents

1 Childhood and early career
2 First Lady of Arkansas
3 First Lady of the United States
4 U.S. Senator
5 Future presidential bid?
6 Writings
7 Quotations
8 Further reading
9 References
10 External links

Childhood and early career

She was born in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham, the first child of Dorothy and Hugh Rodham. Two brothers, Hugh and Tony, were born later. Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, she loved sports and her church, and was a member of the National Honor Society, and a student leader. Her parents encouraged her to study hard and to pursue any career that interested her.

As an undergraduate at Wellesley College, Hillary participated in school government. In 1969, Hillary entered Yale Law School, where she served on the Board of Editors of Yale Law Review and Social Action and interned with children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman. It was at Yale where she met her future husband - Bill Clinton often recalls how they met in the library when she strode up to him and said, "If you're going to keep staring at me, I might as well introduce myself."

After graduation, she became a successful lawyer, and advised the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge and joined the impeachment inquiry staff advising the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. After completing those responsibilities, she "followed her heart to Arkansas," where Bill had begun his political career. She was a junior legal member of the Watergate investigation team and was a lawyer for Wal-Mart as well as a member of their Board of Directors.

They married in 1975. She joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas Law School in 1975 and the Rose Law Firm in 1976. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, and Bill Clinton became Governor of Arkansas. Their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was born in 1980.

First Lady of Arkansas

Hillary served as Arkansas's First Lady for 12 years. She chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital, Legal Services, and the Children's Defense Fund.

Hillary wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled "Talking It Over," which focused on her experiences as First Lady and her observations of women, children, and families she has met around the world.

First Lady of the United States

President Clinton in a speech during the impeachment hearings, reaffirming his intentions to remain as the President and not resign.

When her husband was elected to the presidency in 1992, she was undoubtedly the most overtly political First Lady ever. Just as her husband was the first President from the Baby Boom generation, she was its first First Lady. President Clinton appointed her to a task force to devise reforms to America's health system. The controversial commission produced a complicated plan which never came to the floor of either house. It was abandoned in September, 1994.

Like her husband, she was investigated for numerous alleged scandals; in every case, the investigations led to no criminal charges. She was widely criticized for interfering with the initial investigation of the death of Vince Foster. On January 26, 1996, she testified before a grand jury concerning the Whitewater scandal.

During the Lewinsky scandal, Mrs. Clinton publicly stuck by the President, initially claiming that the allegations of Bill's infidelities were the result of a "vast right-wing conspiracy," and even when the affair was confirmed, remaining by his side.

Many on the right are critical of her, often mentioning her name in the same vein as Ted Kennedy, using it as a pejorative tone; numerous critics felt that she had too much influence on policy, especially during the health care task force. Many critics also speculated on her marriage, claiming that it was a political alliance and nothing more. Others maintain, however, that the Clintons' marriage is anchored by a solid mutual respect for each others' abilities, irrespective of any arguments they might have.

Clinton won many admirers for her staunch support for women around the world and her commitment to children's issues. She continued to be a leading advocate for expanding health insurance coverage, ensuring children are properly immunized, and raising public awareness of health issues. She worked on lesser but noteworthy projects like the CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) and breast cancer funding.

U.S. Senator

Future presidential bid?

Writings

In 2001, Clinton received a record $8 million advance with Simon & Schuster for a book of her memoirs. The book was released in June 2003 and titled Living History (ISBN 0743222245). Living History was an immediate best seller, selling more than one million copies in the first month following publication. As First Lady, she wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled "Talking It Over," which focused on her experiences as First Lady and her observations of women, children, and families she has met around the world. Her 1996 book It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us was a best seller, and she received a Grammy Award for her recording of it. Other titles written by Hillary include: An Invitation to the White House, and Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets.