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Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (née Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a U.S. senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and as the first lady of the United States to former ...
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Mar 6, 2024 · Learn about the life and career of Hillary Clinton, the first woman to run for U.S. president and the wife of Bill Clinton. Explore her achievements, controversies, health issues and more.
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- Lawyer and first lady of Arkansas
Hillary Clinton was born on October 26, 1947.
Where was Hillary Clinton educated?
Hillary Clinton attended Wellesley College and Yale Law School.
What was Hillary Clinton famous for?
Hillary Clinton was a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009 and secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She was the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in 2016 and first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president from 1993 to 2001.
Why was Hillary Clinton important?
The first president’s wife born after World War II, Hillary was the eldest child of Hugh and Dorothy Rodham. She grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, where her father’s textile business provided the family with a comfortable income; her parents’ emphasis on hard work and academic excellence set high standards.
A student leader in public schools, she was active in youth programs at the First United Methodist Church. Although she later became associated with liberal causes, during this time she adhered to the Republican Party of her parents. She campaigned for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964 and chaired the local chapter of the Young Republicans. A year later, after she enrolled at Wellesley College, her political views began to change. Influenced by the assassinations of Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., she joined the Democratic Party and volunteered in the presidential campaign of antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy.
After her graduation from Wellesley in 1969, Hillary entered Yale Law School, where she came under the influence of Yale alumna Marian Wright Edelman, a lawyer and children’s rights advocate. Through her work with Edelman, she developed a strong interest in family law and issues affecting children.
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Although Hillary met Bill Clinton at Yale, they took separate paths after graduation in 1973. He returned to his native Arkansas, and she worked with Edelman in Massachusetts for the Children’s Defense Fund. In 1974 Hillary participated in the Watergate inquiry into the possible impeachment of Pres. Richard M. Nixon. When her assignment ended with Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, she made what some people consider the crucial decision of her life—she moved to Arkansas. She taught at the University of Arkansas School of Law, and, following her marriage to Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975, she joined the prominent Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she later became a partner.
After Bill was elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, she continued to pursue her career and retained her maiden name (until 1982), bringing considerable criticism from voters who felt that her failure to change her name indicated a lack of commitment to her husband. Their only child, Chelsea Victoria, was born in 1980.
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- Betty Boyd Caroli
Jun 17, 2022 · Hillary Clinton: ‘We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy’. The former presidential candidate on negotiating with Putin, the ‘prophet’ Margaret Atwood — and why the Democrats...
Learn about Hillary's life, career, and achievements as a public servant, activist, and volunteer. From her childhood in Chicago to her historic presidential run in 2016, discover how she fought for children, families, women, and human rights around the world.
Apr 6, 2024 · Hillary Clinton returned on Saturday to her alma mater, Wellesley College, to celebrate the opening of a new research and study center that bears her name, more than half a century after...
