Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (bornOctober 26, 1947) is the 67th UnitedStates Secretary of State, serving in theadministration of President Barack Obama.
She was a United States Senator for NewYork from 2001 to 2009. As the wife ofthe 42nd President of the United States,Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of theUnited States from 1993 to 2001. In the 2008election, Hillary was a leading candidate forthe Democratic presidential nomination.
A native of Illinois, Hillary attracted national attention in 1969 forher remarks as the first student commencement speaker at WellesleyCollege. She embarked on a career in law after graduating from YaleLaw School in 1973. Following a stint as a Congressional legalcounsel, she moved to Arkansas in 1974 and married Bill Clinton in1975. Hillary cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children andFamilies in 1977 and became the first female chair of the Legal ServicesCorporation in 1978. Named the first female partner at Rose Law Firmin 1979, she was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America. First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to1992 with husband Bill as Governor, she successfully led a task force toreform Arkansas’s education system.
In 1994 as First Lady of the United States, her major initiative, theClinton health care plan, failed to gain approval from the U.S. Congress. In1997 and 1999, Hillary played a role in advocating the creation of the StateChildren’s Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe FamiliesAct, and the Foster Care Independence Act. Her years as First Lady drew apolarized response from the American public. The only First Lady to havebeen subpoenaed, she testified before a federal grand jury in 1996 due tothe Whitewater controversy, but was never charged with wrongdoing in thisor several other investigations during her husband’s administration. Thestate of her marriage was the subject of considerable speculation followingthe Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
After moving to the stateof New York, Hillary waselected as a U.S. Senator in2000. That election marked thefirst time an American FirstLady had run for public office;Hillary was also the firstfemale senator to representthe state. In the Senate, sheinitially supported the Bush administration on some foreign policy issues,including a vote for the Iraq War Resolution. She subsequently opposedthe administration on its conduct of the war in Iraq and on most domesticissues. Senator Hillary was reelected by a wide margin in 2006. In the 2008presidential nomination race, Hillary won more primaries and delegates thanany other female candidate in American history, but narrowly lost to SenatorObama. As Secretary of State, Hillary became the first former First Lady toserve in a president’s cabinet.
