Hillary Clinton is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 67th US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. She was also a Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States in the 2016 elections, which she lost to her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Married to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, she served as the First Lady of the United States during her husband's presidency from 1993 to 2001.
Childhood
Hillary Clinton was born October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, in the family of Hugh Rodham and Dorothy Howell. She is the oldest child in the family and has two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.
In 1965, she graduated from Maine High School and enrolled in Wellesley College with a degree in political science.
Her political position has changed quite a few times during the sixties of the last year. She was considered a man with a conservative mind and a liberal heart. In 1968, she was elected President of the Wellesley College Government Association.
After graduating from college in 1969 with a bachelor's degree with honors in political science, she changed more than one job before finding a job at Yale Law School.
In 1970, she was selected to serve on the US Senator Walter Mondale's Subcommittee on Migrant Workers. After that, she trained in Auckland, at the law firm Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein.
In 1973, she received a doctorate in law from Yale.
Career
In 1974, she was appointed a member of the Impeachment Investigation Headquarters in Washington, D.C., advising the House Committee on Judicial Affairs during the Watergate scandal. The work of the committee led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
In 1974, she became a law professor at the University of Arkansas. Two years later she moved to the state capital of Arkansas after her husband, Bill Clinton, was appointed Attorney General of Arkansas.
In 1977, she began working at Rose Law Firm, specializing in patent law and intellectual property rights. In the same year, she co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the post of head of the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation. As chairman until 1980, she increased the financing of the corporation more than three times, from 90 million to 300 million dollars. She was also the first woman to hold this position.
With the appointment of Bill Clinton as Governor of Arkansas in 1979, she became the first lady of Arkansas and was her for twelve years, from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992. She was appointed Chairperson of the Rural Health Advisory Committee and was empowered to provide health services in the poorest areas.
In 1983, she took control of the Arkansas Committee of Educational Standards. During her tenure, she worked to improve the educational standard and made teacher testing mandatory. In addition, she set state standards for curricula and class sizes.
For six years, from 1982 to 1988, she headed the New World Foundation. Between 1987 and 1991, she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Commission of the American Association of Women Lawyers in the profession, fighting against gender inequality.
First lady
With the appointment of Bill Clinton as President of the United States in 1993, she became the first lady of the United States.
According to most Americans, she played an active role in public policy and was often considered the "president in a skirt."
As the first lady, she was appointed head of the national health care reform team in 1993, which aimed to ensure that employers are required to provide medical care for their employees. However, due to a lack of support, the reform was curtailed in 1994, which led to a fall in Democrats' popularity and the possible growth of Republicans in the elections to the House and Senate.
In 1997, she developed a Children's Health Insurance program through government support. In addition, she promoted immunization, a mandatory mammogram for women, and funded research on prostate cancer and childhood asthma.
As the first lady, she visited 79 countries, including India and Pakistan.
Political career
She fought for a seat in the US Senate from New York State and won by a huge margin, was sworn in on January 3, 2001. She became the first wife of the president to be elected to the US Senate from New York State.
While working as a senator, she strongly supported the military operations in Afghanistan and the strengthening of state security after the September 11 attacks.
In 2007, she announced her intention to run for the 2008 presidential election, thus becoming the first woman to be nominated by one of the major parties. Despite losing the election to Barack Obama, she was nonetheless appointed Secretary of State.
As Secretary of State, she continued to advocate for women's rights and human rights. In addition, she actively advocated for American military intervention in Libya. Hillary resigned from her post on February 1, 2013.
Presidential Campaign 2016
In April 2015, Clinton officially announced her candidacy for the presidency in the 2016 elections. She ran into a strong rival from Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but won the fight and was officially nominated by the Democrats in July 2016.
Having entered the fight for the presidency against Republican Party business tycoon Donald Trump, she was the leader in the presidential race for most of 2016, according to opinion polls.
During her campaigns, she based her economic philosophy on inclusive capitalism. She also called for a constitutional amendment that would overturn the 2010 Citizens United decision. She upholds the right to same-sex marriage and equal pay for equal work. Given the regular scandals surrounding her opponent Donald Trump, it seemed that Hillary Clinton could easily win the presidential election. However, this did not happen and on November 8, 2016, she lost the presidential election to Trump.
Personal life
She married Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975. The couple has a daughter, Chelsea.
