Background

• Early Life
• Arkansas' First Lady, 1979-1981 & 1983-1992
• Life in the White House, 1992-2000
• Starting Fresh in the Big Apple
• Major Legislation Supported by Clinton
• Another Stay in the White House?

A lawyer, First Lady, Senator, and Presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton is a veteran of Washington, D.C. politics. Beginning a career in law in the 1970s, Hillary moved to Arkansas and married Bill Clinton in 1975. She was named one of the hundred most influential lawyers in America in 1988 and '91 after becoming the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979. From 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, Hillary was the First Lady of Arkansas, championing the welfare of children. In 1992 she moved to the White House with her newly elected husband where she proposed legislation concerning children. Following President Clinton's scandal-plagued 2nd term, the couple moved to New York, where Hillary was elected to the Senate in 2000 and re-elected in 2006. She is presently the leading contender for the 2008 Democratic Convention's nomination for President.

Early Life

Born Hillary Diane Rodham in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947, Hillary was the first of three children (two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony) to parents Hugh Ellsworth Rodham, a textile businessman, and Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham, a homemaker. As a child, Hillary earned awards as a Brownie and Girl Scout and later attended Maine East High School, where she was involved in student council, the debate team and the National Honor Society; for her senior year she attended Maine South High School and was a National Merit Finalist. Her family was conservative politically and Hillary volunteered for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 U.S. Presidential election. Graduating high school in 1965, Hillary enrolled in Wellesley College, majored in Political Science and was president of the Young Republicans her freshman year. However, this post was resigned after her views on the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War evolved. Deeply affected by the death of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during her junior year (she had met him in 1962), Hillary became a supporter of the anti-war campaign of Democrat Eugene McCarthy. Also in 1968, Hillary was elected President of the Wellesley College Government and attended the "Wellesley in Washington" summer program. A year later, Hillary graduated with departmental honors in political science and, at the urging of her classmates, became the first student in her college's history to deliver the commencement address. Her address received a seven-minute long standing ovation and she was featured in a Life magazine article. She spent her summer traveling across Alaska before starting Yale Law School the following fall. There, she served on the Board of Editors of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action. In her second year, she volunteered at the Yale Child Study Center, learning about new research for childhood brain development. In the summer of 1970, she was awarded a grant to work at the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1971 she began dating future President Bill Clinton who was also a law student at Yale. Later that year, she went to Washington to work on Senator Mondale's subcommittee on migrant workers, researching migrant problems in housing, sanitation, health and education. The following summer, Hillary campaigned in the West for 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern and interned in Oakland, California at the law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein. She received a Juris Doctor in 1973 from Yale and spent a year of grad work on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center. Her first paper, "Children Under the Law," was published in the Harvard Educational Review in late 1973.

First Lady

By 1974, Hillary Clinton was seen as someone with a potentially very bright political future. She had served as staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts and as a consultant to the Carnegie Council on Children following her graduation from Yale. In 1974 she was a member of the impeachment inquiry staff for the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal, ending in the resignation of President Nixon in August 1974. Passing the Arkansas, but not the D.C., bar exam, Hillary followed Bill to Arkansas and the couple became faculty at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville School of Law. On October 11, 1975, the two were married in their Fayetteville home and in 1976 Bill was elected Attorney General, moving the newlyweds to the capital, Little Rock. Hillary joined the Rose Law Firm in 1976, specializing in intellectual property and pro bono child advocacy. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the board of the Legal Services Corporation. In 1979 Hillary became the First Lady of Arkansas, holding the title for 12 years. In this time, the Clintons began their later extremely scandalous Whitewater venture. In 1980, Hillary gave birth to Chelsea, their only child.

As First Lady of Arkansas, Hillary (who adopted "Clinton" during her husbands re-election bid in 1982 as an appeal to voters) chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee from 1982 to 1992, seeking to improve teacher testing standards. Hillary founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in 1977 and served on the boards of such non-profits as the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services (1988-1992) and the Children's Defense Fund (chair, 1986-1992) and profits such as TCBY frozen yogurts (1985-1992), Wal-Mart (1986-1992) and Lafarge (1990-1992).

First Lady, Again

In 1992, the Clintons moved to the White House, Bill saying that Americans were getting "two for the price of one," referring to his wife. (Source: AmericanPresident.org) In 1993, Hillary was appointed chairwoman of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform by her husband. This became known as the Clinton Health Care Plan ("Hillarycare" by opponents), a complex proposal that would mandate employers to provide health coverage to their employees through individual health maintenance organizations. The plan did not make it through either house of the Congress even with both controlled by Democrats and was abandoned in 1994. In 1996, Hillary become the first First Lady to be subpoenaed to testify before a Federal grand jury after the McDougals' (former Clinton partners in the Whitewater controversy) savings and loan failed and Hillary's legal billing records were needed for auditing purposes and were not able to be produced without a two-year search. In 2000, a report stated there was no evidence that the Clintons did anything illegal through Whitewater. In 1998, the Monica Lewinsky scandal shook the White House and the Clintons' marriage. To stay with her husband after his extramarital was a decision she attributed to love. (Source: AdvisorTeam.com)In the last years of her stay in the White House, Hillary hosted various Conferences on children concerns and advocated research on breast cancer, prostate cancer, childhood asthma and Gulf War syndrome. Of prominance was Hillary's Adoption and Safe Families Act which sought to correct problems inherent in the foster care system which deterred adoption of children with special needs; it was her self-proclaimed greatest accomplishment as First Lady.

Goodbye White House, Hello Senate

In 2000, Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to run for an elected office, in her case the New York Senate seat. The Clintons purchased a home in Chappaqua, New York, north of NYC in 1999. At first, Clinton was to race against Republican Rudy Giuliani, but due to medical reasons he withdrew from the race and the GOP ran Representative Rick Lazio instead. Clinton won with 55% of the vote and took office on January 3, 2001.

Major Legislation

• 1997: Children's Health Insurance Program; Initiated by Clinton and designed for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, yet cannot afford to buy private insurance. Was the largest expansion of health insurance coverage for children in the United States since Medicaid began in the 1960s.

2008 Presidential Campaign

Hillary Clinton campaigned for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2008.

Professional Positions

*First Lady of the United States 1993-2001

*Senator for New York 2001-2009

*Secretary of State 2009-present

Accomplishments

Criticism

Additional Information

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
Announcement of National Security Team
December 1, 2008
Chicago, Illinois

Good morning. Last week, we announced our economic team, which is working as we speak to craft an Economic Recovery Program to create jobs and grow our struggling economy. Today, Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce our national security team.

The national security challenges we face are just as grave – and just as urgent – as our economic crisis. We are fighting two wars. Old conflicts remain unresolved, and newly assertive powers have put strains on the international system. The spread of nuclear weapons raises the peril that the world’s deadliest technology could fall into dangerous hands. Our dependence on foreign oil empowers authoritarian governments and endangers our planet.

America must also be strong at home to be strong abroad. We need to provide education and opportunity for our citizens, so every American can compete with anyone, anywhere. And our economic power must sustain our military strength, our diplomatic leverage, and our global leadership.

The common thread linking these challenges is the fundamental reality that in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world’s. From our markets to our security; from our public health to our climate –we must act with the understanding that, now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens across the globe. And as we learned so painfully on 9/11, terror cannot be contained by borders, nor safety provided by oceans alone.

Last week, we were reminded of this threat once again when terrorists took the lives of six American among nearly 200 victims in Mumbai. In the world we seek, there is no place for those who kill innocent civilians to advance hateful extremism. This weekend, I told Prime Minister Singh that Americans stand with the people of India in this dark time. And I am confident that India’s great democracy is more resilient than killers who would tear it down.

And so, in this uncertain world, the time has come for a new beginning – a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century, and to seize the opportunities embedded in those challenges. We will strengthen our capacity to defeat our enemies and support our friends. We will renew old alliances and forge new and enduring partnerships. We will show the world once more that America is relentless in defense of our people, steady in advancing our interests, and committed to the ideals that shine as a beacon to the world: democracy and justice; opportunity and unyielding hope – because American values are America’s greatest export to the world. 

To succeed, we must pursue a new strategy that skillfully uses, balances, and integrates all elements of American power: our military and diplomacy; our intelligence and law enforcement; our economy and the power of our moral example. The team that we have assembled here today is uniquely suited to do just that.

In their past service and plans for the future, these men and women represent all of those elements of American power, and the very best of the American example. They have served in uniform and as diplomats; they have worked as legislators, law enforcement officials, and executives. They share my pragmatism about the use of power, and my sense of purpose about America’s role as a leader in the world.

I have known Hillary Clinton as a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel, and as a campaign opponent. She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic. I am proud that she will be our next Secretary of State. She is an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence; who knows many of the world’s leaders; who will command respect in every capitol; and who will clearly have the ability to advance our interests around the world.

Hillary’s appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances. There is much to do – from preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea, to seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, to strengthening international institutions. I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton is the right person to lead our State Department, and to work with me in tackling this ambitious foreign policy agenda.

At a time when we face an unprecedented transition amidst two wars, I have asked Robert Gates to continue as Secretary of Defense, and I’m pleased that he’s accepted. Two years ago, he took over the Pentagon at a difficult time. He restored accountability. He won the confidence of military commanders, and the trust of our brave men and women in uniform, and their families. He earned the respect of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for his pragmatism and competence. He knows that we need a sustainable national security strategy – and that includes a bipartisan consensus at home.

As I said throughout the campaign, I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office: responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control. We will also ensure that we have the strategy – and resources – to succeed against al Qaeda and the Taliban. As Bob said not too long ago, Afghanistan is where the war on terror began, and it is where it must end. And going forward, we will continue to make the investments necessary to strengthen our military and increase our ground forces to defeat the threats of the 21st century.

Eric Holder has the talent and commitment to succeed as Attorney General from his first day on the job, which is even more important in a transition that demands vigilance. He has distinguished himself as a prosecutor, a Judge, and a senior official, and he is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face– from terrorism to counter-intelligence; from white collar crime to public corruption.

Eric also has the combination of toughness and independence that we need at the Justice Department. Let me be clear: the Attorney General serves the American people. And I have every expectation that Eric will protect our people, uphold the public trust, and adhere to our Constitution.

Janet Napolitano offers the experience and executive skill that we need in the next Secretary of Homeland Security. She has spent her career protecting people – as a US Attorney, an Attorney General, and as Governor of Arizona. She understands the need for a Department of Homeland Security that has the capacity to help prevent terrorist attacks and respond to catastrophe – be it manmade or natural.

Janet assumes this critical role having learned the lessons – some of them painful – of the last several years, from 9/11 to Katrina. She insists on competence and accountability. She knows firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that works well with state and local governments. She understands as well as anyone the danger of an unsecure border. And she will be a leader who can reform a sprawling Department while safeguarding our homeland.

Susan Rice will take on the crucial task of serving as Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations. Susan has been a close and trusted advisor. As in previous Administrations, the UN Ambassador will serve as a member of my cabinet and integral member of my team. Her background as a scholar, on the National Security Council, and Assistant Secretary of State will serve our nation well at the United Nations.

Susan knows that the global challenges we face demand global institutions that work. She shares my belief that the UN is an indispensable – and imperfect – forum. She will carry the message that our commitment to multilateral action must be coupled with a commitment to reform. We need the UN to be more effective as a venue for collective action – against terror and proliferation; climate change and genocide; poverty and disease.

Finally, I am convinced that General James Jones is uniquely suited to be a strong and skilled National Security Advisor. Generations of Joneses have served heroically on the battlefield – from the beaches of Tarawa in World War II, to Foxtrot Ridge in Vietnam. Jim’s Silver Star is a proud part of that legacy. He will bring to the job the dual experience of serving in uniform and as a diplomat. He has commanded a platoon in battle, served as Supreme Allied Commander in a time of war, and worked on behalf of peace in the Middle East.

Jim is focused on the threats of today and the future. He understands the connection between energy and national security, and has worked on the frontlines of global instability – from Kosovo to northern Iraq to Afghanistan. He will advise me and work effectively to integrate our efforts across the government, so that we are effectively using all elements of American power to defeat unconventional threats and promote our values.

I am confident that this is the team that we need to make a new beginning for American national security. This morning, we met to discuss the situation in Mumbai and some of the challenges that we face in the months and years ahead.  In the coming weeks, I will be in close contact with these advisors, who will be working with their counterparts in the Bush Administration to make sure that we are ready to hit the ground running on January 20. Given the range of threats that we face – and the vulnerability that can be a part of every presidential transition – I hope that we can proceed swiftly for those national security officials who demand confirmation.

We move forward with the humility that comes with knowing that there are brave men and women protecting us on the front lines. Troops serving their second, third, or fourth tours. Diplomats and intelligence officers in dangerous corners of the world. FBI agents in the field, cops on the beat, prosecutors in our courts, and cargo inspectors at our ports. These selfless Americans whose names are unknown to most of us will form the backbone of our effort. If we serve as well as they do, we will protect our country and promote our values.

And we move forward with respect for America’s tradition of a bipartisan national security policy, and a commitment to national unity. When it comes to keeping our nation and our people safe, we are not Republicans and we are not Democrats: we are Americans. There is no monopoly of power or wisdom in either party. Together, as one nation, as one people, we can shape our times instead of being shaped by them. Together, we will meet the challenges of the 21st century not with fear, but with hope.

Now, before I take questions, I’d like to invite my team to say a few words, starting with my friend Hillary Clinton. Thank you.

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