Hillary Clinton is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and as the first lady of the United States as the wife of President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001.

As a member of the Democratic Party, she was the party’s nominee for president in the 2016 presidential election, becoming the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College vote, thereby losing the election to Donald Trump.

Raised in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Hillary Clinton graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School in 1973. After serving as congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas and married former President Bill Clinton in 1975; the two met at Yale.

In 1977 Hillary Clinton co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. She was named the first female president of Legal Services Corporation in 1978 and became the first female partner of the law firm Little Rock’s Rose the following year.

The National Law Review has twice named her one of the hundred most influential female lawyers in America. Hillary Clinton served as First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. As First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton supported health care reform. In 1994, her main initiative – the Clinton Health Care Plan – failed to pass Congress.

In 1997 and 1999, Hillary Clinton played a leading role in campaigning for the creation of the National Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Safe Families and Adoption Act, and the Care Independence Act Nurturing care. Hillary Clinton advocated for gender equality at the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women. Her marital relationship came under public scrutiny during the Lewinsky scandal, prompting her to issue a statement reaffirming her commitment to marriage.

In 2000, Hillary Clinton was elected New York’s first female senator and became the first lady to hold an elected office and the first former first lady to serve in the Senate. She was re-elected in 2006 and chaired the Democratic Senate Outreach and Steering Committee from 2003 to 2007. During her tenure in the Senate, Hillary Clinton advocated for health benefits for those the first reacted on 9/11.

She supported the resolution authorizing the war in Iraq in 2002 but opposed the US military invasion in 2007. In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran for president but was defeated by the eventual winner Barack Obama in the election. Hillary Clinton served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first term of the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. During her tenure, Clinton created the Quaternary Diplomatic and Development Review Report. She responded to the Arab Spring by supporting military intervention in Libya but was harshly criticized by Republicans for failing to prevent or adequately respond to the 2012 Benghazi attack.

Clinton helped organize a diplomatic isolation and an international sanctions regime against Iran in an effort to force it to curtail its nuclear program; this effort eventually led to the multinational nuclear agreement JCPOA in 2015. Her use of a private email server as Secretary of State came under close scrutiny; Although there were no charges against Clinton, the email controversy was the most talked about topic of the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton made a second presidential run in 2016, winning the Democratic nomination, and ran in the general election with Virginia senator Tim Kaine as her running mate. Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Republican opponent Donald Trump in the Electoral College, despite winning the popular vote by close to 3 million votes.

Following her loss, she wrote her third memoir, What Happened and launched Onward Together, a political action organization dedicated to fundraising for progressive political groups. Since February 2023, she has served on the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Hillary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in an early Methodist family living in Chicago. When she was three years old, her family moved to the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge. Her father, Hugh Rodham, was of English and Welsh descent and ran a small but successful textile business he founded. His mother, Dorothy Howell, is a homemaker of Dutch, English, and Franco-Canadian descent (from Quebec), Scotland, and Wales. She has two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.

As a child, Hillary Clinton was her teacher’s favorite student at the public schools she attended in Park Ridge. She participated in swimming and softball and won many badges as a Brownie and Girl Scout. She was inspired by the American efforts in the Space Race and sent a letter to NASA around 1961 asking what she could do to become an astronaut, but was answered that women are not accepted into the program. She attended Maine East High School, where she participated in the student council and the school’s newspaper and was selected to the National Honor Society.

She was elected class vice president for her freshman year, but then lost the class president election for her senior year to two boys, one of whom told her “You’re really stupid if you think girls could be elected president’. In her senior year, she and other students transferred to the new Maine South High School where she was a finalist for the national merit award and voted as “most likely to succeed.” She graduated in 1965 in the top 5% of her class.

Hillary Clinton’s mother wanted her to have an independent professional career. Her father, a traditionalist, believes that his daughter’s abilities and opportunities should not be limited by gender. She grew up in a politically conservative family and she helped campaign for Chicago’s South Side at the age of 13 after the 1960 US presidential election.

She said that while investigating with another teenage friend shortly after the election, she saw evidence of voter fraud (a ballot entry showing dozens of addresses as a blank table) against Republican candidate Richard Nixon; she later volunteered for the campaign for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election.

Hillary Clinton’s early political developments were largely shaped by her high school history teacher (like his father, a staunch anti-Communist) who introduced her to the book. The Conscience of a Conservative by Goldwater and by her Methodist youth minister (like her mother, concerned with social justice issues), whom she saw, and then met for some time. Briefly, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1962 speech at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall.

Who are Hillary Clinton’s Parents?

Hillary Clinton is the daughter of Hugh Rodham, of English and Welsh descent, and managed a small but successful textile business, which he had founded, and Dorothy Howell, a homemaker of Dutch, English, French Canadian (from Quebec), Scottish, and Welsh descent. She had two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.

Hillary Clinton’s Dad: Who is Hillary Clinton’s father?

Hillary Clinton is the daughter of Hugh Rodham, of English and Welsh descent, and managed a small but successful textile business

What does Hillary Clinton’s Dad do for a living?

Hillary Clinton is the daughter of Hugh Rodham, of English and Welsh descent, and managed a small but successful textile business

Hillary Clinton’s Mom: Who is Hillary Clinton’s mother?

Dorothy Howell, a homemaker of Dutch, English, French Canadian (from Quebec), Scottish, and Welsh descent is the mother of Hillary Clinton

What does Hillary Clinton’s Mom do for a living?

Hillary Clinton’s mother Dorothy Howell was a homemaker

Does Hillary Clinton have siblings?

Yes, Hillary Clinton had two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.