Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton
Clinton speaking at an event in Des Moines, Iowa, during her 2016 presidential campaign
Clinton in 2016
67th United States Secretary of State
In office
January 21, 2009 – February 1, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Deputy
Preceded byCondoleezza Rice
Succeeded byJohn Kerry
United States Senator
from New York
In office
January 3, 2001 – January 21, 2009
Preceded byDaniel Patrick Moynihan
Succeeded byKirsten Gillibrand
First Lady of the United States
In role
January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byBarbara Bush
Succeeded byLaura Bush
First Lady of Arkansas
In role
January 11, 1983 – December 12, 1992
GovernorBill Clinton
Preceded byGay Daniels White
Succeeded byBetty Tucker
In role
January 9, 1979 – January 19, 1981
GovernorBill Clinton
Preceded byBarbara Pryor
Succeeded byGay Daniels White
11th Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast
Assumed office
January 2, 2020
PresidentIan Greer
Preceded byThomas J. Moran
Personal details
Born
Hillary Diane Rodham

(1947-10-26) October 26, 1947 (age 77)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (1968–present)
Other political
affiliations
Republican (1965–1968)
Spouse
(m. 1975)
ChildrenChelsea Clinton
Parents
RelativesClinton family
Residences
EducationWellesley College (BA)
Yale University (JD)
AwardsList of honors and awards
SignatureCursive signature in ink
Websitehillaryclinton.com

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (née Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and the first lady of the United States as the wife of Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2016 presidential election, becoming the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party and the only woman to win the popular vote for U.S. president. She is the only first lady of the United States to have run for elected office.

Rodham graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and from Yale Law School in 1973. After serving as a congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas and, in 1975, married Bill Clinton. In 1977, Clinton co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and in 1979 she became the first woman partner at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm. Clinton was the first lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. As the first lady of the U.S., Clinton advocated for healthcare reform. In 1994, her health care plan failed to gain approval from Congress. In 1997 and 1999, Clinton played a leading role in promoting the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act. In 1998, Clinton's marital relationship came under public scrutiny during the Lewinsky scandal, which led her to issue a statement that reaffirmed her commitment to the marriage.

Clinton was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, becoming the first female senator from New York and the first First Lady to simultaneously hold elected office. As a senator, she chaired the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee from 2003 to 2007. Clinton ran for president in 2008, but lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. In 2009, she resigned from the Senate to become Obama's secretary of state. She responded to the Arab Spring by advocating the 2011 military intervention in Libya, but was harshly criticized by Republicans for the failure to prevent or adequately respond to the 2012 Benghazi attack. Clinton helped to organize a regime of international sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to curtail its nuclear program, which eventually led to the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. The strategic pivot to Asia was a central aspect of her tenure. Her use of a private email server as secretary was the subject of intense scrutiny; while no charges were filed, the controversy was the single-most-covered topic during her second presidential run in 2016. She won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to her Republican Party opponent, Donald Trump, in the Electoral College, while winning the popular vote.

Following her loss, she wrote multiple books and launched Onward Together, a political action organization dedicated to fundraising for progressive political groups. In 2011, Clinton was appointed the Honorary Founding Chair of the Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University, and the awards named in her name has been awarded annually at the university. Since 2020, she has served as Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast. In 2023, Clinton joined Columbia University as a Professor of Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs.