Clinton, Hillary Rodham

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first viable woman candidate for the presidency of the United States, losing the 2008 Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. She was the first former First Lady to serve as a U.S. Senator and in the U.S. Cabinet, as Secretary of State in Obama's administration. Clinton has one daughter, Chelsea, born February 27, 1980. Clinton's contributions to the lives of children and women through political action are notable.

Hillary Diane Rodham, born October 26, 1947, to Hugh and Dorothy Rodham, was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In 1969, Clinton was the first graduating student to deliver the commencement address at Wellesley College. Clinton graduated from Yale Law School in 1973, and married William Clinton, 42nd U.S. president, in 1975.

As an attorney, Clinton's early years focused on children's rights, with a 1973 publication fostering changes in evaluating children's legal competence. Clinton was staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund, and worked for mandatory teacher testing and state curriculum standards in Arkansas, universal U.S. health care coverage, the establishment of Arkansas's Children's Health Insurance Program, the U.S. Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the U.S. Foster Care Independence Act. Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno co-created the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Justice Department. Clinton was Arkansas's 1983 Woman of the Year and 1984 Mother of the Year. Clinton's best-selling 1996 book It Takes a Village (And Other Lessons Children Teach Us) spoke to the responsibility to put children and families first at all levels of society and government. As a mother in the political limelight, on advice from former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Clinton always worked aggressively to keep daughter Chelsea protected from the press. During her 2008 bid for the Democratic Party presidential candidacy, both Chelsea and Clinton's mother Dorothy regularly campaigned with her. Clinton spoke out, calling herself a “mother first,” after an MSNBC correspondent (subsequently suspended) claimed Chelsea was exploited by her mother for campaign purposes.

In 2009, Secretary of State Clinton met with sexual violence victims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Hillary Rodham Clinton cites her role as mother as influential in her political agenda. Her comments have brought attention to the difficulties of parenting, in itself and when balancing work-family [Page 228]demands. Clinton praised her skills learned through mothering as a way of paying tribute to the value of mothering for women and society. Clinton's focus on public policy, rather than traditional domestic pursuits, transformed the role of U.S. First Lady. A feminist trailblazer, Clinton is for some a role model, demonstrating that women can be attentive mothers while achieving career milestones.