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Hillary Rodham Clinton
Junior Senator, New York
In office
January 2001–Present
Preceded byDaniel Patrick Moynihan
Succeeded byIncumbent (2007)
Personal details
Nationalityamerican
Political partyDemocratic
SpousePresident Bill Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton (born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

Early life, education, and start of career

File:Rodham family portrait.jpg
Rodham family portrait

Hillary Diane Rodham was raised in a Methodist family in Park Ridge, Illinois. Her father, Hugh Ellsworth Rodham, a conservative, worked in the textile industry, and her mother, Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham, was a homemaker. As a child, Hillary was interested in sports, her church, and her school, a public school in Park Ridge. Prior to graduating from Maine South High School, she attended Maine East High School, where she served as class president, a member of the student council, a member of the debating team, and as a member of the National Honor Society. During her final year of high school (Maine South High School), she received the school's first social science award. Throughout her youth, Rodham was fond of sports, including tennis, skating, ballet, swimming, volleyball, and softball. She earned many awards as a Brownie and Girl Scout [1]. Hillary entered the world of politics in 1964, at the age of 16, by supporting the presidential bid of Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater. Her parents encouraged her to pursue the career of her choice [2] [3].

After completing high school in 1965, Rodham enrolled at Wellesley College in Massachusetts where she became active in politics, serving, for a time, as President of the Wellesley College Chapter of the College Republicans. During her junior year at Wellesley in 1968, Rodham was affected by the death of the civil rights leader, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom she had met in person in 1962 [4]. After attending the Wellesley in Washington program at the urging of Professor Alan Schechter, her political views became more liberal and she joined the Democratic Party. Having been named valedictorian of her graduating class at Wellesley, Rodham graduated, in 1969, with departmental honors in Political Science. She became the first student in the history of Wellesley College to deliver a commencement address when she spoke at her own graduation [5]. Her speech received a standing ovation and she was featured in an article published by Life magazine [6].

Lawyer and First Lady of Arkansas

In 1969, Rodham entered Yale Law School where she served on the Board of Editors of Yale Review of Law and Social Action and worked with underprivileged children at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. During the summer of 1970, she was awarded a grant to work at the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During the summer of 1971, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to work on Senator Walter Mondale's subcommittee on migrant workers, researching migrant problems in housing, sanitation, health and education. For the summer of 1972, Rodham worked in the western states for the Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's campaign. During her second year in law school, she volunteered at the Yale Child Study Center, learning about new research on early childhood brain development. She also took on cases of child abuse at New Haven Hospital and worked at the city Legal Services, providing free legal service to the poor. She received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Yale in 1973, having written her widely recognized thesis on the rights of children [7], and began a year of post-graduate study on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center.

During this time, Rodham also served as staff attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund. She joined the presidential impeachment inquiry staff advising the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives during the Watergate Scandal. After President Nixon resigned in August of 1974, Rodham became a faculty member (one of only two women in the faculty) at the University of Arkansas Law School, located in Fayetteville, where her Yale Law School classmate and boyfriend Bill Clinton was teaching as well.

In 1975 Rodham and Clinton were married and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, Bill Clinton's childhood home. In 1976, Hillary Rodham joined the venerable and influential Rose Law Firm, specializing in intellectual property cases while doing child advocacy cases pro bono. In 1979, she became the first woman to be made a full partner of Rose Law Firm [8]. President Jimmy Carter appointed Rodham to the board of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978.

In 1978, with the election of her husband as governor of Arkansas, Rodham became Arkansas's first lady, her title for 12 years. On February 27, 1980, Rodham gave birth to Chelsea, their only child.

In 1980, Bill Clinton was defeated in his re-election bid for governor and the couple left the statehouse. In February 1982, Bill Clinton announced his bid to regain the office, which would be successful; at the same time, Rodham began using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton. [Living History p. 93]

As first lady, Clinton chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee, where she successfully fought (against some opposition) for improved testing standards of new teachers [9]. She also chaired the Rural Health Advisory Committee and introduced a pioneering program called Arkansas' Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth, which trains parents to work with their children in preschool preparedness and literacy. Clinton was named Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1983 and Arkansas Mother of the Year in 1984 [10].

Throughout her time as first lady, Clinton continued to practice law with the Rose Law Firm. In 1988 and 1991 National Law Journal named Clinton one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America [11]. Clinton co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services and the Children's Defense Fund [12].

From 1985 to 1992, Clinton served on the Board of Directors for both TCBY ("The Country's Best Yogurt") and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The Clinton family arrives at the White House in 1993.

First Lady of the United States

After Bill Clinton was elected to the White House in 1992, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States in 1993. She is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history, except for Eleanor Roosevelt [13].

In 1993 the President appointed his wife to head the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. The recommendation of this task force, commonly called the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain enough support to come to a floor vote in either house of Congress, and was abandoned in September, 1994. In her Living History memoirs, Clinton acknowledged that her political inexperience contributed to the defeat, but also said that many other factors were responsible as well.

At the time, some critics called it inappropriate for a First Lady to play a central role in matters of public policy. Supporters, by contrast, argued Hillary Clinton was no different than other White House advisors and that furthermore, voters were well aware that she would play an active role in her husband's Presidency. [14]

As first lady, Clinton won many admirers for her staunch support for women's rights around the world and her commitment to children's issues [15]. She initiated the Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for those children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She also successfully sought to increase the research funding for illnesses such as prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health. The First Lady worked to solve the mystery behind the illnesses that were affecting veterans of the Gulf War. She initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady [16].

Hillary with children.

Clinton hosted numerous White House conferences that related to children's health, including early childhood development and school violence. She fought for nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and supported an annual drive to encourage older women to seek a mammography to prevent breast cancer, coverage of the cost being provided by Medicare. With Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped to create the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women office. She was one of the few international figures at the time who spoke out against the treatment of Afghani women by Islamist fundamentalist Taliban that had seized control of Afghanistan. One of the programs she helped create was Vital Voices, a U.S.-sponsored initiative to promote the participation of international women in their nation's political process.

Clinton also performed many less political activities in her role as First Lady. With a lifelong interest in regional American history, she initiated the Save America's Treasures program, a national effort that matched federal funds to private donations to rescue from deterioration and neglect, or restore to completion many iconic historic items and sites, including the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, and the National First Ladies Historic Site in Canton, Ohio. Clinton also initiated the Millennium Project with monthly lectures that considered both America's past and forecasted its future. One of these lectures became the first live simultaneous webcast from the White House. Clinton also created the first Sculpture Garden, which displayed large contemporary American works of art loaned from museums in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on a rotating basis.

In the White House, Clinton placed the donated handicrafts (pottery, glassware, etc.) of contemporary American artisans on rotating display in the state rooms. She oversaw the restoration of the Blue Room on the state floor, and the redecoration of the Treaty Room into the President's study on the second floor. In a unique venue of large white tents on the South Lawn that could accommodate several thousand guests, Clinton hosted many large events such as a St. Patrick's Day reception, a state dinner for visiting Chinese dignitaries, and a contemporary music concert that raised funds for music education in the public schools. For all the foods served in the White House, Clinton hired a chef whose expertise was in American regional cooking. She hosted a massive New Year's Eve party on the turning of the 20th century into the 21st century, as well as a state dinner honoring the November 2000 bicentennial of the White House, which gathered more former Presidents and First Ladies together in the mansion than had ever been present at any other time in its history.

Relationship with Bill Clinton

File:Hillary.jpg
Portrait of the President and First Lady at the South Portico of the White House, February 2000.

Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton met at Yale Law School where both were students. On October 11, 1975, when Hillary was 27 years old and Bill was 28 years old, the Clintons married in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Before he proposed marriage to Hillary Rodham, Bill Clinton secretly purchased a small house in Fayetteville that she had noticed and remarked that she had liked. When he proposed marriage to her and she accepted, he revealed that they owned the house. They married and lived there, briefly, before relocating to the state capital of Little Rock, Arkansas, from which Bill conducted his first campaign, for U.S. Congress.

In 1998, the Clintons' relationship became the subject of much speculation and gossip after the Lewinsky scandal when the President admitted to a sexual affair (short of sexual intercourse) with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. During the Lewinsky scandal, Hillary initially claimed that the allegations against her husband were the result of a "vast right-wing conspiracy. [17]" After the evidence of President Clinton's encounters with Lewinsky became incontrovertible, she remained resolute that their marriage was solid. Both Bill's and Hillary's memoirs later revealed that the revelation of the affair was in reality a very painful time in their marriage.

For much of his political career, President Clinton was dogged by rumors of extra-marital affairs. These rumors gained credibility following the Lewinsky scandal. In his memoirs, President Clinton confirmed a "relationship that I should not have had" with Gennifer Flowers, an Arkansas lounge singer [18]. These revelations and rumors resulted in a mix of sympathy and scorn for the First Lady. While many women sympathized with her as a victim of her husband's insensitive behavior, others criticized her for showing no interest in obtaining a divorce. As Clinton is considered by many to be an ambitious political figure in her own right, some have charged that she was in a marriage of convenience[19], the primary purpose of which was to advance her political career. In her book Living History, Clinton explains that love is the reason she stays with President Clinton. "[N]o one understands me better and no one can make me laugh the way Bill does. Even after all these years, he is still the most interesting, energizing and fully alive person I have ever met. Bill and I started a conversation in the spring of 1971, and more than thirty years later we're still talking[20]." To supporters, her loyalty and perseverance in a sometimes difficult marriage has been viewed as a sign of her personal commitment, strength, and resolve.

When President Clinton required immediate heart surgery in October of 2004, Clinton, who was then the junior senator of New York, cancelled her public schedule to be at his side at the Columbia University Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The 2000 Senate race

When long-time New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his retirement, prominent Democratic politicians and advisors, including Charlie Rangel, urged Clinton to run for the New York Senate seat in the U.S. Senate, 2000, elections. When Clinton chose to run, she became the first First Lady of the United States to be a candidate for elected office. She was initially expected to face New York City's Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but Giuliani withdrew after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and after developments in his personal life attracted negative publicity. Instead, Clinton faced a lesser-known candidate, Rick Lazio, who was a Congressman representing Suffolk County on Long Island. The contest drew considerable national attention and both candidates were well-funded. By the end of the race, Democrat Clinton and Republicans Lazio and Giuliani had spent a combined $78 million [21].

While Clinton had a solid base of support in New York City, candidates and observers expected the race to be decided in upstate New York where 45 percent of New Yorker voters live. During the campaign, Clinton vowed to improve the economic picture in upstate New York, promising that her plan would deliver 200,000 New York jobs over six years. Her plan included specific tax credits with the purpose of rewarding job creation and encouraging business investment, especially in the high-tech sector. She called for targeted personal tax cuts for college tuition and long-term care [22]. Clinton began her campaign by visiting every county in the state, in a "listening tour" of small-group settings. During the race, she spent considerable time in traditionally Republican upstate regions.

Clinton faced charges of carpetbagging since she had never resided in the State of New York nor participated in state politics prior to her Senate race. After her decision to run for the Senate, the Clintons purchased a home in Chappaqua, New York, north of New York City. Opponents made the carpetbagging issue a focal point throughout the race and during debates. In the end, according to exit polls conducted in the race, more than two-thirds of the voters dismissed the "carpetbagging" issue as unimportant.

Clinton won the election on November 7, 2000 with 55% of the vote to Lazio's 43% [23]. This 12% margin is larger than the 10% margin by which fellow New York senator Charles Schumer defeated incumbent Republican Al D'Amato in the hotly contested 1998 race, but smaller than Gore's 25% margin over Bush in the state Presidential contest.

United States Senator

On January 3, 2001, Hillary Clinton is sworn in as a U.S. Senator by Vice President Gore as President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton look on.

Political observers have credited Clinton with an effective approach to joining the Senate. To counter her polarizing celebrity, she kept a low public profile and learned the ways of the institution while building relationships with senators from both sides of the aisle. Indeed when Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina) joined the Senate in 2003 in somewhat similar circumstances, she modeled her initial approach after Clinton's.

Senator Clinton sits on four Senate Committees with a total of eight subcommittee assignments: the Senate Committee on Armed Services with three subcommittee assignments, on Airland, on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and on Readiness and Management Support; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with three subcommittee assignments on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety, on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water and on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment; the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, with two subcommittee assignments, on Aging and on Children and Families; and the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Senator Clinton has made homeland security one of her top issues following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in downtown New York City, especially regarding obtaining funding for recovery from the attacks and for improving security capabilities in the New York City area. Senator Clinton worked to secure $21.4 billion in funding to assist clean up and recovery, to provide health tracking for first responders and volunteers at Ground Zero, and to create grants for redevelopment. In 2005, Clinton issued two studies that examined the disbursement of federal homeland security funds to local communities and first responders.

Clinton has used her membership on the Armed Services Committee to take a strong position in favor of U.S. military action in Afghanistan – with the additional benefit that it greatly improved the lives of women in that country, who had suffered terribly under the rule of the Taliban [24] – and a somewhat weaker position regarding action in Iraq (her vote in support of initial military action against Iraq was criticized for being equivocal). Senator Clinton has visited U.S. forces (such as the Fort Drum, New York-based 10th Mountain Division) in both countries. In February 2005 she stated that much of Iraq was functioning well, elections in Iraq had succeeded, and that the insurgency there was failing [25]. In July 2005 she co-introduced legislation to increase the size of the regular United States Army by 80,000 soldiers. [26] Senator Clinton became a national advocate for retaining and improving health and other benefits for veterans.

Senator Clinton was a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration's tax cuts.

Senators Clinton and Frist announce the Health Technology to Enhance Quality (Health TEQ) Act.

Clinton has pressed for education, labor, and technology infrastructure programs to assist economic development in upstate New York and similar regions. For instance, in 2003, Senator Clinton solicited offshoring firm Tata Consultancy Services to set up shop in economically beleaguered Buffalo, New York as part of "bringing new businesses to the state of New York". In 2004, Clinton co-founded and became the co-chair of the U.S. Senate India Caucus with the encouragement and aid of the USINPAC Political Action Committee. In 2005, Clinton co-sponsored with Senator Lindsey Graham the AMTAC proposal regarding incentives and rewards for completely domestic American manufacturing companies [27]. As an advocate for her state, Senator Clinton led a bipartisan effort to bring broadband access to rural communities; co-sponsored the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act; included language in the Energy Bill to provide tax exempt bonding authority for environmentally conscious construction projects; and introduced an amendment calling for funding of new job creation to repair, renovate and modernize public schools.

In May, 2005, Senator Clinton joined forces with her former adversary, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, on a proposal for incremental universal health care [28]. In June, 2005, Senator Clinton united with Senator Bill Frist to push for the modernization of medical records, claiming that thousands of deaths caused by medical mistakes, such as misreading prescriptions, can be prevented by greater reliance on computer technology [29].

In July 2005, Senator Clinton called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how hidden sex scenes showed up in the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. [30]

In 2005, during the intense debate over the filibustering of some of President George W. Bush's federal judicial nominations, Senator Clinton generally kept a low profile. [31] She was not part of the "Gang of 14" that resolved the dispute short of the "nuclear option", but she did vote to endorse that resolution and end debate on the nominations, thereby allowing the nominations to come to a vote. She subsequently voted against three of the nominees, but all were confirmed. [32] Regarding the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts, in September 2005 Clinton voted against his confirmation, saying "I do not believe that the Judge has presented his views with enough clarity and specificity for me to in good conscience cast a vote on his behalf," but that she hoped her concerns would be unfounded. [33] Roberts was confirmed by a solid majority, with half the Senate's Democrats voting for him and half against. [34]

Clinton sought to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina. She failed to win over a two-thirds majority needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate rules. [35]

The 2006 Senate race

Hillary and Bill Clinton

Clinton announced in November 2004 that she will seek a second term in the Senate. The two most prominent Republicans contemplating a challenge to Senator Clinton were lawyer Ed Cox (the son-in-law of former President Richard M. Nixon) and Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro. On October 14, 2005, New York Governor George Pataki formally endorsed Pirro, causing Cox to drop out of the race [36] and leaving Pirro as the likely nominee.

Early 2005 polls, including a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in February 2005, and a Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll conducted in May, 2005, indicated that Senator Clinton is the favorite going into the 2006 race. In February 2005, Senator Clinton's approval rating stood at 65-27 among New York voters [37] [38]. By October 2005, official campaign spending reports indicated that Clinton had built up a huge fundraising advantage over Pirro. [39]

Possible presidential bid

Clinton has expressed interest in the 2008 presidential race [40]. The last female candidate for a major national office was Walter Mondale's Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Mondale and Ferraro lost in a landslide against Ronald Reagan in 1984. Clinton has an established national image that makes her possible candidacy in 2008 a popular and controversial topic among media pundits, bloggers, and the public at large. For example, in July 2005 the magazine Washington Monthly ran two side-by-side articles, one thinking that she could win the presidency and one thinking that she could not [41] [42]. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on May 26, 2005, when asked the likelihood of voting for Senator Clinton for president, 29 percent of respondents were very likely, 24 percent were somewhat likely, 7 percent were not very likely, and 39 percent were not at all likely. In June 2003, in a similar poll, the numbers had been 21 percent very likely, 21 percent somewhat likely, 12 percent not very likely, and 44 percent not at all likely. In May, 2005, 55 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Senator Clinton, while 39 percent held an unfavorable view of her [43]. These findings were similar to the June 2003 poll that found 53 percent reacted favorably toward her and 41 percent unfavorably, with the undecided/no opinion bloc representing only 6% of those polled.

Following the 2004 election cycle, Clinton began what some saw as a movement to the political center by supporting health care reform with Contract with America architect and former adversary Newt Gingrich. [44] The alignment represents for both a reconciliation with the past, for it was Gingrich that helped defeat Clinton's health care plan in the early 1990s. Clinton's January, 2005, speech on abortion quoted below was viewed by some as part of her alleged move to the center. Liberal media watchdog Media Matters has offered evidence that Clinton's positions have remained consistent with her past [45] [46]. In August, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Clinton was positioning herself as a centrist [47]; critics [48] cited her Senate voting record as proof that was not the case.

In February 2005, associates of Republican political consultant Arthur Finkelstein announced he would be forming a PAC entitled Stop Her Now with the stated goal, "to shed light on the REAL Hillary Clinton and the danger she and her ideas pose for America."

Political views

Senator Clinton is largely regarded to be a proponent of American Liberalism. In a Gallup poll conducted during May, 2005, 54% of respondents considered Senator Clinton a liberal, 30% considered her a moderate, and 9% considered her a conservative [49]. In 2004, the National Journal's study of roll-call votes assigned Clinton a rating of 30 in the political spectrum, relative to the current Senate, with a rating of 1 being most liberal and a rating of 100 being most conservative [50][51]. Senator Clinton's votes and remarks on many issues provide an outline of her political views.

Fighting terrorism

In a speech on December 8, 2004, regarding the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Senator Clinton delivered remarks on her approach to homeland security. "[This] legislation calls for dramatic improvements in the security of our nation's transportation infrastructure, including aviation security, air cargo security, and port security. Through this legislation, the security of the Northern Border will also be improved, a goal I have worked toward since 2001. Among many key provisions, the legislation calls for an increase of at least 10,000 border patrol agents from Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010, many of whom will be dedicated specifically to our Northern Border. There will also be an increase of at least 4,000 full-time immigration and customs enforcement officers in the next 5 years [52]."

Later in the speech, Senator Clinton described her satisfaction with the way in which the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 tackles what she views as the root causes of terrorism by improving education around the world and establishing schools in Muslim countries that will replace the current madrassas. "I am also pleased that the legislation addresses the root causes of terrorism in a proactive manner. This is an issue that I have spent a good deal of time on in the past year because I believe so strongly that we are all more secure when children and adults around the world are taught math and science instead of hate. The bill we are voting on today includes authorization for an International Youth Opportunity Fund, which will provide resources to build schools in Muslim countries. The legislation also acknowledges that the U.S. has a vested interest in committing to a long-term, sustainable investment in education around the globe. Some of this language is modeled on legislation that I introduced in September, The Education for All Act of 2004, and I believe it takes us a small step towards eliminating madrassas and replacing them with schools that provide a real education to all children [53]."

Clinton has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills relating to the prevention of terrorism.

Humanitarian intervention abroad

In February 2005 Clinton advocated direct NATO intervention to stop large-scale killing in Darfur, Sudan [54]. Such an intervention to stop continuing genocide would presumably be similar to President Clinton's policy against genocide in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Free markets, independent press, and independent branches of government

On April 9, 2005, Senator Clinton addressed the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s Hubert Humphrey Dinner in Minneapolis. During her speech, Senator Clinton outlined her support for free markets and a government that balances power between its various independent branches. "One of the great geniuses of our founders was also how keenly they understood human nature. They knew if one person, one group acquired too much power it would be dangerous for democracy. You have to keep competing power centers to keep an eye on each other. When you have independent branches of government, a free market economy and a free press then you do have protection against abuse of power."

Support for working families

During her speech to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s Hubert Humphrey Dinner in Minneapolis on April 9, 2005, Senator Clinton pledged her support for working families. "We have our work cut out for us and so we fight on. We fight for the parents who get up everyday meeting their responsibilities to their children and to their own parents who are getting older and sometimes need care too. We fight for the mother who worries what she’ll do if her child runs a fever some night and she knows she can’t afford to call a doctor. We fight for the dad who works two jobs to earn the income he used to bring home with one, who never gets to sit down for a family meal anymore, who misses all those softball games, those little league and soccer games. And we fight for the high school senior who has worked so hard and now sees the cost of college slipping out of sight."

Universal health care

In a speech to Harvard Medical School on June 4, 1998, Clinton outlined general support for universal health care for Americans. "There are 41 million people without health insurance. Who will take care of these people in the future? How will we pay for their care? How will we pay for the extra costs that come when someone is not treated for a chronic disease or turned away from the emergency room? The job of health care reform cannot be done when access to care depends on skin color or the neighborhood they live in or the amount of money in their wallet. Let’s continue to work toward universal affordable, quality health care [55]."

Clinton has subsequently said that health care coverage improvements need to be made incrementally over time, in contrast to the more ambitious, wide-ranging plan that failed in 1993-1994. Clinton has recently collaborated with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich on joint proposals for incremental health care improvements that would involve both private insurers and government. [56] [57]

Fiscal responsibility

In her address to the 2000 Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, Clinton asserted that it is fiscally responsible for the United States government to stay out of debt. She stressed her support for the social programs, Social Security and Medicare, that were established during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. "We’ll never accomplish what we need to do for our children if we burden them with a debt they didn’t create. Franklin Roosevelt said that Americans of his generation had a rendezvous with destiny. It’s time to protect the next generation by using our budget surplus to pay down the national debt, save Social Security, modernize Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, & provide targeted tax cuts to the families who need them most."

In a 2004 fund-raising speech in San Francisco, she was highly critical of George W. Bush's tax cuts, saying that "Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." [58]

Clinton has sponsored legislation designed to reduce the deficit by rebalancing recent tax cuts. She has co-sponsored legislation related to debt and deficit reduction.

Strong United Nations

On February 13, 2005, at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Senator Clinton outlined her support for a strong United Nations. "My first observation is simple but it must govern all that we do: The United Nations is an indispensable organization to all of us - despite its flaws and inefficiencies. This means quite simply, that everyone here today, and governments everywhere, must decide that our global interests are best served by strengthening the U.N., by reforming it, by cleaning up its obvious bureaucratic and managerial shortcomings, and by improving its responsiveness to crises, from humanitarian to political." Senator Clinton continued, "At its founding in San Francisco sixty years ago, fifty members signed the Charter. Today, the U.N. has 191 members, and, quite frankly, many of them sometimes act against the interests of a stronger U.N., whether consciously or not, with alarming regularity. Since the U.N. is not, in the final analysis, an independent hierarchical organization, like for example a sports team or a corporation, but no more - or less - than a collection of its members, the U.N. becomes progressively weakened by such action. Ironically, "the U.N." - an abstraction that everyone from journalists to those of us in this room use in common discussions - is often blamed for the actions (or inactions) of its members.[59]"

Clinton has co-sponsored a Senate resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate on the importance of membership of the United States on the United Nations Human Rights Commission."

Eliminating without criminalizing abortion

Clinton has been a staunch supporter of the legality of abortion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as determined in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973. Clinton is an anti-abortionist who thinks that the criminalization of abortion will not end its practice. Clinton claims that the acceptance and availability of birth control and sex education will eliminate unwanted pregnancies and bring an end to abortion.

In a speech on January 24, 2005, to the New York State Family Planning Providers, Senator Clinton outlined her stance on abortion. "When I spoke to the conference on women in Beijing in 1995 — ten years ago this year — I spoke out against any government interfering with the reproductive rights and decisions of women and families. So we have a lot of experience from around the world that is a cautionary tale about what happens when a government substitutes its opinion for an individual's. There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances." Senator Clinton emphasized that, "I believe we can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women." She praised the role of moral values in preventing unwanted pregnancies while supporting continued research into the most effective means of preventing these pregnancies. "Research shows that the primary reason that teenage girls abstain is because of their religious and moral values. We should embrace this — and support programs that reinforce the idea that abstinence at a young age is not just the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. But we should also recognize what works and what doesn't work, and to be fair, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs. I don't think this debate should be about ideology, it should be about facts and evidence." [60]

A recent New York Times article titled "The Evolution of Hillary Clinton" characterizes Clinton as seeking to find middle ground between voters with various views on the criminalization of abortion. [61]

Clinton has a National Abortion Rights Action League score of "100%", voting in favor of maintaining legal abortion with every vote on the subject [62].

Civil unions for gay couples short of gay marriage

On December 7, 2003, in an interview with John Roberts of CBS News, Senator Clinton expressed her opposition to gay marriage while affirming her support for some form of civil unions for gay couples. "I think that the vast majority of Americans find [gay marriage] to be something they can't agree with. But I think most Americans are fair. And if they believe that people in committed relationships want to share their lives and, not only that, have the same rights that I do in my marriage, to decide who I want to inherit my property or visit me in a hospital, I think that most Americans would think that that's fair and that should be done [63]." In the same interview, Senator Clinton expressed opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. "I think that would be a terrible step backwards. It would be the first time we've ever amended the Constitution to deny rights to people. And I think that should be left to the states. You know, I find it hard to believe in one program [health care] I'm agreeing with Newt Gingrich, now I'm about to agree with Dick Cheney. But I think Vice President Cheney's position on gay marriage is the right one." Clinton supports the Defense of Marriage Act that allows states to decide same-sex marriage rights independently of other states. [64]

Abraham Lincoln

Clinton thinks that Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, would be a modern-day Democrat, saying Lincoln had "attitudes and values very much in line with what the Democratic Party believes." [65]

Clinton's writings and recordings

Clinton's autobiography Living History

As First Lady, she wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled "Talking It Over", focusing on her experiences and her observations of women, children, and families she encountered during her travels around the world.

Her widely-acclaimed 1996 book, It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us became a best-seller, and she received the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her recording of it. The book references the African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child."

The book rankled opponents, who claimed that all it takes is a family to raise a child. [66] Years later, Republican Senator Rick Santorum would title a book It Takes a Family in direct contrast to Clinton's. [67]. Clinton's supporters assert that children rely on safe neighborhoods, good teachers, readily available health-care, and many other facets of "The Village" to be raised properly.

Other books released by Clinton as First Lady include An Invitation to the White House and Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets.

Clinton's memoirs, as the 562-page book Living History, were released in 2003. It sold more than one million copies in the first month following publication. In anticipation of these sales, the publisher Simon & Schuster paid her an advance of $8 million—a record figure at that time. Her recording in that year of Living History earned her a second Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Word Album category. Living History was translated into several foreign languages including Chinese.

Controversies

Black Panther Party

Claims are sometimes made that in 1969, Hillary Rodham helped shut down Yale University as part of helping to defend, and get acquitted, members of the Black Panther Party on trial in New Haven for torture and murder. In reality, Rodham was only a law student at the time, and her involvement was limited to "organizing other students to help the American Civil Liberties Union monitor the trial for civil rights violations." [68] Her peripheral involvement had no effect on Yale activities or on the outcome of the trial.

Cattle futures

In 1979, Clinton's trades in cattle futures contracts generated criticism regarding conflict of interest. Her initial $1,000 investment generated $100,000 (a 10,000% return) when she stopped trading ten months later. Chicago Mercantile Exchange records indicated that $40,000 of her profits came from larger trades initiated by Clinton's lawyer and friend, James Blair, an experienced futures trader and outside counsel to Tyson Foods. According to exchange records, Robert L. "Red" Bone, the commodities broker that facilitated the trades on behalf of Ray E. Friedman and Co. (Refco), reportedly because Blair was a good client, allowed Clinton to maintain her positions even though she did not have enough money in her account to cover her activity. Refco was fined for violating Chicago Mercantile Exchange rules governing margin trading. After an investigation, Leo Melamed, chair of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, concluded that Clinton hadn't violated the rules [69].

Whitewater scandal

While in Arkansas, the Clintons were partners with Jim and Susan McDougal in a real estate venture known as Whitewater. At the time the McDougals operated a savings and loan that retained Clinton's legal services at Rose Law Firm. When the McDougals' savings and loan failed in 1994, federal investigators subpoenaed Clinton's legal billing records for auditing purposes. Hillary Clinton was unable to produce these records. After an extensive, two-year search, the records were found in the first lady's book room in the White House and delivered to investigators in 1996. The delayed appearance of the billing records sparked intense interest and another investigation about how they surfaced and where they had been. After the discovery of the records, on January 26, 1996, Clinton made history by becoming the first first lady to testify before a grand jury. The Whitewater investigation was initiated by independent counsel Ken Starr. The investigations, which took place during Bill Clinton's presidency and cost an estimated $40 million, resulted in the McDougals being jailed and Webster Hubbell pleading guilty to felony charges of lying to federal investigators about Clinton's role in both Whitewater and the savings and loan failure. No criminal charges were brought against the Clintons themselves. According to reports, the Clintons lost their financial investment in the Whitewater business projects [70] [71].

Vince Foster's suicide

The Whitewater investigation examined the suicide of Vince Foster. Critics of the Clintons had alleged that Foster's death was not a suicide, that it was connected to Whitewater, and that Hillary Clinton was somehow involved, and in particular that she and Foster had had an affair. [72] Some conspiracy theories even claimed that she had killed Foster herself [73] or had him killed [74]. Starr's investigation, as well as investigations by the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Park Police, all concluded that Foster's death was a suicide.

Book Deal

In December 2000, Simon & Schuster agreed to pay Hillary Clinton a reported $8 million advance for a memoir of her years as First Lady, which was later published in 2003 as Living History. Critics charged that the book deal, coming soon after her election to the U.S. Senate, but before being sworn into office, was not in adherence to the ethical standards required for members of the U.S. Senate. However, in February 2001, the Senate Ethics Committee gave Clinton approval for the deal. [75]

Hasidic pardons

In 2000, two months after Clinton's election to the Senate, President Clinton pardoned four residents of the New Square Hasidic enclave in Rockland County, New York, who had been convicted of defrauding the federal government. The New Square community had voted over 99 to 1 in favor of Mrs. Clinton, raising allegations of conflict of interest. A federal investigation launched by critics of the pardon cleared both Clintons of any illegal activity.

Gandhi comment

Clinton came under criticism in 2004 after saying that Mahatma Gandhi "ran a gas station down in Saint Louis." Many took Clinton's words as stereotyping South Asians living in the United States. Clinton apologized, blamed "a lame attempt at humor," and claimed that she "admired the work and life of Mahatma Gandhi and had spoken publicly about that many times [76]." Michelle Naef, administrator of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence said she didn't think Clinton was trying to demean Mahatma Gandhi and credited both Clintons as long having supported the Gandhi message. However, Naef said that Clinton's remarks were offensive and could be "incredibly harmful [77]."

Rosen's indictment and acquittal

Clinton's former finance director, David Rosen, was indicted on January 7 2005 on campaign finance charges related to a fund-raising event produced by Peter F. Paul. Paul, who was convicted on stock fraud charges after being extradited from Brazil, claims he spent $1.2 million to produce the "Hollywood tribute to honor President Clinton" event, which was both a tribute to honor President Clinton and a fundraiser for Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. The Justice Department indictment charged Rosen with filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission by reporting only $400,000 in contributions. On May 27, 2005, the jury acquitted Rosen on all counts [78].

Peter Paul has also filed a civil suit in this matter. [79]

Additional Information

Coping with the alleged fashion double standard

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been faced with the alleged double standard that prominent women are judged more on their appearance than prominent men. In the 1970s, the issue of fashion raised initial tension between Rodham Clinton and her future mother-in-law, Virginia Kelly. During this time, Rodham wore little makeup and paid little attention to current fashion. Kelly, by contrast, focused a great deal on appearance, even wearing a white skunk-stripe through her naturally black hair. In 1998, as First Lady, Clinton appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine. In her Senate career, Senator Clinton is often seen wearing a suit.

Retention of birth name after marriage

After marrying Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham retained her birth name for both professional and personal use. While she had done this to keep their professional lives separate and avoid seeming conflicts of interest, in her memoirs she said, "I learned the hard way that some voters in Arkansas were seriously offended by the fact that I kept my maiden name." [LH p. 91] This was thought by Bill Clinton's advisors to be one of the reasons behind his 1980 gubernatorial re-election loss, and, during the following winter, Vernon Jordan suggested to Hillary Rodham that she start using Clinton as her name. [LH p. 93] She did so publicly during Bill Clinton's February 1982 announcement of his campaign to regain the office, adopting Hillary Rodham Clinton as the name she would use, and during that campaign even being introduced, and sometimes referring to herself, as "Mrs. Bill Clinton". [Partners in Power p. 282] By the time she became First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton was ensconced as the name she would be known by, and has remained so since.

File:HRCHairstyles.jpg
The new First Lady experimented with different hairstyles

Web site devoted to hairstyles

The public fascination with Clinton's role as First Lady extended to her personal appearance. Clinton's experiments with different hairstyles were documented at a web site, now defunct, which was popular around 1996 during the early days of the World Wide Web.

Changing sports affiliations

In a much-publicized move, at a Democratic Party rally during her successful campaign for the U.S. Senate, Clinton donned a New York Yankees baseball cap, even though she had also been a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs. Clinton explained this cap-wearing by saying that she had to develop an American League rooting interest, since fans of the Cubs were not expected to root for the American League Chicago White Sox, and vice versa. Then as now, the New York Yankees were a dominant team in the American League.

Clinton's voice

One author for the American Prospect, Ayelish McGarvey, thinks that Clinton's speaking voice has a limited range, so she resorts to raising her volume to add emphasis. Kevin Drum, writer for Washington Monthly, a progressive magazine, thinks that one-on-one Clinton comes across as very human, more responsive than a lot of politicians, knowledgeable, not condescending, and basically likeable, but when speaking to large crowds she may be an average speaker. [80] [81]

Awards and honors

In May 1998, Clinton received the United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize for her work in health and social welfare, especially as it related to women, children, and families. [82]

In April 1999, Clinton was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund for her support of that Ukrainian organization's efforts regarding legacy effects of the Chernobyl accident. [83]

In June 1999, Clinton received the "Mother Teresa Award", the highest honor given to civilians by Albania. This was in recognition of her humanitarian efforts following the Kosovo War and worldwide. [84]

On March 26, 2004, Clinton was presented with the inaugural Nursing Health and Humanity Award from the University of Rochester School of Nursing. [85]

On February 13, 2005, Clinton was given the German Media Prize 2004, "Hillary Clinton is a model politician for millions of women around the world" who "represents in an exemplary way women's rights", the jury for the prize said. [86]

On February 15, 2005, Clinton was given the American Medical Women's Association's "President’s Vision & Voice Award", for being an advocate for women's health and related issues. [87]

On October 9, 2005, Clinton was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame. [88]

Further reading

Clinton's best-selling book It Takes a Village

By Clintons

  • Clinton, Bill. My Life. ISBN 0375414576
  • Clinton, Hillary Rodham. It Takes a Village. ISBN 0684825457
  • Clinton, Hillary Rodham. Living History. ISBN 0743222245

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