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Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is a retired American politician and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 under Barack Obama. She was a United States senator from 2001 to 2009 from New York. Clinton was also the first lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. She became the first female senator from New York and the first presidential wife to hold a political office, during and after her husband's term as president.

Clinton ran for president in 2008, but lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. She resigned from the Senate in January 2009 to become the U.S. secretary of state.

She was harshly criticized for her failure to prevent or respond to the 2012 Benghazi attack. She later resigned from the Obama administration in February 2013.

Clinton made a second presidential run in 2016. She became the first woman to be nominated by a major political party for president.

Clinton won the Democratic nomination, but lost the election to Republican opponent Donald Trump in the Electoral College, despite winning the popular vote.

Following her loss, she has wrote multiple books and has been serving as the chancellor of the Queen's University Belfast since January 2020.

Hillary Diane Rodham was born at Edgewater Medical Center in Chicago. She was raised in Park Ridge, a suburb located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of downtown Chicago. Her parents were Hugh E. Rodham and Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham. She is of Welsh, English, French and French Canadian ancestry.[1][2] Hillary grew up with two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.

She studied at Maine East High School and Maine South High School. She finished high school in 1965, and enrolled at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

In 1969, Rodham entered Yale Law School. She received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Yale in 1973. Then, she began a year of post-graduate study on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center.

When she was First Lady, she tried to change the health care system. Some people didn't like it when the planning meetings were kept secret away from the public. In the end, too many people did not want the changes that she wanted.

Another major event during the time she was First Lady was when the public found out in 1998 that Bill Clinton had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky in the mid-1990s. There was stress in the marriage partly because Bill had to go to trial (impeachment) because he was accused of lying to the court (during a deposition).

When she decided that she wanted to be senator, she chose New York even though she never lived there. Some accused her of "carpetbagging" because of this. She went on to win the election and won a second term in 2006.

When the war between the United States-led coalition and Iraq was about to start, she voted in favor of the war, which, as of 2015, she had said she regrets doing.

Hillary Clinton had raised more money than anybody else in the 2008 Presidential campaign, but later had big money problems for her campaign by May 7, 2008. She lost the party nomination to Barack Obama, but she campaigned for Obama after this.

In mid-November 2008, Obama and Clinton talked about whether she could be the next U.S. Secretary of State in his presidency.[3] On November 21, there were reports that said Hillary Clinton had accepted his offer.[4]

During her term as Secretary of State, Clinton used her position to make women's rights and human rights a focus of U.S. initiatives. She became one of the most traveled secretaries of state in American history. She promoted the use of social media to convey the country's positions. She also led U.S. diplomatic efforts in responding to the Arab Spring and military intervention in Libya.

Clinton did not want to serve a second term as secretary. Once Barack Obama won his re-election, he announced that John Kerry would succeed Clinton as secretary. Clinton left office on February 1, 2013.

See the main article: Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign

In 2016, Clinton became the first woman in the History of the United States to be a major party presidential candidate.[5] Clinton did not want to run for president in 2016, but after much of a majority support from the Democratic party, on April 12, 2015, speculation ended as Clinton formally announced her candidacy via email and the release of a video saying, "Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion." In the polls, Clinton maintained her lead for the nomination although she faced several challenges from Senator Bernie Sanders. A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted in May found Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a tie.[6] Clinton and Trump were the least popular likely candidates in the poll's history.[7] This made it difficult for her campaign.[7]

Clinton became the presumptive nominee on June 6, 2016.

Clinton lost the general election to Donald Trump winning 227 of the electoral college to Trump's 304. Clinton won the popular vote however 48% to Trump's 46%.

In April 2017, Clinton said that she will not seek public office again.[8]

While working as a faculty member at the Law School of the University of Arkansas, she married Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975. He was also working as a faculty member at the same university. Both knew each other and were classmates at the Yale Law School. Their only child is daughter Chelsea Clinton, born on February 27, 1980.

"Hillary Rodham Clinton". The White House .

"Hillary Rodham Clinton". White House Historical Association .

"Hillary Rodham Clinton". William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Musuem .

"Hillary Rodham Clinton". Wellesley College. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023 .

"Hillary Rodham Clinton". Clinton House Musuem .