Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the junior
United States Senator from New York, and a candidate for the
Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. She is
married to Bill Clinton—the 42nd President of the United States—and
was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
Hillary was raised in a middle-class family in the middle of
America. From that classic suburban childhood in Park Ridge,
Illinois, Hillary went on to become one of America's foremost
advocates for children and families; an attorney twice voted one of
the most influential in America; a First Lady of Arkansas who helped
transform the schools; a bestselling author; a First Lady for
America who helped transform that role, becoming a champion for
health care and families at home and a champion of women's rights
and human rights around the world.
As an undergraduate at Wellesley College, Hillary mixed academic
excellence with school government. Speaking at graduation, she said,
"The challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what
appears to be impossible, possible."
In 1969, Hillary entered Yale Law School, where she served on the
Board of Editors of Yale Law Review and Social Action, interned with
children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman, and met Bill Clinton. The
President often recalls how they met in the library when she strode
up to him and said, "If you're going to keep staring at me, I might
as well introduce myself." The two were soon inseparable--partners
in moot court, political campaigns, and matters of the heart.
After graduation, Hillary advised the Children's Defence Fund in
Cambridge and joined the impeachment inquiry staff advising the
Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. After
completing those responsibilities, she "followed her heart to
Arkansas," where Bill had begun his political career.
They married in 1975. She joined the faculty of the University of
Arkansas Law School in 1975 and the Rose Law Firm in 1976. In 1978,
President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the board of the Legal
Services Corporation, and Bill Clinton became governor of Arkansas.
Their daughter, Chelsea, was born in 1980.
Hillary served as Arkansas's First Lady for 12 years, balancing
family, law, and public service. She chaired the Arkansas
Educational Standards Committee, 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 Defence
Fund.
As the nation's First Lady, Hillary continued to balance public
service with private life. Her active role began in 1993 when the
President asked her to chair the Task Force on National Health Care
Reform. She continued to be a leading advocate for expanding health
insurance coverage, ensuring children are properly immunized, and
raising public awareness of health issues. She wrote a weekly
newspaper column entitled "Talking It Over," which focused on her
experiences as First Lady and her observations of women, children,
and families she has met around the world. Her 1996 book It Takes a
Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us was a best seller, and
she received a Grammy Award for her recording of it.
As First Lady, her public involvement with many activities sometimes
led to controversy. Undeterred by critics, Hillary won many admirers
for her staunch support for women around the world and her
commitment to children's issues.
After moving to New York, Clinton was elected as senator for New
York State in 2000; this was the first time an American First Lady
ran for public office and she is the first female senator from that
state. In the Senate, she initially supported the George W. Bush
administration on some foreign policy issues, which included voting
for the Iraq War Resolution. She has subsequently opposed the
administration on its conduct of the Iraq War and has opposed it on
most domestic issues. She was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006.
In the 2008 presidential nomination race, Clinton has won the most
primaries and delegates of any woman in U.S. history.
With unique access to a privately owned manuscript (said to the most important attachment to history since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and religious sites across the world, Ronald Rayner's new book is not just for those with a connection to the Clinton name. It is for anyone interested in English family history and how the paths of the past are connected to the paths of our present and our future.
The Clintons and the Glastonbury
Connection
AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW IN PAPERBACK AND E-BOOK VERSION.
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