Hillary Clinton Biography

Fast Facts

• Given the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 2012
• In 2014, shortly after leaving her Secretary of State command, she was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
• Often earns the top spot in Gallup's annual "most admired woman" poll
• Named one of America's most influential attorneys by the National Law Journal in 1988 and again in 1991
• Recipient of the Living Legacy Award by the Women's International Center in 1994
• Graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1969 with a degree in political science and earned her law degree from Yale
• Interested in child advocacy since college, her first job out of law school was for the Children's Defense Fund
• Quote: "No 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․"
• Following the end of the 2008 Presidential election, she was named Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, and was sworn in before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 13, 2009
• Sworn into the U․S․ Senate, representing the state of New York, on January 3, 2011
• Became the first student to give a commencement speech at Wellesley College in 1969 after being pressured to do so by many of her peers and followers
• When her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected President, she became the first First Lady to hold a postgraduate degree
• Was accepted to both Yale and Harvard for law school, however, she ultimately decided to go with Yale after a Harvard professor told her, "we don't need any more women at Harvard․"