Hillary Clinton (The More Things Changed)

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (/ˈhɪləri daɪˈæn ˈrɒdəm ˈklɪntən/; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician and the 45th President of the United States. She was nominated by the Democratic Party in the 2016 election. She served as the 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, United States Senator representing Virginia from 2001 to 2009, First Lady of the United States during the presidency of her husband Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, and First Lady of Arkansas during his governorship from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992.

Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, has served as a United States Representative from Arkansas' 2nd district since 2011.

Education and Early Career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Clinton attended Maine East High School until being redistricted during her senior year to Maine South High School. She went on to earn a degree from Wellesley College before attaining a J.D. from Yale Law School. She met future husband Bill Clinton at Yale.

As a high schooler, Clinton was an active Republican, even campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1964. After her first year at Wellesley, she changed her views and became a Democrat. She stayed politically active throughout her college years, working for Walter Mondale and George McGovern's presidential campaign.

After law school, Clinton went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund, going door-to-door in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Testimonials gathered by the CDF contributed to the passage of legislation that required the state to provide quality education for students with disabilities.

After serving as a lawyer for the congressional committee investigating President Nixon, she moved to Arkansas where she taught law and ran legal clinics representing disenfranchised people. She co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, one of the state’s first child advocacy groups.

First Lady of Arkansas
Following Bill Clinton's 1978 election as Governor of Arkansas, Hillary Rodham became the state's First Lady in January the following year. Clinton appointed his wife to be the chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee the same year, where she secured federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas's poorest areas without affecting doctors' fees.

After his electoral defeat in 1980, Bill Clinton returned to the governor's office two years later after winning the election of 1982. During her husband's campaign, Rodham began to use the name "Hillary Clinton", or sometimes "Mrs. Bill Clinton", to assuage the concerns of Arkansas voters; she also took a leave of absence from her law firm employer - Rose Law - to campaign for him full-time.

As First Lady of Arkansas, she introduced the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program, which helps parents teach their children at home before they begin kindergarten.

First Lady of the United States
Upon her husband's election to the Presidency in 1992, Hillary became the first inaugural First Lady to have earned a postgraduate degree and to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House. She was also the first to have an office in the West Wing of the White House in addition to the usual first lady offices in the East Wing

Healthcare
Reforming the healthcare system was a major first-term initiative for President Bill Clinton. Shortly after taking office, Clinton said that he would send a bill guaranteeing healthcare for every American to Congress in 90 days. In order to meet this deadline, Clinton appointed First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to lead the Task Force on National Health Reform on January 25, 1993, five days after he was inaugurated. The task force consisted of more that 500 people "who dealt with health-care policy, health-care experts from federal agencies and experts from across the country with both public- and private-sector backgrounds."

Although initially popular, the Clinton healthcare plan - derisively dubbed "Hillarycare" - ultimately failed with heavy opposition from conservatives, libertarians, and the health insurance industry. In addition, rather than uniting around the proposal, many fellow Democrats offered competing healthcare plans of their own.

After the healthcare initiative failed, the First Lady worked with Republicans and Democrats to help create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which now provides health coverage to more than 8 million children.

Elections
Clinton and her husband, President Bill Clinton, purchased a house in Culpeper, Virginia, in September 1999; she thereby became eligible for the election, although she faced characterizations of carpetbagging since she had never resided in the state before. The lead in statewide polls swung from Clinton to North and back to Clinton as the campaigns featured both successful strategies and mistakes.

On the November 7th 2000, election, incumbent Senator Oliver North proved unpopular among key constituencies across the state. Clinton defeated both him and independent candidate Jacob G. Hornberger, even as incumbent Vice President Al Gore lost the state's 13 electoral votes and the Presidency to Texas Governor George W. Bush.

In 2006, Clinton won a second term representing Virginia in the Senate, running against the Republican nominee, Representative Jo Ann Davis.

9/11 and War on Terror
During the September 11th, 2001 attacks, American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by five men affiliated with al-Qaeda. They deliberately crashed the plane into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., killing all 64 people on board, including the five hijackers and six crew, as well as 125 people in the building.

Clinton would later visit Ground Zero in Virginia, which she described as "the gates of Hell."

Clinton voted in support of HJ Res 114 - Use of Military Force Against Iraq. The resolution passed on October 11, 2002, by a vote of 77-23. The resolution authorized the use of the United States military against Iraq. The Democratic Party split on the vote. In describing her vote, Clinton stated:

This is a very difficult vote. This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make -- any vote that may lead to war should be hard -- but I cast it with conviction. [...] "My vote is not, however, a vote for any new doctrine of pre-emption, or for uni-lateralism, or for the arrogance of American power or purpose -- all of which carry grave dangers for our nation, for the rule of international law and for the peace and security of people throughout the world."

Naval Intelligence
Early in Clinton's first term in the Senate, she often worked with Rear Admiral Richard B. Porterfield, Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Since 9/11, national strategic priorities have shifted considerably, requiring the Navy to support small-scale contingency operations, such as peacekeeping and stability operations, in addition to traditional warfighting requirements. Clinton was a key player in the development and funding of FORCEnet concept, designed to integrate all combat and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities throughout the battlespace.

2008 Presidential Campaign
Following her announcement of an exploratory committee and candidacy filing on January 20, 2007 with the FEC, she began fundraising and campaigning activities. For several months Clinton led opinion polls among Democratic candidates by substantial margins until Senator Barack Obama pulled close to or even with her. Clinton then regained her polling lead, winning many polls by double digits; by autumn 2007 she was leading all other Democratic candidates by wide margins in national polls.

Clinton ultimately lost the delegate count, and thus the nomination, to Barack Obama. However, she ultimately earned more popular votes than Obama.

In her concession speech - widely lauded as one of the best of her career, Clinton stated:

"'Although we were not able to shatter that highest and hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it has 18 million cracks in it, and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time, and we are going to keep working to make it so, today keep with me and stand for me, we still have so much to do together, we made history, and lets make some more.'"

Zimbabwe
Main Article: Zimbabwean Political Crises, 2008-Present (The More Things Changed) In a 2007 memo by Eric Bost, United States Ambassador to South Africa, Sir Richard Branson allegedly bankrolled a meeting of the "Elders" - a group of older statesmen convened to tackle global crises - in Johannesburg to discuss a plan for Robert Mugabe to peacefully resign from office. At the time, the plan did not come to fruition, and Mugabe clung to power past the 2008 general election. The memo was revealed to the public in 2011 by Wikileaks, and Bost subsequently denied that removing Mugabe from power was a goal of his diplomatic mission.

In 2011, before the public release of the memo, Branson and the Elders - including former Presidents Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, and Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, as well as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan - again approached Mugabe with an offer to peacefully transition power in Zimbabwe to a chosen successor.

Secretary Clinton joined the conference in Johannesburg to champion the plan, calling it "the best way forward" for Zimbabwe. With the rewrite of the Zimbabwean Constitution, Mugabe accepted the offer and the transition to his successor - Joice Mujuru - began.

Presidency
Main Article: Presidency of Hillary Clinton (The More Things Changed)