SKILLS INDIA

Hillary Rodham Clinton has served as secretary of state, senator
from New York, first lady of the United States, first lady of Arkansas, a practicing lawyer and law
professor, activist, and volunteer—but the first thing her friends and family will tell you is that
she’s never forgotten where she came from or who she’s been fighting for.
Hillary grew up in a middle-class home in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago. Her dad, Hugh, was
a World War II Navy veteran and a small-business owner who designed, printed, and sold
drapes. Hugh was a rock-ribbed Republican, a pay-as-you-go kind of guy who worked hard and
wasted nothing. Hillary helped with the family business whenever she could.Hillary’s mother,
Dorothy, had a tough childhood. She was abandoned by her parents as a young child and
shipped off to live with relatives who didn’t want to raise her. By age 14, Dorothy knew the only
way she’d get by was to support herself, and she started working as a housekeeper and
babysitter while she went to high school. Her mother’s experience inspired Hillary to fight for the
needs of children everywhere.
Hillary’s childhood was very different from her mother’s. Her parents built a stable middle-class
life. Hillary attended public school and was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. She was raised a
Methodist, and her mother taught Sunday school. On a trip to Chicago with her youth ministry,
Hillary got to see Martin Luther King Jr. speak—this sparked her lifelong passion for social
justice.
After graduating high school, Hillary attended Wellesley College, where she became more
involved with social justice activism. By the time she graduated, Hillary had become a prominent
student leader—she was elected by her peers to be the first-ever student speaker at Wellesley’s
commencement ceremony.
After college, Hillary enrolled in Yale Law School, where she was one of just 27 women in her
graduating class. While attending Yale, Hillary began dating one of her classmates, Bill Clinton.
After law school, Hillary didn’t join a big law firm in Washington or New York. Instead, she went
to work for the Children’s Defense Fund, going door-to-door in New Bedford, Massachusetts,
gathering stories about the lack of schooling for children with disabilities. These testimonials
contributed to the passage of historic legislation that required the state to provide quality
education for students with disabilities. This commitment to public service and fighting for
others—especially children and families—has stayed with her throughout her life.
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.
On October 11, 1975, Hillary married Bill in a small ceremony in Fayetteville, Arkansas. As first
lady of Arkansas, she was a forceful champion for improving educational standards and health
care access. And she and Bill started their own family when their daughter, Chelsea, was born
in 1980.
Bill was first elected president in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. As first lady, Hillary tenaciously
led the fight to reform our health care system so that all families would have access to the care
they need at affordable prices. When the insurance companies and other special interests
defeated that effort, Hillary didn’t give up. She worked with Republicans and Democrats to help
create the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage to
more than 8 million children and has helped cut the uninsured rate for children in half.In 1995,
Hillary led the U.S. delegation to Beijing to attend the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women,
despite being told by some officials not to go. She gave a groundbreaking speech, declaring that
“human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights once and for
all”—inspiring women around the world.
In 2000, Hillary was elected to the U.S. Senate. After the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, Hillary pushed the Bush administration to secure $20 billion to rebuild New York and
fought to provide health care for responders who were at Ground Zero. Hillary worked across
the aisle to expand TRICARE, giving members of the Reserves and National Guard and their
families better access to health care.
When Congress wouldn’t do enough for rural areas and small towns, Hillary didn’t back down.
She launched an innovative partnership in New York with eBay and local colleges to provide
small businesses with tech support, microloans, and training programs to sell their goods online.
She helped expand broadband to remote areas of the state, and she launched Farm-to-Fork, an
initiative to help New York farmers and producers sell their products to New York’s restaurants,
schools, colleges, and universities.
In 2008, Hillary ran for president. When she came up short, she gave a powerful speech
thanking her supporters and threw her support behind then-Senator Barack Obama. She
campaigned hard to make sure there was a Democrat in the White House.