HILLARY
CLINTON

Almost 50 years before Hillary Clinton became the first woman to head a major party's presidential ticket, she made history in 1969 as the first student ever to deliver the commencement speech at Wellesley College.

In her speech, she expressed her frustration that leaders had long viewed politics as the "art of the possible." Her view, instead, was that politics should be practiced as the "art of making what appears to be impossible possible."

She grew up in a conservative Chicago suburb, where her father had started his own small fabric printing shop. She remembers hearing stories about how her mother worked as a housemaid at age 14. Hillary grew up understanding the dignity of hard work.

Her politics entering college aligned with her conservative upbringing, leading her to become president of the Young Republicans club. Her college years transformed her as she came to political consciousness during an era when the great social movements of the 20th century were reshaping the nation.
By the time she graduated, she was a liberal Democrat and began working on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign.

While attending law school, she met her future husband, Bill Clinton. They married in 1975 and moved to Arkansas, where she took a job at a law firm in Little Rock to support the family while he pursued his political ambitions. She excelled at the job and became the firm's first female partner.

She remembers being more interested in advocacy and policy work than in being a politician at the time. In 1983, when her husband was Governor of Arkansas, he appointed her to head the state's education standards committee, where she worked to reform the under performing school system. This was her first high-profile public policy initiative, and under her leadership, marked improvements were made.

When Bill became president of the United States in 1993, he put her in charge of healthcare reform in his administration—a very progressive move. After eight years in the White House, they moved to New York State, where she served as a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009 and as Secretary of State under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013.

She ran for president against Donald Trump in 2016 and won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Hillary Clinton is a powerful example of the progress the Women's Movement has made thus far.