By 13, the young Hillary Rodham was already developing a growing interest in politics - but not in the party one would expect. Born into a conservative Illinois family, Hillary canvassed for Richard Nixon in his failed 1960 campaign against John Kennedy. Four years later, she volunteered for Barry Goldwater, the staunch conservative who won the Republican nomination, in 1964. Declaring herself a “Goldwater Girl”, Hillary wore a cowboy hat and a sash emblazoned with AuH20 (the chemical formula for gold and water).
Wellesley and Yale
Bill and Hillary Clinton at Yale
Hillary was still a Republican when she enrolled at Wellesley College, an elite women’s university outside Boston, and chaired the party’s campus group as well as being elected president of the student government. Yet her views were evolving as America was wracked by war in Vietnam and the struggle for civil rights at home. By 1968 she had switched sides to support Eugene McCarthy, the liberal, anti-war Democrat.
Hillary continued to impress peers and teachers at university and was asked to give the commencement address at her class’s graduated. Amid the roaring applause, people began to whisper she could be the first female President of the United States. Her Democratic views solidified at Yale Law School, where she met William Jefferson Clinton, a charismatic Arkansan who was increasingly active in the party.
Hillary Clinton (centre) with other lawyers on the House Judiciary Committee
As Bill mulled making a first run for Congress in 1974, Hillary moved to Washington as a Congressional staffer. She arrived at the height of the Watergate scandal and was soon involved in preparing impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, the man she had once campaigned for. Although Nixon resigned before impeachment could begin, Hillary would carry the lessons of her time in Congress to her own husband’s impeachment two decades later.
First Lady of Arkansas
Hillary and Chelsea with Bill Clinton as he announces his bid for the presidency
After failing her Washington bar exam, Hillary finally decided to accept Bill’s many offers of marriage and moved to Arkansas with him. He was elected the state’s governor at the age of 32 and she became First Lady of Arkansas. Restless with the ceremonial role, Hillary became involved in the state’s education policy while juggling work at a law firm and giving birth to their only child, Chelsea.
First Lady of the United States
Her time in the public spotlight in Arkansas was little preparation for the intensity of Bill’s 1992 presidential bid. The young candidate was waylaid by allegations of an extramarital affair and Hillary repeatedly stood in front of the cameras to defend her husband. She caused controversy with a disparaging remark about stay-at-home mothers and but the pair were eventually able to outmanoeuvre first fellow Democrats and then George HW Bush to win the presidency.
In the White House, Hillary assumed a serious policy role and took the lead on Bill’s failed efforts to reform the American healthcare system. However, she is best remembered for standing by her husband as his presidency was nearly consumed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. She accused opponents of a “vast Right-wing conspiracy” as they tried to impeach and watched her own approval ratings climb in the wake of the scandal.
As her husband’s presidency drew to a close, Hillary was laying plans to run for Senate in New York. She won convincingly - despite being accused of political opportunism for having never lived in the state - and became the first First Lady ever elected to public office. She quickly became a serious player in the Senate, earning respect from both Democrats and Republicans and easily won a second term in 2006.
In January 2007, Hillary delivered the news her supporters had been waiting decades for: she was running for president. She entered the Democratic primary as the overwhelming favourite but went down to a shock defeat at the hands of Barack Obama, then a youthful Illinois senator, in the Iowa caucuses. Despite winning the critical New Hampshire primary, Hillary never caught up with Obama and dropped out of the race to campaign on his behalf against John McCain.
Secretary of State
The new president shocked Hillary and the world when he asked her to serve as America's top diplomat. Although she initially turned down his offer, Obama persisted and she eventually agreed to take on the role. Over four years she visited 112 countries and wracked up nearly 1 million miles in the air, as she carried Obama's message of multilateralism and cautious use of American power around the world. In Washington, she became one of the President's closest advisors working closely with the White House as the Arab Spring flared and the US moved to kill Osama bin Laden. Although she earned wide praise, and largely floated above partisan politics, the security failures ahead of the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi will remain part of her legacy.