Secretary of State

Name: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Current city: Washington, D.C.
Job at time of appointment: United States Senator (D-NY)
Age: 61

A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham entered the public spotlight in 1969 as the first student to deliver the commencement address at Wellesley College. She embarked on a career in law after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973.

When she was First Lady of the United States, her major initiative, the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain approval from the U.S. Congress in 1994, though in following years she played a definitive role in the establishment of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act.



In 2000, Hillary Clinton made history as the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate, and the first woman elected statewide in New York.

In the 2008 presidential nomination race, Clinton won more primaries and delegates than any other female candidate in American history, but she narrowly lost to Senator Barack Obama. As Obama's Secretary of State, Clinton is the first former First Lady to serve in a president's cabinet.