Current Secretary of State and former U.S. Senator from the Empire State, Hillary has nearly eclipsed ex-president husband Bill in the public sphere since service as his first lady from 1993-2000. Hillary grew up in Chicago, then headed off to Wellesley, where she did what any other prim, perfect child would do: she joined the Young Republicans club. Hillary's political views started to change during the Vietnam war, and shifted for good when she arrived at Yale Law School and met the smooth-talking charmer Bill Clinton, dating and then marrying him in 1975. When Bill sought the presidency in 1992, after years of serving as governor of Arkansas, Hillary hit the campaign trail alongside him. Despite a campaign dogged by scandal, Bill emerged victorious, and Hillary quickly established herself as one of the most vocal first ladies in history. When she wasn't battling her husband's personal scandals and accusations about her own professional improprieties, she spearheaded the administration's 1993 push for universal health care (which sank under its own weight in 1995) and was a leading advocate for women's rights around the world. In 1999, after New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his plan to retire, Charlie Rangel talked Clinton into moving to New York and running for the seat. Clinton won the 2000 election, defeating her Republican challenger, Rick Lazio. Demonstrating canny bipartisanship in office and gaining even more public favor, she was re-elected to a second term in 2006 by a 30 percentage-point margin. In 2007, she announced her plans to run for the presidency. When Obama barely eked the Democratic nomination in 2008 and then won the presidential election, he announced that Clinton would serve a concessionary position as Secretary of State in his administration. She's since become the nation's most-traveled Secretary of State, and been accompanied by high public opinion, though she's stated she has no intentions of running again for president. In addition to her political work, Clinton has also published two books: 1996's It Takes a Village, about raising children in modern society, and 2003's memoir Living History. She and Bill have one daughter, Chelsea.

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