From career breakthroughs to professional milestones, explore how Hillary Clinton made an impact.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is a prominent American politician and diplomat. She served as the 67th United States Secretary of State under President Barack Obama (2009-2013), a U.S. Senator for New York (2001-2009), and First Lady during Bill Clinton's presidency (1993-2001). As a member of the Democratic Party, Clinton secured the party's nomination in the 2016 presidential election, marking her as the first woman to achieve this milestone from a major U.S. party. Although she won the popular vote, she did not win the election. Notably, she remains the only First Lady to have pursued elected office.
By campaign's end, Hillary Clinton eclipsed, by a very wide margin, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's 1972 marks for most votes garnered and delegates won by a woman.
In 1973, Hillary Rodham graduated from Yale Law School.
In late 1973, Hillary Rodham's first scholarly article, "Children Under the Law", was published in the Harvard Educational Review. The article became frequently cited in the field.
In August 1974, Hillary Rodham advised the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal. The committee's work culminated with the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
In August 1974, Hillary Rodham moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, becoming one of only two female faculty members at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
In November 1976, Bill Clinton was elected as the Arkansas Attorney General, prompting Hillary and Bill to move to Little Rock.
In 1976, Hillary Rodham temporarily relocated to Indianapolis to work as an Indiana state campaign organizer for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.
In February 1977, Hillary Rodham joined the Rose Law Firm, specializing in patent infringement and intellectual property law, while also working pro bono in child advocacy.
In 1977, Hillary Clinton co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Later in 1977, Hillary Rodham was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation.
Following her husband's election in November 1978, Bill Clinton became governor of Arkansas.
During 1978, Hillary Rodham engaged in trading of cattle futures contracts to supplement her and Bill's income, generating significant profit in a short time.
From mid-1978, Hillary Rodham served as the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation board until mid-1980.
In January 1979, Hillary Rodham became the First Lady of Arkansas.
In 1979, Hillary Clinton became the first woman partner at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm.
In 1979, Hillary Clinton was appointed chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee and worked to secure federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas.
Hillary Rodham served as the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation board until mid-1980.
Hillary Rodham Clinton served as First Lady of Arkansas from 1979-1981.
Hillary Rodham's term in the Legal Services Corporation ended in 1981.
In 1981, Hillary Clinton's first term as First Lady of Arkansas ended.
From 1982, Hillary Clinton was on the board of directors of the New World Foundation.
In 1982, Bill Clinton was re-elected as the governor of Arkansas. During his campaign, Hillary began using the name "Hillary Clinton."
Hillary Rodham Clinton served as First Lady of Arkansas from 1983-1992.
In 1983, Hillary Clinton returned as the First Lady of Arkansas.
In 1983, Hillary Clinton was named chair of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee and worked to reform the state's public education system.
In 1985, Hillary Clinton introduced Arkansas's Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth.
In 1985, Hillary Clinton joined the corporate board of directors of TCBY.
In 1986, Hillary Clinton joined the corporate board of directors of Wal-Mart Stores, becoming the first female member.
Hillary Clinton was named by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America in 1988.
In 1988, Hillary Clinton became chairman of the board of the Children's Defense Fund and on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital's Legal Services.
In 1990, Hillary Clinton considered running for governor when Bill Clinton thought about not running again, but private polls were unfavorable.
In 1990, Hillary Clinton joined the corporate board of directors of Lafarge.
Hillary Clinton was named by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America in 1991.
Hillary Rodham Clinton served as First Lady of Arkansas from 1983-1992.
In 1992, Hillary Clinton ended her time on the board of directors of the New World Foundation.
In January 1993, Hillary Clinton was named by President Clinton to chair a task force on National Health Care Reform, which led to the Clinton health care plan.
In January 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States when Bill Clinton took office as president.
In 1993, Hillary Clinton became the First Lady of the United States, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.
In September 1995, Hillary Clinton argued against practices that abused women around the world and declared, "it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights".
Since the Beijing conference in 1995, Hillary Clinton also led the No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to gather and study data on the progress of women and girls around the world.
In January 1996, Hillary Clinton embarked on a ten-city book tour and made numerous television appearances to promote her book "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us".
On January 26, 1996, Hillary Clinton became the first spouse of a U.S. president to be subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury as part of the Whitewater controversy investigation.
In 1996, Hillary Clinton supported the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 as the best political compromise available.
In 1997, Hillary Clinton initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act.
In 1997, Hillary Clinton played a leading role in promoting the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
In November 1998, after New York's long-serving U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his retirement, Democratic figures urged Hillary Clinton to run for his open seat in the Senate election of 2000.
In September 1999, the Clintons purchased a home in Chappaqua, New York, north of New York City, after Hillary Clinton decided to run for Senate.
In 1999, Hillary Clinton played a leading role in promoting the creation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Foster Care Independence Act.
In 1999, Hillary Clinton supported the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
In 1999, Hillary Clinton was instrumental in the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act.
In May 2000, Rudy Giuliani withdrew from the Senate race after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
On November 7, 2000, Hillary Clinton won the election to become a U.S. Senator for New York, receiving 55 percent of the vote.
In 2000, Hillary Clinton was against same-sex marriage.
In 2000, Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first female senator from New York and the first First Lady to simultaneously hold elected office.
When Hillary Clinton ran for Senate in 2000, several fundraising groups emerged to oppose her candidacy.
On January 3, 2001, Hillary Clinton was sworn in as a U.S. Senator, simultaneously holding the titles of First Lady and Senator.
In October 2001, Hillary Clinton voted for the USA Patriot Act.
In 2001, Hillary Clinton began her term as a U.S. Senator representing New York.
In October 2002, Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, a vote she later regretted.
In October 2002, Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution, which authorized President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq.
From 2003, Hillary Clinton chaired the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.
In early 2003, Hillary Clinton had begun preparing for a potential candidacy for U.S. president.
In November 2004, Hillary Clinton announced that she would seek a second Senate term.
In 2004, Hillary Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage.
In February 2005, Hillary Clinton visited Iraq and noted that the insurgency had failed to disrupt the democratic elections.
In 2005, Hillary Clinton called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how hidden sex scenes showed up in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
In 2005, Hillary Clinton voted against the confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice of the United States.
In March 2006, Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005.
On November 7, 2006, Hillary Clinton won re-election to the U.S. Senate with 67 percent of the vote.
In 2006, Hillary Clinton stated she would support a state's decision to permit same-sex marriages but opposed a federal amendment to permit it.
In 2006, Hillary Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage.
In 2006, Hillary Clinton voted against the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, filibustering the latter.
On January 20, 2007, Hillary Clinton announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for the 2008 election, declaring "I'm in and I'm in to win."
In March 2007, Hillary Clinton called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign in response to the U.S. attorneys controversy.
In September 2007, Hillary Clinton responded to General David Petraeus's Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq by expressing skepticism, stating that the reports required "a willing suspension of disbelief."
As of 2007, the Clintons had earned almost $141 million, paid approximately $56 million in federal and state taxes, and donated around $15 million to charity.
In 2007, Hillary Clinton ended her tenure as chair of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.
Throughout the first half of 2007, Hillary Clinton led in opinion polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, competing against Barack Obama and John Edwards. At the end of October, Clinton fared poorly in her debate performance against Obama, Edwards, and her other opponents.
While running for president in 2007, Hillary Clinton reiterated her opposition to same-sex marriage but expressed support for civil unions.
Following Hillary Clinton's "choked up moment" and related incidents in the run-up to the January 2008 New Hampshire primary, discussions of gender's role in the campaign entered national political discourse.
Following the final primaries on June 3, 2008, Obama had gained enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee.
In September 2008, as the financial crisis reached its peak, Hillary Clinton supported the proposed bailout of the U.S. financial system, voting in favor of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
In mid-November 2008, President-elect Obama and Clinton discussed the possibility of her serving as secretary of state in his administration. On November 20, she told Obama she would accept the position.
In December 2008, the Saxbe fix was passed and signed into law, which was required for Hillary Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State.
In 2008, Clinton had a past campaign that was affected by management turmoil.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton had a surprise win in the New Hampshire primary, narrowly defeating Barack Obama. It was the first time a woman had won a major American party's presidential primary for the purposes of delegate selection.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran for president but lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries.
On January 13, 2009, confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee began for Hillary Clinton's nomination as Secretary of State.
On January 21, 2009, Hillary Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State by the full Senate. She resigned from the Senate later that day, becoming the first former first lady to be a member of the United States Cabinet.
In March 2009, Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a "reset button" symbolizing U.S. attempts to rebuild ties with Russia.
In October 2009, Hillary Clinton intervened to secure the final signing of an historic Turkish-Armenian accord that established diplomatic relations.
In 2009, Hillary Clinton became the 67th United States Secretary of State in the Barack Obama administration.
In 2009, Hillary Clinton resigned from the Senate to become Barack Obama's Secretary of State.
In 2009, Hillary Clinton sided with the military's recommendations for a maximal "Afghanistan surge" in an internal Obama administration debate, but eventually supported a compromise plan.
In January 2010, Hillary Clinton drew analogies between the Iron Curtain and the free and unfree Internet, marking the first time that a senior American government official had clearly defined the Internet as a key element of American foreign policy.
In July 2010, Hillary Clinton visited South Korea and successfully worked to convince SAE-A, a large apparel subcontractor, to invest in Haiti.
Beginning in 2010, Hillary Clinton helped organize a diplomatic isolation and international sanctions regime against Iran to force curtailment of that country's nuclear program.
In late 2010, Hillary Clinton's State Department issued the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, calling for the U.S. to lead through "civilian power" and prioritize the empowerment of women throughout the world.
As early as March 2011, Hillary Clinton indicated that she was not interested in serving a second term as secretary of state, even if President Obama was re-elected in 2012.
During April 2011, during internal deliberations over whether to order a raid into Pakistan against Osama bin Laden, Hillary Clinton was among those who argued in favor, saying the importance of getting bin Laden outweighed the risks to the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
In August 2011, amidst escalating government violence during the Syrian Civil War, Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign from the presidency.
In December 2011, Hillary Clinton declared before the United Nations Human Rights Council that "Gay rights are human rights" and affirmed the U.S. commitment to advocating for gay rights and legal protections for gay people internationally.
In 2011, Hillary Clinton was appointed the Honorary Founding Chair of the Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University.
In 2011, the Egyptian protests posed a challenging foreign policy crisis. Hillary Clinton's public response evolved from an early assessment that Mubarak's government was "stable" to a condemnation of violence against protesters. As Arab Spring protests spread, Clinton was at the forefront of a U.S. response that was sometimes contradictory.
In May 2012, Hillary Clinton stated in an interview that she would not seek the presidency again.
In December 2012, after Obama's re-election, he nominated Senator John Kerry to be Hillary Clinton's successor as Secretary of State.
During mid-2012, Clinton created a plan with CIA Director David Petraeus to arm and train vetted groups of Syrian rebels. The White House officials rejected the proposal fearing that extremists hidden among the rebels might turn the weapons against other targets.
In 2012, Hillary Clinton favored arming Syria's rebel fighters and called for the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
In 2012, bilateral relations with Russia declined considerably after Vladimir Putin's return to the Russian presidency.
February 1, 2013, was Hillary Clinton's last day as Secretary of State, marking the end of her tenure in that role.
2013 marked the first time Hillary Clinton expressed support for a national right to same-sex marriage.
In 2013, Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State concluded.
In 2013, after leaving the State Department, Hillary Clinton joined her husband and daughter as named members of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, focusing on early childhood development efforts.
During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Hillary Clinton expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself.
In 2014, Hillary Clinton published her second memoir, titled "Hard Choices," which focused on her time as secretary of state.
In 2014, Hillary Clinton stated that unaccompanied children crossing the border "should be sent back".
In 2014, Hillary Clinton wrote in her autobiography 'Hard Choices' that she had not decided if she would seek the presidency again.
In March 2015, it was reported that over the prior fifteen months, Hillary Clinton had earned over $11 million from speeches, primarily to Wall Street firms and business conventions.
On April 12, 2015, Hillary Clinton formally announced her candidacy for president in the 2016 election, with a campaign focused on middle-class incomes, universal preschool, affordable college, and improvements to the Affordable Care Act.
In April 2015, Hillary Clinton resigned from the board of the Clinton Foundation as she began her presidential campaign, and the foundation restricted its acceptance of new foreign governmental donations.
As of July 2015, Hillary Clinton's second memoir, "Hard Choices", had sold about 280,000 copies.
By September 2015, with her 2016 presidential campaign underway and amidst continued reports regarding her private email usage at the State Department, Hillary Clinton's favorability ratings slumped to some of her lowest levels ever.
In 2015, Hillary Clinton helped to organize a regime of international sanctions against Iran, which eventually led to the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
In 2015, after Hillary Clinton reentered elective politics, organizations provided recent assessments of her political positions.
In March 2016, Hillary Clinton acknowledged, "I'm not a natural politician, in case you haven't noticed."
In March 2016, Hillary Clinton laid out a detailed economic plan based on inclusive capitalism, including incentives for companies that share profits, increased collective bargaining rights, and an exit tax on companies moving headquarters overseas.
By June 5, 2016, Hillary Clinton had earned enough pledged delegates and supportive superdelegates to be considered the presumptive nominee.
On July 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton was formally nominated at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
On November 8, 2016, Hillary Clinton was defeated by Donald Trump in the presidential election, despite winning the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes.
On December 19, 2016, Hillary Clinton lost five electoral votes due to faithless electors, with three Washington votes cast for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, and one Hawaii vote for Bernie Sanders.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the Democratic Party's nominee for president, marking the first time a woman had won a presidential nomination from a major U.S. political party.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first major-party presidential candidate to write an op-ed for an LGBT newspaper, the Philadelphia Gay News.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton formally announced her candidacy for president. Her campaign focused on raising middle class incomes, establishing universal preschool, making college more affordable and improving the Affordable Care Act.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton kept a low profile following her defeat in the presidential election.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to Donald Trump in the Electoral College, while winning the popular vote. Her use of a private email server was the subject of intense scrutiny.
In 2016, Trump's chants of 'Lock her up!' were in reference to Clinton's email scandal during his campaign.
Throughout most of 2016, Hillary Clinton held a significant lead in national polls over Donald Trump. However, in early July, they were tied following the FBI's conclusion of its investigation into her emails.
On March 17, 2017, Hillary Clinton delivered a St. Patrick's Day speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, indicating her readiness to become politically active again.
In May 2017, Hillary Clinton announced the formation of Onward Together, a political action committee dedicated to advancing a progressive vision.
On September 12, 2017, Hillary Clinton released her book of personal essays, 'What Happened', reflecting on her defeat in the 2016 election.
In a 2017 interview, Hillary Clinton said she favored more aggressive action against Bashar al-Assad, suggesting taking out his airfields to prevent the bombing of innocent people.
In 2018, The Chancellor position had been vacant at the Queen's University Belfast.
In March 2019, Hillary Clinton reiterated that she would not seek public office again.
In 2019, Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea co-authored 'The Book of Gutsy Women'.
On January 2, 2020, Hillary Clinton was announced as the new Chancellor at Queen's University Belfast, becoming the first female chancellor.
In March 2020, Hillary Clinton collaborated with director Nanette Burstein on the documentary film 'Hillary', which was released on Hulu.
On April 28, 2020, Hillary Clinton endorsed Joe Biden for president in the 2020 election.
On September 29, 2020, Hillary Clinton launched an interview podcast in collaboration with iHeartRadio titled 'You and Me Both'.
In 2020, Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea co-authored 'Grandma's Gardens'.
In 2020, Hillary Clinton stated she would not run for president.
Since 2020, Hillary Clinton has served as Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast.
On October 12, 2021, Hillary Clinton co-authored the fiction novel State of Terror with Louise Penny.
In January 2023, Columbia University announced that Hillary Clinton would join the university as a professor of practice and presidential fellow.
In 2023, Hillary Clinton joined Columbia University as a Professor of Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs.
On July 21, 2024, Hillary Clinton endorsed Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.
In August 2024, Hillary Clinton spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, referencing Donald Trump's felony convictions, which prompted chants of 'Lock him up!'
On September 17, 2024, Hillary Clinton is set to release another memoir, Something Lost, Something Gained.