Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

Additional Information

Coping with the alleged fashion double standard

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been faced with the alleged double standard that prominent women are judged more on their appearance than prominent men. In the 1970s, the issue of fashion raised initial tension between Rodham Clinton and her future mother-in-law, Virginia Kelly. During this time, Rodham wore little makeup and paid little attention to current fashion. Kelly, by contrast, focused a great deal on appearance, even wearing a white skunk-stripe through her naturally black hair. In 1998, as First Lady, Clinton appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine. In her Senate career, Senator Clinton is often seen wearing a suit.

Related Topics:
Double standard - Virginia Kelly - Makeup - Fashion - 1998 - Vogue - Suit

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Retention of birth name after marriage

After marrying Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham retained her birth name for both professional and personal use. While she had done this to keep their professional lives separate and avoid seeming conflicts of interest, in her memoirs she said, "I learned the hard way that some voters in Arkansas were seriously offended by the fact that I kept my maiden name." This was thought by Bill Clinton's advisors to be one of the reasons behind his 1980 gubernatorial re-election loss, and, during the following winter, Vernon Jordan suggested to Hillary Rodham that she start using Clinton as her name. She did so publicly during Bill Clinton's February 1982 announcement of his campaign to regain the office, adopting Hillary Rodham Clinton as the name she would use, and during that campaign even being introduced, and sometimes referring to herself, as "Mrs. Bill Clinton". By the time she became First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton was ensconced as the name she would be known by, and has remained so since.

Related Topics:
Vernon Jordan - 1982 - First Lady of the United States

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Web site devoted to hairstyles

The public fascination with Clinton's role as First Lady extended to her personal appearance. Clinton's experiments with different hairstyles were documented at a web site, now defunct, which was one of the more popular websites in the early days of the World Wide Web.

Related Topics:
Hairstyle - World Wide Web

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Changing sports affiliations

In a much-publicized move, at a Democratic Party rally during her successful campaign for the U.S. Senate, Clinton donned a New York Yankees baseball cap, even though she had also been a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs. Clinton explained this cap-wearing by saying that she had to develop an American League rooting interest, since fans of the Cubs were not expected to root for the American League Chicago White Sox, and vice versa. Then as now, the New York Yankees were a dominant team in the American League.

Related Topics:
New York Yankees - Chicago Cubs - American League - Chicago White Sox

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clinton's voice

One author for the American Prospect, Ayelish McGarvey, thinks that Clinton's speaking voice has a limited range, so she resorts to raising her volume to add emphasis. Kevin Drum, writer for Washington Monthly, a progressive magazine, thinks that one-on-one Clinton comes across as very human, more responsive than a lot of politicians, knowledgeable, not condescending, and basically likeable, but when speaking to large crowds she may be an average speaker. http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=Convention http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004386.php

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~