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.

First Lady of the United States

After Bill Clinton was elected to the White House in 1992, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States in 1993. She is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history, except for Eleanor Roosevelt http://www.verveonline.com/27/people/hillary/hillary.shtml.

Related Topics:
1992 - Eleanor Roosevelt

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In 1993 the President appointed his wife to head the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. The recommendation of this task force, commonly called the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain enough support to come to a floor vote in either house of Congress, and was abandoned in September, 1994. In her Living History memoirs, Clinton acknowledged that her political inexperience contributed to the defeat, but also said that many other factors were responsible as well.

Related Topics:
1993 - Clinton health care plan - 1994

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At the time, some critics called it inappropriate for a First Lady to play a central role in matters of public policy. Supporters, by contrast, argued Hillary Clinton was no different than other White House advisors and that furthermore, voters were well aware that she would play an active role in her husband's Presidency. http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/civics/presid/flgall/flhomema.htm

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As first lady, Clinton won many admirers for her staunch support for women's rights around the world and her commitment to children's issues http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/hc42.html. She initiated the Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for those children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She also successfully sought to increase the research funding for illnesses such as prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institute of Health. The First Lady worked to solve the mystery behind the illnesses that were affecting veterans of the Gulf War. She initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=43.

Related Topics:
Women's rights - Children's Health Insurance Program - 1997 - Prostate cancer - Asthma - National Institute of Health - Gulf War - Adoption and Safe Families Act

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Clinton hosted numerous White House conferences that related to children's health, including early childhood development and school violence. She fought for nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and supported an annual drive to encourage older women to seek a mammography to prevent breast cancer, coverage of the cost being provided by Medicare. With Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped to create the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women office. She was one of the few international figures at the time who spoke out against the treatment of Afghani women by Islamist fundamentalist Taliban that had seized control of Afghanistan. One of the programs she helped create was Vital Voices, a U.S.-sponsored initiative to promote the participation of international women in their nation's political process.

Related Topics:
White House - Mammography - Breast cancer - Medicare - Attorney General - Janet Reno - Department of Justice - Afghani - Islamist - Fundamentalist - Taliban

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Clinton also performed many less political activities in her role as First Lady. With a lifelong interest in regional American history, she initiated the Save America's Treasures program, a national effort that matched federal funds to private donations to rescue from deterioration and neglect, or restore to completion many iconic historic items and sites, including the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, and the National First Ladies Historic Site in Canton, Ohio. Clinton also initiated the Millennium Project with monthly lectures that considered both America's past and forecasted its future. One of these lectures became the first live simultaneous webcast from the White House. Clinton also created the first Sculpture Garden, which displayed large contemporary American works of art loaned from museums in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on a rotating basis.

Related Topics:
History - Star Spangled Banner - Canton, Ohio - Millennium Project - Webcast - White House - Jacqueline Kennedy

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In the White House, Clinton placed the donated handicrafts (pottery, glassware, etc.) of contemporary American artisans on rotating display in the state rooms. She oversaw the restoration of the Blue Room on the state floor, and the redecoration of the Treaty Room into the President's study on the second floor. In a unique venue of large white tents on the South Lawn that could accompany several thousand guests, Clinton hosted many large events such as a St. Patrick's Day reception, a state dinner for visiting Chinese dignitaries, and a contemporary music concert that raised funds for music education in the public schools. For all the foods served in the White House, Clinton hired a chef whose expertise was in American regional cooking. She hosted a massive New Year's Eve party on the turning of the 20th century into the 21st century, as well as a state dinner honoring the November 2000 bicentennial of the White House, which gathered more former Presidents and First Ladies together in the mansion than had ever been present at any other time in its history.

Related Topics:
White House - Pottery - Glassware - Artisans - St. Patrick's Day - Chinese - Public schools - Foods - Chef - Cooking - New Year's Eve - Bicentennial - Mansion

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