II.

Early Years

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hillary Rodham was the first student ever asked to give the commencement address at Wellesley College, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1969. At Yale Law School, she met her future husband, Bill Clinton, and her lifelong mentor, Marian Wright Edelman; Edelman founded the Children's Defense Fund, an organization that lobbies for children's welfare. Rodham worked there as a staff attorney for a year after graduating from law school in 1973 and later chaired the organization's board.

In 1974, after working for the special U.S. House panel investigating a possible impeachment of President Richard Nixon, she moved to Arkansas, where she began teaching law at the University of Arkansas. She and Bill Clinton were married a year later. A daughter, Chelsea, was born in 1980.

In 1977 Clinton founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and joined the Rose Law Firm, where she practiced until 1992, specializing in patent infringement and intellectual property. She was twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal.