Hillary: 10 Surprising Facts You Don't Know

 

Hillary Clinton has been in the public eye worldwide since her husband Bill became president in 1993.

The former Hillary Rodham has been involved in politics since her college days, working for candidates and later helping to elect Bill as Arkansas’ attorney general and governor.

Not complacent as the wife of a former governor and president, Hillary went on to become a U.S. senator and Secretary of State. She is not only the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, but the first female candidate to make the ballot.

Along with her successes, Clinton has had to deal with controversies as first lady, in public office, and on the campaign trail, but she's pushed through in hopes of becoming the first female president of the United States.

Still, many people don’t know Hillary Clinton.


Here are 10 facts you should know about Hillary:

1. Hillary was active in politics as a young Republican and campaigned for GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964. She became a Democrat in 1968.

2. She met Bill Clinton while attending Yale Law School, graduating with honors in 1973.

3. Hillary served on a presidential impeachment inquiry staff for a House judiciary committee investigating President Nixon’s Watergate scandal in 1974.

4. She was named one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in America in 1988 and 1991 by The National Law Journal.

5. As first lady, Hillary headed a task Force on national health reform in 1993, but the controversial plan was never voted on by Congress and was abandoned in 1994.


6. After winning the U.S. Senate seat for New York in 2000, she became the first "first lady" to win an elected office.

7. She made an unsuccessful bid as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, winning even more popular votes in the primary than Barack Obama. She was later appointed Secretary of State under Obama. Hillary became the most traveled Secretary of State ever, Constitution Center notes, visiting 112 countries in four years.

8. Hillary was cited by the State Department Inspector General in May 2016 for failing to follow national security rules by using her private email server during her term as Secretary of State.

9. Hillary Clinton was a key advisor for President Obama during the mission to kill bin Laden. She urged Obama to undertake the mission — and was opposed by Vice President Biden who advised the president not to approve it.

10. Mrs. Clinton was hospitalized in December 2012 after fainting from dehydration and suffering a concussion. Doctors found a blood clot between her brain and skull, but she was later released from the hospital.