Hillary Clinton: Difference between revisions

When Bill Clinton took office as president in January 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States, and her press secretary reiterated that she would be using that form of her name.{{efn|name=ex04}} She was the first first lady to holdhave earned a [[Postgraduate education|postgraduate degree]] and to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the [[White House]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/clinton-hillary/|title=Hillary Rodham Clinton |publisher=PBS |accessdate=December 2, 2014}} Clinton had the first postgraduate degree through regular study and scholarly work. Eleanor Roosevelt had been previously awarded a postgraduate honorary degree. Clinton's successor [[Laura Bush]] became the second first lady with a postgraduate degree</ref> She was also the first to have an office in the [[West Wing]] of the White House in addition to the usual first lady offices in the [[East Wing]].<ref name="nfll"/><ref>Troy 2006, p.&nbsp;71</ref> She was part of the innermost circle vetting appointments to the new administration and her choices filled at least eleven top-level positions and dozens more lower-level ones.<ref>Troy 2006, p.&nbsp;68</ref> After [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], Clinton is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history.<ref>Troy 2006, p.&nbsp;xii</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=First Lady President? |author=Rajghatta, Chidanand |date=January–February 2004 |work=[[Verve (magazine)|Verve]] |authorlink=Chidanand Rajghatta |url=http://www.verveonline.com/27/people/hillary/full.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040701113441/http://www.verveonline.com/27/people/hillary/full.shtml|archivedate=July 1, 2004}}</ref>

Clinton had been preparing for a potential candidacy for U.S. President since at least early 2003.{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|pp=550–52}} On January 20, 2007, she announced via her website the formation of a presidential [[exploratory committee]] for the [[United States presidential election, 2008|United States presidential election of 2008]], stating "I'm in, and I'm in to win."{{sfn|Gerth|Van Natta|2007|p=5}} No woman had ever been nominated by a major party for the presidency, and no First Lady had ever run for President.

In 1996, Clinton presented a vision for the children of America in the book ''[[It Takes a Village|It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us]]''. The book made the [[The New York Times Best Seller list|Best Seller list]] of ''The New York Times'' and Clinton received the [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album]] in 1997 for the book's audio recording.{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|p=446}} She was the first First Lady to win a Grammy Award.<ref name="Schultz1999">{{cite book|author=Jeffrey D. Schultz|title=Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LOzfQEP3H8AC&pg=PA40|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-57356-131-0|pages=40–}}</ref>