Hillary Clinton

===Early life===
[[File:Hillary Clinton in 1965 Eyrie.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Rodham in [[Maine South High School]]'s 1965 yearbook]]

Hillary Diane Rodham<ref name=fullname>{{cite web|title=Hillary Clinton Bio |website=CNN |url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/hillary.shtml|access-date=July 19, 2019|quote=Name: Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton}}<br />{{cite news|last1=Secter|first1=Bob|last2=Trice|first2=Dawn Turner|title=Clinton: Most famous. Least known?|date=November 27, 2017|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/chi-1127hillaryclintonnov27-story.html|access-date=July 19, 2019|quote=What You May Not Know About&nbsp;... Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton}}</ref> was born on October 26, 1947, at Edgewater Hospital in [[Chicago, Illinois]].<ref name="Whitehouse.gov"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edgewaterhistory.org/ehs/articles/v14-3-4|title=Edgewater Hospital 1929–2001|author=O'Laughlin, Dania|date=Summer 2003|publisher=Edgewater Historical Society|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> She was raised in a [[Methodist]] family who first lived in Chicago. When she was three years old, her family moved to the Chicago suburb of [[Park Ridge, Illinois|Park Ridge]].{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|pp=18, 34}} Her father, [[Hugh Rodham (born 1911)|Hugh Rodham]], was of [[English people|English]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]] descent,<ref name="nehgs">{{cite web |author=Roberts, Gary Boyd |url=http://www.americanancestors.org/ancestry-of-senator-hillary-rodham-clinton/ |title=Notes on the Ancestry of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton |publisher=[[New England Historic Genealogical Society]] |access-date=November 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203151445/http://www.americanancestors.org/ancestry-of-senator-hillary-rodham-clinton/ |archive-date=December 3, 2010}}</ref> and managed a small but successful textile business, which he had founded.{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|pp=17–18}} Her mother, [[Dorothy Howell Rodham|Dorothy Howell]], was a homemaker of [[Dutch people|Dutch]], English, [[French Canadian]] (from [[Quebec]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]], and Welsh descent.<ref name="nehgs"/><ref>{{cite news |author=Smolenyak, Megan |author-link=Megan Smolenyak |url=http://irishamerica.com/2015/03/hillary-clintons-celtic-roots/ |title=Hillary Clinton's Celtic Roots |work=Irish America |date=April–May 2015}}</ref><ref name="brock-4"/> She had two younger brothers, [[Hugh Rodham (born 1950)|Hugh]] and [[Tony Rodham|Tony]].{{sfn|Gerth|Van Natta|2007|p=14}}

As a child, Rodham was a favorite student among her teachers at the [[Park Ridge-Niles School District 64|public schools she attended]] in Park Ridge.{{sfnm |1a1=Bernstein |1y=2007 |1p=29 |2a1=Morris |2y=1996 |2p=113}} She participated in swimming and softball and earned numerous badges as a [[Brownie (Girl Guides)|Brownie]] and a [[Girl Scouts of the USA|Girl Scout]].{{sfnm |1a1=Bernstein |1y=2007 |1p=29 |2a1=Morris |2y=1996 |2p=113}} She was inspired by U.S. efforts during the [[Space Race]] and sent a letter to [[NASA]] around 1961 asking what she could do to become an astronaut, only to be informed that women were not being accepted into the program.<ref>{{cite news |author=Lee, Michelle Ye Hee |date=November 30, 2015 |title=Hillary Clinton's often-told story that NASA rejected her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/30/hillary-clintons-often-told-story-that-nasa-rejected-her-childhood-dream-of-becoming-a-female-astronaut/}}</ref> She attended [[Maine South High School]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Kenny |first1=Caroline |last2=Cen |first2=Jasmine |date=2016-07-06 |title=Hillary Clinton's high school legacy lives on at Maine South |url=https://dc.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2016/07/06/hillary-clintons-high-school-legacy-lives-on-at-maine-south/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=Medill News Service |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-27 |title=Hillary Clinton wins Maine South High School mock election |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/ct-prh-maine-south-election-tl-1103-20161027-story.html |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> where she participated in the [[student council]] and school newspaper and was selected for the [[National Honor Society]].<ref name="Whitehouse.gov">{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/first-ladies/hillaryclinton|title=Hillary Rodham Clinton|website=obamawhitehouse.archives.gov|date=December 31, 2014|publisher=The [[White House]]|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|pp=30–31}} She was elected class vice president for her junior year but then lost the election for class president for her senior year against two boys, one of whom told her that "you are really stupid if you think a girl can be elected president".{{sfnm |1a1=Bernstein |1y=2007 |1p=30 |2a1=Gerth |2a2=Van Natta |2y=2007 |2pp=21–22}} For her senior year, she and other students were transferred to the then-new [[Maine South High School]]. There she was a [[National Merit Finalist]] and was voted "most likely to succeed." She graduated in 1965 in the top five percent of her class.{{sfnm |1a1=Bernstein |1y=2007 |1pp=30–31 |2a1=Maraniss |2y=1995 |2p=255}}

Rodham's mother wanted her to have an independent, professional career.<ref name="brock-4"/> Her father, who was otherwise a traditionalist, felt that his daughter's abilities and opportunities should not be limited by gender.{{sfn|Bernstein|2007|p=13}} She was raised in a politically [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] household,<ref name="brock-4">Brock 1996, p.&nbsp;4. Her father was an outspoken Republican, while her mother kept quiet but was "basically a Democrat." See also Bernstein 2007, p.&nbsp;16.</ref> and she helped [[Canvassing|canvass]] [[Chicago's South Side]] at age 13 after the very close [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 U.S. presidential election]]. She stated that, investigating with a fellow teenage friend shortly after the election, she saw evidence of [[electoral fraud]] (a voting list entry showing a dozen addresses that was an empty lot) against Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]];{{sfn|Gerth|Van Natta|2007|p=19}} she later volunteered to campaign for Republican candidate [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election|1964 election]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Middendorf, J. William |title=Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign And the Origins of the Conservative Movement |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-465-04573-0 |author-link=J. William Middendorf |url=https://archive.org/details/gloriousdisaster00midd }} p.&nbsp;266.</ref>

Rodham's early political development was shaped mostly by her high school history teacher (like her father, a fervent [[anti-communist]]), who introduced her to Goldwater's ''[[The Conscience of a Conservative]]'' and by her Methodist youth minister (like her mother, concerned with issues of [[social justice]]), with whom she saw and afterwards briefly met [[civil rights movement|civil rights]] leader [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] at a 1962 speech in Chicago's [[Orchestra Hall (Chicago)|Orchestra Hall]].<ref>Troy 2006, p.&nbsp;15; Gerth and Van Natta 2007, pp.&nbsp;18–21; Bernstein 2007, pp.&nbsp;34–36. The teacher, Paul Carlson, and the minister, Donald Jones, came into conflict in Park Ridge; Clinton would later see that as "an early indication of the cultural, political and religious fault lines that developed across America in the [next] forty years". (Clinton 2003, p.&nbsp;23) Several dates have been published for the King speech she witnessed, but April 15, 1962, is the most likely, see {{cite news |last1=Dobbs |first1=Michael |title=Hillary and Martin Luther King Jr. |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/hillary_and_martin_luther_king.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=December 31, 2007}}</ref>