Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her candidacy for the 2016 presidential race today, beginning the former Secretary of State and First Lady's second run for the White House. The announcement will mark another milestone in a long and influential career in public life that began in the late 1960s in Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and has seen her become one of the most recognised, and respected, global political operators of the past few decades.
Here we go through some key moments in the career of Hillary Clinton leading up to today's announcement.
Wellesley speech, 1969
Clinton began her political life as a Republican, raised in a Republican family in Illinois, but by the late 60s was working on the campaign of Democract Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign.
In 1969 she became the first student in history to give a commencement address at the all female Wellesely College. She followed the speech of Republican Senator Edward W. Burke, and rather than demur to the Senator she delivered a passionate speech that would place her as a symbolic voice of her generation, saying:
"We feel that for too long our leaders have used politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible. What does it mean to hear that 13.3 percent of the people in this country are below the poverty line? That's a percentage. We're not interested in social reconstruction; it's human reconstruction. How can we talk about percentages and trends? The complexities are not lost in our analyses, but perhaps they're just put into what we consider a more human and eventually a more progressive perspective."
The 60 Minutes Interview, 1992
In 1992 Hillary Clinton appeared alongside her husband, Bill, the then Governor of Arkansas and presidential hopeful. The couple were appearing on the show to answer claims of a 12 year affair between Bill and Gennifer Flowers. In the interview with Steve Kroft, Hillary said:
"I'm not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.
"I'm sitting here because I love him and I respect him and I honor what he's been through and what we've been through together. And you know, if that's not enough for people, then heck, don't vote for him.”
Women's rights speech, Beijing 1995
Clinton's own political prowess, and ambition, was evident long before she left The White House. Such was her involvement that many Republicans feared she had designs on a life as co-President.
In 1995, at a U.N. conference in Beijing, she made one of her early marks on the global stage as she attacked the lack of women's rights in China. For a visiting dignitary it would have been notable, but for the First Lady to so harshly criticise her hosts was seen as a bold move.
“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all," she told the audience in Beijing.
Melanne Verveer, Clinton’s former Chief of Staff and who had traveled to Beijing with her for the conference, later told MSNBC:
“Was she just going to throw out a softball? Was she going to not upset her hosts? Was she going to really move the ball down the field? Just what was she going to do?
“And when she stood up for all the world to hear and said, it is time to end the silence. Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. And that meant that women’s rights weren’t some subset of human rights, weren’t marginal to human rights, weren’t some separate category, but human rights and everything that that entailed for access to education, to economic participation, political participation, be free from violence.
“And I think when she came out of that setting, no matter where one stood on the political spectrum, right or left, the unanimous conclusion was that it was probably her most historic moment.”
Monica Lewinsky
In her memoir 'Living History' Clinton wrote:
"My eight years in the White House tested my faith and political beliefs, my marriage, and our nation's Constitution. I became a lightning rod for political and ideological battles waged over America's future and a magnet for feelings, good and bad, about women's choices and roles."
In December 1998 she faced her most difficult period as First Lady, when Bill Clinton was impeached on two counts by the Senate, following revelations of an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
As news of the relationship broke, Hillary Clinton initially stood by her husband, blaming the reports on 'a vast right-wing conspiracy' that was part of a 'politically motivated' move to damage her husband's career.
However, once the full truth was revealed, and Bill Clinton admitted to the affair with a statement on TV, Hillary was forced to make a very public decision about the most private of matters. While privately she was "dumfounded, heartbroken and outraged" she ultimately chose to stay with her husband.
"Although I was heartbroken and disappointed with Bill, my long hours alone made me admit to myself that I loved him. What I still didn't know was whether our marriage could or should last," she would later write.
With her second tilt at The White House on the horizon, Hillary Clinton has once again had to face the legacy of the Lewinsky scandal.
2000 Senate Race
Clinton, following a period of uncertainty and internal reflection, entered the race for the New York Senate seat in 2000. Facing Republican candidate Rick Lazio.
"Could I be afraid to do something I had urged countless other women to do? Why am I vacillating about taking on this race? Why aren't I thinking more seriously about it?
"The most difficult decisions I have made in my life were to stay married to Bill and to run for the Senate from New York...," she later wrote.
Clinton won with 55 per cent of the vote, and went on to retain her seat in 2006 with another convincing win. It wasn't long before she was setting her sights further however, as she chose to run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
2008 Presidential bid
In 2007 Hillary Clinton entered the race for the White House with a change of strategy from her first forays into elected politics - notably shunning the intimate conversations she held with voters in the run for the 2000 Senate race in favour of a more forceful image. Ultimately it led some observers to note the campaign was "more talking than listening".
Another tactic, which she appears likely to alter eight years later, is her focus on women's issues. Clinton generally played down the gender aspect of the race in 2007, although in her concession speech to Barack Obama she did tell her supporters that they had put "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling of politics.
Ultimately her campaign message of experience was eclipsed by Obama's promise of change, but reports of Clinton's campaign strategy suggest those lessons have not been forgotten.
In 2015 Clinton looks set to accentuate the potential of a first female president, in an appeal to female voters who feel they are not adequately represented in politics - a world which remains dominated by men. She also looks set to revert to her strategy of listening to middle-class voters, and those voters who want someone who can listen to their need to see social mobility improved in the US.
