A Girl Named Hillary

• Growing up in Park Ridge
• Do All the Good You Can
• Being a Girl
• Winning and Losing
• Lawyer, Mother, First Lady
• Never Give Up
• A Girl Named Alena

Growing up in Park Ridge

Hillary Diane Rodham was born in Chicago on October 26th, 1947. When she was three her parents moved to Park Ridge, Illinois. She grew up with her two younger brothers, Hugh Jr., and Tony. Their dad, Hugh, worked very hard and expected the kids to always pitch in around the house. The three kids always had a long list of chores. He was also very careful about money, and Hillary and her brothers did not often get new clothes.

Hillary’s mom, Dorothy, stayed home to take care of the children. She knew she always wanted her daughter to be strong and brave. When Hillary was four years old, her mom convinced her to stand up for herself against a girl named Suzy that was making her afraid to go outside. Hillary was probably scared, but she stood up to Suzy, and she learned to never back down from a challenge.

Do All the Good You Can

Hillary’s mom also taught her the importance of helping those who were less fortunate. Dorothy always repeated the following in church: “Do all the good you can for all the people you can, and all the ways you can.”

Hillary remembered this message when their church asked for volunteers to babysit for families of farmers. Although she was only eleven, she raised her hand. Spending time with these families made Hillary realize how fortunate she and her friends were to have money.

When she was twelve years old, Hillary organized a backyard carnival to raise money for charity to help others pay for food, shelter, and other things they needed. Kids from all over paid to play games and sports. The money raised was given to the United Way. The local newspaper even printed a story about it.

Hillary continued to work hard at whatever she did. She earned many merit badges as a Brownie and a Girl Scout. Every week, Dorothy would take Hillary to the library. She loved working her way through the books in the children’s section.

Being a Girl

Hillary worked just as hard at things she wasn’t naturally good at. She loved playing baseball but she had trouble hitting the ball due to her poor vision. Her father helped by spending hours pitching balls to his daughter until she learned to hit. In fact, Hugh included Hillary in all of the activities he did with his sons. This included fishing, shooting tin cans, and playing sports at the family’s cabin in Pennsylvania.

From a young age, Hillary was very ambitious. She always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. When Hillary was little, she and her brother used to pretend they were on missions to Mars—with Hillary at the controls. When she was fourteen, Hillary sent a letter to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She wanted to find out how she could get into an astronaut training program. Unfortunately, they responded that she couldn’t because she was a girl. There were no women astronauts, and the government had no plans to change that. This came as a shock to Hillary, who had been raised to believe she could do anything she wanted to. And this wouldn’t be the last time she was treated unfairly just because she was a girl.

Winning and Losing

Hillary was also interested in the student government at her school. After she was elected vice president of her junior class, she decided to run for class president during her senior year. She was disappointed when she lost. And she was only more frustrated when she learned that she lost simply because she was a girl.

But Hillary didn’t give up. She went off to Wellesley College, an all-female school outside of Boston. First she was chosen as a class representative. Then 3 years later, she ran for president of the student government and won!

Hillary fought for students to have more choice in the kinds of classes they could take. She supported having more African American students and professors at the school. She won these battles by talking with and standing up to the adult leaders who ran the college. But fighting for her classmates wasn’t the only way she stood up for what she believed in. In 1969, Hillary was the first student to speak at the Wellesley College graduation ceremony. Instead of using her time to praise herself or the school, she talked about the problems that continued to exist in the United States. No one expected a woman to be so outspoken.

Just like with the little girl who bullied her when she was a kid, Hillary showed courage by being bold during her speech. It was so powerful it made the news! She was talked about in newspapers and on TV throughout the country.

Lawyer, Mother, First Lady

After college, Hillary attended Yale Law School. At that time, many people thought women should be homemakers, teachers, or nurses, but not lawyers. But Hillary disagreed. She knew that as a lawyer she could fight for fairness and help people in need. She even met her future husband, Bill Clinton, in one of her classes.

Bill and Hillary were married in Arkansas in 1975. She joined the Rose Law Firm a year later, and Bill went on to become the governor of Arkansas. The two became parents to their daughter, Chelsea, in 1980.

Even after Chelsea was born, Hillary continued to work as a lawyer. She loved children and wanted to help them. She worked for the Children’s Defense Fund, an organization that helps children in need. She went door to door to find out why a lot of kids, especially those with disabilities, were missing so much school. She took the information she gathered and it led to a brand new law requiring public schools to do a better job of educating these students. As a lawyer, Hillary took on a lot of cases for children, even if their families couldn’t afford to pay her.

When Bill became president in 1993, the Clintons moved from Arkansas to the White House. As First Lady, Hillary continued to fight for families in need. She tried to make it possible for millions of Americans to afford to go to the doctor. She supported programs to help children get a better education. She spoke out against violence towards women and became a champion for women’s rights around the world.

Never Give Up

After eight years as first lady, Hillary became one of thirteen women in the U.S. Senate. Hillary was the first wife of a president to be elected to the Senate, and the first female senator from New York. She worked in the Senate for eight years before running for president in 2008 as the Democratic nominee. Hillary lost the first stage of the election, the primary, and Senator Barack Obama was chosen to run instead.

Soon after Obama was elected president, he asked her to be his Secretary of State. It would be Hillary’s job to help countries around the world try to solve problems. She fought for women’s rights and worked to improve the lives of people in poor countries that didn’t have food or access to medical care. In four years, Hillary visited 112 countries, more than any other Secretary of State in history.

Although Hillary always gives her all to everything she does, it doesn’t mean she always succeeds. She ran again for president of the United States in 2016 and didn’t win. Even though she lost the election, her nomination was still an enormous victory for women.

Hillary wanted young people to know the importance of believing in themselves. The message she focused on after her defeat was this: whether you’ve won or lost, never, ever give up. As she said, “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

A Girl Named Alena

There are a lot of young girls helping to make positive changes in our world today, just like Hillary Clinton did. Alena Mulhern is one of those girls.

My mom always told me that when I grow up, I could be whatever I wanted. When I was seven, I told her I wanted to be president of the United States one day. That’s when she gave me the bad news. Only people born in the United States can be president. I’m American, but I was born in China. My parents adopted me when I was a baby.

I was disappointed that an unfair law would keep me from my dream. Then I thought, Hey wait! This is America. We all have the right to use our voice and try to change things we believe are unfair.

I learned how our government works and how laws are created or changed. Then I asked all my classmates and teachers to sign a petition saying they believed in my cause.

I shared the petition (I got 120 signatures!) with lawmakers in my state, asking them to support my cause, too. The Massachusetts State House filed a resolution on my behalf and asked me to testify in person. To prepare, I typed what I wanted to say. I practiced over and over again in front of my family. On the day of my speech, I brought notes with me. I felt prepared. I’m still waiting to hear whether the resolution passes. If it does, it will go to Congress for consideration. If the resolution doesn’t pass, you can bet I’ll keep trying.