Hillary Clinton
She shattered the highest glass ceiling in American politics, becoming the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination.
Born 1947 (age 79)·American politician and diplomat·Birthday: October 26·Baby Boomers
Biography
Hillary Rodham Clinton's life has been a relentless navigation through the corridors of American power, defined by both historic firsts and profound political battles. A graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, she was a formidable figure in her own right long before her husband's presidency, working on the Nixon impeachment inquiry and advocating for children's rights. As First Lady, she spearheaded a controversial push for healthcare reform and delivered a landmark speech in Beijing declaring that 'women's rights are human rights.' Elected as a U.S. Senator from New York in 2001, she built a reputation as a hard-working legislator. Her tenure as Secretary of State under President Obama was marked by a relentless travel schedule and the operation that located Osama bin Laden. The 2016 presidential election cemented her place in history, not for victory, but for winning the popular vote as the first female nominee of a major party, a campaign that concluded a public life spent at the center of the nation's most intense debates.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Hillary was born in 1947, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Hillary Was Born
The biggest hits of 1947
#1 Movie
The Egg and I
Best Picture
Gentleman's Agreement
Hillary's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1947Born
India gains independence; the Dead Sea Scrolls found
Gas: $0.23/galHome: $6,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Near You" — Francis CraigBest Picture: Gentleman's Agreement
1952Started school
Queen Elizabeth II ascends the throne
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $8,350Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Blue Tango" — Leroy AndersonBest Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth
1960Became a teenager
Kennedy-Nixon debates become first televised presidential debates
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,900Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Theme from A Summer Place" — Percy FaithBest Picture: The Apartment
1963Could drive
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1965Could vote
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1968Turned 21
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1977Turned 30
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Gas: $0.62/galHome: $31,800Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Tonight's the Night" — Rod StewartBest Picture: Annie Hall
1987Turned 40
Black Monday stock market crash
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $72,400Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Walk Like an Egyptian" — The BanglesBest Picture: The Last Emperor
1997Turned 50
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 60
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 70
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 79 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Served as the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, logging nearly a million miles of travel to 112 countries.
- Became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of New York in 2000.
- As First Lady, delivered the pivotal 1995 Beijing speech linking women's rights to human rights on a global stage.
- Won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, making her the first woman to lead a major-party ticket.
- Authored multiple bestselling books, including her memoir 'Living History' and 'What Happened,' on the 2016 election.
Did You Know?
Her college thesis at Wellesley was on community activist Saul Alinsky and his methods for organizing the poor.
She was the first student at Wellesley College to deliver its commencement address, in 1969.
As a child, she wrote to NASA asking how to become an astronaut and was told they did not accept women.
She is a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
She once won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio version of her book 'It Takes a Village.'
“Women's rights are human rights.”
