Bill Clinton gave the headlining speech on Tuesday night at the DNC, telling personal anecdotes about Hillary Clinton that many people may not know. The former president discussed her life's work as a champion for children and women's rights as well as her role as a wife and mother.
Here are some stories we heard about the first female nominee for president:
- She was raised a Republican but changed parties in college after opposing the Vietnam War and supporting the civil rights movement.
- Her Methodist youth minister once took her to Chicago to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak.
- Between college and law school, she worked cleaning salmon in Alaska (Bill failed to mention she was fired from that job [1] for asking too many questions).
- In law school, she wore flowery skirts, big glasses, and no makeup.
- She spent an extra year in law school to work at the child studies center and learn more about how she could improve the lives of kids.
- She and Bill met in law school — he proposed on a trip to Great Britain, Hillary's first time overseas. She refused and refused two more times after that before accepting his proposal after four years of dating.
- One of her missions in law school was working with union leader Franklin Garcia to help Latinos in south Texas register to vote.
- In 1997, she worked with Republican House Minority Leader Tom DeLay on a bill to increase adoptions of kids in foster care.
- She started the first legal aid clinic in Arkansas.
- The first time Bill encouraged her to run for office, she said, "Are you out of you mind? Nobody would ever vote for me."
- When Chelsea Clinton moved into her dorm in college, Hillary lined all the drawers with paper.
- In 2003, she became the first senator in New York's history to serve on the Armed Services Committee.
- She was reluctant to accept Barack Obama's offer for position of secretary of state because she liked being a New York senator so much.
In the same speech, Bill talked about how he and Hillary Clinton first met — learn more about that story here [2].