Becoming Hillary

Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, IL, she was an intelligent young woman who worked hard and believed that her efforts would always be recognized and rewarded. A top-ranked student at one of the best high schools in the country, Hillary Rodham was accepted to Wellesley, where she quickly distinguished herself both academically and politically.

She was elected president of the student government; she interned in the summer of her junior year in Washington, D.C.

for the House Republican Conference under its chairman, Congressman Mel Laird from Wisconsin; and in her senior year, she was selected as the college's first student speaker at commencement, an historic event that made national headlines and put her on the cover of LIFE magazine. (Inexplicably, none of Hillary's family - not her mother, father, or two brothers - attended her college graduation from Wellesley.)

"We Don't Need Any More Women"

She was accepted at both Harvard and Yale law schools, but as Sheehy reports:

An exploratory visit to Harvard quickly soured her....A friend... who attended Harvard Law School introduced her to a distinguished older law professor. Her friend told the professor, "She's trying to decide whether to come here next year or attend our closest competitor."
Hillary later recalled..."This tall, rather imposing professor...looked down at me and said, 'Well, first of all, wedon't have any close competitors. Secondly, we don't need any more women."

She entered Yale Law School which, at the time, admitted just over forty other women in her class and had no female law professors.

According to Sheehy:

Lani Guinier, in her book about Yale Law, Becoming a Gentleman....[interviewed] women law students ...[who] described the culture of the law school as one that "emphasizes aggressiveness, legitimizes emotional detachment, and demands speed." The teaching style was one of "ritualized combat," which robbed many of the women of their voices. In Hillary's case, it seemed only to encourage her forcefulness....

Enter Bill Clinton

There's no question that Hillary's life jumped tracks when she met Bill Clinton during her second year at Yale.

Her previous relationships with men had typically taken one of two forms: they either mentored and inspired her, or they were worthy adversaries whom she viewed in a competitive - rather than romantic - light. Accomplishment, not love, fueled her. In seeking self-fulfillment in this manner, she may have also wanted to please the one man who was sparing in his praise of her - her father, Hugh Rodham.

Hillary, it can be inferred, always had in the back of her mind the idea that she might be the first female President. As Sheehy tells it, classmates at Wellesley have been quoted as saying as much. But somewhere between her own early aspirations and her initial meeting with William Jefferson Clinton, she changed her mind.

In many ways, Bill Clinton was an anomaly in Hillary's life. The future she had mapped out included pragmatic goal-setting, anticipated success, and groundbreaking achievement. She couldn't have known she would put aside her own personal ambitions to further the ambitions of a man who would push the envelope of marital fidelity and strain every definition of the word "husband."

Of course, she never anticipated or envisioned these challenges back when they first met. But really, if given a glimpse into one's future, would any of us take it? And know the failure, losses, regrets, and dreams deferred?

Losing Control

In the chapter of Hillary's Choice entitled "Prude Meets Passion," Gail Sheehey writes:

...with Bill Clinton, suddenly it wasn't going to be easy to maintain control.
He was the wild card in her well-ordered cerebral existence. For her head had always ruled over heart....She had never let her emotions run away with her. Never.

When Bill Clinton entered her world, he kicked over the applecart.

And convinced her to hitch her wagon to a political star in the making - a man whose ambitions matched or exceeded her own - a man who expected to become governor of Arkansas someday, and then run for President. Unlike other law school graduates, he didn't intend to practice law. He intended to run for public office, and made that very clear. Hillary Rodham knew all these particulars about Bill Clinton from the beginning of their relationship.

Baggage Handler

What she couldn't have known is that in getting to the White House first, he would in effect spoil it for her, making her own presidential campaign less a trailblazing journey of hope and change than a path already taken in someone else's shadow. Even before she announced her candidacy, she was already saddled with the baggage accumulated during Bill's rollercoaster ride as president.

She could no sooner extricate herself from her role as Bill Clinton's wife than she could change her gender. And because he deflected criticism with extraordinary charisma, she was left holding the bag for all the things the Clintons did wrong, and all the people his administration took up and then discarded.

Gender Bias or Clinton Bias?

This hatred of the Clintons surfaced again and again, and much of it seemed to possess strong tones of misogyny. This may be why so many have been quick to dismiss the idea of gender bias and sexism expressed against Clinton during her campaign. For many, it was nothing more than Clinton hatred. Bill was beyond their reach, so it came out against Hillary. And because Hillary had never clearly and decisively defined herself as an entity separate from her husband, she was a convenient target.