17 Things You Should Know About Hillary Clinton, Who Just Announced She's Running For President
While there's been plenty of speculation surrounding her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, as of today we can officially stop asking, "will she?" Because, yeah, she will.
Hillary Clinton is officially running for president (check out her announcement video HERE).
You might think you're a Hills superfan, but you have no idea about Hillary Clinton. Here are some facts:
She's A Democrat From New York
Though she's a native of Illinois, the Clinton clan has lived in Chappaqua, N.Y. for a while now. Clinton was also the first woman elected to the New York State senate.
She's No stranger To The White House
Clinton served as the 67th Secretary of State from 2009-2013 and was also the First Lady of the United States from 1993- 2001 while her husband, Bill Clinton, was in office.
She Has One Daughter
Chelsea Clinton, who refers to herself as "Champion of all things Bill, Hillary & Chelsea," is Vice-chair of The Clinton Foundation. She was named after a Joni Mitchell song "Chelsea Morning."
And Also One Grammy
Yeah, that's a thing that happened. Clinton won a 1997 Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio of her book "It Takes a Village." Rock on?
She Was Accepted Into Two Prestigious Law Schools...
And opted for the one that was less sexist. She was accepted at both Yale and Harvard Law Schools, but when a friend said that she was trying to decide "between Harvard and their nearest competitor," the professor said "First of all: we have no nearest competitor, and secondly, we don't need any more women."
Rest assured, she picked Yale.
She's Pro Immigration Reform
She believes in immigration reform that that "keeps families together, treats everyone with dignity and compassion, upholds the rule of law, protects our borders and national security, and brings millions of hard-working people out of the shadows and into the formal economy so they can pay taxes and contribute to our nation's prosperity."
Economically, She's Got Her Eyes On The Middle Class
She's spoken on many occasions about the importance of raising the minimum wage and closing the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor.
She's Cool(ish) With Gay Marriage
Though Clinton has spoken on LGBTQ rights with support in recent years, many pundits have found she was
And Firm On Gun Control
She has been outspoken on the need for a ban of assault rifles and was a supporter of more rigorous background checks for those who seek to own weapons.
NASA Turned Her Down
Clinton wrote to the space program as a kid in the 1960's, asking how she could become an astronaut. NASA replied "we don't take girls." #ByeNASA
And Then She Tried To Join The Marines, Because Why Not?
In 1975, Hillary tried to join the Marines. The Marine recruiter rejected her on the grounds that she was “too old,” at 27, she couldn’t see very well (she wears glasses) and that she was a woman (Ew.)
She's Got Game
Clinton says she met her husband, Bill, at Yale. She got up from her desk, walked over to him and said "If you're going to keep looking at me, and I'm going to keep looking at you, we might as well know each other's names." Apparently, he couldn't remember his.
Her Memoir Is Really Long. Like, Harry Potter Long.
Clocking in at 656 pages, "Hard Choices," is just a few pages longer than the sixth Harry Potter Book (yet still a hundred pages shy of the first "Game of Thrones" book.) However it's exactly the same length as 65th Secretary of State Colin Powell's memoir. Take that as you will.
...She Used To Be A Republican!
Clinton was raised in a republican household and was the head of a local Young Republican chapter when she was young. While earning her undergrad at Wellesley, her politics started to take a more liberal shift (obviously) and by 1968 she was supporting the campaign for democratic candidate Eugene McCarthy and organizing anti-Vietnam war teach-ins.
She's A Meme
Texts from Hillary rose to popularity in 2011 with image macros featuring a shot of the then-Secretary of State look particularly unamused, typically paired with funny text message-style exchanges with famous people and politicians. Judging by her choice of twitter photos, she's into it.
Just like Madonna, We're On A First Name Basis
Studies have found that the American public and media tend to refer to Clinton as "Hillary" rather than Mrs. Clinton or any of her other titles. Media experts aren't completely certain what that means yet.
She Hugged Meryl Streep.
Clinton/Streep, 2016!