How can you judge someone’s life fast? Especially a complex one like Hillary Clinton’s? There is a way.

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I think in the future when you vote for a president you will see visualizations of the candidates’ lives at the voting booths. It will help one decide who has lived a better life and would make a better president. I don’t think politicians are that transparent yet but inevitably they will be.

Some politicians we know a lot about not because they are exceptionally transparent, but because their long public life forced them to be so. Hillary Clinton is one of them. This timeline shows Hillary’s personal life.

Hillary Clinton’s life

Every life has a starting point – Hillary’s was in a middle class family in Chicago.

Every life has a catalyst – Hillary’s was her difficult father. When she brought home good grades in junior high, her father was unimpressed. He told her that her school must have been too easy. Undaunted, she kept studying hard, and not to please him but to prove him wrong.

Every life has a challenge, or many. Hillary’s first one came when she was 9, a nearsighted kid, she had to wear glasses. When she didn’t wear them, friends had to lead her around. She didn’t see faces. By college she sported coke bottle glasses, switching up the colors of the frames for variety.

Every life has a window of opportunity – Hillary’s opportunity came when she was chosen as her college’s graduation speaker. The Senator who spoke right before her said unfavorable things about students protesting the Vietnam War. Instead of delivering the speech Hillary prepared, she decided to call out the Senator. People in the audience squirmed in their seats surprised by her audacity, but many agreed with her words. Her speech landed her in TIME magazine. A few months later she would arrive at Yale Law school already a celebrity, of sorts.

Every life has a random chance. Hillary’s was meeting Bill Clinton. Although the hairy Arkansan did not necessarily strike her as presidential material at first, she soon recognized him as a brilliant man.

Every life has an unexpected turn. Hillary’s was marrying Bill Clinton. Normally a rational person, Hillary was more likely to choose a career in a large city over going to Arkansas to marry Bill. Her friends were advising her against the marriage. But, in her own words, she chose to follow her heart.

Every life has a path to trudge through. Hillary’s was the campaign trail where she supported Bill Clinton by managing his campaigns for over two decades.

Every life has a low point. Hillary had to face many of her husband’s alleged lovers, including those that he admitted to having sexual relations with.

Every life gets a second wind. Right after Bill Clinton’s presidency ended, Hillary became a U.S. Senator from New York.

Every life goes through extreme disappointment. In the presidential elections, Hillary lost to Obama. Although, her mother would live to see her become the Secretary of State at Obama’s request. But she did not live to see her daughter become president.

Every life goes on. Hillary goes on, and she is running for president again.

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The facts in the timeline are based on the Hillary auto-biographies and investigations of Carl Bernstein.



Hard Choices is a memoir of former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, published by Simon & Schuster in 2014, giving her account of her tenure in that position from 2009 to 2013. It also discusses some personal aspects of her life and career, including her feelings towards President Barack Obama following her 2008 presidential campaign loss to him. It is generally supportive of decisions made by the Obama administration.