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Hillary Clinton’s Biggest Accomplishments: A Look at Her Life in Politics

Always an icon! Hillary Clinton may have lost the presidential election to GOP rival Donald Trump in the early hours of Wednesday, November 9, but she’s still made history as an important and influential politician and feminist. Here, Us Weekly Video looks back at her life. 

Related: PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton’s A-List Supporters

Clinton’s peers always knew that she had a bright future. The Chicago native, 69, was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, before she went on to attend Wellesley College. She’d later meet her husband, future president Bill Clinton, at Yale Law School.

Bill, 70, proposed to Hillary three times before they eventually tied the knot in 1975. “I married my best friend. I was still in awe after more than four years of being around her at how smart and strong and loving and caring she was,” he said during his speech at the Democratic National Convention in July. “[She’s] the best darn change-maker I ever met in my entire life.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrities Post 2016 Voting Selfies

In 1977, Hillary cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families nonprofit organization. Two years later, when Bill was elected governor, she became the first lady of Arkansas and kept that role for 12 years. 

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton during the third U.S. presidential debate on October 19, 2016, in Las Vegas. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The couple went on to support each other as Bill was elected president in 1993. During her eight-year term as first lady, Hillary focused on her lifelong passion: rights for women and children.

“Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights,” she famously said in Beijing in September 1995.

Related: PHOTOS: Bill and Hillary Clinton Through the Years

Hillary continued to climb in the political realm following Bill’s second term. She was elected to the Senate in 2000 (the first woman to do so from New York) and held that title from 2001 to 2009. She first ran for president in 2008 but conceded the nomination to President Barack Obama. Despite the loss, she never gave up and went on to serve as secretary of state in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013.

Following her most recent 18-month-long campaign and an ugly general-election-season battle against Trump, Hillary delivered an emotional concession speech on Wednesday morning in NYC. “This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it,” she said. “To all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. Now I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.” 

For more on Hillary, watch the video above!

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