Bill Clinton, then the Arkansas attorney general, announces his candidacy for governor in 1978 as his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, looks on. Photo Credit: Associated Press
Hillary Rodham Clinton for President
Hillary Clinton made history in 1993 in becoming the first wife of a U.S. President to preserve her maiden name.
She also became the first lawyer to become the nation’s First Lady.
But if elected in 2016, she’ll no longer become the first female U.S. president using her maiden name.
Hillary Clinton's campaign informed a number of news organizations, including the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, that Mrs. Clinton prefers her maiden name “Rodham'' be dropped when referring to her in news stories.
Mrs. Clinton's maiden name has been subject to some subtle flip-flopping for several years, ever since walking down the aisle in 1975 to marry William Jefferson Clinton during a small ceremony in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Hillary wanted to keep her maiden name as a convenient way to separate their professional lives, avoid conflicts of interest, and maintain her identity.
When Bill Clinton told his mother Virginia that his new wife wouldn’t be taking the name Clinton, she reportedly broke down in tears.
Hillary always maintained Bill was the only person who never pressured her to change her name.
Mrs. Clinton continued using her maiden name in 1976, when her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected attorney general and moved to Little Rock Arkansas, the same time she joined the Rose Law Firm.
In 1978, Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas at age 32.
In 1980, when the Clinton’s daughter Chelsea was born, Arkansas newspapers reported that “Governor Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham had a daughter,’’ leaving the impression in many readers minds that the couple were not officially married.
It was about this time, when Hillary was thought too domineering and was quickly tagged: “The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock.’’
The same year Chelsea was born; Clinton lost his re-election to the statehouse.
Some argued his crushing defeat was partly due to the appearance that Bill and Hillary were two moving parts and not a unified whole.
So in 1982, when Bill Clinton announced he was again running for governor, Hillary announced she was becoming Mrs. Bill Clinton and hired a fashion consultant to advise her on her appearance. She parted ways with her signature Coke-bottled glasses in exchange for contact lenses; and began wearing silk form-fitting print dresses to give her a new and improved fashionable pizzazz when greeting constituents for her husband.
Mrs. Clinton said she would rather her husband be governor than to keep her last name.
While in the White House as First Lady, her “personal identity’’ mounted a comeback . Her standard initials for signing documents were “HRC. ‘’
In her run for the Senate in 2000, the name on the ballot read: “Hillary Rodham Clinton’’ but on the campaign trail, she was simply “Hillary,'' to distinguish herself from her scandal tainted husband.
In 2008, in her unsuccessful bid for the presidency, she campaigned as Hillary Clinton. But in her 2014 memoir, “Hard Choices’’ the book is authored by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Just this year, an analysis conducted by the New York Times reported that about 30 percent of women in recent years have decided to keep their maiden names in some way after getting married. The Times additionally found that about 20 percent keep their last name in full, while 10 percent have opted to hyphenate their two names. http://goo.gl/xLSKZA
What follows are excerpts from books written about Hillary Clinton over her decision to keep her maiden name.
• “I kept my maiden name when I married because it was important to me that I be judged on my merits…but I was not at all prepared about the concern people expressed about this decision, which we made personally.''
-“Hillary Rodham Clinton: Historic Leader’’ by Valerie Bodden
• “It was not a fierce, feminist statement, but a practical concern. It seemed like a sensible way of keeping my professional life separate from Bill's political life. I sensed this was territory I needed to walk through pretty carefully. I did not want to be perceived as a conduit to him. Not that the name wasn't an issue almost from the first moment. No sooner had Bill announced his candidacy in 1976 than a reporter asked him if he thought Hillary's use of her maiden name might hurt him politically. “I hope not'' he replied.
-“Hillary Rodham Clinton: The Evolution of a First Lady’’ by Donnie Radcliffe
In 1982, on Bill Clinton's decision to be a candidate for governor, she announced she was becoming Mrs. Bill Clinton
• “I must confess that sometimes when I hear the name Mrs. Bill Clinton, I think `Mrs. Who?'' I get a little homesick for Hillary Rodham. But I supposed she's waiting patiently inside me, and I can always pull her out when necessary, such as when if I ever get a divorce.''
-“Hillary Rodham Clinton: On The Couch: Inside the Mind and Life of Hillary’’ by Alma H. Bond
Bill Lucey
December 1, 2015
Leave a Reply