Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton at Wellesley

Learn about Hillary Rodham Clinton, class of 1969, and her years as a student at Wellesley. We are proud of all our alumnae and their accomplishments, especially at moments when they are shattering glass ceilings.

Did you know?

Hillary Rodham…

• Was the head of the Young Republicans Club, 1966-1967
• Lived at Stone-Davis Residence Hall
• Held a Washington, D.C. internship as a research assistant for the House Republican Conference during the summer of 1968
• Served as president of the College Government Association
• Was named a Durant Scholar, the College’s highest academic honor, in 1969
• Was selected by her classmates as the first-ever student commencement speaker
• Majored in political science and graduated with high honors
• Was honored in 2003 with an Alumnae Achievement Award
• Fun fact: The campus bookstore sells “What would Hillary do?” coffee mugs

Videos

Listen to audio excerpts from 21-year-old Hillary D. Rodham’s 1969 commencement speech. Her classmates selected her to be the first-ever student speaker to represent her class at commencement.

Twenty-three years after graduating, Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 delivered the commencement address to the Class of 1992, calling the occasion a homecoming and speaking about the “clarifying perspective of experience.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 addressed delegates at the 2012 Inaugural Institute of the Women in Public Service Project hosted by Wellesley College.

Watch a short film that follows Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 from her childhood in Illinois to her years at Wellesley and beyond.

Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 discusses the lessons she learned as a Wellesley College student that helped shape her future as a leader. Clinton participated in the video for the #WellesleyEffect campaign.

When a young Hillary Rodham told her mother she thought Wellesley was too challenging for her, her mother gave her this advice.

Photo credit: Wellesley College Archives

Articles and Text

• 1969 Commencement speech
• 1992 Commencement Address
• 2003 Alumnae Achievement Award
• 2012 Opening of Women in Public Service Institute
• 2014 45th Class Reunion
• Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 announces 2016 presidential run
• Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 becomes the first woman to be the presumptive presidential nominee of a major political party
• From Stephen Colbert to the New York Times, national media feature Hillary Rodham Clinton's 1969 student commencement speech
• Hillary Rodham Clinton '69 is the first woman to receive a major party's nomination for president
• Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 Will Return to Wellesley College to Deliver 2017 Commencement Address
• Wellesley Community (and Beyond) Respond to Announcement of Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 as Commencement Speaker

Media coverage of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s years as a student

• LIFE With Hillary: Portraits of a Wellesley Grad, 1969
• CBS Sunday Morning
• Boston Globe: Wellesley was a “touchstone” for Hillary Clinton
• Makers Moment: All-women’s colleges
• Boston Globe: Hillary Clinton to speak at Wellesley College commencement