Hillary Rodham was raised in Park Ridge, Illinois. She graduated from Wellesley College, where she initially served as President of the College Republicans. She switched parties after attending the Wellesley in Washington program at the urging of Professor Alan Schechter, and wrote her thesis on leftist organizer Saul Alinsky. She then attended Yale University Law School, where she met her future husband. Following law school she joined the legal staff advising the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, serving the committee during the Watergate scandal and while the committee adopted the articles of impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon. It was at this time that she made the acquaintance of Bernard Nussbaum, future White House Counsel for President Clinton.

Following her service to the Judiciary Committee, she departed for Arkansas, where in 1975 she joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas Law School, and married Bill Clinton.

In 1976 Bill Clinton was elected Arkansas State Attorney General and Hillary joined the Rose Law Firm as an attorney. Partners at the firm included Webster Hubbell, who eventually served in the U.S. Justice Department as Associate Attorney General during the Clinton Administration, and Vincent Foster, Jr..

In 1978 Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas and Hillary Clinton became First Lady