Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton was born on October 26th, 1947 in a middle class Midwestern suburban setting to Dorothy and small business owner Hugh Rodham. It is from this setting her journey began as one of the most notable political figures of her generation, the baby boom generation. From this 50’s background to grow up in, she made her transitions from Goldwater Girl to student activist to probably one of history’s most memorable First Ladies.
As she was coming of age like most baby boomers, she was living through an era of great social change, transformation, and upheaval. This no doubt, had a great impact on her life as she went through her life as wife, mother, lawyer and advocate, to her rise of an international stature as she lived through the political landscapes from Watergate to Whitewater.
As First Lady, she put her mark on domestic legislation through her influence. She traveled all around the United States to champion solutions for health care in America, the welfare of children and families, and economic and educational opportunity. She traveled the globe to speak internationally on promoting the rights of women throughout the world. She changed the role of First Lady from largely ceremonial to one of advocacy instead of cookies, tours, and Easter egg hunts.
In 2000, she became Senator of the state of New York and continued her advocacy from the halls of the Senate where she has served this nation well as well as the interests of the people of New York. She currently is a candidate for the nomination of the Democratic party for President of the United States.
Stanley Ann Dunham
Stanley Ann Dunham was born to Stanley and Madelyn Dunham (named after her father). Her family kept moving west chasing the American dream and wasn’t really a part of Eisenhower era conformity. When she was a teenager in Hawaii, she fell in love with a Kenyan from her Russian class in a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in parts of the country and they had a son, current democratic candidate for President Barack Obama.
With the help of her own parents -- and food stamps for a while -- Dunham raised Obama when his father returned to Kenya, and her second marriage to an Indonesian also ended in divorce.
She became a social Anthropologist and spent years as head of research for Women’s World Banking, bringing micro-financing to poor people in Indonesia. Nancy Barry, who was head of the bank and knew Ann well described her as “She was stubborn, hard core, decisive, convincing, deep-thinking, rigorous in her analysis. When I hear Barack talking about how we are not red states, blue states, but the United States, I think he gets that from his mother. The other capability he gets from her is the desire for healing”. Obama described her as "a lonely witness for secular humanism, a soldier for New Deal, Peace Corps, position-paper liberalism." Her mother, Madelyn Dunham, has said that Stanley Ann considered herself "an Adlai Stevenson liberal." Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng has described their mother as "a great romantic." In a new preface to the re-release of Dreams From My Father in 2004, Obama called her "the single constant in my life. "I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her," he wrote.
Dedicated to:
The late Hazel Gibson Monk, my mother and shining light. Mom, I can’t wait until we meet again wherever souls meet. Your loving son Michael
My wife Susan, companion and best friend, and mother of our two sons.
To all mothers living and deceased that have shaped our lives and nurtured us.
Happy Mother's Day