She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from to , a U. A member of the Democratic Party , she was the party's nominee in the presidential election , becoming the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U. She is the only first lady of the United States to have run for elected office. After serving as a congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas and, in , married Bill Clinton. Clinton was the first lady of Arkansas from to and again from to As the first lady of the U.
In , her health care plan failed to gain approval from Congress. In , Clinton's marital relationship came under public scrutiny during the Lewinsky scandal , which led her to publicly reaffirm her commitment to the marriage. Clinton was first elected to the U. Senate in , becoming the first female senator from New York and the first First Lady to simultaneously hold elected office.
Clinton ran for president in , but lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. In , she resigned from the Senate to become Obama's secretary of state. She responded to the Arab Spring by advocating the military intervention in Libya , but was harshly criticized by Republicans for the failure to prevent or adequately respond to the Benghazi attack.
Clinton helped to organize a regime of international sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to curtail its nuclear program , which eventually led to the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in The strategic pivot to Asia was a central aspect of her tenure. Her use of a private email server as secretary was the subject of intense scrutiny; while no charges were filed, the controversy was the single-most-covered topic during her second presidential run in She won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to her Republican Party opponent, Donald Trump , in the Electoral College , while winning the popular vote.
Following her loss, she wrote multiple books and launched Onward Together , a political action organization dedicated to fundraising for progressive political groups. In , Clinton was appointed the Honorary Founding Chair of the Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University , and the awards named in her name has been awarded annually at the university.
