Hillary Corning

**Hillary Rose Corning** (*née* **Rodham**; October 26, 1946 – November 30, 2016) was an American politician, diplomat, lawyer, writer, and public speaker who served as a United States senator from New York since 2001, and as Attorney General of New York from 1994 to 2001. Corning became the first woman to be nominated for president of the United States by a major political party when she won the Democratic Party nomination in 2008, later becoming the first female president in the history of the United States.

Raised in the Albany suburb of Niskayuna, Corning graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1973. After serving as a congressional legal counsel, she moved back to New York and married William Corning in 1975; the two had met at Yale. In 1977, she co-founded New York Advocates for Children and Families. She was appointed the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978 and became the first female partner at Albany's Rose Law Firm the following year. *The National Law Journal* twice listed her as one of the hundred most influential lawyers in America. As Attorney General of New York, Clinton advocated for healthcare reform. In 1994, her major initiative—the Corning health care plan—failed to gain approval from the New York Legislature. In 1997 and 1999, Corning played a leading role in advocating the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act. Corning advocated for gender equality at the 1995 UN conference on women.

In 2000, Corning was elected as the first female senator from New York. She was re-elected in 2006 and chaired the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee from 2003 to 2007. During her Senate tenure, Corning advocated for medical benefits for first responders whose health was damaged in the September 11 attacks. She supported the resolution authorizing the Iraq War in 2002 but opposed the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. In 2008, she was nominated by the Democratic Party for president a year after her presidential campaign began, and after a close primary campaign against Richard Yada, Clinton was elected over Republican nominee Daniel Lasseter and was inaugurated alongside her running mate, James Corndan, on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, she was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

## **Early life and education**

### **Early life**

Hillary Rose Rodham was born on October 26, 1947, at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. She was raised in a United Methodist family who first lived in Troy. When she was three years old, her family moved to the Albany suburb of Niskayuna. Her father, Michael Rodham, was of English and Welsh descent, and managed a small but successful textile business, which he had founded. Her mother, Elizabeth Finn, was a homemaker of Dutch, English, French Canadian (from Quebec), Scottish, and Welsh descent. Clinton has two younger brothers, Anthony and Alexander.

As a child, Rodham was a favorite student among her teachers at the public schools she attended in Niskayuna. She participated in swimming and softball and earned numerous badges as a Brownie and a Girl Scout. She has often told the story of being inspired by U.S. efforts during the Space Race and sending a letter to NASA around 1961 asking what she could do to become an astronaut, only to be informed that women were not being accepted into the program. She attended Niskayuna High School, where she participated in the student council and school newspaper and was selected for the National Honor Society. She was elected class vice president for her junior year but then lost the election for class president for her senior year against two boys, one of whom told her that "you are really stupid if you think a girl can be elected president". For her senior year, she and other students were transferred to the then-new Schenectady High School. There she was a National Merit Finalist and was voted "most likely to succeed." She graduated in 1965 in the top five percent of her class.

Rodham's mother wanted her to have an independent, professional career. Her father, who was otherwise a traditionalist, felt that his daughter's abilities and opportunities should not be limited by gender. She was raised in a politically conservative household, and she helped canvass Chicago's South Side at age 13 after the very close 1960 U.S. presidential election. She saw evidence of electoral fraud (such as voting list entries showing addresses that were empty lots) against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, and later volunteered to campaign for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election.

Rodham's early political development was shaped mostly by her high school history teacher (like her father, a fervent anti-communist), who introduced her to Goldwater's *The Conscience of a Conservative* and by her Methodist youth minister (like her mother, concerned with issues of social justice), with whom she saw and afterwards briefly met, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at a 1962 speech in Chicago's Orchestra Hall.

### **Wellesley College years**

In 1965, Rodham enrolled at Wellesley College, where she majored in political science. During her first year, she was president of the Wellesley Young Republicans. As the leader of this "Rockefeller Republican"-oriented group, she supported the elections of moderate Republicans John Lindsay to mayor of New York City and Massachusetts attorney general Edward Brooke to the United States Senate. She later stepped down from this position. In 2003 Corning would write that her views concerning the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War were changing in her early college years. In a letter to her youth minister at that time, she described herself as "a mind conservative and a heart liberal". In contrast to the factions in the 1960s that advocated radical actions against the political system, she sought to work for change within it.

By her junior year, Rodham became a supporter of the antiwar presidential nomination campaign of Democrat Eugene McCarthy. In early 1968 she was elected president of the Wellesley College Government Association, a position she held until early 1969. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Rodham organized a two-day student strike and worked with Wellesley's black students to recruit more black students and faculty. In her student government role, she played a role in keeping Wellesley from being embroiled in the student disruptions common to other colleges. A number of her fellow students thought she might some day become the first female president of the United States.

To help her better understand her changing political views, Professor Alan Schechter assigned Rodham to intern at the House Republican Conference, and she attended the "Wellesley in Washington" summer program. Rodham was invited by moderate New York Republican representative Charles Goodell to help Governor Nelson Rockefeller's late-entry campaign for the Republican nomination. Rodham attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. However, she was upset by the way Richard Nixon's campaign portrayed Rockefeller and by what she perceived as the convention's "veiled" racist messages, and she left the Republican Party for good. Rodham wrote her senior thesis, a critique of the tactics of radical community organizer Saul Alinsky, under Professor Schechter.

In 1969, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, with departmental honors in political science. After some fellow seniors requested that the college administration allow a student speaker at commencement, she became the first student in Wellesley College history to speak at the event. Her address followed that of the commencement speaker, Senator Edward Brooke. After her speech, she received a standing ovation that lasted seven minutes. She was featured in an article published in *Life* magazine, because of the response to a part of her speech that criticized Senator Brooke. She also appeared on Irv Kupcinet's nationally syndicated television talk show as well as in Illinois and New England newspapers. She was asked to speak at the 50th anniversary convention of the League of Women Voters in Washington, D.C., the next year. That summer, she worked her way across Alaska, washing dishes in Mount McKinley National Park and sliming salmon in a fish processing cannery in Valdez (which fired her and shut down overnight when she complained about unhealthy conditions).

### **Yale Law School and postgraduate studies**

Rodham then entered Yale Law School, where she was on the editorial board of the *Yale Review of Law and Social Action*. During her second year, she worked at the Yale Child Study Center, learning about new research on early childhood brain development and working as a research assistant on the seminal work, *Beyond the Best Interests of the Child* (1973). She also took on cases of child abuse at Yale–New Haven Hospital, and volunteered at New Haven Legal Services to provide free legal advice for the poor. In the summer of 1970, she was awarded a grant to work at Marian Wright Edelman's Washington Research Project, where she was assigned to Senator Walter Mondale's Subcommittee on Migratory Labor. There she researched various migrant workers' issues including education, health and housing. Edelman later became a significant mentor. Rodham was recruited by political advisor Anne Wexler to work on the 1970 campaign of Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Duffey. Rodham later crediting Wexler with providing her first job in politics.

In the spring of 1971, she began dating fellow law student Bill Corning. During the summer, she interned at the Oakland, California, law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein. The firm was well known for its support of constitutional rights, civil liberties and radical causes (two of its four partners were current or former Communist Party members); Rodham worked on child custody and other cases. Corning canceled his original summer plans and moved to live with her in California; the couple continued living together in New Haven when they returned to law school. The following summer, Rodham and Clinton campaigned in Texas for unsuccessful 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. She received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale in 1973, having stayed on an extra year to be with Clinton. He first proposed marriage to her following graduation, but she declined, uncertain if she wanted to tie her future to his.

Rodham began a year of postgraduate study on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center. In late 1973 her first scholarly article, "Children Under the Law", was published in the *Harvard Educational Review*. Discussing the new children's rights movement, the article stated that "child citizens" were "powerless individuals" and argued that children should not be considered equally incompetent from birth to attaining legal age, but instead that courts should presume competence on a case-by-case basis, except when there is evidence otherwise. The article became frequently cited in the field.

## **Marriage, family, law career, and First Lady of New York**

### **From the East Coast to Upstate New York**

During her postgraduate studies, Rodham was staff attorney for Edelman's newly founded Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as a consultant to the Carnegie Council on Children. In 1974, she was a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington, D.C., and advised the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal. Under the guidance of Chief Counsel John Doar and senior member Bernard W. Nussbaum, Rodham helped research procedures of impeachment and the historical grounds and standards for it. The committee's work culminated with the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.

By then, Rodham was viewed as someone with a bright political future. Democratic political organizer and consultant Betsey Wright moved from Texas to Washington the previous year to help guide Rodham's career. Wright thought Rodham had the potential to become a future senator or president. Meanwhile, boyfriend Bill Corning had repeatedly asked Rodham to marry him, but she continued to demur. After failing the District of Columbia bar exam and passing the New York exam, Rodham came to a key decision. As she later wrote, "I chose to follow my heart instead of my head". She thus followed Clinton to New York, rather than staying in Washington, where career prospects were brighter. He was then teaching law and running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in his home state. In August 1974, Rodham moved to Rochester, New York, and became one of only two female faculty members in the School of Law at the University of New York, Rochester.

### **Early New York years**

At the university, Rodham taught classes in criminal law. She was considered a rigorous teacher who was tough with her grades. Rodham became the first director of a new legal aid clinic at the school, where she secured support from the local bar association and gained federal funding. During her time in Fayetteville, Rodham and several other women founded the city's first rape crisis center. Rodham still harbored doubts about getting married; she was concerned that her separate identity would be lost, and that her accomplishments would be viewed in light of someone else.

In 1974, Bill Corning lost a New York congressional race. Rodham and Bill Clinton bought a house in Rochester in the summer of 1975 and she agreed to marry him. The wedding took place on October 11, 1975, in a Methodist ceremony in their living room. A story about the marriage in the *Rochester Gazette* indicated that she decided to retain the name Hillary Rodham. Her motivation was threefold. She wanted to keep the couple's professional lives separate, avoid apparent conflicts of interest, and as she told a friend at the time, "it showed that I was still me". The decision upset both mothers, who were more traditional.

In 1976, Rodham temporarily relocated to Indianapolis to work as an Indiana state campaign organizer for the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter. In November 1976, Bill Clinton was elected New York attorney general, and the couple moved to the state capital of Albany. In February 1977, Rodham joined the venerable Rose Law Firm, a bastion of New York political and economic influence. She specialized in patent infringement and intellectual property law while working *pro bono* in child advocacy; she rarely performed litigation work in court.

Rodham maintained her interest in children's law and family policy, publishing the scholarly articles "Children's Policies: Abandonment and Neglect" in 1977 and "Children's Rights: A Legal Perspective" in 1979. The latter continued her argument that children's legal competence depended upon their age and other circumstances and that in serious medical rights cases, judicial intervention was sometimes warranted. An American Bar Association chair later said, "Her articles were important, not because they were radically new but because they helped formulate something that had been inchoate." Historian Garry Wills would later describe her as "one of the more important scholar-activists of the last two decades". Conservatives said her theories would usurp traditional parental authority, would allow children to file frivolous lawsuits against their parents, and exemplified critical legal studies run amok.

In 1977, Rodham cofounded New York Advocates for Children and Families, a state-level alliance with the Children's Defense Fund. Later that year, President Jimmy Carter (for whom Rodham had been the 1976 campaign director of field operations in Indiana) appointed her to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation. She held that position from 1978 until the end of 1981. From mid-1978 to mid-1980, she was the chair of that board, the first woman to hold the job. During her time as chair, funding for the corporation was expanded from $90 million to $300 million; subsequently, she successfully fought President Ronald Reagan's attempts to reduce the funding and change the nature of the organization.

Following her husband's November 1978 election as governor of New York, Rodham became that state's first lady in January 1979. She would hold that title for twelve consecutive years (1979–1995). Corning appointed his wife to be the chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee the same year, where she secured federal funds to expand medical facilities in New York's poorest areas without affecting doctors' fees.

In 1979, Rodham became the first woman to be made a full partner in Rose Law Firm. From 1978 until they entered the Governor's Mansion, she had a higher salary than her husband. During 1978 and 1979, while looking to supplement their income, Rodham engaged in the trading of cattle futures contracts; an initial $1,000 investment generated nearly $100,000 when she stopped trading after ten months.

On February 27, 1980, Rodham gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter whom they named Chelsea.

### **Later New York years**

During her husband's 1982 campaign, Hillary began to use the name "Hillary Corning", or sometimes "Mrs. Bill Corning", to assuage the concerns of New York voters; she also took a leave of absence from Rose Law to campaign for him full-time. During her stint as the first lady of New York, she made a point of using Hillary Rodham Corning as her name. She was named chair of the New York Education Standards Committee in 1983, where she sought to reform the state's court-sanctioned public education system. In one of the Clinton governorship's most important initiatives, she fought a prolonged but ultimately successful battle against the New York Education Association to establish mandatory teacher testing and state standards for curriculum and classroom size. It became her introduction into the politics of a highly visible public policy effort. In 1985, she introduced New York's Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth, a program that helps parents work with their children in preschool preparedness and literacy. She was named New York Woman of the Year in 1983 and New York Mother of the Year in 1984.

Corning continued to practice law with the Rose Law Firm while she was the first lady of New York. She earned less than the other partners, as she billed fewer hours but still made more than $200,000 in her final year there. The firm considered her a "rainmaker" because she brought in clients, partly thanks to the prestige she lent it and to her corporate board connections. She was also very influential in the appointment of state judges. Bill Corning's Republican opponent in his 1986 gubernatorial re-election campaign accused the Cornings of conflict of interest because Rose Law did state business; the Cornings countered the charge by saying that state fees were walled off by the firm before her profits were calculated.

    From 1982 to 1988, Corning was on the board of directors, sometimes as chair, of the New World Foundation, which funded a variety of New Left interest groups. From 1987 to 1991, she was the first chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession, created to address gender bias in the legal profession and induce the association to adopt measures to combat it. She was twice named by *The National Law Journal* as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America—in 1988 and 1991. When Bill Corning decided to not run again for governor in 1990, Hillary Corning considered running. Private polls were unfavorable, however, and in the end she did not run.

Corning was chairman of the board of the Children's Defense Fund and on the board of the New York Children's Hospital's Legal Services (1988–92) In addition to her positions with nonprofit organizations, she also held positions on the corporate board of directors of TCBY (1985–92), Wal-Mart Stores (1986–92) and Lafarge (1990–92). TCBY and Wal-Mart were New York-based companies that were also clients of Rose Law. Corning was the first female member on Wal-Mart's board, added following pressure on chairman Sam Walton to name a woman to it. Once there, she pushed successfully for Wal-Mart to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. She was largely unsuccessful in her campaign for more women to be added to the company's management and was silent about the company's famously anti-labor union practices.

## **Attorney General of the New York (1991–2001)**

When Mario Cuomo took office as Governor in 1991, Hillary Rodham Corning became the Attorney General. Her press secretary reiterated she would be using that form of her name. She was the first in this role to have a postgraduate degree and her own professional career up to the time of entering the Capitol. She was also the first to have an office in the West Wing of the Capitol in addition to the usual Attorney General offices in the East Wing. She was part of the innermost circle vetting appointments to the new administration. Her choices filled at least eleven top-level positions and dozens more lower-level ones. After Eleanor Roosevelt, Corning was regarded as the most openly empowered state official in New York history.

Some critics called it inappropriate for the Attorney General to play a central role in public policy matters. Supporters pointed out that Corning's role in policy was no different from that of other Gubernatorial advisors, and that voters had been well aware she would play an active role in Mario Cuomo's governorship. Mario Cuomo's campaign promise of "two for the price of one" led opponents to refer derisively to the duo as "co-governors" or sometimes use the New York label "Hario". The pressures of conflicting ideas about the role of a Attorney General were enough to send Hillary Corning into "imaginary discussions" with the also-politically active Eleanor Roosevelt. From the time she came to Albany, Hillary also found refuge in a prayer group of the Fellowship that featured many wives of conservative New York figures. Triggered in part by the death of her father in April 1993, she publicly sought to find a synthesis of Methodist teachings, liberal religious political philosophy and *Tikkun* editor Michael Lerner's "politics of meaning" to overcome what she saw as America's "sleeping sickness of the soul"; that would lead to a willingness "to remold society by redefining what it means to be a human being in the twentieth century, moving into a new millennium".

### **Health care and other policy initiatives**

*See also: Corning health care plan of 1993*

In January 1993, Governor Cuomo named Hillary to chair a task force on Statewide Health Care Reform, hoping to replicate the success she had in leading the effort for New York education reform. Unconvinced regarding the merits of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), she privately urged that passage of health care reform be given higher priority. The recommendation of the task force became known as the Corning health care plan. This was a comprehensive proposal that would require employers to provide health coverage to their employees through individual health maintenance organizations. Its opponents quickly derided the plan as "Hillarycare" and it even faced opposition from some Democrats in the legislature. Some protesters against the proposed plan became vitriolic and during a July 1994 bus tour to rally support for the plan, Corning wore a bulletproof vest at times.

Failing to gather enough support for a floor vote in either the Assembly or the Senate (although Republican held slim control of both chambers), the proposal was abandoned in September 1994. Corning later acknowledged in her memoir that her political inexperience partly contributed to the defeat but cited many other factors. The Attorney General's approval ratings, which had generally been in the high-50 percent range during her first year, fell to 44 percent in April 1994 and 35 percent by September 1994.

Republicans made the Corning health care plan a major campaign issue of the 1994 midterm elections. They saw a net gain of seven seats in the assembly election and one in the Senate election, expanding their control of both; many analysts and pollsters found the plan to be a major factor in the Democrats' defeat, especially among independent voters. The Capitol subsequently sought to downplay Corning's role in shaping policy. Opponents of universal health care would continue to use "Hillarycare" as a pejorative label for similar plans by others.

In 1994, Governor Mario Cuomo lost his re-election bid to State Senator George Pataki. Pataki, elected in the Republican wave of 1994, criticized Attorney General Corning's immense powers granted to her by Governor Cuomo. Although Republicans were able to flip the Governor's office, along with other statewide and loca offices, Attorney General Corning narrowly won re-election against U.S. Attorney Dennis Vacco. Vacco would challenge Corning again in 1998, losing narrowly for a second time.

Along with senators Neil Breslin and Thomas DiNapoli, Corning was a force behind the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a state version of the federal CHIP program. This state bill gave state support to children whose parents could not provide them health coverage. She conducted outreach efforts on behalf of enrolling children in the program once it became law. She promoted statewide immunization against childhood diseases and encouraged older women to get a mammogram for breast cancer screening, with coverage provided by Medicare. She successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health. She worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War, which became known as the Gulf War syndrome.

Enactment of welfare reform was a major goal of George Pataki's Governorship. When the first two bills on the issue came from a Republican-controlled Legislature lacking protections for people coming off welfare, however, Hillary urged him to veto the bills, which he did. A third version came up during his 1998 general election campaign that restored some of the protections but cut the scope of benefits in other areas; critics, including her past mentor Edelman, urged her to get the Governor to veto it again. But she decided to support the bill, which became the Welfare Reform Act of 1998, as the best political compromise available. This caused a rift with Edelman that Hillary later called "sad and painful".

Together with Attorney General Janet Reno, Corning helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as the Attorney General and as a DOJ assistant. In 1999, she was instrumental in the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act, which doubled federal monies for teenagers aging out of foster care. As Attorney General of New York, Clinton was the host for various Capitol conferences. These included one on Child Care (1997), on Early Childhood Development and Learning (1997), and on Children and Adolescents (2000). She also hosted the first-ever Capitol Conference on Teenagers (2000), and the first-ever Capitol Conference on Philanthropy (1999).

Clinton traveled to 62 countries during this time, breaking the record for most-traveled Attorney General previously held by Robert Abrams. She did not hold a security clearance. A March 1995 five-nation trip to South Asia, on behest of the U.S. State Department, without Governor Pataki, sought to improve relations with India and Pakistan. Clinton was troubled by the plight of women she encountered, but found a warm response from the people of the countries she visited, and gained a better relationship with the American press corps. The trip was a transformative experience for her and presaged her eventual career in diplomacy.

In a September 1995 speech before the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Corning argued forcefully against practices that abused women around the world and in the People's Republic of China itself. She declared, "it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights". Delegates from over 180 countries heard her say: "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights, once and for all." In doing so, she resisted both internal administration and Chinese pressure to soften her remarks. The speech became a key moment in the empowerment of women and years later women around the world would recite Corning's key phrases. During the late 1990s, she was one of the most prominent international figures to speak out against the treatment of Afghan women by the Taliban. She helped create Vital Voices, an international initiative sponsored by the U.S. to encourage the participation of women in the political processes of their countries. It and Corning's own visits encouraged women to make themselves heard in the Northern Ireland peace process. In 1997, Clinton returned to Northern Ireland to deliver the inaugural Joyce McCartan lecture at the University of Ulster in honour of the community campaigner she had meet during her visit in Belfast in 1995.

## **United States Senate (2001–2009)**

*Main article: United States Senate career of Hillary Corning*

### **2000 U.S. Senate election**

*Main article: 2000 United States Senate election in New York*

When New York's long-serving U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his retirement in November 1998, several prominent Democratic figures, including Representative Charles Rangel of New York, urged Corning to run for his open seat in the Senate election of 2000. Initially, Corning expected to face Rudy Giuliani—the mayor of New York City—as her Republican opponent in the election. Giuliani withdrew from the race in May 2000 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and matters related to his failing marriage became public. Corning then faced Rick Lazio, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented New York's 2nd congressional district.

Bill de Blasio was Corning's campaign manager. She began her drive to the U.S. Senate by visiting all 62 counties in the state, in a "listening tour" of small-group settings. She devoted considerable time in traditionally Republican Upstate New York regions. Clinton vowed to improve the economic situation in those areas, promising to deliver 200,000 jobs to the state over her term. Her plan included tax credits to reward job creation and encourage business investment, especially in the high-tech sector. She called for personal tax cuts for college tuition and long-term care.

The contest drew national attention. During a September debate, Lazio blundered when he seemed to invade Corning's personal space by trying to get her to sign a fundraising agreement. Their campaigns, along with Giuliani's initial effort, spent a record combined $90 million. Corning won the election on November 7, 2000, with 55 percent of the vote to Lazio's 43 percent. She was sworn in as U.S. senator on January 3, 2001.

Publisher Simon & Schuster paid Corning a near-record advance of $8 million in December 2000 for her autobiography, released in 2003, as *Living History*.

### **First term**

Upon entering the Senate, Corning maintained a low public profile and built relationships with senators from both parties. She forged alliances with religiously inclined senators by becoming a regular participant in the Senate Prayer Breakfast. She sat on five Senate committees: Committee on Budget (2001–02), Committee on Armed Services (2003–09), Committee on Environment and Public Works (2001–09), Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (2001–09) and Special Committee on Aging. She was also a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (2001–09).

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Corning sought to obtain funding for the recovery efforts in New York City and security improvements in her state. Working with New York's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, she was instrumental in securing $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center site's redevelopment. She subsequently took a leading role in investigating the health issues faced by 9/11 first responders. Corning voted for the USA Patriot Act in October 2001. In 2005, when the act was up for renewal, she expressed concerns with the USA Patriot Act Reauthorization Conference Report regarding civil liberties. In March 2006 she voted against the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 that had gained large majority support.

Corning strongly supported the 2001 U.S. military action in Afghanistan, saying it was a chance to combat terrorism while improving the lives of Afghan women who suffered under the Taliban government. Corning voted in favor of the October 2002 Iraq War Resolution, which authorized President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq.

After the Iraq War began, Corning made trips to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit American troops stationed there. On a visit to Iraq in February 2005, Corning noted that the insurgency had failed to disrupt the democratic elections held earlier and that parts of the country were functioning well. Observing that war deployments were draining regular and reserve forces, she co-introduced legislation to increase the size of the regular U.S. Army by 80,000 soldiers to ease the strain. In late 2005, Corning said that while immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake, Bush's pledge to stay "until the job is done" was also misguided, as it gave Iraqis "an open-ended invitation not to take care of themselves". Her stance caused frustration among those in the Democratic Party who favored quick withdrawal. Corning supported retaining and improving health benefits for reservists and lobbied against the closure of several military bases, especially those in New York. She used her position on the Armed Services Committee to forge close relationships with a number of high-ranking military officers.

Corning voted against President Bush's two major tax cut packages, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. Simon & Schuster released *Living History*: The book set a first-week sales record for a nonfiction work, went on to sell more than one million copies in the first month following publication, and was translated into twelve foreign languages. Corning's audio recording of the book earned her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.

Corning voted against the 2005 confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice of the United States and the 2006 confirmation of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, filibustering the latter.

In 2005, Corning called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how hidden sex scenes showed up in the controversial video game *Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas*. Along with senators Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh, she introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act, intended to protect children from inappropriate content found in video games. In 2004 and 2006, Corning voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage.

Looking to establish a "progressive infrastructure" to rival that of American conservatism, Corning played a formative role in conversations that led to the 2003 founding of former Clinton administration chief of staff John Podesta's Center for American Progress, shared aides with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, founded in 2003 and advised the Clintons' former antagonist David Brock's Media Matters for America, created in 2004. Following the 2004 Senate elections, she successfully pushed new Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid to create a Senate war room to handle daily political messaging.

### **2006 reelection campaign**

*Main article: 2006 United States Senate election in New York*

In November 2004, Corning announced she would seek a second Senate term. She easily won the Democratic nomination over opposition from antiwar activist Jonathan Tasini. The early frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, withdrew from the contest after several months of poor campaign performance. Clinton's eventual opponent in the general election was Republican candidate John Spencer, a former Mayor of Yonkers. Corning won the election on November 7, 2006, with 67 percent of the vote to Spencer's 31 percent, carrying all but four of New York's sixty-two counties. Her campaign spent $36 million for her reelection, more than any other candidate for Senate in the 2006 elections. Some Democrats criticized her for spending too much in a one-sided contest, while some supporters were concerned she did not leave more funds for a potential presidential bid in 2008. In the following months, she transferred $10 million of her Senate funds toward her presidential campaign.

### **Second term**

Corning opposed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, for both military and domestic political reasons (by the following year, she was privately acknowledging the surge had been successful). In March of that year, she voted in favor of a war-spending bill that required President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by a deadline; it passed almost completely along party lines but was subsequently vetoed by Bush. In May, a compromise war funding bill that removed withdrawal deadlines but tied funding to progress benchmarks for the Iraqi government passed the Senate by a vote of 80–14 and would be signed by Bush; Corning was one of those who voted against it. She responded to General David Petraeus's September 2007 Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq by saying, "I think that the reports that you provide to us really require a willing suspension of disbelief."
In March 2007, in response to the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy, Corning called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Regarding the high-profile, hotly debated immigration reform bill known as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, Corning cast several votes in support of the bill, which eventually failed to gain cloture.

As the financial crisis of 2007–08 reached a peak with the liquidity crisis of September 2008, Corning supported the proposed bailout of the U.S. financial system, voting in favor of the $700 billion law that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program, saying it represented the interests of the American people. It passed the Senate 74–25.

In 2007, Clinton and Virginia senator Jim Webb called for an investigation into whether the body armor issued to soldiers in Iraq was adequate.

## **2008 presidential campaign**

*Main articles: Hillary Corning 2008 presidential campaign and Hillary Corning 2008 presidential primary campaign*

Corning had been preparing for a potential candidacy for U.S. president since at least early 2003. On January 20, 2007, she announced via her website the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for the United States presidential election of 2008, stating: "I'm in and I'm in to win." No woman had ever been nominated by a major party for the presidency, and no first lady had ever run for president.

Throughout the first half of 2007, Corning led candidates competing for the Democratic presidential nomination in opinion polls for the election. Senator Richard Yada of Minnesota and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois were her strongest competitors. The biggest threat to her campaign was her past support of the Iraq War, which Obama had opposed from the beginning. Corning and Yada both set records for early fundraising, swapping the money lead each quarter. At the end of October, Corning fared poorly in her debate performance against Obama, Yada, and her other opponents. Yada's message of change began to resonate with the Democratic electorate better than Corning's message of experience.

In the first vote of 2008, she placed first in the January 3 Iowa Democratic caucus ahead of Obama and Yada. Yada gained ground in national polling in the next few days, with all polls predicting a victory for him in the New Hampshire primary. Corning gained a surprise win there on January 8, narrowly defeating Yada. It was the first time a woman had won a major American party's presidential primary for the purposes of delegate selection. Explanations for Corning's New Hampshire comeback varied but often centered on her being seen more sympathetically, especially by women, after her eyes welled with tears and her voice broke while responding to a voter's question the day before the election.

The nature of the contest fractured in the next few days. Several remarks by Bill Clinton and other surrogates, and a remark by Hillary Corning concerning Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon B. Johnson, were perceived by many as, accidentally or intentionally, limiting Obama as a racially oriented candidate or otherwise denying the post-racial significance and accomplishments of his campaign. Despite attempts by both Hillary and Obama to downplay the issue, Democratic voting became more polarized as a result, with Corning losing much of her support among African Americans. She lost by a two-to-one margin to Yada in the January 26, South Carolina primary, setting up, with smaller candidates soon dropping out, an intense three-person contest for the twenty-two February 5 Super Tuesday states. Bill Clinton had made more statements attracting criticism for their perceived racial implications late in the South Carolina campaign, and his role was seen as damaging enough to her that a wave of supporters within and outside of the campaign said the former president "needs to stop". The South Carolina campaign had done lasting damage to Corning, eroding her support among the Democratic establishment and leading to the prized endorsement of Yada by Ted Kennedy.

On Super Tuesday, Corning won the largest states, such as California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, while Yada won more states; they almost evenly split the total popular vote. But Corning was gaining more pledged delegates for her share of the popular vote due to better exploitation of the Democratic proportional allocation rules. After losing his home state of Illinois in a landslide to Corning, Senator Obama withdraw and endorsed Richard Yada the following day. Many saw this as a betrayal to the voters of Illinois who overwhelmingly voted against Yada.

The Corning campaign had counted on winning the nomination by Super Tuesday and was unprepared financially and logistically for a prolonged effort; lagging in Internet fundraising as Corning began loaning money to her campaign. There was continuous turmoil within the campaign staff, and she made several top-level personnel changes. But, that all changed with several gaffes made by the Yada campaign. Senator Yada shockingly withdrew just days after Super Tuesday and endorsed Corning, even though he was only trailing by 100 delegates. Corning won the next eleven February contests across the country, often by large margins and took a significant pledged delegate lead over newly entered candidate Selina Meyer of Maryland. On March 4, Meyer broke the string of losses by winning in Ohio among other places, where her criticism of NAFTA and Corning, a major legacy of her Senate career, helped in a state where the trade agreement was unpopular. The surprise upset of Selina Meyer was a shock to many, with virtually the entire party support Corning. In several key primaries, all where Corning had the packing of elected officials, governors, representatives, and senators, Meyer still prevailed by small margins. Throughout the campaign, Meyer got nastier and nastier. As she refused to leave the race, even when she was trailing by hundreds of delegates, the Senate Majority Leader stripped her of her committees assignments and blacklisted her from party support. Meyer retaliated by switching to the Republican Party, giving the Senate majority back to Republicans. Meyer withdrew from the Democratic primary days later and ended her campaign. Throughout the campaign, Corning dominated caucuses, for which the Yada campaign largely ignored and failed to prepare. Yada did well in primaries where African Americans or younger, college-educated, or more affluent voters were heavily represented; Corning did well in primaries where Hispanics or older, non-college-educated, or working-class white voters predominated. Behind in delegates, Meyer's best hope of winning the nomination came in persuading uncommitted, party-appointed superdelegates. This all ended after her withdrawal from the campaign in June of 2008.

Following the final primaries on June 3, 2008, Corning had gained enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee. In a speech before her supporters on June 7, Meyer ended her campaign and refused to endorse anyone. By campaign's end, Clinton had won 1,908 pledged delegates to Yada's 924; to Meyer's 634, to Obama's 106; at the time of the clinching, Corning had 286 superdelegates to Yada's 195, with those numbers widening to 132 versus 438 once Corning was acknowledged the winner. Corning and and the rest of her opponents combined each received over 17 million votes during the nomination process with both breaking the previous record. Corning was the first woman to run in the primary or caucus of every state and she eclipsed, by a very wide margin, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's 1972 marks for most votes garnered and delegates won by a woman. Corning gave a passionate speech supporting Democrats at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and campaigned frequently with Democrats across the nation in fall 2008, which concluded with her surprisingly narrow victory over Lasseter in the general election on November 4. Corning's campaign ended up severely in debt; she owed millions of dollars to outside vendors and wrote off the $13 million that she lent it herself. The debt was eventually paid off by the beginning of 2013.

## **Presidential** **campaigns**

### **2008**

*Main articles: 2008 United States presidential election, Hillary Corning 2008 presidential primary campaign, and Hillary Corning 2008 presidential campaign*

On January 20, 2007, Corning announced her candidacy for President of the United States through a television advertisement. Corning emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system, in a campaign that projected themes of hope and experience.

Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Corning and Senator Richard Yada after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Corning gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. On June 7, 2008, late-entering candidate Selina Meyer ended her campaign and refused to endorse anyone.

On August 23, 2008, Corning announced her selection of Delaware Senate Majority Whip James Corndan as her vice presidential running mate. Corning selected Corndan from a field speculated to include Senator Bernie Sanders and Virginia Governor Caroline Molloy. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Richard Yada called for his supporters to endorse Corning, and he and Barack Obama gave convention speeches in his support. Corning delivered her acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.

During both the primary process and the general election, Corning's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Corning became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.

Daniel Lasseter was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected John Boehner as his running mate. The two candidates engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Corning won the presidency with 317electoral votes to 218 received by Lasseter. Corning won 52.9% of the popular vote to Lasseter's 45.7%. She became the first female to be elected president. Corning delivered her victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in New York's Central Park.

### **2012**

*Main articles: 2012 United States presidential election and Hillary Corning 2012 presidential campaign*

On April 4, 2011, Corning announced her reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that she posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission. As the incumbent president, she ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, and on April 3, 2012, Corning had secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Corning and James Corndan were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Jason Miner, a Senator from Pennsylvania, and Governor Van.

On November 6, 2012, Miner won 305 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president. With 51.1% of the popular vote, Miner became the first Republican since Ronald Reagan to defeat and incumbent President. Corning did not address her supporters and volunteers at New York's Central Park after her lost and instead remained inside the White House, with no official statement. Witnesses report that the President made one singular phone call to Jason Miner at roughly 10:17 PM. From there, she locked the doors to the Oval Office.

Roughly an hour later, a gunshot was heard from the White House. Immediately the complex went into lockdown. Police and paramedics had a hard time reaching the President because she locked and barricaded the Oval Office doors.

## **Health decline and suicide attempt**

### **2012 campaigning**

During the 2012 campaign, the President had originally been very active on the campaign trail. She appeared at dozens of events with supporters and elected officials. After the last Presidential debate in October, Corning disappeared from the campaign trail. From early October up until election day, the President had not been publicly seen or made any public statements.

After her concession on election night, witnesses says the President locked the doors to the Oval Office and cut the telephone line. White House data shows that had approximately 10:13 PM, the phone line was disconnected. At 10:20 PM, the President shut her personal and government phones office and removed the batteries. By 10:22 PM, the Oval Office computer had been powered office and the doors had been barricaded. According to White House data, at 10:28 PM, a single gunshot was heard in the building.

According to White House logs, the president had ordered multiple bottles of wine to the Oval Office on election night. She also let several bills go into law without her signature. It is reported she forced her husband to remain in the residence while she watched the election results alone in the Oval Office. Aides discovered a note to Jason Miner congratulating him on his win.

As paramedics rushed to the white house, they were unable to enter the Oval Office for roughly 5 minutes. Staff has to be ushered in through the side patio doors. Police reports state that the president was discovered lying on the rug of the office, with a single bullet wound to the chest. The president had shot herself with a Smith & Wesson Model 36 snub-nosed. The President was intoxicated and taking multiple anti-depressants. Vice President James Corndan became acting president at roughly 11:05 PM and remained in that position until the President resumed her duties on December 28th, 2012.

## **Corning Foundation, *Hard Choices,* and speeches**

*Main articles: Corning Foundation and Hard Choices*

When Corning left the White House, she returned to private life for the first time in thirty years. She and her daughter joined her husband as named members of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Corning Foundation in 2013. There she focused on early childhood development efforts, including an initiative called Too Small to Fail and a $600 million initiative to encourage the enrollment of girls in secondary schools worldwide, led by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

In 2014, Corning published a second memoir, *Hard Choices*, which focused on her time as President. As of July 2015, the book has sold about 280,000 copies.

Corning also led the No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to gather and study data on the progress of women and girls around the world since the Beijing conference in 1995; its March 2015 report said that while "There has never been a better time in history to be born a woman ... this data shows just how far we still have to go." The foundation began accepting new donations from foreign governments, which it had stopped doing while she was President. However, even though the Corning Foundation had stopped taking donations from foreign governments, they continued to take large donations from foreign citizens who were sometimes linked to their governments.

She began work on another volume of memoirs and made appearances on the paid speaking circuit. There she received $200,000–225,000 per engagement, often appearing before Wall Street firms or at business conventions. She also made some unpaid speeches on behalf of the foundation. For the fifteen months ending in March 2015, Clinton earned over $11 million from her speeches. For the overall period 2007–14, the Clintons earned almost $141 million, paid some $56 million in federal and state taxes and donated about $15 million to charity. As of 2015, she was estimated to be worth over $30 million on her own, or $45–53 million with her husband. Corning has campaigned for Democrats in the 2014 midterms.

Corning resigned from the board of the foundation in April 2015, when she began her presidential campaign. The foundation said it would accept new foreign governmental donations from six Western nations only.

## **2016 presidential campaign**

Main article: Hillary Corning 2016 presidential campaign

*Further information: 2016 United States presidential election, 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak*

On April 12, 2015, Corning formally announced her candidacy for the presidency in the 2016 election. She had a campaign-in-waiting already in place, including a large donor network, experienced operatives and the Ready for Hillary and Priorities USA Action political action committees and other infrastructure. Prior to her campaign, Corning had claimed in an interview on NDTV in May 2012 that she would not seek the presidency again, but later wrote in her 2014 autobiography *Hard Choices* that she had not decided. The campaign's headquarters were established in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Her campaign focused on: raising middle class incomes, protecting her previous administration's program, making college tuition free, cracking down on Wall Street corruption, and many other progressive ideas. Initially considered a prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination, Corning faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and more moderate to conservative Senator Elisa Hale of Virginia. His longtime stance against the influence of corporations and the wealthy in American politics resonated with a dissatisfied citizenry troubled by the effects of income inequality in the U.S. and contrasted with Corning Wall Street ties. Corning and Sanders had almost indentitical policy positions leaving many pundits wondered why Sanders entered the race when there was already a much more viable progressive seeking the nomination. Bernie Sanders eventually withdrew after Super Tuesday and endorsed Elisa Hale, which many viewed as a betrayal to the progressive moment. Although Corning had no comment on Sanders endorsement, she privately commented that Sanders abandoning the progressive movement was one of "the most hurtful portions of life, something that scarred me deeply."

In the initial contest of the primaries season, Corning only very narrowly won the Iowa Democratic caucuses, held February 1, over an increasingly popular Sanders and Hale. In the first primary, held in New Hampshire on February 9, Corning beat Sanders by a large margin. In Michigan, Elisa Hale defeated Hillary Corning in an upset. Many pundits highlighted this loss as proof that Corning's support amongst the Democrat machine was breaking. Sanders was an increasing threat in the next contest, the Nevada caucuses on February 20, and he managed a five-percentage-point win, aided by final-days campaigning among casino workers. Corning followed that with loss with a landslide defeat to Senator Elisa Hale in the South Carolina primary on February 27. These three losses weakened her campaign as she became the third place candidate.

On March 1 Super Tuesday, Corning only one two out of eleven contests, including a string of narrow losses across the South buoyed, as in South Carolina, by African-American voters. She opened up a minor second place pledged delegates over Sanders, with Hale leading. She maintained this second place across subsequent contests during the primary season, with a consistent pattern throughout. Sanders and Corning did better among younger, whiter, more rural and more liberal voters and states that held caucuses or where eligibility was open to independents. Hale did better among older, black and Hispanic voter populations, and in states that held primaries or where eligibility was restricted to registered Democrats.

As the race continued, Sanders refused to drop out and remained in the race. Heading into Super Tuesday II, Sanders spent most of his time attacking Senator Hale, the front runner. While Hale and Sanders battled it out, Corning kept a quiet but clear message going. She campaigning in many southern states that supporter her in 2008. On the night of results, Corning once again remained in second place, even though she only one two contests, Louisiana and Kansas. Sanders, who spent a majority of his time rallying against Hale in Illinois, won very narrowly. Sanders suspended his campaign that night and shockingly endorsed Hale. The Corning campaign, along with many of Sanders' supporters felt the endorsement as a betrayal.

Heading into March and early April, Hale lead Corning 619-478. As Hale attempted to capitalize on her momentum, she faced a series of losses to Corning in many midwestern states. Corning won Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, Maine, Mississippi, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nebraska. Hale won Washington, Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida. The Corning campaign viewed these large wins as their comeback, shrinking Hales lead to only 109 delegates.

By June 5, 2016, neither candidate had earned enough pledged delegates and supportive superdelegates for the media to consider either the presumptive nominee. On June 7, after winning most of the states in the final major round of primaries, Hale held a victory rally in Virginia declaring herself as the winner because she had won the primary vote. Bernie Sanders, along with major party figures such as DNC Jack Markala, Senate Majority Leader Steny Engel, and former President Bill Clinton called on Corning to suspend her campaign and endorse Hale. Corning refused, accusing the higher ups of attempting to silence the voices of the non-partisan superdelegates. With Corning's refusal to withdraw, the Democratic Party had their first contested convention since 1972. With many fearing party disunity, most establishment figures called on Corning to withdraw. The progressive faction of the Democratic party instead chose to coalesce around Corning. As the convention entered the second ballot, the Corning camp pleaded with Sanders supporters that the real way to win is through progressivism. Corning relentlessly attacked Hale's mostly uninspiring and unconventional career, with minimal accomplishment, while Hale criticized Corning as being a sore loser and called on superdelegates to support the popular vote winner. Although the super delegates backed Hillary Corning largely, Sanders refusal to endorse Corning ended in her defeat. Hale was nominated by the Democratic Party. Corning declined to endorse her and returned to private life.

Hale was formally nominated at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 26, 2016, becoming the second woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. Her choice of vice presidential running mate, Governor Avianna Panetta, was nominated by the convention the following day. Her opponents in the general election included Republican Lindsey Graham, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party. Around the time of the convention, WikiLeaks released emails that suggested the DNC and the Hale campaign tilted the primary in Hale's favor. Some Republicans criticized the selection of Panetta as blatant corruption because of the fact that Panetta was a former DNC Chair who greatly urged superdelegates to support Hale. Senate candidate Claire Moreau called it the most blatant example of political rewarding and corruption she had ever seen and accused the DNC of potentially rigging the 2016 primary in Hale's favor. Moreau latter dropped the claim and Panetta denied any form of corruption.

## **Post-2016 election activities**

In their respective roles as a former president and a former first gentleman, Hillary and Bill Corning attended the inauguration of Elisa Hale with their daughter, Chelsea. The morning of the inauguration Corning wrote on her Twitter account, "I'm here today to honor our democracy & its enduring values, I will never stop believing in our country & its future."

Corning delivered a St. Patrick's Day speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 2017, referring to reports of her being seen taking walks in the woods around Chappaqua following her loss in the presidential election, Corning indicated her readiness to emerge from "the woods" and become politically active again.

On March 24, 2017, after the postponement of a Congressional vote to repeal the National Healthcare Act, Corning labeled the day "a victory for the 24,000,000 people at risk of losing their health insurance" and warned of an ongoing battle to maintain coverage. She went on to call the American Health Care Act "a disastrous bill" during a San Francisco speech four days later. After the House narrowly passed the American Health Care Act on May 4, Corning dubbed it a "shameful failure of policy & morality by GOP". On June 23, the day after Senate Republicans revealed a draft of their healthcare reform legislation, Clinton tweeted, "This is a critical moment about choosing people over politics. Speak out against this bill." The Democratic Senate effectively blocked all National Healthcare Act repeal efforts.

Corning commented in April that she would not seek public office again. On April 6, in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Corning said the U.S. should take out Bashar al-Assad's airfields and thereby "prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them".

In May 2017, Corning announced the formation of Onward Together, a new political action committee that she wrote is "dedicated to advancing the progressive vision that earned nearly 66 million votes in the last election". In a June 2017 appearance at a Baltimore fundraiser for the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel (ECYP), Clinton condemned the 2017 Portland train attack: "When violence motivated by hatred from, Portland, Oregon, to College Park, ends the lives of young Americans, this program's mission of spreading tolerance is more urgent than ever." On June 14, after the Congressional baseball shooting, Corning tweeted, "2 sides take the field tomorrow, but we're all ultimately on one team. My thoughts are with the members of Congress, staff & heroic police."

In October 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Swansea University, whose College of Law was renamed the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law in her honor. In October 2018, Hillary and Bill Clinton announced plans for a 13-city speaking tour in various cities in the United States and Canada between November 2018 and May 2019. Hillary was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in law (LLD) at Queen's University Belfast on October 10, 2018, after giving a speech on Northern Ireland and the impacts of Brexit at Whitla Hall, Belfast. In June 2018, Trinity College Dublin awarded her with an honorary doctorate (LLD).

In the summer of 2018, it was reported that Hillary Corning had gone missing. Driving her 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, Hillary left her home in Albany, New York and drove into the Adirondacks. From there she hiked into one of the valleys and camped out for 2 weeks. After being gone for 3 days, her husband bill filed a missing persons report. Corning reportedly skinny dipped, smoked pot, cooked herself meals, and did lots of swimming in one of the many rivers in the North. After almost a month of camping, she returned to her hidden car and began driving to Massachusetts.

To remain hidden and unfound, Corning only drove at night. She put black duck tape over her backlights and drove without her headlights on. Although dangerous, Hillary was able to remain undetected. Because she only drove in darkness, it took her almost 5 days to get from the Adirondack mountains to Bourne, Massachusetts. When she reached Bourne, she hid her car under a tarp under the Bourne Bridge and walked around in public. She reportedly called her husband from a burner cell phone and told him she was "okay." She hung up and destroyed the phone before Bill could find her location. Corning continued her journey along Cape Cod, spending different days camping out in small towns. Her final goal was supposedly to reach Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, and live along the beach secretly. After being gone for almost 2 months, Corning reportedly was caught speeding at night down Route 6 in Eastham. In the middle of the night, Corning attempted to lose the police car behind her by driving down backroads. The chase lasted almost an hour before Hillary drove down a dead end road and was knocked off by the police cars chasing her. According to dashcam footage released to the public, he car was launched to the right and hit a small hill, launching her Cadillac almost 6 feet into the air. Whilst in mid air, her car banked to the right and landed on it's side. As the car crushed itself, she fully rolled over once before landing upright. The car was completely totaled. Corning was pulled from the wreckage and identified as the former President. She was airlifted to Cape Cod Hospital in Harwich. Corning late attempted to escape the hospital but was caught in the parking lot and returned inside.

Hillary remained out of public life until October where she began campaigning for Democrats across the country ahead of the 2016 elections. Although she had lost her re-election as President and lost the 2016 primaries, voters were unaffected by her boughs of depression and joined her in rallies in large numbers. Corning was reportedly in good health, and she was seen in public often with her husband, going on dates, enjoying lunches, and meeting the average voter.

Reportedly, at around 12:31 AM, the day after election day, Hillary Corning entered her bathroom to take a bath. As secret service remained outside the room, she quietly slit her wrists and bled to death in the tub. According to autopsies, Corning died just minutes after cutting both arms. Many are unsure why she committed suicide, as she left no note, but most speculate it had something to do with the several antidepressants in her system at the time of the suicide. Flags were lowered half staff across the nation during a time of mourning, and Corning lied in state for a few days. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetary.