Arlene Antonio-Song

*See also: Presidency of Arlene Antonio-Song*

**Arlene-Marisol Antonio-Song** (born December 12, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2000 to 2001 and as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2000. Following her presidency, she who served as a U.S. Senator from the Northwest from 2001 to 2002. She is the first female and first Asian American vice president and president in U.S. history and is a self-described Rockefeller Republican.

Antonio-Song assumed the presidency following the resignation of Harvey Jones on January 20, 2000, and left office one year later following the 2000 presidential election to take her seat in the Senate, which she resigned one year later. Due to her marriage to the incumbent vice president, Clay Jones, she is the Second Lady of the United States.

## Early life and education

Arlene-Marisol Antonio-Song was born on December 12, 1955, in Pearl City, Hawaii. Her parents are Arlo Maximo Antonio and Enid Gwendolyn "Gwynnie" Antonio-Song. Her father, born in the Philippines, was a trauma surgeon in the United States Navy before settling in Pearl City to accept a job at a naval hospital, while her mother, who is of Chinese-Korean descent, was a renowned polyglot who could speak as many as eleven languages by the age of sixteen. At the age of 29, her mother accepted a teaching job at a university in Hawaii, where she met her husband; two quickly engaged in a relationship and got married the next month.

Arlene was the third of five children, growing up with two older brothers and two younger sisters. Arlene attended the Punahau School in Honolulu for kindergarten and first grade but relocated to Kyoto, Japan, with her family after her father accepted a job with the Navy. She spent the rest of her primary education at the Kyoto International School. In 1967, her family relocated to Washington State, where her parents both started working at the University of Washington in Seattle; her father became the chief of surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center and her mother became a professor of world languages.

Arlene was known for being active in her high school career. She helped integrate women into her school's Key Club and was a part of many other clubs, such as Quiz Bowl and the debate team. Arlene graduated in 1973 as salutatorian, although her speech was regarded by many as more memorable than the valedictorian's.

Arlene studied biochemistry at the University of Washington with plans to go into the medical field, but in her freshman year of college, scouts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation convinced her to join the growing department, which caused her to transfer to the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There, she received her bachelor's degree in forensics in 1977 and her master's degree in criminal justice in 1979, after which she enrolled in the FBI Academy in Stafford, Virginia.

## Career in the FBI

After graduating at the top of her class, Antonio-Song started off in the FBI as a supervisory special agent. She was remembered for her unique leadership style and was known for being flamboyant which put her at odds with many leaders in the FBI. Despite this, William H. Webster, the Director of the FBI at the time, noticed her and immediately took a liking to her quirky style of leadership, which led to her appointment as the FBI's spokeswoman in 1982. After expressing her desire to return home, she was assigned as the special agent in charge in 1984 at the FBI's field office in Seattle.

Antonio-Song's main focus in her new position was tracking down the Green River Killer. Her department never caught the killer and Antonio-Song considers it to be her biggest failure in her entire career. Her department also investigated the Wah Mee Massacre.

Antonio-Song eventually became a statewide figure in Washington and was frequently seen on local media networks. In the span of three years, Washingtonians became attached to Arlene, and many in statewide Republican circles began to pressure her into running for Governor of Washington in 1988.

## Governor of Washington

After winning her campaign for Governor of Washington, Antonio-Song established herself as a Rockefeller Republican. In her tenure as Governor, Arlene Antonio-Song wrote and sponsored the most comprehensive LGBT+ rights bill in the nation, the Equal Love Act, which legalized gay marriage and provided gay adoption/surrogacy rights. Antonio-Song also wrote and passed a budget that increased the state's ecological budget by 10%.

In her time as Governor, Antonio-Song also renewed a campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment and flew to many states that did not originally ratify the amendment. She eventually got three state legislatures to pass the amendment but as of now, nothing has happened to fully ratify the ERA.

## Campaign for Vice President

After the Republican Party announced that there would be an open convention for their ticket, Antonio-Song was immediately mentioned as a possible name for the top or bottom of the ticket. On April 4th, 1992, Arlene Antonio-Song officially announced that she was running for the vice-presidential nomination for the Republican Party. Amy Choo and Max Callaway also announced their bids for the vice-presidential nomination but eventually dropped out from consideration and endorsed Antonio-Song. Antonio-Song endorsed Harvey Jones, her brother-in-law and current Governor of Michigan for the presidential nomination. Jones went on to win the nomination and with Antonio-Song created a campaign built on the message of unity and pragmatism.

The Jones/Antonio-Song campaigned further to the left as compared to any of their Republican predecessors. Many in the Republican Party began to throw around labels such as "RINO" when referring to the two but their moderate campaign attracted many Democrats. Their Democratic opposition, Hillary Rodham and Casey Booker, remained amicable with their campaign. Their debates however were very tense and strained.

## Personal life

Antonio-Song married Clay Jones one year after meeting him at a Seattle Seahawks game in 1976. The couple has 26 children together, born between 1977 and 1992. She is known for her love of nature and can regularly be seen purchasing new plants and gardening in her spare time. She is also known for her cooking abilities as well and would sometimes sneak into the White House kitchen to help the chefs.

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