If anyone cares where Hillary Clinton grew up and what happened before she got her J.D. at Yale, go read her books. She recounts it all with deep and fond memories. Whether she nursed secret political ambition all along or it developed later, by 1992 she emerged from the chrysalis of Arkansas with her intentions fully formed.
So when I say “The early years”, I am referring to everything after Yale up to the White House. Whether she was a beautiful monarch of hope for the future of America, a hideous black moth plaguing the coal dust-stained walls of the industrial and financial elite, skillfully evading the ravenous predatory birds decimating those around her, or something in between is a matter of personal opinion.
She met Bill in 1971, but by the end of 1974 it was clear their lives were moving in different directions. During this time Bill proposed marriage, but Hillary rejected him several times as her career was developing in D.C. She knew his aim was to move back to his home state of Arkansas and begin a political career, and the independent nature of the self-made woman forced her to make a difficult choice: Bill or bail. Actually, that’s not entirely true. She failed the D.C. bar and passed it in Arkansas. These things have a way of tugging at one’s heartstrings.
If all the world's a stage, Arkansas was the Clintons' green room. Perhaps there is no better summary that that Bill made during the 1992 presidential election. Clinton took hold of a question from an audience member during a town hall debate after a pedestrian response by Bush Sr., and delivered a knockout blow that reveals deep insight into the nature of a small state like Arkansas and its political machinations. I have highlighted the important parts.
----------------
Audience Member: How has the national debt affected each of your lives, and if it hasn’t, how can you honestly find a cure for the economic problems of the common people if you have no experience in what’s ailing them?
*Bush offers a relatively pedestrian response.*
Bill Clinton: Tell me how it’s affected you again?
Audience Member: Um...
Bill Clinton: You know people who have lost their jobs and lost their homes?
Audience Member: Um, uh huh, yeah.
Bill Clinton: Well, I’ve been governor of a small state for twelve years, and I’ll tell you how it’s affected me. Every year, Congress and the president sign more laws that make us do more things and gives us less money to do it with. I see people in my state—middle class people—their taxes have gone up from Washington and their services have gone down while the wealthy have gotten tax cuts. I have seen what’s happened in this last four years when, in my state, when people lose their jobs there’s a good chance I’ll know ‘em by their names. When a factory closes I know the people who ran it. When the businesses go bankrupt I know them.
-----------------
In other words, Arkansas was relatively politically small and insular, business and politics overlapped a lot, and it is therefore an absolutely ideal place to perfect the art of weaving the social, financial and political elements into a tapestry of control. Walmart—born in Arkansas— had already opened stores across the country and was doing well in excess of $300 million in sales. Tyson Foods was another national brand as well, introducing such childhood obesity staples as the frozen breaded chicken patty and chicken planks. At the center of it all was the Rose Law Firm, which turned all the legal screws for Arkansas’ elite. It was merely a question of finding the door.
Bill had failed in an initial bid or a US Representative seat in 1972, but by 1977 they were both living in Little Rock; he as Attorney General and she as the newest member of the Rose Law Firm. Up until that time she had focussed passionately on children’s legal issues, abuse, advocacy etc., but once in Little Rock the game changed. Political ambition and influence necessarily requires legal influence and connections, and with a husband and wife covering both bases, the dinner table increasingly decided the direction of the entire state.
This is not to say that they were merely black and white chess pieces colluding for a long-range outcome. Hillary had worked for Jimmy Carter’s Indiana campaign in 1976— not exactly the behavior of someone content to be a housewife at the Rose Law Firm. As time when on, Hillary’s position at Rose became a staging ground instead of a career. How many times Hillary was the valve through which the political and financial pipeline through which government and business flowed is impossible to say, but it's almost a certainty that she opened it many times herself. Regardless, in 1978 Bill was able to parlay the relationship into the governor's mansion, and in 1979 Hillary was made a full partner with Rose. Yes, Bill lost reelection in 1980, but this was a minor blip. Two years later he was back on the job.
Hillary herself moved up in the political ranks to high-profile state appointments, and through the 1980’s secured seats on the boards of Walmart and several other important companies. All the while she was working with the Rose Law Firm which did a lot of work for the Arkansas government as well, and the phrase “conflict of interest” began to creep into conversations.
This state of affairs is simply to ridiculous to go unnoticed, and one day someone looked up and realized that the Clintons had their hands in virtually every single major Arkansas fixture there was. Hillary Rodham was now Mrs. Clinton to the public, and the questions about Hillary’s involvement and substantial influence in Rose’s dealings with the state were becoming so obvious that it took major media and political effort to assure the public that the king and queen were, in fact, wearing clothes.
Although the beloved couple were able to sell it at the time, when the issue came up in the 1992 presidential election it became clear the price was too high. In the first year of Bill's presidential term the true depth to which their fire ants had sunk their nest into Arkansas' shady political climate was summarized by a questionable real estate deal for a property known as Whitewater.
Perhaps the Clintons had simply been too successful too quickly. Perhaps in a small and tight-knit state on the highest levels like Arkansas made corruption too easy and too consequence free. Politics is a full-time job, and once you’ve made one shady deal that increases your stock, it's merely a question of maximizing profits. The one question that remains unanswered is to what degree the cheerful and motherly exterior of Hillary seen on television had actually driven the whole thing.
Bill's election win in 1978 certainly created opportunities for Hillary, but Bill wasn't the one the boards and in the law office. Ironically, she probably had more influence than he did precisely because her career development was one of connections and manipulation of circumstances rather than declaration as an executive. By 1990 when Bill was considering not running for Governor again, Hillary mulled over running herself.
Upon this sort of transmutation, Vince Foster’s address in 1993 at the University of Arkansas school of law was both summary and prophetic:
The reputation you develop for intellectual and ethical integrity will be your greatest asset or your worst enemy. You will be judged by your judgment. ... There is no victory, no advantage, no fee, no favor, which is worth even a blemish on your reputation for intellect and integrity.
An aid to Bill Clinton at that time, he undoubtedly shed light on the fact that the Clinton machine and practices described in the Twersky example were greased and churning. Shortly thereafter he would commit suicide. It is generally agreed that his slow breakdown and depression preceding it was—at a minimum— the result of realizing that political success is far more easily achieved by applying an exact inversion of that statement in principle and practice, and his experience with Clinton politics day-in and day-out gnawed away at the tree trunk of his soul until collapse was inevitable.
When the Clintons finally left Arkansas for the White House after the 1992 election victory, Hillary brought with her two children: her lovely daughter Chelsea and the mature political creature that had fattened itself by absorbing its idealistic twin of her youth.
Politics, Current Events: State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Early Years
Politics, Current Events: State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: Prologue