Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is the daughter and only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and current New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Early years

Chelsea Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her name was inspired by her parents' fondness for the Judy Collins recording of Joni Mitchell's song "Chelsea Morning".^[1]

Chelsea was described as a precocious child: as a toddler, a family friend reports, as an example, that instead of saying, "I have to get a shot", she would say, "I have to get my immunizations."^[2] While in elementary school, Chelsea skipped the third grade.^[3] Her parents encouraged her academic excellence, with Bill keeping a miniature desk for his daughter in the governor's office when he was Governor of Arkansas.

In Little Rock, Clinton attended Forest Park Elementary School, Booker Arts and Science Magnet Elementary School and Horace Mann Junior High School.^[4]

Throughout her childhood, she enjoyed volleyball, cards, ping pong and movies.^[3] Chelsea became a vegetarian^[5] when she was 11 years old^[6] for health and ethical reasons.^[7]

Teenager at the White House

White House portrait of the Clinton family

Chelsea with her parents in the 1997 inaugural parade.

Clinton moved into the White House on the day of her father's first inauguration on January 20, 1993, when she was twelve years old. Chelsea's Secret Service cryptonym was Energy.^[8]

In Washington, D.C., she attended Sidwell Friends School. She was a National Merit Scholarship finalist in 1997. Having taken dance classes since she was four years old, Clinton began taking ballet courses at the Washington School of Ballet in 1993. She played the role of the Favorite Aunt in the Washington Ballet's 1996 production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Clinton is also a veteran of the Model United Nations.^[9]

On February 5, 1999, just before the Senate vote on impeachment, People ran a cover story on Chelsea Clinton. The cover story irked the First Family, as well as the Secret Service.^[10] She assumed some of her mother's White House hostess responsibilities when Hillary Clinton was running for the Senate in 2000,^[11] continuing until the end of her father's presidency on January 20, 2001.

Life after the Clinton presidency

Seeing her mother Hillary Clinton sworn in as United States Senator, January 3, 2001.

Clinton attended Stanford University. She had declared a major in chemistry with an interest in medicine before switching to history after two years.^[12] The 2004 film Chasing Liberty was said to be inspired by a photograph of Clinton at a Stanford basketball game, trying to blend in with other students.^[13] In 2001, she graduated from Stanford; her undergraduate thesis topic was the 1998 Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland.^[14] She went on to earn a Master's degree at University College, Oxford, in international relations.^[12]

In 2003, Clinton joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York City; she was the youngest person hired in her class, hired alongside those holding MBAs.^[15][12] In the fall of 2006, she left McKinsey and went to work for Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund run by Marc Lasry, a donor to Democratic causes and supporter of the Clintons. She serves on the board of the School of American Ballet. She has also served as co-chairperson of a fund-raising week and for her father?s Clinton Foundation.^[12]

Chelsea Clinton speaking to students on behalf of her mother's campaign at the University of Missouri, January 2008.

Campaigning for her mother

Chelsea Clinton speaking during a campaign stop at Cal Poly for her mother, February 2008

Until Hillary Clinton began her presidential campaign, Chelsea had never publicly commented about any of her parents' policies or public statements. But she did begin to rally support for her mother and speak publicly on her behalf. In May 2006, Hillary publicly apologized to her daughter for critical remarks she made about young people's work ethic, after Chelsea privately took exception to her mother's comments.^[17]

In December 2007, she began to campaign for her mother's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa before the January caucuses, greeting potential voters in Des Moines.^[18] Since then, she has campaigned for her mother extensively across the country, largely on college campuses.^[19][20][21] By early April 2008 she had spoken at 100 college campuses on behalf of her mother's candidacy.^[22] During the campaign, Philippe Reines, Hillary's press secretary, often shadowed Chelsea during her public appearances, attempting to deflect "...hangers-on, swooning frat boys and, mostly, looming trouble in the form of microphones, cameras and notepads".^[23]

Chelsea's blanket refusal to speak to any media members has been noted. In December 2007, she refused to answer a question from a 9-year-old ?kid reporter? named Sydney Rieckhoff from Scholastic News who asked whether she thought her father would be a good ?first man.?^[24][25] Chelsea replied, ?I?m sorry, I don?t talk to the press, and that applies to you, unfortunately ? even though I think you?re cute.?^[25][24] Controversy arose when MSNBC?s David Shuster said that Chelsea was being ?pimped out? by her parents for the campaign. Shuster was later suspended for his remarks.^[23] Chelsea introduced her mother on August 26 at the 2008 Democratic Convention.

References

External links

• Chelsea Clinton News and Blogs

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