Clinton learns from public pain, private crisis

'The Candidates: Hillary Clinton' premiered Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

With no incumbent running for the first time in decades, there is a new energy bringing voters to the primaries. So who are the candidates who have made it to this point in history, and how did they get here?

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.): I am running for president and I am in it to win it!

She could be the first woman in history to win her party's nomination and the White House.

Even though she rose to fame as first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton has never been a traditional political wife.

Sen. Clinton: I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had tea, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Presidential historian: She's always going to be a divisive force.

She's faced moments of public pain, and private crisis, and seems to get stronger. How Hillary could hang in there is one of the mysteries of her.

She went from the White House to Capitol Hill, an elected official in her own right, and now she is running hard for her husband's old job. This is the personal and political journey that has made Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton a presidential contender.

Sen. Clinton: I think it's time that we have a president that will put the American people first, and that is what I will try to do!

Sen. Clinton: If you want a winner that knows how to take them on, I'm your girl.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the most famous women in the world. As wife of the president she broke the traditional mold of first lady. She became the first working mother in the White House, the first to lead a major cabinet level policy committee, and the first to become a United States senator.

She may have surprised the country, but not her friends. Since early childhood, Hillary Rodham was singled out as the girl most likely to succeed.

Her story begins in Chicago in 1947. She is the first child and only daughter born to Hugh and Dorothy Rodham.

David Maraniss, Author, 'First In His Class': Hugh Rodham was an extraordinary character. He was very gruff; cigar smoking. He sat in the same chair every afternoon and barked out orders to his family. He wanted his children to excel and even brought a lot of that into his daughter as well.

A former coal miner, Rodham is a tough-minded Republican and devout Methodist who runs his own drapery business. He wouldn't tolerate any excuses or beating around the bush. He was straight and to the point.

As a child of divorce and a former secretary, Dorothy Rodham dreams of a brilliant career for her first born.

Maraniss: She was very smart; she read a lot. She encouraged Hillary to do whatever she could because she saw in Hillary the way to fulfill some things that she couldn't achieve herself.

She took subversive pleasure teaching Hillary how to fight with the boys.

It happens when the Rodhams move to the suburb of Park Ridge. Hillary, the new kid on the block, is a target. There was a very belligerent little girl who used to knock Hillary off her pins every time she'd go out to play.

Hillary would come home and sobbing.  And her mother would say finally, "Hillary, there's no room in this house for cowards. The next time you go out I want you to punch her back.” And dutifully Hillary marched out, just decked her.

Sen. Clinton: It was just this incredible uproar on the street. And they started pushing me around and I pushed back.

Gail Sheehy: And she ran back to the house and said, "I can play with the boys now.” And her mother said, "And the boys just love her."

Sen. Clinton: It was a particularly good lesson for a girl in those days to be told you know you cannot let life do this to you and you just have to go out there. I'm really grateful for that.

From then on, she fits right in. Hillary takes ballet lessons, rides her bike and plays softball. In Mrs. King's sixth grade English class, Hillary is the classic teacher's pet.

Rickey: She would ask questions from time to time and no one would raise their hand. So Mrs. King would look over at her and say, "Tell them Hillary!"

In high school, Hillary is driven to excel. When her freshman history teacher assigns a 20-page paper she goes further.

Paul Carlson: She wrote a 75 page term paper for me at the age of 14 with 150 note cards and 50 bibliographic cards.

She seemed more grown up, more interested in things outside of high school.

Carlson: I made the remark to Hillary's mother she seemed to know political current affairs. Her mother volunteered:  “We expect our children to talk local politics and what's going locally as well as nationally.”

Raised as a strict Methodist, as a teenager, Hillary is inspired by her church's new youth minister, who would become one of the biggest influences of her life.

Sen. Clinton: It wasn't just a lesson Sunday morning or Sunday night. We went into Chicago where we worked and played with young people very different from us racially and ethnically and in terms of their family's income.

Patsy, childhood friend of Hillary Clinton: She got quite involved. And I think that was a turning point for her involvement with the church, opening our eyes up to those kinds of things.

Reverend Jones also arranges for the group to hear Martin Luther King Junior speak, in those days, a very liberal voice by Park Ridge standards.

Dr. Don Jones (Rev.): At the time it didn't have the impact that it had as she reflected on it later when she became involved in the civil rights movement.

Because at this time in the early 60's Hillary and her family are staunch Republicans.

Carlson: This is a citizens for Goldwater miller. This was during the 1964 when Hillary was a senior. And here is Hillary's signature in her own handwriting, promising to work for Barry Goldwater.

And when she arrives at Wellesley College the following September, her politics haven't changed:

Dr. Jones: One of the very first offices she ran for, and Hillary was always running for offices, was for the President of the Young Republicans Club. She became its president.

But her time at Wellesley, the elite women's liberal arts college, will send Hillary’s life into a new direction.

The 1960s are among the most turbulent times in American history. Over the next four years, Hillary is increasingly on the liberal side of campus debates, from the women's movement to school prayer. She's elected student body president, and, by the 1968 presidential election, Hillary, once a Goldwater Republican, is campaigning for anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy.

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