Life and times of Hillary Clinton

In 1976, Hillary Clinton worked on Jimmy Carter's successful campaign for president. She then joined the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas and, in 1977, was appointed part-time chairman of the Legal Services Corporation by Carter. (Pic: Reuters)

In 1997, she was instrumental in the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act. In 1999, she was key in the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act, which doubled federal funding for teenagers aging out of foster care. (Pic: Reuters)

The Whitewater controversy: The Clintons had lost their investment in a project called Whitewater Development Corporation. Their partners in that investment operated a savings and loan institution that retained the legal services of the law firm that Hillary worked for. Allegations were that the law firm may have been subsidizing Whitewater's losses, which if it were true, would have been a conflict of interest on Clinton's part. A final report was issued in 2000 that said there was insufficient evidence that either Bill Clinton or Hillary were involved in any criminal act. (Pic: Reuters)

The Monica Lewinsky scandal: In 1998, news broke of a sexual relationship between President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The investigation into the scandal eventually led to the impeachment of Clinton in 1998 in the House of Representatives but he was eventually acquitted by the Senate. Throughout this period, Hillary Clinton stood with her husband and presented a united front, although, later, it was revealed that she was privately furious with him and contemplated leaving him. (Pic: Reuters)

In 2000, Clinton was persuaded by members of the Democratic Party to seek the US Senate seat from New York. She went on to win the seat by a wide margin and became the only first lady in the US to be elected to public office. (Pic: Reuters)

In 2006, she won re-election. Throughout her senatorial career she served on five committees. After the September 11 terror attacks in New York, Clinton was instrumental in getting $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center site's redevelopment. (Pic: Reuters)

In 2002, Clinton voted in favour of a Resolution, which authorized President George W Bush to use military force against Iraq. (Pic: Reuters)

In 2007, Clinton announced her plans to contest for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination but conceded the when it became apparent that Barack Obama was clearly way ahead. Her 2007 vote in favour of the Iraq War Resolution and her failure to appeal to younger, educated voters contributed to her losing out. (Pic: Reuters)

Shortly after winning the US presidential election, Barack Obama nominated Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in 2009. During her term, Clinton focused on women's rights and human rights as a key initiative of the US. (Pic: Reuters)

Under her leadership, the State Department came under investigation after a deadly attack in 2012 on a US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others were killed. (Pic: AFP)

An independent panel issued a report about the Benghazi attack, which found "systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" at the State Department. Hillary officially stepped down from her post on February 1, 2013. (Pic: Reuters)

The emails controversy: In March 2015, it became public that Hillary Clinton at used her family's private email server for her official email communications as Secretary of State. Some members of Congress contended that this was against protocol. In August, the State Department cleared her of wrongdoing. (Pic: Reuters)

In April 2015 Clinton announced that she's running for president. If she's successful, Hillary would be the first woman to be elected the the US President. (Pic: Reuters)