Feminism in the USA: A Historical Timeline
FEMINISM'S FIRST WAVE (1840–1960)
1840	(June) Women Excluded by Abolitionists Americans Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, but are barred from participating because of their gender. On the trip home, the two decide to hold a women's convention.
1841	(June) First Women to Earn Bachelor Degrees in U.S. Four women in the coed graduating class of Ohio's private Oberlin College—Mary Hosford, Mary Kellogg, Elizabeth Prall, and Caroline Rudd—make educational history when they become the first female recipients of university degrees in the U.S. Public universities don't begin admitting women until 1855.
1848	(July 19–20) Seneca Falls Becomes the "Birthplace of Feminism" Social activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton creates her "Declaration of Sentiments" for a Woman's Rights Convention in her hometown in upstate New York. With support from fellow abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass, 68 women and 32 men approve Stanton's "agenda for women's rights."
1849	(January 10) First Female Doctor After many years of determined effort, Elizabeth Blackwell is graduated from Geneva Medical School in Geneva, New York. This makes her the first woman in the U.S. to complete a course of study at a medical college and receive the M.D. degree. Blackwell educates other women as nurses, and in 1853, she and two other female doctors found the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children in Manhattan.
	"Bloomers" in The Lily Ameila Bloomer's new "ladies' journal," The Lily, champions "a move toward rational dress." One "reform costume" (designed by Elizabeth Smith Miller) is a "shorter than currently fashionable skirt" worn over "baggy trousers cuffed at the ankle." Using illustrations to increase circulation, the popular press quickly labels the new costume "bloomers."
1850	(September) First Female School of Medicine Founded by Quaker physicians, the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania provides the first medical education to women. A member of the school's first graduating class, Dr. Ann Preston, opens the Women's Hospital of Pennsylvania.
1851	(May 29) "Ain't I a Woman?" Speaking at the Akron, Ohio, Women's Convention, abolitionist Sojourner Truth contrasts the privileged lives of most feminists in the room with her life as a slave forced to work 16-hour days and give her babies away for sale. She then famously asks, "Ain't I a woman?"
1853	(September 15) First Ordained Female Minister Originally denied her Degree of Divinity by Oberlin College and refused ordination by the Congregational Church, Antoinette Louisa Brown finally becomes the pastor of the South Butler, New York, Congregational Church. In 1856 she becomes a Unitarian and marries Samuel C. Blackwell, the brother-in-law of suffragette Lucy Stone.
1855	(May 1) Marry, Not Obey  When suffragists Lucy Stone and Harry Blackwell marry, they publicly distribute texts of their wedding vows, which prominently exclude the word "obey."
	(June 25) Missouri v. Celia Celia, a slave arrested for killing her master, attempts to claim self-defense while protecting herself from rape. The defense is not allowed by the presiding judge, who rules that a man cannot trespass on his own property, and she is the man's property. The jury sentences Celia to "hang by the neck until dead."
1859	AMA Opposes Abortion With support from Susan B. Anthony and other birth-control advocates, the American Medical Association votes to oppose abortion (except to save a mother's life), and urges states to pass laws against the practice. Connecticut criminalizes abortions in 1860, and by 1900, the procedure is illegal in almost all of the U.S.
1860	1860 Census Of the 2,225,086 African-American women listed in the 1860 census, 1,971,135 are slaves.
1861	(April) Condoms Advertised in the New York Times Since Charles Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization process, reliable and affordable rubber condoms can now be mass-produced. Initially, however, feminists attack the use of condoms, preferring that contraception be exclusively controlled by women.
1865	(December 18) Thirteenth Amendment Abolishes Slavery in the U.S. Concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation will be seen as a temporary war measure, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln endorses amending the U.S. Constitution to abolish "slavery and involuntary servitude." After the amendment becomes law on December 18, 1865, female abolitionists immediately redirect their energy toward prohibition and women's suffrage.
1868	(January 1) The Revolution Is First Published In New York City, Susan B. Anthony begins publishing the weekly journal under the motto "The true republic'men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less."
	(July 9) Fourteenth Amendment Passed By Congress Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants slaves citizenship by stating: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Section 2 states: "...the right to vote...[is limited to] male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States."
1869	(July 9) AERA–NWSA Rift African-American women's loyalty to "the feminist cause" is questioned when the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) votes to support the Fifteenth Amendment granting African-American men (but not women) the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton then form the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA) to publicly oppose the amendment.
1870	(August) First Female Lawyer in the U.S. Arabella Mansfield becomes the first woman admitted to the bar in the U.S. (December 10) Wyoming Women Achieve Suffrage Wyoming Territory grants women the right to vote and serve on juries. In 1893, Colorado becomes the first state to grant women the vote.
1872	(November) Susan B. Anthony Arrested Women activists across the country appear at polling stations and are denied a ballot to vote in the presidential election. In Rochester, New York, Susan B. Anthony is arrested for illegally voting. She is subsequently put on trial without jury and convicted.
1873	(March 3) Comstock Law Congress makes it a Federal crime to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail including "contraceptive devices and information" and "abortion education materials." Twenty-four states quickly enact similar laws.
	(April 15) Bradwell v. Illinois After Myra Bradwell is denied admission to the Illinois state bar (because the "strife" of the profession would "surely destroy her femininity"), the U.S. Supreme Court determines Myra's "right to practice a profession" is not protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
1876	"Restellism" Arrest When Ann Trow Lohman is arrested under the Comstock Law for distributing "Madame Restell's" herbal-based abortifacient at her shops in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, the term "Restellism" soon becomes synonymous with chemical-induced abortions. Lohman commits suicide before she can stand trial. (July 4)  Centennial Fracas Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Jocelyn Gage disrupt the official U.S. Centennial Program at Independence Hall and present a "Declaration of Rights For Women" to acting Vice President Thomas W. Ferry.
1878	(January)  Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment Written by Susan B. Anthony, the Woman's Suffrage Amendment is introduced in Congress by California Senator Aaron A. Sargent. The bill is reintroduced each year until finally passed by Congress as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.
1896	The National Association of Colored Women Is Formed in Protest Because Southern branches of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) would not allow membership to African-American activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin's Boston-area club, she and Mary Church Terrell bring more than 100 African-American women's organizations together to work for social justice.
1900	More Women Initiating Divorce  According to the 1900 census, two-thirds of divorces are now initiated by women.
1909	(November) New York Garment Workers Strike After failed attempts to unionize the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGW) organizer Clara Lemich leads over 20,000 mostly female workers in a strike. Bringing New York's single largest industry to a standstill, most factories (but, ironically, not Triangle Shirtwaist) become unionized.
1911	(March 25) Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Nearly 150 workers (mostly female Italian or Jewish immigrants) die when the top floors of the non-union Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sweatshop catch fire in New York's garment district. Columbia University graduate student Frances Perkins witnesses victims as young as 15 jump to their deaths rather than burn alive. The factory owners are arrested for manslaughter, and membership in the ILGW swells. NAOWS Formed Josephine Dodge (wife of the automobile maker) organizes other wealthy women to join with several Catholic clergymen to form the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage (NAOWS).
1912	Bull Moose Party Welcomes Women Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes a women's suffrage plank in its party platform.
1913	(April) National Woman's Party Alice Paul and Lucy Burns originally label their group the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. After the start of World War I, their reorganized National Woman's Party (NWP) stages anti-war and women's rights protests. Thirty-three NWP members are arrested for chaining themselves to the White House fence.
1914	(May) The Woman Rebel Banned by the U.S. Post Office, Margaret Sanger's feminist publication The Woman Rebeladvocates birth control, sex education, and boycotts of groups like the Baptist and Catholic churches that "enforce subjugation by turning woman into a mere incubator." Two years later she opens the first birth-control clinic in the United States in Brooklyn, New York. Her organization grows into Planned Parenthood in 1942.
1916	(November 7) First Woman in Congress Montana Republican, suffragette, and lifelong pacifist Jeannette Rankin is elected the first female member of Congress.
1917	(February 11) Emma Goldman Arrested Advocating women's right to equality, free speech, voting, birth control, and an eight-hour work day, Russian-born anarchist Emma Goldman is arrested for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the draft. After two years in prison, she is deported to Russia. (August 28) Suffragettes Arrested at the White House Ten suffragettes vying for President Woodrow Wilson's support for women's suffrage are arrested after they chain themselves to the White House fence.
1918	(January 17–18) Trailblazing U.S. Army Nurses Die Amabel Scharff Roberts and Helen Fairchild, two pioneering U.S. Army nurses, die from war-related diseases just a day apart. Over 31,000 American women wore Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, or Signal Corps uniforms during World War I.
1919	(January 16) Prohibition Begins With the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the commercial production and sale of alcoholic beverages is made illegal and women's groups redirect their energies toward suffrage. (February 5) "America's Sweetheart" Becomes Her Own Boss Mary Pickford gives up a $10,000-a-week contract with Paramount Pictures to co-found her own production company, United Artists, with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks. In a time when movie tickets cost only a nickel, United Artists' films quickly earn over $1 million at the box office. (June 4) Congress Approves Nineteenth Amendment Congress approves Women's Suffrage and forwards the Constitutional amendment to the states for ratification. On July 18, 1919, Tennessee becomes the 38th state to approve ratification, and women have the vote. August 25) Mrs. President Wilson In the midst of a cross-country tour promoting the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, President Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke. Wilson's paralyzed condition is a closely guarded secret, and despite the president's comatose state, Vice President Thomas Marshall is never told the truth. For over a year, the country is "stewarded" by Wilson's wife Edith, who "manages" all communication with her invalid husband. (August 26)  Nineteenth Amendment Becomes Law With the absence of the gravely ill President Wilson, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Cody certifies and signs the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.
1924	Mary Bethune Becomes Head of NACWC Educator and political activist Mary McLeod Bethune uses her position as president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) to direct African Americans away from the "Party of Lincoln" (the Republican Party) and toward the Democratic Party.
1932	(May) First Woman Aviator to Cross Atlantic Ocean Flying from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland in just under 15 hours, Amelia Earhart becomes the first aviatrix to complete a solo transatlantic flight. (November) First Women Elected to U.S. Senate Arkansas' Hattie Wyatt Caraway is elected to the Senate after being appointed to serve out the term of her late husband, who died while in office. She was re-elected in 1938 and served until 1945.
1933	(January 10) Frances Perkins Becomes Secretary of Labor Recalling the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire during her acceptance speech, Frances Perkins becomes the first female member of a presidential cabinet when President Franklin Roosevelt appoints her secretary of labor.
1942	Rosie the Riveter The song "Rosie the Riveter" by Kay Kayser becomes popular. "Rosie" represents the over 20 million women working in formerly male-dominated jobs while men are off fighting overseas during World War II. Rosie is actually based on a real woman, Rose Will Monroe, a widow with two young children who assembles B-24s and B-29s in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
1943	(July) Women Warriors Formerly listed as "auxiliary support," the Women's Army Corps (WAC) becomes part of the regular army. Five WACs are even assigned to General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff, including Carmen Contreras-Bozak, the first Hispanic WAC member.  Performing similar duties in the Navy, Women Accepted in Volunteer Service (WAVES) are also permitted to fly aircraft for redeployment in the continental U.S. Minnie Spotted Wolf is the first female Native American to enlist in the Marine Corps.
1945	(June 26) Founding of the UN U.S. President Harry S. Truman appoints former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and educator Mary McLeod Bethune to the founding conference of the United Nations. Bethune is the only woman of color among the world's representatives.
1946	Postwar Realities As male soldiers return to the home front, female workers are suddenly thrust back into subservient roles. Even "Rosie the Riveter" is fired from her job. (She then takes a job driving a cab, eventually starting her own construction company and learning to fly). The postwar Baby Boom soon results, as does a huge increase in the divorce rate. According to the census, by 1950, 1,373 women out of every 100,000 are divorced, a rate three times higher than pre-World War II.
1948	(December 10) Universal Declaration of Human Rights As head of the UN Human Rights Commission, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt drafts a declaration specifically proscribing sexism and racism, and protecting "everyone's" right to vote, to privacy, to be equal under the law, and receive to equal pay for equal work. The US Department of State's "central goal of foreign policy" becomes "adherence to the Universal Declaration."
1953	(August 24) Kinsey on Cover of Time Indiana University researcher Alfred Kinsey causes controversy after the publication of his study Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.
1955	(December 1) Rosa Parks Arrested Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks launches the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott when she refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger and move to the back of the bus. She eventually comes to be known as the "Mother of the Modern-day Civil Rights Movement."
FEMINISM'S SECOND WAVE (1960–1982)
1960	Wage Disparity According to the 1960 census, compared to men in the same jobs, women earn 60 cents on the dollar. Women of color specifically earn 42 cents on the dollar compared to men.
1962	(June) Sex and the Single Girl Helen Gurley Brown's best-selling guide to financial and sexual independence for women is criticized as "obscene and horrible" by notable feminist Betty Friedan. Today Brown is commonly referred to as one of the "founders of second-wave feminism."
1963	(June 10) Equal Pay Act Political deals exclude domestics, agricultural workers, executives, administrators, and professionals from the Equal Pay Act, which is meant to do away with wage disparity between women and men. (Febrary 29) The Feminine Mystique When published, Betty Friedan's feminist manifesto, which calls for women to develop an individual identity separate from children and family, becomes a national sensation. (October) Commission on the Status of Women Report The Commission on the Status of Women, created by the President John F. Kennedy and originally chaired by the late Eleanor Roosevelt, unveils a report full of promises and directives geared toward raising women's status, but it lacks enforcement power.
1964	(July 2) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act This landmark social legislation strikes down "Jim Crow" voting laws and segregation in housing, schools, the workplace, and public facilities. Virginia Rep. Howard W. Smith attempts to turn lawmakers against the bill by adding the words "or sex" after "race," but the move backfires, resulting in the new law prohibiting sexual discrimination.
1966	(June 28–30) National Organization for Women founded Concerned that equality is being derailed by snail-paced politicians, two-dozen activists gather in Betty Friedan's hotel room during the Third National Conference on the Status of Women and form the National Organization for Women (NOW). (Fall) Masters and Johnson Researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson release a best-selling book summarizing their work on the "four stages of human sexual response."
1968	(February) National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Founded NARAL provides a combined voice for various organizations advocating access to safe abortions and a "woman's right to choose." (September 7) Miss America Protest Members of the Women's Liberation Party display posters (but do not burn bras) during the live TV broadcast of the annual Miss America contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1969	(Spring) Woman Heads Washington Post Despite feelings of "lack of confidence assigned to my gender," Katherine Graham becomes publisher of Washington, D.C.'s largest and oldest newspaper. At the time, she is the only woman to head a prominent daily. (November) The "Lavender Menace" NOW president Betty Friedan uses the phrase "lavender menace" and openly expresses her concern that the women's movement will get "hijacked" by "mannish or man-hating lesbians." When NOW fails to include the New York Chapter of the lesbian organization Daughters of Bilitis on the list of sponsors for the First Congress to Unite Women, the controversy prompts Rita-Mae Brown, Micheala Griffo, Karla Jay, and others to unite as lesbian-feminists.
1970	Wage Disparity Grows According to the latest census, women now earn 58 cents for every dollar earned by men. (May 21) First Women's Studies Program San Diego State College student Carol Rowell Council works with faculty member Dr. Joyce Nower for over a year to establish the first Women's Studies major. Today, over 650 colleges and universities offer programs in Gender Studies.
1972	(January) First Ms. Magazine Issue Founders Gloria Steinem and Letty Cotton Pogebrin title their pioneering new feminist publication Ms. Magazineafter a suggestion by Shiela Michaels, who promoted the use of the honorific alternative to "Miss" and "Mrs." a year earlier. (March 22) Contraceptive Rights In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy includes an unmarried person's right to use contraceptives. (March 22) ERA passes Originally drafted in 1923 by Alice Paul, Congress passes the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which states, "Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."   (Summer) STOP Founded Believing the ERA would give the federal government too much control in private life, Catholic Republican Phyllis Schlafly organizes the Stop Taking Our Privileges (STOP) campaign to defeat the ERA. Ten years later, the amendment dies after failing to be ratified by the necessary 38 states. (June) America's First Woman Rabbi In Cincinnati, Ohio, Sally Priesand is ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. This makes her the first rabbi in the United States and reportedly only the second in the history of Judaism. (June 23) Title IX Sex discrimination in schools is banned by the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. As a direct result, female enrollment in professional schools and sports programs escalates.
1973	(January 22) Roe v. Wade Basing their decision on the Constitutional right to privacy, the U.S. Supreme Court disallows many state and federal restrictions on abortion, effectively making the practice legal. (February) First U.S. Battered Women's Shelter Inspired by a British shelter, Women's Advocates of St. Paul, Minnesota, opens the first battered women's shelter in the U.S. (March) Our Bodies, Ourselves The Boston Women's Health Book Collective creates a feminist women's guide covering various "taboo" sexual health subjects. It's now published in more than 20 languages, and has sold over four million copies. (September 30) Billie Jean King Defeats Bobby Riggs Billed as "The Battle of the Sexes," self-described "male chauvinist" Bobby Riggs challenges number-one ranked women's professional tennis player Billie Jean King to a nationally televised match. King wins handily.
1974	(Summer) Mexican-American Women's National Organization   Originally founded by and for Mexican-American women, in 1994, the education and advocacy organization changes its name to the more inclusive MANA: A National Latina Organization. (October 28) Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) The Federal ECOA prohibits discrimination in lending because of race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, age, or gender.
1976	(Summer) Feminist Sex Wars Self-labeled "sex-positive" feminist Margo St. James, founder of the prostitutes' union COYOTE, files a lawsuit against the state of Rhode Island arguing that the existing prostitution laws are so vague that married couples should be paying fines every time they have sex. The ensuing public debate pits feminists like Camille Paglia, Carol Queen, and Betty Dodson against Women Against Violence (WAV) feminists like Dorchen Leidholdt, who argue against the "exploitive nature" of pornography and prostitution. In 1980, the Rhode Island legislature decriminalizes prostitution.
1976	(February 21) Nebraska's Marital Rape Law Nebraska challenges "marital rape exemption," a prevalent holdover from British Common Law, by making sexual assault of a wife by her husband a felony. All 50 states eventually have some version of a marital rape law.
1978	(February 10) Pregnancy Discrimination Act An amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination due to pregnancy or the future possibility of becoming pregnant. When the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 extends 12 working weeks of unpaid leave to all federal employees, most states enact similar laws. National Coalition on Domestic Violence Founded Within a year of this Washington, D.C.–based organization forming, over 250 new women's shelters are established.
1980	(March 2–8) Women's National History Week Growing out of an educational project started by Molly Murphy McGregor and other members of California's Sonoma County Commission of the Status of Women, Women's National History Week is proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter. In 1987, Congress declares March Women's National History Month. (July 17) Methodists Elect Woman Bishop Reverend Marjorie S. Matthew is elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. She is the first woman in the U.S. to sit on the governing body of a major religious denomination.
1981	(September 25) Sandra Day O'Connor Appointed Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Arizona judge Sandra Day O'Connor is seated as the first female member of the United States Supreme Court.
FEMINISM'S THIRD WAVE (1983–PRESENT)
1983	(Spring) "Womanism" Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and poet Alice Walker publishes In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose, providing a new label for "black Feminism," which grew out of disenchantment with the male-dominated civil rights movement and the white-dominated women's rights movement. This social/political philosophy posits that sexism, racism, and class oppression are inextricably bound together. (June 18-24) First U.S. Woman in Space Onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, Dr. Sally Ride becomes the first female U.S. astronaut to reach outer space. (Summer) Women in the Coast Guard The U.S. Coast Guard unequivocally states it will completely integrate women into its ranks. Other branches of the armed services slowly follow suit. The last major holdout, the U.S. Navy's submarine service, is scheduled for complete coed integration by 2012.
1984	(July 12) First Female Vice Presidential Candidate Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale asks New York Congress member Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate, and Ferraro becomes the first woman from a major political party to run for the U.S. vice presidency. (October 8) The Burning Bed Farah Fawcett stars in a controversial TV movie about a woman who uses the defense of "Battered Wife Syndrome" to escape a murder conviction for killing her husband.
1985	(Spring) First Female Tribal Leader Wilma Mankiller is elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, becoming the first woman to lead a Native American tribe.
1985–2009	Growing Female Presence in the Clergy In May 1985 Amy Eilberg becomes the first woman ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, making her the second female rabbi in the U.S. In February 1989 African-American Rev. Barbara Harris is consecrated as Bishop of the Eastern Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese, and in December 2009, Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, who is openly gay, is elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
1990	Shrinking yet Enduring Wage Disparity Women now earn 71 cents for every dollar a man earns.
1992	(November) "Year of the Woman" A record number of women run for elected office in the U.S. When the votes are counted, 48 women are in the U.S. House of Representatives, while the Senate counts six women among its ranks.
1993	(April) Take Our Daughters to Work Day Gloria Steinem's Ms. Foundation encourages parents to let daughters learn about the workplace by taking them out of school for a day and bringing them to work. In 2003, the program expands to include boys.
1992	(May 19) Quayle's "Murphy Brown Speech" During a campaign speech, Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes fictional character Murphy Brown of the eponymous TV show for her lack of "family values" when she has a baby out of wedlock. The speech quickly becomes a punch line, but newly ignites a discourse on the question "What is a family?"
1995-96	(Summer) Merlie Evers Chairs NAACP Actively becoming involved in the civil rights movement after her husband, Medgar Evers, was assassinated by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Merlie Evers is soon credited with restoring the NAACP as the leading civil rights organization in the U.S.
1996	(July 19–August 4) Summer Olympics Held in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. women earn a record-setting 19 gold (including team wins in soccer, softball, and gymnastics), 10 silver, and 9 bronze medals as a testimony to the effectiveness of Title IX. (December 5) First Female Secretary of State President Bill Clinton appoints Czechoslovakia-born Madeleine Albright as the first female U.S. secretary of state. The Senate unanimously confirms Albright by a vote of 99–0.
2008	Hillary Rodham Clinton Runs for President The former first lady and then-senator wins more primaries and delegates than any other female candidate in U.S. history before losing the Democratic nomination to Illinois Senator Barack Obama. After winning the presidential election, Obama appoints Clinton his secretary of state.

-World Trade Press