Office of the Governor
Pat Quinn
For Immediate Release
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Governor Quinn Announces Hillary Rodham Clinton Will Receive State’s Highest Award
Clinton to Join Seven to Receive the Order of Lincoln on May 3 in Chicago
CHICAGO – Governor Pat Quinn today
announced that Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will
join seven distinguished Illinoisans to receive The Order of Lincoln,
the State's highest honor for professional achievement and public
service.
“Through her decades of service, Hillary
Clinton has helped shape and improve the world more than almost any
person in our nation’s history,” Governor Quinn said. “From working on
women’s and children’s issues, to her time as First Lady, U.S. Senator,
and Secretary of State, she personifies the best that Illinois and the
United States of America can offer. We are grateful to be able to
present her with the state’s highest award and thank her for the service
she continues to provide to this day to the people across the world.”
Hillary Rodham Clinton, an Illinois native,
was raised in Park Ridge, Illinois. She served as First Lady of
Arkansas for more than a dozen years championing causes for women,
children and families. She served as First Lady of the United States
from 1993 to 2001, and advocated for health care reform and led
successful bipartisan efforts to improve the adoption and foster care
systems, reduce teen pregnancy, and provide health care to millions of
children. She also traveled to more than 80 countries as a
representative of our country, winning respect as a champion of human
rights, democracy, civil society, and opportunities for women and girls
around the world.
In 2000, Clinton made history as the first
First Lady elected to the United States Senate. She worked across party
lines to expand economic opportunity and access to quality, affordable
health care, including for wounded service members, veterans and members
of the National Guard and Reserves. After September 11, 2001, she
secured resources to rebuild New York and provide health coverage for
the needs of first responders who became sick during rescue and recovery
efforts at Ground Zero.
In 2007 and 2008, Clinton made her historic
campaign for President, winning 18 million votes, and more primaries
and delegates than any woman had before.
In her four years as Secretary of State,
Clinton played a central role in restoring America’s standing in the
world and strengthening its global leadership. Her "smart power"
approach to foreign policy elevated American diplomacy and development
and repositioned them for the 21st century -- with new tools,
technologies, and partners, including the private sector and civil
society around the world. As America's chief diplomat and the
President's principal foreign policy adviser, Clinton spearheaded
progress on many of our greatest national security challenges, from
reasserting the United States as a Pacific power to imposing crippling
sanctions on Iran and North Korea to responding to the challenges and
opportunities of the Arab Awakening to negotiating a ceasefire in the
Middle East. She pushed the frontiers of human rights and demonstrated
that giving women the opportunity to participate fully is vital to
security, stability, and prosperity.
Clinton is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School.
Clinton
will receive the award on Saturday evening, May 3, 2014, at the Field
Museum in Chicago as part of the 50th Annual Convocation of the Lincoln
Academy of Illinois. The Lincoln Academy is a non-partisan, independent
organization which administers the award and chooses each year's
honorees.
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