Dorothy Rodham

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's mother passed away this week at the age of 92. She, like any mother, played an influential role in her daughters life.

In her autobiography, “Living History” (2003), Mrs. Clinton recalled her mother’s hardships. “I thought often of my own mother’s neglect and mistreatment at the hands of her parents and grandparents, and how other caring adults filled the emotional void to help her,” she wrote.

Mrs. Rodham pushed her children to stand up for themselves, Mrs. Clinton said. Once, when she was 4, she went home in tears after a neighborhood girl had bullied her. “You have to face things and show them you’re not afraid,” her mother told her. If she was hit again, Mrs. Rodham advised, “hit her back.”
“She later told me she watched from behind the curtain as I squared my shoulders and marched across the street,” Mrs. Clinton wrote. “I returned a few minutes later, glowing with victory.”

A good mom influences and guides a daughter beginning at a very young age. The way Mrs. Clinton wrote about her mother, it is clear Dorothy did.