[The Houston Chronicle, 1995]
Taking a weekend break from official duties on her Asian tour, the
first lady escaped already-remote Katmandu and traveled two hours by
prop plane, land rover and rowboat to the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge.
first lady escaped already-remote Katmandu and traveled two hours by
prop plane, land rover and rowboat to the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge.
Later, she got to meet Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach
Mount Everest's summit in 1953.
Mount Everest's summit in 1953.
Sir Edmund Hillary, a frequent visitor and benefactor of Nepal since
his historic trek, had a brief Hillary-to-Hillary handshake at the
Katmandu airport before Clinton departed Sunday for Bangladesh.
his historic trek, had a brief Hillary-to-Hillary handshake at the
Katmandu airport before Clinton departed Sunday for Bangladesh.
The first lady said her mother had read about the famous climber and
knew his name had two L's.
knew his name had two L's.
"So when I was born, she called me Hillary and she always told me,
'It's because of Sir Edmund Hillary,'" Hillary Clinton reported.1
'It's because of Sir Edmund Hillary,'" Hillary Clinton reported.1
[The New York Times, 1995]
For her part, Mrs. Clinton confessed that her mother, Dorothy
Rodham, had read an article about the intrepid Edmund Hillary, a
one-time beekeeper who had taken to mountain climbing, when she was
pregnant with her daughter in 1947 and liked the name.
Rodham, had read an article about the intrepid Edmund Hillary, a
one-time beekeeper who had taken to mountain climbing, when she was
pregnant with her daughter in 1947 and liked the name.
"It had two l's, which is how she thought she was supposed to spell
Hillary," Mrs. Clinton told reporters after the brief meeting on the
tarmac, minutes before her Air Force jet flew past the peak of
Everest itself. "So when I was born, she called me Hillary, and she
always told me it's because of Sir Edmund Hillary."2
Hillary," Mrs. Clinton told reporters after the brief meeting on the
tarmac, minutes before her Air Force jet flew past the peak of
Everest itself. "So when I was born, she called me Hillary, and she
always told me it's because of Sir Edmund Hillary."2
Origins: During a stop in Nepal while on a south Asian goodwill tour in
April
1995, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton engaged in a brief (and reportedly
coincidental) meeting with Sir Edmund Hillary (who, along with Tenzing
Norgay, became the first person to reach the summit of the world's highest
mountain, Mt. Everest, in 1953) and told reporters she had been named
after the famed mountain climber. The notion that Ms. Clinton's given name
was inspired by the man who conquered Everest was almost certainly a bit
of fiction invented for political expediency (as many critics have noted,
Edmund Hillary didn't become world-famous until six years after Hillary
Rodham was born), but there are some subtleties to this claim which should
be considered:
Hillary Clinton said her mother, Dorothy Rodham, "had read an article
about the intrepid Edmund Hillary, a one-time beekeeper who had taken to
mountain climbing, when she was pregnant in 1947 and liked the name."
Although it is true that Edmund Hillary did not perform the feat that
made him a household name throughout the English-speaking world until
1953 (by which time Hillary Rodham was already six years old), it is
not true, as many skeptics have asserted, that Edmund Hillary was
nothing more than an obscure Auckland beekeeper until then. Even before
World War II he was already a serious mountain climber who boasted to a
friend that "some day I'm going to climb Everest," and by 1947 he was
honing the necessary skills on the peaks of the Southern Alps. It's
certainly possible young Edmund was profiled in some periodical as far
back in 1947.
April
1995, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton engaged in a brief (and reportedly
coincidental) meeting with Sir Edmund Hillary (who, along with Tenzing
Norgay, became the first person to reach the summit of the world's highest
mountain, Mt. Everest, in 1953) and told reporters she had been named
after the famed mountain climber. The notion that Ms. Clinton's given name
was inspired by the man who conquered Everest was almost certainly a bit
of fiction invented for political expediency (as many critics have noted,
Edmund Hillary didn't become world-famous until six years after Hillary
Rodham was born), but there are some subtleties to this claim which should
be considered:
Hillary Clinton said her mother, Dorothy Rodham, "had read an article
about the intrepid Edmund Hillary, a one-time beekeeper who had taken to
mountain climbing, when she was pregnant in 1947 and liked the name."
Although it is true that Edmund Hillary did not perform the feat that
made him a household name throughout the English-speaking world until
1953 (by which time Hillary Rodham was already six years old), it is
not true, as many skeptics have asserted, that Edmund Hillary was
nothing more than an obscure Auckland beekeeper until then. Even before
World War II he was already a serious mountain climber who boasted to a
friend that "some day I'm going to climb Everest," and by 1947 he was
honing the necessary skills on the peaks of the Southern Alps. It's
certainly possible young Edmund was profiled in some periodical as far
back in 1947.
However, how likely was Dorothy Rodham, a Chicago housewife, to have
seen an article about a New Zealand mountain climber? We performed a
comprehensive search of several major American newspapers (including the
Chicago Tribune) and found that none of them made any mention of Edmund
Hillary whatsoever prior to June 1953, so it's fair to say that the
American media paid him little note prior to his successful assault on
Mt. Everest that year.
Whether or not Dorothy Rodham might have come across mention of Edmund
Hillary in 1947, the story about her daughter's name doesn't quite jibe
with the circumstances. Depending upon how one interprets Hillary
Clinton's claim, either seeing Edmund Hillary's name in print inspired
her mother to name her 'Hillary' (even though she came across it being
used a surname rather than a first name), or it inspired her to use the
less-common spelling of 'Hillary' rather than 'Hilary' when naming her
daughter. However, 'Hilary' (spelled with one 'l') was a common woman's
name which Dorothy Rodham would undoubtedly already have seen and heard
hundreds of times before reading about Edmund Hillary, and the two-l
spelling, while less common, was one she was far more likely to have
encountered reading about persons (both male and female) much more
prominent than Edmund Hillary in 1947, such as film actress Hillary
Brooke and Cornell football and basketball star Hillary Chollet.
The tidbit of information that Hillary Clinton was named for Edmund
Hillary does not appear in any news stories about the First Lady written
prior to her 1995 south Asian tour, and every appearance of it in news
articles since then refers to that single 1995 account. If Hillary
Clinton thought an anecdote about the origins of her name was
entertaining enough to repeat to the press when she met Sir Edmund
Hillary in 1995, how come she never mentioned it at any other time,
before or since?
seen an article about a New Zealand mountain climber? We performed a
comprehensive search of several major American newspapers (including the
Chicago Tribune) and found that none of them made any mention of Edmund
Hillary whatsoever prior to June 1953, so it's fair to say that the
American media paid him little note prior to his successful assault on
Mt. Everest that year.
Whether or not Dorothy Rodham might have come across mention of Edmund
Hillary in 1947, the story about her daughter's name doesn't quite jibe
with the circumstances. Depending upon how one interprets Hillary
Clinton's claim, either seeing Edmund Hillary's name in print inspired
her mother to name her 'Hillary' (even though she came across it being
used a surname rather than a first name), or it inspired her to use the
less-common spelling of 'Hillary' rather than 'Hilary' when naming her
daughter. However, 'Hilary' (spelled with one 'l') was a common woman's
name which Dorothy Rodham would undoubtedly already have seen and heard
hundreds of times before reading about Edmund Hillary, and the two-l
spelling, while less common, was one she was far more likely to have
encountered reading about persons (both male and female) much more
prominent than Edmund Hillary in 1947, such as film actress Hillary
Brooke and Cornell football and basketball star Hillary Chollet.
The tidbit of information that Hillary Clinton was named for Edmund
Hillary does not appear in any news stories about the First Lady written
prior to her 1995 south Asian tour, and every appearance of it in news
articles since then refers to that single 1995 account. If Hillary
Clinton thought an anecdote about the origins of her name was
entertaining enough to repeat to the press when she met Sir Edmund
Hillary in 1995, how come she never mentioned it at any other time,
before or since?
Moreover, none of the many Hillary Clinton biographies we checked so
much as mentioned the story, not even Living History, her 2003
autobiography. A staggering amount of information has been published
about Hillary Rodham Clinton in her lifetime (going all the way back to
her days as a Wellesley College graduate in 1969, when she was featured
in Life magazine); that she disclosed a basic fact such as how she got
her name only once in all that time is rather incredible. (The only
other mention of Hillary Clinton's connection to Edmund Hillary was made
by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, in his 2004
autobiography.)
We opined back in 2003 that Hillary Clinton's claim about being Edmund
Hillary's namesake might not have been completely false since she didn't
say she was actually named for the mountain climber, but rather that her
mother told her she was named for him — a minor but important distinction
given how often parents make up harmless little fibs to amuse their
children or misremember past events. Indeed, in October 2006 this was the
excuse a spokesperson for her campaign provided in officially discounting
the story:
For more than a decade, one piece of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's
informal biography has been that she was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, the
conqueror of Mount Everest. The story was even recounted in Bill Clinton's
autobiography.
much as mentioned the story, not even Living History, her 2003
autobiography. A staggering amount of information has been published
about Hillary Rodham Clinton in her lifetime (going all the way back to
her days as a Wellesley College graduate in 1969, when she was featured
in Life magazine); that she disclosed a basic fact such as how she got
her name only once in all that time is rather incredible. (The only
other mention of Hillary Clinton's connection to Edmund Hillary was made
by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, in his 2004
autobiography.)
We opined back in 2003 that Hillary Clinton's claim about being Edmund
Hillary's namesake might not have been completely false since she didn't
say she was actually named for the mountain climber, but rather that her
mother told her she was named for him — a minor but important distinction
given how often parents make up harmless little fibs to amuse their
children or misremember past events. Indeed, in October 2006 this was the
excuse a spokesperson for her campaign provided in officially discounting
the story:
For more than a decade, one piece of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's
informal biography has been that she was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, the
conqueror of Mount Everest. The story was even recounted in Bill Clinton's
autobiography.
But yesterday, Mrs. Clinton's campaign said she was not named for Sir
Edmund after all.
Edmund after all.
"It was a sweet family story her mother shared to inspire greatness in her
daughter, to great results I might add," said Jennifer Hanley, a
spokeswoman for the campaign. 3
We still find this explanation rather incredible. In order to accept it,
one has to believe that only after Hillary Clinton was nearly 60 years
old, and only after she had been pilloried in the press for more than ten
years for claiming she had been named after someone who was virtually
unknown in the U.S. at the time of her birth, and only after her husband
had unknowingly presented the fictitious story as true in his own
autobiography, did her mother finally confess that the "sweet family
story" she told her daughter wasn't the truth. (Hillary Clinton doesn't
have the excuse that other people were spreading a falsehood about her, as
she herself was the one who initiated the claim back in 1995.)
daughter, to great results I might add," said Jennifer Hanley, a
spokeswoman for the campaign. 3
We still find this explanation rather incredible. In order to accept it,
one has to believe that only after Hillary Clinton was nearly 60 years
old, and only after she had been pilloried in the press for more than ten
years for claiming she had been named after someone who was virtually
unknown in the U.S. at the time of her birth, and only after her husband
had unknowingly presented the fictitious story as true in his own
autobiography, did her mother finally confess that the "sweet family
story" she told her daughter wasn't the truth. (Hillary Clinton doesn't
have the excuse that other people were spreading a falsehood about her, as
she herself was the one who initiated the claim back in 1995.)
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