Hillary Clinton's Father's Day Tributes Are Lovely

Father's Day means something extra special for Hillary Clinton this year. Her presidential campaign is taking off, and she partially has the support of her mother and father to thank for that. Both of her parents have died — her mother most recently — but Clinton has been remembering them fondly more and more often throughout her campaign. Clinton has consistently credited her mother as one of the major reasons she's running for president in 2016. Though she speaks less often of her father, Clinton shared touching Father's Day tributes on social media to him, as well as her husband, Bill Clinton.

Clinton's Twitter tribute to her father and mother, Hugh E. Rodham and Dorothy Rodham, was an empowering message about supporting young women — regardless of how difficult their dreams might be in a society where male power is favored. Little information is publicly available about Clinton's relationship with her father. According to a 2007 biography on Clinton by Carl Bernstein, Clinton's father was a textile worker who graduated from Penn State University. He died in 1993, according to The New York Times. Clinton's father held multiple jobs throughout his life to support the family, so it's clear that, for him, family was an important priority. Clinton hasn't forgotten the support he and her mother provided, thus her message to dads around the world:

Clinton's message to her husband, which she shared on Facebook and Instagram, was a bit more personal, and it recalled the birth of their first and only child, Chelsea Clinton.

Then Clinton joked about how quickly time flies for moms and dads:

Then, she retweeted an adorable Father's Day message from another Twitter user:

Clinton is often deeply private about her family. But she's started to open up recently, and she will even be sharing a story about her mother's difficult childhood to help people understand her political stances in the 2016 election. Clinton aides told the Times that Clinton sharing stories about her mother or her family generally could help her convince a struggling middle class that she understands their problems. When her husband first ran for president in 1992, the Times said Clinton vehemently hid Chelsea and her parents from the public spotlight. But now, opening up could do her some good.

Her personal Father's Day message to Bill and the adorable photo of her late parents are part of this general move by Clinton to open up and allow Americans to see her private struggles and triumphs.

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