Hugh Rodham (born 1911)

Hugh Ellsworth Rodham was born on April 2, 1911, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Hugh Rodham (1879–1965) and Hannah Jones (1882–1952).[1] His parents were from the United Kingdom – his father emigrated from Oxhill, County Durham, England, at a young age with his family, him being the son of a coal miner,[2] while his mother was born in Pennsylvania, to immigrant parents from Wales, one of whom was from Merthyr Tydfil; she was also descended from coal miner parents.[1][3][4][5]

Rodham attended Pennsylvania State University and was a third-string tight end for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team.[6] He joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.[4] He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education[4] from the College of Education in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression.

Rodham briefly worked for his father's employer, Scranton Lace Company,[7] then freighthopped to Chicago without telling his parents.[4] Rodham found work there selling drapery fabrics around the Midwest, sending the money he made back home.[4]

In World War II, Rodham served in the United States Navy. He became a chief petty officer stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Station, performing training duties for sailors headed for the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.[4] After the war, he established a successful career in the textile supply industry, starting with Rodrik Fabrics, a drapery fabric business located in Chicago's famous Merchandise Mart building.[4] His company made draperies and window shades; customers included offices, hotels, airlines, and theaters.[6] He later opened a fabric print plant building on the North Side.[4] During the 1940s, Rodham and his wife Dorothy lived in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago.[8]

Rodham entered politics once. Hoping to work his way into favor with the Cook County Democratic Party political machine in order to capitalize on a downtown investment he had made, he ran for Chicago alderman as a Democratic-leaning independent in 1947.[6] The contest, held in Chicago's 49th Ward, was won by Frank Keenan, a Democratic ward committeeman running on the regular Democratic line, with 17,073 votes; a Republican, Joseph Reubens, finished second with 5,509 votes.[9] Rodham finished fifth out of eight candidates with only 382 votes, or 1.5 percent of the total votes cast.[9] According to some family members, this episode led to his strong dislike of the Democratic Party for the rest of his life.[6]

Rodham was a staunch supporter of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign and remained a committed Republican until his death. Even after his daughter married Democrat Bill Clinton, he (according to Bill Clinton) "never gave up hope that his son-in-law would join him in the Republican Party and support a cut in the capital gains tax."[10] In late 1992, following son-in-law Bill Clinton's election as president, Rodham made a cameo appearance on the television comedy Hearts Afire, whose producers were friends of the Clintons.[11]

In 1937, while Rodham was making a sales call at a textile company, he met Dorothy Emma Howell (1919–2011), who was applying for a job at that company.[4][7] After a lengthy courtship, they married in early 1942.[4] The Rodhams had three children: Hillary (born 1947), Hugh (born 1950), and Tony (1954–2019). In 1950, they moved to the more affluent Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois.[4] The family still maintained ties to Scranton: all three children were christened there, and they spent summers in a rural region that overlooks Lake Winola, located in Overfield Township in the Endless Mountains area of Pennsylvania.[4][7] staying in a cottage that in 1921, Hugh and his father had built themselves.[12]

• Hugh E. Rodham Memorial at Find A Grave