Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as the 67th U.S. secretary of state last night. The swearing in ceremony was held at the Capitol building and the attendance included the Senator’s husband, Bill Clinton.

Shortly after taking the oath, Hillary Clinton resigned her U.S. Senate seat by sending a hand-delivered one-sentence resignation letter to Vice President Joe Biden, who is also Senate president, and to the secretary of the Senate. A copy of the resignation letter was send to New York Gov. David A. Paterson via fax. Her seat as New York Senator will be filled by a candidate named by Gov. Paterson and from the 10 hopefuls, Caroline Kennedy, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi seemed to have the highest chances.

The ceremony took place after the Senate approved Clinton's nomination with a 94-2 vote. The vote was surprisingly overwhelmingly in her favor despite the fact that there are concerns among Republicans that Bill Clinton’s charitable fundraising overseas could pose a conflict of interest. The confirmation had been delayed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who sought a full Senate debate over the aforementioned conflict of interest.

What probably contributed to her swift confirmation was the fact that it was very necessary to President Barack Obama so he could begin dealing with the foreign policy issues abroad: the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the increasing violence in Middle East.

Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in at 5:29 p.m. by an old friend District of Columbia Court of Appeals Associate Judge Kathleen Oberly. She will join President Barack Obama’s new foreign policy and national security team.

President Obama already started working. He called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as a first step to try to solve the Middle East conflict, according to a White House spokesman.