On a night awash in history, Hillary Clinton triumphantly became the first woman to lead a major American political party toward the White House, breaking through a barrier that painfully eluded her eight years ago.She put an electrifying cap on the Democratic convention’s second night, appearing by video from New York and declaring to cheering delegates, “We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet.”

Minutes earlier, former President Bill Clinton took on the role of devoted political spouse, declaring his wife an impassioned “change-maker” as he served as character witness. He traced their more than 40-year political and personal partnership in deep detail.“She has been around a long time,” he acknowledged. Casting her experience as an attribute, he added, “She’s been worth every single year she’s put into making people’s lives better.”

For a man more accustomed to delivering policy-packed stem-winders, Mr. Clinton’s heartfelt address underscored the historic night for Democrats, and the nation. If she wins in November, the Clintons would also be the first married couple to each serve as president.She will take on Donald Trump, who won the Republican nomination a week ago. Mr. Trump, who campaigned Tuesday in North Carolina, mocked the former president’s speech in advance, calling him “over-rated.”

At Mr. Trump’s convention last week, Ms. Clinton was the target of blistering criticism of her character and judgment, a sharp contrast to the warm and passionate woman described by her husband. Seeking to explain the vastly different perceptions of his wife, Ms. Clinton said simply, “One is real, the other is made up.”

The former president took voters back to a time before an affair with an intern led to his impeachment and to intense public scrutiny of the first couple’s marriage. While her aides believe his past transgressions are old news to voters, they have flared up anew at times during the campaign, with Mr. Trump often leading the charge.

Bill Clinton headlined the second night of the Democratic convention, a jubilant celebration of her formal nomination for president. In an important move for party unity, her primary rival Bernie Sanders helped make it official when the roll call got to his home state of Vermont, prompting delegates to erupt in cheers. It was a striking parallel to the role Ms. Clinton played eight years ago when she stepped to the microphone on the convention floor in Denver in support of her former rival, Barack Obama.

This time, Ms. Clinton shattered the glass ceiling she couldn’t crack in 2008.

She leads a party still grappling with divisions. Moments after Ms. Clinton claimed the nomination, a group of Sanders supporters left the convention and headed to a media tent to protest what they said was their being shut out of the party. At the same time, protesters who had spent the day marching in the hot sun began facing off with police.Mr. Trump cheered the disruptions from the campaign trail. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, “our politicians have totally failed you.”

Indeed, Ms. Clinton’s long political resume secretary of state, senator, first lady has sometimes seemed an odd fit for an electorate deeply frustrated with Washington and eager to rally around unconventional candidates like Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders. Many voters have questions about her character and trustworthiness, suggesting she’s used her access to power to her personal advantage.

Mr. Clinton spoke after three hours of testimonials from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and citizens who argued otherwise. Each took the stage to vouch for her commitment to working on health care, children’s issues and gun control.“Hillary Clinton has the passion and understanding to support grieving mothers,” said Sybrina Fulton, whose son Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. “She has the courage to lead the fight for commonsense gun legislation.”

The significant time devoted to the testimonials underscored the campaign’s concerns about how voters view Ms. Clinton. Public polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don’t believe she is honest and trustworthy. That perception that was reinforced after the FBI director’s scathing assessment of her controversial email use as secretary of state, even though the Justice Department did not pursue charges.

Mr. Clinton complicated the email controversy last month when he met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the midst of the FBI investigation. Republicans cast the meeting as a sign that the Clintons play by different rules, while Democrats bemoaned that at the very least, it left that impression.

The former president has campaigned frequently for his wife during the White House race, but mostly in smaller cities and towns, part of an effort by the campaign to keep him in a more behind-the-scenes role. His convention address was his highest profile appearance of the campaign.Ms. Clinton’s landmark achievement saturated the roll call with emotion and symbols of women’s long struggle to break through political barriers. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old woman born before women had the right to vote, cast the ballots for Arizona.

Martha McKenna, a Clinton delegate from Maryland, said the night felt like a celebration for Mr. Sanders’ campaign as well as Ms. Clinton’s. She added, “The idea that I’m going to be here when the first woman president is nominated is overwhelming.”The Democratic convention drew the party’s biggest stars to sweltering Philadelphia for the week-long event. On Monday night, first lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned case for Ms. Clinton as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of being a role model for the nation’s children. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak Wednesday, along with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Ms. Clinton’s new running mate.

There have been millions of words, decades of video and reams of commentary devoted to their story. It’s been dissected, defended and decried at kitchen tables and on cable news, in tabloids and classrooms.But on Tuesday night, as millions of voters watched and with the political stakes as high as they’ve ever been, Bill Clinton tried to make sense of it all and make the case for his wife, the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“In the spring of 1971, I met a girl,” he began.

The former president’s tenth address to a Democratic convention was by far his most personal, a 42-minute tour through wedding proposals and Halloween parties, the deaths of parents and movie marathons.Perhaps their worst moments – the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed – were conspicuously omitted.Instead, Bill Clinton cast himself as a passenger in his wife’s life, reshaping the story of much of their decades in politics.

The goal was to make Ms. Clinton, perhaps the most famous female politician in the world, yet a public figure her aides claim remains unknown, relatable to voters. He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas.

“She’s the best darn change-maker I’ve ever met in my entire life,” he said. “This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo on anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is.”“I have lived a long full blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl in the spring of 1971,” he said.

But it wasn’t only Ms. Clinton who broke a glass ceiling on Tuesday when she became the first female nominee of a major party. Should she win on Election Day, her husband will step into a singular role in American history – first gentleman.The potential new title is perhaps the strangest twist in a political career known for its second acts. After health scares and political missteps, the Comeback Kid, as he was known in his first presidential race, could come back to Washington one last time.

In 2012, he acted as a powerful validator for President Barack Obama, electrifying the room as the party’s “explainer-in-chief.”But, said Ms. Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, “This is different.”“This is more personal,” he said, who recalled riding to the convention hall with Bill Clinton as he touched up his 2004 convention address. “This is more about her.”Bill Clinton felt pressure to perform for his wife and make up for his own missteps during her second presidential campaign.

Nearly 70, he’s also a bit frailer, a touch shakier, though aides and friends say his famous memory remains sharp. Some say his administration’s legacy has been repudiated by his own party, which shifted left during Mr. Obama’s time in office.“God bless him, Bill even looks old now,” said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. “He’s not the once and future king, he’s the once and past king.”

But no one doubts that Bill Clinton still wants to be at the centre of the action. While aides have said he will not get a Cabinet post or a seat in the Situation Room should his wife win, Ms. Clinton has made clear that her closest adviser will remain involved with her administration, saying he’d likely have a role in managing the nation’s economy.

They remain a “two for one” package, as Bill Clinton famously said during his first presidential race. But on Tuesday night, he hinted, just barely, that Ms. Clinton perhaps is finally getting her part of the deal.“I married my best friend,” he said. “And I really hoped that she choosing me and rejecting my own advice to pursue her own career was a decision she’d never regret.”