First female US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dies at 84

Albright commanded the State Department in the post-Cold War world in which the U.S.

Washington:

Madeleine Albright, who came to the United States as a child refugee and became the first female secretary of state to shape US foreign policy in the late 20th century, has died at the age of 84.

When tapped by President Bill Clinton as ambassador to the United Nations then America’s top diplomat, Albright was one of the most influential politicians of her generation.

Condoling his passing, Clinton said that Albright was “a force for freedom, democracy and human rights,” calling his death “a great loss to the world.”

President Joe Biden said that Albright “turned the tide of history,” adding that he “triggered convention and repeatedly broke barriers.”

At the United Nations, the Security Council observed a moment of silence before voting on a Russia-led resolution on Ukraine.

Clinton announced her choice of Albright to head the State Department in 1997, saying that gender “had nothing to do with her getting the job” and that she was the most qualified candidate.

Albright, however, was aware of the importance of the appointment.

“It used to be that a woman could actually realize her foreign policy ideas by marrying a diplomat and then pouring tea on the lap of an abusive ambassador,” she once said in a speech to the women in the foreign policy group Was.

“Today, women are engaged in every aspect of global affairs.”

In the post-Cold War world, Albright headed the State Department in which the United States emerged as the only superpower to hold important discussions with world leaders on arms control, trade, terrorism, and the future of NATO.

Ever since Margaret Thatcher ruled Britain, a woman had held such a position of global influence.

Born Mary Jana Korbelova in Czechoslovakia on May 15, 1937, Albright came to the United States with her family as a refugee in 1948 and became a US citizen in 1957.

His father, Joseph Korbel, a diplomat, converted from Judaism to Catholicism after the family fled to London to escape the Nazis in 1939.

Albright said that he only learned of his Jewish origins early in life and the fact that three of his grandparents were killed in concentration camps.

– ‘short, noisy type’ –

Fluent in English, Czech, French and Russian, Albright graduated from Wellesley College.

She earned her doctorate in political science at Columbia University and went on to work for Democratic Senator Edmund Muskie.

She later joined the National Security Council at President Jimmy Carter’s White House, serving under her national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, her former professor at Columbia.

After Carter’s defeat, Albright began teaching at Georgetown University in Washington, but remained an influential voice in Democratic foreign policy-making circles.

She was named US Ambassador to the United Nations by Clinton in 1993 and served in that role until 1997, when she became Secretary of State.

One of his last visits to the post was an official visit to North Korea, where he met with then-leader Kim Jong-il.

In an interview with AFP as she prepared to leave the State Department in 2001, Albright said she would remain involved in foreign policy.

“I’m not going to be a wallflower,” Albright said.

“I’ve also never thought of myself as the tall, silent type, so I’ll be the short, noisy type and I’m going to be out there,” she said. “I love foreign policy, I’m very interested in how the world develops.”

Exactly a month earlier, The New York Times published an opinion piece by Albright in which he argued that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may have been committing a “historic error” when he invaded Ukraine.

Albright married Joseph Albright in 1959. They had three daughters and they divorced in 1982.

Her memoirs, “Madame Secretary,” were published in 2003.

He also wrote a book about his vast collection of brooches, which, he explained to Smithsonian magazine in 2010, were sometimes “reflective of whatever issue we’re dealing with”.

Once during his tenure at the United Nations, state media in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq compared him to a “unique serpent” – he responded by wearing a snake pin to a meeting on Iraq.

Biden said, “In every role, he has used his sharp wit and sharp wit – and often his unmatched collection of pins – to advance America’s national security and promote peace around the world.”

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