America’s first female secretary of state, Madeleine Albright. Born Marie Jana Korbelova on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia Her father, Josef Korbel, was a Czech diplomat, which forced the family to flee twice. First, they escaped to England in 1939 after the Nazi occupation. Although Albright grew up Roman Catholic, she discovered later in life that her family was Jewish and that three of her grandparents had perished in Nazi concentration camps.
After World War II, the family briefly returned home, only to flee again in 1948 following a Communist coup. This time, they immigrated to the United States and settled in Denver, Colorado. Albright’s personal history as a refugee deeply influenced her worldview and beliefs in the importance of democracy and American leadership.
Albright was a dedicated student of international relations. She earned her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1959 and later achieved both a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Public Law and Government from Columbia University. Her professional career in Washington began to take shape in the 1970s when she served as a chief legislative assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie. She soon moved into the executive branch, serving on the National Security Council under President Jimmy Carter.
During the 1980s, while Republicans held the presidency, Albright transitioned into academia and the non-profit sector. She became a research professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and directed the Women in Foreign Service Program, where she mentored future generations of diplomats.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Albright as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Her personality and fierce defense of American interests made her a standout figure in the administration.
In 1996, Clinton nominated her to be the 64th Secretary of State. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate and sworn in on January 23, 1997.
During her four-year tenure, she was a leading advocate for the expansion of NATO into former Soviet bloc nations, and she was involved in the 1999 military intervention in Kosovo to stop a humanitarian crisis. Her efforts also focused on non-proliferation and fighting the spread of nuclear weapons, promoting democratization and civil societies in developing nations, favoring the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, and working toward the normalization of relations with Vietnam.
Even after leaving office in 2001, Albright remained an important voice in global politics. She founded a global strategy firm, wrote several bestselling books, including her memoir Madam Secretary, and was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998. Albright died at age 84 on March 23, 2022. Only one month before her death, she wrote an article for The New York Times about Russia’s plan to attack Ukraine.
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