Here’s an in-depth look at the life of Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State.
Personal:
Birth date: May 15, 1937
Birth place: Prague, Czechoslovakia
Birth name: Marie Jana Korbelova
Father: Josef Korbel, a diplomat
Mother: Mandula Korbel
Marriage: Joseph Albright (1959-1983, divorced)
Children: Katharine, 1967; Anne and Alice (twins), 1961
Education: Wellesley College, B.A., 1959; Columbia University, M.A., 1968; Columbia University, Ph.D.,1976
Religion: Raised Roman Catholic, converted to Episcopalian
Other Facts:
Her family escaped then-Czechoslovakia 10 days after the Nazi invasion.
She was the first female secretary of state of the United States.
Known for wearing brooches or decorative pins to convey her foreign policy messages.
Albright learned later in life about her family’s Jewish heritage.
Timeline:
1976-1978 – Maine Senator Edmund Muskie’s chief legislative assistant.
1978-1981 – Serves as White House staff member and congressional liaison for the National Security Council under Zbigniew Brzezinski for President Jimmy Carter.
1981 – Senior fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
1982-1993 – Serves a dual appointment at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service: research professor of International Affairs and director of the Women in Foreign Service Program.
1984 – Works as foreign policy coordinator for the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Walter Mondale.
1984-1993 – She is vice-chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
1988 – Albright is senior foreign policy adviser for the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis.
1989-1993 – President of the Center for National Policy.
1990 – Works as interpreter and adviser to Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel during his first state visit.
1992 – Foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
January 27, 1993 – She is confirmed as the US ambassador to the United Nations.
January 23, 1997 – Albright is sworn in as the 64th secretary of state.
April 23, 1997 – Testifies on NATO expansion in hearings before the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
October 23-24, 2000 – She visits Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, becoming the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the country or meet its leader, Kim Jong Il.
January 20, 2001 – Albright leaves office when Clinton’s second term ends and President George W. Bush is inaugurated.
Winter 2001-present – Serves as chairwoman of National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, DC.
2003 – Her book, “Madam Secretary: A Memoir,” is published.
March 23, 2004 – She testifies publicly in the 9-11 Commission hearings on what she and the Clinton administration did to combat al Qaeda and terrorism during Clinton’s eight years in office.
2005-present – Faculty member at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
2006 – Her book, “The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs,” is published.
January 2007 – Forms a hedge fund specializing in emerging markets, called Albright Capital Management.
2008 – Her book, “Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore American’s Reputation and Leadership,” is published.
2009 – Her book, “Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box,” is published.
May 2010 – Albright chairs a NATO panel on the future of the coalition. The panel releases a report titled NATO 2020: Assured Security, Dynamic Engagement, also called the Albright Report, on the US alliance with European nations.
June 18, 2010 – “Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection,” an exhibition of over 200 of Albright’s famous brooches, opens at the Smithsonian.
2012 – Her book, “Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948,” is published.
May 29, 2012 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
January 31, 2017 – Albright tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” she thinks President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban is ‘just flat anti-American,’ and goes against America’s fundamental values.