Katherine Medill Albright
Katherine Medill Albright
Albright was the first woman to become secretary of state. She became a national icon for her hard-hitting approach to international diplomacy, her tough-minded style and her eclectic pin collection.
She was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and emigrated to the United States with her family. Her father, Josef Korbel, was a Jewish diplomat.
Her life
Born Marie Jana Korbelova in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1937, katherine medill albright was the first female US secretary of state. She served in the office from 1997 to 2001.
She was the daughter of Jewish-born Czechoslovakian parents, who fled to the United States in 1941 to avoid anti-Jewish persecution. They had been Roman Catholic when they immigrated and converted to the Episcopal Church in 1959.
Her parents never discussed her Jewish ancestry, so she had no idea that her grandparents died in the Holocaust. It was only after her marriage that she learned the truth and grew to care about her grandparents’ fate.
During her time as Secretary of State, she worked to prevent human rights abuses and promote democracy in the world. She also supported women and helped them achieve equality. In her final social media post, she urged the world to fight for “a future that is not dictated by violence and war.”
Her career
Albright was the first female secretary of state and a seasoned diplomat with a reputation for being a force for good, grace and decency abroad. She was also a role model for women who struggled to break through the glass ceiling at work and in their home lives.
She began her career as a research professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in 1982, where she also taught Eastern European studies. She served as a foreign policy adviser to Vice President Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 (both campaigns ended in defeat), and later joined Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff.
She also worked on the State Department’s budget. She helped to strengthen the United States’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, promoted American trade and business, labor and environmental standards abroad, and negotiated peace negotiations in the Middle East. She was often called upon for media appearances, and made cameos on popular shows like Gilmore Girls and Parks and Recreation.
Her legacy
As secretary of state, she pushed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to expand eastward into former Soviet territories. She also helped lead the 1999 NATO bombing campaign to end ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.
Despite her high-profile foreign policy roles, Albright was not a household name when she became Clinton’s pick for secretary of state. She had worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant and then served as a foreign policy adviser to three presidential candidates.
Born Marie Jana Korbel on May 15, 1937, in Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia, she grew up with parents who were both diplomats. She later learned that she had Jewish ancestry and that her family lost 26 members in the Holocaust.
She married Joseph Medill Patterson Albright, scion of a wealthy newspaper publishing family. They had three daughters. She converted to Episcopalianism after her marriage. Throughout her career, she wrote and spoke about religion and global policy.
Her quotes
Among her many accolades, Albright made history as the first female United States secretary of state. She later went on to become the chair of a global strategy firm, Albright Stonebridge, and was an investment advisor with a focus on emerging markets.
In an administration that drew criticism for its reluctance to use American power abroad, Albright is a steadfast proponent of intervention. Her motivations are rooted in her experiences as a refugee to America, and her family’s escape from Nazis and communists.
Her father, Josef Korbel, was a junior officer in the Czechoslovak diplomatic corps who witnessed the Nazi invasion of his home country. He and his wife, Anna, sent their daughter away to boarding school at age 10.
She graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 and worked as a journalist before pursuing her graduate studies at Columbia University. Her former professor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, recruited her to the White House as a national security adviser under President Jimmy Carter.
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