Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright

<p>Madeleine Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová on May 15, 1937) was the first woman to become "Gender Secretary of State in 1996. At the time, she was also the highest rankign woman in the US Government. She is currently a professor at Georgetown University (Washington).<br />
</p>
<div id="toc"><h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_early-life-and-education"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Early Life and Education</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_academic-and-diplomatic-career"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Academic and Diplomatic Career</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_secretary-of-state"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Secretary of State</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_post-2001"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Post-2001</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div><h2 id="w_early-life-and-education">Early Life and Education<br /></h2>
<p>Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the "Gender ). The daughter of a diplomat, Albright and her family emigrated to teh United States in 1948 once the communists had assumed power in Czechoslovakia. Her father became the founding dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He would later go on to teach Condoleezza Rice, whom Albright described in her autobiography, ‘Madam Secretary’, as his favourite student. She became a US citizen in 1957.&nbsp; She married Chicago newspaper journalist Joseph Medill Patterson Albright on June 11, 1959; they divorced in 1982. <br />
</p><p>Awarded a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1959 with honors in Political Science, she studied at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, received a Certificate from the Russian Institute at Columbia University, and her Masters and Doctorate from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government. <br />
</p>
<h2 id="w_academic-and-diplomatic-career">Academic and Diplomatic Career<br /></h2>
<p>From 1976-1978, she served as Chief Legislative Assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie. From 1978-1981, Albright was a staff member on the National Security Council, as well as a White House staff member, where she was responsible for foreign policy legislation. She also served as a Senior Fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, conducting research in developments and trends in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. From 1981 to 1982, Albright was awarded a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian following an international competition in which she wrote about the role of the press in political changes in Poland during the early 1980’s. <br />
</p><p>In 1981, she co-founded the Center for National Policy. She also served as President of the organization.
</p><p>In 1982, Albright was appointed Research Professor of International Affairs and Director of Women in Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international affairs, US foreign policy, Russian foreign policy, and Central and Eastern European politics, and was responsible for developing and implementing programs designed to enhance women’s professional opportunities in international affairs. She was voted "best teacher" four times. Before becoming Secretary of State, Albright served as US Ambassador to the United Nations during President Clinton’s first term. Secretary Albright is now a professor at Georgetown, and serves as a Director on the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations.<br />
</p>
<h2 id="w_secretary-of-state">Secretary of State<br /></h2>
<p>When Madeleine Albright was confirmed as the 64th Secretary of State of the United States, she became the first female United States Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government. Since she was not a natural born citizen of the United States, she was not eligible as Presidential Successor and was excluded from nuclear contingency plans. <br />
</p><p>During her tenure, Albright considerably influenced American policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Middle East. As Secretary of State she represented the United States at the Handover of Hong Kong on July 1, 1997. She boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of the China-appointed Legislative Council, which replaced the elected one, along with the British contingents. In 2000, Secretary Albright became one of the highest level Western diplomats ever to meet Kim Jong-il, the communist leader of North Korea, during an official state visit to that country.
</p>
<h2 id="w_post-2001">Post-2001<br /></h2>
<p>In 2001, Albright founded the Albright Group, an international strategy consulting firm founded based in Washington, D.C. Affiliated with the firm is Albright Capital Management, which was founded in 2005 to engage in private fund management related to emerging markets.<br />
</p><p>She is currently serving as a top advisor for United States President Barack Obama in a working group on national security.<br />
</p>
<h2 id="w_references">References<br /></h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Albright#United_States_Ambassador_to_the_United_Nations" alt="Wikipedia, "Madeleine Albright"">Wikipedia, "Madeleine Albright"</a><br />
</li><li><a href="http://secretary.state.gov/www/albright/albright.html" alt="U.S. Department of State Archive">U.S. Department of State Archive</a><br />
</li></ul>
<p>
</p>