Newsman: Madeleine Albright, the first female US secretary of state has died. She was 84 years old. Albright’s family said in a statement Wednesday. Madeleine Albright died Wednesday from cancer at age 84, according to her family. Albright was a central figure in President Bill Clinton’s administration. She helped steer Western foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War.
Albright’s family said in a statement, “A tireless champion of democracy and human rights, she was at the time of her death a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, chair of Albright Capital Management, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, chair of the National Democratic Institute, chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and an author.”
In a New York Times op-ed written last month just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Albright argued that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would be making “a historic error” and warned of devastating costs to his country.
“Instead of paving Russia’s path to greatness, invading Ukraine would ensure Mr. Putin’s infamy by leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically crippled and strategically vulnerable in the face of a stronger, more united Western alliance,” Albright wrote.
Albright was nominated for secretary of state by President Bill Clinton and served in the role from 1997 to 2001. She was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997.
The effort contrasted with the Clinton administration’s opposition to international action to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. At the time that Albright was representing the US at the United Nations, the Clinton administration, haunted by the military fiasco in Somalia a year earlier, argued for withdrawing the majority of UN troops from the country in the early days of the genocide. The ensuing planned slaughter of primarily ethnic Tutsis, as well as some moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists, would leave at least 800,000 dead.
Years later, Albright would call it her “greatest regret from that time.”
President Joe Biden paid tribute to Albright in a lengthy statement Wednesday, calling her a “force” and saying working with her during the 1990s while he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was among the highlights of his Senate career.
“When I think of Madeleine, I will always remember her fervent faith that ‘America is the indispensable nation,'” said Biden, who ordered flags at the White House and all federal buildings to be flown at half-staff in Albright’s honor.
“Few leaders have been so perfectly suited for the times in which they served,” Clinton said in a statement. “As a child in war-torn Europe, Madeleine and her family were twice forced to flee their home. When the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era of global interdependence, she became America’s voice at the UN, and then took the helm at the State Department, where she was a passionate force for freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement called Albright “one of the finest Secretaries of State, an outstanding UN Ambassador, a brilliant professor, and an extraordinary human being.”
“As a child in war-torn Europe, Madeleine and her family were twice forced to flee their home,” the Clintons said. “When the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era of global interdependence, she became America’s voice at the UN, then took the helm at the State Department, where she was a passionate force for freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
The Clintons commended Albright’s commitment to “ending ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo; supporting the expansion of NATO into Central Europe; fighting the proliferation of nuclear weapons; broadening U.S. efforts to strengthen civil society, reduce poverty, and relieve debt in development countries; elevating concerns about climate change and environmental degradation on the world stage; and much more.”
The Clintons said, in their last conversation with Albright two weeks ago, the 84-year-old remained determined “to go out with her boots on, supporting Ukraine in its fight to preserve freedom and democracy.”
In a State Department briefing Wednesday, spokesperson Ned Price said Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been notified of her death.
“Madeleine Albright was a brilliant diplomat, a visionary leader, a courageous trailblazer, a dedicated mentor, and a great and good person who loved the United States deeply and devoted her life to serving it,” Blinken said in a statement. “She was also a wonderful friend to many, including me. I’ll miss her very much.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly meeting, “Secretary Albright was a mentor. She was my boss, both as secretary of state; I worked with her in Georgetown. She was a colleague and she was a friend over several decades.”
“Our country and our United Nations are stronger for her service,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Her story — a story of fleeing Czechoslovakia as a refugee at a young age and rising in the highest levels of the U.S. government — has echoed in my mind amid the current crisis in Ukraine,” Thomas-Greenfield continued. “I hope to do justice for her memory today. I’m sure that we will have an opportunity to remember Secretary Albright and honor her many contributions in the days ahead. But today, I grieve her as my friend and extend my condolences to her family.”
Born Marie Jana Korbelova, the daughter of a Czechoslovakian diplomat, in Prague in 1937, Albright escaped then-Czechoslovakia with her family 10 days after the Nazi invasion. Her experience growing up in communist Yugoslavia and then fleeing to the US made her a lifelong opponent of totalitarianism and fascism. She was raised Roman Catholic, though she later converted to Episcopalian, and learned later in life about her family’s Jewish heritage.
Albright graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 and was married to Joseph Albright from 1959 until 1983, when they divorced. They had three children, twins Anne and Alice in 1961 and Katharine in 1967. She attended Columbia University for her master’s degree and Ph.D., which she completed in 1976 before launching on a decades-long career in government service and foreign affairs work under different Democratic politicians and causes.
