BIOGRAPHY:

Madeleine Albright is the first female Secretary of State in the history of the United States of America, one of the most influential American diplomats of the 90s. She was distinguished not only by her tough methods in resolving political issues, but also by her harsh statements about events taking place in the world.

Childhood and youth:

Madeleine Albright (real name Maria Jana Korbelova/ Korbel) was born in Prague on May 15, 1937, and is a Bohemian Jew by nationality. My father worked as a press attaché in Belgrade. In March 1937, after Hitler’s occupation of Czechoslovakia, the family fled to England. Grandfather and grandmother remained in their homeland and died in the Holocaust. After the end of the war, the Korbel family returned to their previous place of residence.

From 1948, Josef Korbel served as Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Yugoslavia and then to the UN. Thanks to frequent moves associated with the diplomatic work of the head of the family, Madeleine perfectly mastered the Czech, English, and French languages. After the communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the family emigrated to the United States. At the age of 20, the girl received American citizenship.

Thanks to a personal scholarship, Madeleine studied at the Kent Private School, the most prestigious school for girls in Colorado, after graduating from which in 1955 she was invited to study at five universities at once. The applicant chose Wellesley, the college that offered the largest scholarship, from which she graduated with honors. Then there were Johns Hopkins and Columbia universities.

Madeleine’s main dream in her youth was to become a journalist. She even worked for the student newspaper, the Wellesley College News, ending up as deputy news editor in her senior year. After graduating from university, Albright went to work at the editorial office of the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1967, the future politician completed graduate school, becoming a master of political science. Topic of the thesis: “Soviet diplomacy: Profile of the elite.”

CAREER BEGAN:

Madeleine’s political career began with participation in 1972 in a fundraising campaign for Maine Senator Edmund Musk, who decided to run for president of the United States. In 1975, the senator invited Albright to serve as his chief legal adviser on foreign and defense policy. The assistant was distinguished by her sociability and friendliness.

The political scientist was invited to work in the White House after Jimmy Carter came to power. Madeleine’s former teacher at Columbia University, Zbigniew Brzezinski, became national security adviser and took the ex-student under his wing as a congressional affairs assistant.

An activist in the Democratic Party, Albright became a foreign policy adviser in 1984 to Geraldine Ferraro, who was running for vice president under presidential candidate Walter Mondale. After this, the activist headed the public organization “Center for National Policy,” created to strengthen the Democratic Party. In this job, Albright was able to expand her contacts and in 1988 became an international affairs adviser to Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential candidate.

During a televised debate between Dukakis and his opponent George W. Bush in Washington, Madeleine Albright met Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. In 1989, she recommended Clinton to join the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential US public organization. After becoming president, Bill appointed Madeleine as the US permanent representative to the UN.

While working at the UN, the American played one of the key roles in bringing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO. In addition, in the mid-90s, Madeleine supported the introduction of sanctions against Iraq. When journalist Lesley Stahl asked the politician whether the military action was worth the lives of half a million Iraqi children, who died more than in Hiroshima, Albright replied that it was a difficult choice, but the cost was worth it. Clinton’s aide later expressed regret over what she had said, noting that she had expressed herself incorrectly.

US Secretary of State:

On January 23, 1998, Madeleine became US Secretary of State. By this time, the politician had gained fame as one of the inspirers of forceful methods in resolving the conflict in the Balkans. Many blamed her for the death of the Serb civilian population in Kosovo and called her the “executioner of Serbia” when the United States began bombing Yugoslavia in 1999, as well as for her collaboration with Hashim Thaci, who at that time was part of the terrorist organization Kosovo Liberation Army.

Albright has often been sharply critical of Russian foreign policy, particularly of President Vladimir Putin:

“He’s a smart but really evil man. A KGB officer who wants to exercise control and thinks that everyone is conspiring against Russia. This is wrong. Putin had bad cards, but he played them well. At least at some point. I think his goal is to undermine the EU and split it. He wants NATO to disappear from his sphere of influence.”

Articles about Albright were often accompanied by a phrase allegedly uttered by the American about the wealth of Siberia, about “the injustice of Russia’s sole possession of Siberia.” Later, Russian politicians used this statement in their speeches. But Madeleine herself denied that she had ever used these words.

Albright was part of the delegation of observers for the early presidential elections in Ukraine in 2014 from the National Democratic Institute, and met with Yulia Tymoshenko several times. In 2016, she actively supported Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election.

In 2017, the first American female Secretary of State celebrated her 80th birthday. Despite her advanced age, Albright continued to participate in the political life of the country and sharply criticized Donald Trump’s immigration policies:

“I grew up Catholic, became an Episcopalian and later learned that my family was Jewish. I am ready to register as a Muslim as a sign of solidarity.”

In 2019, information appeared in the press about the opening of an Albright monument in Kosovo. The ceremony coincided with the 20th anniversary of the start of the bombing of Yugoslavia. The guests of honor at the event, held in the central square of Pristina, were Madeleine herself, ex-President of the United States Bill Clinton and Wesley Klar, who commanded the Northern Alliance troops during the hostilities. The guests were greeted by the President of the partially recognized republic, Hashim Thaci, who had a close partnership with Madeleine for many years. Photos of the iconic event later appeared on the Internet.

Books:

During her political career, Madeleine Albright wrote several books. She published a treatise on economic topics, “Religion and World Politics,” and there is also an autobiography, “Madam Secretary of State. Memoirs of Madeleine Albright.”

In 2012, during the presentation of the new book “Prague Spring”, held in the capital of the Czech Republic, representatives of the organization “Friends of Serbs in Kosovo” approached the American politician at an autograph session. Activists invited the ex-Secretary of State to sign photographs depicting Serbian civilians who died at the height of hostilities in Yugoslavia in 1999.

The request infuriated the former US ambassador to the UN, who demanded that the police be called. Law enforcement officials who arrived at the scene established that the “Friends of the Serbs” had not done anything reprehensible. Later, protesters accused Albright of inciting ethnic hatred.

And in 2018, the politician published a book about fascism, Trump and Putin, “Fascism: A Warning,” which immediately took 2nd place on the bestseller list among non-fiction books. At the book presentation, which took place in early May, the woman looked great.

Personal life:

The personal life of the politician has always aroused interest among journalists. In her youth, despite her small stature (147 cm) and tendency to be overweight, Madeleine enjoyed success with men. Her husband in June 1959 was the heir to the newspaper magnate (his family owned the New York Daily News and a number of others), Joseph Medill Patterson Albright. The couple met while interning at the Denver Post in the summer of 1957. Soon after the wedding, the young wife gave birth to twin girls, Anne and Alice.

The children were born premature and required ventilation. They turned out to be so small and weak that Madeleine was not even allowed to touch them at first. In 1966, the woman became pregnant again, but the child was stillborn. Consolation for the woman came in 1967, when her youngest daughter, Katherine, was born.

Joseph was a reporter for the Chicago Sun Times. He became famous in 1961 after he published a report on Richard Nixon’s controversial meeting with his supporters (Joe hid in the bathroom of a hotel room and recorded the conversation). In 1970, the Albrights sold all shares of Newsday for $37.5 million.

After 23 years of marriage, on January 31, 1983, the couple separated. As a result of the divorce, Madeleine received a three-story house in Georgetown, a wealthy suburb of Washington, and a farm in Virginia, as well as a considerable part of her fortune.

However, parting with her husband was not easy for Albright. It was rumored that he had left for another woman, and in principle he had always been a lover of female attention. But they also expressed a different point of view: supposedly, when things were not going well for her husband, Madeleine did not pay any attention to this and was busy with her own career.

Brooches:

An interesting fact in Albright’s biography is her impressive collection of brooches. In 2009–2010, the politician exhibited her collection at the Museum of Fine Arts and Design in New York. Most of the jewelry had no artistic or jewelry value, but was of interest to the public as “a symbol of a new approach to diplomacy.”

Madeleine was straightforward by nature. But in the diplomatic service it is not always possible to openly express your own opinion to your opponent. The female politician took advantage of her feminine advantage and came up with a diplomatic language – the “language of brooches.”

She owes her original diplomatic flair to chance: while serving as the US permanent representative to the UN, Madeleine learned that one of the Iraqi newspapers had called her a snake. The lady was not at a loss and came to a meeting of the UN Security Council with a brooch in the shape of a snake entwined in a tree pinned on her left shoulder.

The politician’s arsenal included brooches in the form of stinging insects or a crab (a symbol of the negative of the United States), a snail symbolized sluggish negotiations, a turtle symbolized patience in a dispute, and butterflies or balloons symbolized a favorable environment. For example, at a meeting with the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Il, the Secretary of State attached a brooch in the form of an American flag to her jacket, and with Nelson Mandela – in the form of a zebra, which is a symbol of Africa. During negotiations with Yevgeny Primakov in 2006, a white daisy appeared on Albright’s lapel.

One of Madeleine’s favorite brooches (she wore it more often than others) was the steel head of the Statue of Liberty, in whose eyes there were miniature watches mounted – some regular, others turned upside down. The decoration made it possible to find out the time both for Albright herself and for her interlocutor.

However, the Americans also made mistakes in the “brooch diplomacy”. As she believed, the main mistake was the brooch in the form of monkeys (“I see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing”) at a meeting with Vladimir Putin. The head of the Russian state asked the guest what these three monkeys meant. This decoration was a response to Putin’s policies in Chechnya. According to her, Vladimir Vladimirovich then became very angry. Although Madeleine said that she would wear the same brooch to meet him in the future.

Death:

In the last years of her life, the politician taught students at Georgetown University in Washington, teaching diplomacy to young people. Albright died on March 23, 2022. The cause of death was cancer. The world learned about this from the official statement of the family of the ex-Secretary of State, published on the social network. Relatives reported that they were with Madeleine until the last minute. Major political figures spoke with words of support and condolences: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and others.

Awards:

• 1997 – Order of the White Lion (Czech Republic)
• 2012 — Presidential Medal of Freedom (USA)
• 2016 – State Department’s highest award for outstanding civilian service (USA)

Interesting Facts:

• In 2015, it became known that Albright would play herself in the political series “Secretary of State.” By the way, this was not the first role of an American woman in a movie. So, in 2005, the lady already appeared on screens in the series about teenagers “Gilmore Girls”. And in 2018, the politician starred in a cameo in the film “Cavalry.”
• At the beginning of February 2011, Madeleine visited MGIMO as part of her visit to Moscow. Before the main speech addressed to the public, the American uttered the phrase in Russian: “Thank you, it’s very nice! Good morning! I am very pleased to meet you at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.”
• In March 2013, Albright was included in The Guardian’s list of the best dressed people over 50.