Foreign Ministers from around the world, Lisbon, 1997
Once the Nazis left Eastern Europe, the Soviets increased their power. The family returned home after WW2, but pro-Soviet communism threatened. By 1948 they’d settled in Colorado, where her father taught international relations at Denver Uni. In 1948, he worked for the U.N in India, until the Communists overthrew the Czech government.
Madeleine took U.S citizenship in 1957 and studied political science at Wellesley College, graduating in 1959. She earned higher degrees in international affairs from Columbia Uni. She married Joseph Albright from a newspaper publishing family; the couple lived in Chicago and NY, before moving to Washington DC, and having 3 daughters.
In 1976 Albright received a Ph.D from Columbia and was working for another Eastern European immigrant, Columbia Uni academic Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pres Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser. From 1978-81 she served as a White House staffer on the National Security Council.
Her marriage ended in 1982. So she went to Georgetown Uni, as a Prof of International Affairs (1982-3). After Pres Carter, she was an adviser to Democratic candidates, including to presidential candidates Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro (1984 race) and Michael Dukakis (1988 race).
In Ronald Reagan (1981-9) and George Bush's (1989–92) Republican terms, Albright worked for non-profits.
When Bill Clinton sought the presidential nomination in 1992, Albright was his senior campaign foreign policy advisor. After Clinton became President, her political career blossomed; Clinton named her U.S ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, a rugged time in global politics. The Cold War had just ended, leaving it unclear what practical steps the world’s last superpower should take.
Madeleine Albright was nominated to be the first woman Sec of State by Pres Clinton in Dec 1996 and unanimously confirmed in Jan 1997. Having spent time in the U.N dealing with brutal fighting in Bosnia, Albright was confronted by more crises in Yugoslavia, a nation split by awful ethnic and religious differences. The U.S intervened in Kosovo to protect the persecuted Albanian minority. In fact Kosovo’s war became the heart of the debate over what role America should play in the world.
Soon after her confirmation, Albright's cousin told Washington Post reporters that the family had been Czech Jews, not Catholics as she believed, and that 3 of her grandparents had been murdered in German concentration camps. This discovery brought problems for her personal sense of identity, but how did she not know her own family history till her middle age?? That year, Albright flew to Prague and was honoured by Czech Pres Vaclav Havel.
Albright strongly supported military intervention. In 1999 she pushed for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombings in Yugoslavia, to halt the cleansing of ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav and Serbian forces. This Kosovo Conflict ended after 11 weeks of air strikes, when Yugoslavia agreed to NATO’s terms. Albright was also involved in efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear program; in 2000 she became the highest-ranking U.S official to visit. But her talks with Kim Jong Il failed to produce a deal.
Albright and Kim Jong Il, 2000
By Jan 2001, Albright's impressive career as the highest-ranking female in the U.S government ended, having showed a combination of scholarly research and political activity. Then she became chairman of the board for the National Democratic Institute. The Washington Speakers Bureau used this famous public speaker to share insight about her career. In 2001 Albright returned to academe.
Meanwhile she was a frequent columnist on foreign affairs issues, and wrote books like The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006), Memo to the President Elect (2008) and Fascism: A Warning (2018), Madam Secretary (2003), Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance & War, 1937–48 (2012) and Hell and Other Destinations (2020).
Madeleine Albright died at 84 in 2022.
Conclusion
As the world reordered post-Cold War, Albright was a major figure in international diplomacy. Her vision for U.S policy and the role it played in the world can be described as:
Successes in American diplomacy:
1]promoting NATO’s expansion into former Soviet nations and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons from the USSR to rogue nations;
2] using military intervention under NATO in the 1999 Kosovo crisis;
3]supporting the expansion of free-markets;
4]wanting to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Global Climate Change;
5]normalising relations with Vietnam; and
6]improving relations with China and former Soviet nations.
Her failures:
7] not succeeding with a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and
8] not developing an ongoing U.S outreach to North Korea
Maria Korbel (1937-2022) was born in Prague. Her father Josef Korbel was a member of the Czech diplomatic service in Belgrade, then Ambassador to Yugoslavia. In 1938, Czechoslovakia was at the epicentre of Europe’s crises, coveted by Germany and protected by UK and France. It ended with the 1938 Munich Agreement, meant to calm Hitler by accepting his territorial demands. But Nazi Germany chewed up Czechoslovakia and in Mar 1939 the family fled to UK. In 1941, Jewish Josef and Anna converted to Catholicism, to save the family.
Once the Nazis left Eastern Europe, the Soviets increased their power. The family returned home after WW2, but pro-Soviet communism threatened. By 1948 they’d settled in Colorado, where her father taught international relations at Denver Uni. In 1948, he worked for the U.N in India, until the Communists overthrew the Czech government.
Madeleine took U.S citizenship in 1957 and studied political science at Wellesley College, graduating in 1959. She earned higher degrees in international affairs from Columbia Uni. She married Joseph Albright from a newspaper publishing family; the couple lived in Chicago and NY, before moving to Washington DC, and having 3 daughters.
In 1976 Albright received a Ph.D from Columbia and was working for another Eastern European immigrant, Columbia Uni academic Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pres Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser. From 1978-81 she served as a White House staffer on the National Security Council.
Her marriage ended in 1982. So she went to Georgetown Uni, as a Prof of International Affairs (1982-3). After Pres Carter, she was an adviser to Democratic candidates, including to presidential candidates Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro (1984 race) and Michael Dukakis (1988 race).
In Ronald Reagan (1981-9) and George Bush's (1989–92) Republican terms, Albright worked for non-profits.
When Bill Clinton sought the presidential nomination in 1992, Albright was his senior campaign foreign policy advisor. After Clinton became President, her political career blossomed; Clinton named her U.S ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, a rugged time in global politics. The Cold War had just ended, leaving it unclear what practical steps the world’s last superpower should take.
President Clinton nominated Albright
as Secretary of State, Dec 1996
as Secretary of State, Dec 1996
She immediately became a major force in world politics, America being the UN's largest contributor to U.N activities and budget. She was involved in debates over UN peace-keeping activities and American foreign policy.
Madeleine Albright was nominated to be the first woman Sec of State by Pres Clinton in Dec 1996 and unanimously confirmed in Jan 1997. Having spent time in the U.N dealing with brutal fighting in Bosnia, Albright was confronted by more crises in Yugoslavia, a nation split by awful ethnic and religious differences. The U.S intervened in Kosovo to protect the persecuted Albanian minority. In fact Kosovo’s war became the heart of the debate over what role America should play in the world.
Soon after her confirmation, Albright's cousin told Washington Post reporters that the family had been Czech Jews, not Catholics as she believed, and that 3 of her grandparents had been murdered in German concentration camps. This discovery brought problems for her personal sense of identity, but how did she not know her own family history till her middle age?? That year, Albright flew to Prague and was honoured by Czech Pres Vaclav Havel.
Albright and Havel, Prague, 1997
Albright strongly supported military intervention. In 1999 she pushed for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombings in Yugoslavia, to halt the cleansing of ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav and Serbian forces. This Kosovo Conflict ended after 11 weeks of air strikes, when Yugoslavia agreed to NATO’s terms. Albright was also involved in efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear program; in 2000 she became the highest-ranking U.S official to visit. But her talks with Kim Jong Il failed to produce a deal.
Albright began a Middle Eastern peace mission in 1997, meeting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, then with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Syrian Pres Hafez al-Assad (d2000), Egyptian Pres Hosny Mubarak, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan (d1999). She condemned terrorist activities, urged Netanyahu to make some concessions to the Palestinians, and then vowed not to re-meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders until they cooperated. In July 2000 Albright returned to the Middle East, but talks between the new Israeli P.M Ehud Barak and Arafat ended.
By Jan 2001, Albright's impressive career as the highest-ranking female in the U.S government ended, having showed a combination of scholarly research and political activity. Then she became chairman of the board for the National Democratic Institute. The Washington Speakers Bureau used this famous public speaker to share insight about her career. In 2001 Albright returned to academe.
Meanwhile she was a frequent columnist on foreign affairs issues, and wrote books like The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006), Memo to the President Elect (2008) and Fascism: A Warning (2018), Madam Secretary (2003), Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance & War, 1937–48 (2012) and Hell and Other Destinations (2020).
Madeleine Albright died at 84 in 2022.
Conclusion
As the world reordered post-Cold War, Albright was a major figure in international diplomacy. Her vision for U.S policy and the role it played in the world can be described as:
Successes in American diplomacy:
1]promoting NATO’s expansion into former Soviet nations and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons from the USSR to rogue nations;
2] using military intervention under NATO in the 1999 Kosovo crisis;
3]supporting the expansion of free-markets;
4]wanting to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Global Climate Change;
5]normalising relations with Vietnam; and
6]improving relations with China and former Soviet nations.
Her failures:
7] not succeeding with a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and
8] not developing an ongoing U.S outreach to North Korea
Her political views were very sympathetic to me, but her approach to diplomacy accepted the notion of using military might to support American strategic interests. In her view, a U.S policy should have been sufficient, by itself, to achieve the support of other nations!
Thank you to Office of the Historian, New Yorker, New York Times and BBC.
14 comments:
Czechs are the best linguists, best educated, most family oriented and most peace-focused people on earth. No wonder Madeleine was so successful.
Sounds like quite a life! I really didn’t know much except what was on the news over the years.
Some people's life stories leave me feeling inadequate! Madeleine Albright was one of those people. She was a wonderful diplomat but it's her back-story that is most fascinating for me. Do you know anything about her religious practice after she discovered that she was Jewish?
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Joe
Australia is HUGE and doesn't border even a single country. The old Czechoslovakia was tiny,
and shared a border with Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine etc etc. If the country wasn't highly educated, multi lingual and skilled in international diplomacy, it would have suffered even more harshly than it did. Albright's father Josef recognised this exactly, as did his daughter.
Sue
I also took very little notice, at least until the Cold War was over. I was so angry about the murder of President Kennedy and the immoral Vietnam War, it reduced my interested in American politics for decades. Then I woke up and starting reading as much as I could.
bazza
at first the normal response would have been "what do you mean that 3 of the grandparents plus aunts, uncles and first cousins died in concentration camps? Didn't you ask why?" But perhaps Madeleine's parents were very wise in converting quietly when the children were young and never telling them anything.
When she first heard her family history at 59, she was confused and very uncertain about her identity. I know she kept one night Passover seder and the next day celebrated Easter in church, and I know that some of the grandsons had bar mitzvahs.
It is hard to believe Albright left our tv screens in 2001. She was a reassuring figure who spoke common and realistic sense.
She certainly had an interesting background and was a typical US immigrant who made good by education and subsequently had a very good nous. You don't get to where she got without some very good political skills.
Andrew
Albright had a great family background with her father in the Czech diplomatic service at a very tricky time in world history; she had the most amazing undergrad and postgrad education in all of the USA; and she had a long history as a skilled university professor and an author. Finally she was respected and guided in the White House by leaders who admired her political skills.
I wish I had her energy. I was exhausted just writing out her achievements in a blog post.
Certainly a problomatic figure, but on the whole a force for evil.
Anonymous
who was a force for evil? Even if you did not always like Albright's politics, you have to admit that she gave her heart and soul to a better and more democratic world.
Maybe her parents were wise as you say to quietly get on with their lives and not burden their children with all that tragedy .After all it wouldn't have changed anything would it ? Maybe it was because she had such wise parents and a great brain , that she was bale to achieve so much in her life .
mem
it was such a fraught situation. In my year at school, 90% of the children were born in Poland or surrounds, in 1947-8. Most of the parents were the sole survivors of the Holocaust, married another sole survivor, had a baby and moved to Australia as soon as they got a visa. Most of the parents I knew were loving but deeply disturbed, so the children thankfully were given support at school.
Albright's parents fled central Europe in 1939, converted in 1941 and stayed alive. Therefore, we might say, there was no reason to make Madeleine and her two younger siblings miserable all THEIR lives. Fortunately for Madeleine, whose career was built on confidence and scholarship.
Boa tarde minha querida amiga. Obrigado pela excelente matéria de qualidade. Parabéns pelo seu excelente trabalho.
Luiz
I think it was such a difficult time in world politics, Albright was in the right place at the right time to use her endless diplomatic skills.
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