Jody Talks About Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Korbel Albright was born Marie Jana Korbel on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Her father, Josef, was a member of the Czech diplomatic corps. When the Nazis invaded their homeland the family fled to safety in London, England and returned after the war. Life was difficult in their war-torn nation. In 1948 her father was on an official assignment for his country at the U.N. and used the opportunity to seek political asylum for himself and his family. They fled their country a second time and settled in Colorado. Her father, Josef, became the founding dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. In 1957 Marie became a naturalized U.S. citizen. She changed her name to Madeleine, a Czech nickname given to her by her grandmother.

Following in her father’s diplomatic footsteps Madeleine earned a political science degree from Wellesley in 1959. After graduation she married Chicago newspaper journalist Joseph Medill Patterson Albright whom she met while working a summer job with the Denver Post. They had three daughters, twins Anne and Alice and Katie. The twins were born 6 weeks prematurely. Madeleine took a course in Russian language as a distraction and by the time the twins were able to leave the hospital she was fluent in the language. Pursuing graduate work at Columbia University, she received her Master’s Degree in international affairs (1968), specializing in Soviet Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in public law and government 1976. In 1978 she joined the staff of the National Security Council as a legislative liaison and established herself as an expert in foreign affairs. She remained in that position until 1981. The following year she spent writing a book about the role of the press in bringing about political change in Poland in the period 1980 to 1982. The book was a project conducted under a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institute.

In 1982 Madeleine and Joseph divorced. Madeleine joined the faculty of Georgetown University as a research professor of international affairs and director of women students enrolled in the foreign services program. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international studies, U.S. foreign relations, Russian foreign policy, and central and eastern European politics. She was instrumental in developing programs designed to enhance professional opportunities for women in international affairs. In October 1989 she became the president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington-based non-profit research organization. During this time she raised her three daughters by herself. Still Madeleine found extra time to be a board member for numerous institutes, national commissions, and civic organizations.

In 1992 President Clinton appointed Madeleine to be the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations and the head of the U.S. delegation to that body. She was the second woman to ever serve as chief of mission at the United Nations. Ambassador Albright immediately became a presence to be reckoned with. She found herself involved simultaneously in political debate, maneuvering, and consultation over such controversies as peacekeeping, expanding the Security Council’s membership to include both Germany and Japan, clarifying Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali’s authority, and in the ongoing national debate over the direction of American foreign policies.

Then on January 23, 1997, after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she became the first female Secretary of State. Secretary Albright began a peace mission in the Middle East in the fall of 1997. She met with the Israeli Prime Minister. She met with the Palestinian leader, the Syrian President, the Egyptian President, the Kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Secretary Albright vowed not to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders again until they were “ready to make the hard decisions”.

“While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.”- Dr. Madeleine Albright