WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Madeleine Albright, a child refugee from Nazi- and then Soviet-dominated eastern Europe who rose to become the 1st female U.S. secretary of state and a mentor to many current and former American statesmen and women, has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 84.
A lifelong Democrat who nonetheless worked to bring Republicans into her orbit, Albright was chosen by former President Bill Clinton to be America's top diplomat in 1996, elevating her from her post as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, where she had been only the second woman to hold that job.
As secretary of state, Albright was the highest-ranking woman in the history of U.S. government. She was not in the line of succession to the presidency, however, because she was a native of Prague. The glass ceiling that she broke was universally admired, even by her political detractors.
In announcing her death on Twitter, Albright's family said she died of cancer and was surrounded by family and friends: 鈥淲e have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend,鈥� the statement said.
Outpourings of condolences came quickly.
鈥淟aura and I are heartbroken by the news of Madeleine Albright鈥檚 death," said former President George W. Bush. 鈥淪he lived out the American dream and helped others realize it.... She served with distinction as a foreign-born foreign minister who understood firsthand the importance of free societies for peace in our world. I respect her love of country and public service, and Laura and I are grateful to have called Madeline Albright our friend.鈥�
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been informed of Albright's death as they were flying to Brussels for an emergency meeting of NATO leaders about Ukraine.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. envoy to the United Nations, honored Albright as a 鈥渢railblazer and a luminary鈥� in remarks on the General Assembly floor shortly after news of her death emerged.
鈥淭he impact that she has had on this building is felt every single day and just about every single corridor,鈥� said State Department spokesman Ned Price, who once co-taught a class with Albright at his alma mater, Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where Albright was a professor for decades before and after her time in government.
鈥淪he was a trailblazer as the first female Secretary of State and quite literally opened doors for a large elements of our of our workforce,鈥� he said.
In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Albright the Medal of Freedom, the nation鈥檚 highest civilian honor, saying her life was an inspiration to all Americans.
Albright remained outspoken through the years. After leaving office, she criticized President George W. Bush for using 鈥渢he shock of force鈥� rather than alliances to foster diplomacy and said Bush had driven away moderate Arab leaders and created potential for a dangerous rift with European allies.
However, as a refugee from Czechoslovakia who saw the horrors of both Nazi Germany and the Iron Curtain, she was not a dove and played a leading role in pressing for the Clinton administration to get militarily involved in the conflict in Kosovo.
She also toed a hard line on Cuba, famously saying at the United Nations that the Cuban shootdown of a civilian plane was not 鈥渃ojones鈥� but rather 鈥渃owardice.鈥�
She advised women 鈥渢o act in a more confident manner鈥� and 鈥渢o ask questions when they occur and don鈥檛 wait to ask.鈥�
鈥淚t took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent,鈥� she told HuffPost Living in 2010.
When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked her in January 2007 whether she approved of Bush鈥檚 proposed 鈥渟urge鈥� in U.S. troops in bloodied Iraq, she responded: 鈥淚 think we need a surge in diplomacy. We are viewed in the Middle East as a colonial power and our motives are suspect.鈥�
Albright was an internationalist whose point of view was shaped in part by her background. Her family fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 as the Nazis took over their country, and she spent the war years in London. After the war, as the Soviet Union took over vast chunks of eastern Europe, her father, a Czech diplomat, brought his family to the U.S.
As secretary of state, Albright played a key role in persuading Clinton to go to war against the Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic over his treatment of Kosovar Albanians in 1999. In her U.N. post, she advocated a tough U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the case of Milosevic鈥檚 treatment of Bosnia and NATO鈥檚 intervention in Kosovo was eventually dubbed 鈥淢adeleine's War.鈥�
鈥淢y mindset is Munich,鈥� she said frequently, referring to the German city where the Western allies abandoned her homeland to the Nazis.
Albright helped win Senate ratification of NATO鈥檚 expansion and a treaty imposing international restrictions on chemical weapons. She led a successful fight to keep Egyptian diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali from a second term as secretary-general of the United Nations. He accused her of deception and posing as a friend.
And she once exclaimed to Colin Powell, then the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, who would later succeed her as secretary of state: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the point of having this superb military you鈥檙e always talking about if we can鈥檛 use it?鈥�
Powell, who died last year, recalled in a memoir that Albright鈥檚 comments almost made him have an 鈥渁neurysm.鈥�
鈥淚 am an eternal optimist,鈥� Albright said in 1998, amid an effort as secretary of state to promote peace in the Middle East. But she said getting Israel to pull back on the West Bank and the Palestinians to rout terrorists posed serious problems.
As America鈥檚 top diplomat, Albright made limited progress at first in trying to expand the 1993 Oslo Accords that established the principle of self-rule for the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. But in 1998, she played a leading role in formulating the Wye Accords that turned over control of about 40% of the West Bank to the Palestinians.
She also spearheaded an ill-fated effort to negotiate a 2000 peace deal between Israel and Syria under Syria鈥檚 late President Hafez al-Assad. And, she helped guide U.S. foreign policy during conflicts in the Balkans and the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
As an outspoken Democrat in private life, Albright often joked that she had her 鈥減olitical instincts surgically removed鈥� when she became secretary of state. True to that, she formed an unlikely friendship with arch-conservative North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms to increase funding for the State Department and U.S. diplomacy and oversaw a radical change in Washington's handling of Cold War-era messaging.
Born Marie Jana Korbel in Prague on May 15, 1937, She was the daughter of a diplomat, Joseph Korbel. The family was Jewish and converted to Roman Catholicism when she was 5. Three of her Jewish grandparents died in concentration camps.
Albright later said that she became aware of her Jewish background after she became secretary of state. The family returned to Czechoslovakia after World War II but fled again, this time to the United States, in 1948, after the Communists rose to power.
They settled in Denver, where her father obtained a job at the University of Denver. One of Josef Korbel鈥檚 best students, a young woman named Condoleezza Rice, would later succeed his daughter as secretary of state, the first Black woman to hold that office.
Among current officials who worked closely with Albright are Biden's domestic policy adviser and former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, as well as Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and a host of others.
Albright graduated from Wellesley College in 1959. She worked as a journalist and later studied international relations at Columbia University, where she earned a master鈥檚 degree in 1968 and a Ph.D. in 1976.
She worked for the National Security Council during the Carter administration and advised Democrats on foreign policy before Clinton鈥檚 election. He nominated her as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 1993.
Following her service in the Clinton administration, she headed a global strategy firm, Albright Stonebridge, and was chair of an investment advisory company that focused on emerging markets.
She also wrote several books. Albright married journalist Joseph Albright, a descendant of Chicago鈥檚 Medill-Patterson newspaper dynasty, in 1959. They had three daughters and divorced in 1983.
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The late Associated Press diplomatic correspondent Barry Schweid contributed to this report.
Matthew Lee, The Associated Press
