Born: May 15, 1937, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Madeleine Korbel Albright is an American diplomat, secretary of state (1997-2001) under President Bill Clinton. She was the first female secretary of state in the United States history.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Albright fled with her family to London, England, just before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945). Her family settled in the United States in 1949. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Wellesley College in 1959 and a doctorate in Russian studies from Columbia University in 1976. From 1976 to 1978, she was the chief legislative assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. Albright served on the National Security Council from 1978 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. In 1981 and 1982, she was a fellow at both the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Albright taught international affairs and foreign diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., from 1982 to 1993. From 1989 to 1993, she was the president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington, D.C., research institution.
She also served as a principal foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidates Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton. In February 1993 Clinton appointed her United States permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), a Cabinet-level position, and she served in that role until her confirmation as secretary of state in January 1997.
