Madeleine Albright (1937-2022) was an icon in American foreign policy, as the first woman to be the United States' Secretary of State.
Madeleine Albright (1937-2022) was an icon in American foreign policy, as the first woman to be the United States' Secretary of State.
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History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we’re highlighting women who’ve led dynamic lives. Lives that shifted, evolved and bloomed, often later in life.
Today we’re talking about an icon in American foreign policy. Please welcome the one and only, Madeleine Albright.
Maria Jana Korbelova was born on May 15, 1937 in Prague. She was the oldest of three children born to Anna Spiegelova and Josef Korbel. Josef was a press and cultural attaché in Yugoslavia And he served under Czechoslovakia’s first and second democratic presidents. However, his proximity to the government put Maria’s family in danger.
Following Hitler’s invasion of the Sudetenland, Maria and her family fled to London where they lived in exile. During this time, Maria spent nights in shelters, hiding during the Luftwaffe air raids.
Aside from her father’s political affiliations, Maria’s family had another reason to fear for their future: they were Jewish. To protect their family from the Nazis, Anna and Josef converted to Roman Catholicism in 1941. Maria and her siblings were baptized and began celebrating Christian holidays. Much of her Jewish heritage would remain unknown to Maria until much later in her life.
When the war ended, Maria’s family returned to Prague and Josef became the Czech ambassador to Yugoslavia. Maria attended a boarding school in Switzerland and started going by Madeleine. But this period of peace for the Korbel family was short lived.
In 1948, the Communist party seized power in Czechoslovakia. Josef was once again a political pariah. And once again, the family was forced to flee. Josef received political asylum in the United States and moved the family to Colorado where he accepted a teaching job at the University of Denver.
With her life having reached a new level of stability, Madeleine excelled in school. She attended Wellesley College where she graduated with honors in 1959. That same year, Madeleine married Joseph Medill Patterson Albright. Joseph came from a publishing dynasty. His grandfather was the founder of The New York Daily News . The marriage came with entry to a new social stratosphere. And the couple also had three daughters.
While raising her girls, Madeleine pursued higher education. She first earned a masters and later a doctorate degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
In 1983, Madeleine’s husband left her for another woman. The settlement from the divorce left Madeleine with millions of dollars and some time on her hands. As a result, she began raising money for Democratic politicians, hosting salons in her Washington D.C. home. Madeleine loaned her expertise in foreign policy to Democratic hopefuls like Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and Gov. Michael Dukakis. It was while consulting for Dukakis that Madeleine met the then-Arkansas-Governor Bill Clinton.
Four years later, when Bill Clinton won the Presidency, he brought Madeleine into the fold. He named her Ambassador to the United Nations.
In her role as Ambassador, Madeleine was a fierce champion of what she called “assertive multilateralism”. She believed the U.S. had a role to play in global leadership and lobbied – sometimes unsuccessfully – to expand military involvement in regions like the Balkans, Haiti and Rwanda. She regularly clashed with then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell.
In her 2003 memoir, Madeleine reflected on the United States’ inaction in response to the Rwandan genocide. She wrote, “My deepest regret from my years in public service is the failure of the United States and the international community to act sooner to halt these crimes.”
Madeleine placed much of this blame for UN inaction in Rwanda at the feet of the UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Their conflicting views of leadership came to a head in 1996 when the UN Security Council voted overwhelmingly to appoint Boutros to a second term. That is until Madeleine cast a decisive veto of the appointment. In what Boutros later called an assault on his integrity, he was driven out of power.
Shortly after President Clinton began second term, he nominated Madeleine for the position of Secretary of State. She received a unanimous confirmation in the senate and became the first woman to hold the position. This also made her fourth in line to the presidency. At the time, Madeleine was the highest ranking woman in the history of the US government.
During her time as Secretary of State Madeline advocated for democracy and human rights around the world. She pushed for expanding NATO’s membership to include nations in Eastern Europe. She advocated for intervention in Kosovo and for curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. She worked to normalize relations with Vietnam, China and to broker peace deals in the Middle East. In 2000, Madeleine became the first U.S. Secretary of State to travel to North Korea.
Following Madeleine’s appointment, the Washington Post began to report about her storied Jewish heritage. According to Madeleine, this was the first she’d ever heard of it. Her parents had never revealed their true ancestry. From this reporting, Madeleine also learned that she lost three grandparents in concentration camps during the second world war.
Madeleine left her post as Secretary of State in 2001. And for some, her legacy is mixed. In the 1990s, intense sanctions levied against Iraq reportedly caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Madeleine claimed that “the price [was] worth it.”
Following her time in the federal government, Madeleine wrote several best-selling books and opened a collection of consulting and investing firms. She even made a few appearances in the world of entertainment – including a cameo on Parks and Rec.
In 2012, President Obama awarded Madeleine Albright the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The nation’s highest civilian honor.
On March 23rd 2022, Madeleine Albright died of cancer. She was 84 years old.
All month, we’re highlighting dynamos. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. We'll be back on Monday with a brand new theme. Talk to you, then!