Condoleezza Rice
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Order 66th Secretary of State
Term of Office January 26, 2005-
Predecessor Colin Powell
Date of Birth November 14, 1954
Place of Birth Birmingham, Alabama
Profession University Professor
Political Party Republican
Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954) is the 66th and current
United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration
of President George W. Bush. She replaced Colin Powell on January 26,
2005, after his resignation. Her deputy is Robert Zoellick.
Condoleezza Rice was previously Bush's National Security Advisor during
his first term (2001-2005). Before joining the Bush administration,
she was a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University where
she served as Provost from 1993 to 1999.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Early life and education
* 2 Academic career
* 3 Business career
* 4 Political career
o 4.1 Early phase
o 4.2 National Security Advisor (2001-2005)
o 4.3 Secretary of State (2005-present)
* 5 Future prospects
* 6 Trivia
* 7 Notes
o 7.1 References
* 8 Further reading
o 8.1 Primary sources
o 8.2 Academic Studies
o 8.3 Popular books and commentary
* 9 External links
[edit]
Early life and education
Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and is the only child of Angelena
Rice and the Reverend John Wesley Rice (Jr.). Her father was a black
minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and her mother was a music
teacher. The name "Condoleezza" is derived from the Italian
music-related expression, "Con dolcezza", meaning "with sweetness".[1]
In an article for the New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate
School of Journalism at Columbia University, writes, "Birmingham had
one notably rich black family, the Gastons, who were in the insurance
business. Occupying the next rung down was the family of Alma Powell,
wife of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary
of State, Colin Powell; her father and her uncle were the principals of
two black high schools in town. Rice's father, John Wesley Rice, Jr.,
worked for Alma Powell's uncle as a high-school guidance counselor, and
was an ordained minister who preached on weekends; Rice's mother,
Angelena, was a teacher."[2] In 1967, the family moved to Denver when
her father accepted an administrative position at the University of
Denver.
Rice was eight when her schoolmate Denise McNair was killed in the
bombing of the primarily African-American Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church by white supremacists on September 15, 1963. Rice states that
growing up during racial segregation taught her determination against
adversity, and the need to be "twice as good" as non-minorities.[3]
After studying piano at an Aspen music camp, Rice enrolled at the
University of Denver, where her father both served as an assistant dean
and taught a class called "The Black Experience in America".[4]
At age 15, Rice began classes with the goal of becoming a concert
pianist. Her plans changed when she realized that she did not play well
enough to support herself through music alone. She said that her
playing was "pretty good but not great" and that she did not have
enough time to devote to practice.[5] Rice attended a course on
international politics taught by Josef Korbel, the father of former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This experience sparked her
interest in the Soviet Union and international relations and made her
call Korbel "one of the most central figures in my life."[6]
In 1974, at age 19, Rice earned her B.A. in political science and Phi
Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver. In 1975, she obtained her
Master's Degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame.
She first worked in the State Department in 1977, during the Carter
administration, as an intern in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs. In 1981, at age 26, she received her Ph.D. from the Graduate
School of International Studies at the University of Denver. In
addition to English, she speaks Russian, French, German and Spanish.
[edit]
Academic career
Condoleezza Rice
Enlarge
Condoleezza Rice
At Stanford University, Rice was an Assistant Professor, Political
Science (1981-1987), Associate Professor (1987-1993), Professor of
Political Science (1993-July 2000)[7], Senior Fellow of the Institute
for International Studies, and a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) of the
Hoover Institution. She was a specialist on the former Soviet Union and
gave lectures on the subject for the Berkeley-Stanford joint program
led by U.C. Berkeley's George Breslauer in the mid-1980s. She also was
an avid reader of Leo Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, and once told a friend
she leaned toward the latter in her world view. She was quietly
cerebral, friendly but decorous, and popular among students. They often
saw her exercising in the gym or serving breakfast to undergraduates at
Midnight Breakfast, a Stanford tradition during final exams. From 1993
to 1999 she served as the Stanford Provost, the chief budget and
academic officer of the university. Yet, she managed to maintain
friendly contact with various student associations, such as the
Venezuelan Student Organization. After departing to enter government
service, she returned to Stanford in June 2002 to deliver the
commencement address.[8] In addition to being the first woman and the
first African -American to be Provost of Stanford University, she was
also the youngest Provost in the university's history.
Rice is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has
been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the
University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995,
the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of
Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004.
She has written or collaborated on several books, including Germany
Unified and Europe Transformed (1995), The Gorbachev Era (1986), and
Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army
(1984).
[edit]
Business career
Rice has served on the board of directors for the Chevron Corporation,
the Charles Schwab Corporation, the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation, Transamerica Corporation, Hewlett Packard, The Carnegie
Corporation, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Rand
Corporation, and KQED, public broadcasting for San Francisco.
She was also on the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame,
the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan, and the San
Francisco Symphony Board of Governors.
She also headed Chevron's committee on public policy until she resigned
on January 15, 2001, to become National Security Advisor to President
George W. Bush. Chevron honored Rice by naming an oil tanker
Condoleezza Rice after her, but controversy led to its being renamed
Altair Voyager.[9][10][11]
Rice has also been active in community affairs. She was a founding
board member of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support
fund for schools in East Palo Park, California and East Menlo Park,
California, and was Vice President of the Boys and Girls Clubs of
America of the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition, her past board service has encompassed such organizations
as the National Council for Soviet and East European Studies, and the
Mid-Peninsula Urban Coalition.
[edit]
Political career
[edit]
Early phase
In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on
Foreign Relations, Condoleezza served as Special Assistant to the
Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
>From 1989 through March 1991 (the period of the fall of Berlin Wall and
the final days of the Soviet Union), she served in the George H. W.
Bush Administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet
and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a
Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In
this position, Rice helped develop Bush's and Secretary of State James
Baker's policies in favor of German reunification. She so impressed
Bush that he introduced her to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as the
one who "tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union."[12]
In 1989 she served as director for Soviet and East European Affairs at
the National Security Council and reported directly to National
Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. In 1990 she became George H. W.
Bush's principal advisor on the Soviet Union. In 1997, she sat on the
Federal Advisory Committee on Gender-Integrated Training in the
Military.
During George W. Bush's election campaign in 2000, Rice took a one-year
leave of absence from Stanford University to help work as his foreign
policy advisor.
[edit]
National Security Advisor (2001-2005)
Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld listen to President George W. Bush speak about the Middle East
on June 24, 2002
Enlarge
Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld listen to President George W. Bush speak about the Middle East
on June 24, 2002
On December 17, 2000, Condoleezza was picked to serve as National
Security Advisor and stepped down from her position at Stanford. She
was the first woman to occupy the post. In 2001, Rice was staff or
board member of The Scowcroft Group according to a report entitled 2001
Morse Target.
Rice became one of the most outspoken supporters of the 2003 invasion
of Iraq. After Iraq delivered its declaration of weapons of mass
destruction to the United Nations on December 8, 2002, it was Rice who
wrote an editorial for The New York Times entitled Why We Know Iraq Is
Lying.
In March 2004, Rice initially refused to publicly testify under oath
before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States (the 9/11 Commission). The White House claimed executive
privilege under constitutional separation of powers and cited past
tradition in refusing requests for her public testimony. Under
pressure, Bush agreed to allow her to publicly testify so long as it
did not create a precedent of Presidential staff being required to
appear before United States Congress when so requested. In the end, her
appearance before the commission on April 8, 2004, was deemed
acceptable in part because she was not actually appearing before
Congress. She thus became the first sitting National Security Advisor
to testify on matters of policy.
Leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Rice became the
first National Security Advisor to campaign for an incumbent president.
She used this occasion to express her belief that Saddam's government
in Iraq contributed to circumstances that produced terrorism like the
9/11 attacks on America. At a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania campaign rally
she said: "While Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the actual
attacks on America, Saddam Hussein's Iraq was a part of the Middle East
that was festering and unstable, [and] was part of the circumstances
that created the problem on September 11." [13]
In 2003, Rice was also drawn into the debate over the affirmative
action admissions policy at the University of Michigan. On January 18,
2003, the Washington Post reported that she was involved in crafting
Bush's position on race-based preferences. Rice has stated that she
believes race "can be a factor" in university admissions policies.[14]
[edit]
Secretary of State (2005-present)
Condoleezza Rice speaks after being nominated to be Secretary of State
by President George W. Bush (background)
Enlarge
Condoleezza Rice speaks after being nominated to be Secretary of State
by President George W. Bush (background)
On November 16, 2004, Bush nominated Rice to be Secretary of State,
replacing Powell, whose resignation was made public the day before.
Bush named Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, to replace her as National
Security Advisor. On January 7, 2005, Bush nominated U.S. Trade
Representative Robert B. Zoellick to be Rice's deputy at the Department
of State. On January 19, 2005, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations voted by 16-2 margin to approve the forwarding of Rice's
nomination to the full Senate for approval, with Democrats John Kerry
and Barbara Boxer voting against Rice. During her hearing, Ms. Boxer
questioned Rice on issues about her personal life, which was deemed, by
some, as irrelevant. On January 26, 2005, the Senate confirmed her
nomination by a vote of 85-13. The negative votes, the most cast
against any nomination for Secretary of State since 1825, came from
Senators who, according to Boxer, wanted "to hold Dr. Rice and the Bush
Administration accountable for their failures in Iraq and in the war on
terrorism." All negative votes came from either Democratic or
independent senators. Their reasoning was that Rice had acted
irresponsibly in equating Hussein's regime with Islamist terrorism and
some could not accept her previous record.
Dr. Rice and President George W. Bush purportedly have a very close
relationship. They met in the 1990's after Dr. Rice had served as
former President George H. W. Bush's top Soviet and East European
Affairs advisor. It has been argued that their contemporaneous loves of
sports, physical fitness, and religion have made them close friends,
politically and personally. Some analysts argue that Rice's
relationship with Bush is the closest President/Secretary of State
relationship since that of former President Richard Nixon and former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the early 1970's.
In January 2005, during Bush's second inaugural ceremonies, Rice first
used the term outposts of tyranny to refer to countries felt to
threaten world peace and human rights. This term has been called a
descendant of Bush's phrase "Axis of Evil" used to describe Iraq, Iran
and North Korea. She identified six such "outposts" in which she said
the United States has a duty to foster freedom: Cuba, Zimbabwe, Burma
and Belarus, as well as Iran and North Korea.
Rice meets with Cardinal Angelo Sodano during her international trip.
Enlarge
Rice meets with Cardinal Angelo Sodano during her international trip.
In February 2005, Rice began an extended tour of Europe and the Middle
East for the first time in her official capacity of Secretary of State.
She traveled to Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, Israel,
the Palestinian Territories, Italy, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
In April 2005, Rice went to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin. On
the plane trip over, she related comments critical of Putin to
reporters. "Trends have not been positive on the democratic side", said
Rice. "There have been some setbacks, but I do still think there is a
considerable amount of individual freedom in Russia, which is
important."[15]
In person she told Putin: "We see Russia as a partner in solving
regional issues, like the Balkans or the Middle East."
During an interview with Russian Echo Moscow Radio, her fluency in the
Russian language was tested when she was asked about her intentions
concerning running for President.[16] When asked by a schoolgirl, "One
day you will run for president?" she replied, "President, da, da,"
before she quickly answered with "nyet, nyet, nyet." When a Russian
girl asked how she could become like her, she replied in English, "I
don't want to talk about myself."
She toured the damage from Hurricane Katrina in her home state of
Alabama for several days in early September 2005.
On September 9, 2005, Rice declared the refusal of Iran to halt its
nuclear program unacceptable and called on Russia, China and India to
join in threatening United Nations sanctions as punishment.
On September 30, 2005, as a keynote speaker at Princeton University's
Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs, Rice declared that the Iraq War is
"set out to help the people of the Middle East transform their
societies."[17]
On October 30, 2005, Rice attended a memorial service in Montgomery,
Alabama, in Rice's home state, for Rosa Parks, an inspiration for the
American Civil Rights Movement. Rice stated, that she and others who
grew up in Alabama during the height of Parks' activism might not have
realized her impact on their lives at the time, "but I can honestly say
that without Mrs. Parks, I probably would not be standing here today as
secretary of state."[18]
In November 2005, ahead of a visit to Europe, Rice informed Irish
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern that "she expected allies to trust that
America does not allow rights abuses." And she refused to give Ahern a
personal assurance Ireland has not been used for secret prisoner
transfers.
On January 18, 2006, Rice announced plans for a substantial
reorganization of the State Department. Goals include the relocation of
hundreds of American diplomats, as well as strengthening requirements
for language skills and knowledge of foreign cultures as a prerequisite
for professional advancement.[19]
[edit]
Future prospects
Rice has risen to become one of the most powerful female politicians in
US history. As a result, supporters have touted a future Vice
Presidential or Presidential candidacy as a possibility.
Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race
Enlarge
Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race
After the 2004 election, political consultant Dick Morris advocated
Rice's candidacy for President in 2008.
Currently, dozens of websites and organizations exist, seeking to draft
Dr. Rice and make her candidacy a reality. The most noteworthy of these
groups, "Americans for Dr. Rice," is a 527 group, not approved by any
candidate or party, dedicated to the candidacy, and election, of Rice
in the 2008 presidential race. Rice for her part has repeatedly said
she has no desire or interest in becoming President. Interviewed on the
subject by Tim Russert on March 14, 2005, Rice declared, "I will not
run for president of the United States. How is that? I don't know how
many ways to say 'no' in this town."[20]
In May 2005, several of Rice's associates claimed that she is
interested in a run for the presidency, but only in draft form.[21] On
October 16, 2005, on NBC's Meet the Press, Rice again denied she would
run for President in 2008. While she says she is flattered that many
people want her to run, she says it is not what she wants to do with
her life. Rice told Fox News Sunday host, Chris Wallace, "I'm quite
certain that there are going to be really fine candidates for president
from our party, and I'm looking forward to seeing them and perhaps
supporting them."[22] Interviewed on BBC television's The Politics Show
on October 23, she again stated her decision not to run, although
dodged giving a "Yes" answer when asked whether that meant she would
definitely not run in any circumstances. Rice has not said that she
would not accept the Republican nomination were it to be offered to
her.
Rice has frequently been mentioned as a possible opponent of Hillary
Clinton in the 2008 election, as is the subject of the book Condi vs.
Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race, by political strategist Dick
Morris and his wife, Eileen McGann-Morris.
Even in spite of Dr. Rice's denials of any presidential aspirations,
many recent polls show her as the number one or number two most desired
Republican nominee, including prominent ones like Marist, NewsMax,
Rasmussen, and Zogby. In fact, a recent Zogby America poll showed Dr.
Rice defeating Democratic potentials Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and
Mark Warner. In February 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org named
Condoleezza Rice one of its "8 for '08", a group of eight female
politicians who could possibly run and/or be elected president in 2008.
Rice has publicly expressed aspirations to become the next commissioner
of the National Football League and following the announcement of Paul
Tagliabue's retirement, she was widely believed to be a serious
contender for the post. If appointed to the office, she would have been
both the first African American and the first female commissioner of
any North American major sports league. However, Rice, a Cleveland
Browns fan, declined to take the post, stating that she preferred to
remain as Secretary of State.[23]