Name: Condoleezza Rice Age: 50 Nationality: American Claim to fame: The world’s most powerful woman
As many people expected, President Bush has made Condoleezza Rice the new US Secretary of State, America’s “face to the world” as he called her when he announced his decision. In the process Condoleezza will become the first black American woman appointed to this position and just the second to do so.
‘Condi’, as Bush calls her, has been his foreign policy tutor since the 2000 campaign and has great influence over him. During the last four years, the two have spent so much time together discussing foreign policy that the two seem to see the world from the same perspective.
One of the first tasks before her is that of mending the relations with allies that were damaged during President Bush’s first term, partly because of her conservative stand. The ‘warrior princess’, as some call her, was widely quoted as telling associates about how Washington should treat opponents of the US-led invasion of the Iraq war: “Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia.” No wonder there are already serious concerns in Europe, the Middle East and Asia about Ms Rice’s nomination.
The most academic member of the Bush foreign affairs team, she was the first female US national security adviser. As a faculty member at Stanford University, she became the youngest provost in the institution’s 110-year history and the first woman and the first African-American to hold the position. With a name that is derived from an Italian musical term that means ‘with sweetness’, Condoleezza is also a pianist, ice-skater and a sports fan. In addition to English, she speaks Russian, French, and Spanish.
Her achievements have been the result of the strong determination that she developed during her childhood when she saw a lot of segregation and racism. Taught by her parents that education provided armour against segregation and prejudice, and to get ahead she had to be “twice as good”, Ms Rice worked her way to college by the age of 15.
She graduated at 19 from the University of Denver with a degree in political science. Her inspiration came from a course taught by the Czech refugee, Josef Korbel, father of United States’ first woman Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. A Masters and Doctorate followed and, at the age of 26, Ms Rice became a fellow at Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Arms Control. After serving as the Soviet affairs adviser on Bush Senior’s National Security Council, Condoleezza Rice returned to Stanford in 1991 and, in 1993, became the youngest, the first female and first non-white provost.
She served as Soviet affairs adviser to the National Security Council during the administration of Bush’s father, and prepped the elder Bush ahead of summits with Mikhail Gorbachev. She so impressed President Bush Sr. that he introduced her to Gorbachev as the one who “tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union.” With the kind of limited knowledge of global affairs that Bush Jr. had when he first became president, poor Condi must have had to do a lot of coaching as his national security adviser.
As many people expected, President Bush has made Condoleezza Rice the new US Secretary of State, America’s “face to the world” as he called her when he announced his decision. In the process Condoleezza will become the first black American woman appointed to this position and just the second to do so.
