Remembering a Trailblazer
Madeleine Albright, whose life was a trailblazing American success story, began as a refugee, first fleeing Nazis invading her native Czechoslovakia at the start of World War II and then escaping communist persecution in Yugoslavia at the age of 11, before rising to the highest diplomatic posts in the world, died Wednesday in Washington, D.C. She was 84.
A resident of Loudoun County and the District, Albright enjoyed a reputation for brilliant strategic thinking on a truly grand scale as well as diplomatic acumen unmatched in her generation. She rose to prominence under President Bill Clinton during the 1990s, serving as national security advisor, United Nations representative, and finally four years as Secretary of State.
“The New York Times” noted that as America’s top diplomat, Albright was, at that time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States.
Her rise was fostered by the national Democratic Party, beginning by her fund raising efforts in 1972 for Sen. Edmund Muskie’s presidential campaign. In 1976, the same year she earned her doctorate from Columbia University in international affairs, one of her professors, Zbigniew Brzeziński, was chosen as President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor and Albright was brought along as a counselor. Later she advised several White House aspirants, including Clinton, who brought her into his inner circle.
Among her greatest diplomatic successes was bringing peaceful resolutions to threatened hostilities with Iraq and ending the protracted war in the former Yugoslavia.
Perhaps her best remembered moment in the political spotlight came well after her days as a diplomat, while running Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm, teaching at Georgetown University, Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm, and writing (seven New York Times best-sellers). While campaigning for her friend, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 presidential primary campaign in New Hampshire, Albright, a life-long feminist, declared: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”
Many Loudoun residents remember Albright fondly as the little woman in sunglasses and a big hat, accompanied by security, during her frequent, discreet, weekend visits to roadside Bar-B-Q joints as well as high-end restaurants. She owned a home on 150-plus acres just outside of Lovettsville. She was gracious with strangers and generous with her time for local political and school events.
While celebrating the enormity of her historic life, we are deeply saddened; though, knowing her story, inspires us to hope that Ukrainian children facing the horrors of today’s war may find the same strength and determination to live a life of deep meaning.
One of Albright’s favorite charities is the National Democratic Institute for its worldwide support of women in politics. Please consider donating in her honor.
