Condoleezza Rice

Born - 14 November 1954 at Birmingham in Alabama

Nationality – African American

Education - Schooling at St. Mary's Academy, Denver. Graduated from St. Mary's Academy (1970). Rice earned her BA in political science, University of Denver (1974). She got her Master's Degree in political science, University of Notre Dame (1975). Condoleezza Rice got her PhD. in political science, Graduate School of International Studies, Denver (1981).

Career – United States Secretary of State.

Condoleezza Rice is the 66th United States Secretary of State and is serving her second term under the administration of President, George W. Bush. It was on 16 November 2004 that George Bush nominated Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. On 26 January 2005, the Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 85-13. She happens to be the first black female, second African American as well as the second woman to hold the post of the US Secretary of State.

 

During her first term in President George Bush’s administration, Condoleeza Rice served as the National Security Advisor. Before she joined the administration of US President George Bush, Condoleezza Rice worked as a Political Science professor at the Stanford University serving as provost from 1993 to 1999. Apart from English, Rice can speak other languages with varying degrees of fluency like Russian, German, French and Spanish. 

 

Condoleezza Rice was born on 14 November 1954 at Birmingham in Alabama, located in the United States. She grew up in the neighborhood of Titusville. Rice is the only child of her parents, Presbyterian minister Reverend John Wesley Rice, Jr. and Angelena Ray. Condoleezza Rice was ranked by Forbes as the world’s most powerful women in 2005. But ironically during her growing up years, she has had firsthand experience of the injustices of Birmingham's discriminatory laws and attitudes.

 

Despite the racial discrimination, Condoleezza Rice was taught by her parents to hold her head high. Referring to the positive attitude of her parents and friends, Rice said in one of her speeches, “they refused to allow the limits and injustices of their time to limit our horizons”. Her parents tried as much as they could to shield little Condoleezza from areas where she might face discrimination. But still during her childhood, Condoleezza Rice was very much aware of the civil rights struggle and the problems of Jim Crow Birmingham. Jim Crow laws mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans.

 

In 1967, Condoleezza Rice and her family shifted to Denver in Colorado. There she schooled at St. Mary's Academy. After studying piano at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Rice took admission into the University of Denver. In 1970, Condoleezza Rice graduated from St. Mary's Academy. At the age of 19 in 1974, Condoleezza Rice earned her BA in political science, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver.

 

In 1975, Rice got her Master's Degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame. In 1981 at the age of 26, Condoleezza Rice got her PhD. in political science from the Graduate School of International Studies, Denver. Her thesis and few of her early writings were themed on military policy and politics in Czechoslovakia. Till 1982, Condoleezza Rice was Democrat. Her party affiliation changed to Republican after Rice grew averse to the foreign policy of ex-US President, Jimmy Carter. Yet till 1984, she continued serving as foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaign of Democratic U.S. Senator, Gary Hart of Colorado.  

 

In 1986, Condoleezza Rice was Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At this time, she was still an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. From 1989 till March 1991 under the administration of US President George HW Bush, Condoleezza Rice was the Director and then the Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council. Condoleezza Rice was also the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

 

During this tenure, Condoleezza Rice assisted in formulating Bush's as well as the then Secretary of State, James Baker's policies in favor of German reunification. In this, Rice really managed to impress President Bush. Condoleezza Rice returned to her teaching at Stanford University once again in 1991. But side by side, she also kept on serving as a consultant on the former Soviet Bloc for various clients in both the public as well as the private sectors. Later same year, California Governor Pete Wilson anointed Rice to a bipartisan committee to draw new state legislative and congressional districts in the state.

 

In 1997, Condoleezza Rice chaired the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender Integrated Training in the Military. Rice thereafter took one year’s leave from Stanford University during George W. Bush's 2000 U.S. Presidential election campaign to work as his foreign policy advisor. The company of advisors she headed called itself ‘The Vulcans’. They did this in honor of the massive Vulcan statue sitting atop a hill overlooking her hometown of Birmingham in Alabama.

 

On 17 December 2000, Condoleezza Rice was appointed to serve as the US National Security Advisor. This made her step down from her position at Stanford University. Rice became the first woman to occupy the position of US National Security Advisor. With the passage of time her dynamic personality, accentuated by her strong nerve and delicate manners, earned her the nickname “Warrior Princess.” In 2001, Condoleezza Rice held several meetings with the CIA Director George Tenet to discuss the chances and prevention of terrorist attacks on American targets.

 

The day of 10 July 2001 needs a special mention. On this day, Rice met with CIA Director George Tenet in an "emergency meeting" at the White House. The meeting was convened by the CIA Director as he wanted to brief Condoleezza Rice and the NSC staff about a possible threat of an al Qaeda attack on the United States. However when queried about this meeting in 2006, Condoleezza Rice replied she could not recall any specific meeting. Rice said that she had met Tenet repeatedly that summer about terrorist threats.

 

Condoleezza Rice has been a candid supporter of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Infact, after Iraq made its declaration about weapons of mass destruction to the US on 8 December 2002, Condoleezza Rice penned an editorial for The New York Times titled Why We Know Iraq Is Lying. Leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Rice became the first NSA to campaign for a serving president.

 

During her term as the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice initiated several path breaking policy moves. The recently signed Indo US Nuclear Deal is one of them. In the year 2005, she was ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s most powerful women. Condoleezza Rice's life is a prime example of how by sheer tenacity and grit a person can overcome various obstacles and reach greater heights.

 

1954 - Condoleezza Rice was born on 14 November at Birmingham in Alabama, United States

1967- Condoleezza Rice and her family shifted to Denver in Colorado.

1970 - Condoleezza Rice graduated from St. Mary's Academy.

1974 - At the age of 19, Condoleezza Rice earned her BA in political science, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver.

1975 - Rice got her Master's Degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame.

1981 - Condoleezza Rice got her PhD. in political science from the Graduate School of International Studies, Denver.

1986 - Condoleezza Rice was Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

1989 - From 1989 till 1991 under the administration of US President George HW Bush, Condoleezza Rice was the Director and then the Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council. Condoleezza Rice was also the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

1997 - Condoleezza Rice chaired the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender Integrated Training in the Military.

2000 - Rice took one year’s leave from Stanford University during George W. Bush's 2000 U.S. Presidential election campaign to work as his foreign policy advisor.

2000 - On 17 December, Rice was appointed to serve as the US National Security Advisor.

2001 - Condoleezza Rice held several meetings with the CIA Director George Tenet to discuss the chances and prevention of terrorist attacks on American targets.

2003 - Condoleezza Rice acted as a candid supporter of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

2003 - On 18 January, the Washington Post published that Condoleezza Rice was vital in designing President Bush's position on race-based politics.

2004 - She refused to bear witness before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) in March 2004.

2005 - Condoleezza Rice was ranked by Forbes as the world’s most powerful woman.

2007 - On grounds of executive privilege Condoleezza Rice rejected a House subpoena in April 2007.