Madeleine Albright: Triumph of Hope
Madeleine Albright, former secretary of State, was born in May 17, 1937 in Prage, former . She was named Marie Jana by her parents, father Josef Korbel and mother Anna Spieglova. Two years after her birth the Nazi occupied
Prague
. The family then escaped and moved to , where Kathy (Madeline’s sister) was born in 1942.
After the end of Second World War in 1945 the Korbel family returned to . Josef Korbel was then appointed as the ambassador to and . He served for two years in that position, from 1945-1948.
In September of 1947 Madeleine was sent to a boarding school in . In her biography, Madame Secretary, Albright has said this about her years in , “the headmaster of the school was supposed to give us two francs allowance every week and let us go into the village. He did it only sporadically, but when we did go, I always bought the triangular Toblerone chocolate, which I still love“. (Madame Secratary, 2003)
While she was in , Communist coup took place in Czech in February of 1948.Madeleine’s family then decided to leave In November of 1948, Madeleine, her mother, sister and brother moved to US. Her father arrived in December. A year later, the family was granted political asylum by the , Madeleine became a citizen in 1957.
The Korbel family decided to make home in
Denver, Colorado
. Madeleine went to the local school and later joined
Wellesley
College
. While working in the Denver Post as a sophomore she met her future husband, Joseph Albright. They married soon after Madeleine graduated from college in 1959.
After their wedding, Madeleine and Joe moved to
Chicago
, where Joe worked at the Chicago Sun Time and Madeleine at the Encyclopedia Britannica. But within a year they move to
Long Island, New York
, where Joe worked at the Newsday. Madeleine was then pregnant with twin daughters, Anne and Alice, who were born in 1961.
In summer of 1962, Joe moved to
Washington
to work at the Newsday’s Washington Bureau. Madeleine enrolled at the
Johns
Hopkins
University
for graduate studies. A year later the Albrights return to
New York
. Madeleine continues working towards her master’s degree and in 1968 she is awarded Master of Arts by
Columbia
University
. She also earns certificate from the Russian Institute.
Madeleine who always had the desire to do something, kept the fire inside her burning even when she was swamped with motherly and wifely duties. It was with this conviction that she managed to get PhD in 1976 and continued working towards achieving her goal of working in foreign affairs related position.
In 1976 Madeleine became the chief legislative assistant to Senator Muskie. This is the first step she took towards the path to becoming the first woman Secretary of State of the .
Like all of us, Madeleine had to face serious personal problems in her life. After 25 years of happy marriage, Joseph Albright demanded divorce in 1982, saying that he was unhappy in the marriage. Then in 1997 she came to know that her grandparents were Holocaust victims, her parents had never told her about this dark side of their family history. But with grace and resolve she faced all personal hurdles and never lost sight of her goal.
Madeleine was appointed ambassador to the UN by President Clinton in 1992. In 1997 Albright was sworn in as the 64th Secretary of State of the Unites States. During her tenure as the Secretary of State she worked towards establishing peace in
Middle East
, ending the conflict in Kosovo and battling terrorism.
Madeleine Albright’s life is an example of how one can achieve her career goals and have a family. This is what she says about how she would like to be remembered, “People sometimes ask me how I want to be remembered. I reply that I don’t want to be remembered; I am still here. But when the day some, I hope people will say that I did the best with what I was given, tried to make my parents proud, served my country with all the energy I had, and took a strong stand on the side of freedom.” (Madame Sceratary, 2003)
