:Madeleine Albright

Albright was born Marie Jana Körbelová in 1937 in the Smíchov district of Prague, Czechoslovakia.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/albright.htm |title=Biography at The Washington Post |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 15, 1999 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-date=May 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517072535/http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/albright.htm |url-status=live }} Her parents were Josef Korbel, a Czech diplomat, and Anna Korbel (née Spieglová).{{cite magazine|url=http://tabletmag.com/podcasts/97886/madeleine-albrights-war-years|title=Madeleine Albright's War Years|magazine=Tablet Magazine|date=April 26, 2012|access-date=December 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310182057/https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/97886/madeleine-albrights-war-years |archive-date=March 10, 2013}} At the time of Albright's birth, Czechoslovakia had been independent for less than 20 years, having gained independence from Austria-Hungary after World War I. Her father was a supporter of Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš.{{cite news |first = Michael|last = Dobbs|author-link =Michael Dobbs (American author)|title = Josef Korbel's Enduring Foreign Policy Legacy|url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/12/28/josef-korbels-enduring-foreign-policy-legacy/8d31958e-07e6-4aff-a3a5-0426f487c9fe/|accessdate=October 20, 2022|newspaper = The Washington Post|page = A05|date= December 28, 2000}} Marie Jana had a younger sister Katherine{{cite news|last1=Dobbs|first1=Michael|title=Out Of The Past|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright020997.htm|access-date=December 8, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 9, 1997|archive-date=February 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202062627/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright020997.htm|url-status=live}} and a younger brother John (these versions of their names are Anglicized).{{cite news|last1=Baum|first1=Geraldine|title=A Diplomatic Core|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-08-ls-29463-story.html|access-date=December 8, 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 8, 1995|page=3|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208123911/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-02-08/news/ls-29463_1_madeleine-albright/3|url-status=live}}

When Marie Jana was born, her father was serving as a press-attaché at the Czechoslovak Embassy in Belgrade. The signing of the Munich Agreement in September 1938—and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia by Adolf Hitler's troops—forced the family into exile because of their links with Beneš.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=8–9}}

Josef and Anna converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941. Marie Jana and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith.{{cite news|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright020497.htm|title=Albright's Family Tragedy Comes to Light|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 4, 1997|access-date=October 19, 2022|archive-date=August 16, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816071056/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright020497.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/confront-antisemitism/antisemitism-podcast/madeleine-k-albright|title=Voices on Antisemitism interview with Madeleine K. Albright|publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|date=April 12, 2007|access-date=February 9, 2016|archive-date=April 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426215143/https://www.ushmm.org/confront-antisemitism/antisemitism-podcast/madeleine-k-albright|url-status=dead}} In 1997, Albright said her parents never told her or her two siblings about their Jewish ancestry and heritage.

The family moved to Britain in May 1939. Here her father worked for Beneš's Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Her family first lived on Kensington Park Road in Notting Hill, London—where they lived throughout the Blitz—but later moved to Beaconsfield, then Walton-on-Thames, on the outskirts of London.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=9–11}} They kept a large metal table in the house, which was intended to shelter the family from the recurring threat of German air raids.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-she-who-knows-tyranny-madeleine-albright-1143508.html|title=Profile: She who knows tyranny; Madeleine Albright|first=John|last=Carlin|work=The Independent|date=February 8, 1998|access-date=November 3, 2014|archive-date=November 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120075129/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-she-who-knows-tyranny-madeleine-albright-1143508.html|url-status=live}} While in England, Marie Jana was one of the children shown in a documentary film designed to promote sympathy for war refugees in London.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=9}}

After the defeat of the Nazis in the European theatre of World War II and the collapse of Nazi Germany and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Korbel family returned to Prague. Korbel was appointed as press attaché at the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Yugoslavia, and the family moved to Belgrade—then part of Yugoslavia—which was governed by the Communist Party. Korbel was concerned his daughter would be exposed to Marxism in a Yugoslav school, and so she was taught privately by a governess before being sent to the Prealpina Institut pour Jeunes Filles finishing school in Chexbres, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=15}} She learned to speak French while in Switzerland and changed her name from Marie Jana to Madeleine.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=4}}

The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took over the government in 1948, with support from the Soviet Union. As an opponent of communism, Korbel was forced to resign from his position.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=17}} He later obtained a position on a United Nations delegation to Kashmir. He sent his family to the United States, by way of London, to wait for him when he arrived to deliver his report to the UN Headquarters, then located in Lake Success, New York.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=17}}

Korbel's family emigrated from the United Kingdom on the SS America, departing Southampton on November 5, 1948, and arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on November 11, 1948.{{cite web|url=http://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger-details/czoxMzoiOTAxMTg2NjE2MTgwOSI7/czo5OiJwYXNzZW5nZXIiOw==|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141231081937/http://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger-details/czoxMzoiOTAxMTg2NjE2MTgwOSI7/czo5OiJwYXNzZW5nZXIiOw==|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 31, 2014|title=Passenger Manifest|work=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation|access-date=December 31, 2014}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhZghL4Rr-EC |title=Madeleine Albright: A twentieth-century odyssey |first=Michael |last=Dobbs |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |access-date=December 31, 2014 |isbn=0-8050-5659-9 |year=1999 |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022011216/http://books.google.com/books?id=dhZghL4Rr-EC |url-status=live }} The family initially settled in Great Neck on the North Shore of Long Island.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=18}} Korbel applied for political asylum, arguing that as an opponent of Communism, he was under threat in Prague.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=19–20}} Korbel stated "I cannot, of course, return to the Communist Czechoslovakia as I would be arrested for my faithful adherence to the ideals of democracy. I would be most obliged to you if you could kindly convey to his Excellency the Secretary of State that I beg of him to be granted the right to stay in the United States, the same right to be given to my wife and three children."{{Cite web |last=Knaus |first=Gerald |date=December 12, 2021 |title=Albright on hope – Europe whole and free – An award – Our deal in the Aegean |url=https://www.esiweb.org/newsletter/albright-hope-europe-whole-and-free-award-our-deal-aegean |access-date=March 23, 2022 |publisher=European Stabilization Initiative |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231043514/https://esiweb.org/newsletter/albright-hope-europe-whole-and-free-award-our-deal-aegean |url-status=live }}

With the help of Philip Moseley, a Russian language professor at Columbia University in New York City, Korbel obtained a position on the staff of the political science department at the University of Denver in Colorado.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=20}} He became dean of the university's school of international relations, and later taught future U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The school was named the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2008 in his honor.

Madeleine Korbel spent her teen years in Denver and in 1955 graduated from the Kent Denver School in Cherry Hills Village, a suburb of Denver. She founded the school's international relations club and was its first president.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=24}} She attended Wellesley College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on a full scholarship, majoring in political science, and graduated in 1959.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=47}} The topic of her senior thesis was Zdeněk Fierlinger, a former Czechoslovakian prime minister.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=43}} She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1957, and joined the College Democrats of America.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=34–35}}

While home in Denver from Wellesley, Korbel worked as an intern for The Denver Post. There she met Joseph Albright. He was the nephew of Alicia Patterson, owner of Newsday and wife of philanthropist Harry Frank Guggenheim.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=36}} Korbel converted to the Episcopal Church at the time of her marriage. The couple were married in Wellesley in 1959, shortly after her graduation.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=47}} They lived in Rolla, Missouri, while Joseph completed his military service at nearby Fort Leonard Wood. During this time, Albright worked at The Rolla Daily News.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=48}}

The couple moved to Joseph's hometown of Chicago, Illinois, in January 1960. Joseph worked at the Chicago Sun-Times as a journalist, and Albright worked as a picture editor for Encyclopædia Britannica.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=49–50}} The following year, Joseph Albright began work at Newsday in New York City, and the couple moved to Garden City on Long Island.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=52}} That year, she gave birth to twin daughters, Alice Patterson Albright and Anne Korbel Albright. The twins were born six weeks premature and required a long hospital stay. As a distraction, Albright began Russian language classes at Hofstra University in the Village of Hempstead nearby.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=52}}

In 1962, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where they lived in Georgetown. Albright studied international relations and continued in Russian at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, a division of Johns Hopkins University in the capital.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=54}}

Joseph's aunt Alicia Patterson died in 1963, and the Albrights returned to Long Island with the notion of Joseph taking over the family newspaper business.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=55}} Albright gave birth to another daughter, Katharine Medill Albright, in 1967. She continued her studies at Columbia University's Department of Public Law and Government.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=56}} (It was later renamed as the political science department, and is located within the School of International and Public Affairs.) She earned a certificate in Russian from the Russian Institute (now Harriman Institute),{{Cite news |last=McBride |first=Courtney |date=March 24, 2022 |title=Madeleine Albright, First Woman to Serve as U.S. Secretary of State, Dies at 84 |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/madeleine-albright-first-woman-to-serve-as-secretary-of-state-dies-11648061238 |access-date=March 29, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite web |title=In Memoriam: Madeleine Albright (1937–2022) |url=https://harriman.columbia.edu/in-memoriam-madeleine-albright-1937-2022/ |access-date=March 29, 2022 |website=The Harriman Institute |language=en-US}} an M.A. and a PhD, writing her master's thesis on the Soviet diplomatic corps and her doctoral dissertation on the role of journalists in the Prague Spring of 1968.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=56, 59-60, 69-71}} She also took a graduate course given by Zbigniew Brzezinski, who later became her boss at the U.S. National Security Council.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=57}}

Albright returned to Washington, D.C., in 1968, and commuted to Columbia for her doctor of philosophy, which she earned in 1975.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=71}} She began fund-raising for her daughters' school, involvement which led to several positions on education boards.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=63–66}} She was eventually invited to organize a fund-raising dinner for the 1972 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Ed Muskie of Maine.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=65}} This association with Muskie led to a position as his chief legislative assistant in 1976.{{cite magazine| first = A. O.| last = Scott| title = Madeleine Albright: The Diplomat Who Mistook Her Life for Statecraft| url = http://www.slate.com/id/25857/| magazine = Slate| date = April 25, 1999| access-date = April 9, 2009| archive-date = September 7, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110907232646/http://www.slate.com/id/25857| url-status = live}} However, after the 1976 U.S. presidential election of Jimmy Carter, Albright's former professor Brzezinski was named National Security Advisor, and recruited Albright from Muskie in 1978 to work in the West Wing as the National Security Council's congressional liaison. Following Carter's loss in 1980 to Ronald Reagan, Albright moved on to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she was given a grant for a research project.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=91}} She chose to write on the dissident journalists involved in Poland's Solidarity movement, then in its infancy but gaining international attention.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=91}} She traveled to Poland for her research, interviewing dissidents in Gdańsk, Warsaw, and Kraków.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=92}} Upon her return to Washington, her husband announced his intention to divorce her so that he could pursue a relationship with another woman; the divorce was finalized in 1983.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=94, 514}}

Albright joined the academic staff at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1982, specializing in Eastern European studies.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=99}} She also directed the university's program on women in global politics.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=100}} She served as a major Democratic Party foreign policy advisor, briefing vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 (both campaigns ended in defeat).{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=102–104}} In 1992, Bill Clinton returned the White House to the Democratic Party, and Albright was employed to handle the transition to a new administration at the National Security Council.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=127}} In January 1993, Clinton nominated her to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, her first diplomatic posting.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=131}}

Albright was appointed ambassador to the United Nations, a Cabinet-level position, shortly after Clinton was inaugurated, presenting her credentials on February 9, 1993. During her tenure at the U.N., she led the opposition to U.N. secretary-general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whom she criticized as "disengaged" and "neglect[ful]" of genocide in Rwanda.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=207}} The relationship between Albright and Boutros Boutros-Ghali was marked by deep tension, political maneuvering, and ultimately, a dramatic and public clash that led to Boutros-Ghali's ouster as UN Secretary-General. Albright was the chief architect of the U.S. campaign to block Boutros-Ghali’s bid for a second term, despite his overwhelming base of support. She was successful in blocking him. Thomas Blood, Madame Secretary (1997) pp.199–215.Linda Fasulo, "Chapter 14, The Coup Against Boutros-Ghali". in Fasulo, An Insider’s Guide to the UN (4th edition, Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 134-138. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300133516-017 Albright wrote: "My deepest regret from my years in public service is the failure of the United States and the international community to act sooner to halt these crimes."{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=147}}

In Shake Hands with the Devil, Roméo Dallaire writes that in 1994, in Albright's role as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N., she avoided describing the killings in Rwanda as "genocide" until overwhelmed by the evidence for it;{{cite book

|author-link=Roméo Dallaire

|title=Shake Hands with the Devil

|page=374

|first=Roméo

|last=Dallaire

|date= 2005

|publisher=Carroll & Graf

|isbn=978-0-7867-1510-7

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oe9S6SgfeSsC&pg=PA374

|access-date=June 17, 2015

|archive-date=March 18, 2015

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318001625/http://books.google.com/books?id=oe9S6SgfeSsC&pg=PA374

|url-status=live

}} this is now how she described these massacres in her memoirs.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=150-151}} She was instructed to support a reduction or withdrawal (something which never happened) of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda but was later given more flexibility.{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=150–151}} Albright later remarked in PBS documentary Ghosts of Rwanda that "it was a very, very difficult time, and the situation was unclear. You know, in retrospect, it all looks very clear. But when you were [there] at the time, it was unclear about what was happening in Rwanda."{{cite web

|title = Interview Madeleine Albright

|url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/albright.html

|work = Ghosts of Rwanda

|department = Frontline

|publisher = PBS

|date = April 1, 2004

|access-date = February 14, 2007

|archive-date = February 26, 2007

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070226180826/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/albright.html

|url-status = live

}}

Also in 1996, after Cuban military pilots shot down two small civilian aircraft flown by the Cuban-American exile group Brothers to the Rescue over international waters, she announced at a UN Security Council meeting debating a resolution condemning Cuba: "Frankly, this is not cojones. This is cowardice." The line endeared her to President Clinton, who said it was "probably the most effective one-liner in the whole administration's foreign policy".{{cite news

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright120696.htm

|title=Albright's Personal Odyssey Shaped Foreign Policy Beliefs

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=December 6, 1996

|access-date=October 19, 2022

|archive-date=August 16, 2000

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816071121/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/albright120696.htm

|url-status=live

}} When Albright appeared at a memorial service for the deceased in Miami on March 2, 1996, she was greeted with chants of "libertad".{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=205-206}}{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000930191401/http://www.cnn.com/US/9603/cuba_shootdown/02/rally/index.html|archivedate=September 30, 2000|title=Exile pilots brave foul weather, mourn comrades|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9603/cuba_shootdown/02/rally/index.html|date=March 2, 1996|accessdate=October 19, 2022|url-status=dead}}

In 1996, Albright entered into a secret pact with Richard Clarke, Michael Sheehan, and James Rubin to overthrow U.N. secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was running unopposed for a second term in the 1996 selection. After 15 U.S. peacekeepers died in a failed raid in Somalia in 1993, Boutros-Ghali became a political scapegoat in the United States.{{cite news|last1=Goshko|first1=John M.|title=Boutros Boutros-Ghali, U.N. secretary general who clashed with U.S., dies|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/boutros-boutros-ghali-un-secretary-general-who-clashed-with-us-dies-at-93/2016/02/16/8b727bb8-d4c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 16, 2016|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-date=February 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216174419/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/boutros-boutros-ghali-un-secretary-general-who-clashed-with-us-dies-at-93/2016/02/16/8b727bb8-d4c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html|url-status=live}} They dubbed the pact "Operation Orient Express" to reflect their hope that other nations would join the United States.{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Richard |title-link=Against All Enemies|title=Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror |page=[https://archive.org/details/againstallenemie00clar/page/201 201] |location=New York |publisher=Free Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-6024-4 }} Although every other member of the United Nations Security Council voted for Boutros-Ghali, the United States refused to yield to international pressure to drop its lone veto. After four deadlocked meetings of the Security Council, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy and became the only U.N. secretary-general ever to be denied a second term. The United States then fought a four-round veto duel with France, forcing it to back down and accept Kofi Annan as the next secretary-general. In his memoirs, Clarke said that "the entire operation had strengthened Albright's hand in the competition to be Secretary of State in the second Clinton administration".

{{Main|Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration|List of international trips made by Madeleine Albright as United States Secretary of State}}

When Clinton began his second term in January 1997, following his re-election, he required a new Secretary of State, as incumbent Warren Christopher was retiring.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98241235/ |title=Albright Shines During Hearing |via=Newspapers.com |date=January 9, 1997 |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=A4 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054549/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98241235/hartford-courant/ |url-status=live }} The top level of the Clinton administration was divided into two camps on selecting the new foreign policy. Outgoing Chief of Staff Leon Panetta favored Albright, but a separate faction went for different candidates such as Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, Senator George J. Mitchell of Maine, and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.{{sfn|Blood|1997|pp=12-17}} Albright orchestrated a campaign on her own behalf that proved successful.{{sfn|Blood|1997|pp=25-34}} When Albright took office as the 64th U.S. Secretary of State on January 23, 1997, she became the first female U.S. Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government at the time of her appointment.{{cite web

|url = http://secretary.state.gov/www/albright/albright.html

|title = Biography: Madeleine Korbel Albright

|publisher = Office of the US Secretary of State

|access-date = July 9, 2010

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160204185811/http://secretary.state.gov/www/albright/albright.html

|archive-date = February 4, 2016

}} Not being a natural-born citizen of the U.S., she was not eligible as a U.S. presidential successor.{{cite web |last=Roos |first=Dave |url=https://www.history.com/news/presidential-succession-designated-survivor-history |title=Presidential Succession: How the 'Designated Survivor' Fits In |publisher=History |date=April 19, 2021 |accessdate=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302122324/https://www.history.com/news/presidential-succession-designated-survivor-history |url-status=live }}

During her tenure, Albright considerably influenced American foreign policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Middle East. Following the Dayton Agreement, in which a cease-fire in the Bosnian War was reached, President Clinton committed to sending American troops to Bosnia to enforce the agreement, as strongly recommended by Albright.{{sfn|Blood|1997|p=158}} According to Albright's memoirs, she once argued with Colin Powell for the use of military force by asking, "What's the point of you saving this superb military for, Colin, if we can't use it?"{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=182}} Albright strongly advocated for U.S. economic sanctions against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.{{sfn|Blood|1997|pp=105-106}}

As Secretary of State, she represented the U.S. at the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997. She along with the British contingents boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of the Chinese-appointed Hong Kong Legislative Council, which replaced the elected one.{{cite news

|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/10/hong.kong.us/index.html

|title=U.S. to Boycott Seating of New Hong Kong Legislature

|publisher=CNN

|date=June 10, 1997

|access-date=October 19, 2022

|archive-date=January 28, 1999

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990128055902/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/10/hong.kong.us/index.html

|url-status=live

}} In October 1997, she voiced her approval for national security exemptions to the Kyoto Protocol, arguing that NATO operations should not be limited by controls on greenhouse gas emissions, and hoped that other NATO members would also support the exemptions at the Third Conference of the Parties in Kyoto, Japan.{{cite news|last1=Hermann|first1=Burkely|date=January 20, 2022|title=National Security and Climate Change: Behind the U.S. Pursuit of Military Exemptions to the Kyoto Protocol|language=en|publisher=National Security Archive|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/environmental-diplomacy/2022-01-20/national-security-and-climate-change-behind-us|url-status=live|access-date=March 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123162738/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/environmental-diplomacy/2022-01-20/national-security-and-climate-change-behind-us|archive-date=January 23, 2022|series=Briefing Book # 784}}

File:Houghton house Netanyahu Albright Arafat.jpg (left) and Yasser Arafat at the Wye River Memorandum, 1998]]

According to several accounts, Prudence Bushnell, U.S. ambassador to Kenya, repeatedly asked Washington for additional security at the embassy in Nairobi, including in a letter directly addressed to Albright in April 1998. Bushnell was ignored.{{cite news

|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/010999africa-bomb.html

|title=Before Bombings, Omens and Fears

|work=The New York Times

|access-date=June 1, 2009

|archive-date=December 16, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216074539/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/010999africa-bomb.html

|url-status=live

}} She later stated that when she spoke to Albright about the letter, Albright told her that it had not been shown to her.PBS Documentary In Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke writes about an exchange with Albright several months after the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed in August 1998. "What do you think will happen if you lose another embassy?" Clarke asked. "The Republicans in Congress will go after you." "First of all, I didn't lose these two embassies", Albright shot back. "I inherited them in the shape they were."{{cite book|last1=Clark|first1=Richard A.|title=Against All Enemies|date=2004|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-6640-6|page=206|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kdIMPo0ZE0C&q=First+of+all,+I+didn%27t+lose+these+two+embassies,&pg=PA206|access-date=October 27, 2020|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054548/https://books.google.com/books?id=8kdIMPo0ZE0C&q=First+of+all%2C+I+didn%27t+lose+these+two+embassies%2C&pg=PA206|url-status=live}}

In 1998, at the NATO summit, Albright articulated what became known as the "three Ds" of NATO, "which is no diminution of NATO, no discrimination and no duplication – because I think that we don't need any of those three "Ds" to happen".{{cite web|url=http://fas.org/man/nato/news/1998/98120904_tlt.html|title=News from the USIA Washington File|publisher=Federation of American Scientists|access-date=November 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617002800/http://fas.org/man/nato/news/1998/98120904_tlt.html|archive-date=June 17, 2015}}

File:Madeleine Albright NATO.jpg

In February 1998, Albright partook in a town-hall style meeting at St. John Arena in Columbus where she, William Cohen, and Sandy Berger attempted to make the case for military action in Iraq. The crowd was disruptive, repeatedly drowning out the discussion with boos and anti-war chants. James Rubin downplayed the disruptions, claiming the crowd was supportive of a war policy.{{Cite web|title=CNN – U.S. policy on Iraq draws fire in Ohio – February 18, 1998|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/18/town.meeting.folo/|access-date=March 24, 2022|publisher=CNN|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107092037/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/18/town.meeting.folo/|url-status=live}} Later that year, both Bill Clinton and Albright insisted that an attack on Saddam Hussein could be stopped only if Hussein reversed his decision to halt arms inspections.{{cite news

|title =Hussein seeks 'just' solution to standoff

|url =http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9811/13/iraq.03/

|publisher =CNN

|date= November 13, 1998

|access-date =June 21, 2007

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070117152630/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9811/13/iraq.03/

|archive-date = January 17, 2007}}

In an interview on The Today Show, February 19, 1998, Albright said "If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future...."Middle East International No 571, March 27, 1998; p.6

Albright was a leading proponent of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as a means to ending the Kosovo War, leading to popular media to describe it as "Madeleine's War".{{cite news |last1=Stojanovic |first1=Dusan |title=Balkans split over Madeleine Albright’s wartime legacy |url=https://apnews.com/article/madeleine-albright-diplomacy-belgrade-serbia-europe-0f3d82c0417f061f48b092812a1bc609 |work=The Associated Press |date=24 March 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Isaacson |first1=Walter |title=Madeleine's war |url=https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/05/10/albright.html |work=CNN |date=10 May 1999}}

Albright became one of the highest level Western diplomats ever to meet Kim Jong-il, the then-leader of communist North Korea, during an official state visit to that country in 2000.{{cite web

|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/interviews/albright.html

|title=Frontline: Kim's Nuclear Gamble: Interviews: Madeleine Albright

|publisher=PBS

|date=March 27, 2003

|access-date=June 1, 2009

|archive-date=March 28, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328115809/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/interviews/albright.html

|url-status=live

}}

On January 8, 2001, in one of her last acts as Secretary of State, Albright made a farewell call to Kofi Annan and said that the U.S. would continue to press Iraq to destroy all its weapons of mass destruction as a condition of lifting economic sanctions, even after the end of the Clinton administration on January 20, 2001.{{cite web

|url = http://www.usembassy.it/file2001_01/alia/a1010801.htm

|title = U.S. Will Maintain Pressure on Iraq, Albright Says

|publisher = United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy

|date = January 8, 2001

|access-date = June 1, 2009

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090605054044/http://www.usembassy.it/file2001_01/alia/a1010801.htm

|archive-date = June 5, 2009

}}

Albright received the U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards Foundation, in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|title=National – Jefferson Awards Foundation|access-date=August 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124043935/http://jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|archive-date=November 24, 2010|url-status=dead}}

File:Madeleine Albright at WEF.jpg]]

Following Albright's term as Secretary of State, Czech president Václav Havel spoke openly about the possibility of Albright succeeding him. Albright was reportedly flattered, but denied ever seriously considering the possibility of running for office in her country of origin.{{cite news

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/659215.stm

|title=EUROPE | Albright Tipped for Czech Presidency

|work=BBC News

|date=February 28, 2000

|access-date=June 1, 2009

|archive-date=April 6, 2008

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406160106/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/659215.stm

|url-status=live

}}

Albright was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 14, 2011|archive-date=May 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510021801/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|url-status=live}} Also that year, Albright founded the Albright Group, an international strategy consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., that later become the Albright Stonebridge Group.{{cite magazine|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=5910760|title=The Albright Group LLC|magazine=Bloomberg BusinessWeek|year=2008|access-date=December 28, 2008|archive-date=August 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823072823/http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=5910760|url-status=dead}} Affiliated with the firm is Albright Capital Management, which was founded in 2005 to engage in private fund management related to emerging markets.{{cite web|url=http://www.albrightcapital.com/images/ACM%20Form%20ADV%20Part%202A%20-%20Final%203-18-16.pdf|title=Albright Capital Management LLC – Brochure|date=March 18, 2016|publisher=Albright Capital Management|access-date=November 28, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129021339/http://www.albrightcapital.com/images/ACM%20Form%20ADV%20Part%202A%20-%20Final%203-18-16.pdf|archive-date=November 29, 2016}}

Albright accepted a position on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2003.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-may-02-fi-rup2.5-story.html|title=NYSE Nominates Ex-Secretary of State|date=May 2, 2003|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=March 23, 2022|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054548/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-may-02-fi-rup2.5-story.html|url-status=live}} In 2005, she declined to run for re-election to the board in the aftermath of the Richard Grasso compensation scandal, in which Grasso, the chairman of the NYSE board of directors, had been granted $187.5 million in compensation, with little governance by the board on which Albright sat.{{cite web |author1=Andrew Countryman |author2=Tribune staff reporter |title=NYSE includes 3 new names for board |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-02-19-0502190101-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=February 19, 2005 |accessdate=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054550/https://www.chicagotribune.com/ |url-status=live }} During the tenure of the interim chairman, John S. Reed, Albright served as chairwoman of the NYSE board's nominating and governance committee. Shortly after the appointment of the NYSE board's permanent chairman in 2005, Albright submitted her resignation.{{cite news

|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/02/Business/Interim_NYSE_chairman.shtml

|title=Business: Interim NYSE chairman to stay another year

|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times

|access-date=June 1, 2009

|archive-date=June 4, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604161517/http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/02/Business/Interim_NYSE_chairman.shtml

|url-status=live

}} According to PolitiFact, Albright opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although after the U.S. was committed to the war, she said she would support the President.{{Cite web|last1=Washington|first1=District of Columbia 1800 I. Street NW|last2=Dc 20006|title=PolitiFact – In foreign policy spat, Bernie Sanders suggests Madeleine Albright supported Iraq invasion|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/feb/07/bernie-sanders/foreign-policy-spat-bernie-sanders-suggests-madele/|access-date=March 24, 2022|website=@politifact|language=en-US|archive-date=December 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204170307/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/feb/07/bernie-sanders/foreign-policy-spat-bernie-sanders-suggests-madele/|url-status=live}}

Albright served on the board of directors for the Council on Foreign Relations and on the International Advisory Committee of the Brookings Doha Center. As of 2016, she was the Mortara Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|url=https://mortara.georgetown.edu/faculty|title=Faculty – Mortara Center for International Studies|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195804/https://mortara.georgetown.edu/faculty|url-status=live}} Albright served as chairperson of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.{{cite web|url=http://www.truman.gov/officers-board-trustees|title=The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation – Officers & Board of Trustees|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128200832/http://www.truman.gov/officers-board-trustees|url-status=live}} She was also the co-chair of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor{{cite web|url=http://www.undp.org/content/dam/aplaws/publication/en/publications/democratic-governance/legal-empowerment/reports-of-the-commission-on-legal-empowerment-of-the-poor/making-the-law-work-for-everyone---vol-ii---english-only/making_the_law_work_II.pdf|title=Making the Law Work for Everyone – Group Report – Volume II|publisher=United Nations Development Programme|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128202903/http://www.undp.org/content/dam/aplaws/publication/en/publications/democratic-governance/legal-empowerment/reports-of-the-commission-on-legal-empowerment-of-the-poor/making-the-law-work-for-everyone---vol-ii---english-only/making_the_law_work_II.pdf|url-status=live}} and was the chairwoman of the Council of Women World Leaders Women's Ministerial Initiative up until November 16, 2007, when she was succeeded by Margot Wallström.{{cite web|url=http://www.unfoundation.org/features/Ministerial-Initiatives.html|title=United Nations Foundation – Ministerial Initiatives|publisher=United Nations Foundation|access-date=November 28, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129021354/http://www.unfoundation.org/features/Ministerial-Initiatives.html|archive-date=November 29, 2016}}

Albright guest starred on the television drama Gilmore Girls as herself on October 25, 2005.{{cite web

|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvoEpp41gQs

| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/RvoEpp41gQs| archive-date=October 28, 2021|title=Madeleine Albright on Gilmore girls

| date=October 23, 2006|via=YouTube

|access-date=December 10, 2009}}{{cbignore}}

She also made a guest appearance on Parks and Recreation, in the eighth episode of the seventh season.{{cite web

|url=http://themuse.jezebel.com/madeleine-albright-loved-her-waffle-date-with-leslie-kno-1685246272

|title=Madeleine Albright Loved Her Waffle Date With Leslie Knope

|date=February 11, 2015

|publisher=Jezebel

|access-date=December 9, 2016}} Albright also appeared in two episodes of the CBS series Madam Secretary to offer advice to the fictional Secretary of State. In a later episode, she was joined by former Secretaries of State, Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton.

At the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on November 13, 2007, Albright declared that she and William Cohen would co-chair a new Genocide Prevention Task Force{{cite news

|url=http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12773216

|title=How to stop genocide | Preventing genocide

|newspaper=The Economist

|date=December 11, 2008

|access-date=June 1, 2009

|archive-date=February 28, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228214726/http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12773216

|url-status=live

}} created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the United States Institute of Peace. Their appointment was criticized by Harut Sassounian{{Cite web|date=November 21, 2007|title=Secretaries Albright and Cohen Should be Removed from Genocide Task Force|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/secretaries-albright-and-_b_73628|access-date=March 24, 2022|website=HuffPost|language=en|archive-date=December 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217095424/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/secretaries-albright-and-_b_73628|url-status=live}} and the Armenian National Committee of America, as both Albright and Cohen had spoken against a Congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide.{{cite news

|url=http://www.asbarez.com/2008/12/08/armenian-americans-criticize-hypocrisy-of-genocide-prevention-task-force-co-chairs/

|title=Armenian Americans Criticize Hypocrisy of Genocide Prevention Task Force Co-Chairs

|newspaper=Asbarez

|access-date=June 22, 2009}}

File:Secretary Kerry Greets Former Secretary Albright.jpg greets Albright, February 6, 2013]]

Albright endorsed and supported Hillary Clinton in her 2008 presidential campaign.{{cite web |url=https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2008/03/24/albright-pushing-for-clinton/64292647007/ |title=Albright pushing for Clinton |publisher=Gainesville.com |accessdate=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054552/https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2008/03/24/albright-pushing-for-clinton/64292647007/ |url-status=live }} Albright was a close friend of Clinton and served as an informal advisor on foreign policy matters.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98241615/ |via=Newspapers.com |date=September 9, 2007 |title=Diplomacy veterans lend policy advice |page=A13 |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054555/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98241615/the-commercial-appeal/ |url-status=live }} On December 1, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama nominated then-Senator Clinton for Albright's former post of Secretary of State.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7758673.stm|title=Clinton named Secretary of State|date=December 1, 2008|work=BBC News|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128201616/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7758673.stm|url-status=live}}

During this period, she also served as a business consultant and brand ambassador for Herbalife,{{cite web |last1=Celarier |first1=Michelle |title=Madeline Albright is freaking out over her role as Herbalife cheerleader |url=https://nypost.com/2014/04/17/ex-secretary-of-state-albright-sweats-herbalife-ties/ |website=nypost |date=April 17, 2014 |access-date=14 December 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Schwarz |first1=jON |title=RIP Madeleine Albright and Her Awful, Awful Career |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/03/25/madeleine-albright-dead-iraq-war-herbalife/ |website=The Intercept |date=March 25, 2022 |access-date=14 December 2023}} a global multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary supplements. The company is alleged to be a fraudulent pyramid scheme.{{cite web |last1=Bartz |first1=Diane |last2=Flaherty |first2=Michael |title=Herbalife settles pyramid scheme case with regulator, in blow to Pershing's Ackman |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-herbalife-probe-ftc-idUSKCN0ZV1F7/ |website=Reuters |publisher=Thompson-Reuters |access-date=14 December 2023}}{{cite web |title=Herbalife Will Restructure Its Multi-level Marketing Operations and Pay $200 Million For Consumer Redress to Settle FTC Charges |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2016/07/herbalife-will-restructure-its-multi-level-marketing-operations-pay-200-million-consumer-redress |website=Federal Trade Commission |date=July 15, 2016 |publisher=United States of America |access-date=14 December 2023}}

File:LBJ Foundation DIG14155-46 (37248704094).jpg and Madeleine Albright at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2017]]

In September 2009, Albright opened an exhibition of her personal jewelry collection at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, which ran until January 2010.{{cite news

|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/article186583.ece

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195355/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/article186583.ece

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=November 28, 2016

|title=Madeleine Albright reveals Brooch Diplomacy Pinned Down Adversaries

|work=The Sunday Times

|location=London

|date=October 4, 2009

|access-date=November 28, 2016

|first=Christina

|last=Lamb}} In 2009, Albright also published the book Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box about her pins.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/madeleine-albright-on-her-life-in-pins-149191/|title=Madeleine Albright on Her Life in Pins|first=Megan|last=Gambino|website=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=March 23, 2022|archive-date=March 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323192159/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/madeleine-albright-on-her-life-in-pins-149191/|url-status=live}}

In August 2012, when speaking at an Obama campaign event in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Albright was asked the question "How long will you blame that previous administration for all of your problems?", to which she replied "Forever".{{cite news |title=Madeleine Albright campaigns for Obama: We're going to blame Bush 'forever' |first=Charlie |last=Spiering |url=http://washingtonexaminer.com/madeleine-albright-campaigns-for-obama-were-going-to-blame-bush-forever/article/2505479 |newspaper=Washington Examiner |date=August 21, 2012 |access-date=August 27, 2012 |archive-date=August 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829122229/http://washingtonexaminer.com/madeleine-albright-campaigns-for-obama-were-going-to-blame-bush-forever/article/2505479 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Madeleine Albright: Dems should blame George W. Bush 'forever' |first=Kevin |last=Robillard |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79937.html |newspaper=Politico |date=August 21, 2012 |access-date=August 26, 2012 |archive-date=August 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825005349/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79937.html |url-status=live }} In October 2012, Albright appeared in a video on the official Twitter feed for the Democratic Party, responding to then-GOP candidate Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the "number-one geopolitical foe" of the United States. According to Albright, Romney's statement was proof that he had "little understanding of what was actually going on in the 21st Century [and] he is not up to date and that is a very dangerous aspect [of his candidacy]".{{Cite web |url=https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/260497619862835201 |title=Romney, who calls Russia our "No. 1 geopolitical foe," doesn't seem to realize it's the 21st century. #RomneyNotReady |access-date=December 2, 2017 |archive-date=December 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214051104/https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/260497619862835201 |url-status=live }}{{Primary source inline|date=March 2022}}

Albright described Donald Trump as "the most un-American, anti-democratic leader" in U.S. history.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/04/03/599120190/madeleine-albright-warns-dont-let-fascism-go-unnoticed-until-its-too-late|title=Madeleine Albright Warns: Don't Let Fascism Go 'Unnoticed Until It's Too Late'|publisher=NPR|access-date=April 4, 2018|language=en|archive-date=April 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404000139/https://www.npr.org/2018/04/03/599120190/madeleine-albright-warns-dont-let-fascism-go-unnoticed-until-its-too-late|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381552-madeleine-albright-trump-is-the-most-anti-democratic-president-in/|title=Madeleine Albright: Trump is the most anti-democratic president in American history|last=Thomsen|first=Jacqueline|date=April 4, 2018|work=The Hill|access-date=April 4, 2018|language=en|archive-date=April 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404123628/http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381552-madeleine-albright-trump-is-the-most-anti-democratic-president-in|url-status=live}}{{cite web|date=June 10, 2020|title=Albright: Trump the most un-American, undemocratic, president in U.S. history|url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/albright-trump-most-un-american-134215883.html|access-date=December 1, 2021|publisher=Yahoo! Life|language=en-US|archive-date=December 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201171615/https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/albright-trump-most-un-american-134215883.html|url-status=live}} She also criticized the Trump administration for its delay in filling some diplomatic posts as a sign of "disdain for diplomacy".{{Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/362548-albright-trumps-disdain-for-diplomacy-creating-a-national-security/|title=Albright: Trump's 'disdain for diplomacy' creating a 'national security emergency'|last=Samuels|first=Brett|date=November 30, 2017|work=The Hill|access-date=April 4, 2018|language=en|archive-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405090427/http://thehill.com/policy/international/362548-albright-trumps-disdain-for-diplomacy-creating-a-national-security|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-national-security-emergency-were-not-talking-about/2017/11/29/9fddd7ba-d53b-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html|title=Opinion {{!}} The national security emergency we're not talking about|last=Albright|first=Madeleine K.|date=November 29, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 4, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405091947/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-national-security-emergency-were-not-talking-about/2017/11/29/9fddd7ba-d53b-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html|url-status=live}}

After 2016, Albright served as chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm,{{cite web|title=About Albright Stonebridge Group|url=http://www.albrightstonebridge.com/about-us|publisher=Albright Stonebridge Group|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119091810/http://www.albrightstonebridge.com/about-us|url-status=live}} and chair of the advisory council for The Hague Institute for Global Justice, which was founded in 2011 in The Hague.{{YouTube|xxPjuObF-W8|"Madeleine Albright in Board of The Hague Institute for Global Justice"}}, YouTube. uploaded May 31, 2011, by THIGJTHIGJ. She also served as an Honorary Chair for the World Justice Project (WJP).{{cite web

|url=http://worldjusticeproject.org/honorary-chairs

|title=Honorary Chairs

|publisher=World Justice Project

|access-date=November 28, 2016

|archive-date=November 21, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121174634/http://worldjusticeproject.org/honorary-chairs

|url-status=live

}} The WJP works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.{{cite web

|url=http://worldjusticeproject.org/what-we-do

|title=What We Do |publisher=World Justice Project

|access-date=November 28, 2016

|archive-date=November 22, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122051041/http://worldjusticeproject.org/what-we-do

|url-status=live

}}

Albright was a co-investor with Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, and George Soros in a $350 million investment vehicle called Helios Towers Africa, which intends to buy or build thousands of mobile phone towers in Africa.{{cite magazine| url=http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/2348046/Soros-Albright-Rothschild-In-350M-Deal.html|author=Soros, Albright|title=Rothschild in $350m Deal|date=November 30, 2009|magazine=Institutional Investor|access-date=March 26, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830065447/http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/2348046/Soros-Albright-Rothschild-In-350M-Deal.html| archive-date=August 30, 2014}}{{cite web

|url = http://www.heliosinvestment.com/support/uploads/1264527494251109_release.pdf

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140326163633/http://www.heliosinvestment.com/support/uploads/1264527494251109_release.pdf

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = March 26, 2014

|title = Soros Joins Top Names in African Deal

|first = Lauren

|last = Mills

|publisher = Helios Investment

|access-date = March 26, 2014

}}

{{Main article|Sanctions against Iraq}}

During the 1990s and 2000s, many surveys and studies concluded that excess deaths in Iraq—specifically among children under the age of 5—greatly increased after the implementation of sanctions against Iraq following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.{{Cite journal |last1=MacQueen |first1=Graeme |last2=Nagy |first2=Thomas |last3=Santa Barbara |first3=Joanna |last4=Raichle |first4=Claudia |date=2004 |title='Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities': a challenge to public health ethics |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15260175/ |journal=Medicine, Conflict and Survival |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=109–119 |doi=10.1080/1362369042000234708 |issn=1362-3699 |pmid=15260175}}{{Cite journal |last=Garfield |first=Richard |date=2000-06-01 |title=A multivariate method for estimating mortality rates among children under 5 years from health and social indicators in Iraq |url=https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ije/29.3.510 |journal=International Journal of Epidemiology |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=510–515 |doi=10.1093/ije/29.3.510|pmid=10869324 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Ascherio |first1=Alberto |last2=Chase |first2=Robert |last3=Coté |first3=Tim |last4=Dehaes |first4=Godelieave |last5=Hoskins |first5=Eric |last6=Laaouej |first6=Jilali |last7=Passey |first7=Megan |last8=Qaderi |first8=Saleh |last9=Shuqaidef |first9=Saher |last10=Smith |first10=Mary C. |last11=Zaidi |first11=Sarah |date=1992-09-24 |title=Effect of the Gulf War on Infant and Child Mortality in Iraq |url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJM199209243271306 |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |language=en |volume=327 |issue=13 |pages=931–936 |doi=10.1056/NEJM199209243271306 |pmid=1513350 |issn=0028-4793}} On the other hand, several later surveys conducted during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) "all put the U5MR in Iraq during 1995–2000 in the vicinity of 40 per 1000," suggesting that "there was no major rise in child mortality in Iraq after 1990 and during the period of the sanctions."{{Cite journal |last1=Dyson |first1=Tim |last2=Cetorelli |first2=Valeria |date=2017-07-01 |title=Changing views on child mortality and economic sanctions in Iraq: a history of lies, damned lies and statistics |journal=BMJ Global Health |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=e000311 |doi=10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000311 |issn=2059-7908 |pmc=5717930 |pmid=29225933}}

On May 12, 1996, then-ambassador Albright defended the sanctions on a 60 Minutes segment in which Lesley Stahl asked her, "We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" and Albright replied, "We think the price is worth it."{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mightyalmie00albr |title=The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-06-089258-6 |quote=the price, we think, the price is worth it. |access-date=September 9, 2010}} The segment won an Emmy Award.{{cite journal

|url=http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf

|title=Truth and death in Iraq under sanctions

|first=Michael

|last=Spagat

|date=September 2010

|journal=Significance

|volume=7

|issue=3

|pages=116–120

|doi=10.1111/j.1740-9713.2010.00437.x

|s2cid=154415183

|access-date=October 6, 2010

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711190050/http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf

|archive-date=July 11, 2018

|url-status=dead

}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/09/60minutes/bios/main13546.shtml |title=Lesley Stahl |access-date=June 5, 2011 |year=1998 |publisher=CBS News |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525034336/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/09/60minutes/bios/main13546.shtml |url-status=dead }} Albright later criticized Stahl's segment as "amount[ing] to Iraqi propaganda", saying that her question was a loaded question.{{cite news |last=Rosen |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Rosen |date=March 15, 2002 |title=U.S., U.N. not to blame for deaths of Iraqis |newspaper=Rocky Mountain News |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_1028937,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020414184813/http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_86_1028937%2C00.html |archive-date=April 14, 2002}}{{cite web |year=2002 |title=Albright's Blunder |url=http://orangecoyote.blogspot.com/2006/07/albrights-blunder.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030603215848/http://www.irvinereview.org/guest1.htm |archive-date=June 3, 2003 |access-date=January 4, 2008 |publisher=Irvine Review}} She wrote, "I had fallen into a trap and said something I did not mean",{{sfn|Albright|2003|pp=274, 275}} and that she regretted coming "across as cold-blooded and cruel". She apologized for her remarks in a 2020 interview with The New York Times, calling them "totally stupid".{{Cite news |last=Marchese |first=David |date=April 20, 2020 |title=Madeleine Albright Thinks It's Good When America Gets Involved |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/20/magazine/madeline-albright-interview.html |access-date=March 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820021455/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/20/magazine/madeline-albright-interview.html |url-status=live }} Albright addressed the controversy in her 2020 memoir, acknowledging that her answer was "a mistake" and "that UN sanctions contributed to hardships in Iraq," but also noting that "the producers of 60 Minutes were duped. Subsequent research has shown that Iraqi propagandists deceived international observers," citing a 2017 article in The BMJ.{{cite book|last=Albright|first=Madeleine|title=Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir|chapter=Advise and Dissent|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2020|isbn=978-0-06-280228-6}}

{{external media| float = right|width=230px| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?123332-1/madeleine-albright Presentation by Michael Dobbs on Madeleine Albright: A Twentieth-Century Odyssey, May 14, 1999], C-SPAN}}

Following The Washington Post{{'}}s profile of Albright by Michael Dobbs, an Austrian man named Philipp Harmer launched legal action against Albright, claiming her father had illegally taken possession of artwork that belonged to his great-grandfather, Karl Nebrich.{{cite web

|first = Suzanne

|last = Smalley

|url = http://www.praguepost.cz/archivescontent/31921-germans-lost-their-art-too.html

|title = Germans lost their art, too: Family says Albright's father took paintings

|work = The Prague Post

|date = May 17, 2000

|access-date = March 12, 2010

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714202550/http://www.praguepost.cz/archivescontent/31921-germans-lost-their-art-too.html

|archive-date = July 14, 2014

}} Nebrich, a German-speaking Prague industrialist, abandoned some of the possessions in his apartment when ethnic Germans were expelled from the country after World War II under the Beneš decrees. His apartment, at 11 Hradčanská Street in Prague, was subsequently given to Korbel and his family. Harmer alleged that Korbel stole his great-grandfather's artwork. Counsel for Albright's family stated that Harmer's claim was unfounded.

File:Palác Luxor 05.JPG

In late October 2012, during a book signing in the Prague bookstore Palác Knih Luxor, Albright was visited by a group of activists from the Czech organization Přátelé Srbů na Kosovu (Friends of Serbs in Kosovo). She was filmed saying, "Disgusting Serbs, get out!" to the Czech group, which had brought war photos to the signing, some of which showed Serbian victims of the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia in 1999. The protesters were expelled from the event when police arrived. Two videos of the incident were later posted by the group on their YouTube channel.{{cite video

| people = Pratele Srbu na Kosovu

| year = 2012

| title = Madeleine Albright in Prague: 'Disgusting Serbs!'

| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FaPuBUY558

| language = cs

| publisher = YouTube: pratelesrbunakosovu

| location = Prague, Palác Knih Luxor

| access-date = October 28, 2012

| time = 1:00

}}{{cite magazine

| url = https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/madeleine-albrights-scrap-with-pro-serbian-activists-in-a-prague-bookstore/264245/

| title = Madeleine Albright's scrap with pro-Serbian activists

| date = October 29, 2012

| magazine = The Atlantic

| access-date = March 8, 2017

| archive-date = October 12, 2017

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171012100333/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/madeleine-albrights-scrap-with-pro-serbian-activists-in-a-prague-bookstore/264245/

| url-status = live

}} Filmmaker Emir Kusturica expressed thanks to Czech director Václav Dvořák for organizing and participating in the demonstration. Together with other protesters, Dvořák also reported Albright to the police, stating that she was spreading ethnic hatred and disrespect to the victims of the war.{{cite video

| year = 2012

| title = Emir Kusturica i Vaclav Dvorak

| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDX00BN3Q0Y

| language = cs

| publisher = YouTube: sigor108

| location = Prague

| access-date = November 15, 2012

}}{{cite web

|url = http://zpravy.idnes.cz/pravni-kroky-kvuli-potycce-na-autogramiade-albrightove-pj5-/domaci.aspx?c=A121113_102523_domaci_jw

|title = Aktivisté dali trestní oznámení na Albrightovou kvůli "odporným Srbům"

|first = Jan

|last = Wirnitzer

|language = cs

|date = November 13, 2012

|work = Mladá fronta DNES

|access-date = November 15, 2012

|archive-date = December 23, 2015

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151223070035/http://zpravy.idnes.cz/pravni-kroky-kvuli-potycce-na-autogramiade-albrightove-pj5-/domaci.aspx?c=A121113_102523_domaci_jw

|url-status = live

}}

Albright's involvement in the bombing of Serbia was the main cause of the demonstration – a sensitive topic which became even more controversial when it was revealed that in 2012 her investment firm, Albright Capital Management, was preparing to bid in the proposed privatization of Kosovo's state-owned telecom and postal company, Post and Telecom of Kosovo. In an article published by the New York City-based magazine Bloomberg Businessweek, it was estimated that the deal could be as large as €600 million. Serbia opposed the sale, and intended to file a lawsuit to block it, alleging that the rights of former Serbian employees were not respected.{{cite magazine

| url = http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-30/albright-firm-eyes-kosovos-contested-state-telecom

| title = Albright firm eyes Kosovo's contested state telecom

| first = Carol

| last = Matlack

| date = August 30, 2012

| magazine = Bloomberg BusinessWeek

| access-date = November 2, 2012

| archive-date = October 26, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026172446/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-30/albright-firm-eyes-kosovos-contested-state-telecom

| url-status = dead

}} The bid never happened and was withdrawn by her investment fund.{{cite web

|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/world/europe/ex-us-official-pulls-bid-for-kosovo-telecom-stake.html

|title = Ex-U.S. Official Pulls Bid for Kosovo Telecom Stake

|first = Matthew

|last = Brunwasser

|date = January 10, 2013

|work = The New York Times

|access-date = March 23, 2022

|archive-date = March 3, 2022

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220303092506/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/world/europe/ex-us-official-pulls-bid-for-kosovo-telecom-stake.html

|url-status = live

}}

Albright supported Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign. While introducing Clinton at a campaign event in New Hampshire ahead of that state's primary, Albright said, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other" (a phrase Albright had used on several previous occasions in other contexts). The remark was seen as a rebuke of younger women who supported Clinton's primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, which many women found "startling and offensive".{{Cite news|last=Rappeport|first=Alan|date=February 7, 2016|title=Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright Rebuke Young Women Backing Bernie Sanders|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/us/politics/gloria-steinem-madeleine-albright-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.html|access-date=March 24, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=March 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305170020/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/us/politics/gloria-steinem-madeleine-albright-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.html|url-status=live}} In a New York Times op-ed published several days after the remark, Albright said: "I absolutely believe what I said, that women should help one another, but this was the wrong context and the wrong time to use that line. I did not mean to argue that women should support a particular candidate based solely on gender."{{cite news |last1=Albright |first1=Madeleine |title=My Undiplomatic Moment |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/madeleine-albright-my-undiplomatic-moment.html |access-date=October 29, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=February 12, 2016 |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029071608/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/madeleine-albright-my-undiplomatic-moment.html |url-status=live }}

File:Medlin Olbrajt (Madeleine Albright) Square in Prishtinë, Kosovo.jpg, Kosovo named in honor of Madeleine Albright]]

Albright held honorary degrees from Brandeis University (1996), Mount Holyoke College (1997),{{cite web |title=Madeleine Albright's Commencement Speech |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/misc/albright/speech.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312204919/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/misc/albright/speech.shtml |archive-date=March 12, 2007 |access-date=June 18, 2007 |website=www.mtholyoke.edu |df=mdy-all}} the University of Washington (2002), Smith College (2003), Washington University in St. Louis (2003),{{cite web|title=Madeleine Albright to deliver Washington University's 142nd Commencement address|date=May 15, 2003|url=https://source.wustl.edu/2003/05/madeleine-albright-to-deliver-washington-university-142nd-commencement-address/|publisher=Washington University in St. Louis|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=November 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129021041/https://source.wustl.edu/2003/05/madeleine-albright-to-deliver-washington-university-142nd-commencement-address/|url-status=live}} University of Winnipeg (2005), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007),{{cite web

|url=http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may07/honorarydegrees050307.html

|title=UNC News Release – Five to receive honorary degrees at Carolina's Spring Commencement

|publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

|date=May 3, 2007

|access-date=June 22, 2009

|archive-date=October 12, 2017

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012095610/http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may07/honorarydegrees050307.html

|url-status=dead

}} Knox College (2008),{{cite web

|url=http://www.knox.edu/news/honorary-degrees-2008

|title=Knox Announces Honorary Degree Recipients

|publisher=Knox College

|access-date=November 28, 2016

|archive-date=November 28, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195426/http://www.knox.edu/news/honorary-degrees-2008

|url-status=live

}} Bowdoin College (2013),{{cite web |title=Honorary Degrees |url=https://www.bowdoin.edu/commencement/honorary-degrees/index.html |website=Bowdoin College |access-date=April 14, 2022 |language=en}}

Dickinson College (2014),{{cite web |last1=Pearlstein |first1=Max |title=2014 Commencement Citations |url=https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20309/commencement/2606/commencement_citations_2014 |website=Dickinson College |access-date=March 15, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803130022/https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20309/commencement/2606/commencement_citations_2014 |url-status=live }} and Tufts University (2015).{{cite web

|url=http://trustees.tufts.edu/hondegree/degrees/

|title=Honorary Degrees

|publisher=Tufts University

|access-date=May 29, 2015

|archive-date=May 23, 2017

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523181921/http://trustees.tufts.edu/hondegree/degrees/

|url-status=live

}}

In 1998, Albright was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/madeleine-korbel-albright/|title=Albright, Madeleine Korbel|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=November 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120055150/https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/madeleine-korbel-albright/|url-status=live}} Albright was the second recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation. In March 2000 Albright received an Honorary Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk at a ceremony in Prague sponsored by the Bohemian Foundation and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.{{Cite web|title=3/7/00 Albright remarks: Building a Europe Whole and Free|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/statements/2000/000307.html|access-date=March 24, 2022|website=1997-2001.state.gov|archive-date=November 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107122301/https://1997-2001.state.gov/statements/2000/000307.html|url-status=live}} In 2006, she was named by Carnegie Corporation to the inaugural class of winners of the Great Immigrants Award.{{Cite web |title=2006 Great Immigrants: Madeleine Albright |url=https://www.carnegie.org/awards/honoree/madeleine-albright/}}

In 2010, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=https://www.cogreatwomen.org/project/madeleine-k-albright/|title=Madeleine K. Albright, PhD|website=Colorado Women's Hall of Fame|access-date=November 30, 2019|archive-date=July 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715125032/https://www.cogreatwomen.org/project/madeleine-k-albright/|url-status=live}}

In 2020, Albright was named by Time magazine among the world's 100 powerful women who defined the last century.{{Cite magazine |date=March 2, 2020 |title=1999: Madeleine Albright |url=https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/ |magazine=Time}}

Albright was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists, and creators who are over the age of 50.{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Elana Lyn |last2=Voytko |first2=Lisette |last3=McGrath |first3=Maggie |url=https://www.forbes.com/50over50/ |title=The New Golden Age |work=Forbes |date=June 2, 2021 |access-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-date=June 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607030212/https://www.forbes.com/50over50/ |url-status=live }}

Albright married Joseph Albright in 1959.{{sfn|Albright|2003|p=47}} The couple had three daughters before divorcing in 1982.{{cite news|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1999/05/02/becoming-madeleine-albright/00193605-9959-442a-9f80-a6a8fd55a8bf/|title=Becoming Madeleine Albright|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 2, 1999|access-date=August 14, 2008|archive-date=August 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828044532/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1999/05/02/becoming-madeleine-albright/00193605-9959-442a-9f80-a6a8fd55a8bf/|url-status=live}} She had been raised Catholic, but converted to the Episcopal Church upon her marriage in 1959. Her parents had converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941, during her early childhood, after fleeing Czechoslovakia for England in 1939, to avoid anti-Jewish persecution before they immigrated to the U.S. They never discussed their Jewish ancestry with her later.

When The Washington Post reported on Albright's Jewish ancestry shortly after she had become Secretary of State in 1997, Albright said that the report was a "major surprise".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_gist/1997/02/did_she_know.html|title=Did She Know?|first=Franklin|last=Foer|magazine=Slate|date=February 16, 1997|access-date=August 14, 2018|archive-date=August 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814104454/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_gist/1997/02/did_she_know.html|url-status=live}} Albright said that she did not learn until age 59{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/madeleine-albright-prague-winter_n_1460500.html|title=Madeleine Albright Discusses Her Jewish Background And Her New Book, 'Prague Winter'|first=Jaweed|last=Kaleem|work=HuffPost|date=April 27, 2012|access-date=August 14, 2018|archive-date=September 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914133544/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/madeleine-albright-prague-winter_n_1460500.html|url-status=live}} that both her parents were born and raised in Jewish families. As many as a dozen of her relatives in Czechoslovakia—including three of her grandparents—had been murdered in the Holocaust.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2012/04/albright-memoir-her-jewish-secret-075520|title=Albright memoir: Her secret past|first=MJ|last=Lee|work=Politico|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=August 14, 2018|archive-date=August 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814103313/https://www.politico.com/story/2012/04/albright-memoir-her-jewish-secret-075520|url-status=live}}

In addition to English, Russian, and Czech, Albright spoke French, German, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2008-04-14/a-conversation-with-madeleine-albright|title=A Conversation with Madeleine Albright|date=April 14, 2008|access-date=March 23, 2022|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324054554/https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2008-04-14/a-conversation-with-madeleine-albright|url-status=live}} She also understood spoken Slovak.{{Cite web |last=Valášek |first=Tomáš |date=March 23, 2022 |title=Za Madeleine Albrightovou: Putin ju obvinil z rusofóbie a mýlil sa |url=https://dennikn.sk/2780964/za-madeleine-albrightovou-putin-ju-obvinil-z-rusofobie-a-mylil-sa/ |access-date=March 24, 2022 |website=Denník N |language=sk-SK}}

Albright mentioned her physical fitness and exercise regimen in several interviews. In 2006, she said she was capable of leg pressing {{convert|400|lbs|kg|-1}}.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/archive/may2006.htm|title=Washington Whispers: Is kickboxing next for Albright?|last=Bedard|first=Paul|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609134207/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/archive/may2006.htm|archive-date=June 9, 2013}}{{cite press release|title=Madeleine Albright Reveals Exercise Regimen for 'Kicking Ass'|url=https://www.npr.org/about/press/011219.malbright.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020726192101/https://www.npr.org/about/press/011219.malbright.html|archive-date=July 26, 2002|publisher=NPR|date=December 19, 2001|access-date=March 23, 2022}} Albright was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian in March 2013.{{cite news|last1=Cartner-Morley|first1=Jess|date=March 28, 2013|title=The 50 best-dressed over 50s|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2013/mar/29/50-best-dressed-over-50s|access-date=March 24, 2022|archive-date=January 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110175602/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2013/mar/29/50-best-dressed-over-50s|url-status=live}}

{{Wikinews|Former US Secretary of State Albright dies aged 84}}

Albright died from cancer in Washington, D.C., on March 23, 2022, at the age of 84.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/23/politics/madeleine-albright-obituary/index.html|title=Madeleine Albright, first female US secretary of state, dies|first=Caroline|last=Kelly|date=March 23, 2022|publisher=CNN|accessdate=March 23, 2022|archive-date=March 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323183242/https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/23/politics/madeleine-albright-obituary/index.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/madeleine-albright-dead.html|title = Madeleine Albright, First Woman to Serve as Secretary of State, Dies at 84|newspaper = The New York Times|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|date = March 23, 2022|accessdate = March 23, 2022|url-access = limited|archive-date = March 23, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220323185929/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/madeleine-albright-dead.html|url-status = live}}{{Cite news |date=March 24, 2022 |title=Madeleine Albright, first female US secretary of state, dies at 84 |work=The Philippine Star |url=https://www.philstar.com/world/2022/03/24/2169543/madeleine-albright-first-female-us-secretary-state-dies-84 |access-date=March 25, 2022}} Many political figures paid tribute to her, including U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter,{{Cite web |title=Statement from Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on the Passing of Madeleine Albright |url=https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2022/statement-on-passing-of-madeleine-albright-032322.html |access-date=April 30, 2022 |website=The Carter Center}} Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and former British prime minister Tony Blair.{{Cite news |last=Oladipo |first=Gloria |date=March 23, 2022 |title='A trailblazer': political leaders pay tribute to Madeleine Albright |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/23/madeleine-albright-tributes-obama-bush-blair |access-date=March 24, 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323213841/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/23/madeleine-albright-tributes-obama-bush-blair |url-status=live }}

Her funeral, held at Washington National Cathedral on April 27, was attended by President Joe Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former vice president Al Gore, and former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice,{{Cite news|last=Baker|first=Peter|date=April 27, 2022|title=At Madeleine Albright's Service, a Reminder of the Fight for Freedom|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/us/politics/madeleine-albright-memorial.html|access-date=April 28, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|title=Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Funeral Service | C-SPAN.org|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?519500-1/secretary-state-madeleine-albright-funeral-service&live=|access-date=April 28, 2022|website=c-span.org}} as well as presidents Salome Zourabichvili of Georgia

and Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo.{{Cite web|last=Garrison|first=Joey|title='Her story was America's story': Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, remember Madeleine Albright|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/27/madeleine-albright-funeral-joe-biden-eulogy/7445361001/|access-date=April 27, 2022|website=USA Today|language=en-US}} She was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, Washington, DC.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

• {{cite book|title-link=Madam Secretary (book)|title=Madam Secretary: A Memoir |year=2003|publisher=Miramax |isbn=1-4013-5962-0}}
• {{cite book|title-link=The Mighty and the Almighty|title=The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs|publisher=Harper|year=2006|isbn=978-0-06-089257-9}}
• {{cite book|title=Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership|publisher=Harper Collins |year=2008|isbn=978-0-06-135181-5}}
• {{cite book|title=Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2009|isbn=978-0-06-089918-9}}
• {{cite book|title-link=Prague Winter|title=Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948|year=2012|publisher=Harper|isbn=978-0-06-203031-3}}
• {{cite book|title-link=Fascism: A Warning|title=Fascism: A Warning|year=2018|publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-280218-7}}
• {{cite book |title=Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir |year=2020|publisher=Harper |isbn=978-0-06-280225-5}}

• List of international trips made by Madeleine Albright as United States Secretary of State
• Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration
• List of female United States Cabinet members
• List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
• List of people who have held multiple United States Cabinet-level positions

{{reflist}}

;Works cited

• {{cite book|title=Madam Secretary: A Memoir|last=Albright|first=Madeleine|publisher=Miramax |year=2003|isbn=0-7868-6843-0|url=https://archive.org/details/madamsecretary00albr_0|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Blood |first=Thomas |year=1997 |title=Madam Secretary: A Biography of Madeleine Albright|url=https://archive.org/details/madamsecretarybi00bloo_0|isbn=0-312-17180-3|url-access=registration|place=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press}}

• Albright, Madeleine (6 April 2018.). [http://www.tramuntalegria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Will-We-Stop-Trump-Before-It%E2%80%99s-Too-Late-The-New-York-Times.pdf "Will We Stop Trump Before It's Too Late? Fascism poses a more serious threat now than at any time since the end of World War II"]. The New York Times.
• Bashevkin, Sylvia (2018). Women as Foreign Policy Leaders: National Security and Gender Politics in Superpower America (Oxford UP); [https://www.amazon.com/Women-Foreign-Policy-Leaders-International/dp/0197516971/ excerpt]; also [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54801 online review].
• Blackman, Ann (1999). [https://archive.org/details/seasonsofherlife00blac Seasons of Her Life: A Biography of Madeleine Korbel Albright] (Simon and Schuster).
• Dobbs, Michael (2000). Madeleine Albright: A Twentieth-Century Odyssey (Macmillan).
• Dumbrell, John (2008). [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14794010802548016 "President Clinton's Secretaries of State: Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright"]. Journal of transatlantic studies 6.3: 217–227. {{doi|10.1080/14794010802548016}}.
• Halberstam, David (2001). [https://archive.org/details/warintimeofpeace00halb_0 War in a time of peace: Bush, Clinton, and the generals].

• Hyland, William G. Clinton's World: Remaking American Foreign Policy (1999).
• Lippman, Thomas W. (2004). [https://archive.org/details/madeleinealbrigh00thom Madeleine Albright and the new American diplomacy] (Westview Press).
• Nelson, Sherice Janaye (2015). [https://www.academia.edu/24560880/ Transformational leadership and decision making: Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton, a case study of Kosovo and Libya] (PhD dissertation, Howard University).
• Piaskowy, Katharine Ann (2006). [http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1163531263 Madeleine Albright and United States Humanitarian Interventions: A Principled or Personal Agenda?] (MA thesis, University of Cincinnati).
• Wagner, Erica (2018). [https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/23688/3/Madeleine%20Albright%20interview.pdf "An interview with Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State of the United States"]. Harper's Bazaar.
• Wright, Robin (2018). [http://www.timewatchministries.net/images/timewatch_daily/07-20-2018_-_TIMEWATCH_DAILY_-_Madeleine_Albright_Warns_of_a_New_Fascismand_Trump.pdf "Madeleine Albright warns of a new fascism–and Trump"]. The New Yorker.
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/23/opinion/madeleine-albright-s-agenda.html "Madeleine Albright's Agenda"], The New York Times, January 23, 1997.

{{Sister project links|auto=yes}}

• [https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/albright-madeleine-korbel Biography] at the United States Department of State
• [https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/FY17%20Membership%20Roster.pdf Membership] at the Council on Foreign Relations
• {{C-SPAN|4014}}
• {{TED speaker}}
• [https://www1.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1995commencement/commencementaddress 1997] and [https://www1.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/2007commencement/commencementaddress 2007 commencement speeches], Wellesley College
• [http://chiasmos.uchicago.edu/events/albright.shtml Audio recording] of Albright's talk "The Mighty and the Almighty", as part of the University of Chicago [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL62F0CD698579B206 "World Beyond the Headlines" series].
• [http://www.makers.com/madeleine-albright Madeleine Albright]—Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America

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