Madeleine Albright

WASHINGTON — A veritable who's who of Washington's political and foreign policy elite gathered Wednesday to pay their last respects to the late Madeleine ...

Top photos of the day as selected by the Associated Press. APTOPIX Albright Funeral. President Joe Biden, left, talks with former President Barack Obama ...

Czechs on Wednesday bid their last farewell to Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, and a trusted friend to her old homeland.

I remember that when her friend Václav Havel died, Madeleine eulogized him with the words ‘He cast light in the places of deepest darkness and reminded us constantly of our obligations to one another.’ These words apply equally to Madeleine.” Thanks to her intelligence, perseverance and dedication she climbed right to the top – the first female to hold the post of US Secretary of State. But she never forgot where she came from and possibly because she experienced fascism first-hand she was able to foresee the dangers lying in store for the world sooner than others. The music at Wednesday’s service included pieces by Czech composers in a nod to Albright’s roots: She was born in 1937 in what was then Czechoslovakia. Her Jewish family fled Prague to escape the Nazis, and she later came to the United States as a political refugee at the age of eleven.

My Kenyan co-founders of CFK Africa and I first heard this truism in 2001. We decided to make it a motto of the community-based organisation we built initially ...

She was on the go until the end. The way Madeleine kept on the go motivated those of us around her and vice versa. It's also part of the reason why her passing came as such a shock even though she was 84. It energised her, made memories, gave her insights, and sparked new connections, some of which became partnerships. I make plane reservations," she wrote in her moving memoir Prague Winter. "Some people pursue enlightenment by sitting quietly and probing their inner consciousness. She formed partnerships that were deep and rooted in trust. I know she would want me to share these learnings, especially in Kenya. She did this with staff, friends, and colleagues. It was authentic. But I watched her live those values. This was the bedrock of her unshakeable integrity.

And Clinton, the man who appointed her first as his U.N. ambassador in 1993 and then as secretary of state in 1996, said his last conversation with Albright ...

She then entered politics and what was at the time the male-dominated world of foreign policy professionals. They ended up in the United States, where she studied at Wellesley College and rose through the ranks of Democratic Party foreign policy circles to become ambassador to the United Nations. Bill Clinton selected her as secretary of state in 1996 for his second term. As U.N. ambassador, she advocated a tough U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the case of Milosevic’s treatment of Bosnia. NATO’s intervention in Kosovo was eventually dubbed “Madeleine’s War.” As a Czech refugee who saw the horrors of both Nazi Germany and the Iron Curtain, she was not a dove. Albright was an internationalist whose point of view was shaped in part by her background. Hillary Clinton recalled stories that she had lobbied for Albright to serve as secretary of state, a role that Clinton would serve in herself during the Obama administration. She also remembered Albright as a fearless diplomat that broke barriers and then counseled, cajoled and inspired women to follow in her footsteps. On the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and one month before her death, The New York Times printed what would be Albright's last published writing. On another occasion in Beijing, Clinton recalled that she and Albright had marched through mud in a torrential downpour and confronted Chinese security forces to meet women's rights activists. and Hillary Clinton recalled a pair of stories about her and Albright on visits overseas during which they bonded. “Because if as Madeleine believed there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women, they haven’t seen anyone like her yet.” “The only thing that really matters is what kind of world we’re going to leave to our grandchildren,” Clinton recalled Albright told him.

This includes a number of revered Americans who have died in recent years — including Arizona Sen. John McCain, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, President George H.W. Bush ...

If only they would aspire to be more than political gadflies and clownish insult artists, the country and the world could be more peaceful, more educated and more decent. Third, they believed the United States was a force for good in the world and could live up to its promise. Certainly, they notice the vast gap in stature between themselves and these great Americans. They must want to be better than they are, right? Their legacy was in the people who could live in peace and freedom because of their leadership. From the day she entered the U.N. till the day she left, she tried to stick up for people who were left out and left behind. She spent her entire life counseling and cajoling, inspiring and lifting up so many of us who are here today.” She added, “So the angels better be wearing their best pins and putting on their dancing shoes. We see her legacy honored here by the presence of the vice president of Columbia, where Madeleine believed being a good neighbor was dealing with a country that was the oldest democracy in South America, where a third of the land was then under control of the Narco traffickers with Plan Columbia. …Today, we see in Ukraine all too tragically what Madeleine always knew; that the advance of freedom is neither inevitable or permanent, and that in politics, where the lure of power is strong and the temptation to abuse it is often irresistible, there are no permanent victories or defeats. Finally, they respected the intelligence and decency of the American people, choosing to spend much of their time after leaving office to educate students and the public at large. They declined to join the trend of politicians seeking to destroy political foes that began in the Newt Gingrich era. She did teach the foreign minister of Botswana ‘ the Macarena’ at a U.N. Security Council meeting and snuck off early from an official event to do the tango in Buenos Aires.” They were kind to junior staff and acted with good humor toward members of both parties. They should consider some of the common attributes of those lives we have recently celebrated.

President Biden, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Albright's decades-long influence on U.S. foreign policy and ...

"It was a testament in her belief in the endless possibilities that only America could unlock around the world, and the understanding of what American power can achieve." Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. In his remarks, Mr. Biden said Albright "was a big part of the reason NATO was still strong and galvanized as it is today." "Let us honor Madeleine's life and legacy by being the indispensable nation she loved and served, and let us live as she did, in a hurry to do the most good we can, with every season under heaven." Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were also on hand for the ceremony, as well as several foreign leaders. "Freedom endures against all odds in the face of every aggressor because there are always those who will fight for that freedom.

Madeleine Albright was eulogized April 27 at a funeral service at Washington's National Cathedral by notable friends and family gathered to remember the ...

Anne, Alice, Katie, and her grandchildren — each of you — each of you is literally a tribute to her enormous capacity to love.” “Today, across our government and around the world, Madeleine’s protégés are legion,” he said. “Your mom was a force, a force of nature. “Even though she became one of the world’s top diplomats. “Mom took a particular interest whenever I let her know that I was visiting refugees or working to help girls get a better chance for an education. “Albright says she was raised as a Catholic from earliest memory,” says a 1997 article from The Washington Post, recounting what little is known about her Jewish family becoming Catholic, a move likely taken to escape persecution.