Albright Madeleine Korbel - Madam Secretary: a biography of Madeleine Albright

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CONTENTS

To my three wonderful reasons for living: Debbie, Sean, and Kelli

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I want to thank my dad, Col. Thomas Blood (19171997), my best friend, who departed this world when I was halfway through this project. He spent his whole life fighting the enemies of democracy so that people like Madeleine Albright could live in freedom. Also, I want to thank my beautiful mother, who always wanted me to be a writer, and the rest of my great, big, fantastic, Irish-American family.

I want to thank my dynamo of an agent, Jenny Bent, as well as my publisher, Tom Dunne, and St. Martins Press. Also, I wish every author could experience the keen insights and support of my world-class editor, Peter Wolverton. Pete, You Da Man!

Anyone familiar with the project knows that the book simply wouldnt have gotten done without the help of the incomparable Eric White. Thanks, Swami.

Several others were instrumental in the completion of Madam Secretary and deserve special mention. They include my Eastern Europe advisor Glen Hicks, my research assistant Beckett Dickerson, Lauren Battaglia, Steve Powell of the law firm of Holland and Knight, Leon Billings, Jim Davidson, Peter Krough, Elliott Levitas, Lindsey Lewis, Kevin McDonald, Kristen Nardullo of St. Martins Press, Randy Nuckolls, Geraldine Ferraro, and Senators Patrick Leahy and Barbara Mikulski.

I would also like to thank Dawn Alexander, Robert Budway, Tom Burgess, Ken Carlson, David Carrol, Chris Duda, Scot Freda, Quay Hays, Paul Henry, Chris Kersting, Ken Markowitz, Kimerly Montour, Jim Nader, Beverly Perry, Steven Pruitt, Ann Rowan, Michael Schwartz, and Kris Van Geisen for their ongoing friendship and support. Special kudos to the techno-wizards at OnTrack Data Systems and Novatron who rescued the project from computer hell so many times. Finally, a thousand thanks to Tommy Jacomo at the Palm, Jon and Luis at Market Street, and to the crew at the Reston Starbucks, all of whom put up with me and my laptop for hours on end during the writing of Madam Secretary.

I couldnt have done it without you.

OVERVIEW

This is the story of Madeleine Albright, the most dynamic woman to come along in politics since Margaret Thatcher. If 1992 was the Year of the Woman, and 1994 was the Year of the Angry White Male, then 1997 was unquestionably the Year of Madeleine Albright.

From her childhood escape from the Communists to her critical role in the Bosnian Peace Accords, to becoming the first woman to serve as this countrys Secretary of State, Albrights life story appears like that of many lives rolled into one.

As her biographer, I became convinced early on that proper treatment of the subject necessitated more than simply chronicling the events of her extraordinary life. Rather, to truly gain insight into Madeleine Albright the person would require going behind the scenes, getting the perspective of those who knew her then and now on a professional and personal levelin short, talking to the people whose lives she impacted directly.

Accordingly, rather than employing a traditional birth to death method in telling Albrights story, I have identified ten defining moments, or periods, in Albrights life that best open a window onto the Secretary of States uncanny ability to triumph over adversity and her unparalleled success in politics, as well as her meteoric rise to dominance in the world of foreign policy.

It is important to understand that this treatment is not presented chronologically but, rather, much like a tapestry, tying key experiences in Albrights career and personal life together in the hope that the reader will get some measure of the woman who is leading American foreign policy into the next millennium.

P OWER P LAY

Winning the Nomination as Secretary of State

It was 10:01 P.M. EST on November fifth. Election Day, 1996. Most of the polls on the West Coast had just closed, and ABC anchor Peter Jennings, speaking on behalf of the network, was reporting that exit polls in Ohio projected that the Buckeye State had pushed the President over the top, that Bill Clinton had been reelected as this countrys forty-second president. To UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright, this was a moment of both great triumph and tremendous relief. For Albright, who had been at the Presidents side from the very beginning, this campaign had become rather personal. The President was not only her boss, but also her close friend. During the last four years, she had watched him weather a constant onslaught of attacks from his opponents. Despite the Republican blitzkrieg, she and others had done their best to fulfill the administrations agenda. Some days were better than others. More often than not, Madeleine Albright had held her own better than most.

Now, at least for the moment, there would be a reprieve. The President, as the first Democrat to be elected to a second term since FDR, would have a few weeks to bask in the sunlight of his victory. Even better, the night was still young. Before the polls closed in California, the potential margin of victory still held out hope for a mandate. But for now that was not important. A win was a win. Period. As Albright sat on the couch in the living room of her spacious $27,000-per-month penthouse apartment in New Yorks tony Waldorf Towers, she turned to her longtime chief of staff and confidant, James P. Rubin. With the glee of a teenager at a homecoming game, she remarked, Never a doubt. Never a doubt.

Then the phone began to ring.

The first call came from Little Rock, but it was not the caller Albright was expecting. It was Washington power broker and Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan, who, as part of the Presidents inner circle, had flown a private jet to the Arkansas capital to be with the Clintons in their hour of triumph. Madeleine, its Vernon Jordan. What are you still doing in New York?

Albright was curious. Although she and Jordan were friendly enough and shared a professional respect for one another, he had never called her at her New York apartment before, out of the blue, just to chat. And it was election night no less. Something was up, she thought. Ive been asking myself the same question all night, she responded. Unfortunately the UN doesnt just shut down because of the American elections. Youre in Little Rock, I take it?

Thats right. At the Excelsior, with the President.

So hows he doing?

Glad its over. Very, very glad its over. Hes exhausted.

Ill bet.

Listen, Madeleine. Let me tell you why Im calling. The President has already asked me to head up the vetting team at the State Department. Assuming youre interested, I think it would be a good idea for you to connect with White House personnel and begin the process.

By vetting, Jordan was referring to the exhaustive personal background check conducted by the FBI that all presidential appointees must undergo. And, even though she had been vetted four years earlier for her appointment as ambassador to the United Nations, she understood that the process must be repeated for each new appointment. What was unclear was whether she was going to be offered the top job at State or whether she was just one of many candidates in contention. The ambiguity stemmed from the fact that during its first term the Clinton administration had run into trouble with some of its appointments, announcing them publicly before the FBI background checks were complete. As happens, some background checks routinely take longer than others, particularly when a nominee has extensive financial holdings. In Washington, however, any delay in the vetting of a candidate, for whatever reason, can prove embarrassing, even fatal to a nomination. In light of this, about midway through the first term, the White House took corrective action, issuing a directive that candidates for all positions needed to be thoroughly vetted before the White House would even acknowledge that they were under consideration.