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Condoleezza Rice
Dr. Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954) became Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, on January 22, 2001, under President George W. Bush. She is the second black (after Colin Powell) and first female holder of the office. Rice is single and has never been married.
Childhood
Known as "Condi" to her friends, Dr. Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama as an only child to her parents, Angelena Rice and Reverend John Rice. Her father was the pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church and her mother was a music teacher. Both her parents were university professors. Her name is a variation on the Italian musical term "con dolcezza" which is a direction to play "with sweetness." [1] (http://www.wnyc.org/legacy/shows/madaboutmusic/madabout_transcript090701.html)
She was born the same year as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Rice was nine when her schoolmate Denise McNair was killed in the bombing of the Black Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by white supremacists on September 15, 1963. Rice states her childhood during segregation taught her determination against adversity, and the need to be "twice as good" as non-minorities [2] (http://www.racematters.org/lessononlifecondoleezzarice.htm).
Education
At 15, Rice enrolled and began attending classes at the University of Denver with the goal of becoming a concert pianist. Her plans changed when she attended a course on international politics taught by Josef Korbel that sparked her interest in the Soviet Union and international relations, leading her to call Korbel "one of the most central figures in my life" [3] (http://www.rider.edu/phanc/Phanc/JoKorbel.htm).
At 19, Rice earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974. In 1975, she obtained her master's degree from the University of Notre Dame, and in 1981 she received her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. In addition to English, she speaks Russian, French, and Spanish.
Academic career
At Stanford University, Rice is a tenured Professor of Political Science, Senior Fellow of the Institute for International Studies, and a Fellow (by courtesy) of the Hoover Institution. From 1993 to 1999 she served as the Stanford Provost. Rice held the position of provost before stepping down on July 1, 1999.
Dr. Rice is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995, the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004.
Political career
From 1989 through March 1991 (the period of the fall of Berlin wall and the final days of the Soviet Union), she served in the George H. W. Bush Administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In this function, Condoleezza Rice acquired greatest merits by co-formulating the strategy of President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker in favor of German reunification. She so impressed President Bush that he introduced her to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as the one who "tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union."[4] (http://dir.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/03/20/rice/index.html)
In 1996, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1997, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender — Integrated Training in the Military.
Rice was a member of the boards of directors for the Chevron Corporation (which named an oil tanker Condoleezza Rice after her, later renamed Altair Voyager due to controversy [5] (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/05/MN222557.DTL)) and headed its committee on public policy until she resigned in January 15, 2001 to become National Security Advisor.
During George W. Bush's election campaign in 2000, Rice took a one-year leave of absence from the university to work as George W. Bush's foreign policy advisor. On December 17, 2000, Rice was picked to serve as National Security Advisor and stepped down from her position at Stanford.
Business career
She has served on the board of directors for the Chevron Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the University of Notre Dame, the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan and the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors. She was a Founding Board member of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support fund for schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park and was Vice President of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula. In addition, her past board service has encompassed such organizations as Transamerica Corporation, Hewlett Packard, the Carnegie Corporation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Rand Corporation, the National Council for Soviet and East European Studies, the Mid-Peninsula Urban Coalition and KQED, public broadcasting for San Francisco.
In the Bush Administration
Since her appointment as National Security Advisor, Rice has become a controversial figure. Some say she has polarized the African-American community, with some praising her role as the first black National Security Advisor and others calling her a "race traitor" for not supporting African-American causes [6] (http://www.blackcommentator.com/26/26_commentary.html). In 2003, Rice was drawn into the debate over the affirmative action admissions policy at the University of Michigan. On January 18, 2003, the Washington Post claimed that she was involved in crafting President Bush's views on diversity. On the same day, Rice released a statement that somewhat contradicted this, saying that she believes race can be a factor in University admissions policies [7] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/17/rice.action/index.html).
Dr. Rice has also been one of the most outspoken supporters of the 2003 war in Iraq. After Iraq delivered its declaration of weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations on December 8, 2002, it was Rice who wrote and submitted an editorial to the New York Times entitled "Why We Know Iraq Is Lying (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030123-1.html)."
In March 2004, Dr. Rice was involved in a high-profile controversy over her refusal to publicly testify under oath before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. By way of explanation, the White House claimed executive privilege under constitutional separation of powers and cited past tradition in refusing requests for her public testimony. Debate on her role in counter-terrorism policy increased after testimony and a contemporary book by Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies. Under pressure, George W. Bush agreed to allow her to publicly testify so long as it did not create a precedent of Presidential staff being required to appear before Congress when so requested. In the end, her appearance before the 9/11 Commission on April 8, 2004 was deemed acceptable in part because she was not appearing before Congress. She thus became the first sitting National Security Advisor to testify on matters of policy.
Condoleezza Rice still dreams of becoming a concert pianist and performed Brahms' Violin Sonata in D minor with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Constitution Hall in April 2002 [8] (http://www.redludwig.com/news/archive/042402.html).
In August of 2004 Forbes Magazine named Condoleeza Rice the world's most powerful woman. [9] (http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/11/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=11&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=MTNG&datatype=Person&partner=msnbc)
Sources
- Nordlinger, Jay. "Star-in-Waiting : Meet George W.'S Foreign-Policy Czarina (http://www.findarticles.com/m1282/16_51/55432936/p1/article.jhtml)," National Review. (August 30, 1999)
- Plotz, David. "Condoleezza Rice: George W. Bush's celebrity adviser (http://slate.msn.com/id/82463/)," Slate. (May 12, 2000)
- Author Unknown. "Smart, Savvy, Strong-willed Rice Charts Her Own Course (http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/rice/profile.html)," CNN. (2001)
- Marinucci, Carla. "Critics Knock Naming Oil Tanker Condoleezza (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/05/MN222557.DTL)," San Francisco Chronicle. (April 5, 2001)
- Marinucci, Carla. "Chevron Redubs Ship Named For Bush Aide (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/05/05/MN223743.DTL)," San Francisco Chronicle. (May 5, 2001)
- Marinucci, Carla. "Security adviser Rice weighs run for governor (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/27/MN138053.DTL)," San Francisco Chronicle. (February 27, 2003)
- Author Unknown. "Rice Says Race Can Be 'One Factor' In Considering Admissions (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/17/rice.action/index.html)," CNN (January 18, 2003)
- Author Unknown. "Condoleezza Rice: The Devil's Handmaiden (http://www.blackcommentator.com/26/26_commentary.html)," Black Commentator. (January 23, 2003)
- Stern, Teresa. "Affirmative Action on Trial (http://www.msmagazine.com/mar03/stern.asp)," Ms. Magazine. (March 2003)
- Author Unknown. "The Amazing Stories of Condoleezza Rice (http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/07/25_condi.html)," Buzzflash. (July 25, 2003)
- Bayé, Betty. "Condoleezza Rice Gets Little Slack From Her African-American Critics (http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/columns/baye/baye20031002.html)", The Courier-Journal. (October 2, 2003)
- Becker, Maki. "Twenty Things About Condi (http://www.nydailynews.com/04-04-2004/news/gossip/story/180472p-156691c.html)," New York Daily News. (April 4, 2004)
Further reading
- Condoleezza Rice with Philip D. Zelikow, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft Harvard University Press (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/), 1995, hardcover, 520 pages, ISBN 0-67435-3242; trade paperback, 1997, 520 pages, ISBN 0674353250
- Edited by Condoleezza Rice and Alexander Dallin, The Gorbachev Era, Stanford Alumni Assn (http://www.stanfordalumni.org), 1986, trade paperback, ISBN 0916318184; Garland Publishing, Incorporated, 1992, hardcover, 376 pages, ISBN 0815305710
- Condoleezza Rice, Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, Princeton University Press (http://pup.princeton.edu/)1984, ISBN 0691069212
- Steve Kettman, Bush's Secret Weapon (http://dir.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/03/20/rice/index.html), Salon.com
- Antonia Felix, Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story 2002 ISBN 1557045399
External links
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