Secretaries of State: Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell was the first African-American to serve as Secretary of State. He was one of a number of former Generals to hold the office, having been a professional soldier for 35 years.
Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. His parents were both of mixed African and Scots ancestry.Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, from which he graduated in 1954. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and later earned an MBA degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.
Powell joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) during college. He also joined the Pershing Rifles, the ROTC fraternal organization and drill team begun by General John Pershing. He always kept a pen set on his desk that he had won for a drill team competition. Upon graduation, he received a commission as an Army second lieutenant. After attending basic training at Fort Benning, Powell was assigned to the 48th Infantry, in West Germany, as a platoon leader. Rising to the rank of Captain, Powell served a tour in Vietnam as a South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) advisor from 1962 to 1963. While on patrol in a Viet Cong-held area, he was wounded by stepping on a punji stake. His leg became infected, making it difficult for him to walk, and causing his foot to swell. He returned to Vietnam as a major in 1968, serving in the 23rd Infantry Division, then as assistant chief of staff of operations for the Americal Division. He was decorated for bravery after he survived a helicopter crash. He single-handedly rescuing three others from the burning wreckage, including division commander Major General Charles Martin Gettys.
Powell was charged with investigating the My Lai Massacre. He was later criticized for covering the full extent of the massacre. In May 2004 Powell told talk show host Larry King, "I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."
Returning home from his second tour, Powell served a White House Fellowship under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973. During 1975–1976 he attended the National War College, Washington, D.C.
In the early 1980s, Powell served at Fort Carson, Colorado. He left that post to serve as senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. He was an advisor to Weinberger during the 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1986 airstrike on Libya. In 1986, Powell took over the command of V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany.
Following the Iran Contra scandal, Powell became President Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, serving from 1987 to 1989 while retaining his Army commission as a lieutenant general.
In April 1989, Powell was promoted to four-star general under President George H. W. Bush and briefly served as the Commander in Chief, Forces Command (FORSCOM), headquartered at Fort McPherson, Georgia, overseeing all Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard units. Later that year, President Bush selected him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served in that role from October 1, 1989, to September 30, 1993, and was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. At age 52, he became the youngest officer to serve in this position. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove General Manuel Noriega from power and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It was while holding this office that Powell earned his nickname "the reluctant warrior." He was slow to recommend military intervention as the first solution to an international crisis, instead usually turning to diplomacy and containment. Powell's approach to military strategy, known as the "Powell Doctrine" called for the use of overwhelming force, in a effort to achieve early success with minimal casualties.
Powell continued as chairman of the JCS into the Clinton presidency but felt philosophically out of step with those in the administration. He disagreed with then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright over the Bosnian crisis. Powell opposed any military interventions that didn't involve US interests.
Powell's name became listed as a potential presidential candidate for both parties. Democrats admired his moderate stance on military matters, while many Republicans admired the past military successes he had achieved during Republican administrations. His name was floated as a possible Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in the 1992 U.S. presidential election as well as a possible replacement for Vice President Dan Quayle on the Republican ticket. Powell eventually declared himself a Republican and began to campaign for Republican candidates in 1995. He was asked to run against Bill Clinton in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, but he declined the offer, saying that he had a lack of passion for politics. Despite never being a candidate, Powell won the Republican New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary on write-in votes.
In 1997 Powell founded America's Promise, an organization whose object was to help children from all socioeconomic sectors. That same year he established the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. Its mission was to "prepare new generations of publicly engaged leaders from populations previously underrepresented in public service and policy circles, to build a strong culture of civic engagement at City College, and to mobilize campus resources to meet pressing community needs and serve the public good."
Powell's name was floated as a potential candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, but he once again decided against running. When Texas Governor George W. Bush secured the Republican nomination, Powell endorsed him for president and spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention. When Bush was elected President, Powell was appointed as Secretary of State. Powell's nomination was unanimously confirmed in the Senate.
As Secretary of State in the Bush administration, Powell was considered to be a moderate. He did not believe in globe-trotting as necessary to do his job and during his tenure he traveled less than any other U.S. Secretary of State in 30 years. But on September 11, 2001, Powell was abroad, in Lima, Peru, where he was meeting with President Alejandro Toledo and US Ambassador John Hamilton, and attending the special session of the OAS General Assembly. After the September 11 attacks, Powell was responsible for managing America's relationships with foreign countries in order to secure a stable coalition in the War on Terrorism.
Powell was criticized for his role in building the case for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Earlier, in a press statement on February 24, 2001, he had said that sanctions against Iraq had prevented the development of any weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein. Powell was initially opposed to a forcible overthrow of Saddam, preferring to continue a policy of containment, but he later acceded to the Bush administration's decision to remove Saddam. He disagreed with those in the administration who were planning an Iraq invasion even before the September 11 attacks, according to the testimony of former terrorism czar Richard Clarke given to the 9/11 Commission. Even before he would offer his full support for the Iraq War, Powell wanted to see involvement from the international community, rather than unilateral action. He was also successful in persuading Bush to take the case of Iraq to the United Nations.
Powell's chief role was to garner international support for a multi-national coalition to mount the invasion. He addressed a plenary session of the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003, to argue in favor of military action. Citing numerous anonymous Iraqi defectors, Powell asserted that "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." He also told the assembly that there was "no doubt in my mind" that Saddam was working to obtain key components to produce nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration later came under fire for having acted on faulty intelligence. In September 2005, Powell was asked about the speech during an interview and admitted that it was a "blot" on his record. Infighting among the State Department, the Donald Rumsfeld led Defense Department, and Vice-President Dick Cheney's office caused problems in arriving a united approach to foreign relations at the time.
After Saddam Hussein had been deposed, Powell's new role was to once again establish a working international coalition to assist in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq. On September 13, 2004, Powell testified before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, acknowledging that the sources of much of the information in his February 2003 UN presentation were "wrong" and that it was "unlikely" that any stockpiles of WMDs would be found in Iraq. Powell pushed for reform in the intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director who would assure that "what one person knew, everyone else knew."
Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State on November 15, 2004. According to The Washington Post, he had been asked to resign by the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card. Powell agreed to stay on until the end of Bush's first term or until his replacement's confirmation by Congress. The following day, Bush nominated National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as Powell's successor.
After retiring as Secretary of State, Powell returned to private life. In April 2005, he expressed reservations about the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. In July 2005, Powell joined Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm, with the title of "strategic limited partner." In September 2005, Powell criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006, Powell sided with more moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights for detainees and opposing President Bush's terrorism bill. Powell said "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of [America's] fight against terrorism."
In September 2009, Powell advised President Barack Obama against surging US forces in Afghanistan. The president announced the surge the following December.
More recently, Powell has been very vocal on the state of the Republican party. Speaking at a Washington Ideas forum in early October 2015, he warned the audience that the Republican party had begun a move to the fringe right, and said that Republican presidential contender Donald Trump's statements regarding immigrants were wrong and he noted that there were many immigrants working in Trump hotels. In March 2016, Powell denounced the "nastiness" of the 2016 Republican primaries during an interview on CBS This Morning. He compared the race to a "reality show", and stated that the campaign had gone "into the mud".
In August 2016, Powell accused the Clinton campaign of trying to pin Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email controversy on him. He said, "The truth is, she was using [a private email server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did." In private emails released on September 13, 2016, Powell wrote "I have told Hillary's minions repeatedly that they are making a mistake trying to drag me in, yet they still try." He also said "Hillary’s mafia keeps trying to suck me into it" in another email.
Powell referred to Donald Trump as a "national disgrace" with "no sense of shame". He wrote that Trump's role in the birther movement was "racist". In the election campaign Powell reluctantly endorsed Clinton on October 25, 2016, stating it was "because I think she's qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified."
Despite not running in the election, Powell received three electoral votes for president from faithless electors in Washington who had pledged to vote for Clinton, coming in third overall. Besides Barack Obama, Powell was the only other African American to receive electoral votes in a presidential election. He was also the first Republican since 1984 to receive electoral votes from Washington state in a presidential election, as well as the first Republican African American to do so.
Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. His parents were both of mixed African and Scots ancestry.Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, from which he graduated in 1954. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and later earned an MBA degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.
Powell joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) during college. He also joined the Pershing Rifles, the ROTC fraternal organization and drill team begun by General John Pershing. He always kept a pen set on his desk that he had won for a drill team competition. Upon graduation, he received a commission as an Army second lieutenant. After attending basic training at Fort Benning, Powell was assigned to the 48th Infantry, in West Germany, as a platoon leader. Rising to the rank of Captain, Powell served a tour in Vietnam as a South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) advisor from 1962 to 1963. While on patrol in a Viet Cong-held area, he was wounded by stepping on a punji stake. His leg became infected, making it difficult for him to walk, and causing his foot to swell. He returned to Vietnam as a major in 1968, serving in the 23rd Infantry Division, then as assistant chief of staff of operations for the Americal Division. He was decorated for bravery after he survived a helicopter crash. He single-handedly rescuing three others from the burning wreckage, including division commander Major General Charles Martin Gettys.
Powell was charged with investigating the My Lai Massacre. He was later criticized for covering the full extent of the massacre. In May 2004 Powell told talk show host Larry King, "I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."
Returning home from his second tour, Powell served a White House Fellowship under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973. During 1975–1976 he attended the National War College, Washington, D.C.
In the early 1980s, Powell served at Fort Carson, Colorado. He left that post to serve as senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. He was an advisor to Weinberger during the 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1986 airstrike on Libya. In 1986, Powell took over the command of V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany.
Following the Iran Contra scandal, Powell became President Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, serving from 1987 to 1989 while retaining his Army commission as a lieutenant general.
In April 1989, Powell was promoted to four-star general under President George H. W. Bush and briefly served as the Commander in Chief, Forces Command (FORSCOM), headquartered at Fort McPherson, Georgia, overseeing all Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard units. Later that year, President Bush selected him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served in that role from October 1, 1989, to September 30, 1993, and was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. At age 52, he became the youngest officer to serve in this position. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove General Manuel Noriega from power and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It was while holding this office that Powell earned his nickname "the reluctant warrior." He was slow to recommend military intervention as the first solution to an international crisis, instead usually turning to diplomacy and containment. Powell's approach to military strategy, known as the "Powell Doctrine" called for the use of overwhelming force, in a effort to achieve early success with minimal casualties.
Powell continued as chairman of the JCS into the Clinton presidency but felt philosophically out of step with those in the administration. He disagreed with then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright over the Bosnian crisis. Powell opposed any military interventions that didn't involve US interests.
Powell's name became listed as a potential presidential candidate for both parties. Democrats admired his moderate stance on military matters, while many Republicans admired the past military successes he had achieved during Republican administrations. His name was floated as a possible Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in the 1992 U.S. presidential election as well as a possible replacement for Vice President Dan Quayle on the Republican ticket. Powell eventually declared himself a Republican and began to campaign for Republican candidates in 1995. He was asked to run against Bill Clinton in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, but he declined the offer, saying that he had a lack of passion for politics. Despite never being a candidate, Powell won the Republican New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary on write-in votes.
In 1997 Powell founded America's Promise, an organization whose object was to help children from all socioeconomic sectors. That same year he established the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. Its mission was to "prepare new generations of publicly engaged leaders from populations previously underrepresented in public service and policy circles, to build a strong culture of civic engagement at City College, and to mobilize campus resources to meet pressing community needs and serve the public good."
Powell's name was floated as a potential candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, but he once again decided against running. When Texas Governor George W. Bush secured the Republican nomination, Powell endorsed him for president and spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention. When Bush was elected President, Powell was appointed as Secretary of State. Powell's nomination was unanimously confirmed in the Senate.
As Secretary of State in the Bush administration, Powell was considered to be a moderate. He did not believe in globe-trotting as necessary to do his job and during his tenure he traveled less than any other U.S. Secretary of State in 30 years. But on September 11, 2001, Powell was abroad, in Lima, Peru, where he was meeting with President Alejandro Toledo and US Ambassador John Hamilton, and attending the special session of the OAS General Assembly. After the September 11 attacks, Powell was responsible for managing America's relationships with foreign countries in order to secure a stable coalition in the War on Terrorism.
Powell was criticized for his role in building the case for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Earlier, in a press statement on February 24, 2001, he had said that sanctions against Iraq had prevented the development of any weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein. Powell was initially opposed to a forcible overthrow of Saddam, preferring to continue a policy of containment, but he later acceded to the Bush administration's decision to remove Saddam. He disagreed with those in the administration who were planning an Iraq invasion even before the September 11 attacks, according to the testimony of former terrorism czar Richard Clarke given to the 9/11 Commission. Even before he would offer his full support for the Iraq War, Powell wanted to see involvement from the international community, rather than unilateral action. He was also successful in persuading Bush to take the case of Iraq to the United Nations.
Powell's chief role was to garner international support for a multi-national coalition to mount the invasion. He addressed a plenary session of the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003, to argue in favor of military action. Citing numerous anonymous Iraqi defectors, Powell asserted that "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." He also told the assembly that there was "no doubt in my mind" that Saddam was working to obtain key components to produce nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration later came under fire for having acted on faulty intelligence. In September 2005, Powell was asked about the speech during an interview and admitted that it was a "blot" on his record. Infighting among the State Department, the Donald Rumsfeld led Defense Department, and Vice-President Dick Cheney's office caused problems in arriving a united approach to foreign relations at the time.
After Saddam Hussein had been deposed, Powell's new role was to once again establish a working international coalition to assist in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq. On September 13, 2004, Powell testified before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, acknowledging that the sources of much of the information in his February 2003 UN presentation were "wrong" and that it was "unlikely" that any stockpiles of WMDs would be found in Iraq. Powell pushed for reform in the intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director who would assure that "what one person knew, everyone else knew."
Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State on November 15, 2004. According to The Washington Post, he had been asked to resign by the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card. Powell agreed to stay on until the end of Bush's first term or until his replacement's confirmation by Congress. The following day, Bush nominated National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as Powell's successor.
After retiring as Secretary of State, Powell returned to private life. In April 2005, he expressed reservations about the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. In July 2005, Powell joined Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm, with the title of "strategic limited partner." In September 2005, Powell criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006, Powell sided with more moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights for detainees and opposing President Bush's terrorism bill. Powell said "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of [America's] fight against terrorism."
In September 2009, Powell advised President Barack Obama against surging US forces in Afghanistan. The president announced the surge the following December.
More recently, Powell has been very vocal on the state of the Republican party. Speaking at a Washington Ideas forum in early October 2015, he warned the audience that the Republican party had begun a move to the fringe right, and said that Republican presidential contender Donald Trump's statements regarding immigrants were wrong and he noted that there were many immigrants working in Trump hotels. In March 2016, Powell denounced the "nastiness" of the 2016 Republican primaries during an interview on CBS This Morning. He compared the race to a "reality show", and stated that the campaign had gone "into the mud".
In August 2016, Powell accused the Clinton campaign of trying to pin Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email controversy on him. He said, "The truth is, she was using [a private email server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did." In private emails released on September 13, 2016, Powell wrote "I have told Hillary's minions repeatedly that they are making a mistake trying to drag me in, yet they still try." He also said "Hillary’s mafia keeps trying to suck me into it" in another email.
Powell referred to Donald Trump as a "national disgrace" with "no sense of shame". He wrote that Trump's role in the birther movement was "racist". In the election campaign Powell reluctantly endorsed Clinton on October 25, 2016, stating it was "because I think she's qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified."
Despite not running in the election, Powell received three electoral votes for president from faithless electors in Washington who had pledged to vote for Clinton, coming in third overall. Besides Barack Obama, Powell was the only other African American to receive electoral votes in a presidential election. He was also the first Republican since 1984 to receive electoral votes from Washington state in a presidential election, as well as the first Republican African American to do so.