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Powell was born in the Harlem section of New York City on April 5, 1937. His parents were Jamaican immigrants Luther Theophilus Powell and Maud Arial Powell. His father worked as a shipping clerk and his mother was a seamstress. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, graduating in 1954. He worked at a baby furniture store, where he learned to speak Yiddish. 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 married Alma Johnson on August 25, 1962. They have a son, Michael Powell, who was the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2001 to 2005. They also have two daughters: Linda Powell, an actress, and Annemarie Powell.
Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years, rising to the rank of General. He joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) during college. As a cadet he joined the Pershing Rifles, the ROTC fraternal organization and drill team begun by General John Pershing. 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. He 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, injuring his foot, causing an infection that made it difficult for him to walk. This ended his first tour of duty, but he returned to Vietnam as a major in 1968, serving in the 23rd Infantry Division. He became assistant chief of staff of operations for the Americal Division. During the second tour in Vietnam he was decorated for bravery after he survived a helicopter crash, single-handedly rescuing three others from the burning wreckage, including division commander Major General Charles Martin Gettys.While in Vietnam, Powell was in the unit that was responsible for the My Lai massacre, but he joined the unit after My Lai.
When he returned home from the war, Powell served a White House Fellowship under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973. During 1975 to 1976 he attended the National War College, Washington, D.C. In the early 1980s, Powell served at Fort Carson, Colorado. After leaving Fort Carson, Powell became senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, whom he assisted 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 Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, serving from 1987 to 1989 while retaining his Army commission as a lieutenant general. In April 1989, after his tenure with the National Security Council, 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 in the Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Later that year, President George H. W. Bush selected him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Powell served as Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 1989, to September 30, 1993, becoming 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, and first African-American, to serve in this position. Powell was also the first JCS Chair who received his commission through ROTC. During this time, he served during 28 military crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 which removed General Manuel Noriega from power. He was also Chairman during Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. During these events, Powell earned his nickname, "the reluctant warrior." His reputation was as someone who rarely advocated military intervention as the first solution to an international crisis, instead urging diplomacy and containment. As a military strategist, Powell advocated a military approach that minimized casualties through the use of overwhelming force, which he applied to Operation Desert Storm in 1991. This approach has been called the "Powell Doctrine".
Powell continued as chairman of the JCS into the Clinton presidency but considered himself a bad fit for the Clinton administration. He disagreed with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright over the Bosnian crisis, stating that he opposed any military interventions that did not involve US interests.
Like many popular Generals in the aftermath of a victorious war, Powell was considered as an attractive presidential candidate by both major political parties. Democrats admired his moderate stance on military matters, while Republicans associated him with the successes of past Republican administrations. It was suggested that he replace Vice-President Dan Quayle on the Republican ticket in the 1992 U.S. presidential election, but this did not happen. However Powell eventually declared himself a Republican and began to campaign for Republican candidates in 1995. He was considered to be a possible opponent of Bill Clinton in the 1996 U.S. presidential election and for a time he led in polls for the New Hampshire primary for the GOP nomination, but Powell declined to run. He said that he had no passion for politics.
In 1997 Powell founded America's Promise, an organization whose objective was to help children from all socioeconomic sectors. That same year saw the establishment of The Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. The mission of the Center is stated as being 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 was once again mentioned as a potential candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, but 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 eventually won the election, Powell was appointed Secretary of State.
As Secretary of State in the Bush administration, Powell was seen as a moderate. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. On September 11, 2001, Powell was in Lima, Peru, attending the special session of the OAS General Assembly that subsequently adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter. After the September 11 attacks, Powell's job was to manage 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. 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 opposed the forcible overthrow of Saddam, preferring to continue a policy of containment. But once the decision was made to remove Saddam, Powell supported the president. He had clashed with others in the administration, who were reportedly planning an Iraq invasion even before the September 11 attacks. Before he would offer his full support for the Iraq War, Powell insisted on the involvement of the international community in the invasion, as opposed to a unilateral approach. He persuaded 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 stated that there was "no doubt in my mind" that Saddam was working to obtain key components to produce nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration came under fire for having acted on faulty intelligence. Powell later said that Vice President Dick Cheney had joked with him before he gave the speech, telling him, "You've got high poll ratings. You can afford to lose a few points." Powell later called the speech a "blot" on his record. After Saddam Hussein was deposed, Powell's role was to establish a working international coalition, this time to assist in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq.
Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State on November 15, 2004. Powell announced that he would 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 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, stating that thousands of people were not properly protected, because they were poor. On January 5, 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials. In September 2006, Powell sided with more moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights for detainees and opposing President Bush's terrorism bill. In 2008, Powell served as a spokesperson for National Mentoring Month, a campaign held each January to recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth.
In September 2009, Powell advised President Obama against surging US forces in Afghanistan, but despite Powell's advice, Obama announced the surge the following December. Powell endorsed President Obama in 2008 and again in 2012. But on the television show Meet the Press he said, "I’m still a Republican. And I think the Republican Party needs me more than the Democratic Party needs me. And you can be a Republican and still feel strongly about issues such as immigration, and improving our education system, and doing something about some of the social problems that exist in our society and our country. I don’t think there's anything inconsistent with this."
In March 2016, Powell denounced the "nastiness" of the 2016 Republican primaries during an interview on CBS This Morning. He stated that the campaign had gone "into the mud". But during the campaign he also criticized Hillary Clinton. He accused the Clinton campaign of trying to pin Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email controversy on him. Powell said, "The truth is, she was using [the private email server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did." In an email, he wrote, "I have told Hillary's minions repeatedly that they are making a mistake trying to drag me in, yet they still try."
Powell was more critical of Donald Trump however, calling him a "national disgrace", with "no sense of shame". He referred to Trump's role in the birther movement as "racist". Powell 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. After Barack Obama, Powell was only the second African American to receive electoral votes in a presidential election. He was also the first Republican since 1984 to receive electoral votes from Washington in a presidential election, as well as the first Republican African American to do so.