I. Personal Information

Name(s): Madeline Jana Korbel Albright, born Marie Jana Korbelova

Date and place of birth: May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia

Date and place of death: March 23, 2022, in Washington, DC

Family 

Mother: Mandula Anna Spiegelova Korbel (May 11, 1910, Prague, Czechia — October 4, 1989, Washington, D.C.)

Father: Josef Korbel (September 20, 1909, Letohrad, Czechia — July 18, 1977, Denver, Colorado), a Czech-American diplomat and Political scientist who served as Czechoslovakia’s Ambassador and the United Nations Representative for Czechoslovakia, as well as chair of the UN commission for India and Pakistan. He was a University of Denver Professor of International Politics and founded the Graduate School of International Studies, where he taught United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Marriage and Family Life

Albright had three daughters. Anne Korbel Albright (born June 1961, Garden City, New York) has been a Judge of the Appellate Court of Maryland since April 2022. Alice Patterson Albright (born June 1961) is an American Government Official. From 2022 to 2025, she served as CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Katherine Medill Albright (born March 5, 1967) is an attorney and children’s advocate and currently serves as Executive Director of UC Berkeley (Excel).

Albright’s spouse, Joseph Medill Patterson Albright (né Reeve, born April 3, 1937, New Orleans, Louisiana), is an American retired journalist and author. He wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times and was an executive and reporter for Newsday. Joseph Albright was a foreign correspondent for Cox Newspapers and authored 3 Books, two with his second wife, Marcia Kunstel. He received multiple journalism awards and nominations.  He is a descendant of the Medill-Patterson media family and nephew of newsday owner Alicia Patterson and wife of Harry Frank Guggenheim. Joseph Albright’s grandfather, Joseph Medill Patterson, founded the Daily News and owned the Chicago Tribune.

Madeline Albright had two siblings. Her brother, John Korbel (January 15, 1947, Belgrade, Serbia — April 20, 2023, Washington, D.C.), was an Economist and Policy Analyst at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the Director of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Energy, and helped establish PricewaterhouseCoopers Firm Government Practice. She also had a sister, Katherine Korbelova. 

Education

• Wellesley College (BA)
• Johns Hopkins University (MA)
• Columbia University (PhD)

After WWII, fearing she would be exposed to Marxism in a Yugoslav School, Albright’s parents had her privately taught by a Governess. She was sent to Préalpina Institut Pour Jeunes Filles in Chexbres on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where she learned to speak French. During this time, she changed her name from Marie Jana to Madeline. In 1955, Albright graduated from Kent Denver School in Cherry Hills Village. In 1959, she graduated with a full-scholarship degree in Political Science from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1960, Madeline took Russian language classes at Hofstra University in the Village of Hempstead. In 1962, she attended a branch of Johns Hopkins University, the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where she studied international relations and continued in Russian. She continued her studies at the Columbia University Department of Public Law and Government and earned a certificate in Russian from the Russian Institute (currently Harriman Institute).

Religion 

Albright was raised Roman Catholic, as her parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941. She converted to the Episcopal Church at the time of her marriage.

Transformation(s)

After the September 1938 signing of the Munich Agreement, when Germany occupied Czechoslovakia under Adolf Hitler, Albright’s Family was forced to leave their home in Prague, Czechoslovakia.   Her family moved to Britain in May 1939, staying in Kensington Park Road in Notting Hill, London, during the Blitz of WWII, and later in Beaconsfield and Walton-on-the-Thames. The family kept a large metal table in the house, intended to shelter them from the consistent threat of German air raids. In 1948, the Communist Party took over the Czechoslovak Government with the Soviet Union’s support, causing her father, an opponent of communism, to resign from his position at the Czechoslovak Embassy in Yugoslavia.

The Korbel family emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States on November 5, 1948. They boarded the SS America in Southampton and arrived at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on November 11, 1948. The family settled in Great Neck, Long Island.  Her father applied for political asylum, and, in 1957,  she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Madeline Albright married in 1959.

II. Intellectual, Political, Social, and Cultural Significance

Works/Agency

Madeline Albright, then Marie Jana Korbelova, was one of the children shown in a documentary film for war refugees in London. She joined the College Democrats of America in 1957. Albright interned for The Denver Post, as an employee at The Rolla Daily News, and as a picture editor for Encyclopedia Britannica.

Books by Madeline Albright:

• Poland, The Role of the Press in Political Change(1983)
• Focus on the Issues: Africa  (1999)
• Threats to Democracy; Prevention and Response: Report of an Independent Task Force (2003)
• Madam Secretary: die Autobiographie (2005)
• The Mighty and the Almighty CD: America, God, and World Affairs (2006)
• Madeline Albright on the Role of Religion in World Politics(2006)
• Conflict and Renewal: Europe Transformed: Essays in Honour of Wolfgang Petritsch (2007)
• Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership (2008)
• Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009)

III. Controversies

Regarding controversy, Albright is quoted as stating:

• There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help another woman.”
•  “This is the problem: women are very judgmental about each other; we’re not supportive of each other.” 
• When referencing ‘queen bee syndrome,’ Albright stated: “You know, if there’s only going to be one woman, then I’m going to be it, and I don’t have room for you. I learned in my own experience, that it was important to have more than one woman in the room. We need to support each other.”

Legacy and Influence

Albright received numerous awards, including induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award for International Cooperation, presented by the Prague society. In 2006, Albright was named to the inaugural class of winners of the Carnegie Corporation's Great Immigrants Award. In 2010, Albright was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, and named one of the world’s top 100 most powerful women who defined the last century in 2020. In 2021, she was included in Forbes' 50 Over 50, a list of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists, and creators over 50.

Reputation

When discussing Madeline Albright, former U.S. deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman said, “She had an enormous gift of being able to explain complex topics in ways that people can understand what it means to their day-to-day lives.” Albright discussed her own reputation, expressing in 2017 that she “became known for using a pin or a brooch to send a message – a butterfly, if [she] was in a good mood, a balloon to show that [she] had high hopes, and a spider if [she] wanted [her] counterpart to watch out.”  “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent,” stated Madeline.

I. Personal Information

Name(s) - Condoleezza Rice

Date and place of birth – November 14, 1954 – Still making history.

Family

Mother: Angela Rice, July 21, 1924 – August 1985. Educator.

Father: John Wesley Rice - Born Nov 3, 1923 – Dec 24, 2000. Minister and Educator.

Grandmother – Theresa Hardnett

Grandfather – John Wesley Rice

Marriage and Family Life 

There is very little information about her personal life. 

Education

• Rice graduated from St Mary’s Academy Catholic High School at age 16.
• Bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver in political science, 1974.
• Master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, 1975.
• PhD from the School of International Studies at the University of Denver, 1981.

Religion 

Presbyterian Christian

Transformation(s)

Rice wanted to be a pianist at an early age. After attending a lecture from the father of the first woman to hold the Secretary of State position, who was Madeline Albright, it was evident that Joseph Korbel really made an impact in her choice to put further political knowledge. Rice became fascinated with Soviet Politics and chose to shift her focus from music to political science. She began her political career as a Democrat. 

II. Intellectual, Political, Social, and Cultural Significance

Works/Agency

Rice interned for President Jimmy Carter at the State Department, then with the Rand Corporation in 1980. She taught political science at Stanford University in 1981, a professorship based on her knowledge of Russia and Eastern Europe. She served as provost at Stanford from 1993 to 1999.  Rice eliminated Stanford’s multi-million-dollar budget deficit within two years. Under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1999, she was the Soviet and Eastern Affairs Director and a National Security Advisor, appointed by President Bush in 2000, just months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She succeeded the first African American Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2005, becoming the first African American woman, second African American, and second woman to hold this position. With concerns for nuclear energy usage between India and the United States, Rice played a pivotal role in the signing of The U.S. India Agreement for cooperation between the countries in October of 2008. She served on multiple corporate boards and on the boards of non-profit institutions. Since 2000, she has served as director of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Reputation

Rice speaks Russian, French, Spanish, and Latin. She was the youngest person, the first African American, and the first woman to serve as Stanford University’s Provost. She played an active role in shaping U.S. strategy toward the Soviet Union. During the first Bush administration, she advised on foreign policy and the military, working on issues such as the unification of Germany and the disbandment of the Soviet Union. Rice is an advocate for the expansion of democratic governance and was enthused by the idea of sending U.S. diplomats to areas struck with political challenges and societal unrest and used an ambassador to offer aid through creating a foreign position for a US Ambassador, a concept referred to as “Transformational Democracy. 

Rice is also an active concert pianist, a champion-level ice skater, and a sports enthusiast.

Affiliations 

• Serves as a Trustee and is involved with the Aspen Strategy Group
•  Founding Partner of the Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC (An International Strategic Consulting group)
• Member of the Board of Directors for the enterprise AI software company (C3.ai)
• Member of the Board of Directors for the Private endowment firm (Makena Capital Management)
• Serves as Vice Chair of The Board of Governors.

Publications:

• Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984)
• The Gorbachev Era (1986)
• Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995)
•  Extraordinary, Ordinary People: Memoir of Family (2010)
• No Higher Honor: Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011)
• U.S. Education Reform and National Security (2012)
• Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom (2017)
• Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity (2018)
• The World Turned Upside Down (2018)
• To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Century (2019)

Bibliography

Aspen Security Forum. “Condoleezza Rice.” https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/condoleezza-rice/.

Hoover Institution. “Condoleezza Rice.” https://www.hoover.org/profiles/condoleezza-rice 

Ralph J. Bunche Library, U.S. Department of State. Condoleezza Rice. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State.https://www.loc.gov/flicc/publications/Exemplars/StateDepartment /State%20Dept-CRICE.pdf

Stanford University, Department of Political Science. “Condoleezza Rice.”  https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/people/condoleezza-rice

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. “Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Condoleezza Rice (1954–).” Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/ people/rice-condoleezza.

Washington Speakers Bureau. “Condoleezza Rice.” https://www.wsb.com/speakers/condoleezza-rice/. 

I. Personal Information

Personal Information

Name(s): Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton

Date and place of birth: Born October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois.

Family:

Mother: Dorothy Howell Rodham

Father: Hugh Ellis Rodham

Marriage and Family Life

Husband: William Jefferson Clinton, born August 19, 1946.

Daughter: Chelsea Victoria Clinton, born February 27, 1980.

Siblings: Hugh Edman Rodham, born May 26, 1950, and

Anthony Dean Rodham, August 8, 1954 — June 7, 2019.

Nephew: Zachary Boxer Rodham, born in 1995.

Niece: Fiona Rodham

Education (short version):

Marine South High School, 1961-1969, Wellesley College,1965-1969, Yale Law School, 1969-1973. 

Education (longer version):

At Marine High School, Hillary Rodham participated in the Student Council, wrote for the school newspapers, was elected Vice President in her junior year, and was admitted to the National Honor Society. While earning a degree in Political Science at Wellesley College, Hillary served as President of the Young Republicans club. She was elected President of the Wellesley College Government Association in 1968. During her career at Wellesley, she served in Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s campaign for the Republican nomination. Hillary attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. However, her opposition to the Republican Party’s racist messaging prompted her to leave the party. She graduated from Wellesley in 1969.

While a student at Yale Law School, Hillary was on the Editorial Board of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action. She worked at the Yale Child Study Center, uncovering new research regarding brain development in the early stages of childhood. She was involved in the seminal work, Beyond the Best Interests of the Child (1973). She worked on child abuse cases at Yale-New Haven Hospital and also volunteered with New Haven Legal Services, where she offered pro bono legal assistance to low-income community members. She was awarded a grant to work at Marian Wright Edelman’s Washington Research Project in 1970. Hillary also worked under Senator Walter Mondale’s Subcommittee on Migratory Labor and helped research various migrant worker issues regarding education, health, and housing.

While still at Yale, she worked on U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Duffey’s campaign in 1970 and interned at the Oakland, California law firm of Trehaft, Walker and Burnstein, known for its constitutional rights, civil liberties, and radical causes. She also met her husband and the future President of the United States, Bill Clinton, during this period. Hillary received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale in 1973 and continued postgraduate studies on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center. In 1973, she had her first scholarly article published in the Harvard Educational Review, titled “Children Under the Law.”

Religion:

Christian Methodist

Transformation(s)

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton began her political career in high school, where she served on her student council and became Vice President of her junior class, all while being an honor student! This passion for leadership followed her ambition throughout her education.

Although she is currently considered an elder and a pioneer of female leadership in the Democratic Party, she started as a rising Republican pupil. However, she left the party in 1968 because of her passion for Civil Rights. Although she had significant opportunities to advance her career in Washington, she ultimately chose heart over logic and moved to Arkansas, where she married Bill Clinton in 1975.  In 1977, Hillary Clinton joined a large, politically and economically influential law firm known as the Rose Law Firm, where she specialized in patent infringement and intellectual property law. She also worked in child advocacy through pro bono service during this time.

In 1978, Bill Clinton was elected to the Arkansas Governorship, during which Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first lady for 12 consecutive years. He was appointed chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee, where she advocated for medical funding for the poorest areas in Arkansas. In 1979, she became the first female partner at the Rose Law Firm.

In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected as President of the United States, and Hillary Clinton became the First Lady. On November 7, 2000, she won the New York  State Senate election. On January 3, 2001, she became the first person to serve as First Lady and US Senator concurrently. In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran for the Democratic Presidential Nominee and came extremely close to being elected. In 2009, Hillary Clinton was sworn in as United States Secretary of State and held the position until 2013. In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran for President of the United States.

II. Intellectual, Political, Social, and Cultural Significance

Works/Agency:

Hillary Rodham Clinton had her first scholarly publication in the Harvard Educational Review in 1973, titled “Children under the Law”, which focused on advocating for children’s rights. Although it is not specified, it is speculated that she was referring to the potential rise of newly allowed minorities to be educated equally, due to cases like Brown v. the Board of Education and an overall win for the nation’s Civil Rights movement, allowing students of all races access to equal opportunities of education! Seeing how this would drastically create an influx of children in severely underprivileged communities with rapidly rising levels of education, compared to what their parents had access to, would produce many children with the knowledge to help their families, yet without the authority to do so.

At the University of Arkansas in 1974, she became the First Director of a legal aid clinic where she and several other women founded the city’s first rape crisis center. In 1978, Hillary Rodham Clinton worked for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. Working as Campaign Director of field operations, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation. She became the first female chair of the Board. In 1977, she joined a large political and economically influential law firm known as the Rose Law Firm, where she specialized in patent infringement and intellectual property law while also working in child advocacy through pro bono service. In 1979, she became the first female partner at the Rose Law Firm.

In 1993, as First Lady, she was named chair of a task force on National Health Reform. Many called her recommendations the Clinton Health Care Plan. She helped form an international cause titled Vital Voices, sponsored by the U.S. government to encourage women to participate in the political process in their countries. Hillary helped create the Office of Violence against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she won a Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album for the book titled It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.

She has published multiple books, including:

• It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us(1996).
• Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets (1998).
• An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History(2000).
• Beatrice’s Goat  (2001).
• Published a weekly syndicated Newspaper column titled “Talking It Over” from
• 1995 through 2000, focusing on women, children, and families she encountered around
• the world.
• Living History  (2003).
• Hard Choices (2014).
• “Stronger Together”: A Blueprint for America’s Future  (2016).
• What Happened (2017).
• “The Book of Gutsy Women”: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience (2019).
• Grandma’s Gardens (2020).
• State of Terror (2021).
• “Something Lost, Something Gained”: Reflections on Life, Love and Liberty (2024).

Reputation

Hillary Clinton is known to be very ambitious. By 1974, Bill Clinton had proposed marriage to Hillary Rodham Clinton several times while pursuing a political career in Washington. At the time, many considered Hillary Rodham to have a bright political future. Democratic Political Organizers and consultants saw Hillary as a potential Senator or even President.

As a partner of the Rose Law Firm, she was very profitable. She brought in many clients and played an influential role in the appointment of the Arkansas state Judges. She was noted to have a higher salary than her husband, Bill Clinton, from 1978 until they entered the White House. After Eleanor Roosevelt, Clinton is regarded as the most openly empowered Presidential First Lady in American History. She was a very active First Lady, traveling to over 79 countries. She beat the record for the most-traveled First Lady, previously held by Pat Nixon. She is also an avid advocate for women’s rights nationally and globally.

As Senator, she was very active in government policy, sitting on over five committees:

• Committee on Budget (2001-02)
• Committee on Armed Services (2003-09)
• Committee on Environment and Public Works (2001-09)
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (2001-09)
• Special Committee on Aging (2001-09)
• Member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (2001-09)

Legacy and Influence

During her college years, Hillary would serve in Republican presidential and local campaigns, where she gained the knowledge needed to become a young Republican leader. However, as fate would have it, she was simultaneously blossoming into a political star while the nation was undergoing an extremely important Civil Rights movement, which touched and connected her courageous heart to civil justice and the ongoing fight for equality for all people in the United States of America! While initially expressing conservative views and having an instinctual conservative thought process, she was ultimately motivated to advocate for social justice and severely underprivileged citizens of the United States, which led her to leave the party for good in 1968.

As First Lady, she was the first to have a postgraduate degree and a professional career before entering the White House. During Bill Clinton’s first term as president, she was part of the innermost circle, filling at least 11 top-level positions and dozens of lower-level ones. In 1995, Hillary Clinton delivered a historic speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, before delegates from over 180 countries, stating that women’s rights cannot be separate from human rights. The famous phrase many women would replicate was dubbed “Let it be, that human rights are women’s rights.”

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she played a key role in obtaining $21 billion of funding for redeveloping the World Trade Center. She also took an authoritative position in uncovering the health issues affecting 9/11 first responders. As Secretary of State, she played a pivotal role in the historic Turkish-Armenian accord. During her tenure as US Secretary, she played a crucial role in resolving many foreign issues. Hillary was a champion for gay rights both nationally and globally. She gave a known speech to the United Nations Rights Council in December 2011, where she stated, “Gay rights are Human rights.”

III. Controversies

Hillary chose to go against traditional ways by keeping her name Rodham, believing it would keep the couple’s professional lives separate and ultimately that she could keep her own identity. This was perhaps one of her first major steps to creating the acceptance of the independent professional woman.

Bibliography

Archival Resources (selected):

Web Resources (selected): 

Black, Allida. “Hillary Clinton,” The First Ladies of the United States of America. Washington,

DC: White House Historical Association, 2009. Reproduced on The White House President

Barack Obama Archives. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/first-ladies/hillaryclinton.

Chozick, Amy. “Hillary Clinton Gets Personal on Christ and Her Faith.” The New York Times,

January 25, 2016. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/politics/first-

draft/2016/01/25/hillary-clinton-gets-personal-on-christ-and-her-faith/

“Hillary Clinton.” Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton#:~:text=For%20her%20senior%20year%2C

%20she,have%20an%20independent%2C%20professional%20career.

Wellesley College, “Hillary Rodham Clinton,”

https://calendar.wellesley.edu/news/journalists/hillary-rodham-clinton.

Hello, my name is Alvin R Elkerson III, and I am from Orlando, FL, by way of the city and state of New York. I received my bachelor’s degree from the uniquely generative New School University. I am currently using my license with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission to provide chauffeur services, and will one day accomplish my dream of being a motivational speaker. It’s an absolute honor to be a part of the New Historia platform. One of my most exciting inspirations is evolutionary greatness. It is a humbling privilege to contribute to The New Historia, a platform that sheds light on incredible women who have been and actively are involved in some of the most extraordinary advances for our collective species.