Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice
source
Name	Condoleezza Rice
Caption	Rice in 2005
Office	66th United States Secretary of State
President	George W. Bush
Term start	January 26, 2005
Term end	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	Colin Powell
Successor	Hillary Clinton
Office1	20th United States National Security Advisor
President1	George W. Bush
Term start1	January 20, 2001
Term end1	January 26, 2005
Predecessor1	Sandy Berger
Successor1	Stephen Hadley
Birth date	14 November 1954
Birth place	Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Party	Republican
Education	University of Denver (BA)

Condoleezza Rice is an American diplomat, political scientist, and academic who served as the 66th United States Secretary of State under President George W. Bush. She was the first African-American woman to hold that position, having previously served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor during Bush's first term. A professor of political science at Stanford University, her career has spanned academia, government, and corporate boards, making her a prominent figure in Republican foreign policy circles.

Early life and education

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, during the era of Jim Crow laws, she was raised in the city's Titusville neighborhood. Her father, John Wesley Rice Jr., was a Presbyterian minister and guidance counselor, while her mother, Angelena Rice, was a teacher. The family later moved to Denver, where she attended St. Mary's Academy. A gifted pianist, she initially considered a career in music and attended the Aspen Music Festival and School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Denver, studying under professor and former Ambassador Josef Korbel. She received a Master of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and returned to the University of Denver to complete a Doctor of Philosophy in international studies, with a dissertation focusing on the Czechoslovak military.

Academic career

She began her teaching career as an assistant professor at Stanford University in 1981, later becoming a full professor of political science. She served as Stanford's Provost from 1993 to 1999, the first woman, first African-American, and youngest person to hold that chief budgetary and academic officer position. During this period, she also served as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank. Her academic expertise centered on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and she authored books including The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, 1948–1983 and co-authored Germany Unified and Europe Transformed with Philip Zelikow.

Government service

Her government service began on the National Security Council staff as Director of Soviet and East European Affairs under President George H. W. Bush and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft during the tumultuous final years of the Cold War, including the Reunification of Germany. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed her as his National Security Advisor, where she helped shape the administration's response to the September 11 attacks and the subsequent War in Afghanistan. She was confirmed as Secretary of State in 2005, advocating for a foreign policy of "transformational diplomacy" and managing complex relationships during the Iraq War, the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program, and the 2006 Lebanon War.

Post-government career

Following her tenure in Washington, D.C., she returned to Stanford University as a professor of political economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. She authored several memoirs, including No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington. She serves on various corporate boards, including those of Dropbox and C3.ai, and co-founded the RiceHadleyGates consulting firm with former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. She has been involved in collegiate athletics governance, serving on the College Football Playoff selection committee and as a member of the International Olympic Committee's Ethics Commission.

Personal life

An accomplished classical pianist, she has performed in public with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and at diplomatic events. She is an avid sports fan, particularly of the National Football League and college football, and has been a lifelong member of the Republican Party. She is fluent in Russian and has described her religious faith as a central part of her life. She has never married and has no children.

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:United States Secretaries of State Category:American political scientists Category:Stanford University faculty