The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs
Encyclopedia
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
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Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright looks at the role of God and religion in light of the current world situation. She examines Islamic fundamentalism and also the role Evangelicalism plays in the Bush White House. Albright has an interesting perspective on religion, as she was raised a Catholic, converted to the Episcopal faith at the time of her marriage, and late in life discovered her Jewish roots. Most important, Albright argues that politics and religious values can work together to promote peace.
In her book, Albright discussed the personal traumas that marked her life. For example, she discussed the shameful sudden departure of her husband of 23 years for another woman, the death of her beloved father, and the stillbirth of a child. She gave ample space to the shocking discovery by the media in the 1990s of the fact that three of her grandparents were Jewish and had died in Nazi camps. The furor over her ignorance of her own history seemed improbable to some, even an indication of self-loathing or selective self-reporting. Albright stated that her parents, out of a desire to protect her, had shielded her from the ugly truth about her grandparents' deaths.