Madam Secretary: A Memoir

Madam Secretary: A Memoir Madeleine Albright Date: 16 September, 2003   —   $18.45   —   Book product page Rating:

I mentioned while reviewing Bill Clinton's memoirs that I'm not a big fan of the format. I'm generally much more interested in what people do than who they are. Madeleine Albright is an exception. This is a very well-written book from a woman who has lived an extraordinary life. She and her family were chased out of Czechoslovakia twice - once by the Nazis, and again by the Soviets. She married into a wealthy family, had three children, was divorced and then - in her thirties - started a new career in Washington, eventually becoming the first female Secretary of State. It's a fascinating, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking tale, and I'm glad she chose to share it. But that's only the first third of the book. It gets better!

Well, if you're a policy wonk it gets better. Albright does an excellent job covering her years as UN Ambassador and as Secretary of State. She gives an insider's account of the UN and the White House from the perspective of power, from toppling Boutros Boutros-Ghali to... well toppling that tyrant Milosovic, too. The hardcover edition has a set of great photos, one of which is of Albright and Gen. Shalikashvili. The caption says, "...a third official walked up and greeted us as 'war and peace.' Shali replied, 'Yes, but which is which?'"

Before covering every global threat with which the Clinton administration had to deal, Albright puts forth the post-Cold War framework the administration was working to create. From the speech at her nomination hearing for Secretary of State,

At the center of that framework, "are our key alliances and relationships. These are the bonds that hold together not only our own foreign policy but the entire international system. When we are able to act cooperatively with other leading nations, we create a dynamic web of principle, power, and purpose that elevates standards and propels progress around the globe."

This is a concept that is echoed by Gen. Clark in his book on the Balkan conflict, "Waging Modern War", where he takes the Bush administration to task for not grasping the main lesson learned from that war, "...the weapons were but a relatively small factor in the ultimate outcome. Rather, there were forces far more powerful than bombs and bullets at work. These were the wholehearted political commitment of European nations, the thrust of international law, and the binding structure of NATO."

That is the bedrock of the Democratic Party's foreign policy and is further explained and linked to post-Cold War globalization in Thomas P. M. Barnett's excellent book, "The Pentagon's New Map": Strengthen the countries that promote law and order - our allies - and work together to integrate the countries that don't. Barnett notes that "None of this can be imposed, only offered. Globalization does not come with a ruler, but with rules." So it was interesting to be reminded that Albright was the one who set up the Community of Democracies dialogues to strengthen existing democracies, and develop key principles and best practices for strengthening and expanding democracy around the globe.

After laying the groundwork, Albright then takes us on a foreign policy journey to every continent and every country and threat that got special attention from the Clinton administration - and there are a lot of them. You'll probably remember that candidate Bush campaigned on implementing a much more "humble" foreign policy than his predecessor. Ha! But the fact is, the US was heavily engaged around the world in an effort to strengthen democracy where it existed, promote it where it was absent, and protect it where it was threatened. Albright's role in that process is as fascinating as it was ubiquitous.

Albright recounts the administrations many successes, most importantly, in my view, peace in Ireland, a long cease-fire in Palestine (which gave both Israelis and Palestinians a taste of what true peace will bring and created reform movements on both sides to bring it about), stabilizing post-Cold War Europe by taking the lead in the Balkans, and working to end China's paranoid isolation and helping it integrate into the world community (and gradually bring about the economic, property, and human rights reforms that integration makes inevitable). Albright also recounts the failures, such as efforts to integrate North Korea, Iran, and Cuba, and efforts to force internal regime change in Iraq.

And I realize Dan Quayle jokes are way old school, but she's got a doozie: President Bush asked Gorbachev how he had been smart enough to choose Shevardnadze as foreign minister (that's funny in itself at this point, but it gets better). Gorbachev responded that he had chosen "Shevvie" because he had correctly answered the riddle, "Who is the son of your father who is not your brother?" Shevardnadze had said, "Of course, I am," so he was hired. So Bush decided to ask Vice President Quayle the same question. Quayle said he'd have to think about it and went to ask Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Cheney said, "Well, I am." Quayle went back to Bush and said, "Ask me the riddle again." Bush did so, and Quayle replied, "Dick Cheney." Bush said, "No, you idiot, it's Shevardnadze." Yuck, yuck.

Anyhow, it's a great book; a ripping yarn. Nancy Soderberg's book, "The Superpower Myth", was a pretty good account of Clinton's foreign policy, but this one's way better and it's got an inspirational personal story to boot. I picked it up a long time ago, and put off reading it because it looked big and boring. It's not.