Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright was an American diplomat — the first female Secretary of State in US history. Madeleine was born in Czechoslovakia 1937. During her early childhood, her parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941 to avoid anti-Jewish persecution. Madeleine immigrated with her family to the United States in 1948, and became a full citizen in 1957 while a student at Wellesley College. She earned her PhD from Columbia University in 1975, writing her thesis on the Prague Spring. She served as a Senate aide, soon on the National Security Council, and as US Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1997 Madeleine became the 64th United States Secretary of State — the highest-ranking political post for a woman in American history. As an immigrant and the granddaughter of Holocaust victims, Madeleine brought a unique perspective to the job. Beyond her accomplishments, Madeleine was also a wife and a mother, and the author of five New York Times bestsellers. In 2012, Madeleine was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom —for her courage and toughness that helped bring peace to the Balkans and pave the way for progress in some of the most unstable corners of the world. Once, at a US naturalization ceremony, an Ethiopian man came up to Madeleine and said, 'Only in America can a refugee meet the Secretary of State' — to which she replied, 'Only in America can a refugee become the Secretary of State.' Madeleine Albright was a Modern Minority. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices