Statement by Governor Dukakis, Chair of BGF, on the passing of Dr. Madeleine Albright

Mar 27, 2022Statements, News

Boston Global Forum was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Madeleine Albright, a great foreign policy adviser to Governor Michael Dukakis in his presidential campaign.

Governor Michael Dukakis statement: “Madeleine was really special, and remember: she was a real pioneer in the foreign policy world. She was one of my top advisors during the 1988 presidential campaign, and I remember meeting with her and a couple of her top aides- Wendy Sherman was one of them- at the State Department shortly after she was appointed Secretary. I don’t remember seeing another woman in or around the Department! And she was a real advocate for her positions and a strong and principled foreign policy. I thought the world of her.”

BGF sends our deep condolences to Secretary of State Albright’s family, friends, and colleagues.

 

BGF recommends the writing about former Secretary of State Albright from Anne-Marie Slaughter, the CEO of New America, University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Professor Slaughter is also a staff on Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign. 

I first met Madeleine Albright in 1988, when I was a very junior staffer on Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign and she was one of his foreign-policy advisers, alongside Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr., who was already a star in the foreign-policy firmament. Madeleine was teaching at Georgetown, and was already a political veteran, having worked with Walter Mondale, Edmund Muskie, and Geraldine Ferraro.

Virtually anyone connected to the Dukakis campaign or Democratic foreign-policy circles would have predicted that Nye was going to become Secretary of State at some point, not Madeleine. But, eight years later, it was who Madeleine secured the post – the first woman ever to do so. She was working for a different president, Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary Clinton, was a passionate and effective feminist.

It was widely reported at the time that Hillary had lobbied hard for Madeleine’s appointment, just as of course men have lobbied for other men for centuries. But it was the first time I saw the power of networks of women in power, and it was a turning point for an entire generation of women in foreign policy.

 

Please read the full article here:

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/legacy-of-first-female-us-secretary-of-state-madeleine-albright-by-anne-marie-slaughter-2022-03

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018651375/