The Foreign Service Journal, February 2004

68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 4 B OOKS The Lady Sings Madame Secretary: A Memoir Madeleine Albright, Miramax Books, 2003, $27.95, hardcover, 512 pages. R EVIEWED BY D AVID C ASAVIS This autobiography is really two books, each lively and compelling in its own right. The first half traces Madeleine Albright’s personal odyssey from a young Czech refugee and daughter of a diplomat to becoming a diplomat herself, while the second half concentrates on the substance and process of foreign policy-making. As a bonus, her footnotes are so detailed that they are, by themselves, well worth reading. The basic outline of Albright’s life — narrowly escaping from the Nazis; growing up to become an academic, U.N. ambassador and the first female Secretary of State; and only discover- ing her Jewish roots many years later will already be familiar to most readers. But in this telling, it is an even more powerful story of a woman’s triumph over adversity. Albright makes no bones about her reputation as a forceful, outspoken career woman. When Henry Kissinger called her to welcome her to “the fra- ternity of those who held that position,” she retorted: “Henry, I hate to tell you, but it’s not a fraternity anymore.” Yet her femininity is clearly impor- tant to her, as well. Even in the midst of waging major political fights, she has a real flair for discussing clothing and floral arrangements and writes enthu- siastically about her hobby, knitting. She also recalls her husband’s courtship of her in warm and loving phrases — and his leaving her for a younger woman with pain but no bit- terness. The policy discussions that domi- nate the second half of Madame Secretary will probably be of greater interest to Foreign Service readers than to a general audience. Defend- ing her positions on Bosnia and Kosovo, for example, she insists that “we had to implant some spine in our foreign policy.” She acknowledges that she had many harsh critics within the ranks of the Foreign Service, such as the unnamed chargé d’affaires in Rangoon who told her, “Now we will have to clean up the mess you have left.” She vigorously defends the mea- sures she took, in the face of strong opposition, to hold State personnel more accountable for security infrac- tions. And she elaborates on her famous exchange with Colin Powell when he was still chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, adding an interesting postscript to her question, “What are you saving this superb military for?” A certain wary tension is evident in her wry description of Main State. “Inside there are white ceilings, end- less white linoleum hallways, and white walls marked with color-coded stripes to prevent visitors from getting lost. I often thought that, if not for gravity, you could find yourself walking on the ceiling and not know the difference.” But refreshingly, unlike some mem- oirists, she does not use her account to settle scores. Instead, she goes out of her way to commend many career State Department employees; for example, she praises John Lange, chargé d’affaires in Dar es Salaam in 1998, for his work following the bomb- ing of that embassy. And she reiterates her objections to certain U.S. senators and their “overly empowered” staff who place indefinite holds on ambas- sadorial nominations, citing three members of the Senior Foreign Service — Bill Walker, James Dobbins and Peter Burleigh — who had their careers curtailed for no given reason. Throughout, Albright displays a self-deprecating sense of humor, including a picture of herself in an unflattering blonde wig at a Muskie fundraiser. She is also candid about her weight, recalling that she once told a U.N. committee meeting that she had referred a matter to Washington and that it would not be over until “the fat lady sings.” Whatever one thinks about Madeleine Albright’s career, at a mini- mum, she has given us an admirable account of her years in Foggy Bottom. David Casavis works for the U.S. Department of Commerce in New York City. Rather than using her memoir to settle scores, Albright goes out of her way to commend many career State Department employees. w