Madeleine Albright OBIT - USAGM
Metadata
- Madeleine Albright OBIT - USAGM
- March 24, 2022
- Language English
- Transcript/Script ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: MADELEINE ALBRIGHT OBIT HEADLINE: World Mourns Loss of Madeleine Albright TEASER: The first female secretary of state is remembered as a trailblazer and advocate for refugees and democracy around the world PUBLISHED AT: 03/24/2022 at 8:07 am BYLINE: Salem Solomon DATELINE: WASHINGTON VIDEO EDITOR: Salem Solomon PRODUCER: Jon Spier SCRIPT EDITORS: Steve Hirsch, wpm VIDEO SOURCE (S): Reuters, AP, Wellesley College/YouTube, Book TV is on C-SPAN2/YouTube PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB__ TV X RADIO X TRT: 4:09 VID APPROVED BY: BR TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO EDITOR NOTES: An accompanying radio piece in published folder: https://app.frame.io/player/5b90244c-28ae-4cbf-b2cc-cfa28a91c81a)) ((INTRO)) [[ Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, died Wednesday at the age of 84. She leaves a legacy that shaped American foreign policy and served as an inspiration for many. VOA’s Salem Solomon takes a look at her extraordinary life and career.]] ((NAT SOUND – Albright/Gore: “I, state your name: I Madeline Korbel Albright...” ((NARRATOR)) When Madeleine Albright was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as America’s top diplomat in 1996, she became the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. In her four years in the position, she led a U.S. response to the war in the Balkans and faced a nuclear-armed North Korea and rising extremism in the Middle East. She died Wednesday surrounded by her family after a battle with cancer. Tributes poured in from around the world for the woman known simply as “Madam Secretary.” [[Radio Track: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. says Albright inspired many.]] ((Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.)) “She was a trailblazer and a luminary, and she was the first woman to serve as secretary of state. She left an indelible mark on the world and on the United Nations. Our country and our United Nations are stronger for her service.” ((Mandatory cg: Wellesley College/YouTube)) ((NARRATOR)) Albright’s life was shaped by the worst of humanity. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1937, her family fled after the Nazis occupied the country in 1939. She later discovered that she had lost three grandparents to the Holocaust. ((Mandatory cg: YouTube)) [[Radio Track: Albright, sharing her family’s history in her own words.]] ((Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State)) “They got my grandmother to bring me to Prague. Everyone had just one suitcase and they got on a train to get out. And as she said that was the last time they ever saw any members of their family.” ((NARRATOR)) Albright’s family came to the United States as refugees. They settled in Denver, Colorado, where her father became dean of the school of international relations at the University of Denver. A star student, Albright went on to study at Wellesley College before moving on to graduate school at Columbia University where she met Zbigniew Brzezinski, who became National Security Advisor under President Jimmy Carter and brought Albright to work in the White House. Under Clinton she served first as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations before becoming secretary of state. Perhaps her greatest challenge during this time was the war in Kosovo, which threatened to engulf the entire region in 1998. [[Radio Track: Albright said perhaps her greatest challenge during this time was the war in Kosovo, which threatened to engulf the entire region in 1998.]] ((Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State)) “For the Balkans, this escalating violence is the road back to hell. Unless stopped, tensions will flow out of control. The result could be a full-fledged civil war, putting at risk the peace in Bosnia and spreading conflict like an infectious disease to neighboring states.” ((NARRATOR)) A NATO military campaign that drove out occupying Serbian forces led to a peace that holds to this day. [[Radio Track: Albright said she saw the moment as a success professionally.]] ((Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State)) “What I’m really proudest of is what we did in Kosovo. I was very concerned about what was happening in the Balkans and I really found it very difficult to watch when people were being killed for what they were, what religion they were rather than anything they had done. And to be in a position to have something to do with the United States making a difference there is what I think was very, very important. And the people of Kosovo, now it’s an independent country and there’s a whole generation of little girls whose first name is Madeleine.” ((NARRATOR)) Her diplomacy took her around the world seeing the AIDS crisis in Africa and meeting face-to-face with Kim Jong Il in North Korea. President Joe Biden remembered her as a tireless fighter for refugees fleeing danger and for American values. In a statement after her death, Biden said “America had no more committed champion of democracy and human rights than Secretary Albright, who knew personally and wrote powerfully of the perils of autocracy.” Albright spoke often about her experience as a woman breaking through the “glass ceiling.” When she first became secretary of state, some questioned whether she would be respected by male heads of state. Later in life, she encouraged younger women to keep pushing for equality. ((Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State)) “We can tell our story about how we climbed the ladder and lot of you young women don’t think that you have to. It’s been done. It’s not done.” ((NARRATOR)) Biden has ordered flags flown at half-staff at U.S. public buildings, embassies and military posts as the country remembers Albright. ((Salem Solomon, VOA News, Washington))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date March 24, 2022 09:18 EDT
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English