United States Mission to the United Nations
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
For Immediate Release
May 13, 2022
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to Host a Memorial in Remembrance of the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the United Nations, will host a memorial in remembrance of The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright on Tuesday, May 17, at 3:00 p.m. ET in the UN General Assembly Hall.
Remarks will be delivered by H.E. Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th Session of the General Assembly, T.H. Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, H.E. Mr. Kono Taro, Member of the House of Representatives of Japan, H.E. Mr. Jakub Kulhánek, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic, Dr. Joel Hellman, Dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and T.H. Ms. Alice Albright.
A musical tribute by recording artist Judy Collins and a short montage of official photos and video will also be featured.
There will be open seating at the memorial for UN-credentialed delegates of UN Member States. The memorial will be broadcast live via UN Web TV: https://media.un.org/en/webtv.
About The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright:
Madeleine Korbel Albright was nominated to be the first woman Secretary of State by President William Jefferson Clinton on December 5, 1996, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 22, 1997, and sworn in the next day. She served in the position for four years and ended her service on January 20, 2001.
Albright was born Marie Jean “Madlenka” Korbel on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her father, Josef, was a member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Service and served as press attaché in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and later became the Czech Ambassador to Yugoslavia. After the communist coup in 1948, the family immigrated to Denver, Colorado. Albright changed her name to Madeleine, became a U.S. citizen in 1957, and earned a B.A. in political science with honors from Wellesley College in 1959. She earned the Ph.D. in Public Law and Government at Columbia University in 1976.
Albright served as chief legislative assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie (D-Me) from 1976 to 1978. From 1978 to 1981, she served as a staff member in the White House under President Jimmy Carter and on the National Security Council under National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.
In 1982 she was appointed Research Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Director of its Women in Foreign Service Program. In 1993 she was appointed as the Representative of the United States to the United Nations by President Clinton and served in that position until her appointment as the 64th Secretary of State in 1996.
###
