Tate Distinguished Lecture Series
While most students poured over their history and political science books to cram a few more hours of studying into the last days of finals week, several students joined area high schoolers for a living history lesson – a discussion with Madeleine Albright.
Albright, who served as the nation’s first female secretary of state during the Clinton administration, visited SMU as part of the Tate Distinguished Lecture Series. Since leaving office, Albright has toured as a lecturer and speaker at university commencements and is currently in the process of promoting a new book about her experiences.
“I will never criticize another secretary of state,” she said. “The job is so difficult and you just don’t know what’s going on inside, but the best part about not being secretary of state is I can say whatever I want.”
Students asked her opinions on current issues such as the Bush administration’s “War on Terrorism” and her own work as a peacekeeper in the Middle East, North Korea, and the Balkans.
On Terrorism: “We won’t know when the war on terrorism is over because it won’t be. The challenge is to make ourselves secure without being paralyzed.”
On the Bush Administration: “One of the things I find very disappointing is that there has not been any continuity. When I was in office, I was in constant contact with my predecessors. This has not been the case. In the first year of the Bush administration, foreign policy has been ABC: Anything But Clinton.
On Yassir Arafat: He can’t seem to make the transfer from being a liberation fighter. That’s what he’s been all his life. It’s better for him to travel and be received at the highest level than to worry about the sewer systems. I don’t think he knows how to be a president.
On the Arab-Israeli peace process: “I’m pretty tired of two stubborn old men with vendettas against each other running two countries together with little concern for their people. It’s pretty tough to visualize peace with Sharon and Arafat.”
“The Palestinians never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity. When Palestine was going to be partitioned, they turned it down. In fact, they’ve turned down a lot of good deals.”
On Saddam Hussein: “I wish he’s [President George H. W. Bush] finished and gone all the way to Baghdad. The people of Iraq are suffering. I do believe that economic sanctions are helping. Saddam Hussein is in a box. We used force; we tried diplomacy; economic tools are the only ones left.”
On President Clinton: “I think President Clinton was an amazing president. He really understood how domestic and foreign policy worked together. I think history will show his legacy to be a great one.”
On Congress: “If you’re working for a president, then you absolutely believe that president is right. You find Congress to be a pretty irritating body. As secretary of state, you have 536 people who think they can do your job better than you and it’s just paralyzing. When you’re working in Congress against a president that you don’t like, you’re pretty glad to be there. In the long run, I’m glad we have that system of checks and balances, but I think that calls for a more responsible Congress that does not just vote along party lines.”
On being a female in the male-dominated world of politics: “I had fewer problems with foreign leaders than those at home. I think those men I worked with were unable to se me in this role. I had been a staffer before – I made coffee, I did carpools, I was friends with their wives.”
On being the first female secretary of state: “It’s very hard to be told you’re a role model. You have to be right all of the time and never make any mistakes. Neither of those things describes me. I do think I’ve opened a door for other women. My daughters said to me that nobody questioned whether Condolezza Rice could be National Security Advisor because I’d been first.”
