Born: 14-Nov-1954
Birthplace: Birmingham, AL

Gender: Female
Religion: Presbyterian
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Matter of Dispute [1]
Occupation: Government
Party Affiliation: Republican [2]

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: US Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice is the second woman to be US Secretary of State, after Madeleine Albright during the Clinton administration. She is the first black woman to be Secretary of State, and she holds the highest position in a presidential cabinet that any black woman has held. Rice describes herself as a moderate Republican, and has never been identified with so-called "black issues", which has led some African-Americans to view her with suspicion. She says she became a Republican when she watched the 1984 Democratic Convention on TV, and decided that the Democrats' appeals to "women, minorities, and the poor" really meant "helpless people and the poor". Rice said, "I decided I'd rather be ignored than patronized."

Her parents were both college professors. Her unusual first name is derived from the Italian for an opera stage instruction, con dolcezza, meaning "with sweetness". Rice was raised in segregated Birmingham during the civil rights movement. A childhood friend, 11-year-old Denise McNair, was one of the four young girls killed in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963. Rice never became involved in the civil rights movement, but she says, "My parents had me absolutely convinced that, well, you may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth's but you can be President of the United States."

She mastered the piano at three, and was told that she could have had a career as a concert pianist. She skipped first and seventh grades, entered college at 15, holds three degrees including a doctorate in political science, and earned her Master's in just one year's study. She was a professor of Political Science at Stanford from 1981-99, and from 1993-99 she was also Stanford's provost, responsible for overseeing the school's budget and academic programs. She served as a mid- to upper-level member of the National Security staff during the first Bush presidency, and as National Security Advisor during the second Bush presidency, before succeeding Colin Powell as Secretary of State in 2005.

Little is known of Rice's personal life, except that she has never been married. She is reportedly a good ice skater and a knowledgeable football fan, and she dated the Denver Broncos' Rick Upchurch while she was attending the University of Denver. She once owned a house and shared a line of credit with another woman, Stanford co-worker and documentary filmmaker Randy Bean, although the nature of their partnership remains unknown. More recently, she occasionally has football executive Gene Washington on her arm when she attends State Department events, but their relationship is described only as "cordial". At a dinner party while Rice was National Security Advisor, she referred to President George W. Bush as "my husband" before abruptly correcting herself.

She was on the Board of Directors at the Chevron Corporation, where an oil tanker was named in her honor. When this became a point of embarrassment for Rice, spotlighting her links to the oil industry, the Condoleezza Rice was rechristened the Altair Voyager.

[2] Switched from Democratic to Republican in 1982.

Father: John W. Rice (Presbyterian minister)
Mother: Angelina Ray Rice (d.)
Mother: Clara Rice (stepmother, school principal)
Boyfriend: Rick Upchurch (Denver Broncos receiver, dated in 1970s)
Boyfriend: Gene Washington (pro football executive, dated 1980s, and intermittently 2003-)

    High School: St. Mary's Academy, Englewood, CO (1970)
    University: BA Political Science, University of Denver (1974)
    University: MA Political Science, University of Notre Dame (1975)
    University: PhD Political Science, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver (1981)
    Teacher: Political Science, Stanford University (1981-93)
    Professor: Political Science, Stanford University (1993-)
    Administrator: Provost, Stanford University (1993-99)

    US Secretary of State (2005-)
    White House National Security Advisor (2001-05)
    US National Security Council Senior Director, Soviet & East European Affairs (1989-91)
    Member of the Board of Chevron
    Member of the Board of Charles Schwab
    Member of the Board of Grassroots.com
    Member of the Board of Transamerica
    Member of the Board of Hewlett-Packard
    Lincoln Club of Northern California
    Stanford Institute for International Studies
    Hoover Institution
    Council on Foreign Relations
    US Institute of Peace Officer Ex Officio
    Rand Corporation Trustee 1991-97
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    Alfalfa Club 2001
    Kennedy Center ex-officio member
    Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors
    Pacific Council on International Policy
    Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Board of Directors
    Alpha Chi Omega Sorority
    Phi Beta Kappa Society
    Dubya Nickname Guru
    Dubya Ranch Hand Jan-2003
    Funeral: Tom Lantos (2008)

Rotten Library Page:
Condoleezza Rice

Author of books:
The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, 1948-1983: Uncertain Allegiance (1984)
The Gorbachev Era (1986, with Alexander Dallin)
Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995, with Philip Zelikow)

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