Rice, Condoleezza, 1954-

Condoleezza Rice, (born November 14, 1954, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.), American educator and politician, who served as national security adviser (2001–05) and secretary of state (2005–09) to U.S. Pres. George W. Bush.

At age 15 Rice entered the University of Denver. Although she had earlier considered a career as a concert pianist, she turned to the study of international relations, earning a bachelor’s degree in the field in 1974. She later obtained a master’s degree (1975) in economics from the University of Notre Dame and a doctorate (1981) in international studies from the University of Denver, where her specialty was eastern and central Europe and the Soviet Union, including military and security affairs. Rice joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1981. In 1986 she served as an assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on nuclear strategy, and during the administration of Pres. George Bush she was director for Soviet and eastern European affairs for the National Security Council (NSC) and a special assistant to the president. In 1991 Rice returned to Stanford and in 1993 began a six-year tenure as provost, during which time she balanced the university’s budget and revamped the curriculum for undergraduates.

In 1999 Rice left Stanford to become foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaign of George W. Bush, and upon his election she was named head of the NSC, the first woman to hold this position. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, she proved to be an important and influential adviser to Bush. She supported the U.S.-led attacks on terrorist and Taliban targets in Afghanistan (2001) and aligned herself with hard-liners who advocated the overthrow of Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein. When the administration drew criticism for the Iraq War (2003) and the handling of terrorist threats prior to September 11, 2001, Rice vigorously defended the president’s policy.

U.S. Vice Pres. Dick Cheney talking on the phone with Pres. George W. Bush as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (seated) and other senior staff listen at the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, September 11, 2001.
U.S. Vice Pres. Dick Cheney talking on the phone with Pres. George W. Bush as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (seated) and other senior staff listen at the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, September 11, 2001.
Eric Draper/The White House
In 2005 she succeeded Colin Powell as secretary of state, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post. In her post, Rice helped negotiate an end to Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip. She also persuaded North Korea to return to talks aimed at dismantling that country’s nuclear weapons program. Rice led an intense effort to promote democracy and broker a U.S.-friendly peace in the Middle East. After fighting broke out in July 2006 between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah forces, Rice initially defended the decision by the United States not to seek an immediate cease-fire, but the following month she urged the United Nations Security Council to adopt such a resolution. She also joined European foreign ministers in calling for sanctions against Iran, after that country failed to halt its nuclear program or allow inspections of its nuclear facilities. After leaving office in 2009, Rice returned to Stanford University. In 2012 she was one of the first two women to be admitted as members of Augusta National Golf Club.

Rice’s writings include The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, 1948–1983: Uncertain Allegiance (1984), Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995, with Philip Zeliko), and Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom (2017). Her autobiographies are Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010), which chronicles her life—notably her early years in segregated Alabama—before joining the Bush administration in 2001, and No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011).

Condoleezza "Condi" Rice (/ˌkɒndəˈliːzə/; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat, political scientist, civil servant, and professor who served as the 66th United States Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009 and as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Rice was the first female African-American Secretary of State and the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor.

Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up while the South was racially segregated. She obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Denver and her master's degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame. In 1981 she received a PhD from the School of International Studies at the University of Denver.[1][2] She worked at the State Department under the Carter administration and served on the National Security Council as the Soviet and Eastern Europe Affairs Advisor to President George H. W. Bush during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification from 1989 to 1991. Rice later pursued an academic fellowship at Stanford University, where she later served as provost from 1993 to 1999. On December 17, 2000, she joined the Bush administration as President George W. Bush's National Security Advisor. In Bush's second term, she succeeded Colin Powell as Secretary of State. She was the second female Secretary of State, after Madeleine Albright.

Following her confirmation as Secretary of State, Rice pioneered the policy of Transformational Diplomacy directed toward expanding the number of responsible democratic governments in the world and especially in the Greater Middle East. That policy faced challenges as Hamas captured a popular majority in Palestinian elections, and influential countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt maintained authoritarian systems (with U.S. backing). While in the position, she chaired the Millennium Challenge Corporation's board of directors.[3]

In March 2009, Rice returned to Stanford University as a political science professor and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution.[4][5] In September 2010, she became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a director of its Global Center for Business and the Economy.[6] In January 2020, it was announced that Rice would succeed Thomas W. Gilligan as the next director of the Hoover Institution on September 1, 2020.[7] She is on the Board of Directors of Dropbox and Makena Capital Management, LLC.[8][9][10]