extraordinary ordinary people by condoleezza rice

policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated. An expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading role in U.S. Her parents' fierce unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the university's second-in-command. From both, Rice learned the value of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back to the community. Her mother, a teacher, developed Condoleezza's passion for piano and exposed her to the fine arts. Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of sports and politics. So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did? Months later, four young girls lost their lives in a particularly vicious bombing. That spring two bombs exploded in Rice's neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan attacks. Birmingham was an environment where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they were told - or face violent consequences. But by 1963, when Rice was applying herself to her fourth grader's lessons, the situation had grown intolerable. Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the next generation would live better than the last.

Not because she wouldn't have loved to, but because when she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than give black citizens access. Her achievements run the gamut from helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman - and the first black woman ever - to serve as Secretary of State.īut until she was 25 she never learned to swim.

Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist.

Extraordinary ordinary people by condoleezza rice