Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza "Condi" Rice is an American diplomat and <a href="/facts/Political_science/Gqy5EoRX">political scientist</a> serving since 2020 as the 8th director of <a href="/facts/Stanford_University/JEQeF9z2">Stanford University</a>'s <a href="/facts/Hoover_Institution/TLMKp8LW">Hoover Institution</a>. A member of the <a href="/facts/Republican_Party_(United_States)/XXM1EVPr">Republican Party</a>, she previously served as the 66th <a href="/facts/United_States_secretary_of_state/AgUe4Dkq">United States secretary of state</a> from 2005 to 2009 and as the 19th <a href="/facts/National_Security_Advisor_(United_States)/C2kEWjBE">U.S. national security advisor</a> from 2001 to 2005. Rice was the first female African-American secretary of state and the first woman to serve as national security advisor. Until the <a href="/facts/2008_United_States_presidential_election/GEIXYxXu">election</a> of <a href="/facts/Barack_Obama/76wUMgL1">Barack Obama</a> as <a href="/facts/President_of_the_United_States/oMsfmLb1">president</a> in 2008, Rice and her predecessor, <a href="/facts/Colin_Powell/V9dUmxsg">Colin Powell</a>, were the highest-ranking African Americans in the history of the federal executive branch (by virtue of the secretary of state standing fourth in the <a href="/facts/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession/wIHT3L7l">presidential line of succession</a>). At the time of her appointment as Secretary of State, Rice was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States to be in the presidential line of succession.
Rice was born in <a href="/facts/Birmingham%2c_Alabama/gQB3RGPA">Birmingham, Alabama</a>, and grew up while the South was <a href="/facts/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States/AHovv4q6">racially segregated</a>. She obtained her bachelor's degree from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Denver/RxD3ouT4">University of Denver</a> and her master's degree from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Notre_Dame/oplPM5R2">University of Notre Dame</a>, both in political science. In 1981, she received a PhD from the School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She worked at the <a href="/facts/State_Department/WsB5FMBT">State Department</a> under the Carter administration and served on the <a href="/facts/United_States_National_Security_Council/HYwSNFA6">National Security Council</a> as the <a href="/facts/Soviet_bloc/12f32hA7">Soviet and Eastern Europe</a> affairs advisor to President <a href="/facts/George_H._W._Bush/Xk5UxRqp">George H. W. Bush</a> during the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union/Fyn5jw3n">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> and <a href="/facts/German_reunification/1c7F6WoR">German reunification</a> from 1989 to 1991. Rice later pursued an academic fellowship at Stanford University, where she later served as <a href="/facts/Provost_(education)/C0cKfIKM">provost</a> from 1993 to 1999. On December 17, 2000, she joined the <a href="/facts/George_W._Bush_administration/n3TPjCeF">George W. Bush administration</a> as <a href="/facts/United_States_National_Security_Advisor/C2kEWjBE">national security advisor</a>. In Bush's second term, she succeeded Colin Powell as Secretary of State, thereby becoming the first African-American woman, second African-American after Powell, and second woman after <a href="/facts/Madeleine_Albright/ENqgsAEQ">Madeleine Albright</a> to hold this office.
Following her confirmation as secretary of state, Rice pioneered the policy of <a href="/facts/Transformational_Diplomacy/mzVbbsEw">Transformational Diplomacy</a> directed toward expanding the number of responsible democratic governments in the world and especially in the <a href="/facts/Greater_Middle_East/CQJLXBMP">Greater Middle East</a>. That policy faced challenges as <a href="/facts/Hamas/VjIkApsc">Hamas</a> captured a popular majority in <a href="/facts/State_of_Palestine/WWcc0vRx">Palestinian</a> elections, and influential countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt maintained authoritarian systems (with U.S. backing). While in the position, she chaired the <a href="/facts/Millennium_Challenge_Account/gsAfUTWQ">Millennium Challenge Corporation</a>'s board of directors. 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. In September 2010, she became a faculty member of the <a href="/facts/Stanford_Graduate_School_of_Business/QsX1NvgA">Stanford Graduate School of Business</a> and a director of its Global Center for Business and the Economy. In January 2020, it was announced that Rice would succeed <a href="/facts/Thomas_W._Gilligan/wrFu54IJ">Thomas W. Gilligan</a> as the next director of the Hoover Institution on September 1, 2020. She is on the Board of Directors of <a href="/facts/Dropbox_(service)/1WHn5C7p">Dropbox</a> and Makena Capital Management, LLC.

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Condoleezza Rice