Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivers remarks with Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker, III, Madeleine K. Albright, and Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on September 3, 2014. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
“Many Presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and experience. He was such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom—twice.”
In his 1995 memoir, Mr. Powell described himself as a black kid with no promise. But, as he put it, he beat the odds by becoming a four-star general and presidential adviser.
Mr. Powell, born on April 5, 1937, to immigrant Jamaican parents, spent his early years in Harlem. The family moved to the Bronx when he was six, where his childhood revolved around feasts of plantain and roast goat, rice and peas, and calypso melodies.
New York University eventually made Colin Powell an offer, but tuition at $750/year was “such a huge sum in 1954!” Mr. Powell could not burden his parents with that egregious amount. So as Mr. Powell noted, it was City College of New York, where tuition was free.
“I got a B.S. in geology and a commission as an Army second lieutenant, and that was that. . . .”
Mr. Powell died Monday morning. As noted by Mr. Powell’s family, “He was fully vaccinated.”
According to NPR, Powell’s longtime aide, Peggy Cifrino, confirmed that he had been treated in recent years for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that can suppress the body’s immune system. Powell also had Parkinson’s disease and also had been treated for prostate cancer in 2003.
Powell had his flaws, writes NRO’s Jim Geraghty, “but he cared deeply about his country, tackled its problems with great intellect, astute wisdom and relentless drive, and spent 35 years in uniform before another four years as Secretary of State.”
He wasn’t always right, and wasn’t always easy to agree with, but he was always easy to respect.
He will be missed.
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