Madeleine Albright was an American at her best in the shorthand appellation to denote someone who is a paragon of their particular nationality. The many eulogies are indeed deserving, although with time other views may surface and the inevitable imperfections of statecraft are brought to the fore.
One of her last works, Fascism: A Warning (2018), is particularly timely as the world comes to terms with the plight of Ukraine, and the book’s dedication: “To the victims of fascism then and now and to all who fight fascism in others and in themselves”.
When Zbigniew Brzezinski, then at Columbia University, was appointed by president Carter as his national security adviser, he brought with him to Washington two capable colleagues who were also best friends and whose mentor he had been. Albright was one. Christine Dodson was the other, and both were to work closely together under his leadership.
In her memoirs, Albright recalls calling Dodson first when she had decided to seek a divorce. As clearly a close friend, Dodson’s views would be sought by foreign policy pundits as Albright’s star rose and shone even more brightly as she became the US permanent representative to the United Nations, a cabinet post in the US and, later, first woman secretary of state.
Following the end of the Carter administration, Dodson joined the Office of Personnel Services (OPS) at the UN, where I had been working for some years.
Still at the height of the Cold War, OPS posts were occupied on a one-to-one level basis by nationals of the super powers and other NATO and Warsaw Pact members, with a few from non-aligned member states.
Perhaps, an indication of the importance of OPS to both superpowers was the fact that at the White House, Dodson had been secretary of the National Security Council under Brzezinski, while a Soviet national was later identified by the US as a KGB colonel.
Kofi Annan was then a middle ranking OPS colleague at Dodson’s and my level.
It is possible that years later, Albright’s campaign to oust Boutros Ghali for re-election as UNSG and instead push Annan, may have had at least some input from Dodson. Indeed, it is likely given the close friendship of the two women.
At the time, Annan’s election was seen as a risk for the US. Out of 15 Security Council members, 14 had voted for the retention of Boutros Ghali and while it was the turn of Africa (Ghali having served for only one term and the emerging practice being two terms), the top two Africans, also staff members with long distinguished records, were under secretary general Kenneth Dadzie and assistant secretary general James Jonah.
Placed in that light, Albright’s position, while seen as bold at the time, was ultimately a demonstration of her judgement and foresight, years later indicated by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to the UN and Annan.
Victor Busuttil, retired UN senior diplomat