He was the first African-American chief of staff and secretary of state of the USA: Who is Colin Powell?

A gentle and friendly person, he was well-liked among the foreign ministry staff.

Colin Powell, a former US secretary of state, died in October 2021 at the age of 84. His family announced that Powell died after contracting Covid-19, which got worse.

Colin Powell was nominated for Secretary of State by US President George W Bush on December 16, 2000, and was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State on January 20, 2001, following his unanimous confirmation by the US Senate.

Prior to this position, Powell was President of America's Promise - Youth Development. America's Promise – Youth Development is a nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing every sector of American life to develop the character and talents of youth.

Colin Luther Powell (April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first Black secretary of state. He was the 15th United States national security advisor from 1987 to 1989, and the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.

A professional soldier for 35 years, Powell held numerous command and staff positions during this time and became a 4-star general.

He served as advisor to the President on National Security Affairs from December 1987 to January 1989. He later served as Chief of General Staff, the highest military position in the Ministry of Defense, from October 1, 1989 to September 30, 1993.

During this time, he managed 28 crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Gulf War.

Following his retirement, he published his best-selling autobiography titled "My American Journey" in 1995. Additionally, he has built a career as a speaker in the United States and other countries.

Colin Powell was born on April 5, 1937, in New York City, USA, and grew up in the South Bronx.

His parents, Luther and Maud Powell, immigrated to the United States from Jamaica.

Powell was educated in New York public schools and received his bachelor's degree in geology from the City College of New York (CCNY).

After graduation in June 1958, he entered ROTC at CCNY and was promoted to second lieutenant. He later received a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

Powell is married to Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama.

Powell family; It consists of son Michael, daughters Linda and Anne, daughter-in-law Jane, son-in-law Francis, and grandchildren Jeffrey and Bryan.

Interesting details from his life story

Colin Luther Powell was born in Harlem, New York, in 1937, the son of a Jamaican immigrant couple.

Powell, who also fought in Vietnam and was a four-star general, played an important role in the First Gulf War, which was directed against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s, and rose to the position of Chief of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Powell, who entered politics from the Republican Party after retiring from the army, was appointed secretary of state under the George W Bush administration.

Colin Powell, the 65th Secretary of State of the United States, was also the first African American to hold this position, and was later followed by Condoleeza Rice.

Powell, who also served as a military advisor to several consecutive administrations in the United States, played an important role in convincing the public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction with his speech at the United Nations Security Council in 2003, although even he had doubts.

Colin Powell was, by his own definition, an ordinary student and did not have a specific career plan when he graduated from high school.

While studying geology at City College in New York, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), a type of staff academy designed to identify potential future military leaders.

Powell would later describe that period as the happiest years of his life. "Not only did I love it, but I was pretty good at it," he said.

After graduating in 1958, he became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While he was doing his basic military training in Georgia, he was not allowed into the surrounding bars and restaurants because of the color of his skin.

He was one of the thousands of officers sent by President Kennedy in 1962 as an advisor to the South Vietnamese army against the threat of the "Communist North".

In Vietnam, he was injured by stepping on a trap placed by guerrillas.

When he returned from Vietnam in 1968, he was awarded a medal of bravery for surviving a crashed helicopter and rescuing three more soldiers from the burning wreckage.

Rising star after Vietnam

He was assigned to investigate claims by a serving soldier who confirmed reports of the My Lai Massacre, in which US soldiers killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, including children, in a village.

After his investigation, Powell said, "Contrary to the picture painted here, there are very good relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people," dismissing the growing body of evidence that US soldiers were brutalizing civilians.

In the following years, he was accused of "trying to exonerate" this massacre, the details of which were unknown to the public until 1970.

After returning from Vietnam, Powell earned a master's degree at Georgetown University in Washington and later won a program that gave him a year of paid work at the White House under President Richard Nixon.

National Security Advisor during the US's 'dirty wars' period

Colin Powell became National Security Advisor in 1987.

These were the years when the USA's activities, called "dirty wars", were carried out in South American countries. For example, supporting the right-wing Contra guerrillas against the left-wing Sandinista administration that overthrew the Anastasio Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua was one of these activities.

When George Bush was elected president in 1989, he appointed Powell as Chief of Staff.

First Gulf War and the Powell Doctrine

In 1990, a strategy called the Powell Doctrine was implemented in the first Gulf War. Powell essentially thought that the United States should resort to military force against Iraq only after all diplomatic, political, and economic means had failed.

However, once military action began, maximum force would be used to quickly subdue the enemy and keep American casualties to a minimum. He also found it important to receive broad public support.

Behind this approach lay the determination of the United States to never again get stuck in the vortex of an endless and fruitless war, as in Vietnam.

He supported Obama

After his resignation, Powell continued to share his views on political issues with the public. He criticized the Bush administration in many areas, including the treatment of prisoners held in the Guantanamo camp.

He supported Barack Obama's election campaign in 2008.

It's a testament to Colin Powell's diplomatic skills that he's been able to make allies on both sides of the political spectrum.

A gentle and friendly person, he was well-liked among the foreign ministry staff.