BH365 Moment in History: Colin Luther Powell - Former Secretary of State (1989-93) and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff (2001-05): First African American To Hold Both Positions and U.S. General

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Moment In History
Colin Luther Powell
Former Us Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff
Military Leader/U.S. General
A reading from the book: BH365: An Inclusive Account of American History
U.S. General and Statesman
“All work is honorable. Always do your best because someone is watching.” (Colin Powell)

Colin Luther Powell born April 5, 1937, New York, New York. U.S. general and statesman. He was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93) and secretary of state (2001–05), the first African American to hold either position.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell grew up in the Harlem and South Bronx sections of New York City and attended the City College of New York (B.S., 1958), serving in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He entered the army upon graduation, served in Vietnam in 1962–63 and 1968–69, and then studied at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In 1972 he took his first political position, as a White House fellow, and soon became an assistant to Frank Carlucci, then deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He held various posts over the next few years, in the Pentagon and elsewhere, and in 1983 became senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. In 1987 he joined the staff of the National Security Council as deputy to Carlucci, then assistant to the president for national security affairs. Late in 1987 Pres. Ronald Reagan appointed Powell to succeed Carlucci. Early in 1989 Powell took over the Army Forces Command.

In April 1989 Powell became a four-star general, and in August Pres. George Bush nominated him chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As chairman, he played a leading role in planning the invasion of Panama (1989) and the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations of the Persian Gulf crisis and war (August 1990–March 1991; see Persian Gulf War). In 2001 he was appointed secretary of state by Pres. George W. Bush.

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Episodes Edited by: Juels N. Evans, Tech Engineer Editor
Resources: WK, www.biography.com, britannica.com
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*This is apart of BH365 Education posted for the public