Rice, Condoleezza

Rice, Condoleezza, 1954–, U.S. government official and educator, b. Birmingham, Ala. A political scientist who has specialized in Russian and E European studies, Rice has been a professor at Stanford Univ. since 1981. From 1989 to 1991 she was an adviser on Soviet and E European affairs on President George H. W. Bush's National Security Council. Subsequently, she served (1993–99) as Stanford's provost. During the 2000 presidential campaign she was George W. Bush's foreign policy adviser, and in 2001 she became President Bush's national security adviser—the first woman and second African American (after Colin Powell) to hold the post. A member of the president's inner circle, she has been an advocate of U.S. military power, a supporter of the Iraq invasion (see Persian Gulf Wars), and a spokeswoman for the administration's assertive foreign policy. In 2005 she succeeded Colin Powell as secretary of state. Her books include The Gorbachev Era (1986, with A. Dallin) and Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995, with P. Zelikow).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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