Powell hailed for leaving footprints to follow
COLIN L. Powell, the trailblazing soldier diplomat who rose from humble beginnings to become the first black secretary of state, was remembered by family and friends on Friday as a principled man of humility and grace whose decorated record of leadership can serve as a model for future generations.
The funeral on a sunny but chilly day drew dignitaries and friends from across the political and military spectrum. They included President Joe Biden and former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, but two recent office holders did not attend — Bill Clinton, who is recovering from illness, and Donald Trump, who publicly disparaged Powell after his death.
In a touching tribute at his father’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral, son Michael said that the late statesman of Jamaican ancestry left auspicious footprints to guide the American society and the world.
“The example of Colin Powell does not call on us to emulate his résumé, which is too formidable for mere mortals,” said Michael. “It is to emulate his character and his example as a human being. We can strive to do that.”
BLOOD CANCER
Powell died October 18 of complications from COVID-19 at age 84. He had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, but his family said his immune system had been compromised by multiple myeloma, a blood cancer for which he had been undergoing treatment.
Richard Armitage, who served as the State Department’s No. 2-ranking official while Powell was secretary of state during the Bush administration, recalled the day Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde came to call and – knowing of Powell’s affection for Abba – presented him with a full CD set of group’s music.
“Colin immediately went down on one knee and sang the entire Mamma Mia to a very amused foreign minister of Sweden and to a gobsmacked US delegation. They’d never seen anything like it,” said Armitage, who described a 40-year friendship with Powell that began while both served in the Pentagon.
Madeleine Albright, who was Powell’s immediate predecessor as secretary of state, called him “a figure who almost transcended time”.
“Even as we contemplate the magnitude of our loss, we can almost hear a familiar voice asking us — no, commanding us — to stop feeling sad, to turn our gaze once again from the past to the future and to get on with the nation’s business while making the most of our own days on Earth, one step at a time,” she said.
During her tenure as ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, Albright sometimes clashed with Powell, although they became good friends.
The story of Powell’s rise to prominence in American life is a classic. Powell was born to Jamaican immigrants and there are deep family roots still in the Top Hill community of rural St Elizabeth.
In his autobiography, My American Journey, Powell recalled a 1940s childhood in the Hunts Point section of New York City’s South Bronx, where he was a mediocre student – happy-go-lucky but aimless.
He caught the military bug during his first year at the City College of New York in 1954. Powell was inspired by seeing fellow students in uniform, and he enrolled in the school’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. “I felt distinctive” in uniform, he wrote. Powell would serve 35 years in uniform. Commissioned in 1958, he served around the world, including two tours in Vietnam in the 1960s.
He distinguished himself at the Pentagon even before he attained flag officer rank. In the late 1970s, he worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in 1983 as a brigadier general he became the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. He later served in the White House as President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, and in 1989 he was promoted to four-star general. Later that year, President George H.W. Bush selected him to be the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
TRAILBLAZING AMERICAN
It was a trailblazing American dream journey that won him international acclaim and trust.
He put that credibility on the line in February 2003 when, appearing before the United Nations as secretary of state, he made the case for war against Iraq. When it turned out that the intelligence he cited was faulty and the Iraq War became a bloody, chaotic nightmare, Powell’s stellar reputation was damaged.
Still, it wasn’t destroyed. After leaving government, he became an elder statesman on the global stage and the founder of an organisation aimed at helping young disadvantaged Americans. Republicans wanted him to run for president. After becoming disillusioned with his party, he ended up endorsing the last three Democratic presidential candidates, who welcomed his support.