Condi Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  PRELUDE

  ONE - Coaching the Candidate

  TWO - An American Legacy

  THREE - Twice as Good

  FOUR - Chopin, Shakespeare, or Soviets?

  FIVE - The Scholar

  SIX - Professor Rice

  SEVEN - Bush I

  EIGHT - Room at the Top

  NINE - Portals of Power: Bush II

  TEN - At War and Under Fire

  APPENDIX I

  APPENDIX II

  SOURCES

  NOTES

  INDEX

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Copyright Page

  To Maria Yeliseyeva, my Russian sister

  “HENRY, SORRY TO TELL YOU THIS, BUT IT’S NO LONGER A FRATERNITY.”

  —Newly appointed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Henry Kissinger, 1997

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are many people to thank for their vital and generous contributions to this book. I am grateful to Clara Bailey Rice of Palo Alto, California, for taking the time to speak to me about her stepdaughter. My heart goes out to all the warm, gracious, and considerate people who made my research in Birmingham so enlightening and productive, including Miss Juliemma Smith for her wonderful conversations and guided tour of Birmingham’s Westminster Presbyterian Church and Titusville, as well as to Westminster’s Reverend William Jones and Annette Cooper. Special thanks to my other Birmingham guide, Pam King, who conducted a fascinating tour and generously shared her expertise of the city’s history. It was also a pleasure and an honor to receive a civil rights tour from distinguished University of Alabama Professor Jack Davis, whom I also thank for the literary football analogy sources. I also thank Birmingham ladies Margaret Cheatham and Shirley Epps for their words, their time, and their efforts.

  I am deeply indebted to Deborah Carson for her enormously important input. It was a great pleasure to meet one of Condi’s oldest friends.

  My deep appreciation goes to Rebecca Laurie of the University of Denver’s Communication Department for her diligent work in tracking down a vast amount of information for me. Thank you, Professor Karen Feste at the University of Denver, for your generous interview. And warm thanks to all the Rice family friends in Denver: Darcy Taylor, Russ and Margaret Wehner, and Reverend Richard Hutchison, as well as Condoleezza’s former teachers at St. Mary’s, Sister Sylvia Pautler, and Therese Saracino.

  Most of what I learned about Condoleezza’s graduate work at Notre Dame I owe to the generosity of her former professor there, Dr. George Brinkley. I wish him a wonderful continued retirement.

  Many thanks to Paul Brest, president of the Hewlett Foundation, and John Raisian, director of the Hoover Institution, for taking the time for interviews. I am also grateful to Professors George Barth and John Ferejohn of Stanford University for their insightful comments. It was great talking to Condoleezza’s former workout coach at Stanford, Mark Wateska, and I appreciate the thoughtful correspondence I received from Professor Gail Lapidus, Robby Laitos, Jim Copland, and Jason Gailie. Thanks to Professor Albert Cannella for providing key insights about women’s paths to corporate boards. And thank you, Dmitri Gerasamenko, for sharing your compelling personal stories about Russian urban life.

  This project would not have been possible without the excellent research work of Sandra Upson at Stanford and Shannon Berning at Newmarket Press. I also extend warmest thanks to Keith Hollaman, my editor, and Esther Margolis, the president of Newmarket, for their enthusiasm and support and for creating such an author-friendly publishing house. Your patience and kindness is deeply appreciated. And, as always, love to my husband Stanford for all his support, encouragement, and late-night readings.

  The input of those mentioned, as well as information gleaned from scores of previously published interviews and articles by and about Dr. Condoleezza Rice, has allowed me to present the first biography of one of America’s most prominent foreign policy officials—and perhaps one of the most famous black women in the world. Dr. Rice has made history by being named the first female national security advisor and the second black person to hold that post (General Colin Powell was the first), and delving into her life story has been an inspiring and highly informative experience. I have been inspired by the Rice/Ray family legacy and how Dr. Rice carries that inheritance into the world with her own brand of passion and commitment. I have been informed about the realities of growing up black in Birmingham in the 1950s and 1960s and the differing types of black experience during that struggle. And I have also been stimulated by insights into the inner workings of academia, policy making, corporate boards, and other areas that are covered in Dr. Rice’s life story.

  My intent has been to focus on Dr. Rice’s family, childhood, education, and career path rather than to construct a commentary on her political and policy views. It has been my goal to create a comprehensive portrait of the person who has the president’s ear perhaps more than anyone else in the White House—a black woman who has risen to the top in a field traditionally dominated by white men and who has experienced firsthand some of the nation’s darkest and brightest moments.

  PRELUDE

  WHEN Condoleezza Rice was ten years old, her parents took her on a trip to Washington, D.C. For John and Angelena Rice, whom Condoleezza has described as “education evangelists,” the nation’s capital was the ultimate vacation destination—so much history to discover, so many museums to explore, so much to inspire a young mind. Strolling along Pennsylvania Avenue, they stopped to peer through the gate in front of the White House. Condoleezza stared quietly at the pillared façade. The trio stood in silence until the girl turned to her father and said, “Daddy, I’m barred out of there now because of the color of my skin. But one day, I’ll be in that house.”

  Not only was she a precocious child, but prophetic, too. Twenty-five years later she was working fourteen-hour days as President George H. W. Bush’s top advisor on the Soviet Union, helping write U.S. policy through the unification of Germany and the end of the Cold War. Eleven years after her two-year stint in that administration, she reentered the White House as President George W. Bush’s national security advisor.

  During George W.’s presidential campaign, Jay Nordlinger predicted in the National Review that whatever post Condoleezza Rice received in the administration she would be “rock-star big”—a household name. She has not yet appeared on any billboards in Times Square, but her celebrity status is on the rise. This became most evident after September 11, 2001, when she was appointed one of the primary White House spokespeople on the war on terrorism. Her visibility has also been enhanced by ritual appearances on the Sunday Washington talk shows and through lengthy profiles in magazines such as Vogue, George (now defunct), and O: The Oprah Magazine. And in some parts of the country, she has been a star for quite some time. In East Palo Alto, California, for example, where she cofounded an after-school academy for children from underfunded school districts, she is a local hero. And in the field of Soviet studies, her chosen specialty since first hearing a lecture on Stalin as a junior in college, she is a nationally renowned expert and scholar.

  Condoleezza Rice has two passions in her life: music and Russia. This book explores her family’s musical roots, which formed both her name and her goal of becoming a concert pianist. That part of her story took a sudden detour in her teen years when she decided she did not have what it takes to enter the very small ranks of the concert world. She made a sharp turn when she heard a charismatic professor (the father of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright) lecture on the Soviet Union, and entered that oddly familiar and captivating territory, never to turn back.

  From her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama
, which in the 1950s and 1960s was the most segregated city in the South and a focal point of the Civil Rights movement, to her ascension to one of the most powerful posts in government, Condoleezza Rice’s story is founded on a compelling family legacy. She is a proud daughter of the Rices and the Rays, two lineages devoted to education and achievement. She is also very much her father’s daughter, a preacher’s child devoted to the same causes, solidified with the same strength of character, and supported by the same faith.

  This story follows Condi’s journey into the highest ranks of a field dominated by men, in which her colleagues describe her style as firm but friendly. “She is, all agree, an immensely appealing person,” stated the National Review, “poised, gracious, humbly smart, still markedly Southern after all these years in other parts.” Several people interviewed for this book remarked on her exuberance, noting that she is an extremely content person who draws from a deep well. “Condi is one of those happy-go-lucky kinds of people,” said her University of Denver Professor Karen Feste. “She doesn’t have an unhappy side to her; at least I’ve never seen it.” In describing herself, Condi explains the source of her outlook. “I’m a really religious person,” she said, “and I don’t believe that I was put on this earth to be sour, so I’m eternally optimistic about things.” She does not hide her achievements, but at the same time does not overestimate herself. “I think I’m above average,” she said, “but not much more. When you’ve been a professor and provost at Stanford, you know what real genius is. I’ve seen genius, and I’m not it.”

  President George W. Bush would probably disagree. His father came to admire Condi during his administration when she worked for his national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, recognizing her formidable intelligence and loyalty. George H. quickly brought her into the Bush fold, treating her like family. She has been George W.’s friend since his first weeks as governor of Texas and his top foreign policy advisor since his presidential campaign. As national security advisor, she is also his top referee in delivering the often powerfully divided opinions of the secretary of defense, secretary of state, and other members of the National Security Council to the president’s desk.

  If her life were mapped in sonata form, Condoleezza Rice could well be in the development phase, each theme gathering momentum in an upward arch toward their peak moment. At the pinnacle, her interwoven motifs will burst out in one dramatic, triumphant declaration. To some, this peak lies before her as first woman president of the United States. Others envision her as governor of California or as a U.S. senator from that state. But for now, she is one of the president’s top advisors and closest confidants, whether they are in the White House, at Camp David, or at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas.

  ONE

  Coaching the Candidate

  “The presidency is not just the President. It’s a whole team of people who are going to get things done.”

  —Condoleezza Rice, 1999

  TO everyone in her inner circle, she is known as Condi, a name that trips off the tongue more easily than her full given name. Her mother, a pianist and organist, fashioned Condoleezza (kahn-dah-LEE-za) from the Italian term con dolcezza, which in a score of music instructs the performer to play “with sweetness.” There is a tradition of Italian names on both sides of Condi’s family—Theresa, Angelena, Angela, Genoa, Alto—and the unusual spin that the Rices put on her name was fitting for the distinctive individual she would become. In raising Condoleezza, John and Angelena Rice followed the direction inherent in her name, always heaping kindness upon her in their zealous efforts to educate, inspire, and motivate her to excel. Condi’s rock-solid foundation of love and positive influence underlies every step she has taken, including her entry into an office just down the hall from the president of the United States.

  The president has always called her Condi, while her staff members call her Dr. Rice. She appears to have escaped the president’s penchant for nicknames, even though most of his associates as well as press people have been dubbed with one. Even heads of state are not immune—as his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin warmed in early 2002, George W. dubbed him “Pootie-Poot.”

  Condoleezza’s foray into the Bushes’ inner circle was launched at a dinner at Stanford University in 1987, when a few remarks she made changed the course of her career. Along with other members of the political science faculty, she attended an event at which President Gerald R. Ford’s national security advisor, Brent Scowcroft, made a speech. During the dinner afterward, which was attended by many of the top foreign policy minds in the country, Scowcroft found the conversation “dreary” until a young political science professor named Dr. Rice spoke up. “Here was this slip of a girl,” he recalled. “Boy, she held her own. I said, ‘That’s someone I’ve got to get to know.’” From her comments, Scowcroft realized that she possessed a profound understanding of Soviet ideology that matched his own brand of political realism. “She saw where we could cooperate and where not,” he recalled.

  Scowcroft was so bowled over by Rice that she immediately came to mind when he became national security advisor in the first Bush administration. Immediately after the election in 1988, Scowcroft began selecting the staff that would join him in the White House. “One of my first phone calls was to Condi Rice,” he said. Based on her scholarly expertise of the Soviet Union, he appointed her director of Soviet affairs at the National Security Council. Not only did she gain the respect of her colleagues in this post, she quickly became a personal friend of both President and Barbara Bush.

  Just as his son would do a decade later, the elder George Bush relied upon Condi to tutor him on Soviet military and political history. During his term, in which the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dismantled, he forthrightly credited her for keeping him up to speed on the subject, telling one head of state that she “tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union.” After Bush I’s term was over, Condi returned to her teaching job at Stanford. She remained friendly with George and Barbara, and was often invited to their Houston home and their summerhouse in Kennebunkport, Maine.

  She met frequently with the former president as part of what Barbara called the “book group,” at times consisting of Condi, Scowcroft, and Bush, to help write a book about major global events that occurred during Bush’s administration. The work was begun during Bush’s first year out of office and included the input of many people. Condi made lengthy visits to Houston and Kennebunkport throughout 1997 to help Bush with the book.

  The final product, A World Transformed, was published in 1998 and covers events that occurred from 1989 to 1991, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, and the Gulf War. In the introduction, Bush and Scowcroft state, “Some of the most dramatic and epochal events of the twentieth century took place during the short period of 1989 to 1991 . . . did we see what was coming when we entered office? No, we did not, nor could we have planned it. . . . Yet, in only three years—historically only a moment—the Cold War was over.” Bush credits Condi for contributing extensively to the book by helping the authors scope out its content, refreshing their memories of particular details, and sharing research she had done for Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, a book she co-wrote with Philip Zelikow in 1995.

  During a visit with George and Barbara Bush in Houston in 1995, George asked Condi to make a call on his son in Austin before going home. George W. was settling in as the newly elected governor—his first political office (in 1978, he had made an unsuccessful bid for a state congressional seat). Perhaps George Sr. felt that Condi could be an asset to his son down the road should his political aspirations grow beyond the state of Texas. Or maybe he wanted to introduce them because they share an obsession for sports and carry their steely self-discipline into their workout routines, a trademark of the athletic and competitive Bush clan. Such a common thread would be a strong foundation for friendship and create a context in which they could discuss politics and worl
d affairs. Whatever his reasons, George suggested Condi meet the new governor, and she agreed.

  The governor and Condi hit it off immediately, bonding like any two sports fanatics. George W. was still a co-owner of the Texas Rangers, and they chatted about baseball as they looked over George’s signed-baseball collection, lovingly arranged in a set of glass display cases. Condi wowed George with stories about Willie Mays, who was a student in one of her mother’s classes at Fairfield Industrial High School in Birmingham—real-life stories about Mays that probably only a handful of people have ever heard. For a baseball fan, it just doesn’t get any better than that. “Governor Bush was very impressed,” Condi recalled.

  During that visit, George W. gained not only Condi’s friendship but her respect as well. “He’s really smart—and he’s also disciplined, which I admire,” she said. “He’s tough, calm and even-keeled . . . [and] he also has a great sense of humor.” George Senior’s instincts about Condi and George W. were on target; the two had a chemistry that created a bond of friendship, loyalty, and respect. As a result, Condi would figure large in the next step of his political career.

  During one mini-vacation with the Bush clan at Kennebunkport in the summer of 1998, George W. and Condi had a series of intense conversations about pressing global issues of the day. The governor was considering a run for the presidency, and he knew that his friend could give him clear, straightforward summaries of complex issues. Neither of them were the type to relax and chat while sipping ice tea on the porch, so they hammered out their discussions while running side-by-side on the treadmill, whacking balls on the tennis court, or fishing. Condi didn’t actually fish—she left that to George W. and his father. She isn’t even fond of the water, but in this case she went along. “I don’t get seasick,” she said, “but I also don’t like the water very much and I most certainly don’t fish. I let President and Governor Bush fish and I sat and talked. We talked a lot about the state of the American armed forces and ballistic missile defense.” All the while, George W. fired questions such as, “What about relations with Russia, what about relations with China? [And] what about the state of the military?”