POLITICAL POWERHOUSE
Madeleine Albright dead at 84: Former Secretary of State passes away after cancer battle
FORMER Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died after battling cancer.
The family confirmed her tragic passing in a statement on Wednesday.
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"We are heartbroken to announce that Dr Madeleine K Albright, the 64th US Secretary of State and the first woman to hold that position, passed away earlier today," the statement read.
The family went on to confirm that her cause of death was cancer, and said she was surrounded by family and friends when she passed.
"We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend," the statement continued.
The politician came to the United States from Prague as a refugee in 1948.
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From there, she rose in the ranks of American politics and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration.
In a statement, Clinton called Ms Albright "one of the finest Secretaries of State, and outstanding UN Ambassador, a brilliant professor, and an extraordinary human being."
"Hillary and I will always be deeply grateful for the wonderful friendship we shared and the unfailingly wise counsel she gave us over so many years," it continued.
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At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the US government.
She was not in the line of succession for the presidency, however, because she was a native of Czechoslovakia.
Albright remained outspoken through the years. After leaving office, she criticized President George W. Bush for using "the shock of force" rather than alliances to foster diplomacy and said Bush had driven away moderate Arab leaders and created the potential for a dangerous rift with European allies.
As news of Ms Albright's passing circulated, many politicians flocked together to pay tribute.
A Department of State spokesperson said: "The impact that she has had on this building is felt every single day in just about every single corner…she was a trailblazer."
Governor Kathy Hochul added: "Madeleine Albright was a trailblazer for women & a brilliant diplomat.
"As the first female Secretary of State she showed me, and countless others, that gender should never stop us from pursuing public service."
Singer Barbra Streisand paid tribute to "a good friend of mine for the last 28 years" and shared a photo of her with Ms Albright.
"I am so sad about losing a good friend and a great woman in this fragile world of ours," she continued.
Former President said: "As the first woman to serve as America’s top diplomat, Madeleine Albright was a champion for democratic values.
" and I send our thoughts to the Albright family and everyone who knew and served with a truly remarkable woman."
Just one month before she passed away, Ms Albright wrote on op-ed for the New York Times about Russian President .
She spoke about how she became the first senior US official to meet with Putin back in 2000.
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"Flying home, I recorded my impressions. 'Putin is small and pale,' I wrote, 'so cold as to be almost reptilian.'
"He claimed to understand why the Berlin Wall had to fall but had not expected the whole Soviet Union to collapse. 'Putin is embarrassed by what happened to his country and determined to restore its greatness.'," she wrote.
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