Madeleine Albright, America’s first female secretary of state, is born.
Albright was born Marie Jean “Madlenka” Korbel on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
Madeleine Korbel Albright was nominated to be the first woman Secretary of State by President William Jefferson Clinton on December 5, 1996, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 22, 1997, and sworn in the next day. She served in the position for four years and ended her service on January 20, 2001.