American Secretaries of State: Colin L. Powell

Appointed by President George W. Bush, 65th Secretary of State Colin Powell served from January 20, 2001 – January 26, 2005. Mr. Powell was interviewed for the American Secretaries of State Project in October 2015, during which he noted, “In the area of negotiations…it’s my military experience that kicks in. I always start out looking at a problem with an estimate of the situation. What’s the situation we’re in? And that begins with the enemy or the other side of the negotiation. What do they need? What do they have to get? How do I make friends with this guy while I’m kicking his butt? What does he think of me?” Powell’s strategic approach enabled him to quell a variety of international crises, including a near-war between India and Pakistan nuclear powers (2001-2002), domestic turmoil in Liberia (2003) and Haiti (2004), and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.