Albright Curtsies, Takes Over
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WASHINGTON — Stepping away from the lectern so everyone in the State Department auditorium could see her clearly, Madeleine Albright curtsied and declared with a smile: “You may notice, I do not look like Secretary Christopher.”
Nor like any of her other 62 predecessors. Like Warren Christopher, they all were men.
In fact, she said with a smile, the toughest question she has faced since being appointed by President Clinton is how it felt to be both a woman and secretary of State.
“I have now thought of the answer,” Albright said.
“The answer is, ‘I’ve never been secretary of state. I have been a woman for nearly 60 years. So I am now going to see how you put the two together.’ ”
The standing-room audience of about 1,000 department workers laughed and applauded, obviously taken with a new boss who told them in a traditional get-acquainted forum: “Please talk to me if you see me in the hall.”
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