US President Joe Biden ordered flags at the White House and other federal buildings and grounds to be flown at half-staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Madeleine Albright, a child refugee from Nazi- and then Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe who rose to become the first female secretary of state and a mentor to many current and former American statesmen and women, died on Wednesday of cancer, her family said. A lifelong Democrat who nonetheless worked to bring Republicans into her orbit, Albright was chosen in 1996 by President Bill Clinton to be America’s top diplomat, elevating her from the US ambassador to the United Nations, where she had been only the second woman to hold that job.

As secretary of the state, Albright was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the US government. She was not in the line of succession to the presidency, however, because she was born in what was then Czechoslovakia. Still, she was universally admired for breaking a glass ceiling, even by her political detractors.

“We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend,” her family said in a statement. President Joe Biden ordered flags at the White House and other federal buildings and grounds to be flown at half-staff until March 27. Outpourings of condolences came quickly. Biden said, “America had no more committed champion of democracy and human rights than Secretary Albright, who knew personally and wrote powerfully of the perils of autocracy.”  “When I think of Madeleine,” Biden added, “I will always remember her fervent faith that America is the indispensable nation.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Albright was “a brilliant diplomat, a visionary leader, a courageous trailblazer, a dedicated mentor, and a great and good person who loved the US deeply and devoted her life to serving it.”

Clinton called her “one of the finest Secretaries of State, an outstanding UN Ambassador, a brilliant professor, and an extraordinary human being.”  “And through it all,” Clinton added, “even until our last conversation just two weeks ago, she never lost her great sense of humor or her determination to go out with her boots on, supporting Ukraine in its fight to preserve freedom and democracy.”

Former President George W. Bush said Albright “lived out the American dream and helped others realize it…She served with distinction as a foreign-born foreign minister who understood firsthand the importance of free societies for peace in our world.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US envoy to the United Nations, honored Albright as a “trailblazer and a luminary” in remarks on the General Assembly floor. In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Albright the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, saying her life was an inspiration to all Americans.

Albright remained outspoken through the years. After leaving office, she criticized Bush for using “the shock of force” rather than alliances to foster diplomacy and said Bush had driven away moderate Arab leaders and created potential for a dangerous rift with European allies.

As a refugee from Czechoslovakia who saw the horrors of both Nazi Germany and the Iron Curtain, she was not a dove and played a leading role in pressing for the Clinton administration to get militarily involved in the conflict in Kosovo. She also took a hard line on Cuba, famously saying at the United Nations that the Cuban shootdown of a civilian plane was not “cojones” but rather “cowardice”. Albright advised women “to act in a more confident manner” and “to ask questions when they occur and don’t wait to ask”.   “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent,” she told HuffPost Living in 2010.