Powell’s role in numerous Republican administrations influenced American foreign policy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State, died of complications from COVID-19, according to his family.
Taking to social networking website Facebook, the family in a post on General Colin L. Powell’s verified page broke the news.
Powell family breaks the news on Facebook
“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff passed away this morning due to complications from Covid19. He was fully vaccinated,” the Powell family wrote.
The family expressed gratitude to the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their ‘caring’ treatment.
While describing the deceased as an amazing and loving husband, father and grandfather, the family noted that a great American has passed away. He was 84 years old.
Colin Powell was the first African-American to hold the post of US Secretary of State
Colin Luther Powell was the 65th Secretary of State of the United States from 2001 to 2005. He was a politician, diplomat, and four-star military general. His tenure was, however, marred by controversy by his erroneous rationale for America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. After Bush was re-elected in 2004, he was compelled to resign.
He was the first African-American to hold the position of Secretary of State. Powell’s leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Prior to his election as president in 2008, Barack Obama and his successor, Condoleezza Rice, were the highest-ranking African Americans in the federal executive branch’s history (by virtue of the Secretary of State standing fourth in the presidential line of succession).
Colin Powell also formulated Powell Doctrine
From 1987 to 1989, he was the 16th US National Security Advisor, and from 1989 to 1993, he was the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
During his stint as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell supervised 28 crises during this time, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq from 1990 to 1991.
He also devised the Powell Doctrine, which stipulates that American military action must meet certain requirements, including national security goals, overwhelming force, and widespread popular support.