Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same.
Condoleezza RiceRead
I will never forget the bright September day, standing at my desk in the White House, when my young assistant said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - and then a second one - and a third, the Pentagon.
Interpretation
This quote recounts a pivotal moment in history, capturing the shock and disbelief of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In this quote, Condoleezza Rice reflects on the harrowing moment when the September 11 attacks began, emphasizing the profound impact of that day on both a personal and national level. It serves as a powerful reminder of the unexpected nature of tragedy and how certain moments can etch themselves indelibly into our memories, altering the course of events in history.
In practice
During a memorial service for 9/11 victims.
Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same.
I think my father thought I might be president of the United States. I think he would've been satisfied with secretary of state. I'm a foreign policy person and to have a chance to serve my country as the nation's chief diplomat at a time of peril and consequence, that was enough.
What the United States has done is to be open to people who are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done it in a very careful way that has worked for us.
For the United States, supporting international development is more than just an expression of our compassion. It is a vital investment in the free, prosperous, and peaceful international order that fundamentally serves our national interest.
Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.
Does anybody think these people were just sitting around drinking tea?
I think one of the great disasters (in military history) is the way that the Second World War has become the defining reference point for every crisis and every conflict.
Both my father and mother were survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps. Apart from my parents, every family member on both sides was exterminated by the Nazis.
There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.
When I started giving talks about women's history, one of the things that bothered me was the tendency to say, 'Well, everybody was totally oppressed and suddenly in 1964 we rose up, got our freedom, and here we are.' It dismisses the women who fought for rights for several hundred years of our history up to that point.
The people and the cultures of what is known as Africa are older than the word 'Africa.' According to most records, old and new, Africans are the oldest people on the face of the earth. The people now called Africans not only influenced the Greeks and the Romans, they influenced the early world before there was a place called Europe.
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