Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, died today at the age of 84. A longtime professor at Georgetown University and major adviser to Democratic politicians on foreign policy, Albright worked for nearly four decades in the academic and professional realms of international relations.
Originally from Czechoslovakia, Albright's family was forced to flee both fascism and communism before she turned 12. Her father's ties to the Czech democrats forced the family into exile following the 1938 Munich Agreement and Adolf Hitler's occupation of Czechoslovakia. They spent 10 days in hiding before leaving for Great Britain.
