cannes they re suppresses the body s immune response. powell held a variety of critically important roles in his lifetime of service to the united states secretary of state, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and four-star u.s. army general. his leadership in several republican administrations helped shape american foreign policy over the last four decades. at one point, he was considered a potential leading presidential candidate. but his story is also a complicated one marked by his speech before the united nations in 2003 to make the case for the invasion of iraq citing faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. he would later call that decision a blot on his record. cnn s wolf blitzer looks back at the incredible life and career of general powell. i will never not be a soldier. reporter: colin powell, a soldier turned statesman made history on many fronts, the first african-american and youngest of the joint chiefs of staff and later the first africa
earlier today defense secretary lloyd austin offered his own heart felt reaction. i lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor. i feel as if i have a hole in my heart just learning of this just recently. first african-american chairman of the joint chiefs, first african-american secretary of state, a man who was respected around the globe and who will be quite frankly it is not possible to replace a colin powell. harris: loved and respected by so many. robert will key former trump secretary who served with general powell in the bush administration and family friend of the powells is standing by. first david spunt is reporting live from the white house. colin powell s family made the announcement on facebook a little more than three hours ago. we have yet to hear from president biden here at the white house. i m told there will be a statement coming at some point on paper. we don t know exactly when it will happen. as you heard from secretary austin there we ll also he
Could and should lead with confidence and humility and that the world was safer when the united states was engaged and its allies and partners were united. future military leaders and diplomats will study colin powell s work like the powell doctrine that hammered out criteria for when and how the united states should use force and his support for expeditionary diplomacy, diplomats and military working together to bring stability to high-threat environments. he was a man. ideas, but he wasn t ideological. he was constantly listening, learning, adapting. he could admit mistakes. it was just another example of his integrity. as is probably evident by now, i was a huge admirer of secretary powell s. i always will be, and he was very generous with me. this past of fourth of july we spent a few precious hours together talking about the state department, discussing all the challenges we re confronting
Elevator, he would pull others on with him. he didn t bother with formalities and he wasn t overly concerned with hierarchy either. he wanted to hear from everyone. he walked around the building, dropping into offices unannounced, asking what people needed, making sure they knew he was counting on them. secretary powell was simply and completely a leader, and he knew how to build a strong and united team. he treated people the way he expected them to treat each other, and he made sure that they knew he would always have their back. the result was that his people would walk through walls for him. secretary powell s career in the u.s. military is legendary. as a teenager at the city college of new york not far from where we grew up in the south bronx he joined rotc and after graduation became an army overs. for 35 years he was a
Our nation people can rise as far as their talent, their capacities, their dreams and their discipline will carry them. after that career, colin powell could have enjoyed a quieter life, maybe dedicating himself full-time to the organization he founded, america s promise, to help young people from underrepresented communities like the one where he grew up. instead, he started a new career in diplomacy, and i believe secretary powell s years as a soldier are what made him such an exceptional diplomat. he knew that war and military action should always be a last resort, and to make that so we need our diplomacy to be as robust and well resourced as possible. he called for increased funding for state which then, as now was just a fraction of the pentagon s budget. he modernized the state department, putting a computer on every desk, and he believed deeply that america was an exceptional nation, that we