In the 20th and 21st century, freedom had no greater champion than Madeleine Korbel Albright," said President Joe Biden
Madeleine Albright, the country's most powerful Democrat in a quarter of a century, world leaders, friends and family, celebrates the life of the country's first female Secretary of State, who arrived in the United States as a young girl from war-torn Czechoslovakia.
Albright died on March 23 at the age of 84 after battling cancer and leaving a legacy as a defender of democracy, human rights and peace whose journey out of war-torn Europe embodied American history.
"In the 20th and 21st century, freedom had no greater champion than Madeleine Korbel Albright," said President Joe Biden, eulogizing Albright at her funeral at Washington National Cathedral. He called Albright a "force of nature" who through "goodness, grace and humanity turned the tide of history..
"Madeline understood her story was America's story," Biden said. "She loved to speak about America as the indispensable nation to her. The phrase was never a statement of arrogance. It was about gratitude for all this country made possible for her."