Lady "America"
On 21 July 2024, US President Joe Biden heeded the pleas of his fellow party members and, four months before the election, withdrew his candidacy for the presidency. The sitting US president announced this on the social media platform X, stating that he was stepping down from the election in the interest of the Democratic Party and the American people. In his address, Biden also mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris, highlighting her extraordinary abilities and unequivocally hinting that he sees her as the most likely candidate from the Democrats.
Whether Kamala Harris will be able to provide worthy competition to Donald Trump in light of recent events remains to be seen. After all, she is not the first and will not be the last lady who may gain power in the world's leading economic and military state.
Madeleine Korbel Albright
Source: State.gov
Or Marie Jana Korbelova, the name given to the future American diplomat and politician born in Prague, who became the first woman in US history to hold the position of Secretary of State (1997-2001) and the position of US Permanent Representative to the UN (1993-1997). Albright's parents, Bohemian Jews, fled Czechoslovakia twice - first in 1939, and then in 1948 with the arrival of the Soviet occupation regime, as Madeleine's father, Josef Korbel, worked as a diplomat. In 1959, already in the United States, Madeleine Albright earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Wellesley College and a PhD in 1975. Madeleine entered big politics in 1972, joining the team of Democratic Senator Edmund Muskie. By the late 70s, she was already working in the office of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's advisor. In 1992, Madeleine Albright became an advisor to Bill Clinton, and after his inauguration, she was appointed as the US Permanent Representative to the UN, entering into a tough, long-standing confrontation with then-UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. The peak of her political career came with her appointment as Secretary of State in the Clinton administration in 1997. Albright was a classic "hawk," a proponent of a tough US foreign policy course, including the use of military force. She promoted sanctions against Iraq and had no qualms about the bombing of Yugoslavia. Albright's unique feature was her jewellery - brooches that the Secretary of State would pin to her jackets and dresses, always carrying not only aesthetic but also political significance. Her brooches, like the one shaped like a missile or an eagle symbolizing US military power, were noteworthy. The day before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Albright's column in The New York Times argued that an attack on a neighbouring country would be a fatal historical mistake for Moscow.
Hillary Clinton
Source: State.gov
The First Lady of the United States (1993-2001), Secretary of State (2009-2013), and the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton could have drastically influenced the current political crisis in America had she not lost to Donald Trump then. Most political analysts agree that while Clinton might not have been an outstanding US president (although she certainly would have been the first woman in that office), her very election would have rendered an invaluable service to both Democrats and Republicans by neutralizing the main American political joker and "agent of chaos" - Donald Trump. Losing the 2016 election, Trump, a narcissist and pragmatist, likely would not have repeated the unsuccessful experience and gradually retired from big politics to the business sphere. For her husband, Bill Clinton, Hillary was always a classic "reliable back" - both during his governorship and presidency. Even the famous scandal with Monica Lewinsky did not affect her composure - only a year before the end of her husband's term did Hillary start her political career. She served as a senator from the Democrats for eight years and then became the third female US Secretary of State. Following her defeat in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton wrote a book titled "What Happened" and created the political organisation Onward Together, aimed at public opposition to Trump.
Condoleezza Rice
Source: State.gov
In addition to the classical education of the time - music, dance, literature - the daughter of a black Presbyterian minister, Condoleezza Rice, was involved in the fight against racial discrimination from a young age. Public activism eventually outweighed her youthful passions (the future Secretary of State intended to become a professional pianist, and even her name, Condoleezza, is derived from an Italian musical notation), and young Rice pursued a political path, earning a bachelor's degree in 1974 and then a master's degree in political science. During her PhD studies, Condoleezza visited socialist countries - Poland and the USSR, and her foundation for future work with Warsaw Pact countries was laid by Josef Korbel, Madeleine Albright's father, who Condoleezza called "one of the most important figures" in her life. Understanding the specifics of life and the political system of socialist countries later helped Condoleezza as an advisor to President George H. W. Bush on Soviet and Eastern European affairs during the difficult period of the Soviet Union's collapse and Germany's reunification. Her political career, interrupted by several years of academic work at Stanford University on the political science faculty, proved more than successful - in 2000, Rice became the National Security Advisor, and in 2004, the first black female Secretary of State in the US. Her political activity years coincided with a difficult period - the Gulf War, strained relations with Cuba, and the development of new policies with Russia, but Rice consistently "held her ground." In 2004-05, Forbes placed her at the top of the world's most powerful women ranking, and in 2008 a public movement called Draft Condi emerged, aiming to nominate Condoleezza Rice for the US presidency.
Oprah Winfrey
Source: Oprah.com
The only non-politician on the list, Oprah Winfrey could compete in influence and media presence with the First Ladies of the United States, and in wealth with many male pop stars. Born out of wedlock, having experienced abuse and the hardships of a poor life, Oprah channelled all her pain and anger into a constructive direction, becoming the first black female billionaire in history (as of 2021, her fortune was estimated at $2.6 billion), America's most popular TV host, a public figure, and media mogul. Television was her passion from a young age. While studying at the University of Tennessee, she started working as a reporter for CBS, and real fame came to her at 22 when she worked as the host of the morning talk show "People Are Talking" - her show's ratings were so high that within 10 years she became a federal television star, and in 1986 she launched her famous "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which lasted a quarter of a century. But even after her main show's closure and several unsuccessful projects with Disney, Oprah did not end up on the sidelines - she owns her own film studio, O, The Oprah Magazine, the top media resource Oprah.com, the cable channel OWN, and her radio network. For her public activities in education and the protection of black people's rights, Oprah received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2013 and was repeatedly ranked by Forbes as one of the world's most influential celebrities.
Kamala Harris
Source: Facebook
A successful professional lawyer (Attorney General of California and later a senator from the same state), the daughter of immigrants to the United States (her mother was a biomedical scientist from India, and her father an economics professor from Jamaica), Kamala Harris became a presidential candidate after Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. To be fair, it should be noted that the first woman, the first black female politician, and the first politician of Asian descent to hold the vice president position in US history already held the highest office in America. On November 19, 2021, while Joe Biden was under anaesthesia due to health issues, Kamala Harris was given the powers of the US president for 85 minutes, so it can be said that the spot of the first female president in the future ranking is already reserved for her. Kamala Harris's opponents, especially from the ultra-right Republican bloc, actively spread rumours about the possible presidential candidate's low IQ and her complex and tough character, which causes constant staff turnover in Harris's team. In response, one might ask the Trump supporters - where have you seen compliant prosecutors? And can a person who led the judicial district of the most populous US state for six years be unintelligent? Besides her legal and senatorial activities, Kamala served on four Senate committees in 2016, including the budget and intelligence special committees. Her stance on US domestic and foreign policy is also of interest. On the domestic agenda, she fiercely advocates for women's abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, increased gun control (here Trump should ponder and scratch his head), marijuana legalization, and the abolition of the federal death penalty. On foreign policy issues, Kamala Harris promises to support Ukraine in its war against Russia "as long as necessary," advocates strengthening the US's relations with NATO's European allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region, and her position on the Middle East is ambiguous - on one hand, supporting Israel in defending its borders, on the other, calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza.