Colin Powell, the first black United Statesā Secretary of State and top military officer, passed away on Monday at the age of 84 from COVID-19 complications, his family mentioned in a statement.
“He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” Mr. Powell’s family wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
A four-star Army general, he was also the chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War in which U.S.-led forces expelled Iraqi troops from neighboring Kuwait.
Mr. Powell, a moderate Republican and a pragmatist, later served as Secretary of State under President George W. Bush.
Though Powell never mounted a White House bid, when he was sworn in as Bush’s secretary of state in 2001, he became the highest-ranking Black public official to date in the country, standing fourth in the presidential line of succession.
“I think it shows to the world what is possible in this country,” PowellĀ spokeĀ of his history-making nomination during his Senate confirmation hearing.
“It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning, if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval.”
He was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser when it was the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
He was also the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War.
At a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States.
Although, his reputation would be forever stained when, as George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a “blot” on his record.
George H.W. Bush mentioned in a statement on Monday that Powell was “a great public servant” who was “such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend.”