Birmingham, Ala., native and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was honored at West Point on Monday with the U.S. Military Academy’s Thayer Award, which is presented to individuals who have served the United States by embodying the Academy’s motty of “Duty, Honor, Country.”
“For more than three decades and during some of America’s more trying times, she has participated in shaping our Nation’s development and implementation of foreign policy and national security strategies,” the award’s citation reads. “Interspersed with government service, Dr. Rice’s contributions within America’s academic, corporate, and social spheres have been far-reaching and, at times, groundbreaking.”
According to Politico, the award is named for Col. Sylvanus Thayer, who is known as the “Father of the Military Academy” and served as its fifth superintendent.
Rice’s extensive resume includes time as special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Soviet and East European advisor for the National Security Council; National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush; provost at Stanford University; and her current role as a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She is also an accomplished musician and author, and serves on the first ever College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
According to Politico, “other past recipients of the Thayer Award include Sandra Day O’Connor, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Kissinger, Barbara Jordon, Walter Cronkite, Colin Powell and Bob Hope.”
(h/t Politico)
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