Powell, Colin Luther (1937– )

US general, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1989–93, and US secretary of state 2001–04. A Vietnam War veteran, he first worked in government in 1972 and was national security adviser 1987–89. As chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was responsible for the overall administration of the Allied forces in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War of 1991. In December 2000 he was appointed the first African-American secretary of state by president-elect George W Bush. He was generally seen as a moderating influence on the hawkish elements of the administration, led by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and favoured working with international partners rather than unilaterally.

Powell was born in New York City, the son of Jamaican immigrants; he joined the army in the 1950s, was sent to Vietnam in 1962 and volunteered to return in 1968. He worked for Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci at the Office of Management and Budget in 1972, before being posted to Korea in 1973.

He returned to Washington as assistant to Carlucci at the Defense Department 1981–83 and as adviser to Weinberger 1983–86 and was promoted to general. After a year in West Germany he was recalled to Washington following the Irangate scandal, first as assistant to Carlucci and then replacing him as national security adviser. In 1989 he was made a four-star general and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position from which he retired in 1993. He was the first African American to hold this position.