| Year |
Date |
Time |
Event |
| 1963 |
September 15 |
10:24 AM |
A school friend and three other
young girls are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham, AL |
| 1964-1965 |
|
|
First black student to attend music
classes at Birmingham Southern Conservatory of Music |
| 1969 |
|
|
Moves to Denver, CO and attends an
integrated school for the first time |
| 1971 |
|
|
Graduates from high school and
completes first year of university at the same time |
| 1973 |
Spring |
|
Takes course “Introduction to
International Politics” given by Josef Korbel (Madeleine Albright’s father)
which fueled her passion in Russian affairs; Korbel becomes a mentor |
| 1974 |
|
|
Graduates cum laude from the
University of Denver at age 19; in the autumn, she enters Notre Dame |
| 1975 |
August 8 |
|
Receives an M.A. in government from
Notre Dame University and is guest commencement speaker. She moves back to
Denver after graduation. Later that year she registers as a Democrat and
votes for Jimmy Carter. |
| 1979 |
December |
|
Switches party affiliation from
Democrat to Republican when she disagrees with Jimmy Carter’s reaction to
the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. |
|
1981 |
August 14 |
|
Earns Ph.D. in international
studies from the University of Denver; shortly afterwards she is appointed
assistant professor of political science at Stanford University |
|
1984 |
|
|
“Uncertain Allegiance: The
Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army 1948-1963” is published. On June 17,
1984, she is awarded the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching,
Stanford’s highest honor to instructors. |
| 1985 |
|
|
Awarded a National Fellowship from
the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, allowing her to spend a
year in research. Her mother dies of breast cancer |
| 1986 |
|
|
“The Gorbachev Era,” co-written
with Alexander Dallin, is published |
| 1986-1987 |
|
|
Serves as special assistant to the
director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon |
| 1987 |
|
|
Promoted to associate professor of
political science at Stanford |
| 1988 |
April |
|
Travels to the USSR to give a
speech at the American embassy |
| 1989 |
January |
|
Under George H. W. Bush’s National
Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, she becomes director of Soviet and East
European affairs at the National Security Council. Four months later, she
became senior director for Soviet affairs and Special assistant to the
president for national security affairs. |
| 1989 |
December 1 |
|
Joins Brent Scowcroft and President
G.H.W. Bush at the Malta Summit where they met Mikhail Gorbachev for the
first time |
|
1991 |
March, |
|
Returns to academic life at
Stanford; that year, she joins Boards of Directors at three major
corporations: Chevron (oil), TransAmerica (insurance), and Hewlett-Packard
(technology) |
| 1992 |
|
|
Addresses the Republican National
Convention in Houston |
|
1993 |
May |
|
Promoted to full professor at
Stanford |
| 1993 |
September |
|
Becomes provost of
Stanford |
| 1994 |
|
|
Elected to the Board of Trustees at the
University of Notre Dame |
| 1995 |
|
|
“Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A
Study in Statecraft,” co-authored with Philip Zelikow, is published by
Harvard University Press and wins critical acclaim in its field. The book
won the Akira Iriye International History book Award for 1994-95, was
co-winner of the 1996 Book of Distinction on American Diplomacy, and was
awarded a Citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club of America |
| 1995 |
|
|
Joins Board of Directors at J.P.
Morgan (investment banking) |
|
1999 |
|
|
Joins Board of Directors at Charles
Schwab (financial services) |
| 1999 |
July 1 |
|
Steps down from position of provost
of Stanford for a one-year leave of absence; reenters the Hoover Institute
and becomes foreign policy advisor for George W. Bush’s campaign |
| 2000 |
|
|
Again addresses Republican National
Convention |
|
2000 |
December |
|
President-elect Bush appoints her
national security advisor |
|
2000 |
December 24 |
|
Father dies at age 77, following a
heart attack in spring 2000 and generally failing health |
| 2001 |
January |
|
Sworn in as national security
advisor, the first woman and second African-American in the post |
|
2002 |
February 23 |
|
Is awarded the NAACP President’s
Award |
| 2002 |
April 24 |
|
Playing piano, she accompanies
cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Brahms piece performed at the National Medal of Arts
Ceremony |
| 2004 |
April 8 |
9 AM |
Appears before the 9/11 Commission
under oath in Washington, DC |
