Colin Powell Portrait Unveiled to Tears and Cheers
Gen. Colin Powell returned to the State Department Monday for an emotional unveiling of his official Secretary of State portrait. Powell and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presided over the unveiling of the portrait, which will hang with those of the other former secretaries of State in the secretary’s suite of offices.
When Powell was introduced to speak in the Ben Franklin room on the top floor at the department, the crowd cheered and applauded loudly.
Powell was surrounded his immediate family — wife Alma Powell, daughter Linda Powell, son Michael Powell, daughter-in-law Jane Powell, two of his four grandchildren, cousins and other extended family from New York.
“I consider it one of the greatest honors and privileges I have ever had in my life to have been given the opportunity to be the secretary of State and to lead the wonderful men and women of the State Department as they go about their work,” said Powell.
“And I thank each and every one of them from the bottom of my heart, and I thank President Bush for having given me that opportunity.”
Also on hand were his childhood friends from the Bronx and ROTC, and longtime buddies from his 35-year career in the Army.
Former staff and colleagues swapped stories of job interviews 30 years ago, along with photos of children and grandchildren.
Among those who came to honor Powell — former colleagues and political allies from his days as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Adviser — were former Secretaries of Defense Don Rumsfeld and Bill Cohen; former White House Chiefs of Staff Ken Duberstein and Andy Card; Sen. Dick Lugar; former Sen. John Warner; and President Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod.
Two of his closest allies came from abroad to celebrate — former ministers of foreign affairs Joschka Fischer of Germany and Igor Ivanov of Russia.
Powell’s former staff – both political and career, high and low level — remain fiercely loyal to him. They called the event a “family reunion” rather than a ceremony.
They included Grant Greene, Mitchell Reiss, Richard Haas, Chris Burnham, Stuart Holliday, LeslieLautenslager, Peggy Cifrino, Tom Murphy, Adam Garfinkle, Ben Chang, Sheila Dyson and Kia Coleman.
Members or former members of the media invited by Powell included ABC’s Sam Donaldsonand Diane Sawyer; NBC’s Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell and Joe Scarborough; former ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel; CNN’s Wolf Blitzer; and PBS’s Charlie Rose.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to look at the Powell portrait during her remarks and said, “I assume you’ve seen it, Colin, or we would not be here.”
“No,” Powell shook his head.
“You haven’t seen it?” Clinton said to a laughing audience. ”Well, did I mention how gutsy Colin Powell is? Able to accept the unknown and go forward,” she said jokingly.
In fact, Powell had not previously seen the portrait by artist Steven Polson, which was revealed when members of the military raised a velvet curtain in front of it.
After the military unveiling of his portrait, Powell told the crowd: “I remind myself of this every day as I think about my parents,” Powell said, referring to his Jamaican immigrant parents, both deceased. “I think about the great diversity that is America. What a wonderful country God has given to us . . . and what we have done with it is remarkable, and the best is yet ahead as long as we remain open, as long as we touch the rest of the world.”
Powell’s eyes welled up as he recounted a recent conversation with a hot dog vendor in New York. The man, recognizing Powell, refused money, saying: ”No, General. You don’t have to pay me . . . I’ve already been paid. America has paid me. I’m here. I’ll never forget where I came from, but now I’m an American. My children are American. So, General, I have been paid. Thank you. Please take the hot dog.”
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