U.S. Foreign Policy People

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad was born March 22, 1951 in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. He became a U.S. citizen in 1984. He is the first Muslim to serve in an American presidential cabinet.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was born May 27, 1923 in Germany. His Jewish family fled Nazi persecution and arrived in New York City in 1938. He later became a U.S. citizen and received bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. He served as National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his work on negotiations to end the Vietnam War.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was born August 29, 1936, on American territory in the Panama Canal Zone. His father and grandfather both served as admirals in the U.S. Navy. McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and entered active military service where he eventually became a combat pilot in Vietnam. He was shot down in 1967 and served five and half years as a prisoner of war. In 1982 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1st district of Arizona, and in 1986 he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) was born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. In Chicago he organized job training programs and voter registration drives. He also worked on civil rights issues and taught at the University of Chicago Law School before his election to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Senator Obama is widely known for his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his best-selling biography, Dreams of My Father.

General David Petraeus was born November 7, 1952. He grew up in Cornwall on Hudson, New York, fifty miles north of New York City. He is consistently described as one of America's most impressive military leaders. In early 2007, President George Bush placed him in command of allied forces in Iraq and in 2008 made him head of U.S. Central Command.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was born in New York City in 1937. He received a bachelor's degree from City College of New York and a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University. In 1958, he entered the U.S. Army. Powell served two tours of duty in Vietnam where he earned the Purple Heart and other combat medals. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1979 and reached the rank of four-star general by 1989.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was born November 14, 1954, in Birmingham, Alabama. Her father was a Presbyterian minister, and she grew up in the midst of America's civil rights movement. She served as national security adviser for President George W. Bush and as provost of Stanford University.

Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) was born November 15, 1947 in Pasadena, California. He graduated from Tufts University and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He spent 14 years as a member of Congress from New Mexico. Thompson served in the Clinton Administration as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy. In 2002, he was elected governor of New Mexico.