Colin Powell, Four-Star General And Former Secretary Of State, Dies At 84 From COVID-19 Complications

Colin Powell, the four-star general who made history as the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Secretary of State, died Monday morning from complications related to COVID-19.

Powell, 84, passed away at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., According to a statement released by his family, he was fully vaccinated; the family did not elaborate on the circumstances that led to his passing.

A Military Career: Colin Luther Powell was born April 5, 1937, in the Harlem section of New York City, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He was raised in the South Bronx and was educated in the public school system, earning a B.S. in geology from City College of New York in 1958.

Powell participated in the ROTC while in college and earned a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, suffering a severe injury to his foot on his first tour and surviving a helicopter crash on his second tour.

In late 1968, Powell was also tasked with investigating claims made by Tom Glen, a 21-year-old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, regarding the violent treatment of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops. Powell refuted Glen’s claims and would conclude that “relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent” — a conclusion that would be contradicted when the full scope of the My Lai Massacre became public knowledge.

The Political Soldier: Powell had his first encounter with Washington politics in 1972 when he undertook a one-year White House Fellowship during the Nixon administration. In the Reagan White House, he became senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and provided advice on the administration’s 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1986 airstrike on Libya.

President Ronald Reagan named Powell to be his National Security Advisor in 1987. When George H.W. Bush became president, Powell was promoted to four-star general and was named to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Bush administration conducted two international military missions, the 1989 invasion of Panama and the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and Powell’s role in orchestrating both missions were widely praised.

Powell continued with the Joint Chiefs of Staff into the Clinton administration, but resigned in September 1993 after repeated clashes with a White House that didn't share his political and military opinions.

Powell authored his autobiography “My American Journey” in 1995 and founded the nonprofit America’s Promise in 1997. He also swatted away efforts to recruit him as a Republican candidate for either president or vice president in the 1996 and 2000 elections.

The World Stage: Powell returned to the White House in 2001 as President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State. He was one of the most forceful advocates for Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, most notably with a vigorous presentation before the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 where he insisted Saddam Hussein’s regime was hiding weapons of mass destruction. In the aftermath of the invasion and occupation of Iraq when no weapons were found, Powell grimly acknowledged the error of his presentation by calling it a "blot" on his record.

As a political moderate, Powell was often at odds with the neoconservative elements within the Bush White House, particularly when he bluntly declared the murder of Darfuri civilians in Western Sudan as a "genocide" when the administration repeatedly sought to avoid that description. He resigned after Bush’s 2004 re-election amid reports that he was forced out of his job by administration officials who felt he was out of touch with the administration's goals.

Later Years: After leaving the State Department, Powell would find himself at odds with Republican Party policies and leadership, openly criticizing the Bush administration’s handling of the response to Hurricane Katrina and privately expressing his unhappiness to several prominent GOP senators over Bush’s plans to name John R. Bolton as United Nations ambassador. The president was forced to install Bolton by a recess appointment when the Senate balked at the nomination.

Powell broke with his party to endorse Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. After the election, there was speculation Obama would name Powell to a cabinet position, but he wasn't asked to join that administration. Despite the snub, Powell endorsed Obama’s re-election bid in 2012.

Powell was bitterly opposed to Donald Trump’s presidential bid in 2016 and re-election attempt in 2020 and had no problems sharing his disdain while endorsing Trump's Democratic rivals; he addressed the 2020 Democratic National Convention to voice his support for Joe Biden’s campaign. Powell issued a statement announcing his departure from the Republican Party following the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.

Powell held directorships on the boards of the Council of Foreign Relations, Revolution Heath Group and Salesforce CRM. He also authored the 2012 book “It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership.”

Powell is survived by his wife Alma Johnson Powell, who chairs the America’s Promise nonprofit, and three children.

Photo: Powell addressing the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon in 1993; photo courtesy of the National Archives.