SS-23: Read my Pins: Madeline Albright's Spicy Messages of Diplomacy
Shortly after becoming a diplomat, Madeline Albright discovered the power of jewelry to convey foreign policy messages. Brooches became her diplomatic signature style.
"As far back as I can remember, I have loved pins. My mother wore them often, so I grew up thinking they were a stylish and fun way to show off your personality. But it wasn't until I became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993 that I realized jewelry could take on a whole new meaning," Madeleine Albright once shared.
Madeleine K. Albright had an extraordinary career as a professor, author, diplomat, ambassador, and businesswoman. In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed her the first female to represent the USA in foreign affairs as the Secretary of State. At that time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government.
During her tenure, few women were involved in international negotiations or served as representatives in the United Nations. Albright was the only woman on the entire Security Council.
As Ambassador to the United Nations, Albright recalls that after the 1991 Persian Gulf War cease-fire, my job was to ensure that the sanctions on Iraq remained intact. I criticized Saddam Hussein daily for invading Kuwait and defying resolutions. One day, the Iraqi press called me an "unparalleled serpent," so I had the idea to wear a snake pin to my next meeting with Iraqi officials. When journalists asked about it, I smiled and said it was my way of sending a message.
Since that moment, she began wearing pins selected for their symbolic value, using each as a unique and powerful form of diplomatic communication.
She continues to say: "On good days when I wanted to project prosperity and happiness, I'd put on suns, ladybugs, flowers, and hot-air balloons that signified high hopes. On bad days, I'd reach for spiders and carnivorous animals. If the progress were slower than I liked during a meeting in the Middle East, I'd wear a snail pin. And when I was dealing with crabby people, I put on a crab.
Other ambassadors started to notice, and whenever they asked me what I was up to on any given day, I would tell them, “Read my Pins."
When Madeline Albright became Secretary of State in 1997, she became more deliberate in using the symbolism of her pins. Representing the United States, it was crucial to look dignified, but she also loved dressing like a woman, and the pins helped inject humor, personality, and messaging into very serious times. She admits she had a lot of fun with them, especially trying to figure out how much her messages were received.
Every pin choice she chose had a story behind it. Here are a few examples:
Plane Shot Down Between Cuba & Florida
A bluebird pin reinforced Ambassador Albright's approach to sending messages with her jewelry. On Feb 24, 1996, a Cuban fighter pilot shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft over international waters between Cuba and Florida. In their official transcripts, the pilots boasted about destroying the cojones of their victims. Albright immediately denounced the murders, saying: "This is not cojones, it is cowardice." She also wore her blue bird pin with its head pointing down, in mourning for the four Cuban-American fliers killed in the tragedy.
Meeting with Yasser Arafat
As Secretary of State, Albright spent many hours wrangling with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the need for compromise in the Middle East. Once, she wore a bee pin to meet with Arafat because, as she put it, "bees sting, and I needed to deliver a sharp message."
Meeting with Igor Ivanov
Vladimir Putin confided to Bill Clinton that Russian diplomats routinely checked to see which brooch Albright was wearing. On the first day of difficult discussions involving nuclear arms, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov looked at her arrow-like pin for the day and inquired, "Is that one of your interceptor missiles?" She replied, "Yes, and as you can see, we know how to make them very small. So you'd better be ready to negotiate."
Leah Rabin Gift
One of Madeline Albright's favorite pins was a gold dove given by Leah Rabin, widow of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995. She started wearing it whenever she gave speeches on the Middle East. Later, when she was in Jerusalem, Leah Rabin sent a necklace with gold doves and a note saying, "It takes more than one dove to make peace in the Middle East."
Albright's creative use of pins became a hallmark of her diplomatic style, leaving a lasting legacy on how her expression influenced international relations.
Consider how adding unique items to your wardrobe can enhance your signature style and convey meaningful messages.
To learn about The Madeline Albright Collection READ MY PINS, go to readmypins.state.gov