Colin Luther Powell is a retired four-star general in the United States Army and a United States statesman. From 2001 to 2Colin Luther Powell is a retired four-star general in the United States Army and a United States statesman.
From 2001 to 2005 he was serving under President George W. Bush as the 65th United States Secretary of State. In fact, he was the first “African American appointed to that position”, as stated on Colin Powell (2011). Moreover, Colin Powell is a veteran of the Vietnam War. His personality is vitally important for the history of United States because of many reasons.
He was the first to do and to prove a lot of state affairs. It follows that in order to understand his personality better, it is crucial to know his origins and preconditions for him to become a person he is, in addition to learning what exactly he has done during his life.
Early Years
As it is known, the personality comes from the childhood. Colin Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in New York’s neighborhood of Harlem in the family of Jamaican immigrants. He grew up and graduated from public school in the South Bronx.
After graduating, contrary to many of his peers, Colin Powell did not have any aspirations or ambitions in life. The justice should be done to his parents who made him study in college, because exactly there he understood his real calling.
While doing his studies on geology at City College of New York, Colin Powell joined Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and soon became commander of his unit. Granted to practicing military activities at college, he found his direction in life, which was military career. (Colin Powell, 2011).
Military Service and Vietnam War
In 1958, after college graduation, Colin Powell was commissioned to the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. When serving in the army, due to his conscientiousness, he “managed to make a favorable impression on his superiors”, according to Brown & Wagner (2005, p. 29).
Thus, he was assigned to be a battalion adjutant. Powell suited well to this job owing to his natural openness. As far as he was rather successful military man and it was in time of Vietnam War, when Colin Powell was sent to “serve as an adviser to a South Vietnamese infantry battalion patrolling the jungles along the Laos border” (Brown & Wagner, 2005, p. 31).
There he got wounded, and additionally, after returning from his first tour of duty, Powell was awarded the combat decoration the Purple Heart. Moreover, a year later he was given his second decoration – a Bronze Star (Colin Powell, 2011).
He was called up to his second tour of duty in Vietnam. During this tour, Powell was injured as well, in a helicopter crash. However, even his injury did not prevent him from rescuing his comrades. Consequently, for this feat he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal.
On the whole, over his entire military career, according to Colin Powell (2011), he “has received 11 military decorations, including the Legion of Merit.” Of course, he was prone to extraversion, because he was concerned with his military success and seemed to be an unflagging person on his way to reaching his aim to become a lieutenant colonel.
Years after the Vietnam War
After the war, Colin Powell has managed to achieve a lot. In addition to earning MBA, he won a White House fellowship. Still, before he got a staff job at the Pentagon, he had to go to a duty tour to Korea.
The following years, under different presidents, Powell was holding the major state positions including national security adviser under Reagan, under the administration of George W. Bush he was a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and some months under Clinton administration, as well.
Usually Powell was loyal to the administrations he was working for. Nevertheless, he expressed a disagreement with Clinton on the issue of letting gays join into the U.S. Army. In fact, it was not the neuroticism he showed off, but the strong opinion on the issue (Colin Powell, 2011).
What Powell Is Known For
Firstly, Colin Powell is known for a successful “peacekeeping expedition to Haiti, which resulted in the end of military rule and a peaceful return to elected government in that country” (Colin Powell, 2011). Certainly, it is Powell’s agreeableness that helped him successfully conduct and finish negotiations.
Secondly, his most well-known act was conducting the Persian Gulf War. Initially, Colin Powell was not sure about the necessity of invading Iraqi and overthrowing Saddam Hussein (Brown & Wagner, 2005, p. 31). As a real fellow-fighter, at last he supported Bush’s campaign in Iraqi.
Moreover, he presented this operation to Congress in a way that all the country agreed to such state of affairs. Furthermore, “[f]or the remainder of Bush’s first term, Colin Powell tried to establish an international coalition to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq” (Colin Powell, 2011).
Simply put, Colin Powell, during the prime of his military and state career has been holding a variety of posts. While having three tours of duty, two of which were to Vietnam War, he managed to accomplish feats for which he was awarded 11 military decorations.
Additionally, Powell has made a bright and fast military career, despite the fact of being African American. He is also known for being a strong Army leader with the ability of working under different administration. Still, he has never hidden his personal position.
Colin Powell’s humanity made him work long time on rebuilding Iraqi after making a military takeover. As a personality, he has always been inspiring many people with his leadership.
References
Brown, W., & Wagner L. H. (2005). Colin Powell: soldier and statesman. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.
Colin Powell. (2011). Biography.com. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/political-figure/colin-powell