‘Condi’ Rice: Presbyterian
with faith, political mettle
By John H. Adams
The Presbyterian Layman
Volume 33, Number 6
Posted November 22, 2000
In August, George Will wrote a column about Condoleezza Rice. It was mostly quotes. Anybody who has read Will’s books or columns knows well that he rarely yields his pen to repeat what others say. But Condoleezza Rice is not just another subject to be parsed by the pundits. She is quotable.
She is also 45, single, black, attractive, Southern, Republican, evangelical, Presbyterian, an expert on Russia, a classical pianist and wannabe commissioner, yes indeed, of the National Football League. In short, she is multi-talented – a conservative who conquers with charm and a mind of steel.
Few believe she will use her velvet glove to handle the brutes in the NFL; she has become such a political luminary that she could also become, in the vernacular of baseball – another of her passions – a doubleheader: the first woman president of the United States and the first black president of the United States.
On most Sundays, she takes a seat in a pew at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, near Stanford University where she was a political science professor on tenure track and later served as provost, from age 39 to 44, when she resigned to help in the Bush campaign. Otherwise, she’s on the run, speaking expertly on international affairs, especially eastern Europe, and showing a political mettle that began to draw national attention when she made a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention.
“Condi” Rice worked for President George W. Bush in the White House two years as assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Soviet affairs at the National Security Council. She and George W. share a slew of interests: physical fitness, Major League baseball, professional football, politics and their evangelical faith. Neither is a shrinking violet when it comes professing faith in Christ.
In grit and talent, Rice is no Condi-come-lately. Her destiny’s tracks were shaped by a paternal grandfather who in 1918 wanted an education and sold enough cotton to pay for one year at Stillman College in Alabama, a Presbyterian school for blacks.
“After the first year, he ran out of cotton and he needed a way to pay for college,” Rice said, retelling the story during the GOP convention. “Praise be, as he often does, God gave him an answer. My grandfather asked how those other boys were staying in school, and he was told that they had what was called a scholarship. And they said, ‘If you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, then you can have one, too.’ Granddaddy Rice said, ‘That’s just what I had in mind.’ And my family has been Presbyterian and college-educated ever since.” There is a reason her favorite Gospel song is His Eye Is on the Sparrow.
Her name fits. Condoleezza comes from the Italian musical term con dolcezza, to perform with sweetness. That has marked her political and academic career. Yet she is a force to be reckoned with. Chevron recognizes that quality. It christened one of its oil tankers The Condoleezza Rice. It has not run aground.
Upon leaving the security of Stanford to join the Bush campaign, Rice was the toast of the campus at several events in her honor. She was asked about heading into a future that is uncertain. “Ambiguity has never bothered me at all,” she said. “I think that part of it is that I’m pretty religious, and that probably helps to make one less fearful and more optimistic about what’s possible.”
Born in Birmingham, Rice holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, a master’s degree from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. Although once told in Birmingham that she was not “college material,” she skipped two years of grade school and graduated from the University of Denver at age 19.
Before working at the White House, she taught political science at Stanford and won a raft of teaching awards.
Today, Rice is a fellow of the Hoover Institute on the Stanford campus, which keeps her connected to the academic community while she travels for and advises Bush. But she is not an academic high-brow immune to common-sense arguments about politics. In one interview, she declared point-blank that she favors the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms). She explained: During the days of the civil rights movement, many blacks in Birmingham who were not taking part in demonstrations and thereby not committed to nonviolence believed they had the right to defend themselves if attacked.
Rice did grow up in Jim Crow Alabama. And she lost a childhood friend in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. But her family lived on the quiet side of the civil rights revolution. Her father was a Republican and dean of Stillman, later to become the assistant chancellor of the University of Denver. Her mother taught music and science.
Rice began college as a music major, planning to become a concert pianist. But an international relations class taught by Madeleine Albright’s father sidetracked her into Soviet studies. (Music has not been exiled, however. She performs at recitals and spends a week every summer at a piano camp in Montana, playing Brahms for 12 hours a day.)
Rice characterizes herself as an “all-over-the-map Republican.” She says she is “very conservative” in foreign policy, “ultra-conservative” in other areas, “almost shockingly libertarian” on some issues, “moderate” on others, and “liberal” on probably nothing.
She has declared several times that her dream job is NFL commissioner, which prompted the current commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, to ask her why she was angling for his job. “Not to worry,” she said, “but let me know when you’re thinking of retiring.”
Rice is often asked whether her color and sex are advantages or disadvantages. “I don’t spend too much time thinking about it,” she said in an interview by The National Review. “I can’t go back and recreate myself as a white male.”
She identifies with black leaders and their causes, but not in anger. “I have a very, very powerful faith in God. I’m a really religious person, and I don’t believe that I was put on this earth to be sour, so I’m eternally optimistic about things.”
with faith, political mettle
By John H. Adams
The Presbyterian Layman
Volume 33, Number 6
Posted November 22, 2000
 |
| Condoleezza Rice |
She is also 45, single, black, attractive, Southern, Republican, evangelical, Presbyterian, an expert on Russia, a classical pianist and wannabe commissioner, yes indeed, of the National Football League. In short, she is multi-talented – a conservative who conquers with charm and a mind of steel.
Few believe she will use her velvet glove to handle the brutes in the NFL; she has become such a political luminary that she could also become, in the vernacular of baseball – another of her passions – a doubleheader: the first woman president of the United States and the first black president of the United States.
On most Sundays, she takes a seat in a pew at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, near Stanford University where she was a political science professor on tenure track and later served as provost, from age 39 to 44, when she resigned to help in the Bush campaign. Otherwise, she’s on the run, speaking expertly on international affairs, especially eastern Europe, and showing a political mettle that began to draw national attention when she made a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention.
“Condi” Rice worked for President George W. Bush in the White House two years as assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Soviet affairs at the National Security Council. She and George W. share a slew of interests: physical fitness, Major League baseball, professional football, politics and their evangelical faith. Neither is a shrinking violet when it comes professing faith in Christ.
In grit and talent, Rice is no Condi-come-lately. Her destiny’s tracks were shaped by a paternal grandfather who in 1918 wanted an education and sold enough cotton to pay for one year at Stillman College in Alabama, a Presbyterian school for blacks.
“After the first year, he ran out of cotton and he needed a way to pay for college,” Rice said, retelling the story during the GOP convention. “Praise be, as he often does, God gave him an answer. My grandfather asked how those other boys were staying in school, and he was told that they had what was called a scholarship. And they said, ‘If you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, then you can have one, too.’ Granddaddy Rice said, ‘That’s just what I had in mind.’ And my family has been Presbyterian and college-educated ever since.” There is a reason her favorite Gospel song is His Eye Is on the Sparrow.
Her name fits. Condoleezza comes from the Italian musical term con dolcezza, to perform with sweetness. That has marked her political and academic career. Yet she is a force to be reckoned with. Chevron recognizes that quality. It christened one of its oil tankers The Condoleezza Rice. It has not run aground.
 |
| George W. Bush and his wife Laura with Dr. Condoleezza Rice |
Born in Birmingham, Rice holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, a master’s degree from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. Although once told in Birmingham that she was not “college material,” she skipped two years of grade school and graduated from the University of Denver at age 19.
Before working at the White House, she taught political science at Stanford and won a raft of teaching awards.
Today, Rice is a fellow of the Hoover Institute on the Stanford campus, which keeps her connected to the academic community while she travels for and advises Bush. But she is not an academic high-brow immune to common-sense arguments about politics. In one interview, she declared point-blank that she favors the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms). She explained: During the days of the civil rights movement, many blacks in Birmingham who were not taking part in demonstrations and thereby not committed to nonviolence believed they had the right to defend themselves if attacked.
Rice did grow up in Jim Crow Alabama. And she lost a childhood friend in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. But her family lived on the quiet side of the civil rights revolution. Her father was a Republican and dean of Stillman, later to become the assistant chancellor of the University of Denver. Her mother taught music and science.
| The Rice File Born: Nov. 14, 1954, in Birmingham, Ala. Education: B.A., Ph.D., University of Denver; studied under Josef Korbel, Madeleine Albright’s father Career highlights: NSC staff member under George Bush; special assistant to the president; provost of Stanford University Hobbies: Practicing the piano; watching football |
Rice characterizes herself as an “all-over-the-map Republican.” She says she is “very conservative” in foreign policy, “ultra-conservative” in other areas, “almost shockingly libertarian” on some issues, “moderate” on others, and “liberal” on probably nothing.
She has declared several times that her dream job is NFL commissioner, which prompted the current commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, to ask her why she was angling for his job. “Not to worry,” she said, “but let me know when you’re thinking of retiring.”
Rice is often asked whether her color and sex are advantages or disadvantages. “I don’t spend too much time thinking about it,” she said in an interview by The National Review. “I can’t go back and recreate myself as a white male.”
She identifies with black leaders and their causes, but not in anger. “I have a very, very powerful faith in God. I’m a really religious person, and I don’t believe that I was put on this earth to be sour, so I’m eternally optimistic about things.”