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A Powerful Adviser

By Kathryn Hoffman

Last week Rice met with President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, left.

Condoleezza Rice is a key player on President George W. Bush's team. As National Security Adviser, she helps the President make decisions about how to work with other countries. Rice, 46, is the first woman ever to serve in this role.

She had planned to study music, not politics, when she enrolled in Colorado's University of Denver at the age of 15. But the talented pianist changed her tune after hearing a lecture by Professor Josef Korbel, a diplomat who had fled from harsh communist rule in Yugoslavia. Rice decided to concentrate on political science and, later, international studies. She became determined to make a difference in the world.

Rice was born in Alabama at the start of the civil rights movement, the struggle for African-American equality. It was a time of turmoil in the South, but Rice felt she could do anything. "Her father always told her she could grow up to be President," said her college professor Jonathan Adelman. From 1989 to 1991, she served on the National Security Council under former President Bush, George W.'s father. It was an exciting time for the former Korbel student. Communism was collapsing. Rice helped encourage democracy in Poland and improve U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union. The U.S. faces new challenges today. Last week Rice met with Israel's new Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, to discuss the changing U.S. role in the Middle East. She also talked with China's top foreign policy official.

When Rice became National Security Adviser, she said, "It's a time of great challenge." President Bush knows he's lucky to have Rice's advice. "Dr. Rice is a brilliant person," he said when he appointed her.

"I trust her judgment."

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