Meet the Secretary

Colin L. Powell was nominated by President Bush on December 16, 2000, as Secretary of State. After being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he was sworn in as the 65^th Secretary of State on January 20, 2001. In Secretary Powell's remarks to students at the State Department during Groundhog Job Shadow Day, he shared with them his rise from "a black kid living in a slum area in New York City" to the top of his "chosen profession as a soldier to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" to standing before them as the first African-American Secretary of State.