Josef Korbel

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Josef Korbel (Letohrad, 1909 – 1977) was a Czechoslovakian diplomat and U.S. educator, who is now best known as the father of Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and the mentor of George W. Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Though he served as a diplomat in Czechoslovakia, Korbel's Jewish heritage forced him to flee after the Nazi invasion in 1939. He served as an advisor to Edvard Beneš, the exiled Czech president in London, until the Nazis were defeated. He then returned to Czechoslovakia to serve as the country's ambassador to Yugoslavia, but was forced to flee again during the Communist coup in 1948.

After learning that he had been tried and sentenced to death in absentia, Korbel was granted political asylum in the United States. He was hired to teach international politics at the University of Denver, and became the Dean of International Studies. One of his students was Condoleezza Rice, the first woman appointed National Security Advisor (January 20, 2001) and the first black woman appointed Secretary of State (January 26, 2005). His daughter, Madeleine Albright, became the first female Secretary of State, on January 23, 1997 (Rice is the second).

After his death, the University of Denver established the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award in 2000. Since then, 28 people has received the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award.