Colin Powell was born on April 5^th 1937 to Jamaican immigrant parents, Luther Powell and Maud Ariel who both worked in the Garment District of Manhattan. 

Colin attended Morris High School in the Bronx, not far from the Harlem neighbourhood where he was born. He graduated in 1954 and went on to the City College of New York where he gained a ‘C’ average and completed his education there with a bachelor’s degree in geology.

After returning from his second term of duty in Vietnam, Colin went back to The George Washington University in 1971.

During his military career while he was at City College he joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps where he later said he had ‘found himself’ while doing the thing he most enjoyed and could do well.

Colin Powell’s love of the military kept him busy for the next thirty five years. In 1971 Colin served Richard Nixon with a White House Fellowship.

During his time as a Lieutenant in Germany Colin was fortunate enough to meet Elvis Presley who was serving in the same unit. During that time Powell’s unit was sent to My Lai, after the massacre, and on Larry King Live in 2004 Powell recounted that although that sort of thing happens during times of war it is still to be deplored. During his second tour of duty in Vietnam Powell was badly injured and the infection that followed almost killed him.

Although in 1980 Powell was noted by General John Hudachek, as being a “poor leader’ who should not be promoted.  Powell still rose to the position of Secretary of Defense under Casper Weinberger. At the age of forty nine Powell became Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor. Under President George W Bush Powell was promoted to a four star general, being only the third general, along with Dwight D Eisenhower and Alexander Haig to reach the position.

During his military career Powell oversaw 28 crises including the removal of Manuel Noriega of Panama.

In 1991 Powell was given the nickname the “reluctant warrior’ because he didn’t advocated military intervention in the first Gulf War. Powell was also against the invasion of Iraq to force the leader Saddam Hussein out of power, by George W Bush’s administration in 2003. Although Powell did build a case against Iraq having weapons of mass destruction he later revealed he had been skeptical about the information presented to him at that time.

Following his success as  4 star general Powell became a popular figure with both American political parties and was tipped as a possible opponent to Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential elections after he declared himself a Republican.

During the Bush administration Powell was Secretary of State, making him the first African-American to achieve this position.

In 2004 Colin Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State and was later succeeded by Condoleezza Rice, the first African-American woman to hold the position.

One of Colin’s public appearances was in Times Square on 2004 when together with Mayor Michael Bloomberg he rang in the new year, 2005.

Since his resignation Powell has maintained a strong interest in America’s political nominations and disasters such as his opposition to the appointment of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and his disapproval of the government’s response to the September 2005 handling of Hurricane Katrina. Once again on the Barbara Walter’s show he voiced his opinion regarding the “race issue” in New Orleans after the hurricane saying, "I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic.”

ABB