1^st Influence: Madeleine Albright is the greatest American is because she was the FIRST women secretary of state. But what makes this amazing is that she was not interested in politics until her 30’s or 40’s. So being able to rise up to that power in such a short amount of time is incredible. an article on the Biography resource center about Madeleine Albright said that before she became a politician she was a journalist for The Rolla Daily News in Missouri. If you know anything about politics is that to become that high in power is almost impossible. But it was probably easy for Madeleine Albright because she is smarter than Albert Einstein; she did not fail her high school science final. Madeleine herself once said “it does not matter race the secretary of the United States is, the most important advantage is that I am representing the United States”. While in power as the secretary of state Madeleine Albright was a big influence in her homeland Czechoslovakia. Well after Bill Clinton’s rain as president Madeleine Albright is still involved in the big bad world of politics. Even today Madeleine has some say in political issues but not a lot of say. Her father was also a specialist in foreign affairs so he helped a ton in her studies to become a politician. So a lot of the thanks should go to Madeleine Albright’s dad Josef Korbel.