On May 15, 1937, Madeleine Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

At a naturalization ceremony in 1998, a new citizen, Feleke Kassa, a refugee from Ethiopia, pulled Albright to the side and said, “Only in America could a refugee from Africa get to meet the secretary of state.”

Albright responded: “Well, let me say, Mr. Kassa, that only in America could a refugee girl from Central Europe become secretary of state.”

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