By U.S. Sen. Susan Collins(R-Maine)
This month, we inaugurate our first African-American president. This landmark event occurs the day after our annual observance of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In addition, in 2009 we celebrate two events that helped lay the foundation for Dr. King and his work. It is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln and the 100th year of the NAACP, an organization that has led the fight for equality, justice, and opportunity for all. We also recently reached another landmark event. On January 15th, I had the honor of introducing Dr. Susan Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Dr. Rice was nominated to become the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Upon confirmation by the full Senate, Dr. Rice will be the first African-American woman to serve in this vital position. The people of Maine are proud of what this remarkable woman has accomplished in her distinguished career of service to our nation, and we take special pride in her strong ties to our state.
Dr. Rice’s ties to our great state are the foundation of her character. Her grandparents emigrated from Jamaica to Portland one hundred years ago.
Like so many who have come to our shores, they came with little in their pockets but with spirits overflowing with determination. On modest wages, they raised five children and ensured they received good educations. Their four sons all graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick – two became physicians, one an optometrist, one a college president.
Their daughter, Dr. Rice’s mother, Lois, was valedictorian of Portland High School and class president at Radcliffe College. She is a former vice president of the College Board and a former advisory council chairwoman of the National Science Foundation. She married Emmett Rice, a retired senior vice president at the National Bank of Washington, a former governor of the Federal Reserve, and a professor of economics at Cornell University.
The determination of Dr. Rice’s grandparents to build a brighter future did not end with their family. They founded a community service center for blacks in Portland before World War II, and were active in the Portland Branch of the NAACP.
That determination to succeed and to contribute thrives in their granddaughter. Dr. Rice was valedictorian and a three-sport athlete at National Cathedral High School in Washington, DC. She graduated from Stanford, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned both a master’s degree and a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. After serving as a member of the National Security Council in the Clinton Administration, she became the youngest person ever to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State. She has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and served as senior foreign policy advisor to the President-elect during his campaign.
Although I knew of Dr. Rice when she worked at the National Security Council, I first met her when we both participated in seminars sponsored by the Aspen Strategy Group. I was so impressed with her brilliance and nuanced insights as we discussed foreign policy challenges.
Dr. Rice would bring to this position experience, expertise, and enthusiasm that are especially crucial in these difficult times. She has special expertise in the challenges posed by poverty, weak and failed states, and global security threats, particularly in Africa. She is known for being direct yet always diplomatic. She is not driven by rigid ideology, but is guided by firm principles. She has a reputation as a keen critical thinker who is always learning. Her experience, intellect, and character will serve our nation well.
The Rice family maintains a summer home in the beautiful seacoast town of Lincolnville. One of Dr. Rice’s most recent visits to Maine was a year ago, when she came to Portland to address the annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast. In her eloquent remarks, she made clear that human rights are not defined by race, ethnicity, or national borders, but are the universal birthright of all mankind. To secure that birthright, she said, and I quote, “We can and must overcome the divisions of past centuries as well as the traumas of the recent past.”
I can think of no better message to convey to the United Nations and no better messenger than Dr. Susan Rice. I was honored to present her to the Foreign Relations Committee and to enthusiastically endorse her nomination to this important position.
